EPTZvT on Nazarim Crypt
Me: 12p/18h
Him: Hellion harrass into BF drops into expand.
I denied the hellion harrassment and blue flame drops with a small number of roaches and a couple of spinecrawlers, losing virtually nothing. At this point I felt ahead, but was unsure what to do next. Then I remembered from a previous episode of Droning On that I wanted to try teching quickly to Hive after a Hellion opening, the better to counter a mech-heavy followup.
Good play: I took my third and spread creep and overlords well, especially between my main and natural in anticipation of needing to deal with drops.
Mistake:I spent too much on mutalisks, which weren't able to achieve anything against his heavily turreted bases and weakened my army. This was sheer force of habit more than anything: get spire => build mutalisks.
Fatal Mistake:I clicked the wrong button and started the second air attack upgrade rather than Greater Spire when my Hive finished. As a result, I had some corruptors but no broodlords when his Thor/Tank/Marauder/Hellion push arrived, and the end came shortly thereafter.
Specific Lessons Learned:
I'll definitely try the fast hive again next time; if it had been executed properly I think it would have made a big difference.
Check whether he's prepared for mutalisks before investing in them, especially against a player who's likely to be meching. I don't need to do economic damage if he's spent 1000 minerals on useless turrets.
ZvP on Abyssal Caverns
Me: 12p/18h
Him: 3 gate expand
I found his base in close air positions and scouted chronoboost on his nexus, which I interpreted as heralding some kind of economic play. However, I lacked the courage of my convictions and over-invested in a roach warren and spinecrawlers. I then compounded this mistake by failing to check for an expansion until it was too late, making units to hold off an imaginary 4-gate in the meantime. I tried to recover by taking a third and droning extra hard but it was too little, too late and his two-base stalker/colossus army simply blew through me before I could muster any kind of resistance.
Specific Lessons Learned:
I'm pleased that I interpreted the layout of his base and use of chronoboost correctly. Had I not second-guessed myself, I could have droned and then crushed him with 2-base roach/ling or hydra drops.
ZvT on Typhon
Me: 12p/18h
Him: Marine/Tank expand.
This was a game of endless missed opportunities. I took a commanding 3-base-to-2 economic lead early on but failed to capitalise on it. I could have slaughtered his entire 2-base army while he was trying to get a third up, but instead allowed him to construct a third and a fourth turreted planetary fortress while I faffed about making Infestors to try for a cute mineral-line play. I took out his natural with Broodlords but didn't support them. I destroyed his entire army, but failed to defend my own expansions from his Viking strike force and so ended up behind. I don't think I've ever worked quite so hard to throw a game away, and it left quite a sour taste in my mouth.
The State of the Brain
As I feared, gradual improvements to my macro are allowing me to showcase my utter lack of a gameplan and general inability to close out games. After a point my mind goes completely blank, and I start making terrible decisions - or no decisions at all. I'm locked into the mindset of having to react, react, react, parrying each attack without ever getting a step ahead or setting myself up for a decent, planned counter. Fast-teching versus hellions is (I think) a step in the right direction, but I definitely need to make more decisions like that outside the game, so that I can quickly execute a response to the situations I find myself in - a response that gives me the initiative.
Thanks for reading.
EDIT:
Just lost another ZvT because of poor decision-making. Eight losses in a row now, heading back down the silver league table.
I scouted him trying taking a third on Backwater Gulch and moved to deny with my ling/bling/roach force, but lost everything because I attacked from a bad angle and then, instead of retreating and taking minimal losses or countering his main with speedlings while he defended his third, moved around and attacked from an even worse angle. Then I misclicked on a 'unit finished' icon that popped up while I was trying to catch a drop, and lost all my mutalisks while trying to figure out why I was suddenly looking at my base.
