• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 23:17
CEST 05:17
KST 12:17
  • 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
Code S Season 1 - RO12 Group A: Rogue, Percival, Solar, Zoun4[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt1: Inheritors16[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt2: All Star10Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists19[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Fresh Flow9
Community News
2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers25Maestros of the Game 2 announced92026 GSL Tour plans announced15Weekly Cups (April 6-12): herO doubles, "Villains" prevail1MaNa leaves Team Liquid25
StarCraft 2
General
Code S Season 1 - RO12 Group A: Rogue, Percival, Solar, Zoun Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists MaNa leaves Team Liquid Maestros of the Game 2 announced
Tourneys
WardiTV Spring Cup 2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament INu's Battles#14 <BO.9 2Matches> GSL CK: More events planned pending crowdfunding
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 523 Firewall Mutation # 522 Flip My Base Mutation # 521 Memorable Boss
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion Leta's ASL S21 Ro.16 review ASL21 General Discussion JaeDong's ASL S21 Ro16 Post-Review [ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt1: Inheritors
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro8 Day 2 [BSL22] RO16 Group Stage - 02 - 10 May [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Ro8 Day 1
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Any training maps people recommend?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Daigo vs Menard Best of 10 Nintendo Switch Thread Dawn of War IV Diablo IV
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread 3D technology/software discussion Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion McBoner: A hockey love story
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
streaming software Strange computer issues (software) [G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Sexual Health Of Gamers
TrAiDoS
lurker extra damage testi…
StaticNine
Broowar part 2
qwaykee
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1984 users

Daily Ladder-age #34: Roaches Rushing On In

Blogs > Sir.Phalanx
Post a Reply
Sir.Phalanx
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
Japan195 Posts
June 11 2013 10:53 GMT
#1
Hello again peoples! Nice to see you again. Or maybe I haven't ever seen you before and you're a new reader, in which case welcome! Guess just to re-introduce myself incase anyone's checking this out for my first time, I'm Phalanx, a diamond (maybe master!?) level protoss player, writing up battle reports of my ladder games daily. Hope you guys will enjoy today's entry!

Another brief post from me today, but mostly just because the game is question was brief. I feel as if I'm in mid/low masters level MMR right now... I've been at a steady 50% win rate again, facing mostly people who were masters last season but apparently got the demotion wave. I REALLY DO KEEP HOPING FOR THAT STAR I WANT IT. Ok moving on time.

replay : http://drop.sc/341618http://drop.sc/341618

The Game

+ Show Spoiler +

Today's game is a PvZ match up, no the map Derelict Watchtower. Not a bad map, fairly suited to my play style too. I open up as per usual with a forge fast expand, and the zerg does whatever zergs do.

[image loading]
A 15 pool, by the looks of it.

Pretty hard, in my opinion, to tell what a zerg's doing before the 5 minute mark. 5 minutes is when their 3rd would (or at least, was) generally going down, and for me that's basically my only indication of whether he'll be aggressive or passive. Until then, I just go ahead and do my usual thing.

[image loading]
A pretty bad wall... That first pylon was too close.

Now at 5 minutes, my probe Johnson checks out that there is, in fact, no 3rd base by the 5 minute mark. BAM. Rush alerts should be going off all over the place now. From obs vision, we can see that the zerg is going for some early roaches.

[image loading]
Maphax!

Now, surely, I must be starting to build up a bit defensively right? Some sentries, some cannons, maybe a voidray!

[image loading]
Errr defenses??

Pathetically bad reaction by me. Not only is my macro a bit bad with not throwing down any gateways, but I didn't prepare defenses at all. I didn't even call in Emily (the MSC). Barely even started a 2nd cannon before the attack hit. I was, simply put, extremely f*cking stupid in this game.

[image loading]
Arr, ye walk the plank!

Thus a lesson is learned in scouting; actually use that information. This loss could have been prevented, even without deviating from what I normally do. A simple voidray could have swept the tides in my favor. But nope. I just totally played as if the zerg had a 3rd.


Perhaps a little less interesting than any other game I've played, but still a lesson to be learnt. Actually think and use information! YEAH! Maybe something like that might help me get to masters. As far as league placement goes, I feel depressed. I really was hoping for that masters, and maybe my MMR actually IS masters now, but not having that star keeps my emotionally down. :'(

Thanks for reading, check in again for yet another daily ladder-age, and have a great day!

