EPTIt should be noted that I am somewhere around D+ in terms of actual skill, and that watching one of my traditional ZvP replays is akin to surveying a train wreck in slow motion. Nevertheless, I believe that my micro is sufficient on the small scale of cheese builds to execute them capably.
To begin the investigation, I have decided on the first candidate for the perfect cheese. It is fairly straightforward, and only works well on two player maps with thin cliffs around the bases. Destination is the perfect map for this build, especially since it’s quite easy to find players for Destination games. In terms of mechanics, the cheese is as follows:
8 rax
8 rax
8 supply
8 scv
Note that at seven supply, a SCV should be sortied from your base. The next SCV which spawns should also be sent to follow that first brave soul. The SCVs should make their way to the bottom of the opponent’s base’s cliff, at which point they should make two raxes as minerals allow. As the raxes complete, they should be lifted in to the opponent’s base. Once finished, the SCVs should be sent in to the opponent’s base for harass, and a bunker is frequently a wise investment. From here, the fight is straightforward. Assuming all has gone as planned, mass up four marines and go worker hunting. Kill initial fighting units as necessary, but the workers are top priority.
So it works on paper, perhaps. But does it work in theory? Let’s follow with a case study. The following games are drawn from a selection of some thirty-five which I played ranked on iCCup using the above build.
Game One: TvP Destination
Things go awry early this game, with me sending out both SCVs at eight supply due to a mishap involving an instant messaging client. On the way to the opponent’s base, they encounter a pylon scout.
![[image loading]](http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad333/sebass63/Scouted.png)
I’m so bad at this game
This is the worst possible scenario. Having scouted my super-early SCV on its way to the left, (My path should not have taken me near the bridges; that was an error due to me being largely unfamiliar with the map) this probe will probably suspect that something is up. I can’t simply send the SCV to the planned cheese location, since protoss is now alert. I must resort to drastic measures. I use both SCVs and attempt to engage the probe, but I fail to attack it even once. It continues on its merry way to my base, and something occurs to me.
What if he didn’t even notice? I mean, at this point my account is around 1000, and he’s pretty close to the same. It’s possible that his eyes had strayed from the minimap; that he had not even noticed the SCVs yet. I decide to test my hypothesis.
![[image loading]](http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad333/sebass63/SCVSneaksAway.png)
I hope he doesn’t see me.
I notice no alteration in the probe’s movement, so I effect a similar maneuver with my other SCV, and hastily make with the barrackses. They complete without major incident, and his scout probe fails to locate them. Having made it over the hump, at least in my mind, I land my barracks and slam the finger of justice down on the M key.
![[image loading]](http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad333/sebass63/DarkRaxIsDark.png)
That is one dark barracks.
I was tempted to GG right there. After such a failure of SCV travel, and after such an economically self-damaging cheese, I wasn’t even going to make it to the punch line. Yet, it occurred to me at that moment, that I was playing a D level protoss. I had a chance. All is not lost, I reasoned. My mineral surplus then was substantial, so I threw down a supply depot and a bunker. My protoss opponent had still failed to scout my raxes, so I persevered.
Here I encounted a stroke of pure dumb luck. My opponent, still clueless as to the presence of my raxes, had just finished his first zealot. (I discovered later that he went for a double gate pressure build, which SHOULD be a solid counter to mine.) He sent his first zealot to my base, but scouted my cheese as it reached the middle of the map. He then recalled it, but I already had marines out. It should have been all over for him, or so I thought. However, I once again shoot myself in the foot.
![[image loading]](http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad333/sebass63/TrappedMarine.png)
Marine: I’d really love to help you guys, but I might trip over this barracks.
The marine was trapped. After the second one finished I lifted the rax and corrected it, but the damage was done. What followed was some of the most intense marine micro I’ve ever had to pull off, but I was rewarded in the end with a disgusting, bloody 100 points.
So what do we draw from this? There were many failings on the parts of both players, but the fact that this build held up to an in-base double gate is promising. Perhaps if I had a more practiced, perfected version of this cheese, it would be invincible on Destination. More data is needed.
Game Two: TvT on Desti
This game went more or less according to plan, with one rather large exception.
![[image loading]](http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad333/sebass63/Iseeyou.png)
What the placement
Dear god this placement is strange. Even though I still managed to win due to my opponent’s reluctance to pull SCVs off his mineral line, this has shown me a rather nasty problem with my placement. The moral of the story is that terrans like to put their buildings in strange places, and that my rax placement needs adjusting. In the future, I will build both raxes in the opponent’s third, moving this rightmost one over to the left. It should be noted that I played another game in which this curiously placed rax was overlord scouted, with disastrous results.
Game three: TvT Desti
Having now gotten to D+ with this build, I fearlessly started a TvT with my new and improved rax placement. As his SCV began jerking around in my base, I will admit I giggled to think that he would be checking the obvious proxy spot in his base and fortifying his ramp in preparation for some sort of proxy tech assault. Alas, reality was much crueler than my imaginings.
![[image loading]](http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad333/sebass63/HeFoundMe.png)
He finded me!
I lift off the first rax, only to discover that, to my horror, he has already scouted everything. Determined not to give up, I send the rax in, determined to build a bunker and try to out-micro my opponent. Placement and battle plans at this point begin to bloom in my mind as I plan out the best course of action and how many marines I need to make before assaulting. Suddenly,
![[image loading]](http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad333/sebass63/excusmesirurintheway.png)
excus me sir ur in th way
It dawns on me. The true weakness of this build has been exposed. Beyond any issues of mineral economy, unit composition, and intensity of unit control, this cheese has one fatal, undeniable flaw that will forever cripple its usefulness. Indeed, there is only one possible conclusion here.
![[image loading]](http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad333/sebass63/Thisissrsnotcool.png)
Possibly the shortest ranked game of Starcraft I ever played.
With this, it is decided. The double rax Destination lift is not, and can never become the perfect cheese. This fatal weakness- that such a simple, elegant defense by the opponent can completely destroy the build’s entire advantage- it is too much of a failure.
Forty or so games of case study after conceiving of this build, it has been completely and soundly defeated by the honorable gentlemen of the D+ ladder. I will not give up, however. Somewhere, on some map, there MUST be a perfect cheese.
And I will find it.
EDIT: D+. I meant D+.
