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In terms of Kespa players, there are perhaps no greater names than Flash and Rain. As Kespa players switched to StarCraft II, no player's arrival was more more anticipated than Flash's. As the undisputed best BW player, many looked to him to dominate, thereby proving the elephant theory true. However, shortly after the big migration commenced, it was not Flash but Rain who took the throne as king elephant. Immediately after the switch, Rain began to dominate Proleague and then took the StarCraft world by storm by simultaneously going far in GSL, OSL, and WCS. To this day, Rain is arguably the most successful Kespa StarCraft II player. Flash, not to be outdone, has been improving at both a quick and steady pace. At the time this game was played, Flash had just placed second at the MLG Winter Championships and was riding on a tidal wave of hype. Flash and Rain would meet in an ace match in the first Proleague match of HotS, possibly one of the most anticipated ace matches of the season. But first a little background.
Player Backgrounds
Flash, though infamous for his cheese plays in Brood War, is mostly known for his standard macro play in TvP. His trademark style relies on consistent pressure followed up by a three-base timing attack, usually one that attempts to hit right as the Protoss player is in the middle of a tech switch. His favorite opening is the 14CC, which he uses to gain an economic advantage, and optimizes his builds to ensure that his timings are always slightly stronger than what his Protoss opponents are normally used to. Unlike his Terran brethren, he rarely focuses on drops in the match-up, preferring instead to use them as mere threats while he keeps his army count high for his eventual head on attack.
Rain's PvT, on the other hand, is perhaps the definition of solid macro play. Though Rain doesn't rely on the same builds as much as say, Creator, but a large majority of his openings eventually transition into strong macro mid-games. Rain will almost never all-in an opponent early in the game and you can be sure that all his builds are crisp and perfectly optimized. In short, he is THE Protoss to copy. That being said, HotS has thrown many Protoss builds out the window, so he's been busy coming up with a completely new set for the new expansion.
HotS
Perhaps the biggest change to TvP in HotS is the addition of the medivac boosters, which allows Terran drops to be much more deadly. If you've been paying attention, you'll have noticed that we've mentioned that Flash is not a drop-heavy Terran. Nevertheless, Flash's style appreciates this Terran buff greatly. Because drops are stronger, Protoss must now devote more resources into defending drops and cannot spread themselves too thin too early for fear of being overwhelmed by drops. Thus, Protoss on average will take their thirds about two minutes later than in WoL. Conversely, Terrans are able to take their thirds two minutes earlier due to the increased defensive nature of Protoss. These two factors combined allow Terran three-base timing pushes to be much stronger than they had been in WoL, as they usually hit before the Protoss three-base economy can kick in. In essense, Flash's normal style in WoL has become more of the norm for all Terrans in HotS.
A Macro Oracle Opening
Both players went for their trademark openings, with Flash going 14CC against Rain's safe mothership-core one-gate FE. While Flash's three-rax bio follow-up was very standard, Rain showed immediately how deeply HotS changed Protoss builds, going for a stargate and then a robo off a single gate, making only one sentry, one stalker and the msc for defense.
Warp in a sentry as gas allows Robo units: obs 3x, colossi Natural gasses: 6:45, 6:50
Flash opens with his favorite build
Rain's particular variation on stargate play, specifically oracle usage, was very different from what others players had shown thus far. Oracles are commonly used in PvT as a surprise unit off of one base and often proxied. Protoss players try to catch their opponents off-guard or out of position to gain an insurmountable worker lead in the early game, or use their exceptional dps in all-in busts, killing SCVs and marines. For example, MC showed excellent one-base oracle play at the MLG Winter Championships, going further than any other Protoss at this tournament almost solely on the backs of his oracles. Meanwhile, Feast and MaNa are two Protoss especially fond of one-base proxy oracle play, using this tactic to great success in the Acer Teamstory Cup and other online tournaments.
Rain, on the other hand, built his stargate off of two bases as more of a macro-based strategy. When the stargate finished, Rain made just a single oracle, planning to harass SCVs and scout Flash's build and timings while teching to a standard mid-game composition behind the harassment. He made just a single unit out of this stargate the entire game, planning to get the most out of this one unit as he could throughout the whole game. In the early game, Rain employed the oracle as a light harassment unit while in the mid/late-game, he made great usage of its abilities both for drop defense and map awareness.
Leading the charge
As soon as the oracle popped out of its stargate, Rain hallucinated a phoenix and used it to lead the expedition to Flash's base. This was an especially clever move because it achieved many goals:
It checks for defense at different locations in the Terran base, allowing Rain to choose the best location to harass.
It sets off any hidden widow mines.
It can potentially draw marines out of position, leaving more openings for the real stargate unit.
An obviously hallucinated phoenix mind games the Terran player into thinking his opponent isn't going stargate tech.
