A Zerg's Tale: Diamond Dreams

I spawn in as the blue Zerg at the 6 o'clock main. My opponent, DeadlyBrocco, spawns in 12 as the red Zerg. We both Overlord scout to the closest main, finding both spots empty. We both decide to 10 done scout counterclockwise. (I'm curious to see when other Zergs send their drone scout if the initial overlord doesn't find the opponent.) If I find DeadlyBrocco close positions I plan to 14 gas 14 pool to apply pressure. At this time I'm uncertain of what builds are standard, but close spawn 14 pool seems to be working well for me so far in my lowly platinum league. I scout his overlord and know he's spawned cross positions. He spots my drone, and as he's heading toward my base he catches a glimpse of my Overlord.

Seeing cross positions I decide to 15 hatch. He opts for 14 pool 14 gas. I scout his natural, see that he chose not to expand and assume 14 pool 14 gas. On a whim I drone harass, he pulls 6 drones and I lose mine. In hindsight perhaps I should have just been content to float my drone around his base for further scouting information. I throw down a 16 pool followed by a 16 extractor. I'm not entirely sure if hatch first builds usually go for a speed build, but it seems like a good idea to me.

Back in Deadlybrocco's base he's adding on a second extractor and roach warren. I've got an overlord in his base waiting to peek in on his tech while 6 lings morph in, and 4 head for his base to check the natural and possibly harass. I decide that two lings should stay to defend. The most likely reason is I'm just not paying attention to them. My lings enter his main and I see one roach, as well as lair tech on the way. I get googly nerd-eyes and think I can snipe off a queen. It fails horribly. While that happens I'm supply capped at 28 food for approximately 40 seconds. Forgot an Overlord. Oops. I gotta pay more attention to my supply.

Lair finishes and Deadlybrocco throws down an infestion pit to support his now growing roach army. After seeing the roaches I foolishly continue to morph lings. At this point I have a 30 drone advantage, my opponent has yet to expand and I'm feeling fairly confident about the game. My overlord is still in his base, but my vision has been focused on my base. This is definitely a point I need to improve on. For several minutes I had clear vision of an amassing roach army at his ramp and didn't bother to check on it. Derp. As my opponents infestation pit finishes he begins pathogen gland research.

Once again I'm supply blocked, and now I'm starting to build up a trust fund. Once lair finishes I throw down a hydra den, as my typical ZvZ strategy thus far has been roach / hydra and macro to win. There's two pieces missing currently. Macro, and a roach warren. Combined these might create a small problem presently. 9 minutes in and my opponent still hasn't expanded. As I type I'm face palming pretty hard. I'm currently up 21 drones, still feeling fairly confident and still maintaining focus on my larva injects. I should realize something is drastically wrong if my opponent hasn't expanded yet 9 minutes in to a ZvZ. This is shaping up to be a knock-down drag-out win. I take my third and start producing hydras. I'm extremely proud of my injection timings so far, however I'm beginning to notice a gaggle of overlords hanging around the rally point as well as two creep tumors placed fairly early in the game still sitting outside my natural.

Around 11:15 I arbitrary decide it's time to attack. So 1a2a lings and hydras file toward his base. There's one small problem. Speedlings have hit their warp drive and eat a massive fungal growth (which goes unnoticed) ~ 20 seconds before the hydras lazily make their way to his base. For any inexperienced Zerg players such as myself, one fungal growth will leave zerglings with 1 health. This will become problematic as my menacing 6 hydra army pulls up towards his base. 50 lings and 16 hydras quickly evaporates to a mere 16 hydras being bombarded by fungal growth and roach acid. My army is snapped in two like a Popsicle stick. I'm starting to panic now, I have 800 minerals banked and only 100 gas. Hydra production is going to be difficult to maintain at a reasonable level.

Never fear! In the harrowing face of defeat 3 more drones will help even the tide of battle along side 7 more hydralisks. After all, hydras tear through roaches right? Yes, they absolutely do. Unforunately for me however, 7 hydralisks can not deal with 21 angry roaches backed up by fungal growth. My third falls and I'm starting to feel the game slip out of my hands. Panicking, I a-move 14 hydras into 28 roaches. Surely having half his army I can pull through! As one might expect, half my hydras eat a fungal growth and the rest is a fairly easy clean up by my opponent.

I spawn at the 9 o'clock main as the blue Zerg while my opponent spawns in at the 12 main as the red Zerg. My opponent opts for a 9 drone scout while I go with a 10 scout. Fairly quickly I realize we're close positions and decide that 14 gas 14 pool is the best option. I let his drone live in my base and deny my pool twice. Neverbealone chooses to 17 pool (I miss the scout) 16 hatch and I'm feeling confident that I can do some early damage and gain a lead.

I forget my overlord until 17 supply. I'm beginning to see a trend in my gameplay. Lack of focus on supply. My pool finishes and I start a queen as well as ling speed. 2 lings begin to morph and I'm feeling good.

Neverbealone opts for a double extractor in to baneling build. Once again my scouting has stopped quite soon in the to game. Now I've got two points to create mental checklists for.

1. Spawning Overlords
2. Scouting

I 1a my lings towards his natural and get an unfavorable encounter. My first two lings arrive slightly before the second pair and take damage from his 4 lings. Not a great start. I regroup with 6 lings and pressure again. Defender's advantage kicks in and he quickly outnumbers my lings. This game I remember my ZvZ plan of roach/ hydra and begin a warren. I still haven't scouted my opponent since my intial scouting information. This is bad. Very, very bad. He crushes my pressure. I'm starting to feel a little panicked. If I can hold off till my roach warren finishes I feel I should be able to handle his ling army. Metabolic boost finishes right as he has 8 lings in my natural and 6 banelings morphing in the pathway to my third. Crisis management kicks in. Keep in mind the crisis management of a platinum level player is wildly different from that of a more experienced player. :D

With 10 lings I'm feeling pretty confident that I can do some damage to this attack. Because I waited, his banelings are almost done morphing and now I'm really in a bind. 10 speedlings vs 8 lings and 6 banelings. Things are looking grim indeed. Banelings scamper up my ramp and bee-line for my drones. It would be wise to pull my drones, but honestly, what kind of damage can 6 banelings do to a mineral line? Terrible, terrible damage. With only 3 drones left on gas two roaches pop in time to watch a Queen get brutally eaten by zerglings. At this point I should have probably gg'ed out. Figuring that ZvZ is a volatile match up I clear out some lings and attempt a roach counter.

Current army count:

SenJ: 4 roaches, 12 lings

neverbealone: 16 lings.

Sure, it might look decent on paper, but I have 3 drones to his 16. This better be the sickest counter-attack in sc2 history if I'm going to have any chance at all. My lings are cleaned up outside his natural by the banelings which leaves 3 damaged roaches to fight on. Here I really should have gg'ed out. (Never give up, never surrender!)

Drones surround the three roaches desperately trying for a queen kill. (That'll get me back in the game right?) With fantasy's gg timing I tap out.