EPTSo, as one of the players commenting on my last blog pointed out: I'm not getting in enough games. That's not going to change a whole lot though. I have another game that I play, in which people are counting on me to maintain some sort of a presence for a little while (after that trails off though I can put some more time into SC2). I also have a life and many other things to do besides work, as I'm sure many of you do.
Note: Updates from the actual day are at the bottom of the post. Also, click on the "Game 1, Game 2, ..." in order to access replays.
11/27/2011
Season 4 Overall: 8-13
Day: 3-9*
League-Rank: Gold (39)
* 1 Disconnect Win
Game 1
PvP
LOSS
Map: Antiga Shipyard
Player: TheOthers
Quick Summary
Failed rush attempt leads into a contain from me, but I let him break out and then lost.
Build
3-Gate Robo (GRGG)
What to Work On
Timings, timings, timings. Missed several timings by a few seconds (it all adds up), missed building probes for several seconds. All of the little things put me behind early. Even though I got the contain my macro slipped tremendously. Lost out on large army control as well, getting severely pummeled in a battle that should have been a more even exchange.
What I Liked
The contain itself was a sound strategic decision. I had the advantage and it let me expand safely, something difficult to do in PvP. I also scouted a Warp Prism, though, to be fair, he didn't use it as well as he could have or he would have done damage.
Game 2
PvP
LOSS
Map: The Shattered Temple
Player: Meta
Quick Summary
2-gate into 4-gate from opponent. Several opportunities to win, dropped all of them.
Build
4-Gate (forced response)
What to Work On
For the 2-gate rush: why no second stalker as soon as the first popped out? Why not position first stalker and sentry behind gateway as a buffer? No Chrono on second stalker. Should have run probes away rather than use them to kill the Zealots. After that, my biggest mistake was in a key engagement, where I didn't use Guardian Shield and he did. I didn't micro my Immortal, my biggest advantage. I made a number of control mistakes that cost me the win. Also, losing a battle is a bad time to expand.
What I Liked
After a crucial dumb decision in killing Zealots with Probes early on, I still managed to catch up to and surpass my opponent. Even with my macro mistakes, I'm still doing better than most in my league, which means that with a bit of refinement I can move up a bit and onto new challenges.
Game 3
PvZ
LOSS
Map: Metalopolis
Player: scRatch
Quick Summary
Forge Fast Expand, Zerg responds by taking gold. I let them sit on it too long, lose some key engagements.
Build
FFE
What to Work On
Lost a probe early to a drone. Didn't respond at all correctly to the Gold base from Zerg (even though I saw it), I suspect it's very much related to needing to tighten up my FFE build.
What I Liked
Saw the Gold base go down, not that I did much about it though.
Game 4
PvZ
LOSS
Map: Tal'darim Altar
Player: Diego
Quick Summary
Lost to Mass Hydras. Simply outplayed.
Build
FFE
What to Work On
Couple of missed timings. As with the other PvZ, I need to tighten up my FFE before I can really critique myself here. I just wasn't doing enough with the income I was getting. Do intend to fix. Also did not scout hidden third.
What I Liked
Won my initial engagement, despite a lacking unit composition.
Daily Summary
Story of the day: Execution. I'm losing a lot of games that I should be winning (except in PvZ). Most of my losses were due to missed timings related to scouting. If I missed a timing early, it tilted me for the rest of the match. Since these problems happened when I tried to scout early, I found myself scouting less, and, if I wasn't scouting, then I wasn't aware of what was going on and my build was sort of shooting in the dark, usually losing. I just need to get my multi-tasking up, I have to be able to scout and build things at the same time. I just need more practice, and I'll be working on it. In spite of those problems though, I actually still managed to macro better than a lot of my other opponents, there were plenty of other mistakes too (bad decisions) and they made me lose games in which I was clearly beating my opponent. It's frustrating.
Other Replays
11-27-2011 Abyssal Caverns PvP L
11-27-2011 Antiga Shipyard PvZ L
11-27-2011 Metalopolis PvZ 2 L
11-27-2011 Shakuras Plateau 1 W
11-27-2011 Shakuras Plateau PvZ 2 W
11-27-2011 Tal'darim Altar PvZ 2 L
11-27-2011 The Shattered Temple PvP 2 L
Marathon Day
What is Marathon Day? A day where I try to put in as many games as I can without regard for time or other factors. Obviously I won't be able to fully analyze every game for my Marathon Day, so I'll just try to select a few which feel the most revealing. I don't know how many games I'll get in, I have a Patriots vs Eagles game to watch today, but no other pressing commitments. Of course, I'll probably take breaks here and there.
You can follow this thread as it updates (when I get the opportunity) to see how my Marathon Day is going. After all is said and done I'll put up my analysis of the games I chose.
Day in Progress
Total Games: 12
Record: 3-9*
* Disconnect Wins: 1
PvP: 5
PvZ: 7
Comments:
1:30pm
Still not going terribly well. My only win today was a disconnect, all of my other games have been losses. On the bright side, I've held off most early rushes, on the down side, the rushes have done enough damage to set me back quite a bit, which really hurts in PvP. As far as PvZ is concerned, it's just not a matchup I've ever been good at. It's something I want to take and make my best matchup, but it's difficult. Playing PvZ efficiently seems to be about applying pressure while macroing, which takes some multi tasking, which I don't yet have. No Terrans yet today.
2:03pm
First win of the day. 8 games, one real win (2nd was a disconnect win). Winning isn't everything, but for the competitive in nature, it sure does feel good. Oddly enough though, this win didn't have that same rush that others have had, mostly because I knew I made a lot of mistakes in the game. Just gotta keep working and pushing.
2:47pm
Had a long chat with Zoogtar. I'm just not executing like I should, missing timings on buildings that I know I need to hit. Any tips on how to focus better?? *sighs*
4:10pm
Day is over, game soon. After the game (Patriots vs Eagles) I'll go through my replays and select a few of the games that are particularly telling. I lost a lot, but that just means there's plenty for me to look for in improvement. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I already know what I'm likely to see. I missed timings, slipped in my macro. Stuff that I already know to do.
