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15th week of my road to becoming a Starcraft 2 progamer. It wasn't exactly the most productive week of my life. Lots of distractions. I played only 86 games, which averages into 12 games per day. Next week I'll definitely increase that number to 15-20 games per day.
Still, those 86 games were quite good. I won 51% of them, against opponents stronger than I've ever faced before. It was this week I pulled off my first macro wins against master-level players. My gameplay is stronger than ever before. The improvement is obvious. Cheeses that killed me before now simply don't work. I find myself having more units faster than before.
It's looking good, but I want more  I want to be in the Masters league tomorrow right after season 4 placement match. I can't wait to see if I'll get promoted!
Replay pack of this week: http://www.mediafire.com/?u67j66ntwiwcflr
40 ZvZ, 24 ZvP and 22 ZvT - the European Diamond ladder is flooded with zerg players. I began to ask terran friends for practice matches because I was seriously terran-starved. Of those 22 ZvTs only 16 were ladder matches. If you're a high Diamond terran or protoss, please play more!!!
55% ZvZ win ratio - My ZvZ is evolving into a really solid style:
1. I open up 13 gas 13 pool
2. above 15 supply make only lings, pressure with them. I always back away if enemy has more lings. I attack as soon as I have an advantage. Some games I win straight-up.
3. As soon as I have 300 minerals I expand to my natural. My ling pressure often denies opponents expansion, and thus puts me ahead.
4. After speed I leave 1 drone on gas. As soon as I have 50 gas, I build baneling nest. I'm not allowed to drone UNTIL baneling nest is completed. I lost some games because I forced enemy to make lings and he overran me before my banes were rdy. So now I mass lings until I've got 4 banelings. Then I drone.
5. Transition: if my early pressure put me ahead, I go with +1 speed roach timing with 2 bases saturated. If I got behind in the early game, I do 6 mutas and drone and expand behind them. Mutas help me build stronger economy and overrun my 2-base opponent with roach infestor.
45% ZvP win ratio - What can I say... It got better from the last week's 40% I'm getting better and better in the macro games against protoss. I'm starting to understand how to fight with corruptor roach hydra armies without losing everything for free Also with some success I'm exploring variety of early pressure builds - 8 ling early attack and 4 spinecrawler rush with overlords dumping creep.
42% ZvT win ratio - the only reason for this number to be so low is %$%& OP MECH TERRAN
No, seriously. I've been losing 100% of my ZvT games against mech. Only today I won 1st time against mech, by base-racing. I'm still clueless how to reliably win against hellion tank thor composition. I'm doing better and better though. Games are getting close.
If you're a terran, go mech. You'll see how helpless zergs are when their lings are roasted by blue flame and their mutas get 1-shotted by thors. Then just expand everywhere with planetaries and roach-infestor can't kill you because its too immobile. Crazy-good composition!
I was also slacking off a lot this week, watching MLG and Blizzcon. Amazing games. Insanely good! You don't know the taste of life until you've seen Nestea morph 120 banelings and 40 broodlords AND losing it all.
Next week I'll play 15 games per day minimum. I'll experiment with strategies against mech. I will test around different ways to kill FFExpanding protoss. My zvz style will continue to evolve.
I can't wait to get this 16th week going!!
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You should watch LastShadows ProGamer vlog. 15 weeks and you're still in diamond. Just FYI, diamond is still in the same category as bronze, just with better mechanics. You may think you do, but you actually know almost nothing about this game. I'm actually astounded that you've played a lot for the last 15 weeks and are still in diamond. I'm going to say that you should probably keep your day job/get a day job. You will never be a pro sc2 player, sorry.
And if that didn't get through, I play a few games a week and am 1500~ masters with no prior RTS experience. Sorry i'm such an honest dick.
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Ok man 15 games a day is pretty much nothing, but still you are stuck in diamond ??
I mean I made masters without RTS experience in 2 months..
FYI Koreans play 80 games a day.
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Don't be disheartened man, some people in this blog are saying how slow you are and that you will never become a pro.
Don't listen, let the haters hate, even if it is true that you take longer to improve than others I wouldn't see the problem, only thing stopping you is time and all you gotta do is keep playing.
