Warning: Long blog.

Ok so I have been planning to do this ever since I got sc2 but I decided to wait for some sort of milestone so that I would actually have something to write about. That milestone was my 100th 1v1 ladder game in sc2. (Not only was it a loss, but it was a drop loss due to graphics card overheating in a game that I had a pretty good chance of winning (ZvT on Jungle Basin, me mining on 3 bases, him on 2 but the scv's of one had just been culled by my mutalisks of death and sadness))

Just a heads up, you may be exposed to statistics and the like if you continue reading this thread.

I guess I should start with a little intro. I'm Lemonwalrus, I played broodwar very poorly for ~8 years before sc2 came out (never once hit D+ on iccup), but decided that that is over with and I intend to be good (decent) at sc2. I played zerg in bw and, so far, have played zerg as well in sc2. I didn't get sc2 right when it came out because my internet at home is crap, so I decided to wait until I got to school. It took me ~10 weeks to play 100 games, but I intend to increase my play over the next month.

LADDERWALRUS
I went 2-3 in placement and got placed in bronze league (so much for my 8 years of broodwar.)

However, in my defense, I played my placement matches as a complete sc2 virgin, and didn't learn any of the new units and spells until afterwards. (apparently queens are good now...I'm still not totally comfortable with that.)

I laddered my way into silver, gold, and, as of game 97, platinum league. I've also played in 2 tournaments (z33k Alloy #1 and #2) getting eliminated in ro8 and ro16, respectively.

Edit: I would strongly suggest playing in tournaments to people that are trying to improve, it is a really good way to add practice partners to your roster.

Ladder Stats:
ZvP: 21-18
ZvT: 18-14
ZvZ: 18-11

vs Un-leagued: 1-1
vs Bronze League: 2-0
vs Silver League: 6-3
vs Gold League: 20-13
vs Platinum League: 23-19
vs Diamond League: 5-7

Map Stats:
Blistering Sands
Overall: 11-3
ZvP: 1-1
ZvT: 3-1
ZvZ: 7-1
+ Show Spoiler +

This I find kind of surprising because I don't feel very confident on the map. (sick zvz stats though

)

Delta Quadrant
Overall: 1-6
ZvP: 1-3
ZvT: 0-1
ZvZ: 0-2
+ Show Spoiler +

No surprise, I hate this map, currently down-voted. So many places to hide a pylon. Also a pylon dropped in outside expo can warp in units in the destructible-terrain-blocked-natural...which is about as cool as cutting puppies with razor blades imo.

Desert Oasis
Overall: 1-2
ZvP: 0-1
ZvT: 1-0
ZvZ: 0-1
+ Show Spoiler +

Never really liked this map, down-voted it early on, now it is gone...not much to talk about.

Jungle Basin
Overall: 2-2
ZvP: 0-0
ZvT: 1-1
ZvZ: 1-1
+ Show Spoiler +

Still not sure how I feel about this map. At first look it seemed like zvt/zvp should be hard on it but in my experience zvt hasn't been that bad.

Kulas Ravine
Overall: 2-3
ZvP: 1-2
ZvT: 1-1
ZvZ: 0-0
+ Show Spoiler +

Never really had strong feelings about this map, down-voted it because that's what all the cool zergs were doing at the time.

Lost Temple
Overall: 7-7
ZvP: 4-4
ZvT: 0-2
ZvZ: 3-1
+ Show Spoiler +

ZvT on this map is stupid and mean. Not down-voted though because...some reason or other...go away.

Metalopolis
Overall: 9-3
ZvP: 3-2
ZvT: 4-1
ZvZ: 2-0
+ Show Spoiler +

Second favorite map, I get shit for not pulling my overlord back when scouting zvt close positions...if I have to explain to one more chobo terran that knowing the addon for their first rax is infinitely more important than them knowing where I am I will cry.

