This is a ZvP (I’m Zerg), and even though that is often cited as the most imbalanced matchup, at the Gold level I usually can handle it pretty well. Not this time, though. After an initial attack that I hold off just well enough (which is good — that means I was making about the max number of drones that I could), the Protoss pretty much starts massing colossi, with a few zealots and sentries. His mix is much more colossus-heavy than most Protoss death balls, though.

Naturally, I go heavy roach/infestor (though in retrospect, some air may have been good in this case, even though I don’t like trying to counter colossi with corruptors). I keep trying to poke into his natural expansion, but every time I do, I back off when the colossi start firing at me (I’m having to attack from a choke, so I can’t get a good spread with my roaches). The thing is, since I’m on four bases, I could have stuck with any of these attacks, done tons more damage than I ended up doing, replenished my army almost immediately, and come back for more while he’s working on remaxing his army in four- or five-unit cycles. I don’t know why I got so scared, but every time I saw the colossi at those chokes, I felt the urge to retreat.

Since I never had the guts to commit to an attack, my opponent is able to mass colossi and void rays. Even though I’m on five bases as opposed to his three (one of which I didn’t know about), when he hits me with that army, there’s nothing I can do.

Quick note: I didn’t realize until after I had recorded the video, but when I comment on the attempted pylon wall-in at the beginning, I totally ignore the possibility of a cannon rush for some reason, claiming that it was nothing to really be concerned about. Obviously, cannons would have been a problem. Don’t know what I was thinking when I said that.

Check out the replay with commentary:

Lessons learned:

1. Don’t let Protoss sit back and build enormous armies (that’s obvious, I know).

2. Don’t be afraid to commit to large-scale attacks in mid-game ZvP if the armies are close to comparable, especially if you’re on 3 or more bases. Zerg can rebuild armies so much quicker than Protoss in this situation

3. Don’t forget about harassment. My opponent had a wall of colossi at his front door, but I was probably wide open for some mineral line baneling bombs that entire time.