• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 22:36
CET 03:36
KST 11:36
  • 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
ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT29Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book19Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8
Community News
GSL CK - New online series10BSL Season 224Vitality ends partnership with ONSYDE20Team Liquid Map Contest - Preparation Notice6Weekly Cups (Feb 23-Mar 1): herO doubles, 2v2 bonanza2
StarCraft 2
General
GSL CK - New online series Weekly Cups (Feb 23-Mar 1): herO doubles, 2v2 bonanza Vitality ends partnership with ONSYDE How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game? Team Liquid Map Contest - Preparation Notice
Tourneys
RSL Season 4 announced for March-April Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar) $5,000 WardiTV Winter Championship 2026 Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026] Map Editor closed ?
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 516 Specter of Death Mutation # 515 Together Forever Mutation # 514 Ulnar New Year
Brood War
General
BSL Season 22 BSL 22 Map Contest — Submissions OPEN to March 10 BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ battle.net problems ASL21 General Discussion
Tourneys
ASL Season 21 Qualifiers March 7-8 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues BWCL Season 64 Announcement [BSL22] Open Qualifier #1 - Sunday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Zealot bombing is no longer popular?
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread PC Games Sales Thread Path of Exile No Man's Sky (PS4 and PC) Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Mexico's Drug War Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Cricket [SPORT] Formula 1 Discussion TL MMA Pick'em Pool 2013
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Laptop capable of using Photoshop Lightroom?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
FS++
Kraekkling
Shocked by a laser…
Spydermine0240
Gaming-Related Deaths
TrAiDoS
ONE GREAT AMERICAN MARINE…
XenOsky
Unintentional protectionism…
Uldridge
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1880 users

LMaster's "Macro Only" Ladder Adventure

Forum Index > BW General
Post a Reply
1 2 Next All
L_Master
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States8017 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-24 00:25:14
December 23 2018 20:57 GMT
#1
I've talked about it, other people have talked about it, it's time to have some fun!

Of course by "it" I mean the idea that if you have solid macro and production you can quite easily jump to a high(er) rank. Usually, in both RM and in ICCup this was around C (RM), or C- (ICCup). I figured it's time to put this to the test.

I'm going to be ranking down an account this evening. Tomorrow I will stream for 5 hours, and see what rank I can achieve on this account. The "rules" will be as such:

  • No micro, outside of "essential micro" (scanning, positioning obs so vision, setting down a reaver, burrowing lurkers, etc),
  • Following set, standard build orders in each matchup. No major deviations.
  • No hidden bases or sneaky expansions
  • No harassment


Stream will start at 01:30 GMT (+00:00) at: L Master's Macro Only Stream

Anything else you'd like to see or ways I should amend this are welcome.
EffOrt and Soulkey Hwaiting!
Rodya
Profile Joined January 2018
546 Posts
December 23 2018 21:05 GMT
#2
Do you play Protoss?
Banned for saying "zerg players are by far the biggest whiners in sc2 history" despite the fact that this forum is full of such posts about Terrans. Foreigner Elitists in control!
L_Master
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States8017 Posts
December 23 2018 21:23 GMT
#3
On December 24 2018 06:05 Rodya wrote:
Do you play Protoss?


I will be playing random and shouting.
EffOrt and Soulkey Hwaiting!
Falling
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Canada11439 Posts
December 23 2018 21:46 GMT
#4
He did. Then he switched to Zerg. And then last I saw, he was playing Random. So who knows?
Moderator"In Trump We Trust," says the Golden Goat of Mars Lago. Have faith and believe! Trump moves in mysterious ways. Like the wind he blows where he pleases...
EndingLife
Profile Blog Joined December 2002
United States1599 Posts
December 23 2018 22:25 GMT
#5
So you're going to attempt to play like TT1?
L_Master
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States8017 Posts
December 23 2018 23:11 GMT
#6
On December 24 2018 06:46 Falling wrote:
He did. Then he switched to Zerg. And then last I saw, he was playing Random. So who knows?