Maybe try to really figure out a way of improving instead of just grinding out games (maybe you do this already, kinda a random jim-in)
Anyways, don't give up and keep fighting for that dream :-D I know I would.
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Wow I can't believe these guys. Keep working for what you want man, you're young and still have plenty of time to fall back on other options if this doesn't pan out. That being said, the diamond -> masters promotion is a lot harder these days. I'm a high diamond zerg myself and agree, mech terran is outrageously hard to deal with.
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On October 23 2011 19:00 TI20 wrote:
Ok man 15 games a day is pretty much nothing, but still you are stuck in diamond ??
I mean I made masters without RTS experience in 2 months..
FYI Koreans play 80 games a day.
1st post..sweet. 80 games a day if 15 minutes average is 20 hours. So not sure where you're getting your information but you're quite obviously a fucking idiot.
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On October 23 2011 19:05 Mr. Nefarious wrote:
Wow I can't believe these guys. Keep working for what you want man, you're young and still have plenty of time to fall back on other options if this doesn't pan out. That being said, the diamond -> masters promotion is a lot harder these days. I'm a high diamond zerg myself and agree, mech terran is outrageously hard to deal with.
Well people that aren't at minimum high masters level don't understand that the jump from low masters to high masters is the same if not more than bronze-diamond. There is an insane amount of shit to learn in masters. You begin to see people with (scgears) 200+ apms and responding correctly to builds/reading builds in high masters. Micro and multitasking is 10x better than what you would see in low masters. I was saying from personal experience, i'm not even a good player, but I would never lose to a diamond player no matter what I did.
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On October 23 2011 18:52 Just_A_PhasE wrote:
You should watch LastShadows ProGamer vlog. 15 weeks and you're still in diamond. Just FYI, diamond is still in the same category as bronze, just with better mechanics. You may think you do, but you actually know almost nothing about this game. I'm actually astounded that you've played a lot for the last 15 weeks and are still in diamond. I'm going to say that you should probably keep your day job/get a day job. You will never be a pro sc2 player, sorry.
And if that didn't get through, I play a few games a week and am 1500~ masters with no prior RTS experience. Sorry i'm such an honest dick.
Hey, everyone starts somewhere :p. You might only play a few games a week now, but I guarantee you played more at some point.
To OP:
I think rather than setting a goal to be a pro gamer, it's better to set smaller goals like self improvement first. If you set your goal to be a pro gamer first, you're probably going to get tired of the game before you ever reach it. I bet you that most pro gamers you see today actually started off playing RTS games for fun; then, one day, they realized they were good enough to attempt to play it for a living. That's pretty much what I think you should do as well. Play to improve and get better, because that's an absolute requirement for being a pro gamer. If you can achieve that, then you are at least in a realistic range to making it your job. Otherwise, if you get bored before that or for some reason can't achieve that, then you know it's not the right path and you can just continue to play the game for self improvement like you have been.
That's my opinion/advice for everyone that wants to go pro before they are already playing at a high level..
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Just_A_PhasE I 100% agree, I was just making the point that our main man Joyful shouldn't give up based on the progession of other players, I fully acknowledge and recognize the gargantuan jump from low to high masters.
And yeah, TI20 that is clearly wayyyy off, I remember at the end of GSL season 1 (open season that is) they said that Fruitdealer played around 30 ladder games a day (which they said was considered a fair amount) and on top of that he probably had short, high intensity sessions working over specific MU's and strategies with teammates. I understand now that practice is more about in-team specifics over general ladder (considering how much the game has evolved since last year)
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On October 23 2011 19:15 ThatGuyDoMo wrote:
Just_A_PhasE I 100% agree, I was just making the point that our main man Joyful shouldn't give up based on the progession of other players, I fully acknowledge and recognize the gargantuan jump from low to high masters.
And yeah, TI20 that is clearly wayyyy off, I remember at the end of GSL season 1 (open season that is) they said that Fruitdealer played around 30 ladder games a day (which they said was considered a fair amount) and on top of that he probably had short, high intensity sessions working over specific MU's and strategies with teammates. I understand now that practice is more about in-team specifics over general ladder (considering how much the game has evolved since last year)
Seeing all these blogs, sometimes I just point out how unrealistic it is. I don't like the fact that these people will spend all this time on the game only to fail and be disheartened and disappointed. Take a look through TL and see if any current pros made a blog about their "going pro" trip.
