• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 03:01
CET 08:01
KST 16:01
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT29Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book19Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8
Community News
Vitality ends partnership with ONSYDE13Team Liquid Map Contest - Preparation Notice6Weekly Cups (Feb 23-Mar 1): herO doubles, 2v2 bonanza1Weekly Cups (Feb 16-22): MaxPax doubles0Weekly Cups (Feb 9-15): herO doubles up2
StarCraft 2
General
Vitality ends partnership with ONSYDE How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game? Team Liquid Map Contest - Preparation Notice ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT Nexon's StarCraft game could be FPS, led by UMS maker
Tourneys
PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar) RSL Season 4 announced for March-April Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament $5,000 WardiTV Winter Championship 2026 Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026] Map Editor closed ?
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 515 Together Forever Mutation # 514 Ulnar New Year Mutation # 513 Attrition Warfare
Brood War
General
BSL 22 Map Contest — Submissions OPEN to March 10 battle.net problems Are you ready for ASL 21? Hype VIDEO BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Flash's ASL S21 & Future Plans Announcement
Tourneys
ASL Season 21 Qualifiers March 7-8 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues BWCL Season 64 Announcement [BSL22] Open Qualifier #1 - Sunday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Zealot bombing is no longer popular?
Other Games
General Games
No Man's Sky (PS4 and PC) Path of Exile PC Games Sales Thread Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Mexico's Drug War Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
Formula 1 Discussion 2024 - 2026 Football Thread TL MMA Pick'em Pool 2013
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Laptop capable of using Photoshop Lightroom?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
FS++
Kraekkling
Shocked by a laser…
Spydermine0240
Gaming-Related Deaths
TrAiDoS
ONE GREAT AMERICAN MARINE…
XenOsky
Unintentional protectionism…
Uldridge
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1777 users

Slowly progressing - Welcome to Gold League

Blogs > silverhand
Post a Reply
silverhand
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States91 Posts
July 27 2011 16:42 GMT
#1
So it appears as if I am advancing a league per season. I started playing about 3 weeks before season 1 locked and once they fixed the promotion bug shortly after season 2 began I was promoted to silver. Between having a newborn and finishing up chiropractic school, consistency of practice has been spotty. I acknowledge that I probably will only ever have a good 5-6 hours per week max to dedicate to actual playing time, so lately it's just been trying to maximize that time to improve my game.

I have finally locked down 2 standard builds per matchup, and while I know that most people advise you to focus on one per matchup until you can execute the builds, I've had trouble finding one build that fits each matchup that is applicable across all maps/spawn situations. As such, I have pretty much focused on the following builds:

PvP
1) 4gate can apply to almost any map, but still seems required on maps like Taldarim

2) Tyler/Day9's anti 4-gate for maps with a narrow ramp

I find myself going 4gate mostly because my execution is not crisp as evidenced by getting roflstomped against Masters Protoss players in the Geforce ProAm in 4gate situations. I'm sure I could anti-4gate more often, but that build leaves even less margin for error and requires some solid micro which I still have some ways to go and haven't really focused on yet based on multiple sources advising to focus on mastering builds and macro before worrying about micro; that doing this can get me to diamond without trouble.

PvT
1) I have a 3 gate stalker/zealot/sentry early aggression build that hits around 6:00-6:30 that works well for me in most situations to delay the Terran expansion, or to do some initial damage to a 1-base strat, if not just flat winning the game on this push. It is not tough to transition out of and the only thing I have struggled with is fast siege tanks if I am a little late on my initial push.

2) Warp Prism 4gate - This one is just fun to use and doesn't always outright win the game, but almost always does some significant econ damage to the terran player unless I'm hit early by 2rax rush and have to delay my drop...still catches a ton of terrans off-guard and I've had more than a few responses of "WTF" when they see 4 zealots and 4 stalkers hit their main mineral line

PvZ
1) Fake 3gate sentry expand into 5gate zealot/sentry push. Kiwikaki uses this quite a bit and while I'm certain at silver/gold and even plat level not all of my zerg opponents will scout my front and react "properly to a 3 gate sentry expand" - which is what this build is designed to abuse, but because zergs at this level rarely execute their builds and timings crisply, my push is usually strong. Poor FF usage and army positioning is usually what loses this for me.