Note that the hallucinated unit was not another oracle, but a less threatening phoenix; using a fake oracle instead would have meant that the Terran would have been more likely to move marines to his mineral lines. Much like a banshee opening, this kind of stargate play still needs to do some damage to put the Protoss ahead, but it's by no means a cheesy or all-in strategy if followed up properly..
Just like a banshee
Rain's plan worked out very well, and he was able to kill 6 SCVs while going up to three gates, colossus tech and double forge. As is common in HotS early game, Rain cut a very high amount of units to set up his infrastructure, thanks to a combination of inherent safety provided by the msc, a probe scout being always present in front of Flash's base, and familiarity with Flash's style. Indeed, at the eight-minute mark Rain still only had three gateway units.
As Flash moved out with his medivac timing, the oracle immediately went for the mineral line again, killing four marines and even more SCVs. As a result, by the time Flash was across the map, his army was incredibly small compared to Rain's and was in no position to do any damage.
Flash's first timing is severely weakened
Rain attempted to squeeze all he could out of this one oracle, employing it for a completely different purpose in the mid-game. Instead of clumping it in his main army or trying to harass further, he kept it active on its own on the map, using the revelation ability to spot Flash's army. This proved extremely useful, as it prevented a doom drop from landing, spotted a group of vikings and later on allowed him to land a key storm. Also note its positioning: the oracle was kept behind the main along the most common drop route to the main, where it can both spot (in place of an observer) and even contribute to the defense with its ground attack.
Effective drop defense
The Double Forge Colossi Mid-Game
Build Order Continued
Support Bay: 7:50 2 Extra Gates: 7:55 Double Forge: 8:40 Twilight Council: ~10:00 Blink: ~11:00 3 extra gates: ~11:45 3rd Nexus: ~13:10
Note: All timings are approximate since the production tab was rarely shown during this period.
An Aside: General Macro Double Forge Colossi Play
As mentioned previously, Rain's transition of choice is a double-forge colossi mid-game. This double-forge style is currently the most popular PvT style thanks to many of the changes in HotS. First, the added defensive capabilities of the mothership core make it easier to defend when doing "greedy" builds. But perhaps more importantly, because Protoss players are forced to delay the third base a lot longer, they usually lack the resources for both colossi and templar off of three bases. Thus, Protoss need to find alternative ways to set up a strong late-game, and investing heavily into upgrades is one of the best ways to do so.
Rain's particular variation on the double forge build in this game was designed to hold Flash's three-base pushes. Instead of trying to tech switch into storm and opening up a timing for the Terran to hit, he constantly made colossi (going up to four before the first engagement) and only got archons when the gas was available, even delaying his 3/3 to maximize his army strength. Anticipating Flash's timing, he played extremely safely, gearing his build to defend the exact timing he predicted Flash to employ. This general plan Rain and his teammates use to defend the Terran timing can be seen in both this game and the following games where Rain uses the same mid-game sans the oracle:
Rain always makes 8-10 stalkers and 4-5 colossi, filling the rest of his army with zealot/archon with which to tank. During the inevitable battle, Rain blinks his stalkers into position to snipe vikings, which usually lack armor upgrades. As long as at least two colossi and some form of meat-shielding survives by the time all the vikings are sniped, Rain will have won the battle. Without an overwhelming amount of bio or a very open battlefield, it's incredibly difficult to push back two colossi with a good number of supporting zealots. If the Protoss wins such a battle especially convincingly, he can sometimes even win right there with a counterattack. If not, he'll be able to head safely into the late game where Protoss is generally considered to be favored. Conversely, if the Terran decides not to opt for this timing push, Protoss then has ample time to finish 3/3 while the Terran is still on 2/2 and he will generally be able to successfully a-move into his opponents' army.
Back to the game
As predicted, Flash went for his first push around 175 supply, and Rain geared up to stop it after using the oracle to spot the move-out. He moved his msc closer to his third and positioned his stalkers to poke the bio army to try to snipe a viking or medivac. More importantly, he started a fifth colossus while warping in exclusively zealot/archon. As the engagement happened, Rain's perfect positioning and all the small adjustments in his build paid off: he was left with one colossus barely alive, and a second colossus joined the battle just in time to finally shut down Flash's push. His choice of using two time warps instead of using a time warp and a nexus cannon was also key; while photon overcharge is very powerful in the early/mid-game, later on time warp is much more effective in a straight up engagement.
Rain blinks to the side to snipe down vikings. His perfect engagement results in a close hold
Flash traded extremely well but was unable to completely break Rain, who came out only slightly behind despite the loss of his tech units: Rain's 3/3 was done and he had a very developed tech tree, but the Protoss army was too small to mount any attack. Despite the rather large amount of damage Rain dealt with his oracle and the very clean nature of Rain's build, his defense against Flash's timing was still very close.