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Thanks Phase for an honest opinion. But no thanks for your bad intentions. Why would you ever discourage people from following their dreams? You'd just make their life crappy. Obviously I don't believe you - I CAN make it and I WILL make it to the pro level.
Also, you're not a zerg. You probably don't understand the concept of being a reactive race. Terran or protoss can memorize 3 builds, 1 for each matchup. He can practice those builds and get low Masters with them in 1-2 months. Easy Peasy. Zerg race takes way more skill to master. It takes more APM for zerg to win with a terran. It takes very good decision-making to consistantly win with protosses in long macro games. But once I get those skills, I will advance from low to high masters faster than terrans and protosses, just because I had to improve way more in the diamond league than they needed.
Also, I believe its far easier to get masters a year ago and stay there, than it is to start now and get masters. Way more good players around these days ;-) So thanks for smart comparisons and telling me I suck, but no thanks.
I appreciate both the encouragement and discouragement I get more and more motivated by both.
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On October 23 2011 18:52 Just_A_PhasE wrote:
You should watch LastShadows ProGamer vlog. 15 weeks and you're still in diamond. Just FYI, diamond is still in the same category as bronze, just with better mechanics. You may think you do, but you actually know almost nothing about this game. I'm actually astounded that you've played a lot for the last 15 weeks and are still in diamond. I'm going to say that you should probably keep your day job/get a day job. You will never be a pro sc2 player, sorry.
And if that didn't get through, I play a few games a week and am 1500~ masters with no prior RTS experience. Sorry i'm such an honest dick.
Diamond is the same category as bronze? You wanna enlighten on that?
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On October 23 2011 19:31 JoyfulSpirit wrote:Thanks Phase for an honest opinion. But no thanks for your bad intentions. Why would you ever discourage people from following their dreams? You'd just make their life crappy. Obviously I don't believe you - I CAN make it and I WILL make it to the pro level. Also, you're not a zerg. You probably don't understand the concept of being a reactive race. Terran or protoss can memorize 3 builds, 1 for each matchup. He can practice those builds and get low Masters with them in 1-2 months. Easy Peasy. Zerg race takes way more skill to master. It takes more APM for zerg to win with a terran. It takes very good decision-making to consistantly win with protosses in long macro games. But once I get those skills, I will advance from low to high masters faster than terrans and protosses, just because I had to improve way more in the diamond league than they needed. Also, I believe its far easier to get masters a year ago and stay there, than it is to start now and get masters. Way more good players around these days ;-) So thanks for smart comparisons and telling me I suck, but no thanks. I appreciate both the encouragement and discouragement I get more and more motivated by both.
I have a couple hundred games this season and am around 1500 pts. Lol. You honestly just showed how little you know about this game. There was a thread recently about the hardest race to play at every level. At diamond level, the easiest race to play is zerg, http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=271162 .. Also, i've played both zerg and protoss up to masters level as well. Where do you get all your information, because you're wrong in every biased aspect. Zerg does not take more APM in ZvT than terran.
Terran is a reactive race, in TvP if you do not respond quickly to him going either HTs or Collosus you lose. Simple. I off-race zerg very often and at low levels its so much easier to just expand and drone up to 70, wait for the terran to move out at 20 minutes then just a move and kill him. Thats what zvt is at diamond level. Anyone who tells you different is a liar. You know nothing about this game, don't try and act like you do. You're miles and miles behind me in terms of skill, and i'm beyond that behind professionals. Have fun thinking you're good, reality can be a bitch once it sets in.
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On October 23 2011 19:44 RogerX wrote:Show nested quote +On October 23 2011 18:52 Just_A_PhasE wrote:
You should watch LastShadows ProGamer vlog. 15 weeks and you're still in diamond. Just FYI, diamond is still in the same category as bronze, just with better mechanics. You may think you do, but you actually know almost nothing about this game. I'm actually astounded that you've played a lot for the last 15 weeks and are still in diamond. I'm going to say that you should probably keep your day job/get a day job. You will never be a pro sc2 player, sorry.
