EPT
Midas (Terran at 7) vs 
PerfectMan (Protoss at 1) on Circuit Breakers December 2010Link to game on youtube
http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/korean/games/50431_Midas_vs_PerfectMan
This game is exciting because the Terran build begins to marry the rax expand with the mine expand. Its a short game and we get to see how the build fairs against range->dt timings. Midas makes a huge mistake and has to claw back with excellent micro and multitasking. But interestingly, despite these mistakes he is able to close the game very quickly with a result in his favour. Perhaps this gives an insight to the potential of the build.
In a nutshell: rax expand, 2 facs, academy, while making 5 tanks then mines and speed upgrades.
In detail:
+ Show Spoiler +
depot
rax
cc
depot
gas
bunker
factory
factory
depot
academy
2nd gas
depot
depot
ebay
(dt attack hits here)
armoury
cc
3rd and 4th factory
rax
cc
depot
gas
bunker
factory
factory
depot
academy
2nd gas
depot
depot
ebay
(dt attack hits here)
armoury
cc
3rd and 4th factory
Meanwhile Perfectman goes 1 gate range, 2nd gate, citadel, archives, 2dts after 5 goons (no zealot). Perfectman buys his natural nexus after the dts, then 3rd gate, then 3rd nexus before robo, obs.
Some important timings to note:
5.33 Scanners start
5.43 Two dts on the field
5.58 Scanners finished (only 1 tank and the bunker at this point)
6.11 Scans by mistake (wastes it in his natural) and loses his 5th rine to the goons (4 in the bunker already)
6.14 Three tanks at the bottom of the ramp
6.21 Ebay starts (before the dt was revealed by a fraction of a second)
6.22 Two dts arrive at the bunker (5 goons already there vs 3 tanks, bunker, ''2 scans'')
As you may have noticed, Midas mistakenly scans prematurely, or atleast he says so in the winners interview. Im not sure if he was always going to build the ebay at that timing or not, it may have been as a response to the mistake. He may have originally intended to rely on scans and mines.
Predictably, the game becomes 'messy' because of this mistake so I am wary of analysing too much after this point. Midas proceeds to lose his 3 tanks, his bunker and rines, and a scanner gets sniped by dt reinforcements. Neither player showcases their full potential in this game.
Midas actually says he thought P went 2 base arbs due to low goon count in the interview aswell. Either way, his siegemode timed counter offensive was wildly successful and P concedes. I really dont think Perfectman should have let Midas get away with this contain but it was all slightly scrappy. As Ive said, Im less concerned with this section of the game. What is exciting is the opener.
Threat.
A protoss user has many powerful timings that a Terran user must prepare for if he wants to be truly skillful. A Protoss player must also take into consideration all the attack timings that a Terran can execute against him at any given time. This is what threat means. It is this concept that shapes build orders.
To illustrate simply, consider Perfectmans decision to skip a zealot. This is a fairly huge risk because you have to play like the Terran is proximity 2 raxing until proven otherwise to be truly safe. The zealot is crucial to defend against this timing attack. However, his probe scout saw the cc at cross position on its second destination. He may have canceled the zealot upon seeing this as the threat has gone (not sure of timing if this is possible).
Applying this concept of threat to the game above is what is so interesting. Midas has to prepare for bulldogs, dts, and reavers as some of the biggest mid tech threats.
Every Terran has chosen to get siegemode first to deter goon pressure after rax expand in televised games. Siege mode is great, it is very powerful and cost effective for defense. However, therein lies its weakness. If a protoss knows siege mode has been upgraded, they also know that there is no threat of speed vults or mines. Equally, several tanks with siege mode are essentially useless on offence unsupported at this timing so they cant threaten anything. All they do is buy time.
This knowledge has allowed Protoss to develop a reaver double expand build. They know they can delay observers because there are no mines. They know they can have a lower goon count because the vult runby threat is non existant, when coupled with simcity. The only threat T poses is a rine tank composition which the reaver counters nicely, whilst still providing scouting and threat to the T also. The shuttle means T is forced to divide his forces to protect the main minlines rather than just his front door.