2) FFE into Stargate - MC style - Of course I'm no where near as good at executing this, but on some maps this is more favorable than the fake 3gate sentry expand due to longer rush distances, ease of taking a 3rd as zerg, and it's ability to hold roach/ling all-ins quite nicely. My biggest issue with this build is incorporating phoenix play into this as my micro with them sucks to be honest and it is a pretty big part of MC's execution of this strategy. When I am able to prevent the 3rd from getting up, I can usually time my tech switch to colossi nicely, but it's when I lose all my voids and fail to take down the 3rd that I find that switch very hard to get before hydras reach critical mass.

So I logged in last night to play my placement match and see which league I landed in. Season 2, I thought I would possibly skip silver league and go to gold because I was playing mostly gold leaguers at the time and I was crushed when I lost my placement match against a gold zerg to be placed into silver league. I wonder to this day if I had won that match if it would have still placed me in silver or not.

So I click Find Match last night and realize I have not downvoted any maps, nor have I played any of the new maps at all....CANCEL CANCEL CANCEL!!!...whew, made it in time and was able to select my 3 downvotes which ended up being Typhon Peaks (never liked this map, never gave it a chance), and two of the new maps...Searing Crater and Nerazim Crypts. Was really hoping my placement match was on something I knew, but as the loading screen pops up I see Abyssal Caverns.

It's PvT and I go with my aggressive push...show up with 3 zealots, 3 sentries, and 6 stalkers a little later than planned and he went marine/tank mixture. I did some army damage but took more losses than I wanted to - retreated and took my expansion and stupidly went Stargate thinking voids to take out the tanks not realizing that the mass marines would cut them down easily. This is what happens when you play unprepared and tired. After attempting to take the south expansion as my 3rd (again stupid as I should have gone for the gold instead based on spawn positions and my need for minerals at the time) and attempting to switch to templar for storms (more because I'm trying to get better at using them than because it was the best tech path) since I already had a council up for chargelots, he hits me with a crapload of siege tanks and marines with medivacs. Even though my chargelots are 1-2 upgraded and his marines are 0-0, the tanks in addition to medivac support ripped them up in no time. The chokes in the attack path put my army in such bad position and I lost not only my 3rd, but was pretty much losing my natural when I GG'd thinking "Great another season of silver."

Game finished and I get my nice shiny GOLD badge promotion! One step closer. This season I plan on getting to the point where my builds are crisp in hitting their timings and I have mastered the builds to the point where I no longer need my cheat sheets handy. In addition to this, my goals include:

1) incorporating more templar into my game
2) keeping my money low after my first push - I tend to focus on the battle without properly continuing to macro
3) Improving FF use and engaging the enemy in more favorable terrain

Things I recognize have really helped me improve over Season 2:

1) Finding builds that fit my playstyle and skill level
2) Playing fewer but longer sessions instead of 2-3 games here and there
3) Playing against Masters/Diamond league players in the Geforce Tournament - mostly helped me see where my 4gate needed work
4) Messing around with worker splits at beginning of game - realized some of my builds hit their timings easier when I had my workers mining 2 to a close mineral patch before sending one to the far mineral patches - seems to help getting that first pylon out 3-4 seconds sooner that I was which is a huge timeframe in a 4-gate scenario. Once the gateway goes down I stop paying attention to microing my workers as it is counterproductive to my scouting and build execution.
5) Finally made the correlation to number of gateways/production facilities and how often a new pylon would be needed with constant unit production. Still get supply blocked occasionally, but far less often than before.

So, here's to hoping I can reach platinum before Season 4. For now...it's time to dominate the gold league

/me ponders
Cycle
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States300 Posts
July 27 2011 17:00 GMT
#2
Super congratulations! Looks like you'll have to rename yourself goldhand

I remember when I was in gold league, I had to have a piece of paper from that sc2 notebook that came with the game where I wrote down the build order and referenced it many many times during the first 5 minutes of the game. If you ever want to practice against me at any time hit me up, info in the sig. <3
| chKCycle.551 | NA | Master League Random | Checkmate Gaming |
silverhand
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States91 Posts
July 27 2011 18:05 GMT
#3
Sounds great! I'll definitely add you to my friends list and hit you up for a game if you're available.