And if that didn't get through, I play a few games a week and am 1500~ masters with no prior RTS experience. Sorry i'm such an honest dick. Diamond is the same category as bronze? You wanna enlighten on that?
Sure. At the bronze-diamond level you basically just play the game without thinking. Don't know timings, don't read builds, macro sucks, micro sucks. Of course bronze is worse, but if you took a 0-100 scale, say MVP being a 100 bronze to diamond is really just 1-10. There is an immense amount of knowledge gained once you break through to that higher level. You recognize patterns, read builds, macro is 2nd nature as well as micro.
I remember i used to say when i first started playing; what do the pros do so much better than me? I macro alright, i micro okay... Until you realize how little you know, you know nothing at all.
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Well now Phase your clear intention of those posts is to be right and put me down, make me feel bad about my skill level. I think the less you write in here, the better I will feel about myself, and thus the better I'll play and faster I'll improve. Nobody learns fast when he feels like crap 
Therefore thanks for your contribution, but I don't think you'll write here anymore.
I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying you have bad intentions towards me and I don't like it. I don't get it, why would you ever wanna bring someone down?
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First of all, if you define becoming a pro = like the top tier koreans; then you can read this.
I think he didn't mean to disrespect your courage and ambition. Simply not every dream like yours is accomplishable, compare with other sports (99.98% fail to reach NBA/NFL...). And it's too risky to spend all of your time & energy into something vaguely when you have other possible options.
Please don't get me wrong either. You shouldn't think about becoming a pro untill you're very good (GM at minimum) at the game by just playing it "normally" without the fulltime progaming mentality.
If you just want to become good at the game for joining a sponsored team with some payment or winning little tournaments and this is your dream; might be possible.
+ Show Spoiler +On October 23 2011 19:12 ketomai wrote:Show nested quote +On October 23 2011 18:52 Just_A_PhasE wrote:
You should watch LastShadows ProGamer vlog. 15 weeks and you're still in diamond. Just FYI, diamond is still in the same category as bronze, just with better mechanics. You may think you do, but you actually know almost nothing about this game. I'm actually astounded that you've played a lot for the last 15 weeks and are still in diamond. I'm going to say that you should probably keep your day job/get a day job. You will never be a pro sc2 player, sorry.
And if that didn't get through, I play a few games a week and am 1500~ masters with no prior RTS experience. Sorry i'm such an honest dick. Hey, everyone starts somewhere :p. You might only play a few games a week now, but I guarantee you played more at some point. To OP: I think rather than setting a goal to be a pro gamer, it's better to set smaller goals like self improvement first. If you set your goal to be a pro gamer first, you're probably going to get tired of the game before you ever reach it. I bet you that most pro gamers you see today actually started off playing RTS games for fun; then, one day, they realized they were good enough to attempt to play it for a living. That's pretty much what I think you should do as well. Play to improve and get better, because that's an absolute requirement for being a pro gamer. If you can achieve that, then you are at least in a realistic range to making it your job. Otherwise, if you get bored before that or for some reason can't achieve that, then you know it's not the right path and you can just continue to play the game for self improvement like you have been. That's my opinion/advice for everyone that wants to go pro before they are already playing at a high level..
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Hello, this is by no means a hater post. You say that you play 15-20 games a day, however the people you are trying to CATCH UP to plays 40+ a day. You really need to play a lot more games if you want this.
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on my full practice days I play 20-30 games. The average is low because sometimes I cook, do shopping, take a break, go out somewhere with friends etc. Nobody plays 40+ games a day EVERY SINGLE day.
And yea, i agree. My average needs to go up.
I know what you mean Tonkerchen. It's OK though, because I don't need my life to be safe, stabe and secure. I can go all-in
I know that I can get pro (winning lan events for a major team pro) because I'm willing to do what ever it takes. If it takes more practice, then fine. I'll do more practice.
I'm 100% sure that I'm physically capable of being the best SC2 player in the world. The only question is will I do what it takes. Thanks for letting me understand that it takes more than I thought
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EPT
