[Theorycraft]Solving the Air PvZ puzzle.

With the new map pool of season 3, a lots of people have realized that the future of PvZ is forge FE. You can do it on Xelnaga, taldarim, shakuras, temple( i have not tried it ever but there are people claim this work) and even meta. New map pool adding 2 more maps which is great for this opening which are Abyssal and Antiga. The idea is going a very early nexus before gateway with cannon defense to get ahead in economic. In contradict, Zerg could always open 15 hatch to get even with Protoss 16 nexus but with the lack of scouting information, they are constantly at fear of cannon rush therefore pool first is always a must in ZvP. So where does that left us? a Nexus first vs a pool first opening. Well, the zerg could either try to all-in with roach lings (or bane speedling) which both could be scout easily with a hidden probe poking in Z base around 5:10 mark. Or they could try to double expand (which nestea, losira both prefer to do). The map design, as we know, make that the 3rd base of Zerg always far away from their nature which then result a disconnect in creep spread between bases. Using this, lots of Protoss recently decided to get at least 1 VR to pressure Zerg's fast 3rd to challenge the lack of anti air Zerg has. Recent observation shows that Zerg players upon knowing this has started to make spore crawler preemptively just to keep their 3rd base alive. I will be discussing in regards of this particular situation.

1/ Robo switch: right after you queue your 1st phoenix on startgate, Use the first 100 gas to rush to robo-colossus in order to counter the Roach hydra army midgame and hope to quickly achieve the deathball to crush Zerg in early late game. This option is traditional and technical. The main problem is that lots of time you wont be able to deal enough damage to force hydra production and Zerg just simply hold with queen and spore. This will simply free their option in gas spending: muta, banelings, infestors... you never know. It is true that you can scout with the phoenix you made but zerg doesn't need to make units even if they paid for the tech building. for example you might see a roach warren but the entire game he went bane speed with drop. This make the 3 colossus push on 2 bases of P extremely weak if Zerg really commit to a timing attack therefore its really hard to take a 3rd as Protoss in this situation.

2/ Fast twilight + 2nd forge: lots of people look at the twilight and assume its for the blink stalker but infact, its all about the +2 attack. With +2, blink stalker demolish tier 1 zerg if engage in a right angle. This also give you an option to get fast HT or DT while getting your 3rd/4th base. Fearsome timing attack but its rarely seen due to the high infestor count. Late game this army requires you dropping HT over the infestors and feedback them b4 any engagement which is really hard to execute. A heavy gateway composition vZ is a gamble unless you have a godly blink stalker micro vs Infestor fungal therefore i wont be discussing this much.

Option 1: Sage+: simply copy sage by denying map control with phoenixes and harass with zealots while tech-ing to tier 3 (storm/colo) but instead of normal harassment use the initial sentries and drop them into the enemy main with a distraction attack to the enemy 3rd. The extra wrap gates allowed you to focus more on making enough zealot while making sure you have extra cycle to produce tier 3 (HT). In order to counter this type of build, the Zerg would have tried to pull drones and kill the 4 sentries but you can simply lift them up in the prism if they get focused. Also the early phoenix need to deny the overlord vision around Zerg base well to make sure they wont see the prism coming until the very last minute. Another way to counter is Zerg with an army lead hoping for a base trade. You have to see this coming by seeing this army not trying to poke up the ramp no more and cannon up to tank for your tier 3 DPS. Best map to execute this is shakuras where you can approach the main ramp with minimum risk of overlord/creep vision.
This build could be compared to the Sair-DT back in BW day as it is really APM intensive.
Personally i have been testing this with only low master players i found in some random obs games so the result is not worth to share. I really wanted to see a perfect execution of this theory one day. If you are a zerg player, you probably hate me to tell everyone try this =)). Btw, the highest rank player i beat using this is 'The professor' who created a thread about ZvP death ball :D

Option 2: Committed air tech: Most of you should check out this blog of mine:
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=226076

To see how wonderful carrier is in PvZ. Dont believe me? download this replay then:
http://sc2r.me/309h This is my placement game for season 3 so mid to lategame is a bit shaky but i already know i won so...

The basic carrier theory: You open 1 VR 1phoenix with 4 gas early, put down a Fleet bacon and 2 more stargates -> pump carriers. Everything happens while you constantly producing zealots with +1 armor (if vs lings heavy +1 attack) and chrono cyber +1 air (after wrap tech). Ideally your 1st 3 carriers should start at 11~12 min mark and about 14:30 you will have at least 5 carriers ready to roll out with a whole bunch of zealot you produce out of 4 wrapgates. The danger here is that you force Zerg to make units to fence off the zealot harassment early on after they already lost 1 or 2 ovie and having to make at least 1 spore at each bases + extra queens. They wont have enough to defends vs 5 carriers at their main base. after the 6 carriers, strongly recommend you to stop carriers production to switch to phoenixes so you can lift off hydra while the carriers attacking. With all the zealots tanking damage, carriers should be able to finish any zerg build that is anti ground focus which are most of them due to the lack of early scouting information your phoenix voidray denied.

I need this section just to talk about the zealot harassment out of 1 gate: This is the key for you to scout zerg tech early on: scout their 3rd timing and lair timing is crucial!! Forcing them to make roaches vs your air army is even a greater news. This also the key for you to spot any sort of 2 bases drop all in (which happen to counter carriers rush ) and defense accordingly. Never afraid to lose 1 or 2 first zealots for all the information you are gaining. (sending 1 zealot or 2 zealot to scout is depend on what kill your hidden probe at 5 minute mark)

This build could also be a tier 3 support for option 1 if you decided to get an early mothership instead of carriers.