• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 02:08
CET 08:08
KST 16:08
  • 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
RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview2TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners12
Community News
$21,000 Rongyi Cup Season 3 announced (Jan 22-Feb 7)6Weekly Cups (Dec 29-Jan 4): Protoss rolls, 2v2 returns6[BSL21] Non-Korean Championship - Starts Jan 103SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-1822Weekly Cups (Dec 22-28): Classic & MaxPax win, Percival surprises3
StarCraft 2
General
Weekly Cups (Dec 29-Jan 4): Protoss rolls, 2v2 returns SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-18 Weekly Cups (Dec 22-28): Classic & MaxPax win, Percival surprises Chinese SC2 server to reopen; live all-star event in Hangzhou Starcraft 2 Zerg Coach
Tourneys
WardiTV Winter Cup $21,000 Rongyi Cup Season 3 announced (Jan 22-Feb 7) WardiTV Mondays SC2 AI Tournament 2026 OSC Season 13 World Championship
Strategy
Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 507 Well Trained Mutation # 506 Warp Zone Mutation # 505 Rise From Ashes Mutation # 504 Retribution
Brood War
General
Potential ASL qualifier breakthroughs? BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ I would like to say something about StarCraft BW General Discussion StarCraft & BroodWar Campaign Speedrun Quest
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] Grand Finals - Sunday 21:00 CET [BSL21] Non-Korean Championship - Starts Jan 10 SLON Grand Finals – Season 2
Strategy
Game Theory for Starcraft Simple Questions, Simple Answers Current Meta [G] How to get started on ladder as a new Z player
Other Games
General Games
Beyond All Reason Mechabellum Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Awesome Games Done Quick 2026! General RTS Discussion Thread
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
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Trading/Investing Thread The Big Programming Thread
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List TL+ Announced
Blogs
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
How do archons sleep?
8882
Psychological Factors That D…
TrAiDoS
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1798 users

Protoss Is Unplayable

Blogs > YokoKano
Post a Reply
1 2 3 Next All
YokoKano
Profile Blog Joined July 2012
United States612 Posts
March 30 2015 19:45 GMT
#1
There is no reason to play Starcraft II: Heart. With more than 30,000 hours of RTS play and design experience spanning under 20 years, I will not constrain my games to one race. I have reached the mentor level and have nothing to share as a competitive gamer.

The reality is that Starcraft: Brood War is a study and exercise in choice. Starcraft II on the other hand is a game characterized by simple decision procedures. A smart opponent will surprise you. That means to be a good player requires specific knowledge of certain builds. But suppose you are Protoss and I opt to cannon rush you. You can't drop a few probes to make up for a gap between your general knowledge of cannon rush openings but imperfect responses to variation on the build.

This emphasis on Puritanical counters takes the fundamentally artistic Starcraft genre called Protoss and transforms the experience into a long series of present-value calculations.

Suppose I identify three different win-certain rushes. Win-certain refers to rushes that win with 100% certainty against all defenses except those that mirror an optimal response within a 5% margin (One can think of defenses as trees. Earlier branches receive more weight.) Now suppose the three win-certain rushes in question are: x = Cannon Rush, y = Proxy 2-Gate, z = 4-Gate. Suppose the number of degrees in a circle represents all the reasonably fine responses to some set of attacks. Protoss's position is like a chiliagon. It looks like it should be possible for the interior and exterior vertices of a chiliagon to each fit inside the same circle. In reality this isn't possible.

Veteran players show their strength in the mid and late game with positional play and the ability to make sharp decisions on a general level. When veteran styles are incompatible with an RTS game's capacity for robust, defensive, early game openings, the result is inelegant equilibria.

*
IQ 155.905638752
Ej_
Profile Blog Joined January 2013
47656 Posts
March 30 2015 19:50 GMT
#2
tl;dr OP can't hold off cheese
"Technically the dictionary has zero authority on the meaning or words" - Rodya
Bojas
Profile Joined December 2010
Netherlands2397 Posts
March 30 2015 20:08 GMT
#3
I'm curious, what league is your account if I may ask?
y0su
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
Finland7871 Posts
March 30 2015 20:09 GMT
#4
try scouting?
ZigguratOfUr
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
Iraq16955 Posts
March 30 2015 20:19 GMT
#5
For all your fancy words (which add nothing to your argument), you're just not good at holding cheese despite your immoderate opinion of your own skills.
EsportsJohn
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States4883 Posts
March 30 2015 20:38 GMT
#6
No, I think he just actually scientifically disproved Protoss's existence.

I mean, other than the fact that it exists.
StrategyAllyssa Grey <3<3
Kommatiazo
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
United States579 Posts
March 30 2015 20:47 GMT
#7
I wonder if the time it took to write this was dedicated to asking someone who is decent at cannon rushing to practice with you what might have come of it.

you're just not good at holding cheese despite your immoderate opinion of your own skills.


This. Your argument makes me think of a teenager in speech and debate telling the adult world that it shouldn't exist because high school is hard and the girl you like said no to you for prom.
"You must enemy don't know, and very good micro" - Bosstoss #Wet4Ret
ninazerg
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States7291 Posts
March 30 2015 21:49 GMT
#8
On March 31 2015 05:47 Kommatiazo wrote:
I wonder if the time it took to write this was dedicated to asking someone who is decent at cannon rushing to practice with you what might have come of it.

