EPTWhere to start... My actual name is Dave or as Artosis would say, my slave name is Dave, my in-game ID is Demonace.463. I've been competitively playing SC2 for about 2 months now, or since last September if you count playing 2v2s on a computer that lags every 5 seconds.
When Starcraft 2 came out, I knew I wouldn't be able to play it because of a lack of a computer. I dismissed it all together and just decided playing SC:BW would be sufficient enough to hold my craving for an RTS til I got sick of it or moved on to another crappy console shooter like Modern Warfare 5 : Cobra Strike (not a serious title -.-) or Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. Then I slowly started watching videos, found Husky beating Insane AI 1vs1, found out about GSL and watched 1 video of each match (because I was cheap), then found day9 and started staying up til 3 or 4 a.m. to watch Tastosis cast matches from some of the best people playing in the world.
I was hooked, I started saving money from that point on to buy my first computer that could actually run a game on high settings, that could load the replays of pros and see the tricks they do to get better. I lurked the strategy forums on TL to see the actual build orders that the pros were doing in South Korea. Finally, after many weeks saving up 40 bucks here and there from work, I was able to buy parts to my computer from Newegg. I waited impatiently, sleeping on the couch next to the door waiting for the parts to come in. UPS got here, and I felt like a little kid at Christmas time again, but instead of being pre-assembled, there was a ton of work to do. Went to work, got off that night, came home and tore into the manuals trying to figure out what goes where and why. Oh the joys of putting my first computer together. 8 hours later the sun is coming up, my dad is coming home from work, the computer is still only 75% done and I can feel goosebumps all over my skin. I'm exhausted, have a 101.2 degree fever and can't figure out the diagrams to connect all the cables to the motherboard. 2 days of sleep later, I'm still sick but able to finally put the last cables in the right spot and hear the machine come to life....it is time for Starcraft II.
My Promotion/Demotion history so far:
Feb 22nd 2011 2-3 in placements I go into Bronze League
March 6th 2011: Silver League
March 8th 2011: Gold League
March 11th 2011: Platinum League
March 18th 2011: Diamond League
March 29th 2011: Season 2 demoted to Platinum
Current: Stagnating in Platinum
As you can see, I've dramatically improved in a short time, probably due to my new computer not lagging so damn much and because I was living breathing and dreaming about SC2 while I wasn't able to play. I played around 300 games from Feb 22nd-Mar 29th, I felt myself getting better and with every defeat I didn't get mad... I just kept looking up toward the next league.
My major problems started after being promoted to diamond, I started playing better players but my realization was that point is where I peaked and hit my plateau. My goal was to get into Masters by late fall or early spring of 2012, but I started to doubt my skill and with every loss came more frustration. On the Friday after getting promoted to diamond league, I decided to sit down and hammer out a ton of games since I had nothing better to do. (The Tuesday before this I was having a ton of family/job problems which are still plaguing me til now) I started out with a win, felt good and decided to keep going into the next game and the next game. Loss, Loss, no problems just messed up a bit, I'll fix it next game. 15 games later, I had 3 wins and 12 more losses...since it was starting to get dark out, I decided to end the day early, get some rest and brush it off.
The next 5 days I am around 50-60% against diamond players, still had other problems going on but tried to put them aside and focus on some SC2 before the patch comes out. Did decent, was glad I finished the season as 2k Diamond with 20 more wins than losses. Went to bed the night before the patch came out, got up, played my placement: Platinum. A bit confused, then mad, why didn't I get demoted before season 2? My confidence plummeted and started losing to my gold and lower platinum friends in customs, I didn't understand how my mechanics went to shit in such a short period of time.
I decided to make this blog to ask questions on how to cope with these problems and highlight why you shouldn't play tilted, why you shouldn't let real life problems intertwine with in-game problems and why shitting on yourself only makes you play worse.
Reader Questions:
1. What tricks do you use when dealing with losing?
I've watched the Day[9] daily about it, but still have to throw shit across the room and have problems stepping back from my replays and being able to critique myself.
2. How long do you wait before watching your replays?
Obviously being tilted and watching a game you are still pissed about isn't going to let you look at it objectively.
3. How do you fix so many flaws in so little time?
I know my mechanics are flawed (almost never hotkey army, missing larva injects, not using larva, not spending money, getting supply blocked, etc...etc) My major problem is tunnel vision on the middle of the screen due to adrenaline, I don't look at the top right before making enough roaches or drones to supply cap me, overmake overlords, then overmake units until I hit cap again. I guess I should keep hammering this mental checklist:
Drones or Units>Money>Supply Cap>Larva Inject
4. Other advice?
If anyone cares enough to watch replays when I was diamond to how I play now I'll post both of them.
As you can see below(click for the full graph), when I get tilted there is no stopping my losing streaks.
![[image loading]](http://img59.imageshack.us/i/wlratio.jpg/)
