EPTThe Games
ZvP Taldarim Altar
Me: 11p/18h
Him: Wall-off with forge.
Scouting the wall-off, I anticipate air or DTs. Made a spore at each base and droned hard.
Fatal Mistake: Didn't make enough queens and didn't keep them together. 4 Void rays sniped one queen leaving me with just two against a fifth VR.
Specific Lessons Learned:
Don't skimp on queens if you suspect air, and keep them together at all times (shift-queue spawn larvae). Transfuse is critical.
ZvZ on Typhon
Me: 11p/18h into roaches
Him: Speedling/Baneling
My roaches spawned just in time as his first banelings came up the ramp; I was able to pick them off with minimal losses. After that the momentum was all in my favour: with my natural already partially saturated and an overlord at his front door I was able to drive roaches across the map to take down his expansion the moment he tried to drone up.
Specific Lessons Learned:
The opening felt really solid - somewhat tight timing versus the banelings but he crippled his economy to get them so quickly. Having an overlord watching his followup was absolutely key.
State of the Brain
Lately I've been experiencing more and more frustration and anger when I lose. Often I feel an almost overwhelming urge to start and quit games over and over to push me down the ladder - something I came to recognise some time ago as being a knee-jerk reaction to a feeling of helplessness. Typing "Bunker rush this, bitch" and quitting without moving a drone is, rightly or wrongly, a way of taking control of a stressful situation. I'd worked really hard to overcome such urges in the past, so it seemed odd that they would return with such a vengeance. I mulled it over for a while.
Much of the problem, I realised, was that I was starting to feel entitled to win. In the past, Void Rays would turn up and I'd think "Oh. He made Void Rays while I was making roaches. Silly me for not scouting. GG." Now, though, I know a lot more. I generally have scouted. I know what's coming, I prepare for it - but I make a mistake and lose, and the reason it's getting to me so badly is that when I scout what's coming I allow myself to feel contempt for my opponent. I've bought into the idea that going Void Rays or blue-flame hellions or mass marines is 'cheesy' and therefore deserves to lose.
Yes, the element of surprise can be a huge factor. But the builds can still be executed well; they still deserve respect for that. And if they've practiced their build a lot, it stands to reason they'll probably execute it better than I execute my defence, since I get to practice that in only a fraction of my games.
So the meta-lesson for today is: pat myself on the back for seeing these attacks coming, but don't let that make me feel entitled to win.
Thanks for reading.
I get to play for an hour each weekday at lunchtime and maybe a couple of hours one evening a week. I'll just have to settle for improving very slowly in a lot of directions at once.