Scrap Station
Overall: 10-5
ZvP: 4-2
ZvT: 4-2
ZvZ: 2-1
+ Show Spoiler +

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/99429-1v1-terran-zerg-scrap-station lol.

Shakuras Plateu
Overall: 2-1
ZvP: 0-0
ZvT: 1-0
ZvZ: 1-1
+ Show Spoiler +

I kinda like this map, haven't played it enough though.

Steppes of War
Overall: 6-7
ZvP: 3-2
ZvT: 2-4
ZvZ: 1-1
+ Show Spoiler +

Currently down-voted because I feel incapable of winning ZvT on this map unless my opponent is bad, will probably stop being a wuss and un-down-vote it soon though.

Xel'Naga Caverns
Overall: 6-4
ZvP: 4-1
ZvT: 1-1
ZvZ: 1-2
+ Show Spoiler +

Huge fan of this map...not much to say really...very fun to play.

Phwew...ok so now that that is out of the way. I am kinda surprised that zvz is my best mu because I have zero Zerg practice partners and basically play every zvz by the seat of my pants. I have tons of Terran/protoss practice partners that I play customs with, (which is why I have strong feelings on some maps even though I have <5 ladder games on them) and I really struggle dealing with thor/hellion and collossi.

I have been on the receiving end of surprisingly little cheese on ladder, but bm seems so much more prevalent on sc2 than it was in bw...anyone else notice this?

I will probably update this every 100 games...or sooner/later depending if I have stuff that I think is worth discussing. Feel free to discuss whatever in this thread, not entirely sure what direction I want to go with this.

Any statistics you would be interested in me keeping for my next 100 games?

I'm thinking win rate as a function of game duration might be interesting but I am too lazy to go back and edit that into this edition. Hopefully going to be diamond by 200 games post, wish me luck!

Also, since I am relatively sure you guys will ask for it, here is a replay of me playing at about my peak (I still lost). Yeah, I know my macro slips like crazy towards the end, and my lack of roaches was little short of moronic, but as far as mechanics go this is about as good as the walrus gets atm. (also the player and I are familiar with eachother's styles so I would usually scout better...probably...idk.)
http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/99438-1v1-protoss-zerg-xelnaga-caverns

Any tips/feedback are welcome.

hasuprotoss

United States4277 Posts

November 03 2010 04:08 GMT

I might be willing to ZvZ practice with you, let me know if you want some help with it (not 100% sure what I'm doing in this MU either).

Macavenger

United States1132 Posts

November 03 2010 04:14 GMT

BM seems to decrease as you rank up in leagues. I see all sorts of random BM when I'm watching my friends in silver/gold play. In low diamond I barely see any, aside from lack of gg when leaving games, which I've come to accept is unusual on the SC2 ladder.

imPERSONater

United States1323 Posts

November 03 2010 04:14 GMT

Did you look through all your results to come up with these stats or is there a much easier way? I would be interested in my stats but definitely don't have the patience to click back through my match history to find out :/

Good work though, sounds like you are improving fast! I am pretty sure all ZvZ is by the seat of the pants so you have that going for you! My general strategy is fast expand unless I see otherwise from scouting.

Heyoka

Temple of EE-Sama22470 Posts

November 03 2010 05:20 GMT

Awesome awesome blog, this is the model for how people should do their self improvement things. You should hit diamond soon with the attitude you have, you're very good about playing consistently lately.

I'm thinking win rate as a function of game duration might be interesting but I am too lazy to go back and edit that into this edition. Hopefully going to be diamond by 200 games post, wish me luck!

I spent many hours gathering game length stats for BW matches and every time I found it to be completely unrelated to skill/winrate/any other variable. I even did a report on it for a lab a few years ago.

Hurricane

United States3909 Posts

November 03 2010 06:42 GMT

Good job and good luck yo~~!

