• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 19:47
CEST 01:47
KST 08:47
  • 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
[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall5HomeStory Cup 27 - Info & Preview18Classic wins Code S Season 2 (2025)16Code S RO4 & Finals Preview: herO, Rogue, Classic, GuMiho0TL Team Map Contest #5: Presented by Monster Energy6
Community News
Flash Announces Hiatus From ASL36Weekly Cups (June 23-29): Reynor in world title form?12FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event16Esports World Cup 2025 - Final Player Roster14Weekly Cups (June 16-22): Clem strikes back1
StarCraft 2
General
HIRE EXPERT FOR CRYPTO THEFT - FUNDS RETRIEVER ENG The SCII GOAT: A statistical Evaluation Weekly Cups (June 23-29): Reynor in world title form? StarCraft Mass Recall: SC1 campaigns on SC2 thread How does the number of casters affect your enjoyment of esports?
Tourneys
$5,100+ SEL Season 2 Championship (SC: Evo) FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event HomeStory Cup 27 (June 27-29) WardiTV Mondays SOOPer7s Showmatches 2025
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
[UMS] Zillion Zerglings
External Content
Mutation # 480 Moths to the Flame Mutation # 479 Worn Out Welcome Mutation # 478 Instant Karma Mutation # 477 Slow and Steady
Brood War
General
Flash Announces Hiatus From ASL BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ [ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall Help: rep cant save Where did Hovz go?
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL20] GosuLeague RO16 - Tue & Wed 20:00+CET The Casual Games of the Week Thread [BSL20] ProLeague LB Final - Saturday 20:00 CET
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers I am doing this better than progamers do.
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile What do you want from future RTS games? Beyond All Reason
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
Trading/Investing Thread US Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Stop Killing Games - European Citizens Initiative
Fan Clubs
SKT1 Classic Fan Club! Maru Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread Korean Music Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread NBA General Discussion Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NHL Playoffs 2024
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
Blog #2
tankgirl
Game Sound vs. Music: The Im…
TrAiDoS
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Heero Yuy & the Tax…
KrillinFromwales
Trip to the Zoo
micronesia
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 479 users

Tournament Strategy?

Blogs > SupplyBlockedTV
Post a Reply
SupplyBlockedTV
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
Belgium313 Posts
August 12 2012 15:21 GMT
#1
I am going to play playhem today, but not done tournaments in a while.

What are good strategies?

During the BO1, would you go for a standard build with a decent winrate, or a wonky/cheesey build wich you know has a higher winrate, but can get shut down entirely if reacted to in the right way?

Also, in a BO3, would you play standard the first game, or non-standard, because your opponent will often think it is common that people play standard in the first game and only take refuge to cheesing once they are behind, meaning cheese will have higher odds in the first game?


Also, when getting matched against someone who you know will beat the shit out of you in a standard game, is it better to just try and take the win with wonky builds most people dont even know existed? :D

I did try some searching for tournament strategy on TL, but didnt find anything about this subject.

What are your common tournament strategies?


PEW PEW PEW
Lokk
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
Canada635 Posts
August 12 2012 15:24 GMT
#2
usually play macro game first them see if i wanna cheese after
+ Show Spoiler +
who am i kidding im terran cheese all game
@Lokk_2/Go Woori 우리
Provocateur
Profile Joined October 2010
Sweden1665 Posts
August 12 2012 16:18 GMT
#3
I would say that your strategy of choice should depend fully on who you're facing. If you're up against someone at equal or lower level you should probably play safe and go for the macro game, but if you're up against for instance a GM player just bust out your nastiest cheese ^^ at least do one cheese or very aggressive play in a bo3.
Nymphaceae
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States350 Posts
August 12 2012 20:58 GMT
#4
On August 13 2012 00:21 SupplyBlockedTV wrote:
I am going to play playhem today, but not done tournaments in a while.

What are good strategies?

During the BO1, would you go for a standard build with a decent winrate, or a wonky/cheesey build wich you know has a higher winrate, but can get shut down entirely if reacted to in the right way?

Also, in a BO3, would you play standard the first game, or non-standard, because your opponent will often think it is common that people play standard in the first game and only take refuge to cheesing once they are behind, meaning cheese will have higher odds in the first game?


Also, when getting matched against someone who you know will beat the shit out of you in a standard game, is it better to just try and take the win with wonky builds most people dont even know existed? :D

I did try some searching for tournament strategy on TL, but didnt find anything about this subject.

What are your common tournament strategies?

I would say play standard till your BO3s. If you get to the BO3s, then that's when you can start doing meta cheeses for poor scouts.

