EPTI'm GlintFox and after struggling in bronze for a few seasons I've finally got placed in Silver and going strong! Its been a hard road getting out of the dreadful place but I've learned a lot of things I'm willing to share with other people who are in the lower leagues.
![[image loading]](http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/119/a/9/little_zergling_by_jkpopfever-d3f7mh1.jpg)
Img courtesy of jkpopfever.deviantart.com
1. What everyone says about macro, they're right... To a certain degree.
Now I say this because it's what Masters, Diamonds, Platinums and whatnot say to the lower league hero's who are asking how to improve. It's sort of a lazy way to say a lot. Building a lot of stuff and keeping money low is all right but there are a few more things to it. For example when I started the game most builds seemed complicated to me so I 10 pooled almost every match. It is borderline cheese but it actually helped me a lot. I rose to top 5 Bronze quite quickly and hit the ceiling. Before I go on, I'll explain why this wasn't a horrible thing as most people will say. First off, I won quite often and that feeling continued to bring me back to the game. I also lost a lot, but when I did it was really obvious what happened. I started to reflect on that and learned that It doesnt have to be so "all-in" if you drone behind it. It evolved my thinking, "Hey, if I drone behind this then this can turn into an early harass and I can tech/make more units/expand during this." These ideas seemed like a great discovery to stay in the game. During this I learned new things such as unit composition, hotkeys, control groups, and how bitter supply block is. I started to learn the mechanics of the game to transition out of the cheese.
So the next season started and I got placed at the bottom of bronze again. I watched a lot of pro's and day9 and D.apollo on streams and vods and said to myself.. I can do that. I don't have to be scared of my opponent and be cheesy. So I really thought about what the big brothers and sisters in the higher leagues kept saying. Macro macro MACRO. The idea of this to me was too simple. Making more stuff than the other person cant just win all my games. I can see it as Protoss and Terran but never as Zerg. Zerg is a reactive race. To some degree this is true. Making a flippin ton of stalkers will win you almost any game. Same with billions of marines/marauders. I wrote down the Key Ideas to Starcraft and what race depended on which one the most. Building workers, Not getting supply blocked, Scouting, Reacting, Micro, Composition, Map knowledge, Special conditions (Pylon placement, creep spread, wall building), Expanding times, Upgrades, and Map control and sight. This was the beginning of the journey.
2. The notebook.
I began working with a 14 extractor/14pool safe roach build (Which I tend to reccomend for low league learning purposes). This is the same build that D.Apollo uses in this Tutorials. In this season I got a notebook specifically for starcraft and watched some streams and videos (including apollos and day9) and wrote down not only the build but for every game I wrote down some key things I noticed. When and how to scout and with what. I wrote down upgrades that were important. How they responded and what race and map they played on (such as they always scouted with an overlord at 5:30-5:45 into the enemy base). Just a general outline of how they played with the build against each race. Now I had an idea and starting from square one again I dove right in while writing in my notebook. While doing this for EVERY game I played on the ladder I wrote down some specific things such as what race I played against, if I won or lost, the map, and the date. Then I wrote down a short reflection of how the game went in general. I then watched the replay (all vision and enemy vision specifically) and wrote down some things I did very WELL at such as "Did a great job at keeping on Larva Injects!" and "Never got supply blocked!" and then I wrote down some things I need to work on and did BAD at such as "Need to spread creep better and quicker!!!" and " I need to expand faster!" "Scout better with lings and overlords!". I felt it was very important to not only write down the things you were doing poorly at but also the things you were doing good at and feel good about it. Give yourself a pat on the back
, ya know?"More GG, More skill" - White-Ra
3. It's one foot at a time to learn how to walk.
After noticing some trends with my notebook and highlighting key terms and important stuff I decided to crack down. It's very important to focus on one thing at a time instead of overloading your brain with tons of multitasking! It's very easy to burn yourself out, get frustrated and punch your keyboard in SC2. So learn and imporve on one thing at a time. I spent a whole day trying to get down my larva injects. Now its like I have a little clock in my brain that just KNOWS when its time to hit that V key. I spent another day focusing only on expanding earlier. Another day focusing on being fully saturated. Even if you lose that wasn't the point, you had excellent map control and thats what you were working on!!! Before you can run with the pro's you have to learn to walk.
4. Feeling underpowered.
We've all done it. We all do it. Nerf this and that because its overpowered!!! Personally I feel only a few things in this game are OP. But whatever race you are, its easy to feel you are the underdog. If you hope to be successful, to at LEAST get out of Bronze then you cant feel this way. Go ahead, try the other races and you'll go right back to thinking it about the two OTHER races. Doing my build and climb I felt like this all the time, and it was a horrible feeling. I could go to Protoss and be awesome... But Zerg is where my heart is. They are my favourite race. I was cruising the forums on TeamLiquid <3 and someone said something that I will NEVER forget, "WE ARE THE SWARM. DO NOT CHALLENGE THEM BASED ON THEIR STRENGTHS. BUT CHALLENGE THEM BASED ON OURS!" That stuck with me and I felt I knew exactly what to do and its insanely true. Learn the strengths of your race and challenge them based on those strengths!
5. Bronze League Hero
The last thing I learned and sharing is just don't give up. We all go on losing streaks. Look at Nestea and MVP, they are seemingly two of the best players in the world! They have their streaks of bad luck and its taking its toll. But everyone goes up and down. Starcraft is a lot about your mindset. I found it was very helpful to warm up in a custom map or against friends before laddering. Even if not playing your ladder (Main) race. It's good to get your brain jogging. I always practiced in a custom or two with Protoss? Why? I thought it was fun and It got me thinking. It helped my game dramatically. Also, playing with friends and analyzing each others play is another good idea. Taking breaks and making time for 2'/3's/4's/FFA to just have fun and relax also helps your mindset in the game, especially if you have ladder anxiety. It helped me tons.
![[image loading]](http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvk0ci1iyV1qjsrulo1_500.jpg)
That's it. I hope it helps and thanks for reading! Now go be a Bronze League Hero, baby!
