• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 07:00
CEST 13:00
KST 20:00
  • 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
Power Rank - Esports World Cup 202533RSL Season 1 - Final Week9[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall15HomeStory Cup 27 - Info & Preview18Classic wins Code S Season 2 (2025)16
Community News
BSL Team Wars - Bonyth, Dewalt, Hawk & Sziky teams4Weekly Cups (July 14-20): Final Check-up0Esports World Cup 2025 - Brackets Revealed19Weekly Cups (July 7-13): Classic continues to roll8Team TLMC #5 - Submission re-extension4
StarCraft 2
General
RSL Season 1 - Final Week Power Rank - Esports World Cup 2025 RSL Revival patreon money discussion thread The GOAT ranking of GOAT rankings Esports World Cup 2025 - Final Player Roster
Tourneys
Esports World Cup 2025 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation #239 Bad Weather Mutation # 483 Kill Bot Wars Mutation # 482 Wheel of Misfortune Mutation # 481 Fear and Lava
Brood War
General
BSL Team Wars - Bonyth, Dewalt, Hawk & Sziky teams BW General Discussion ASL20 Preliminary Maps BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Flash Announces (and Retracts) Hiatus From ASL
Tourneys
[CSLPRO] It's CSLAN Season! - Last Chance [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL 2v2] ProLeague Season 3 - Friday 21:00 CET The Casual Games of the Week Thread
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers I am doing this better than progamers do.
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread [MMORPG] Tree of Savior (Successor of Ragnarok) Path of Exile CCLP - Command & Conquer League Project
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
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread The Games Industry And ATVI Stop Killing Games - European Citizens Initiative
Fan Clubs
SKT1 Classic Fan Club! Maru Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[\m/] Heavy Metal Thread Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Korean Music Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NBA General Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Ping To Win? Pings And Their…
TrAiDoS
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Socialism Anyone?
GreenHorizons
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 722 users

A quick comment on "just macro" (zerg)

Blogs > thesideshow
Post a Reply
thesideshow
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
930 Posts
November 03 2011 21:29 GMT
#1
Formally I was a low masters zerg player in season 1, then I had to stop playing for afew months to focus on school work and enjoying my summer back home.

Recently I started playing again, and to my utter dismay, I got placed in platinum.

"Alright," I told myself, "the skill level must have gotten wayyy higher since season 1. Now, just work on getting your mechanics back. Just macro. It worked before." And off I went, focusing only on macro, because that's how you get into masters.

Fast forward abit, I'm disappointed I'm still in plat. I reinstall sc2gears and take a look at my replays, hoping to find some sort of statistics that would help me identify my issues.

I found something more revealing that I expected:

[image loading]
lol

Obviously I was losing to early timing pushes and cheese. My builds must be horribly unrefined! However, I noticed another interesting stat on statcraft.

[image loading]
Shouldn't I be losing more to diamond players than plat players?

Though it isn't significant by itself, as all the players I play against should be the same MMR (ie league doesn't matter), it prompted me to take a closer look at the games where I did lose before 10mins.

Of the games that ended in less than 10 mins, 60% of them were against platinum players. An even closer look revealed that I lose to random cheese and all-ins far more often than timing pushes.

Therefore my conclusion about my own gameplay, is that my early game scouting is lacking severely, as well as my "oh shit he hasn't expanded, I need to prepare for an all in".

It also opened my eyes to the fact that the "all you need is to macro" mindset that people usually advocate, isn't exactly true. You need to survive to macro. And at the platinum/low diamond level, cheese and random all-ins are common enough that you can't get promoted just by winning the macro games.

tldr : Lower level zerg players, scouting and reacting is the second most important skill to have. If you've been stuck at a certain level for awhile, and you've been religiously following "macro my way to the top", maybe you should put a little time in improving your scouting.

Disclaimer : Macro is still the most important skill toi have by far.

***
OGS:levelchange
Blazinghand *
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States25551 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-11-03 22:13:26
November 03 2011 22:05 GMT
#2
On November 04 2011 06:29 thesideshow wrote:
Therefore my conclusion about my own gameplay, is that my early game scouting is lacking severely, as well as my "oh shit he hasn't expanded, I need to prepare for an all in".

It also opened my eyes to the fact that the "all you need is to macro" mindset that people usually advocate, isn't exactly true. You need to survive to macro. And at the platinum/low diamond level, cheese and random all-ins are common enough that you can't get promoted just by winning the macro games.


The most important non-mechanical part of macro for zerg is knowing when to make drones and when to make units. If you make 60 drones then lose to a 1-base all-in because you only made drones, you lost because of bad macromanagement.