Cleaning Up
A second push failed, and the Terran's position worsened considerably when a risky double drop was sniped by blink stalkers and his fourth got cancelled by a zealot warp-in. Rain was now finally able to move out and control the map.
Two medivacs get sniped while Rain kills a building CC
The finals moves of the game are a trademark of Rain's solid play-style, utilizing zealot warp-ins to gain favorable positioning on his opponents, punishing their mistakes. As a group of chargelots moved to Flash's third, Flash's brief moment of indecision allowed the oracle to land a key revelation, which later resulted in a devastating storm landing on the bio army. Once again, the oracle pays off.
A devastating Storm lands on Flash's revealed army
During the final engagement, Flash's ghost and medivac count wasn't enough to deal with the 5 archons and several templar in the Protoss army, and zealot/archon warp-ins together with a couple of rallied colossi were enough to finally force a gg.
Flash can't stop Rain's gateway army.
In Conclusion
Rain's plan to combat Flash's inevitable push was two-fold. First, he employed a relatively new macro opening designed to throw Flash off. Then, he seamlessly transitioned into a standard mid-game, designed to hold off the expected Terran three-base timing attack. All the while, he showed impeccable oracle use throughout the mid-game, proving that it's not just a gimmicky early game unit to always be proxied. True to his style, Rain showed solid macro play with his own little twist, all tied together with impeccable execution. This time, it was certainly enough to take down even Flash.
It has been over a month since this game was played and since then, macro oracle openings have only been used sparingly. So far, it seems as if the macro oracle opening in the PvT match-up will not reside in the rotation of standard Protoss openings. Rather, its place is akin to that of the DT drop opening we analyzed in our last article. It is something to be mixed in every so often and yet another potential threat for the Terran to consider. Moreover, it is a potentially devastating build that seamlessly transitions into standard play. Overall, another great build to add to your repertoire.
Great job, but... well, I remember that game, Rain did very well with oracle, he caught double drop, so it seemed he should take that game easily, but he actually was very close to be defeated, so it seems that even doing perfectly with this strategy you are still only even with terran.
I think this article should be mentioning Grubby rather than Mana and Feast since he is by far the biggest oracle user and has shown this in a lot of tournament games already.
On May 13 2013 18:42 Baum wrote: I think this article should be mentioning Grubby rather than Mana and Feast since he is by far the biggest oracle user and has shown this in a lot of tournament games already.
Do you know of any particular Grubby games off the top of your head that I/we could check out? I've been dying to see some brilliant/aggressive Oracle play outside of the usual Oracle openings.
Absolutely amazing guide - I use Rains style almost exclusively in PvT. But I tend to skip the stargate tech. I think it's a bit of a gamble to delay double forge & colossus production and rely on the oracle to do damage. The positive thing I noticed in this particular game are the uses of revelation to spot every army movement of Flash. Still, I'm not sure if the stargate tech is a gamble or not if it doesn't do much damage.
On May 13 2013 18:11 PengBoomOuch wrote: "Flash, though infamous for his cheese plays in Brood War, "
wtf you kidding me?? stopped there as this is more then ridicioulus, u ever watched a bw match kid?
User was temp banned for this post.
A pretended BW elitist, but actually your lack of knowledge is a disgrace to us all. Tell me more about how you know Flash at the start of his career, especially his first OSL, and what kind of gameplay did he use during that time, if it was not 'cheese'.
Is it viable build for ladder? I feel like i would have not enough units to defend if terran goes for widow mine drop. From me, if you scout terran going for gas before CC, don't go for this build. Also it's great to mix in in boX series.
Sorry but this guide assume that the Terran does no all-ins (like 2 rax, proxy Rax,) and is not going to scout! If a terran scouts you and sees no Zealot, he would instandly build an E-bay and your entire build is gone. So this guide kinda sucks (in my oppinion. Show me pls if i am wrong)
For me personally it sometimes is difficult to maintain a correct Micro / Macro when i have to take care for a very precious unit (300//300 for warpgate + Oracle is a hefty early investment), alas sometimes i throw games with a miscontrolled Oracle...
On May 13 2013 19:53 czaku wrote: Is it viable build for ladder? I feel like i would have not enough units to defend if terran goes for widow mine drop. From me, if you scout terran going for gas before CC, don't go for this build. Also it's great to mix in in boX series.
You get a robo pretty fast with this build, so you'll have obs + nexus cannon by the time a widow mine drop hits (or maybe obs will be a few seconds late, but you should be able to minimize damage while having an oracle in their base).
