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Subtle Evolution of ZvT (Oct GSL spoilers)

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whatthefat United States918 Posts October 16 2011 17:59 GMT #1 I'm extremely glad I decided to buy the ticket for the October season of GSL. I always learn an incredible amount watching code S, and at a time when I'm looking to improve my Zerg play, this season couldn't have been more timely. Before the tournament inevitably spiralled into TvT oblivion, it delivered some of the most entertaining and sophisticated ZvTs I have seen in SC2. I was so impressed that I started to jot down notes on some of the more subtle changes in the way Zerg is currently being handled by top level players. Here is my summary of the observations that most impressed me. Interestingly, many of these techniques (which did not exist, or at least were not mainstream a couple of months ago) have now been adopted across the board by Nestea, DongRaeGu, Leenock, LosirA, CoCa, and Zenio. I've also seen them in use by IdrA at MLG Orlando. After the standard 15 hatch and double queens, it has now become much more common to immediately start a third, and often a fourth queen. This Spanishiwa-esque approach provides several benefits. First, it allows Zerg to drone like a madman, spending all larvae on economy. Nestea had 49 drones at the 7:30 mark in one game using this strategy. Second, it provides great defense against the now ubiquitous hellion builds. Third, if Zerg reacts quickly, it can completely annul the effect of drops. With 2-4 queens defending the main, medivacs can be taken down extremely quickly. In addition, more queens early in the game allows for... With most top Zergs now devoting a queen or two to creep spread, code S has been painted purple. Check out the creep spread achieved by the 15 minute mark (in-game time): This obviously confers huge advantages in terms of mobility and vision. It's nice to see that the top players are now achieving the level of multi-tasking necessary to manage creep spread on top of all the other macro and micro demands. One of coolest things I've noticed this season is the use of spine crawler movement; what I call 'Spine Walking'. With Terrans converging to the Nash Equilibrium of building hellions in absolutely every game no matter what, it is becoming increasingly hard to zone them out from drone lines, and protect the livelihood of new creep tumors. However, the ingenious solution top Zergs have found is to continually walk the spines with the leading edge of the creep. Here's a great example of a meticulous 'Spine Walk' from Zenio: The use of macro hatcheries is now completely standard in ZvT, largely due to the prevalence of ling-based armies. What's particularly interesting however, is the reordering of buildings. Back when Zergs relied on two base muta against Terran, the typical order was 1) Tech (spire + mutas) then 2) Third base, then 3) Macrohatch. As Terrans became better at exploiting the timing while Zerg was teching, it became much more common for Zergs to take a third base before teching, and so the typical order switched to 1) Third, 2) Tech/Macro-hatch, 3) Macro-hatch/Tech. But on many maps, this in turn opens up a new vulnerability. With hellions on the map, it can be difficult to get over to defend the third, meaning if Terran scouts at the right time, they can force a cancel on the Third. An earlier third can also spread Zerg too thin before they have an army, making drops a nightmare to deal with. However, Zerg needs the extra larvae. Therefore, this season it became common for Zergs to use a new order, to great effect: 1) Macro-hatch, 2) Third/Tech, 3) Tech/Third. This new order also goes hand in hand with earlier queens, as it means there's already an extra queen available to provide injects. With the latest patch lowering the cost of Overseers, many Zergs are now opting for an Overseer around the 8-9 minute mark. This is a critical time for scouting Terran's intentions, since many stim/tank pushes come around the 10 minute mark. It's great to see the patch already having an effect in this respect, and I'll be interested to see if this scout becomes standard. Burrowed banelings have always been super entertaining in the GSL, from the antics of Moon to Nestea's uncanny ability to salvage terrible positions with cleverly placed banelings. However, most of the excitement has been generated by the static use of banelings: Zerg burrows them somewhere clever, then the audience and commentators sit on the edge of their seats waiting to see if Terran scans or is unfortunate enough to walk over them. This season, the use of burrowed banelings in dynamic situations has been truly impressive. It is now very common for Zergs to use mutas to lure marines into banelings. Zergs are also occasionally starting to burrow banelings during battle, where it's particularly hard to tell whether a baneling has been killed or burrowed, so as to cover the retreat path. Possibly my favorite play of all this season was Leenock's use of burrowed banelings to zone out defenders (similar to a tactical nuke): All in all, an extremely informative season! ZvT is already an extremely sexy match-up, and it's amazing to see it continue to evolve.

