Ever wanted to sit down and talk about your race with three of its best? Well, now you can. Look below to eavesdrop on a group chat between TLO, HayprO and Ret and see what they have to say about being of the swarm in this day and age. When you're done, be sure to grab the attached replay pack as well.


Hello RetTLOprO! How have the Liquid sons of the swarm been doing lately?

TLO: I can't complain, it’s been great to be reunited with my brothers of the swarm again!

HayprO: Everything going according to my secret plans, both gaming wise and personal.

Ret: I’m good.


How do you guys feel about Patch 1.1.2 and the changes it brought the three races?

Rets: ZvZ is imbalanced.

HayprO: ZvT not impossible any more. ZvP I’m still having trouble vs different timing attacks. Jos told me that the key to ZvP is making banelings to stop the protoss first attack but I’m not having any success with that strat. Seems that every Protoss I play goes sentries.

"I still think it’s stupid that you can't build a barracks before supply anymore. It’s not like that entirely broke the game, but it seems to take away a lot of diversity... then again, that’s just my Terran heart speaking."

Jos: Yeah, cos I want you to lose to a Protoss at MLG Dallas so I won’t have to ZvZ you.

HayprO: That’s kinda mean.

TLO: I still think it’s stupid that you can't build a barracks before supply any more.It’s not like that entirely broke the game, but it seems to take away a lot of diversity... then again, that’s just my Terran heart speaking.

Jos: 2 Barracks marine is a good way for Terran to pressure still.

HayprO: Yeah I still feel that going fast expand vs Terran is risky.

TLO: Yea ... I don’t know, it seems kinda lame.

Ret: I don't think ZvP changed all that much but it's because I don't really do roach/ling allins early but it seems to work pretty well vs Protoss who wanna expand so I’ll have to start using it.
And yes, ZvT seems pretty balanced now I think.

TLO: I think the roach range 4 helps a little against force fields at least, so that’s good.

Ret: All the whining about muta/ling/bane is pretty unjustified... because macro Terrans who go tank marine do fine vs it.

TLO: Yeah, definitely!

Ret: And people will continue to get better at marine spreading

HayprO: Yeah, that’s when Zergs needs to make a couple of infestors. Otherwise the banelings won’t be cost effective.

"ZvT muta/ling/bane vs marine/tank reminds me a lot of SCBW gameplay and I get into lots of long games with drops/infestors and lots of harass going on and I think that's great."

Ret: ZvT muta/ling/bane vs marine/tank reminds me a lot of SCBW gameplay and I get into lots of long games with drops/infestors and lots of harass going on and I think that's great.

TLO: I just build zerglings only vs that composition. If you hide that you do that it actually obliterates tank marines. It’s funny!

Ret: But sieged tanks own zerglings.

TLO: Not 250.

HayprO: Lol 250 zerglings.

Ret: If terran never attacks you gonna be maxed on lings who will all die.: D

TLO: Yea that’s true. That’s why you have to hide it.

Ret: You just have to make sure drop is ready by the time you are maxed
so u can drop off the garbage and then resupply with useful units.

Haypro: I think you can play vs marine/tank without heavy banelings.

Ret: :D

HayprO: But I think you need infestor then, or really good flanking.

TLO: Anyways, zvt seems completely fine in later stages of the game now I guess.

Ret: Imo on a map like xel naga caverns or metapolis, if terran gets a pf on their 3rd base they can just camp and it becomes hard then. ;D

HayprO: You need to forsee that and already have hive done and 4th base done.

Ret: I have 6 bases done by the time you normally have your 3rd, Haypro. It’s still hard.

HayprO: Yeah, but you make too few drones. Only having hatcheries won’t get you the units.

Ret: True, thx for the tip.

HayprO: No problem.

TLO: And you make too many, Hayder!

Ret: There is no such thing as too many drones, you wannabe Zerg. The amount of drones you make equals the size of your e-penis.

HayprO: I think more than 120 drones is not needed.

Ret: Lol, realistically you should never go over 90 I guess. 80 = good.
TLO: Yea I think 80 is fine. 70 even maybe. I don’t feel like you need to saturate all bases

HayprO: 70 is 3 bases. If you take a 4th fast then you need more.

Ret: But only for geysers.

HayprO: Depends.

Ret: You have enough minerals already with 3 fully saturated base, especially if one of them is a gold!

HayprO: Sometimes you want the minerals.

TLO: I mostly want the gas. For the t3 units.

HayprO: It’s not all about the gas. You can play sc2 without gas but not without minerals, that’s something to keep in mind.

"It’s not all about the gas. You can play sc2 without gas but not without minerals, that’s something to keep in mind."

Ret: Thats a completely wrong approach to Zerg. Late game gas = everything. Never start a coaching business Hayder.....

HayprO: ...
I guess you didn’t get it because you are too consumed by your gas need.

TLO: He is Dutch. He has needs.

