EPTHi guys, this is the second installation of my blog. If you would like to read the first one click the link above.
I am adding a section to the bottom of this blog with "Replay of the Week" where I will pick one replay from my games the past week and analyse it.
I will also be discussing my goals at the end of this blog.
With that being said, let's get started with the real nuts and bolts!
My Practice: It's weird, I've only been back playing for about a week or so but, I already feel like I am playing at the best I ever have been. My mechanics are crisp and I'm executing my builds very well. I didn't do much deliberate practice this week unfortunately, but I played about 10 ZvT games and also 10 ZvZ games roughly. I hope to focus more on custom game practice this week for sure.
•ZvT: I have deviated away from the 1-1 roach push as my go to build for ladder and instead am playing very standard ling bane muta off a hatch pool gas opening. I feel the better you get, the worse roach play becomes as your opponents know the correct reactions. I have been trying out soO's style of 6 gas 10ish muta with just a swarm of ling bane aggression as well as playing a bit more passive with a quicker 4th base, more mutalisks, faster hive, lot's of counter attack pressure. I'm not too sure which style I prefer yet but both are definitely still solid. In my ten ZvT practice games I lost two games, winning the rest off ling bane muta play, I'm pretty happy with that as I am starting to play more solid with this style. I will be talking about mech play in the replay of the week at the bottom of this post.
Ladder Winrate: 41 - 24 (63%)
•ZvP: ZvP is still pretty much the same as last week. Roach Hydra Viper timings into Ultra/BLord. I plan to practice in custom games this week specifically focusing on cannon rushing, proxy 2 gate and 2 base all in defence. I'm quite comfortable in the late game vs toss, but it's the early gimmicky things that I need to work on.
Ladder Winrate: 24 - 18 (57%)
•ZvZ: At the beginning of this week I had a horrible time in ZvZ going on a big losing streak. I have been focusing on the same style as last week with the gas opening into ling bane pressure to safely secure my third while denying an opponents third and then into roach play. My custom game practice this week went fine, I think I went about 50% win rate but I definitely learned a lot. I am considering exploring muta or mass ling styles this week as a change if roach play continues to not work our for me.
Ladder Winrate: 26 - 32 (45%)
Overall Ladder Winrate: 91 - 74 (55%)
As of now I am sitting at rank 247 in Masters which is 3rd in my Masters Division. I think I hit about 7 GM players this week in ladder after playing 77 games this week. That's pretty good in my opinion after just playing again after a big break. The rest of my opponents were mainly top masters as well so I feel my MMR is quite high to make a decent attempt at GM for next season.
My Stream: Stream has been going well for sure. I set up all my panels under the stream for more information about me as well as getting my twitch alerts working so I can know when I get a follow or donation etc!
I really need to sort out sub emotes and things like that because otherwise there's no point having the sub button. I believe we hit about 26 viewers as a max this week which is solid. I want to double that by 3 months from now which I think is definitely doable. Also a new webcam would be sick!
I definitely feel that my best practice comes from the games I play off stream for obvious reasons, but I don't think it's a bad idea to stream 2-3 hours most days which is what I am doing at the moment.
We had a stream highlight from the other day go up on reddit and I think it was pretty funny! Zerg tears :'(
Replay of the Week:
http://www.ggtracker.com/matches/6058131
This was a game on ladder vs a GM Terran. Since the SH nerf I have been pretty dicey vs mech but this game was pretty solid and showcases really what my aim is if I don't open 2 base muta against mech. The answer? Monster Economy, Monster aggression, TECH SWITCHES. I'd recommend watching this replay and pausing at moments where I say to pause or to read and watch at the same time. Enjoy.
--> 6:23 Up to this point, standard gasless 4 queen opening with an aim to be going for a roach timing. Third at 5:45, double gases at 5:55 (about 15s late, should be 5:40) and a warren at 6:15 (anywhere between 6 and 6 30 is good) I decide to ditch the 1-1 timing and opt for a quick lair for mutalisks instead. Roach Muta Roach is my mid game plan (roach defence, muta harras, roach push)
-->9:00 Opponent scouts my spire pretty much straight away. I decide to let it finish but I alter my strategy as a reaction. Drop 2 evos, start overlord drop and overlord speed, we're pulling the overlords and going for a strong roach aggression!
-->14:30 Opponent holds but we reset the tank count. Could have been a lot better but at least we got some value out of it. I start hydra production and my new aim is for roach hydra viper with ultralisks in the end game and maybe broodlords depending on his viking count and how well I can deal with his AA.
-->Side Note: Notice my creep spread. I am able to see any helion harras of his in plenty of time which means I can defend very well. Creep is important in all matchups but especially in ZvT.
-->19:40 As I had the overlord drop tech already researched, I decide to further make use of it. With just two overlords I put a few roaches into them and drop the main of the Terran as I push. This divides the attention of the terran and I can get a few tech add ons as well as potentially workers/ scouting information on an air tech switch. I continue to do this with every aggressive position I take throughout the game. I get 3 Ultralisks with my 2-2 aggression and also have a GSpire in production for a follow up. If I trade here and he sees ultralisks, his first response is going to be tanks. This will make my broodlord switch a lot stronger due to 1) His lack of vikings if I manage to trade them with hydralisks in the aggression 2) His tanks will friendly fire kill his own army due to the broodlings.
-->21:15 We traded really well on the ground but only killed 2-3 vikings. Is going for the broodlords here a bad idea? Maybe, but think for a second. What did we also kill? His third base economy. He can no longer produce as well as he was. So if we go for a few broodlords, he is going to have to respond by making viking thor and holding off on the tanks. This will make a follow up push afterwards even stronger as he won't have the economy to match my tech switching off of 4 base economy. My econ should definitely be stronger here, 5-6 bases for sure. Again, note my creep spread. It makes my aggression so much stronger to have such a fast reinforce. It might have been an idea to pull queens with the creep as I could have transfuse potential.
--> 25:00 We trade inefficiently for sure, but note his followup. More vikings. We can now just go roach hydra ultra and end the game.
-->End Summary. What can I do better?:
• Creep on the left flank for easier taking of more bases
• More counter attacks into his natural and gold base (if he had it) with ling roach.
• I played Avilo after and asked for some feedback. He said vipers vipers vipers. Vipers counter everything in the mech army he said, even vikings. I will have to try playing with more than just the 4 I have been making in this game for sure.
My Goals:
This Week:
• Learn and be able to execute defences against Cannon Rush/Proxy 2 Gate/Various 2 Base play.
• Explore muta and mass ling styles in ZvZ
• Continue to play ZvT ling bane muta
• Play in at least one online tournament.
• Stream for 10 hours.
Short Term (3 Months):
• Grandmaster
• Play and get solid at LOTV after achieving Grandmaster
• Win a showmatch or an Irish online tournament
• Consistently 50 viewers on stream.
• Join a Semi Pro team.
Long Term:
• Top 100 GM
• GM EU
• Start to make a name for myself in the semi pro scene.
• Online tournament results.
So that's it for this week guys, I hope you enjoyed this week more than last week. I think I wrote a lot more valuable information here. I will be back again next Saturday on the 4th writing another blog.
If you want to keep up to date with what I am doing, catch me at any of the following!
Twitter - https://twitter.com/LucodaSC2
Stream - http://www.twitch.tv/lucoda/
Email - lucodasc2@gmail.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peter-Lucoda-Healy/303284209796416
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