EPTIt now appears abundantly clear that my prediction last week that I'd get to Silver shortly was a little premature. I will do my best to make it happen over the next couple days.
Yesterday was spent watching a lot of replays and playing some custom games against my friend mdkaiz, a (685 league wins, 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4) Diamond Terran/Random player with endless patience and the ability to clearly explain where I goofed up. We played three games on three different maps, and for those of you who are interested you can check out the replays below. Note that I lost all three games, as expected, but I did give it my best shot. He went random for all 3 games.
Lost Temple TvZ
Lessons:
- Do not set up contains on Creep. There's the whole sight thing, plus the speed bonus. Everything basically went downhill from there.
Xel-Naga Caverns TvP
- Don't place buildings where they can be sniped. He got my Factory tech lab when I was researching siege tech.
- Enemy forces cannot magically see units/buildings on higher ground. I should've scanned for his observer earlier.
- I didn't know about immortals' shields until after this game when he explained it to me.
Scrap Station TvZ
- The banshee harass was good. More than one banshee at a time is worth significantly more than just one (i.e. 1+1=3).
- Be more aggressive about deny expansions versus Zerg.
Then last night I lost another hour-long TvT on Metalopolis at 2am which made me truly nerd rage. I then remembered one of the big reasons why I haven't been more involved in competitive video games and sports (once upon a time I did rec soccer and stuff) - I have a terrible temper. I had to walk around outside the apartment for a while to cool off and remind myself that (improbable as it seemed) there was more to me and to life than my StarCraft ladder ranking.
Most of my life has something to do with gaming. Most of my formal job experience to date has been in the gaming industry, and at this point in time I plan on making gaming a lifelong career. I play games for fun (video games, board games, etc.) and it's a major part of my social interactions and the way I meet new friends (and significant others, etc.). I go to gaming events such as WCG and BlizzCon (and this weekend MLG Dallas!) to hang out with gamers and stay in touch with the eSports scene instead of going on more conventional vacations. However, since I'm not as skilled of a gamer as many of the people I encounter (well, I play a mean game of Settlers), and since I'm a very achievement and skill-focused person philosophically, it can be difficult for me to ask for and receive the kind of social recognition I'm looking for (and which I try to give to people). This is part of the reason why I'm trying hard to get to Diamond - I want to have more credibility as a gamer and not just someone operating "in the scene" (or, as some might say, "a fangirl").
I've spent a lot of my formative years doing things that, strictly speaking, have not contributed to my gaming skill. I've read a ton of books; I've had a lot of training in dance, singing, and theater; I wrote for and ran a newspaper in high school; I've been to a bunch of countries and learned a few languages as well as the academic framework around analyzing language itself (I was a linguistics major in college). Sometimes, though (especially when I lose a 65 min TvT), I find myself wishing that I'd spent less time doing stuff like that and more time learning hotkeys and game sense back in the days when I didn't have to worry about paying bills and managing professional contact networks. It's kind of a funny situation to be in, I guess, but there's been a lot about my life so far that hasn't exactly been normal.
I'm a person who sets high goals and has big dreams. But I may soon have to accept that I'm not going to get to Gold in a month, never mind Diamond. As much time as I may dedicate and as hard as I may work, it doesn't come as easily to me as it may come to many other Liquidites. However, I will keep trying and keep learning and keep writing, because even with the bouts of rage, I strongly believe it's worth it. As Kaiz noted, many gamers have bad tempers - it's how you channel the temper that makes the difference.
Be on the lookout for more commentated VODs of my ladder games from X - I sent him a few interesting replays and I hope he and his subscribers enjoy them!
Shoutout to Kaiz for helping me out along my journey and to Temporal because he was really scared last night when I put on my coat and walked out the door at 4am.
