• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 19:37
CEST 01:37
KST 08:37
  • 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
Maestros of the Game: Week 1/Play-in Preview9[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt2: Take-Off7[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt1: Runway132v2 & SC: Evo Complete: Weekend Double Feature4Team Liquid Map Contest #21 - Presented by Monster Energy9
Community News
Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw?6Weekly Cups (Aug 18-24): herO dethrones MaxPax6Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris45Weekly Cups (Aug 11-17): MaxPax triples again!15Weekly Cups (Aug 4-10): MaxPax wins a triple6
StarCraft 2
General
#1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw? Maestros of the Game: Week 1/Play-in Preview Weekly Cups (Aug 11-17): MaxPax triples again! 2024/25 Off-Season Roster Moves
Tourneys
Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris Monday Nights Weeklies LiuLi Cup - September 2025 Tournaments 🏆 GTL Season 2 – StarCraft II Team League $5,100+ SEL Season 2 Championship (SC: Evo)
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 489 Bannable Offense Mutation # 488 What Goes Around Mutation # 487 Think Fast Mutation # 486 Watch the Skies
Brood War
General
Victoria gamers Starcraft at lower levels TvP ASL20 General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Pros React To: herO's Baffling Game
Tourneys
[ASL20] Ro24 Group F [IPSL] CSLAN Review and CSLPRO Reimagined! Small VOD Thread 2.0 Cosmonarchy Pro Showmatches
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread General RTS Discussion Thread Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
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
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
The Happy Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread High temperatures on bridge(s) Gtx660 graphics card replacement
TL Community
The Automated Ban List TeamLiquid Team Shirt On Sale
Blogs
hello world
radishsoup
Lemme tell you a thing o…
JoinTheRain
How Culture and Conflict Imp…
TrAiDoS
RTS Design in Hypercoven
a11
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
INDEPENDIENTE LA CTM
XenOsky
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1500 users

CrispyDrone beginner/intermediate tutorial series

Forum Index > BW General
Post a Reply
1 2 Next All
B-royal
Profile Joined May 2015
Belgium1330 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-12-13 17:07:20
November 26 2016 01:27 GMT
#1
[image loading]

Hi everyone,

I'm starting up a tutorial series for beginners and intermediate zerg players.
The first few parts will be about the zerg vs zerg matchup with the first video specifically about 12 pool vs 9pool/overpool.

The intention is to pass on a lot of information in a general way while showcasing a specific game. I hope that players can then incorporate this information and thinking in their own playing.

I put a lot of time and effort into this video (first one I've ever made so it was definitely a challenge). I hope people will find it useful and leave constructive feedback so I can improve the following ones.

I will be updating this OP with all the following tutorials so stay tuned!

ZvZ

+ Show Spoiler [Tutorial Series 1: 12 Pool vs 9 Pool/…] +

+ Show Spoiler [Supplementary video to 12 Pool vs 9 P…] +





new BW-player (~E rank fish) twitch.tv/crispydrone || What plays 500 games a season but can't get better? => http://imgur.com/a/pLzf9 <= ||
Highgamer
Profile Joined October 2015
1411 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-11-26 02:17:06
November 26 2016 01:39 GMT
#2
This is some really high quality material.

I envy you.

I'm happy I don't have to play ZvZ

edit: maybe this ought to be moved to the Strategy section?
SCC-Faust
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States3736 Posts
November 26 2016 03:17 GMT
#3
This is really good and will be looking forward to more of these.
I want to fuck Soulkey with a Zelderan.
shaggles
Profile Joined October 2011
Poland108 Posts
November 26 2016 03:22 GMT
#4
Excellent video, particularly in "mentality" part. A lot of tutorials tend to concentrate on "what to do" instead "why do it", while this one focuses on reasoning and decisionmaking. Good work and cannot wait for more. Hope, you'll cover other matchups in the future as well. Do you plan to cover other popular maps? How cross-spawn situation differs from the one covered here (scouting overlord is late to see Lair)? What if 9pool/overpool is followed by nat hatch or in-base hatch instead of Lair? How can I benefit from that? [Gazillion of other questions later ]
I play the Chess of Computer Age
ninazerg
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States7291 Posts
November 26 2016 03:38 GMT
#5
The quality of this tutorial is astoundingly good. I'm very happy that you made this.
"If two pregnant women get into a fist fight, it's like a mecha-battle between two unborn babies." - Fyodor Dostoevsky
FyRe_DragOn
Profile Blog Joined November 2006
Canada2056 Posts
November 26 2016 03:40 GMT
#6
Very nice in both content and production I will recommend this to new zerg players
aka DragOn[NaS]
HerbMon
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
United States463 Posts
November 26 2016 04:41 GMT
#7
Wow. Keep it up!
How we will win in the period ahead.
Harem
Profile Joined November 2007
United States11390 Posts
November 26 2016 06:47 GMT
#8
This wasn't that bad.

