EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/lzXSjj1l.jpg)
Good old times
So I went on a losing streak today. It wasn't a long streak, just 5 games. But god were those games infuriating.
First game: A PvZ on Alterzim Stronghold (I still have no idea how to play on that map)
A completely standard game. I open up gateway first (as I always do) and poke at my opponent a little with zealots, MSC and stalkers. I'm able to delay his 3rd for quite some time and after I've teched up to robo, 2 forges, twilight council and stargate, I take my own third. Once my second colossus hits, I move out to attack, as my opponent had taken his 4th base, didn't have much of an army and almost no creep spread. I move into the 4th and kill it, but totally miss my forcefields on the ramp, because I had MSC in the same control group. It wasn't even that bad, my army was still a lot bigger and I was able to kill a chunk of his army. Vipers come out, cast some blinding cloud and abduct, I have bad positioning and am dead.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/OmJYOzSl.jpg)
Pictured above: Why a protoss army needs good positioning (or why a protoss army doesn't function without forcefields)
Second game: A PvP on Bel'Shir
I open up completely normally, scouting after my 13gate:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/hD6NJVUl.jpg)
How nice, he's mimicing me in my own base!
So he went for a proxy 2gate, his gateway going down at the same time as mine, but his economy being severely behind. I hesitate, as I haven't played against that build in a long time and had no idea how to react. After a few seconds, I take 5 probes to kill his second gateway and build my own second gateway after that.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/RGGsqCFl.jpg)
How to overreact while underreacting
Of course 5 probes aren't enough to kill a gateway and of course pulling those probes hurts my economy and delays my own second gateway too much. Only thing I could do after he didn't mess up his zealot control was GG.
The third game: A PvP on Yeonsu
I open up with my standard PvP stargate build. He only has 2 stalkers and a MSC at his main base, so I do a lot of damage with my 3 stalkers and zealot. As I had the watchtower, I saw his probe walking buy to build a pylon. I send a stalker after it and attack the pylon. It still finishes and immediately I see 3 DTs warping in, react by building an oracle and a forge instantly, while he moves out with a small army and I move out with my 3 phoenixes. I warp in units to defend against his and hold of his attack easily, but completely forget to chronoboost my stargate a second time.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/oIAR874l.jpg)
Oh Starcraft, you're just messing around with me now
A quarter of a second loses me the game.
Fourth game: A PvT on Yeonsu
A completely standard game, we poke a little and both macro up (he didn't even drop me once), I was able to push a little more while I had three colossi and he only had 2 Vikings, but miss his third base, as I thought it would be at the bottom. Being comfortable that he didn't have a third, I pull back, tech up and take my own third. He sacrifices tech to max as soon as possible and hits right before storm, blink and 2/2 finish. Not much I could do there anymore.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/rGKD6Lyl.jpg)
Ee han timing
And the fifth game: A PvZ on Polar Night
The game starts off really nice. I open up with my semi-aggressive build from game 1, while my opponent opens up with insulting me, my mother and my father multiple times. It works quite well, I can kill a few units and force a lot of spine crawlers, while safely taking my expansion. With my oracle I scout roaches, so I go for a robo and push out, killing his third. My opponent goes hydras, so I go colossi while he completely walls himself in and denies any scouting with hydras and spore crawlers. Not suspecting anything for a while, I start phoenix production, a second stargate and the fleet beacon just a few seconds before his spire finishes and after I had taken my third. I pull back my army, while 20 mutas meet my three phoenixes in my main. I had completely misread the situation.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ReLbgxql.jpg)
Guess when the mutas came in
I don't get HotS and have no idea of the new metagame. Sometimes I win convincingly like I'm playing against a bronze opponent and the game after that I lose like I'm in bronze (and that happens more often). And then I lose 5 games in a row, which I could've won.
But I still remember that from the WoL days. Starcraft 2 is infuriating, but I have a lot of fun even when losing unecessarily. And I'm really looking forward to getting masters again and still playing extremely rage-inducing games.
. I used to be in masters league easily, I stopped for a few months and now I'm getting murdered by the HotS metagame. I've even lost games to gold league people because of that thing they do where they put a factory in your base and you end up with mines behind your mineral line. That got me like three times in a 10 games span around gold to diamond league and it's so embarrassing... Push through the pain though and you'll get back to your former glory :D
