EPTSo, on a whim, I do my maybe 4th ladder game this week and nab a PvZ, Danglars vs Jairo.SC2Replay. With lack of practice comes lack of consistancy ... now I'm a master league player fighting diamonds more often than master league opponents. Testament to my skill and consistancy at this point. But hey, 3:00 am in the morning, I'd like a less skilled opponent, right on.
So I spend my PvZ doing the good old 3gate sentry expand. Last 15 games, 13 of them have been 3gate sentry expand opening, 1 was a 6pool defense, and 1 was this TalDarim altar game I speak of now. Last 2 times I've played PvZ on this map (800 pt Zerg, 650 pt Zerg) I've been dejected at the lack of pressure I can apply with 3gate sentry against a Zerg that wants fast 3 bases. I commit to pressure -- get overrun by hidden speedlings and roaches, I don't pressure and its 3 saturated bases worth of Zerg army as I try to take my third. So my mindset had become a behavior of Protoss in his ForceField bunker waiting for hallucinate to take a peak at the Zerg brain .. Tech, Third Base, or Insane-Aggression-Glad-I-Stayed put.
But not tonight. I watch Live Streams TV; I see Protoss doing a Forge Fast Expand on this map. I like my gas geysers, I like the timings I feel comfortable with on a 3gate expand. I abandon all of it and drop a ~15 forge. I scout, sigh of relief no 6-10 pool. Then I get all bold as I miss blocking his expo, and attempt a BUFF BUFF cannon wallin on his natural. And ... I miss an opening that dies.
Then I double stargate (Yeah *spoiler* a certain GSL Protoss wow'd me with his 2stargate play). I kinda feel I have a macro advantage getting my expo down earlier and *ahem* pooling gas I had forgotten to start spending because I failed to place the ever-important cybernetics core. Soon after, I head to his crossmap spawn with a meaty force of void rays and phoenix and ...
"SWEET! Just Roaches, couple queens, spore crawlers that aren't done! Okay, kill this and that and ... wait those are hydras over there. And there. RETREAT!"
Hardly any damage done I return, trying my best to get my roach counter underway (Colossus) and gateway infrastructure and promising not to noob it up so much in rest of the game. Few skirmishes as I try to take a 4th I can't really defend, manage to catch some overlords with phoenix ... fight in a pretty good area and take out some corruptors roach hydra. I have nothing that can stop him from mass expanding, but I've had some favorable fights.
I move out get whomped. Kill some stuff, get whomped again. I have a great economy but am slightly behind in upgrades and repeatedly engage out in the open against roach/hydra/corruptor and later broodlords. Lose everything as I remember that in the past with 3gate sentry -> colossus, I've experienced success with DTs.
So I warp in a bunch from my nearest expansion and ... no detection ... still no detection ... wow I'm killing a lot here. Lot of damage done, I get cleaned up and I feel he is in a great lead. I have nearly no army and type to him that I think I've run out of steam. I have unharassed bases, tons of infrastructure and decent upgrades so I'm limping along as long as I have some good mining bases. He takes out an expansion I have no prayer of defending.
And woah ... I start scouting around and realize ... he hasn't been mass expanding as much as he could've. And the expansions he has aren't saturated and mining gas. Hmmm, might he not be able to sustain production with prolonged harass and good tech choices? He attacks with roach-heavy + corruptor into my main, relatively unopposed. I have maybe 4 void rays 1 carrier as my attention is drawn to his lack of hydralisks. It's just broodlords roaches and a handful of hydralisks. My air force tears through his army as he tries to do as much damage as possible. WOAH. I'm still in this! I start building up a ball I can challenge him with, and I take another base and send DTs everywhere. I get another army win and can approach his main to snipe buildings with a stalker contingent.
I feel like I just climbed out of the sewer. I did not deserve that win from my atrocious playstyle. I've done better PvZ back in Platinum league the first week I got the game. And the luck of DTs, Air, and his slow speed of taking safe bases and getting spread detection lets me eke out a win. I don't think I've ever had a win where I did quite this many things wrong.
[[Replay link is meant to be watched at a high speed. It is 44 minutes long.The level of play is definately face-in-palm so be warned. On the upside, it involves DTs and Carriers.]]