I was playing random to get back in the groove and get mechancis back. And because it's good as a caster to try and get some experience with all races. Toss was my original main, and is still my best race. Zerg is my current main.
EffOrt and Soulkey Hwaiting!
L_Master
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States8017 Posts
December 23 2018 23:45 GMT
#7
The way I'm going to play each matchup:

PvP - 3 gate obs -> reaver into 4 gates citadel -> 6 gates -> archives ->3rd
PvT - 21 nex -> 6 goon take third -> add tech and gates -> 4th after 8 gates
PvZ - forge expo, 1 gate star + citadel into temp tech -> 8 gates -> third

TvP - FD, 2nd fact, ebay, armory, academy, 4 facts, cc, expo, 200/200 2/1
TvT - dunno what I'm doing. Open with tanks, expand, add like 4 facts, expand again, add more facts
TvZ - 6 fact gol, attack, expo

ZvP - 3 hat spire -> 4 base lurker/hive turtle
ZvT - 3 hat lurker -> defiler -> ultra ling
ZvZ - okay, not a macro matchup. Gonna turtle with sunk/spore and go hydra.
EffOrt and Soulkey Hwaiting!
TT1
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada10020 Posts
December 23 2018 23:47 GMT
#8
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) i approve ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
ab = tl(i) + tl(pc), the grand answer to every tl.net debate
L_Master
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States8017 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-24 00:00:59
December 24 2018 00:00 GMT
#9
Turns out tomorrow is a little busier than I expected. I will be doing this tonight starting in .
EffOrt and Soulkey Hwaiting!
Heyoka
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Katowice25012 Posts
December 24 2018 00:13 GMT
#10
Love this!
@RealHeyoka | ESL / DreamHack StarCraft Lead
L_Master
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States8017 Posts
December 24 2018 02:08 GMT
#11
We are started!
EffOrt and Soulkey Hwaiting!
L_Master
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States8017 Posts
December 24 2018 08:02 GMT
#12
Made it to E today. So far results are promising. Quite a fun wins and only 5 losses, those coming to a B player, 2 C players, one where I messed up and played super greedy, and one to an E TvT guy that made hidden expos and lots of tanks. (Turns out A moving doesn't work very well against sieged tanks in TvT)

Pretty sure this will go to D. Less confident of C.

I will be doing this again tomorrow if I have time, otherwise it will happen the day after XMas.
EffOrt and Soulkey Hwaiting!
JieXian
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Malaysia4677 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-24 08:25:35
December 24 2018 08:25 GMT
#13
On December 24 2018 17:02 L_Master wrote:
Made it to E today. So far results are promising. Quite a fun wins and only 5 losses, those coming to a B player, 2 C players, one where I messed up and played super greedy, and one to an E TvT guy that made hidden expos and lots of tanks. (Turns out A moving doesn't work very well against sieged tanks in TvT)

Pretty sure this will go to D. Less confident of C.

I will be doing this again tomorrow if I have time, otherwise it will happen the day after XMas.


surely you should be allowed to seige up right?

Anyway this looks like an interesting experiment!
Please send me a PM of any song you like that I most probably never heard of! I am looking for people to chat about writing and producing music | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noD-bsOcxuU |
Navane
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Netherlands2751 Posts
December 24 2018 09:00 GMT
#14
Proper siege pushing is not 'just solid macro'. Neither are attack timings based on scouting.

I do believe in the message behind: "solid macro will get you really far," but I've done too many stupid attacks myself which strategically or tactically make so little sense that I throw away an entire army for nothing... It is also hard to purposefully play without the game sense that you have acquired in all the years you've played to really simulate a 'just solid macro' style.
Navane
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Netherlands2751 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-24 09:30:29
December 24 2018 09:28 GMT
#15
All matchups:
- you can't base your push timing on his expansion timing
- Don't take advantage of the terrain.

