• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 08:03
CEST 14:03
KST 21:03
  • 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
Serral wins Maestros of the Game 222ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7
Community News
MC vs IdrA, Boxer vs Nal_rA to be Legacy Matches @ BlizzCon315.0.16 Hotfix (June 30) - Balance + Bug Fixes38Weekly Cups (June 22-28): Zergs thrive in new patch5[TLMC] Summer 2026 Ladder Map Rotation05.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start)99
StarCraft 2
General
Server Blocker Serral wins Maestros of the Game 2 StarCraft Mass Recall: SC1 campaigns on SC2 thread 5.0.16 Hotfix (June 30) - Balance + Bug Fixes IP For new Brazil servers for NA Players
Tourneys
HomeStory Cup 29 Vespene Cup #1 — $300+ USD, July 10 Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28) Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family Mutation # 531 Experimental Artillery Mutation # 530 One For All
Brood War
General
ASL 22 Proposed Map Pool Snow On New ASL S22 Map, Zerg Nerf BW General Discussion Farewell Beloved Starcraft (Youtube Videos) FlaShFTW vs A.Alm Grudge Match Event
Tourneys
CSLAN 4 is Coming! Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 The Casual Games of the Week Thread [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies Why doesn't anyone use restoration?
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Dawn of War IV Summer Games Done Quick 2026! ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor 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
TL Mafia
Five o'clock TL Mafia NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance TL Mafia Community Thread TL Mafia Power Rank Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club! The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion
Sports
Formula 1 Discussion 2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard? Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Listen To The Coaches!
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 7979 users

Definition of SC Cheese

Blogs > Aqo[il]
Post a Reply
Aqo[il]
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
Israel183 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-18 07:19:53
July 18 2009 07:15 GMT
#1
I've seen lots of people argue about what's cheese and what's not and I think there should be one dictionary-type definition that the SC community should agree on to settle this once and for all.

Here is my suggestion: Cheese Tactics are tactics that rely on luck to be effective, and if you're unlucky they would put you behind.

---

[ Examples ]

If you go by this definition, 4/5/6pool is definitely cheese. You're basically hoping P FEs and doesn't scout you until it's too late to send probes to defend his warping cannons. If he went 2gate you're royally fucked, 5-6 probes + zealot can handle your lings well enough and your macro is horribly behind, not to mention he'll have 3 zea quickly.
Early pool in ZvT is retarded, you're basically hoping T doesn't wall, and if he does you already lost.
The only map where you'd want to 4/5/6 pool ZvT is Colosseum, for obvious reason. But even then, take note that 5pool lings come 20 seconds earlier than 9pool.

5pool in ZvZ loses to every single thing Z can do - 9pool, overpool, 12pool, even 12hat, are all a direct counter to 5pool, so if you earlypool in ZvZ shame on you, you won't be getting wins against any player ranked higher than D+ like that (or hell anyone that knows how to micro and how to ZvZ).

BBS is cheese because you're relying on countering a certain opening build, so that he can't respond. If his build was one that gives him the units to counter yours and he's not a complete noob, time to type gg.

5/6probe Proxy gates is cheese because, once again, you're basically relying on your opponent to have bad building placement to deal with the units from those gates and scouting them too late. If his simcity is good and/or he scouted them early, you just wasted a high amount of earlygame minerals and you have to play from a handicapped position.

Proxy robo is not cheese, it's clever play, when you do it you already scouted your opponent and you know his movement patterns so you know where to place it correctly. It's not any more cheese than Z's entire macro - where drone production relies entirely on anticipating the opponent's next move based on information you already have.

Hidden factory/rax float in TvZ isn't cheese because while it relies on not being scouted to truly be effective, it doesn't put you behind if it's scouted, it just won't give you an advantage.

---

So what do you people think about this definition?

Cheese
- Relies on luck to be effective
- Puts you significantly behind if you were unlucky

*
Reavers. Lurkers. Vultures. Defilers. Corsairs. Vessels. Why did they remove all the cool units from SC2...?
GhostKorean
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
United States2330 Posts
July 18 2009 07:22 GMT
#2
You should add in that while all cheeses are all-ins, not all all-ins are cheeses.
Example: Hydra all-ins in ZvP
theobsessed1
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
United States576 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-18 07:23:15
July 18 2009 07:22 GMT
#3
Some of them also rely heavily on micro, at least compared to other standard openings. Luck does play a large factor (scouting, opening builds, etc.) like you already said.

Are all-in plays always considered to be cheese as well?

Edit: Question answered by above post lolol
정명훈 화이팅!~
KawaiiRice
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
United States2914 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-18 07:24:00
July 18 2009 07:23 GMT
#4
"I don't cheese" as a T player = I don't BBS? I think that's what I'm seeing here
By that definition though... 1gate dt exp is not a cheese! Shit

Edit: Imo all-in gets mixed up with cheese a lot
@KawaiiRiceLighT
Dazed.
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Canada3301 Posts
July 18 2009 07:30 GMT
#5
cheese is whatever the hell people says it is, because language is elastic. Thread fail. 1/5, would not read again.
Never say Die! ||| Fight you? No, I want to kill you.
Pokebunny
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States10654 Posts
July 18 2009 07:37 GMT
#6
You'll never get a solid definition.
Semipro Terran player | Pokebunny#1710 | twitter.com/Pokebunny | twitch.tv/Pokebunny | facebook.com/PokebunnySC
sixghost
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States2096 Posts
July 18 2009 07:46 GMT
#7
Stop trying to define a term that means something different to every sc player out there.
mG.sixghost @ iCCup || One ling, two ling, three ling, four... Camp four gas, then ultra-whore . -Saracen
Heyoka
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Katowice25012 Posts
July 18 2009 07:47 GMT
#8
On July 18 2009 16:15 Aqo[il] wrote:
I think there should be one dictionary-type definition that the SC community should agree on to settle this once and for all.