Show nested quote +
you're just not good at holding cheese despite your immoderate opinion of your own skills.


This. Your argument makes me think of a teenager in speech and debate telling the adult world that it shouldn't exist because high school is hard and the girl you like said no to you for prom.


Even though I find the original post to be comically obtuse, this is a really poor analogy. I mean REALLY poor.
"If two pregnant women get into a fist fight, it's like a mecha-battle between two unborn babies." - Fyodor Dostoevsky
EatThePath
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States3943 Posts
March 30 2015 21:51 GMT
#9
lol at all the people who come in here to bitch about the style and have no response for the message. congrats on being dull.

@op if you're trying to play sc2 through a BW lens it'll never satisfy you. there is a lot of depth to be had out of protoss, even including early game. but it's different. and the parts that are similar, it does in a different way. mostly it's about dictating the game or feinting thereof, with recall / forcefield / storm determining how you can leverage your presentation of threats.
Comprehensive strategic intention: DNE
TelecoM
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
United States10688 Posts
March 30 2015 22:29 GMT
#10
To disprove your scientific study, I would like to provide my own counter statement.

Protoss.
AKA: TelecoM[WHITE] Protoss fighting
FlaShFTW
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
United States10258 Posts
March 30 2015 23:03 GMT
#11
On March 31 2015 07:29 GGzerG wrote:
To disprove your scientific study, I would like to provide my own counter statement.

Protoss.

/thread.

maybe sending a scout out will help you. c:
Writer#1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Teamliquid Political Decision Desk
TL+ Member
LuckyFool
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States9015 Posts
March 30 2015 23:31 GMT
#12
this blog reminds me of myself.
ObviousOne
Profile Joined April 2012
United States3704 Posts
March 30 2015 23:40 GMT
#13
THEN WE GET A FUCKING BUILDING. WHICH, HALF THE TIME ISNT ENOUGH: WE HAVE TO PAY MOREE FUCKING MONEY TO GET IT TO DO SOME SHIT LIKE DICK THE GROUND OR SPRAY PISS IN THE AIR

Lol that incontrol quote
Fear is the only darkness. ~Destiny Fan Club operator~
KelsierSC
Profile Blog Joined March 2013
United Kingdom10443 Posts
March 31 2015 00:13 GMT
#14
I don't understand any of this shit
Zerg for Life
Chill
Profile Blog Joined January 2005
Calgary25991 Posts
March 31 2015 00:26 GMT
#15
So many questions.

1. How did you track these 30,000 hours? For reference, that is 3.5 years of non-stop play. I played a ridiculous amount of Brood War, like 3-8 hours a day for several years, and still barely scratched 10,000 hours.
2. What the hell does "under 20 years"? Is that 2 years? 18 years?
3. Which RTS games have you designed?
Moderator
IMR
Profile Joined May 2013
70 Posts
March 31 2015 00:29 GMT
#16
i agree
IMR
Profile Joined May 2013
70 Posts
March 31 2015 00:35 GMT
#17
oh, and i find it interesting that even protoss players aren't good at vs p as evidenced by vP elo peaks
Chef
Profile Blog Joined August 2005
10810 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-03-31 00:51:45
March 31 2015 00:51 GMT
#18
Most entertaining OP in like 4 years. I feel twice as smart and handsome after reading it. Thank you. 5 stars. 5 stars forever.
LEGEND!! LEGEND!!
Kazahk
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
United States385 Posts
March 31 2015 02:18 GMT
#19
Just saying there are Protosses (wtf what kind of plural is that?) that compete in top level tourneys so... I think they are quite playable.
Rngesus blessed me with a tooth half, then shunned me with a spinach roll.
Djzapz
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Canada10681 Posts
March 31 2015 02:34 GMT
#20
I think OP's analysis failed to account for the everything
"My incompetence with power tools had been increasing exponentially over the course of 20 years spent inhaling experimental oven cleaners"
1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 2h 52m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
WinterStarcraft546
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 6641
Rain 3335
Larva 476
Zeus 150
JulyZerg 81
ZergMaN 71
Hyun 57
ggaemo 34
soO 32
Nal_rA 31
[ Show more ]
Noble 17
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm198
febbydoto11
League of Legends
JimRising 805
C9.Mang0532
Counter-Strike
fl0m5825
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox594
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick34632
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 113
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 19 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH233
• practicex 42
• Sammyuel 14
• Adnapsc2 12
• Migwel
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• HerbMon 70
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
League of Legends
• Doublelift4996
• Lourlo990
• Stunt404
Other Games
• Scarra1842
Upcoming Events
The PondCast
2h 52m
Wardi Open
4h 52m
Big Gabe XPERIONCRAFT
5h 52m
AI Arena Tournament
12h 52m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 2h
WardiTV Invitational
1d 5h
IPSL
1d 12h
DragOn vs Sziky
Replay Cast
2 days
Wardi Open
2 days
Monday Night Weeklies
2 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Invitational
3 days
WardiTV Invitational
4 days
The PondCast
5 days
All Star Teams
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S1: W3
WardiTV 2025
META Madness #9

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
OSC Championship Season 13
Big Gabe Cup #3
Underdog Cup #3
NA Kuram Kup
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025

Upcoming

CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
Escore Tournament S1: W4
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Rongyi Cup S3
Thunderfire SC2 All-star 2025
Nations Cup 2026
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
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.