Last week my goal was to work on my TvZ, being my weakest matchup. Unfortunately I didn't get to practice in the way I was hoping.. however I spent ALOT of time playing, I had the week off of work, and clocked in about 40 hours in the week, which I'm very proud of.
During this week something clicked in my mind, I began to have a deeper understanding of what I was doing wrong, of things I needed to improve, and of ways I should be playing. My first realisation was a macro problem. I would let my own fear of being pushed, force units out that were not needed. Specifically I was so scared of the marine/tank push, that I would make 60+ zerglings super early just in case it came, when it didn't always come. This led to the realization that, with good scouting, I could make enough units, and defences before he could even reach me!
Another problem I was having was with upgrades, there were a select few I would always get (ie speed for lings, roaches, and overlords) and others I would only get if I thought of it, mainly being upgrades to dmg and def, and baneling speed. A friend of mine, watched a replay, and pointed out this fact to me, and said to just try some games vs a computer, and gave me some times to have +1/+1 done. I did this, and 2 things came to mind.
1.) I was having such an easier time keeping my money down, specifiaclly in the early game.
2.) I shouldn't be letting fear of pushes completely change my plan, instead I should focus on what is important; upgrades, expansions, and eventual units.
I learned alot this week, and felt I improved most this week, than any of my previous weeks of practice. Though I wish I could have focused more on my TvZ, I am going to move on for now, and work on something that is much more important for a low skilled player like myself: Macro.
As always here is my updated video for last week for those who are interested.
That was an interesting video. Good luck on your journey.
If you don't mind, I have an interesting tip I gathered from watching Korean starcraft 1 shows such as "Real Programer", "Gossip" aka 뒷담화, and MyStarleague.
First of all, pros gg as soon as they are in a bad situation during practice. I've never actually heard the coaches or the players elaborate on this point so I'm gonna spoiler my theory: + Show Spoiler +
There are many ways to lose: maybe you lost your first ovie to 2 marines or a scouting zealot got a few drone kills, etc. However there only one or two ways you can win with a strategy. Here, a "win" means the way you have imagined when you picked a strategy. A 'comeback' does not count towards this "win" because that is not how you imagined it. It could even be bad thing if you regularly make a comeback.
Secondly, SK T1's former coach talked about how he makes some of the players do 10 push-ups after every loss. He said it does 2 things: it gives you just enough time to think through the loss, and you get a rush of adrenaline which helps you with the next game. I really like this one, as it helps me a lot with my ladder games.
Thirdly, when you are winning, stop for a bit, take a deep breath and just think about how can your opponent come back from this.
I think you basically realize most of your problems. One thing to note: In the game, you missed a couple opportunities where you could have just finished him. That split up attack with the mutas and lings was the worst; you had like what? 20-30 mutas? You lost like 10-15 mutas a-moving into turrets and marines, and then you sent your lings to suicide. Next time, harass with mutas alone (at least until your mechanics improve), make him pull marines to base to defend, then group with lings and attack expansion together. (Actually, in that game you probably could have attacked without harassing and still have won)
EPT
