EPTMork is a high-diamond player, so the focus this time around is more on what he does right than on what I do wrong. In this match specifically I go PvZ, and Mork uses a Zerg strategy that works great against Protoss — as long as you know how to pull it off. It involves containing your opponent with speedlings, expanding super-fast (his third hatch goes down around the 7-minute mark), droning and teching like crazy, and keeping good enough map awareness going in order to build up a quick counter army as soon as you see that the Protoss is moving out.
I’ve actually tried this strategy before after I originally heard Mork discuss it on StarCast (this was before I played him). The trick here is that you really have to keep up great scouting, or else what happens is the Protoss player moves out … and just kills you. Watching Mork play, the way to do this is to keep several things going: spread creep nonstop (he goes triple creep tumor), control the watchtowers, suicide overlords/overseers over the Protoss base periodically, and show up at the Protoss ramp with a group of speedlings every now and then. The last part of that checklist is as much for seeing what kind of units your opponent has as it is to keep him afraid from feeling like he can expand. Oh, and finally, occasional baneling doom drops on the mineral line tend to help your cause, too. He even bane-bombed the front line of my army at one point. Obviously you have to wait a little ways into the tech ladder until you can do that, but once you get all your overlord upgrades, it works like a charm.
I was thinking about ways to counter this, and I think there are two basic ways to do it. One of them I feel a little more confident about than the other. The first way (which is the one I’m less sure about), is to turtle a little, block your entrance, and go for fairly quick colossi with a healthy mix of zealots, stalkers, and sentries (obviously you have to go easy on the latter two, or you won’t have enough gas for your colossi). You have to keep in mind that your opponent is likely going to have whatever counter is needed when you show up, so the colossi are good to take out whatever speedlings have been produced to contain you, and with even zealots and stalkers, plus maybe a sentry for some guardian shields or force fields as necessary, there should be no easy way for your opponent to hard counter you (although, now that I think about it, mass roaches may be pretty effective … hmmmmmmm).
Okay, on to response #2, which I think would be the better one: air harass. We’ve recently seen Cruncher do this in the TSL, and it seems to work like a charm against fast-expanding Zerg if you know how to pull it off. Get a fast void ray, and follow up with several phoenixes. Get over to the Zerg base basically as quickly as you can (after one VR and one phoenix, go ahead and move out — let the other phoenixes catch up), gravitron beam any queens so the phoenixes can take them out, and then apply the same technique to drones as long as you have enough energy for your gravitron beams.
This does three things. First, it slows down the Zerg, as he loses income from killed drones and he loses money from making extra queens (which are essential not only for larvae but for fighting off air). Second, it slows down his production capabilities regardless of money, because fewer queens = fewer larvae. Third, it delays his ability to get a lair. If he’s constantly producing queens, he simply can’t morph his hatch into a lair, which makes it impossible for him to prepare for any and all threats. If the strat is pulled off successfully, he’s stuck with lings and roaches.
…Of course, lings and roaches can be pretty deadly on their own, so you still gotta watch out for that.
Anyway, enough talk. Check out the two-part replay with commentary below:
Lessons learned:
1. If you see an overlord heading for you mineral line mid- to late-game, get your workers the hell outta there!
2. Don’t be afraid to drone super hard as Zerg, just keep a very close eye on your enemy.
3. Awesome strategies are awesome.
