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The StarCraft 2 diaries of a 50% orc

Blogs > WAAA
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WAAA
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
New Zealand291 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-09-02 14:24:43
September 02 2011 11:03 GMT
#1
Hello Teamliquid! this will be my first blog post on Teamliquid (or anywhere), so hopefully it turns out ok.

First I should probably introduce myself.. my name is James and I'm a terran sc2 player and former orc wc3 player. Infact I was once called the best 50% orc in all of US west (the most illustrious of all realms)!

So how good is a 50% orc at sc2?.. well I am currently 1054 points in my NA master division. Because that will be meaningless in a few weeks I should also mention I am currently rank 2 and, sure enough, a 52% win rate.

This blog will serve mainly too chart my progress as a sc2 player for my benefit primarily but maybe someone else may find this itneresting. This entry will henceforth be about where I am at now, in terms of sc2, and where I have come from. So lets get into it.

During the first semester of my second year at uni sc2 beta dropped (byebye education). I started playing a few weeks into the beta when a wc3 friend got a key, he let me share it and I ended up playing many times more games than him (thanks mikey <3). I played mainly protoss (otherwise known as bestracetoss) and I think I have 1000 or so replays of sc2 during the beta, most of which probably involve 3 gates and a robo being built (seriously this build was the shit).

Once release rolled around I had finally settled on a race.. zerg. Everything was going fine, what with the injecting and makeing drones so when a lan tourney came up I was very eager. Out of 50 or so competitors I got knocked out in the round of 6 (yes, round of 6, the tournament organisers werent the most experienced to put it kindly) by a formidable (at making voidrays) protoss player, nonoken, who later went on to take out 1st place and the ~$150 prize. The experience was worth it though as I still practice with Nonoken to this day !

So.. I keep playing zerg and another lan tournament comes around, in the group phase I beat several players but lost to finest, the eventual winner, and a gold league protoss player. At this point I should mention I have been in the highest league since beta (excluding GM). The sneaky protoss player had made 2 gates and a stargate, luckily I sacced an ovy and saw the stargate warping in, unluckily I assumed it was a gateway and didnt click it (I am obviously very good at this game). So, violating my always make 3 queens rule, I lost in humiliating fashion.

Somewhere between this tournament and the next one (they were probably about 6 months apart) I switched to terran. Then to protoss, then to zerg then back to terran where I have stayed ever since. This time I made it out of the group phase where once more I was matched against nonoken, haveing a winning record vs him in practice I was feeling confident. The first game he opted for a double robo push (they were all the rage back then!) and I barely held takeing game 1. In game 2 he managed to tie it up 1-1. Game 3 was on shakuras and I opted for a gasless expand protected by 3 bunkers but, like all protoss, he is a tricky, sneaky, devious player and disregarded the bunkers with a blink stalker all in, sealing my fate and advancing to the next round a 2-1 victor.

Some time after that I played in a small online tournament where I won my first prize of $50. The protoss I was up against played similar for 4 of the games (he changed it up in the last game) where he went for a very strong 2 base timing with a few collosus and mainly gateway units. I came back from a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2. It was exhilerating, especially winning 3 straight games, I think I learned alot as a player from that series.

That is most of my tournament history to date, I have participated in a few team leagues so have played quite a few clan wars. With my old team gTa that consisted of friends and managed by me and a friend (shoutout to amd_ ). Because most of the members lost interest and went inactive we disbanded it. Then I joined Team Skynet or skyz (managed by beast) and performed pretty well in wars.

So.. I figured I should end on some graphs, bitches loves graphs.

These are from sc2gears and based off about 2000 replays I started using sc2gears and saveing replays soemtime after I switched to terran. Unfortunately there is a massive gap where I deleted a whole bunch of replays (I estimate in total i have played about 5000 games of sc2). For the 2 months before I started saving replays again I didnt play any games due to exams and a trip to europe so that explains why my average apm went down after my return. Dont worry though Since season 3 started I have played about 500 games so im still massing games and Im still bad.

I like this one because it shows how atleast one aspect (apm) of my play has improved over time. Dotted line means there are no replays for that period.
[image loading]

Showing that I am a truly 50% player!
[image loading]

Apparently I cant win games before 10 minutes T.T I blame those pesky protoss players!
[image loading]


This was way longer than I thought it would be, if you made it this far.. I pity you.

*****
Duka08
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
3391 Posts
September 02 2011 13:45 GMT
#2
What does 50% orc mean, if you don't mind me asking? >_>

Also, do you feel your race choice in WC3 had anything at all to do with your race choice in SC2, either at the beginning or down the road? I'm always curious to ask, I've gotten such a variety of answers.

The graphs at the end have me super motivated to start saving all my replays for some reason lol
WAAA
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
New Zealand291 Posts
September 02 2011 14:02 GMT
#3
Haha the 50% just means I had a 50% win rate, being the "best 50% orc on west" isnt very much of an accomplishment, more of a joke xD.

Hmm at the start I picked protoss because thats what I had played in BW (only 100 or so games) and because thats what wc3 players (orcs in aprticular) were "supposed" to pick. Turns out the games are so wildly different it doesnt matter at all so I ended cycling through the races till one stuck.

And yea definately get sc2gears, auto save replay function is really helpful and seeing yourself improve is quite kool. Also you can get pretty interesting statistics, like vs zerg on xel naga caverns I have a 75% win rate (over 200 or so games), I have a really good build there lol.
CBNMystery
Profile Joined June 2011
Canada25 Posts
September 02 2011 14:17 GMT
#4
Very Interesting Read :D i hope you continue to improve.

I used to play wc3 nightelf and when i switched to sc2 i also picked protoss. Anyone know why this is that so many wc3 players pick toss?
CB NERDS
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