EDIT: Also, nobody really says "All you need is macro"... that's a straw man. Most people say "work on your macro" or "your macro is lacking" and for almost everyone I've met, that's been the case. There's a difference between "your macro is holding you back" and "all you need is macro", though. Ask anyone who's played a TvZ or ZvT, for example-- standard composition fighting is micro-intensive for both sides.'

EDIT EDIT PART 2, SON OF EDIT: That being said, being able to scout for this sort of thing is pretty hard as Zerg, and represents one of the most important elements of zerg game sense, play, etc. Good luck!
When you stare into the iCCup, the iCCup stares back.
TL+ Member
AnachronisticAnarchy
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States2957 Posts
November 03 2011 22:19 GMT
#3
Definitely true, especially as Zerg. I used to inject and make units like a boss, and had a late game that I never lost ever. The only problem was that I was stuck in Silver due to early attacks. More people need to know that scouting is a useful skill to have, not just macro.
"How are you?" "I am fine, because it is not normal to scream in pain."
Emporio
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States3069 Posts
November 03 2011 22:27 GMT
#4
On November 04 2011 07:19 AnachronisticAnarchy wrote:
Definitely true, especially as Zerg. I used to inject and make units like a boss, and had a late game that I never lost ever. The only problem was that I was stuck in Silver due to early attacks. More people need to know that scouting is a useful skill to have, not just macro.

Okay no, in silver good macro alone is enough to get you out.
How does it feel knowing you wasted another 3 seconds of your life reading this again?
OmniEulogy
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Canada6592 Posts
November 03 2011 22:31 GMT
#5
On November 04 2011 07:27 Emporio wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 04 2011 07:19 AnachronisticAnarchy wrote:
Definitely true, especially as Zerg. I used to inject and make units like a boss, and had a late game that I never lost ever. The only problem was that I was stuck in Silver due to early attacks. More people need to know that scouting is a useful skill to have, not just macro.

Okay no, in silver good macro alone is enough to get you out.


due to my computer I couldn't micro till after I got into masters so.... Macro is def. enough to get through silver lol.
LiquidDota Staff
Blazinghand *
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States25551 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-11-03 22:37:32
November 03 2011 22:35 GMT
#6
EDIT: I'm an idiot, disregard this post. I misread horribly ._.

In any case, yeah macro is important, and for zerg, part of that is making things besides drones after a certain point.
When you stare into the iCCup, the iCCup stares back.
TL+ Member
Rotodyne
Profile Blog Joined July 2005
United States2263 Posts
November 03 2011 22:39 GMT
#7
You are definitely correct, you can have decent macro, but a zerg needs to put in their debt of getting cheesed a hundred times to make masters
I can only play starcraft when I am shit canned. IPXZERG is a god.
Nick_54
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States2230 Posts
November 03 2011 23:59 GMT
#8
On November 04 2011 07:31 OmniEulogy wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 04 2011 07:27 Emporio wrote:
On November 04 2011 07:19 AnachronisticAnarchy wrote:
Definitely true, especially as Zerg. I used to inject and make units like a boss, and had a late game that I never lost ever. The only problem was that I was stuck in Silver due to early attacks. More people need to know that scouting is a useful skill to have, not just macro.

Okay no, in silver good macro alone is enough to get you out.


due to my computer I couldn't micro till after I got into masters so.... Macro is def. enough to get through silver lol.


Pretty sure thats only a protoss thing where you can 1a to masters.

Yeah op you probably just need to get your early game builds and timings more refined. Also, be more active scouting for cheese and play a bit more safely. Glad you have time to get back into the game though, good luck getting into masters.
synapse
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
China13814 Posts
November 04 2011 00:12 GMT
#9
The diamond players you've been playing might have gone on recent losing streaks to get matched up with you (in plat). Just speculation ^^
:)
danl9rm
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States3111 Posts
November 04 2011 02:23 GMT
#10
On November 04 2011 07:39 Rotodyne wrote:
You are definitely correct, you can have decent macro, but a zerg needs to put in their debt of getting cheesed a hundred times to make masters


You are so right, and that is absolutely something people forget or don't ever learn. You play zerg, you owe a debt, simple as that. Don't pay your cheese debt, and you'll never make it. You just have to.

Also, that was a very fun read OP. I thought it was pretty cool.
"Science has so well established that the preborn baby in the womb is a living human being that most pro-choice activists have conceded the point. ..since the abortion proponents have lost the science argument, they are now advocating an existential one."
PH
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States6173 Posts
November 04 2011 03:48 GMT
#11
Masters league didn't exist in season 1.

Really good job in analyzing your own play, though. That's impressive.
Hello
Scisyhp
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
United States200 Posts
November 04 2011 05:44 GMT
#12
On November 04 2011 12:48 PH wrote:
Masters league didn't exist in season 1.