Midas' build here is powerful because he skips the siege mode upgrade in favour of mines and speed, The reason this is much more powerful is because it forces the Protoss to invest in 'passive' tech (observers) and army size earlier, rather than economy, infrastructure and upgrades. This is exactly how you will pull ahead as the game goes on. Its all about relative timings.
What Midas must contemplate is whether or not this build is cheese.
Basically, is he laying himself open to an early timing attack that will guaranteed cripple him, in return for a timing attack that will guaranteed cripple Perfectman a couple of minutes later. (Passive cheese)
1.Is he safe from a bulldog? He will have 5 tanks, 5 rines, scvs, a bunker and 6 mines plus 2 vultures every round of production by the time it hits, so probably yes.
2. Safe from dts? He will have 1 tank, 4 rines, scvs, a bunker and 2 scans with two more tanks building, so probably yes.
3. dt drop? He will have 5 tanks, 5 rines and bunker, 2-4 scans, and speed vults with mines building, so probably yes.
4. Is he safe from a reaver? He will have 5 tanks, 5 rines and bunker, speed vults and mines shortly, so probably yes.
5. Is he safe from a goon/speedzeal mass frontal bust? He will have 5 tanks, bunker, scvs, so probably yes.
Do I think this is a very thin tight rope, yes definately.
Do I think a non pro should try it, definately yes. You will be taking a pretty huge risk but it will be fun.
Do I think that even a pro Terran will have mining disrupted and may be having problems should the Protoss do any of these early attacks, yes but the risk may outweigh the reward. The protoss will have to micro like crazy too, Perfectman himself possibly built up excess resources during the attack, as we see him place his 3rd gateway at the natural before 3rd nexus?
What you must remember is, a timing attack also takes time to do the damage. Bear that in mind. A dt arriving at Midas' front door is not the end of the world, because they take time to actually inflict damage. If Protoss has had to cut lots of probes to make the timing, and T has meanwhile built many scvs, losing a few is not going to offset the balance enough to swing the advantage.
Midas takes several precautions to help minimize the threats Perfectman can impose. The first is very simple but absolutely critical. He does not float his barracks.
This allows more scvs to surround the bunker. He is not relying on siege mode so runbys to snipe the tank are slightly less dangerous because he knows he can micro his tanks back up the ramp and out of fire if Perfectman were to play very aggressively.
Also, Midas positioned the initial 3 tanks to block the ramp, lessening the threat of dts because this way they are forced to remain in a controlled space in range of the bunker. Therefore when he scans, he can kill the dt with certainty. 1 dt with the first scan, and 1 dt with the second scan. These details make the build far more viable due to the fact that Perfectmans 2nd round of dts take a period of time to build and travel to the Terran base, allowing Midas to place a turret. Unfortunately, Midas scans early by mistake in this game but he manages to keep his economy in great shape with excellent micro and still take the win. I think if it became apparent that the Protoss had not got dts (or chooses to delay attacking with them to confuse the Terran) then Midas could even cancel the ebay, rely on mines and scans and actually start his cc a little earlier. This is what I would like to see in a future game and observe how powerful the subsequent 8 fac timing attack (or similar) would be after this opener, preferably against a more standard Protoss opening too.
Finally, the threat a reaver poses to rax expand builds seems relatively low, with simcities, tank micro and repairing tanks after 1 hit is all taken into account. The build gives Terran enough tanks to feel secure against the reaver and zeals without the need for turrets I believe. The weakness here is that without siegemode, the goons are capable of being dangerous at the front while the tanks are occupied with the reaver. Scvs repairing and a couple blocking has the potential to be strong enough though I reckon until mines are ready and then if placed well, the goons would have to back off.
(does anyone have the game between ForGG vs Flying on Fortress, rax expand 2 fac vs proximity gates and reaver, the game is missing due to jon747 I think. I would love to check the timings and compare these two games I remember thinking ForGG must be in deep trouble but he pulled scvs and surrounded the goons beautifully. I think he got siegemode and ebay rather than academy.)
I watched the game live, but i didnt give thought on his strat...
