EPT+ Show Spoiler [ZvT] +
Right now, I'm really enjoying this matchup.
Aside from freak losses to 1 base banshee all-ins and stuff like blue flame hellions, I'm feeling good. Obviously, there's room for improvement if I'm still losing to that stuff but otherwise, I'm fine. I'm really liking how much mobility ling/muta gives me, and while I haven't eradicated banelings from my composition entirely, they're becoming more of a defensive unit for me. Even moreso than before.
Before, I made banelings as soon as a large army comes up to my front in order to defend. Now, I'm just keeping a group of speedlings out on the map, and smashing into his base as soon as he moves out. If he comes back to retreat, then I don't need to make banelings. If he DOES move out, I'lll morph banelings. While this means that I'll usually lose an expo, he's either losing both his main and natural, or just his natural. If I can defend two expos while he can only defend one, I have an advantage. If I can just kill him, then I have a bigger advantage.
The thing with banelings is that you can defend an attack with just a few of them. It's just the matter of whether the Terran rushes just a bit too much. Base races often make Terran players hasty and so they don't siege their tanks. That means banelings can take out the marines pretty easily, and pure tanks isn't much of a threat.
Mutalisks, are glorious. They're not so much of a harassment tool than a distraction tool. The damage they can do to a mineral line defended by turrets is minimal, but even just taking the attention of a Terran away by picking away at a supply depot in his main while sending a group of lings out back to his natural mineral line works wonders. Especially in base races, they can cut off the barracks production and stop his reinforcements from gathering. Crucial unit.
Aside from freak losses to 1 base banshee all-ins and stuff like blue flame hellions, I'm feeling good. Obviously, there's room for improvement if I'm still losing to that stuff but otherwise, I'm fine. I'm really liking how much mobility ling/muta gives me, and while I haven't eradicated banelings from my composition entirely, they're becoming more of a defensive unit for me. Even moreso than before.
Before, I made banelings as soon as a large army comes up to my front in order to defend. Now, I'm just keeping a group of speedlings out on the map, and smashing into his base as soon as he moves out. If he comes back to retreat, then I don't need to make banelings. If he DOES move out, I'lll morph banelings. While this means that I'll usually lose an expo, he's either losing both his main and natural, or just his natural. If I can defend two expos while he can only defend one, I have an advantage. If I can just kill him, then I have a bigger advantage.
The thing with banelings is that you can defend an attack with just a few of them. It's just the matter of whether the Terran rushes just a bit too much. Base races often make Terran players hasty and so they don't siege their tanks. That means banelings can take out the marines pretty easily, and pure tanks isn't much of a threat.
Mutalisks, are glorious. They're not so much of a harassment tool than a distraction tool. The damage they can do to a mineral line defended by turrets is minimal, but even just taking the attention of a Terran away by picking away at a supply depot in his main while sending a group of lings out back to his natural mineral line works wonders. Especially in base races, they can cut off the barracks production and stop his reinforcements from gathering. Crucial unit.
+ Show Spoiler [ZvZ] +
Probably my most difficult matchup in this period. I've been playing a lot of Zerg vs Zergs with the spine crawler double queen style, but it just doesn't seem to work that well against hatch first. There's probably some all-ins I could do with it but it just doesn't seem all that solid. Early game is my biggest problem, so I'm thinking of just going back to the speedling expand style.
Mid-game mutas are amazing, just like in ZvT. They pick off everything, force your opponent to stay in the base, and allow you to expand. Even if he has 15 roaches and you have 5 mutas and 15 speedlings, he can't move out because of the counterattack threat. If he does, you just counter and kill off a lot of things. This means you can expand like crazy.
Mutas eventually become obselete. Infestors actually do kill mutas pretty well, but aren't a hard counter. With magic box, mutas can snipe off infestors pretty quickly and you can do some cute stuff with the flock even once you stop reinforcing. Eventually, you have to switch to infestor roach but with the mutas, you can secure one or two extra bases over your opponent, and if you keep the mutaling alive, still use it for counterattacks.