There were some comments that I wanted to make while watching but i've forgotten most of them now.

I will say though that there are other overlord scouting patterns that exist too and should be made aware of. It will be of way more relevance when you do the 12hatch one ie sending overlord cross map. This works by abusing the "standard" overlord scouting patterns on 4p maps and the assumptions people make when they dont see an overlord at x time and can be used for stuff like much safer 12hatching etc.
Moderator。◕‿◕。
Ty2
Profile Blog Joined March 2013
United States1434 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-11-26 07:16:07
November 26 2016 07:08 GMT
#9
--- Nuked ---
Writer
Bakuryu
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Germany1065 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-11-26 08:46:07
November 26 2016 08:37 GMT
#10
i wish you gl hf with your videos. unfortunately i cant give you the "Bakuryu seal of approval™". ^^
toriak
Profile Joined December 2008
Slovakia477 Posts
November 26 2016 08:38 GMT
#11
nice
Highgamer
Profile Joined October 2015
1411 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-11-26 10:51:01
November 26 2016 10:48 GMT
#12
On November 26 2016 17:37 Bakuryu wrote:
i wish you gl hf with your videos. unfortunately i cant give you the "Bakuryu seal of approval™". ^^


Now, I guess I'm not the only one here who'd be very interested to know why that exactly is ^^

Or do you just mean that such a seal doesn't exist? Then right off to the Qualitätssicherungszertifikatsamt or how it's called.
B-royal
Profile Joined May 2015
Belgium1330 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-11-26 15:18:31
November 26 2016 15:11 GMT
#13
On November 26 2016 10:39 Highgamer wrote:
This is some really high quality material.

I envy you.

I'm happy I don't have to play ZvZ

edit: maybe this ought to be moved to the Strategy section?


Thanks for the nice comment.

ZvZ was a pain for me in the beginning, but now that I've gotten better at it, it is quite fun

On November 26 2016 12:17 SCC-Faust wrote:
This is really good and will be looking forward to more of these.


On November 26 2016 12:38 ninazerg wrote:
The quality of this tutorial is astoundingly good. I'm very happy that you made this.


On November 26 2016 12:40 FyRe_DragOn wrote:
Very nice in both content and production I will recommend this to new zerg players


On November 26 2016 13:41 HerbMon wrote:
Wow. Keep it up!


On November 26 2016 17:38 toriak wrote:
nice


Thank you all for the nice comments. It means a lot.

On November 26 2016 12:22 shaggles wrote:
Excellent video, particularly in "mentality" part. A lot of tutorials tend to concentrate on "what to do" instead "why do it", while this one focuses on reasoning and decisionmaking. Good work and cannot wait for more. Hope, you'll cover other matchups in the future as well. Do you plan to cover other popular maps? How cross-spawn situation differs from the one covered here (scouting overlord is late to see Lair)? What if 9pool/overpool is followed by nat hatch or in-base hatch instead of Lair? How can I benefit from that? [Gazillion of other questions later ]



The plan is indeed to talk about the other matchups as well but I fear even just covering zerg vs zerg will be a long term project.
I would like to talk about other maps (2-players, 3-players), I am not sure what to consider a popular map right now though. iCCup's Overwatch? Heartbreak Ridge? Blue Storm?

The identification of the build order for a cross-spawn will primarily come down to checking the opponent's zergling timing/speed timing. Your first overlord will generally arrive by the time the spire has finished (9 pool) or is about to finish (overpool). Depending on how aggressive you have been or are being, you might even not sent your overlord towards his main anymore since you're sure to lose it. And you most likely have gotten your scouting information with zerglings in this scenario.

What I can do however, is add a supplementary video where I talk about everything together: the lair first style, a 9 pool-ing opponent, and the cross-spawn situation.

I don't think following up with a inbase hatchery or a natural hatchery is viable. An inbase hatchery instead of a lair throws away the only advantage you really have i.e. the faster mutalisks and it will be insanely difficult to defend a natural hatchery, in fact I don't think you will be able to hold onto it.

On November 26 2016 15:47 Harem wrote:
This wasn't that bad.

There were some comments that I wanted to make while watching but i've forgotten most of them now.

I will say though that there are other overlord scouting patterns that exist too and should be made aware of. It will be of way more relevance when you do the 12hatch one ie sending overlord cross map. This works by abusing the "standard" overlord scouting patterns on 4p maps and the assumptions people make when they dont see an overlord at x time and can be used for stuff like much safer 12hatching etc.


Sorry to hear you didn't like it. It would of course be helpful if you could actually provide the comments.

I am aware of alternative scouting patterns but they aren't very relevant for this particular scenario.