Kurr Canada2338 Posts October 16 2011 18:13 GMT #2 Hey, when you play 80% of your matches against 1 race, you develop better ways to play vs them. Thanks for this post, I haven't really watched GSL this season so it's nice to see players changing things up.

a176 Canada6688 Posts October 16 2011 18:36 GMT #3 most the stuff is normal/given, but good post nevertheless

SirJolt the Dagon Knight4014 Posts October 16 2011 19:01 GMT #4 Dearest Whatthefat, Much as I love your blogs (they're unparalleled, I really must say), it has come to my attention that only one thing lets them down. The fonts used in your images seem badly pixelated, and it throws the whole presentation off kilter a little I threw together this quick mockup to show you what I mean: Given the amount of effort you put in, I wonder if there's some way to rectify the font issues with your otherwise prodigious content. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm nitpicking, but when everything else is perfect, it seems like such a tiny thing. Love, always,

ThyHate 240 Posts October 16 2011 19:57 GMT #5 I love all your posts dude, great job, thank you

Bibbit Canada5377 Posts October 16 2011 20:14 GMT #6 This is really great. I especially like the Spine Crawler Walk. I've seen it a few times and thought it was pretty cool but never really thought about it !

whatthefat United States918 Posts October 16 2011 22:08 GMT #7 @SirJolt Thanks! That's probably because I rely on paint for everything, haha! You're right though, I should try to use higher resolutions.

rebuffering Canada2436 Posts October 16 2011 22:25 GMT #8 wow awesome post! this should get spotlighted or something, great work!

GypsyBeast Canada630 Posts October 16 2011 22:35 GMT #9 this needs to be spotlighted 100%. Very cool in depth look, thanks!

intrigue Washington, D.C9935 Posts October 17 2011 02:36 GMT #10 beautiful post. spotlighting!

GenesisX Canada4267 Posts October 17 2011 02:47 GMT #11 this is so good <3 thanks for this

Carras Argentina860 Posts October 17 2011 02:48 GMT #12 GREAT post , i think most zergs have already made this adaptations to their own play (i have been doing this thinks for a while now..) now we get to see them done every game by every zerg! except the baneling one..that was just one game, maybe we ll see more usage of that sometime

SenorChang Australia4730 Posts October 17 2011 02:51 GMT #13 On October 17 2011 04:01 SirJolt wrote: Amazing signature. Great post and nice pick up's on the changes in the matchup! Seems standard to have an amazing creep spread these days.

NasKe_ Brazil570 Posts October 17 2011 02:56 GMT #14 awesome awesome just so awesome rly nice post this will help me alot thanks for this

feanor1 United States1899 Posts October 17 2011 03:00 GMT #15 Very informative post, didn't think about how many queens people were getting but looking back yeah...

LXR 357 Posts October 17 2011 03:40 GMT #16 I noticed these things happening and i think it's really great for the matchup. Basically zergs are working more on their preparation, instead of being able to play totally re-actively.

Mattchew United States5684 Posts October 17 2011 03:45 GMT #17 i think upgrades have also become a priority as well... great write up these subtle things make all the difference

Childplay Canada263 Posts October 17 2011 03:46 GMT #18 man, i hope we get to see more zergs in the gsl. This is a start to the new styles iv seen zergs do, and i hope it works just as well as 1/1/1 did on protoss =P

Jaeger United States1150 Posts October 17 2011 03:52 GMT #19 I look forward to seeing more baneling blockades similar to the savior army blockades in the savior final edit.

DeltruS Canada2214 Posts October 17 2011 03:54 GMT #20 Now we just need some good toss dominance. ZvP's innovation right now is pathetic. We are even reverting into what we did in beta.

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