Mid-game mutas are amazing, just like in ZvT. They pick off everything, force your opponent to stay in the base, and allow you to expand. Even if he has 15 roaches and you have 5 mutas and 15 speedlings, he can't move out because of the counterattack threat. If he does, you just counter and kill off a lot of things. This means you can expand like crazy.
Mutas eventually become obselete. Infestors actually do kill mutas pretty well, but aren't a hard counter. With magic box, mutas can snipe off infestors pretty quickly and you can do some cute stuff with the flock even once you stop reinforcing. Eventually, you have to switch to infestor roach but with the mutas, you can secure one or two extra bases over your opponent, and if you keep the mutaling alive, still use it for counterattacks.
+ Show Spoiler [ZvP] +
Still my favourite matchup.
My creep spread is a bit iffy but everything else fine I think. I still need to get into the habit of adding an evo chamber when my lair starts so that I'm safe against stargate plays. When everything clicks though, man, I feel like I'm playing the best starcraft in the world. My injects are perfect, my counterattacks are sharp, DTs don't do ANYTHING and I amass an army really fast while feeling safe while droning.
Seriously, my ZvP feels so far ahead of my other two matchups it's not even funny. Even if I make a few big blunders (like forgetting void rays and pheonixes exist and losing both your queens and several drones to them), I can stay in the game really well. Ling baneling muta is such a powerful combination.
My previous problem before with mutas was dying before I could reach that stage. I think I've bridged that problem pretty well now with my baneling in-between transition. Burrowed banes are so underused. destroying the sentries of a toss feels so satisfying.
Ling counterattacks work miracles in ZvP too. Base races in ZvP can be easier or harder than in ZvT. There's no miracle units like banelings killing the army in one kaboom, but it's far easier to chip away at a Protoss ball than a Terran ball. Especially if the ball includes no colossi. A bunch of speedlings will do nothing to a Terran marine medivac tank force. It could probably take out a third of a Protoss force. The problem is if you can keep making those lings.
My creep spread is a bit iffy but everything else fine I think. I still need to get into the habit of adding an evo chamber when my lair starts so that I'm safe against stargate plays. When everything clicks though, man, I feel like I'm playing the best starcraft in the world. My injects are perfect, my counterattacks are sharp, DTs don't do ANYTHING and I amass an army really fast while feeling safe while droning.
Seriously, my ZvP feels so far ahead of my other two matchups it's not even funny. Even if I make a few big blunders (like forgetting void rays and pheonixes exist and losing both your queens and several drones to them), I can stay in the game really well. Ling baneling muta is such a powerful combination.
My previous problem before with mutas was dying before I could reach that stage. I think I've bridged that problem pretty well now with my baneling in-between transition. Burrowed banes are so underused. destroying the sentries of a toss feels so satisfying.
Ling counterattacks work miracles in ZvP too. Base races in ZvP can be easier or harder than in ZvT. There's no miracle units like banelings killing the army in one kaboom, but it's far easier to chip away at a Protoss ball than a Terran ball. Especially if the ball includes no colossi. A bunch of speedlings will do nothing to a Terran marine medivac tank force. It could probably take out a third of a Protoss force. The problem is if you can keep making those lings.
This is a ZvT replay I played just a while ago on Tal'darim. I spawn at 11, he spawns 5, so we're cross positions. I mess up early on and let his reapers get to me,and don't notice a drop letting it do huge damage. I've double expand to the two other mains and havnig to take a risk so far behind, I drone hard, and Terran pushes out to punish me.
That's where the counterattack dynamic comes in. I circumvent his entire army and go for his main and natural. He had a supply depot wall so he probably could've defended, but multitasking two areas at once probably put a lot of pressure on him. He forgot to repair and I broke through, completely destroying his main and natural. He had a third left, but I was saturating my third and fourth while he was destroying my natural.
Afterwards, I lost most of my tech structures but I'm on two saturated bases. This is another advantage of my ling muta force. All three of my bases were on the corners of the map. My main at the top left, my third and fourth at the bottom left and top right. He tries to attack one of them? Lol, no he can't. It's too far away. He ends up retreating to his main and I blow up his army with banelings. With two saturated bases versus one, I end up winning, even though I was at a huge disadvantage.
http://www.mediafire.com/?o992nf1zrae43ic
