• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 23:48
CET 04:48
KST 12:48
  • 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
[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos0Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy7ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT30Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book19Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289
Community News
Weekly Cups (March 16-22): herO doubles, Cure surprises3Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool47Weekly Cups (March 9-15): herO, Clem, ByuN win42026 KungFu Cup Announcement6BGE Stara Zagora 2026 cancelled12
StarCraft 2
General
Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool Weekly Cups (March 16-22): herO doubles, Cure surprises Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw? Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy What mix of new & old maps do you want in the next ladder pool? (SC2)
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament World University TeamLeague (500$+) | Signups Open RSL Season 4 announced for March-April WardiTV Team League Season 10 KSL Week 87
Strategy
Custom Maps
Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026]
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 518 Radiation Zone Mutation # 517 Distant Threat Mutation # 516 Specter of Death
Brood War
General
mca64Launcher - New Version with StarCraft: Remast BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ ASL21 General Discussion Soulkey's decision to leave C9 JaeDong's form before ASL
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro24 Group B [ASL21] Ro24 Group C 2026 Changsha Offline Cup [ASL21] Ro24 Group A
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile Dawn of War IV
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
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
TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Cricket [SPORT] Formula 1 Discussion Tokyo Olympics 2021 Thread General nutrition recommendations
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Laptop capable of using Photoshop Lightroom?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Money Laundering In Video Ga…
TrAiDoS
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
FS++
Kraekkling
Shocked by a laser…
Spydermine0240
Unintentional protectionism…
Uldridge
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 7176 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
Canada6223 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
PiGosaur Cup
00:00
#74
PiGStarcraft314
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RuFF_SC2 196
ProTech141
SpeCial 22
StarCraft: Brood War
GuemChi 5824
Noble 39
ajuk12(nOOB) 24
Bale 22
ggaemo 3
Dota 2
monkeys_forever714
Counter-Strike
Coldzera 1931
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox587
Other Games
PiGStarcraft334
C9.Mang0297
Maynarde112
ViBE64
Temp00
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1331
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream67
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH89
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV1096
League of Legends
• Lourlo964
Other Games
• Scarra1546
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
5h 12m
Afreeca Starleague
6h 12m
hero vs YSC
Larva vs Shine
Kung Fu Cup
7h 12m
Replay Cast
20h 12m
KCM Race Survival
1d 5h
The PondCast
1d 6h
WardiTV Team League
1d 8h
OSC
1d 8h
Replay Cast
1d 20h
WardiTV Team League
2 days
[ Show More ]
RSL Revival
3 days
Cure vs Zoun
herO vs Rogue
WardiTV Team League
3 days
Platinum Heroes Events
3 days
BSL
3 days
RSL Revival
4 days
ByuN vs Maru
MaxPax vs TriGGeR
WardiTV Team League
4 days
BSL
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Light vs Calm
Royal vs Mind
Wardi Open
5 days
Monday Night Weeklies
5 days
OSC
5 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Afreeca Starleague
6 days
Rush vs PianO
Flash vs Speed
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-03-23
WardiTV Winter 2026
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
BSL Season 22
CSL Elite League 2026
CSL Season 20: Qualifier 1
ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
RSL Revival: Season 4
Nations Cup 2026
NationLESS Cup
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual

Upcoming

2026 Changsha Offline CUP
CSL Season 20: Qualifier 2
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
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.