[Q] JulyZerg ZvP Style ~ - Page 2

On August 13 2009 01:10 Failsafe wrote:
To understand July's play in GOM's July vs Kal on Heartbreak it's important recognize that July secured a big advantage by sneaking his initial zerglings through the back path. He killed a good number of probes AND forced a cannon in Kal's main. July followed the zerglings by placing lurkers on Kal's cliff behind his natural, further delaying Kal's economy. At that point the game was virtually over.

July's play following those two initial blows was not spectacular. Don't mistake his contingency plans for his actual game plan. When he sacrificed his expansion at the 6 o'clock mineral only, that was a contingency move, not part of his master plan. His macro had been mistimed slightly so that his army was not as large as it could have been. Additionally, his lurkers and support were out of position due to bad intelligence (caused by Kal's good corsair play) and July didn't want to risk attacking the rather small protoss army.

July slightly overplayed his early advantage by expanding and teching aggressively without bothering to place his army in the appropriate defensive posture. July could afford to sacrifice some units and his 6 o'clock expansion simply because he was already well ahead. But it's important recognize that July's reserve and patience were a consequence of his mistakes rather than a master stroke devised to destroy Kal

On August 12 2009 11:42 Gogleion wrote:
Not really. If you're constantly macroing out of 5 hatch hydra with only 2 gas, you will not have enough gas to produce any gas units from a 6th hatch, which is why 5 hatch hydra is so standard, or a 3 hatch lurk.

On August 13 2009 00:25 Failsafe wrote:
Such a bad group of responses.

woody_, the Julyzerg "Sauron" style is pretty difficult to play compared to "3 hat spire => 5 hat."

It's worth noting that July was using the 6-7 hatchery "Sauron" style before FE Protoss became all the rage. Granted, July has adapted well to the coming of FE Protoss, but I don't see a lot of other pro Zerg players opting for the 6-7 hatchery style against FE.

The reason that July's style is so effective for him, and yet so difficult, at least for others, is that July's style requires a very keen sense of timing and very strong micro. Of course this could be said of every pro game, but July's style in particular is punished when other players attempt it because it doesn't rely on the long strings of lurkers posted on hilltops that are so common among modern zergs (especially on heartbreak).

On the contrary, July's style works very hard to punish the Protoss for every minor error, relying on the relentless Lair-level aggression that July is known for. In order to succeed with Julyzerg's style, you have to be great at identifying weaknesses in the Protoss style and then exploiting them. It is crucial that you be good at dodging storms and sniping HTs. It's also crucial that you identify when and where the Protoss will attempt to expand after he has taken his natural. The final essential ingredient is having strong macro timing so that you can have an army prepared at the moment when the Protoss is vulnerable (when the Protoss strategy is weakest and when he is trying to take new territory for a second expansion).

The danger to July's Lair-oriented style is that storm can fry enormous quantities of zerg army at relatively little cost to the Protoss, so if you make a mistake in your aggression you can easily cost yourself the game. After one mismanaged attack, you'll have only a few lurkers and a lot of production capacity but very few static defensives to fall back on. If the Protoss still has a strong, intact army, he may be able to roll over you before your zerg blob can coalesce.

On the other hand, the more passive, standard midgame ZvP has more of a defensive backbone, relying on lurkers and sunkens as well as scourge play and spore colonies. It's much easier to withstand storm because your lurkers can be positioned prior to the Protoss aggression. You'll also have the benefit of being able to place your army groups well in advance of his army. Thus you can minimize the damage that storm will do to you. This style is a LOT more forgiving and I recommend trying it out if you are new. You'll be playing more to survive with an intact economy until hive tech at which point you'll be able to abuse the great late game ZvP has to offer (and with any luck get the job done before reavers roll out)

I find the July style ZvP to be a lot more entertaining, but I tend to lose with it more often. At around B- level on ICCUP I find the 5 hatchery style to be a lot more forgiving and rarely lose with it against an FE Protoss. On the other hand, it's easy to misplay July's style which requires a great deal of attention to detail throughout the entire game as you have to macro, micro and time most of your strategy with a good deal of accuracy

On August 13 2009 00:25 Failsafe wrote:
Such a bad group of responses.

woody_, the Julyzerg "Sauron" style is pretty difficult to play compared to "3 hat spire => 5 hat."

It's worth noting that July was using the 6-7 hatchery "Sauron" style before FE Protoss became all the rage. Granted, July has adapted well to the coming of FE Protoss, but I don't see a lot of other pro Zerg players opting for the 6-7 hatchery style against FE.

The reason that July's style is so effective for him, and yet so difficult, at least for others, is that July's style requires a very keen sense of timing and very strong micro.

On August 12 2009 08:46 jambonkingcool wrote:
I think that every build is viable as long as it makes you win.. You should just try it yourself, if you feel confident with this build and you're in control of the game, then go for it. This is how I play starcraft, and it's fun. No I'm not A+

On August 12 2009 13:17 resonance wrote:
Yes obviously b/c julyzerg did it it's the JulyZerg ZvP build. Hell, let's just name every single variation of a build after a pro gamer....

Best builds 2 gates and a robo after a nexus...BEST BUILD!
Stork builds two stargates...STORK BUILD!
Iris builds...

seriously no



And actually I am pretty sure he is being serious b/c I found the op hard to understand too

On August 14 2009 16:20 NoobsOfWrath wrote:

Ummm he's saying JulyZerg...because JulyZerg used it. Lighten the fuck up. How you want him to describe it? Anonymous fat guy playing zerg @ progamer level build?