Ret: Ya, I snort up the extra gas, it makes me feel goooooooooood. It’s the only legal drug in Korea, so gotta adapt.

So yeah, in short... Patch 1.1.2 is pretty good.

TLO: Protoss is still completely broken in pvt and pvz.

Ret: I think it’s all situational.

TLO: Yea it’s mostly turtle protoss that is extremely frustrating, but I just need to learn to deal with it a little better I guess.

Ret: Yeah, it’s hard to recognize in time but if you play greedy vs turtle toss and get to t3 while getting drop it’s possible to deal with it.

TLO: Yup, I need more experience.

Ret: That happens to me sometimes. Most of the time you are very worried about a timing attack. Then, it never comes and you’re way behind. xD

HayprO: Yeah, that’s the problem vs protoss. They can attack at 10 different times

TLO: Haha yea... I have my roaches. And they have like 10 immortals and 5 collossi. Fuuuuuuuuuuu!

Ret: It’s mainly a problem if you can’t attack off creep so if toss is far away. You can’t do much with your units and that’s why you need drop to unload supply and switch to broodlord ling or something. That way at least you get rid of your roaches somewhat cost efficiently and if you’re lucky you can take out a few key tech buildings as well.

TLO: Broodlord/Infestor is sick now that fungal blocks blink.

Players afk for a few minutes. Ret and TLO return.

HayprO?

Ret: He’s probably practising again now that he just found out gas is kinda good late game.

LOL

TLO: Haha, let me get him.

HayprO: Hi.

Ret: Hi, wb.


As a player, what is the bane of your existence at the moment? What do you find most frustrating about playing Z?

Ret: Immortal + storm combinations in late game that seem unbreakable and terrans who just sit behind their PF and drop you to death. +_+;;

HayprO: I need to get higher apm and I need to study replays more because as a zerg player you need to know timings. Terran and Protoss don’t really have that issue and can play the way they want.

TLO: Some guy built 8 PFs against me and slowpushed. Man, that was so frustrating! He split the map with turrets and vikings so I couldn't drop any more and just kept on building PFs.

Ret: Hayder you are so wrong. In tvz for example the baneling nest timing makes a huge difference for terran players and what they can afford to do and when baneling speed finishes etc.

HayprO: Jos, what are you talking about? You just ate so I forgive you. That’s timings for Z.

Ret: No it goes both ways.

TLO: Noooo you're both right! It goes both ways.

HayprO: Terran won’t know when you make your baneling nest.

Ret: Same thing with 3rd base in zvp for example. If protoss expanded and zerg is mass droning for their 3rd base. They can decide to do a 6 gate warpgate pressure bo and attack you before you start massing units.

HayprO: Yeah but they won’t know in advance.

Ret: Scouting hallucinated phoenix?!

HayprO: Only if they go really fast hallu phoenix.

Ret: Terran it’s the same tbh… sometimes it’s better to use your army to take a 3rd and sometimes, attack.

HayprO: Of course. I was talking about early game timings. You are somehow talking about every timing in the game.

Ret: I got it all written down man, to the second.

HayprO: I know.

Ret: This is how I play SC2.

HayprO: That’s one of the things I’m looking forward to when I meet you. Your timing book.

"I look at the game timer, then look at my notebook to decide what to make. The in game timer solved all my problems!"

Ret: I look at the game timer, then look at my notebook to decide what to make. The in game timer solved all my problems! Move overseer to minerals, count scvs, look at gametimer, PRODUCE 10 ROACHES 4 ZERGLINGS 1 MUTALISK. VICTORY! :D

TLO: Ah, you zerg players, you're so cute.

HayprO: We Z players?

Ret; You’re one of us now.

TLO: I am standing above all of that. I am omniscient.

Ret: You either learn to be cute or we will have to remove you from our circle.

TLO: Haha.

Ret: You can be the ugly stepchild of the zerg.

HayprO: tt

Ret: Dario, tell us what problems you are experiencing. Infestors not having enough energy is probably what you hate the most, right? xD

TLO: Haha, well as I said, I mostly hate people who just do nothing all game long. Because I am an aggressive player, I wanna get into those tiny windows and attack, but if they just sit back with their PFs and FFS, I often infest into too much in the midgame.

Er, *invest, lol.

Ret: Hahaha.

TLO: I am a zerg at heart after all.

Which areas of your play do you think you have room to improve in the most, and which areas of Zerg play do you think are as yet largely unchartered?

Ret: For me, most improvement can probably be achieved in the micro aspects of the game, like how to break defensive setups efficiently. I also need to put some more aggression into my early game.

HayprO: For me it’s more about getting faster so I can do everything I wanna do, and also I need to get more experience so I know when to engage and when to wait.

Ever wondered what your favourite progaming team would look like on a t-shirt? Now, thanks to the TL T-Shirt design contest, you don't have to.


We don't know if it'll win, but Therick's design is pretty cool. Good stuff!