EPTreplay: http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/143983-1v1-terran-zerg-shakuras-plateau
Im writing this guide for those who wanna get better in Starcraft ll.
Before you read this post, I want you to answer following questions Clearly in your mind:
1. Are you playing for fun or playing to be progamers?
2. Do you love Starcraft ll?
3. Do you want to be Good?
If so in questions 3),
You are going to struggle to get better, and at some point of the time, you might feel like qutting starcraft ll, are you ok with that?
From my and my teammates perceptive, (such as TSL_Rain, ST_squirtle, SlayerSCella etc) those real "progamers" all agreed on one and the only fact - starcraft ll requires talents. Especially when it comes to competitive level, undoubtely, you need to have so much talents.
However, that doesnt mean you can never be good. Being grandmaster league, or top 50 NA do requires talents, but being top 500? its not about skill, its about amount of time and thoughts you put in the game. In fact, if bronze player comes to me and says "omg i suck at this game, no talents" I would deny his proposal unless he played 2k games and worked so hard to get better.
There is no easy-cheesy thing in this world. You wanna get better in soccer? you have to pratice! you wanna get better marks in exam? you have to study! you cant get better mark in exam without studying. Also, Do you always feel so good when you play soccer? obviously not, when you miss shot and couldnt get goal, you will get mad!
+ Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/e9Mgb.jpg)
It just takes some effort!
At some point of the time you will feel like "God damn it im getting tired of this #!@# Im losing so much and i dont think im getting better- besides why do i even have to get stress cuz of game? I m playing game to chill NOT to get stress of it" Im not gonna say that's wrong attitude. If you wanna do that, stay low and just enjoy the game, you have it! You dont have to struggle it if you just wanna enjoy game in your way, but if you wanna get better and enjoy game even more, I will clearly state this, you HAVE to struggle in order to get better.
+ Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/WDuer.jpg)
no easy win
If you actually watch "good" people, streaming such as LiquidHuk, SeleCT ... them playing ladder, you will notice one thing. Whenever they lose, they watch replays. This doesnt seems so important; however, in truth if you lose game, not think about it and not study WHY you lost the game, you will never ever get better. Yes, I ve seen some of the players that you might think is good, who do not watch the replays when they lose the game, but these people are not be top tier players (most of the cases). Im not stating that any one of those who watch replays that they lost are top players, BUT what I do say is top players watch replays of the game they lost.
Watch Replay, as Day9 said, check the timing, check what kind of mistakes you made. Personally I watch replays twice in a single Game. just watch replays normally and One in my view. When you watch replays with your own view, while knowing what is going on in Game, you will learn mistakes that you made, timing, etc. i dont think watching in your own view is that necessary, so you can omit it.
Now for the games that I won, I personally dont watch replays of the game that I won unless im in bad mood and wanna feel better by watching games that i won.
Another thing you can do is obviously play more games. Now, some people do ask me to coach them, and help them when they are not even master. I really dont suggest you to get coach, myself, I do coach people with 15 dollars per hour, but I really dont think its necessary, its waste of money. Starcraft ll is indeed the Game that requires hell lots of talents when it comes to competitive (competitive as making money out of it) However, Being in mid-master doesnt require talents, if you are not in master, that means either you didnt play any computer games (RTS) before OR you didnt do enough pratices. IF you played more like 1000 Games, watch replays that you lost, study, and watch some games from youtube OR online leagues like GSL or TSL, and still not in master league, then I would love to help you out, but I never seen one. Most of the time you didnt put enough effort and passion on it.
added: my opinion on coaching. Coaching is one of the method that you can learn starcraft ll, i said before that it is waste of money, but i didnt specificially mention why, and for whom. I believe that players who have potential to learn using his/her own money in order to improve? I wouldnt blame if one who played over 1000 games, watched all his replays, watched all GSL still in platium/fdiamond desperate to go to master, and take lessons. BUT if one is player who played 100 games, thinking hes bad, not watching any other tournament matches, not struggling, wish to pay money for coach? I really doubt one will improve with that attitude.
Coaching is definitely one of the method. However, think about it, when you are in school, teacher teach you how to do math problem, you might or might not understand how to solve problems. Either way, you can never get good in math if you dont actually work on problem when you are in home.
When you are watching games (pro-tier replays, gsl, tsl etc), think in this way, Whatever moves player make in Game, think about WHY they did that. For instance, they build supply depot in certain position. Why? Why did they not block entrance and build supply depot over there?
He pulled out all scvs from the Gas, Why? Is he gonna go cheese? expansion? ok he puts it back so its expansion. Why is he moving out? oh his stim is finishing up soon. Probably just gonna give him some pressure. Is he making scvs in production tab? no hes not, he cut scvs! Why? that will allow him to build stronger army. All of these questions are gonna help you with improvement of sc ll skill.
In conclusion, I'm gonna clearly state this:
There are certain ways for you to enjoy starcraft ll. It is your choice to whether
1. Stay as who you are , not improving
2. Try to get Better , struggle.
Whoever picks 1 is
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/gcEP3.png)
even hellion facepalms
nono ofc not. Please dont get me wrong and says, whoever pick "1" is loser and "2" is winner. No no no, never. Its your ways of enjoying starcraft ll. You can either try to get better, but in doing so you are gonna get stressed. Myself, believe it or not, i wanted to quit starcraft ll, but now here i am, top 50 4k Master Terran.
Thanks for those of you who took your time to read this posts, again my english skill is not perfect , "me no engrish~" so if some grammer mistakes disturbs you take it ez. Ez. and I love you TL <3
SlayerSBaekHo (SlayerSBekho .267)
Quotation from BaekHo.
Not everyone who succeed struggled, but those who did succeed definitely struggled and worked hard.
