• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 04:33
CET 10:33
KST 18:33
  • 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
RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview2TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners12
Community News
SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-1819Weekly Cups (Dec 22-28): Classic & MaxPax win, Percival surprises2Weekly Cups (Dec 15-21): Classic wins big, MaxPax & Clem take weeklies3ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career !11Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win4
StarCraft 2
General
SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-18 Weekly Cups (Dec 22-28): Classic & MaxPax win, Percival surprises Chinese SC2 server to reopen; live all-star event in Hangzhou Starcraft 2 Zerg Coach ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career !
Tourneys
OSC Season 13 World Championship WardiTV Mondays $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship $100 Prize Pool - Winter Warp Gate Masters Showdow Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 506 Warp Zone Mutation # 505 Rise From Ashes Mutation # 504 Retribution Mutation # 503 Fowl Play
Brood War
General
I would like to say something about StarCraft A cwal.gg Extension - Easily keep track of anyone BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ (UMS) SWITCHEROO *New* /Destination Edit/ What monitor do you use for playing Remastered?
Tourneys
[BSL21] Non-Korean Championship - Starts Jan 10 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] Grand Finals - Sunday 21:00 CET SLON Grand Finals – Season 2
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Current Meta [G] How to get started on ladder as a new Z player Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
General RTS Discussion Thread Nintendo Switch Thread Awesome Games Done Quick 2026! Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Mechabellum
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
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
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Survivor II: The Amazon Sengoku Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread How Panthegel 5 gm Helps Repair the Eye Surface Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List TL+ Announced
Blogs
National Diversity: A Challe…
TrAiDoS
I decided to write a webnov…
DjKniteX
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1034 users

Getting Rusty: Need WD-40

Blogs > Whole
Post a Reply
Whole
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States6046 Posts
August 12 2011 04:38 GMT
#1
Over the summer, I played a shit load of Starcraft. I started off really bad because I was in Diamond even though I haven't played in ages. So I nuked my rank down to Platnium, and I finally started playing people my level. I went into the game with a philosophy of taking every loss as a chance to improve and taking every win with dancing and cheering to make the game fun and keep me motivated. I was doing excellent. I had times where I would get 5 win streaks and my loss streaks would never exceed 3.

Then school came along. School is no big deal. I actually have a very easy semester, and I want to capitalize on it. But when I have work and school, I have literally 3 hours of free time assuming 6 hours of sleep. So usually, I use the free time on homework and going to bed early. Then I have random bullshit like being forced to go to religion class every other Sunday, mowing lawns, doing chores, ect. ect. On the up side, since my semester is so easy (I doubt it'll be next semester >_>), every day I have off is literally a day to myself (excluding school). The point I'm trying to get at is that my free time is inconsistent. Sometimes I have work three days in a row, sometimes I would have off 3 days in a row, sometimes work is every other day, ect.

Well due to this, I've been trying to squeeze SC2 into every ounce of free time I have. But recently, I've been kind of busy, so the 2 hours (1 of my 3 hours of time is spent for homework/facebooking/watching SC2 if anything) a night thing is kind of detrimental to my ladder rank because I would lose a few games because I'm warming up, then win back my ladder points because I'm finally "in the zone", then it'd be time to go to sleep. And it'd just feel like I wasted my time because all of my loses were from stupid mistakes. (miss a scouting timing, misplace an overlord to lose to a drop, ect.)

So I'd like to see if TL has any solutions to my [b]two major problems[b]. I need some kind of way to warm up without losing ladder points. 2v2's would seem good, but the strategies are unorthodox, sometimes completely cheesy, and I don't want to bother MonsieurGrimm everyday just to 2v2. 1v1 Practice Partners would seem good, but I don't have any, and I'll need enough to always have one on. However, the benefits outside of warming up would be extremely useful. I guess I'll go try to find some tomorrow. Lol, answering my own problem in my own help me blog. If anyone has any other ideas for my warming up problem, or would like to be my practice partner, just say so in the comments I suppose.

Now my other problem is if I should play during all of my free time or just in a few long sessions. Well I think the fewer and longer session solution is the obvious answer, but what if I get screwed one week and can't do a long session. My extended periods of free time are so random, that I might just not have enough free days to play SC2 to at least maintain my skill. My goal is to at least very slowly improve and maintain my skill from the summer. I could use holidays and stuff to improve, so as long as I have a plan to keep the skill I have when I'm busy. Would it even be possible to do such a thing since the nature of SC2 requires so much time to be even decent at? Should I lower my expectations when laddering? I'm really lost on this. I would like an answer before I would have to stop playing SC2 because I would be declining in skill instead of improving.

Anyway, thanks in advance for all of those who might help me get out of this dilemma. If anything is unclear in my blog, just ask. I wrote it in a stream of conscience style, and edited the format to ask questions instead of ranting. I'll answer tomorrow because I'm off to sleep!

*
Lmui
Profile Joined November 2010
Canada6219 Posts
August 12 2011 04:42 GMT
#2
1v1 metalopolis observer mode. It's inconsistent in terms of player quality but generally, you get to practice mechanics/builds and that's what really matters on ladder in plat/diamond.
fezvez
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
France3021 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-08-12 17:04:00
August 12 2011 17:02 GMT
#3
Honestly, I feel that there's no such thing as warming. Rather, there's a creeping fear of losing that you fight of by convincing yourself that ,yes, your level hasn't dropped. (this is indeed what "warming" is for)

The important point is that you shouldn't fear losing ladder points. Try to get this out of your head. If need be, lose 20 games in a row (you can still practice rather than disconnecting right at the beginning. Mass raven is possible option, storm drops another one, mass queen a third)

It's simply ladder fear.

+ Show Spoiler +
Though if you strictly can't do it, go on the channels "Looking for a custom game". At diamond level, there are always a bunch of players available)
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 3h 27m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SortOf 102
trigger 95
StarCraft: Brood War
Stork 439
Shuttle 354
Larva 302
actioN 277
Jaedong 252
Leta 214
ZerO 138
Hyun 114
Sharp 103
Rush 72
[ Show more ]
sorry 68
Killer 67
soO 65
ToSsGirL 49
Mong 43
Mind 41
Hyuk 24
ggaemo 21
yabsab 18
Bale 18
Nal_rA 17
zelot 11
Sacsri 10
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm96
League of Legends
JimRising 608
C9.Mang0596
Counter-Strike
shoxiejesuss816
Other Games
summit1g10039
Happy554
ceh9418
minikerr33
ZerO(Twitch)20
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Adnapsc2 17
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos1580
• Stunt905
Upcoming Events
OSC
3h 27m
Korean StarCraft League
17h 27m
OSC
1d 2h
IPSL
1d 4h
Dewalt vs Bonyth
OSC
1d 8h
OSC
2 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
Patches Events
3 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

C-Race Season 1
WardiTV 2025
META Madness #9

Ongoing

IPSL Winter 2025-26
BSL Season 21
Slon Tour Season 2
CSL Season 19: Qualifier 2
Escore Tournament S1: W2
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025

Upcoming

CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
Escore Tournament S1: W3
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Thunderfire SC2 All-star 2025
Big Gabe Cup #3
OSC Championship Season 13
Nations Cup 2026
Underdog Cup #3
NA Kuram Kup
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
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.