Cheesing in the BO1s is extremely inconsistent, since the better players know how to scout for the cheeses and will be counting your minerals. You might win 1-2 rounds with cheese, but probably not anymore. Good luck in the tourney though.
MysteryMeat1
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United States3291 Posts
August 13 2012 09:15 GMT
#5
For tournaments i woulnd't cheese until the bo3 unless you know the player. Me and my friends will enter tournaments together and I always cheese them if I play them. This is only because we practice all of our builds against each other that we know how to react properly.

As for people you dont know. In BO3 you should see how they scout the first game. If they scout on 13 then throw in a 2gate proxy or w/e because you know it will be really hard for them to react in time. If they scout earlier than i'd be wary of throwing a cheese and might switch to a one or two base all-in.
"Cause ya know, Style before victory." -The greatest mafia player alive
SupplyBlockedTV
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
Belgium313 Posts
August 13 2012 20:03 GMT
#6
Damn, managed to kill axslav and fenixhero (and two master leaguers before that)....but then got killed by TSL Revival...his skills are so insane..first game my all-in got shut down entirely.. then i just went desperate because it was my strongest PvZ build...and went for skytoss..for fun...and lost ofcourse.

I only recently got promoted to master league...feels good :D, but need a better BO3 strat..pulling out your best build in BO1 is easy..but BO3 hard..especially against some korean with insane skills.
PEW PEW PEW
Nymphaceae
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States350 Posts
August 13 2012 20:58 GMT
#7
Since you play protoss, I would suggest you to read in the "zerg help me thread," and whatever the terran help me thread is. You can see what gives the most people problems easily by it, and then you can see what the people in the thread are questioning. Generally if you have a build, in which they can not come up with a good answer on how to beat it, then it's probably something you should continue doing. I know the pros are a different story, and that you can't win every time, but in a BO3, this may make it tough enough on the pro to get you more than just 1 game against them.

One thing you can go for would be like macro cheese on a large map, where they may scout you really late. You should find a friend, in which you can practice something like this though. It's horrible if you play the map one in 5 games, and that you play against that match up 1 in 3 games (you won't really get good practice). On 2 starting position maps, you may be allowed to play more aggressively to put your opponent into the blind early game, then come out with a mid game cheese if you harassed well enough (again practice this with a partner, not ladder. I would recommend you telling your practice partner what you're doing, and tell him/her to do a select build too.).

Just imagine playing against some one in which the first game they come out with an aggressive opening. A lot of people would come to believe that this player is very aggressive, and perhaps even reckless. They may believe that they think they're the better player, and just need to play safe till late game, because you're only going for this high harass game, because it's the only way you can win.

Next game, if it's a 4 starting position map, go for the macro cheese. Your opponent may be thinking that they need extra defense because of your stupid aggressive play that beat him the first game, so then the 2nd game they end up realizing that they're like 20 workers behind, and unable to harass.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
OSC
20:00
Mid Season Playoffs
Gerald vs MojaLIVE!
ArT vs Jumy
SteadfastSC243
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SteadfastSC 230
Livibee 130
CosmosSc2 28
StarCraft: Brood War
Artosis 809
Aegong 107
NaDa 22
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm104
League of Legends
JimRising 320
Counter-Strike
Stewie2K778
sgares264
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox138
Liquid`Ken69
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor125
Other Games
summit1g9374
Grubby2227
Day[9].tv630
monkeys_forever89
Mew2King61
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick823
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 21 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH106
• davetesta72
• Hupsaiya 40
• musti20045 31
• intothetv
• sooper7s
• Migwel
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• IndyKCrew
• Kozan
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 31
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
League of Legends
• Doublelift5326
• Jankos1400
• masondota2788
Other Games
• Scarra1268
• imaqtpie1066
• Day9tv630
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
13m
The PondCast
10h 13m
RSL Revival
10h 13m
ByuN vs Classic
Clem vs Cham
WardiTV European League
16h 13m
Replay Cast
1d
RSL Revival
1d 10h
herO vs SHIN
Reynor vs Cure
WardiTV European League
1d 16h
FEL
1d 16h
Korean StarCraft League
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
[ Show More ]
RSL Revival
2 days
FEL
2 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
RSL Revival
3 days
FEL
3 days
BSL: ProLeague
3 days
Dewalt vs Bonyth
Replay Cast
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
The PondCast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2025-06-28
HSC XXVII
Heroes 10 EU

Ongoing

JPL Season 2
BSL 2v2 Season 3
BSL Season 20
Acropolis #3
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 2
CSL 17: 2025 SUMMER
Copa Latinoamericana 4
Championship of Russia 2025
RSL Revival: Season 1
Murky Cup #2
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25
BLAST Rivals Spring 2025
MESA Nomadic Masters
CCT Season 2 Global Finals
IEM Melbourne 2025
YaLLa Compass Qatar 2025

Upcoming

CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
K-Championship
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
SEL Season 2 Championship
FEL Cracov 2025
Esports World Cup 2025
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
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
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.