I also use that sc2 notebook for my build orders
/me ponders
Blazinghand *
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States25558 Posts
July 27 2011 19:24 GMT
#4
That's great to hear! Since I like your name so much, I invite you to stop by my practice group whenever you want to get in some games or watch some games. We're mostly master and diamond league, but there's still a lot you can learn even if there's a skill difference. You can find us in chat channel PEJ on the NA/LA server. I'm blazinghand.736
When you stare into the iCCup, the iCCup stares back.
TL+ Member
SpearWrit
Profile Joined February 2011
United States300 Posts
July 27 2011 21:09 GMT
#5
Hey! I'm basically the same way, I was Silver Season 1, Gold Season 2, Plat Season 3!

By the way, did you use to play Warcraft? Your name could be a reference to the Knights of the Silver Hand, a.k.a. Paladins.
"Special Tactics is...make surprise for your enemy, and also...eh, still work." -White-Ra
Blazinghand *
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States25558 Posts
July 27 2011 21:30 GMT
#6
Dude spearwrit you should stop by as well. Sorry about not really updating re: civ V, btw, it seems that our succession game fell apart after that initial one at least we got one through with a victory, though
When you stare into the iCCup, the iCCup stares back.
TL+ Member
silverhand
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States91 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-27 22:41:58
July 27 2011 22:38 GMT
#7
@blazinghand...thanks for the invite, as I have the time to play I will take you up on the offer. That is how I got good at war2 initially - by playing the top 100 on Katan's Lair repeatedly and just soaking up everything I could learn from them. Before long I was in the top 100.

@spearwrit...I did play warcraft, but this name came from before I discovered warcraft. It's the main charac ter in the Song of Albion trilogy by Stephen Lawhead. But as soon as I discovered the Knights of the Silver Hand, the name became even cooler.
/me ponders
SaLaYa
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States363 Posts
July 28 2011 04:56 GMT
#8
Congrats on getting to gold! One step closer.
While I never had problems with getting promotions etc (extensive competitive rts background) it doesn't mean I have some of the same problems as you!

I have build order cheat sheets everywhere, as I just switched to Terran for season 3, I am always forgetting my building timings!

Knowing how many production structures you need per base is really important! I was mid-masters Protoss last season (didn't play much) but I would always under produce the number of unit producing structures I needed.

University makes it really hard for my to play consistently, so I try and learn 2-3 solid builds per match-up, always one that is really cheesy.

I would suggest a big macro style against your opponents in lower leagues (obvious you have heard this advice before). Just always be checking their expo timing and try and stay ahead with better upgrades and tech. That's a pretty solid general gameplan.

That being said, scouting is everything! Towers, probe outside his ramp, extra obs, everything! With good enough scouting, you should be able to win every match (in theory).

Good luck this season!!
Cornell 2014 // eYe_am_SaSsY
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Replay Cast
00:00
LiuLi Cup Grand Finals Playoff
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
ProTech140
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 43119
Bisu 9171
Larva 197
Sharp 147
Dewaltoss 145
ToSsGirL 133
Shine 84
scan(afreeca) 37
Britney 0
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm121
ROOTCatZ15
LuMiX1
League of Legends
JimRising 624
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox696
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor175
Other Games
summit1g11397
C9.Mang0324
RuFF_SC294
Mew2King33
Organizations
StarCraft: Brood War
Afreeca ASL 3436
UltimateBattle 268
Other Games
BasetradeTV207
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 11 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH230
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Upcoming Events
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2h 59m
RSL Revival
2h 59m
Classic vs TriGGeR
Cure vs Cham
WardiTV Winter Champion…
4h 59m
Solar vs Clem
Cure vs Bunny
herO vs MaxPax
OSC
5h 29m
BSL
12h 59m
Replay Cast
16h 59m
Replay Cast
1d 1h
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 9h
OSC
1d 16h
Replay Cast
3 days
[ Show More ]
The PondCast
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
CranKy Ducklings
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

ASL Season 21: Qualifier #1
PiG Sty Festival 7.0
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Jeongseon Sooper Cup
Spring Cup 2026
ASL Season 21: Qualifier #2
RSL Revival: Season 4
WardiTV Winter 2026
Nations Cup 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual

Upcoming

ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
CSLAN 4
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
NationLESS Cup
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.