EPT
ZvT on Backwater gulch
Me: 11p/18h
Him: Barracks + double gas
Scouting the gas, I prepared for banshees with an evo chamber, extra queens and a spore at both bases.
Good play: Recalling earlier games where the Terran delayed attacking with 2Port banshee until he had more than queens and spores could deal with, I teched to lair and spire while droning hard. Sure enough, he waited for six banshees before moving in - just as my first round of mutalisks spawned.
After making more mutalisks and doing modest damage to his main mineral line, and noticing that he had nothing but marines to take his natural, I decided to hit him with baneling/muta while he was trying to saturate his natural
Bad mistake: I didn't wait for baneling speed (or start it soon enough) and didn't have enough lings to support my banelings, so the attack was a bit of a flop and failed to deny his expansion.
Meanwhile I took two extra bases on the far side of the map.
Bad mistake: Despite getting both of my remote bases dropped, twice, and completely destroyed before my units could get there, I failed to build static defence. This slowed me down a lot.
Bad mistake: Mismicroed all my mutas while trying to attack with ling/baneling and lost them all.
Interesting result: After resaturating my bases and arriving on hive tech I made an army of roach/ling/baneling/broodlord and attacked into his siege line near his gold expansion. I A-moved the broodlords and then waited for him to send his marines before charging in with the banelings and roaches. This went extremely well.
Fatal mistake: My earlier failures meant that rather than being able to quickly remax I was left with eight or so broodlords on the far side of the map with no support. He had at least one base I didn't know about and was able to make enough units to drop my main and eliminate critical tech.
Specific lessons learned:
Teching towards spire definitely saved my bacon in the early game. If fewer banshees had arrived I could have droned harder, mined less gas and expanded sooner, but the spire was much-needed insurance.
Broodlord/roach/baneling seems to have potential against an otherwise entrenched thor/tank/bio army.
A few hundred minerals of static defence at my remote bases would have shut down his drops and won me the game.
General lessons learned:
Remember, remember to scout dilligently for bases.
ZvT on Shakuras
Close air positions.
Me: 11p/18h
Him: Barracks + 2gas
Again scouting the two gases I prepared for banshees as in the earlier game. Two duly arrived and were dispatched by queens and a spore at each base, after which the ling in his natural saw him expand and start to wall off his natural ramp.
My follow-up: I immediately took a third, put down a baneling nest and a spire.
Good play: I became conscious of a problem I think I experience a lot: I get all giddy at the prospect of attacking with mutalisks and neglect to saturate the third I've taken, instead spending all my minerals on mutalisks. This time I was able to rein myself in a bit and make drones. It pains me slightly to think how many times I've got that wrong in the past, expanding and then making units.
His attack: After getting what was for me a decent number of drones I made a couple of rounds of lings to complement my mutalisks. Shortly thereafter he pushed out with a marine/tank force. Rather than make banelings I engaged with ling/muta, which went very well: the marines were too busy trying to kill the lings and got mowed down by the mutalisks. Shortly after that he tried again, I assume nihilistically, with a handful of marines and all his SCVs. Which ran into two banelings.
General lessons learned:
Don't expand and make units - not voluntarily at least. It's a choice between strong harassment and economy; six mutalisks will force just as many turrets as twelve.
ZvP on Nezarim Crypt
Close positions (10 and 2 o'clock)
Me: 11p/18h speedling
Him: 4gate
I got a drone into his base and kept it alive long enough to see the extra gates go down. I dropped two spinecrawlers at my natural the instant it spawned, walked my queen down and started pumping lings and roaches, adding two more spinecrawlers when my scout saw him leave his base.
Seeing that his initial attack wasn't going to break the front, he pulled back to reinforce with more stalkers, zealots and sentries. I made more lings and roaches, sneaking in a drone here and there, and was able to hold him off again.
After the second wave was repulsed, I made a large round of lings and sent them around the map into his main. He hadn't blocked his ramp and I was able to destroy the bulk of his probes before zealots warped in to defend.
Teching and droning very carefully, making plenty of units, I sent a second wave of lings to try the same trick again but found zealots blocking the ramp. A few seconds later he tried to attack again, but this time my roaches and the lings returning from his base caught him in a vice and squashed him flat.
Specific lessons learned:
It is possible for me to hold off a 4-gate. I never knew I had it in me.
General lessons learned:
Look for the runby, the unattended units, the opportunities to grab a quick advantage. It is possible to end games proactively rather than just by defending and soaking everything up.
Quickies:
ZvP on Xel'Naga: He sniped my natural while expanding himself. Could have returned the favour, but delayed too long, letting him get a decisive probe lead and then catching up in army. If counterattacking is the only way to have a chance, do it immediately and reinforce with speedlings.
ZvZ on Antiga Shipyard: My spinecrawlers and roaches on 2-base > his roaches and attempts to build spinecrawlers on my creep on one base. Made good decisions, pressing home my advantage with roach/hydra, forcing army exchanges and rolling over him while he vainly tried to establish his natural.
The State of the Brain
Like I said in the title: something of a mixed bag. I made some good decisions, and lost because of some really bad ones. However, I beat a 4-gate for the first time ever, and did really well at shutting down early 'cheesy' plays, so overall I feel very positive.
