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Day 0

Blogs > Apollo324
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Apollo324
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Canada40 Posts
August 11 2011 01:47 GMT
#1
The bottom line: I want to get into Masters.

I'm currently in Plat playing Zerg, and while that's all good and well for goofing around and having fun, I actually want to be good at this game ^^.

The process:

  1. An actual practice regimen. For now I'm going to base this on something outlined by Day[9] in his "getting into SC2 for the first time" daily. While I'm not exactly new to the game, it still makes a good deal of sense.
    • 3 games/day at least. Period.
    • 1 day a week devoted to copying a cool build from a pro.
    • 1 day a week devoted to working on a bread-and-butter solid build.
    • 1 day a week doing crazy shit just for kicks (mass Queen or 400fd Banes anyone?).
    • 1 day a week doing a "session". For now my goal is 2-2.5hrs straight. Get that endurance up.
    • for as many of these days as possible, I'm going to try to be on Skype with friends so I can cheer and bitch as needed

  2. Start streaming. This is more as an incentive for me to keep to my schedule than any delusion that all that many people will watch. However, if I can get some viewers, all the better. Maybe even some good discussion on improving could arise in the chat, who knows? For this I'll be setting a specific day/time schedule, and I'll post this later for anyone who cares.

  3. (maybe) Coaching. Once the basics are starting to settle down I may look into some coaching to work on specific issues/matches. This may or may not end up happening depending on how I feel about progress on my own and also cost. I'm currently a Masters student, so not really rolling in the green.


My first big goal is to work on mechanics...one thing at a time, until it's solid. The list right now:

  1. Hot key setup
  2. *using* army hotkeys (more than 1!)
  3. location hotkeys
  4. watching the mini-map excessively
  5. tapping
  6. probably many many others


I guess that's it for now...we'll see how it goes.

If anyone actually reads this and has any tips/suggestions, or words of support, I'd love to hear it.

Have fun!!
Tensai

*
"If the grass is greener on the other side...mow your damn lawn!"
redFF
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States3910 Posts
August 11 2011 01:51 GMT
#2
In plat league you are too low level to think about this so deep. Just keep playing more and more and you'll get better. Then when you are masters you can look at really going into the specifics!
redFF
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States3910 Posts
August 11 2011 01:51 GMT
#3
btw you arent going to improve very fast if you only play 3 games a day T.T
UTL_Unlimited
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Korea (South)353 Posts
August 11 2011 01:53 GMT
#4
Oh I hope that you will be able to do well in your quest to get better at Starcraft 2!
I remember doing something like this back in BW/WC3 and I don't have Starcraft 2 T^T
In regards to your first goal on mechanics: I recommend just cranking out custom games vs an easy A.I. First memorize the entire hotkey setup for Zerg and then look at a single build order and just crank that out until you think you have it down solid to whenever the build transitions into a mid game timing.

This way, you are practicing your mechanics because you have to be extremely precise for a single build order. Also understand the difference between APM spamming and mechanics. It's slightly weird whenever I see people intertwine the two.

But anyway, good luck and I hope that you'll do well!
Need to write more things...
Vehemus
Profile Joined November 2010
United States586 Posts
August 11 2011 01:55 GMT
#5
I don't really see 2 hours as a "session" either. At least not one to strive for if you really want to be master league. You'll have to practice a lot more than that.
This space for rent.
Apollo324
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Canada40 Posts
August 11 2011 01:58 GMT
#6
3 games/day at least.


This is mostly just to make sure I play at least a little every day. Nothing says it won't be more, and I'm sure it will be. University takes a massive amount of my time. I already probably average 3 games/day, but I want to be sure I'm online every day.