P.S.
Although no longer part of their community, Phalanx continues to support DarkOnyx.
www.facebook.com/DarkOnyxFTW

P.S.S.
Now part of Not A Chance Gaming, Phalanx provides a helpful link for you fantabulous folks support NAC!!
www.nacgaming.net
www.facebook.com/nacgaming

P.S.S.S
Surprised Corgies!?

*****
Go to school - Laddder - Sleep - repeat. Who needs a social life anyways.
Salivanth
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Australia1071 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-06-11 23:58:39
June 11 2013 23:56 GMT
#2
Here's how early game scouting should go in PvZ, in my experience:

1) Check for early pool.
2) Block natural, be irritating.
3) When you're forced to run away with your probe, regen some shields and head back in. Make sure Zerg has actually taken their natural, then scout their main for any gasses.
4) Check for the Zerg's third around 5:00. You can attempt to block this, but I've recently began to think this is a bad idea. If the Zerg has lings out, which he should, he can kill your probe fairly easily and you can't scout the third being dropped, meaning you need to send another probe. I'd prefer to just hide the probe somewhere, and send it in.

If the Zerg is early pooling, react accordingly. Vs. 6-pool, throw down a Forge and then make a Pylon in your main. Put a cannon in your mineral line so that it covers one of your gasses, then do a 1-gate expand. Be sure to scout the Zerg for a roach follow-up, and scout your base for a proxy hatchery follow-up. Vs. 10-pool, just do a full wall-off before making your Nexus, and you're ludicrously ahead. I don't think I've lost to 10-pool in the last six months.

If the Zerg takes his natural and also takes an early gas, he's probably going to be aggressive or teching, both off two bases. A gas taken as his third goes down can mean defensive speed or 3-hatch ling/bane all-in. (Extremely uncommon build.) If the Zerg takes his third, 99% chance he's playing a passive game.

If the Zerg remains on 2 bases, you don't want to over-react to this, as he could be teching. 2-3 cannons total and 2-3 Sentries is sufficient to hold Roach or Baneling based all-ins. As you pointed out, 1 VR from the Stargate is also invaluable in helping out. Once your first Sentry has 100 energy, if the Zerg hasn't attacked, Hallucinate to find out what he's doing.

To sum up the scouting, you're looking for four things in order: Pool timing, natural going down, gas being taken, third going down. If you scout for all of this, you should never be completely unprepared. Then prepare for cheese (If early pool or 1-base), potential aggression (If 2-base) or passive economy boom. (If 3-base.)
<@Wikt> so you are one of those nega-fans <@Wikt> that hates the company that makes a game and everything they stand for <@Wikt> but still plays the game <@Wikt> (like roughly 30% of blizzard's player base, maybe much more...)
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
PiGosaur Cup
00:00
#79 (TLMC 22 Edition)
PiGStarcraft512
CranKy Ducklings76
davetesta27
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
PiGStarcraft535
RuFF_SC2 146
StarCraft: Brood War
GuemChi 5787
ProTech63
Terrorterran 15
ZergMaN 4
Dota 2
monkeys_forever804
Counter-Strike
m0e_tv475
Stewie2K394
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox955
Other Games
summit1g8292
tarik_tv6140
C9.Mang0479
Artosis354
Maynarde106
amsayoshi36
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1188
BasetradeTV210
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream180
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• EnkiAlexander 71
• CranKy Ducklings SOOP2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Upcoming Events
GSL
6h 13m
Rogue vs Percival
Zoun vs Solar
Replay Cast
20h 43m
GSL
1d 6h
Cure vs TriGGeR
ByuN vs Bunny
KCM Race Survival
1d 6h
Big Gabe
1d 8h
Replay Cast
1d 20h
Replay Cast
2 days
Escore
2 days
OSC
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
3 days
RSL Revival
3 days
IPSL
3 days
Ret vs Art_Of_Turtle
Radley vs TBD
BSL
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
RSL Revival
4 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
4 days
BSL
4 days
IPSL
4 days
eOnzErG vs TBD
G5 vs Nesh
Replay Cast
5 days
Wardi Open
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Jaedong vs Light
Monday Night Weeklies
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Afreeca Starleague
6 days
Snow vs Flash
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-04-28
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
StarCraft2 Community Team League 2026 Spring
2026 GSL S1
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S2: W5
KK 2v2 League Season 1
Acropolis #4
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
2026 GSL S2
RSL Revival: Season 5
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
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 © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.