In my heart you'll always be GoldWalrus <3

Lemonwalrus

United States5463 Posts

November 03 2010 21:46 GMT

On November 03 2010 13:14 imPERSONater wrote:
Did you look through all your results to come up with these stats or is there a much easier way? I would be interested in my stats but definitely don't have the patience to click back through my match history to find out :/

Unfortunately the only way I found of doing it was to click back through your match history/opponent profiles, but maybe someone else knows of a better way, idk. I am planning to keep an actual notebook next to my computer during my next 100 games so that I can keep statistics as they happen.

zZygote

Canada869 Posts

November 03 2010 21:49 GMT

I'd save a replay for each and every replay to make note of it. Notepad works wonders as well.

Lemonwalrus

United States5463 Posts

November 03 2010 22:22 GMT

I do save every replay...which brings to mind another point.

What is the best way to get better from your own replays?

I tend to, unless the game was extremely one-sided in my favor and therefore probably has little that I can learn from, immediately watch every replay from my opponents point of view. I feel this helps me get used to timings, get accustomed to how much stuff my opponent should have and at what times, and lets me see the other side of my attacks to see if there is anything I am doing wrong/could be doing better.

Watching replays from my point of view/whole map revealed is a different story. I don't know how to learn from my mistakes I guess. I mean, in game, when I click on a queen and it has 100 energy I know that I am not injecting as good as I could be, but seeing that in a replay doesn't help me solve the problem. Basically how do you guys judge and learn from your own play while watching one of your replays?

imPERSONater

United States1323 Posts

November 04 2010 03:07 GMT

#10

Okay, I was just searching around TL and found a program called SC2Gears. It auto-saves every replay and keeps stats on all maps, matchups, etc. That should speed up this process next time for you

I actually installed it back in beta and forgot about it xD

I hope this helps!

Hurricane

United States3909 Posts

November 04 2010 03:31 GMT

#11

I always watch replays from my point of view only. I make sure my thought process on my plan is solid and usually focus on a couple things, like looking at larva and my hotkeys or on my unit control and composition vs what I've seen. I find it best to try to pick one area of my game to look at and try to find ways to improve and then just focus on that in the replay while keeping vision on myself. Obviously I check all vision if I want to make sure my assessment of the situation is correct.

zer0das

United States5269 Posts

November 04 2010 03:57 GMT

#12

On November 03 2010 14:20 heyoka wrote:
Awesome awesome blog, this is the model for how people should do their self improvement things. You should hit diamond soon with the attitude you have, you're very good about playing consistently lately.

Show nested quote +

I found in Warcraft 3 that I generally lost a lot of games in the first ten minutes, won a lot of games between 20-30 minutes, and then it went back down after 30. I think I might follow the same trend in SC2- l lose a fair share of games to stupid all-ins (particularly Terrans picking a weird time to run up my ramp), but generally don't lose in the midgame, but if my opponent lasts long enough, he's probably good enough to slowly erode any advantage I had in the midgame and beat me.

emperorchampion

Switzerland4348 Posts

November 04 2010 04:30 GMT

#13

Cool stuff :D

I'm in pretty much the same boat, played BW for quite a while (I did hit D+ though /brag :p) then moved on to SC2. I didn't play any beta, got SC2 midnight release, and jumped right into Bronze. I laddered up from there, reaching Plat after a week or so. Then stopped playing for about 2 months, opting to play BW instead. An interesting thing to note is how much more difficult the ladder is now, I mean I was just winging every single game when I started- didn't know any builds at all, what units were good against what, ect. Now every player in Plat knows a build of some sort, and is pretty decent.

About replays, I honestly don't watch any at the moment. I just don't feel that my play has come along enough to make use of them, because I think that my mechanics are way way above my game knowledge at the moment. Usually if I win, I know what worked and why. If I lose it was specifically because of some error in my game play, such as attacking into lots of defense, not making enough defense, no observers, ect. After the game I'm just like "Well, won't do that again", and that's all I need to take out of it. I'm not really at the point where cutting a few probes here, or figuring out really good timings will be advantageous to my game play- when I'm still trying to figure out the general flow of the game.

sc2ranks