For myself: As a 12 pooling player I want to know if my opponent is doing a 12 hatch or if he's going for something very aggressive. I can entirely exclude both options from one spawning location by sending it in a clockwise manner. If I send my overlord in any other way, I lose out on information.

Anticlockwise: I can not tell if my opponent went 12 hatch (especially if the 12 hatching player used a different scouting pattern as you mention. I personally like to scout anticlockwise when I'm intending on a 12 hatch since I will change it into a 12 pool if I scout an overlord coming towards me.)

Crosswise: Not very useful.

For my opponent (9 pool or overpool): Doesn't seem very useful either for them to go for anything else than clockwise, if they're intending on going speed first and being aggressive.

We are 12 hatching => big chance we send the overlord in a different direction than clockwise. He does not meet our overlord and might send his zerglings to the wrong location.

We are 12 pooling => we send our overlord in a clockwise manner. Good, he will meet our overlord earlier than intended. What benefit does this give him? We will still see his zerglings and he still would have known our position on time even if he had send his overlord in clockwise manner.

Same thing really for other type of openings.

On November 26 2016 16:08 Ty2 wrote:
This video is really well done and I learned a few things myself.

Also, I want to point out a few things. You say to take a drone off of the gas at 100 gas when going 12 pool. I think it's important to specify to pull off the drone that brings back 88 gas. The other two remaining drones will give the 100 gas as fast as possible without needing the drone that gave the 88 gas. Also you might want to mention that commonly the mutalisk zerg will make zerglings himself against the sporing zerg. Then they'll run those zerglings up the ramp and use mutalisks to cut off your own zerglings from getting up your own ramp They can also go directly for the spores or pick away at drones at the natural if there aren't any or very few zerglings. Sometimes themutalisk player can also not go zerglings and just drone and expand too. I'm not sure if you mentioned it, but did you explain why overlords scout usually clockwise?


Thanks very much Ty2. This would indeed have been useful to mention in the video. I did mention that as the 12 pooling player will rely on zerglings to defend, he has to be careful to not lose them needlessly as the opponent can use zerglings to snipe spores etc but I did not think about mentioning that specific tactic. I also forgot to mention to add spores as the mutalisk count grows since >= 6 mutalisks iirc can take out a single spore without losing a single one.

Also, what did you learn from the video? I'm very curious since you are such a high level player.

On November 26 2016 17:37 Bakuryu wrote:
i wish you gl hf with your videos. unfortunately i cant give you the "Bakuryu seal of approval™". ^^


Thanks Bakuryu. What can I improve on to earn the seal the next time?
new BW-player (~E rank fish) twitch.tv/crispydrone || What plays 500 games a season but can't get better? => http://imgur.com/a/pLzf9 <= ||
trutaCz
Profile Joined October 2011
Poland686 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-11-26 15:42:32
November 26 2016 15:41 GMT
#14
Nice, definitely a solid content to a new players or these at lower rank who want to improve.
yo~.~
Ty2
Profile Blog Joined March 2013
United States1434 Posts
November 26 2016 16:15 GMT
#15
--- Nuked ---
Writer
Atom[Bomb]
Profile Joined July 2015
Sweden108 Posts
November 26 2016 22:42 GMT
#16
Great video! Definitely very very useful for zerg players that want to get into the ZvZ madness!!
I will for sure recommend this tutorial to fellow zerg friends
B-royal
Profile Joined May 2015
Belgium1330 Posts
November 29 2016 17:14 GMT
#17
On November 27 2016 00:41 trutaCz wrote:
Nice, definitely a solid content to a new players or these at lower rank who want to improve.


On November 27 2016 07:42 Atom[Bomb] wrote:
Great video! Definitely very very useful for zerg players that want to get into the ZvZ madness!!
I will for sure recommend this tutorial to fellow zerg friends


Thanks for the nice comments

On November 27 2016 01:15 Ty2 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 27 2016 00:11 B-royal wrote:

On November 26 2016 16:08 Ty2 wrote:
This video is really well done and I learned a few things myself.

Also, I want to point out a few things. You say to take a drone off of the gas at 100 gas when going 12 pool. I think it's important to specify to pull off the drone that brings back 88 gas. The other two remaining drones will give the 100 gas as fast as possible without needing the drone that gave the 88 gas. Also you might want to mention that commonly the mutalisk zerg will make zerglings himself against the sporing zerg. Then they'll run those zerglings up the ramp and use mutalisks to cut off your own zerglings from getting up your own ramp They can also go directly for the spores or pick away at drones at the natural if there aren't any or very few zerglings. Sometimes themutalisk player can also not go zerglings and just drone and expand too. I'm not sure if you mentioned it, but did you explain why overlords scout usually clockwise?