2h may be too conservative. We'll see. I suspect that you might be right and this will quickly be a much longer session.
"If the grass is greener on the other side...mow your damn lawn!"
phiinix
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
United States1169 Posts
August 11 2011 02:04 GMT
#7
yea I agree with the above. You'll get to masters.. In probably like 6 months to a year. I play screw around games as a warm up, would never spend a whole day doing it. For me I had to play at least 15 games a day, 5 days a week, starting my day with an analysis of my losing games from the previous days. Look at replays from pros in the mu i'm struggling with, play some practice games, and hit the ladder.
YPang
Profile Blog Joined April 2007
United States4024 Posts
August 11 2011 02:12 GMT
#8
i thought this was an asian girl blog
sMi.Gladstone | BW: B high| SC2: gold T_T
GhostKorean
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
United States2330 Posts
August 11 2011 02:26 GMT
#9
On August 11 2011 11:12 YPang wrote:
i thought this was an asian girl blog

Same that's why i clicked it lol :S
Demonace34
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
United States2493 Posts
August 11 2011 03:02 GMT
#10
If you want to see results faster atleast 5 a day would be more beneficial and atleast 10 a day if you are serious about wanting to become a quality player.
NaNiwa|IdrA|HuK|iNcontroL|Jinro|NonY|Day[9]|PuMa|HerO|MMA|NesTea|NaDa|Boxer|Ryung|
Haegr9599
Profile Joined April 2011
United States210 Posts
August 11 2011 03:50 GMT
#11
Good luck man! if you want any help or advice or a practice partner (although im sure that you havwe MORE than enough lol) Haegr.742

Best of luck in your improvement man!
I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies
Mastermind
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
Canada7096 Posts
August 11 2011 04:03 GMT
#12
On August 11 2011 11:26 GhostKorean wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 11 2011 11:12 YPang wrote:
i thought this was an asian girl blog

Same that's why i clicked it lol :S

I must admit I am guilty of this too.

I must agree with the guy who said that if you want to get better you shouldnt spend a whole day just doing crazy strats for kicks. That is just wasted time imo. Learn one solid build in each matchup and practice the shit out of it until you know how to handle every possible situation that can arise. Once you can do that you will be masters. No point in learning a variety of builds imo, it will just slow you down.
kaisr
Profile Joined October 2007
Canada715 Posts
August 11 2011 04:15 GMT
#13
On August 11 2011 12:02 Demonace34 wrote:
If you want to see results faster atleast 5 a day would be more beneficial and atleast 10 a day if you are serious about wanting to become a quality player.


yeah and moving to Korea would be even better. He wants to be a masters player not a professional, 3 games a day is way more than enough. Just play whenever you want, have fun and if you love the game enough you'll continue to play and eventually get into masters. Hardcore dedicated training isn't necessary to reach masters.
Cambium
Profile Blog Joined June 2004
United States16368 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-08-11 04:19:54
August 11 2011 04:19 GMT
#14
On August 11 2011 11:26 GhostKorean wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 11 2011 11:12 YPang wrote:
i thought this was an asian girl blog

Same that's why i clicked it lol :S


Yep... Very very disappointed...

Good luck though.
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
Rinrun
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada3509 Posts
August 11 2011 04:22 GMT
#15
GL with that dude!

("Day 0" = asian girl blog? lol)
MBC/Liquid/TSM always.
Cambium
Profile Blog Joined June 2004
United States16368 Posts
August 11 2011 04:25 GMT
#16
http://www.teamliquid.net/blog/craziepenguin
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
Apollo324
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Canada40 Posts
August 11 2011 15:57 GMT
#17
LOL! Apparently my blog entry naming is far from original...may have to work on that ;P
"If the grass is greener on the other side...mow your damn lawn!"
-AtRi-
Profile Joined December 2010
123 Posts
August 11 2011 17:03 GMT
#18
Just wanted to say, have you considered adding practice partners to your plan? I find cranking out a bunch of games with practice partners being way more beneficial that cranking out ladder at some times. If you ever want a Protoss around your level, hit me up AtRi.455. Hope to see you online, and good luck!
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