TvP
- FD push requires micro; should do siege expand.
- 200 2/1 push with only solid macro: so no vessels to emp arbiters: you will get stasised or recalled
- Either a-move without the perfect retreat-and-siege move, or very slow siege push.

TvT
- you can't determine which locations can be pushed or not
- you can't edge forward with tanks using scans/wraiths or floating rax

TvZ
- no irridiate
- 6 fac gols is actually a great just-macro build

If you can manage to really tone done your play to just macro, I think this can reveal what else is required to not fumble like a vanilla A.I.
prosatan
Profile Joined September 2009
Romania8538 Posts
December 24 2018 09:36 GMT
#16
On December 24 2018 18:28 Navane wrote:
All matchups:
- you can't base your push timing on his expansion timing
- Don't take advantage of the terrain.

TvP
- FD push requires micro; should do siege expand.
- 200 2/1 push with only solid macro: so no vessels to emp arbiters: you will get stasised or recalled
- Either a-move without the perfect retreat-and-siege move, or very slow siege push.

TvT
- you can't determine which locations can be pushed or not
- you can't edge forward with tanks using scans/wraiths or floating rax

TvZ
- no irridiate
- 6 fac gols is actually a great just-macro build

If you can manage to really tone done your play to just macro, I think this can reveal what else is required to not fumble like a vanilla A.I.


Whoa ! Good post Navane !
Lee JaeDong Fighting! The only church that illuminates is the one that burns.
fLyiNgDroNe
Profile Joined September 2005
Belgium4042 Posts
December 24 2018 13:00 GMT
#17
tvt is going to suck so badly.
Drone is a way of living
Muff2n
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
United Kingdom251 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-24 13:26:02
December 24 2018 13:24 GMT
#18
deleted due to poor quoting understanding
Muff2n
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
United Kingdom251 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-24 13:28:46
December 24 2018 13:25 GMT
#19
On December 24 2018 18:00 Navane wrote:
I do believe in the message behind: "solid macro will get you really far," but I've done too many stupid attacks myself which strategically or tactically make so little sense that I throw away an entire army for nothing... It is also hard to purposefully play without the game sense that you have acquired in all the years you've played to really simulate a 'just solid macro' style.


I echo this. Your message about macro is an important one to spread. Once people hit their C level through macro, just be aware that you need to then explore timing attacks, harass, etc. in order to develop 'game sense'. I was devoid of game sense for too long!
TelecoM
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
United States10700 Posts
December 24 2018 16:10 GMT
#20
On December 24 2018 07:25 EndingLife wrote:
So you're going to attempt to play like TT1?

LOL brilliant
AKA: TelecoM[WHITE] Protoss fighting
1 2 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
OSC
00:00
OSC Elite Rising Star #18
CranKy Ducklings133
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RuFF_SC2 201
ProTech127
Ketroc 41
Vindicta 33
StarCraft: Brood War
GuemChi 1696
Artosis 596
Shuttle 414
ggaemo 142
Noble 6
Dota 2
LuMiX1
Counter-Strike
fl0m2763
taco 669
minikerr15
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox421
Other Games
summit1g13343
JimRising 458
C9.Mang0349
Maynarde108
CosmosSc2 9
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick2224
BasetradeTV90
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• davetesta38
• EnkiAlexander 26
• Mapu2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• RayReign 13
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Upcoming Events
Wardi Open
9h 24m
PiGosaur Monday
21h 24m
GSL
1d 7h
WardiTV Team League
1d 9h
The PondCast
2 days
WardiTV Team League
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
CranKy Ducklings
4 days
WardiTV Team League
4 days
[ Show More ]
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
4 days
BSL
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
WardiTV Team League
5 days
BSL
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Wardi Open
6 days
Monday Night Weeklies
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

ASL Season 21: Qualifier #2
WardiTV Winter 2026
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Jeongseon Sooper Cup
Spring Cup 2026
BSL Season 22
RSL Revival: Season 4
Nations Cup 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual

Upcoming

ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
CSLAN 4
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
NationLESS Cup
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
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.