Thanks very much Ty2. This would indeed have been useful to mention in the video. I did mention that as the 12 pooling player will rely on zerglings to defend, he has to be careful to not lose them needlessly as the opponent can use zerglings to snipe spores etc but I did not think about mentioning that specific tactic. I also forgot to mention to add spores as the mutalisk count grows since >= 6 mutalisks iirc can take out a single spore without losing a single one.

Also, what did you learn from the video? I'm very curious since you are such a high level player.



Me, a high level player? You're too kind. I learned about how you can tell the difference from a 9 hatch and a 12 hatch from its hp if the overlord scouts on the first try the opponent. Also, the timing telling you if it's overpool if the overlord is at the opponent's ramp and if lings are moving out is also nice. The spore colony time (or was it creep colony?) and muta travelling distance time is also another nice timing I didn't really know. I guess I'd do these things through feel and rough estimation but still these are very nice timings.


Well you are a consistent A rank as far as I know ty2 so you are a high level player. As far as foreigners goes there's really only one "class" above you anymore , the semi-professionals or however you like to call them.

In game I also use rough estimations, relative timings and reference points. But in my mind, there's 2 ways to learn these things:

1. Play dozen upon dozen of games.
2. Sit down, analyse, write down absolute timings and then try to identify relative reference points that you can use in-game.

And I definitely prefer the 2nd method.
new BW-player (~E rank fish) twitch.tv/crispydrone || What plays 500 games a season but can't get better? => http://imgur.com/a/pLzf9 <= ||
Bijan
Profile Joined October 2010
United States286 Posts
December 06 2016 09:41 GMT
#18
This is just the type of video I needed to start trying zerg! Thank you.
B-royal
Profile Joined May 2015
Belgium1330 Posts
December 13 2016 17:09 GMT
#19
Short update:

Added a Supplementary video about 12 pool vs 9 pool since I felt some things were left unsaid/not shown. I don't consider this part of the real series, it's just an extra video. I also delve some more into the analysis of one specific game, what happened and what I should have done.

Hope people enjoy!

+ Show Spoiler [Supplementary video to 12 Pool vs 9 P…] +
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H-sht4eFqs&feature=youtu.be
new BW-player (~E rank fish) twitch.tv/crispydrone || What plays 500 games a season but can't get better? => http://imgur.com/a/pLzf9 <= ||
Ethelis
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
United States2396 Posts
December 13 2016 20:23 GMT
#20
I think you really needed to briefly mention the advantage you get by fighting near your buildings or overlords in Muta vs Muta to deny the bounce damage.
Disabled gamer - Diamond 3 (LoL) D+ Rank scrublord on BW. Bisu doesnt need DTs, He uses probes. just ask Flash.
1 2 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
BSL Team Wars
21:30
Round 5
Team Dewalt vs Team Sziky
ZZZero.O43
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SteadfastSC 194
CosmosSc2 50
ProTech39
SpeCial 11
Ketroc 1
StarCraft: Brood War
Artosis 773
Shuttle 619
sSak 81
Aegong 48
ZZZero.O 43
League of Legends
Reynor99
Super Smash Bros
AZ_Axe119
hungrybox90
Other Games
tarik_tv8317
summit1g8091
Grubby2260
shahzam633
C9.Mang0217
Maynarde122
Livibee69
Mew2King61
JuggernautJason27
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Pr0nogo 9
• iopq 4
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota22325
• WagamamaTV528
Other Games
• imaqtpie1231
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
23m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
10h 23m
PiGosaur Monday
1d
LiuLi Cup
1d 11h
Replay Cast
2 days
The PondCast
2 days
RSL Revival
2 days
Maru vs SHIN
MaNa vs MaxPax
OSC
3 days
MaNa vs SHIN
SKillous vs ShoWTimE
Bunny vs TBD
Cham vs TBD
RSL Revival
3 days
Reynor vs Astrea
Classic vs sOs
BSL Team Wars
3 days
Team Bonyth vs Team Dewalt
[ Show More ]
CranKy Ducklings
4 days
RSL Revival
4 days
GuMiho vs Cham
ByuN vs TriGGeR
Cosmonarchy
4 days
TriGGeR vs YoungYakov
YoungYakov vs HonMonO
HonMonO vs TriGGeR
[BSL 2025] Weekly
4 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Cure vs Bunny
Creator vs Zoun
BSL Team Wars
5 days
Team Hawk vs Team Sziky
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #4 - TS1
SEL Season 2 Championship
HCC Europe

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
BSL 21 Qualifiers
ASL Season 20
CSL Season 18: Qualifier 2
CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
Maestros of the Game
Sisters' Call Cup
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025

Upcoming

LASL Season 20
2025 Chongqing Offline CUP
BSL Season 21
BSL 21 Team A
Chzzk MurlocKing SC1 vs SC2 Cup #2
RSL Revival: Season 2
EC S1
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
Skyesports Masters 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
MESA Nomadic Masters Fall
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
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 © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.