This would be really nice, but its never going to happen. SC is a game that is entirely circumstantial, and its fan are very dumb in general so these semantic arguments are going to happen for eternity.
@RealHeyoka | ESL / DreamHack StarCraft Lead
lazz
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Australia3119 Posts
July 18 2009 07:51 GMT
#9

im ok with cheese just being a build order executed below a certain supply threshold, for example zerg 6 pool is cheese, BBS is cheese, 7 pylon proxy gate is cheese etc)

however there are shitloads of cheesey builds in ZvP that can be executed off 2 base, like 2 hatch hydra all in or 2 hatch mutas 2 hatch lurker drop etc.

it's a loose term,i dont think people will ever agree on a rigid definition.
Harem
Profile Joined November 2007
United States11393 Posts
July 18 2009 08:06 GMT
#10
12hat directly counters 5pool?

looooooool
Moderator。◕‿◕。
georgir
Profile Joined May 2009
Bulgaria253 Posts
July 18 2009 09:15 GMT
#11
the community can never agree to anything.
50bani
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Romania480 Posts
July 18 2009 11:48 GMT
#12
A strategy that relies on the element of surprise.

And no, it is not only about early rushes hidden tech on the map and proxies, 2 base carrier is also cheese and that is mid-to-late game. FE into 4 rax sunken break against 3 hatch is also cheese, any bio vs p, any 1 or 2 hatch lurker, 2 gas hive after 2 hatch muta, and i would also mention that any map particularity that you can exploit to get units in someone's main like temples on medusa is also cheese
I'm posting on twoplustwo because I have always been amazed at the level of talent that populates this site --- it's almost unparalleled on the Internet.
flag
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
United States228 Posts
July 18 2009 15:20 GMT
#13
that is a bad definition because technically "non cheese" builds rely on luck in that if they do a super econ build (14 cc) you will be behind, which by your definition makes them cheese (thus all builds are cheese)
CrimsonLotus
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Colombia1123 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-18 16:33:53
July 18 2009 16:33 GMT
#14
Nobody can really agree to what "cheese" is, but at least is fun to show your own theory.

I've always heard that if you face a clearily superior player in a tournament, you should cheese to have a chance of winning, therefore i believe that cheese should be defined as an early agression that relies on surprise (since the opponent is more skilled) to try and end the game before the difference in skill becomes too relevant.

This way, something like 14 Nexus or two base Carriers would not be considered cheese, since they do not aim for early agression nor ending the game quickly.

Just my opinion.
444 444 444 444
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
HomeStory Cup
11:30
XXIX - Playoffs Final Day
Reynor vs ElazerLIVE!
Serral vs SKillousLIVE!
Clem vs Krystianer
Lambo vs Harstem
TaKeTV2932
ComeBackTV 899
SteadfastSC423
Ryung 382
TaKeSeN 360
IndyStarCraft 283
Rex98
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SteadfastSC 423
Ryung 382
IndyStarCraft 283
Rex 98
Codebar 60
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 31738
Calm 5105
Shuttle 1604
Jaedong 503
Mini 427
Soma 407
EffOrt 290
BeSt 268
actioN 251
Last 224
[ Show more ]
Soulkey 179
Zeus 175
Light 161
Leta 115
ggaemo 111
ZerO 108
Rush 98
Hyun 79
910 72
Sharp 68
Free 50
Sea.KH 48
Killer 36
soO 25
JYJ 24
Movie 24
GoRush 22
Sacsri 21
JulyZerg 20
sorry 20
Barracks 18
HiyA 16
zelot 15
ajuk12(nOOB) 10
Noble 10
Yoon 9
Dota 2
Dendi963
XcaliburYe564
XaKoH 519
Counter-Strike
x6flipin629
byalli477
zeus316
edward256
Sick162
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor310
Other Games
singsing2205
B2W.Neo1115
Pyrionflax334
Hui .163
Livibee146
ZerO(Twitch)13
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream202
StarCraft: Brood War
lovetv 161
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• 3DClanTV 90
• Adnapsc2 8
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV767
• lizZardDota2157
Upcoming Events
OSC
57m
WardiTV Weekly
1d 22h
The PondCast
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
CrankTV Team League
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
CrankTV Team League
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
CranKy Ducklings
5 days
[ Show More ]
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Snow vs Jaedong
YSC vs hero
RSL Revival
6 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S3: W1
Douyu Cup 2026
Murky Cup 2026

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
CSL Season 21: Qualifier 2
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
SCTL 2026 Spring
HSC XXIX
Eternal Conflict S2 E1
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S3: W2
ASL Season 22:Wild Card Qualifier
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E3
Eternal Conflict S2 E2
Heroes Pulsing #3
Logitech G Connect 2026
StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
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.