From a quick search, master league was announced in January, and Season 2 started in the very beginning of April.
Vond
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
Sweden145 Posts
November 04 2011 06:08 GMT
#13
Excellent post that pretty much sums up my own experience aswell. I'm in gold rather than platinum however, but I play platinum/diamond players and have similar stats when it comes to W/L ratio early/late games. And well... scouting is my major problem too, I often drone up too much early on and get killed by random cheese/early aggression.
Mobius_1
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
United Kingdom2763 Posts
November 04 2011 06:40 GMT
#14
Macro is definitely the most important part of being a good player. Having enough of any unit is more important than having not enough of the right units.

For Zergs it's even more complex, although I'd like to add that a lot of players in Silver, Gold, etc seem to use well-practiced 1-base builds that can really catch opponents off guard. That utterly horrible feeling of "I am such an idiot" when my reactored Hellions ran down my ramp to see 7 Roaches...
Starleague Forever. RIP KT Violet~
thesideshow
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
930 Posts
November 04 2011 07:31 GMT
#15
On Nov 4 2011 03:48 PH wrote:
Masters league didn't exist in season 1.


Mini brag post!
[image loading]


Anyway, I'm glad to see other players echo my sentiments. Definitely gives me a clearer understanding of what I need to focus on.

I thought it was a little weird that I could make it to masters in season 1 with "just macro", but now I'm struggling just to get out of plat with the same mentality!
Then I remembered that was when roaches just got a range buff.
I thought I was pretty alright at this game, but the truth is zerg was just OP
OGS:levelchange
AnachronisticAnarchy
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States2957 Posts
November 08 2011 01:58 GMT
#16
On November 04 2011 07:27 Emporio wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 04 2011 07:19 AnachronisticAnarchy wrote:
Definitely true, especially as Zerg. I used to inject and make units like a boss, and had a late game that I never lost ever. The only problem was that I was stuck in Silver due to early attacks. More people need to know that scouting is a useful skill to have, not just macro.

Okay no, in silver good macro alone is enough to get you out.


For me, absolutely not. Excluding timing attacks, I NEVER lost a game. I needed to learn scouting and strategy to beat those timings or be forever silver.
"How are you?" "I am fine, because it is not normal to scream in pain."
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Esports World Cup
10:00
2025 - Day 2
ByuN vs ZounLIVE!
Cyan vs ShoWTimELIVE!
Rogue vs HeRoMaRinE
Clem vs Solar
Reynor vs Maru
herO vs Cure
Serral vs Classic
EWC_Arena4604
ComeBackTV 1713
EWC_Arena_21056
Hui .392
TaKeTV 391
3DClanTV 275
Rex154
CranKy Ducklings132
mcanning88
EnkiAlexander 80
Reynor69
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
EWC_Arena4604
EWC_Arena_21056
Hui .392
Rex 154
mcanning 88
Reynor 69
StarCraft: Brood War
Nal_rA 12685
Barracks 1648
Bisu 1010
Jaedong 716
ggaemo 401
Mini 363
Stork 289
EffOrt 244
Soma 205
Flash 183
[ Show more ]
ToSsGirL 180
Hyun 150
Last 132
BeSt 131
ZerO 112
Rush 90
Soulkey 82
zelot 68
Pusan 67
Sacsri 61
soO 59
Dewaltoss 59
TY 34
Snow 27
sas.Sziky 19
Sharp 17
NaDa 16
ajuk12(nOOB) 15
scan(afreeca) 14
Movie 13
sorry 11
ivOry 9
Bale 6
Britney 0
Dota 2
XcaliburYe235
BananaSlamJamma182
Counter-Strike
x6flipin494
sgares325
oskar224
allub95
Super Smash Bros
Westballz17
Other Games
singsing1549
crisheroes343
SortOf176
Fuzer 175
B2W.Neo95
ZerO(Twitch)14
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH311
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV391
• lizZardDota289
Upcoming Events
Esports World Cup
23h
Esports World Cup
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
3 days
CSO Cup
3 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
3 days
Bonyth vs Sziky
Dewalt vs Hawk
Hawk vs QiaoGege
Sziky vs Dewalt
Mihu vs Bonyth
Zhanhun vs QiaoGege
QiaoGege vs Fengzi
FEL
3 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
4 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
4 days
Bonyth vs Zhanhun
Dewalt vs Mihu
Hawk vs Sziky
Sziky vs QiaoGege
Mihu vs Hawk
Zhanhun vs Dewalt
Fengzi vs Bonyth
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
[ Show More ]
Online Event
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL Xiamen Invitational
Championship of Russia 2025
Murky Cup #2

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
BSL20 Non-Korean Championship
Esports World Cup 2025
CC Div. A S7
Underdog Cup #2
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25

Upcoming

CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
BSL Season 21
RSL Revival: Season 2
SEL Season 2 Championship
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
FEL Cracov 2025
HCC Europe
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 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 © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.