On May 13 2013 20:06 GodGranas wrote: Sorry but this guide assume that the Terran does no all-ins (like 2 rax, proxy Rax,) and is not going to scout! If a terran scouts you and sees no Zealot, he would instandly build an E-bay and your entire build is gone. So this guide kinda sucks (in my oppinion. Show me pls if i am wrong)
Are you talking about an ebay block at your natural? You can easily work in a zealot (which you can cancel if no block) into this build. Likewise, if you're afraid of proxy cheeses you can always scout for them and adjust your build accordingly.
On May 13 2013 20:15 Teoita wrote: For the millionth time, these articles are supposed to be game analysis, not a proper, full on guide.
LOL dude i was about to say the same thing. Sadly some in this community don't really "get it".
I appreciate these write-ups because as a Master Protoss player i do have a hard time with Terran timing pushes because i barley start getting my eco running before i get a huge bio ball knocking at my front door, with a drop happening at my mineral line.
This one i really appreciate because it actually made me realize i need to change up certain things in my build. Terran is really good in HotS (I am not calling them OP) so anything to help gain a slight advantage is good.
On May 13 2013 19:22 Bahajinbo wrote: Absolutely amazing guide - I use Rains style almost exclusively in PvT. But I tend to skip the stargate tech. I think it's a bit of a gamble to delay double forge & colossus production and rely on the oracle to do damage. The positive thing I noticed in this particular game are the uses of revelation to spot every army movement of Flash. Still, I'm not sure if the stargate tech is a gamble or not if it doesn't do much damage.
When you’re using the hallucinated phoenix the chances of the oracle surviving are very high. And afterwards scouting, drop defense and revelation can be so beneficial, that I don’t think the initial oracle attack has to do a lot of damage …
This is kinda how I play my PvT (but with horrible macro and game-sense lol). I actually only make 4 units, 1 stalker, 1 sentry, one oracle and a msc while going double forge collosus. If you use your oracle decently, the terran wont leave his base and you can just do whatever you wish. Even going for the early third is viable depending what your oracle can accomplish and scout.
People should believe in the early stargate, some people thinks it sets you behind but it really doesn't at all. Same thing with dts, it's strong tech that pays of just by having it. There is no coin-flip involved with somewhat proper execution.
And here I thought I was cool and unique by doing basically this build for my PvT. (except I like to get out 5-6 phoenix to deal with drops as well around the mid game, as well as deal with smaller groups of vikings in fights).
I honestly do almost the exact same opener, with gate+stargate+robo and everything.
I'll have to try out Rain's follow up though. Typically the 10 minute timing is super easy to hold, but the 3 base timing is really hard. I've been trying to do a 1 collo no range into storm transition (which has worked nicely, in my experience. [Mid-High masters])
Yesss, yesterday I lost like six PvTs because my builds are so haphazard. I feel bad for the other races, not getting all these amazing strategy guides.
That's for sure. I love this new style/indepth review of games. Simultaneously super professional and still an exciting read (I missed the actual game). So pumped keep 'em coming!
On May 13 2013 18:42 Baum wrote: I think this article should be mentioning Grubby rather than Mana and Feast since he is by far the biggest oracle user and has shown this in a lot of tournament games already.
Do you know of any particular Grubby games off the top of your head that I/we could check out? I've been dying to see some brilliant/aggressive Oracle play outside of the usual Oracle openings.
He uses them in the usual way but I think that he is very good at it. Grubby vs Lucifron in the Eizo Cup finals on Newkirk District: Grubby killed 6 SCVs and a good number of marines just with one stalker and one oracle. Grubby vs Polt during Dreamhack. I'm not sure but I think he used oracles vs Krass in his WCS games on Whirlwind.
Despite the rather large amount of damage Rain dealt with his oracle and the very clean nature of Rain's build, his defense against Flash's timing was still very close.
With such a flawless and efficient execution from Rain: - Doing economical damage early - Streamlining the tech build order by not building unnecessary early units - Delaying and weakening the first move out from Flash - Stopping the 4 medivac drop attempt with revelation
I would really like to know how Flash was able to just about nearly break through in the big 3 base attack at 16:00; because if Rain failed to do even one of the things liste above, it seems he would have been killed outright in the big attack.
It seemed to me that Rain should have had a greater advantage by doing what he did. Instead he barely holds, as we can see at around 17:30, if it hadn't been for that one colossus just finishing in time and some clutch warp-ins, it would have been over right there.
Is it just a factor of mules here? Can Terran nullify the early successful harass by utilizing them?
It was really interesting to read, but being a Zerg player, and with this seeming to be the case:
On May 13 2013 17:25 Antisocialmunky wrote: This article series could be positively categorized as "The Protoss 1 Hit Wonder Strategy Breakdowns"
Can't wait for more of these.
I, maybe individually, would appreciate some more of these coming out for other races or a different matchup.
The efforts to make this look more refined and of higher quality are paying off, I would say, and are appreciated. It made the experience a lot of fun intrinsically to be reading something that looked professionally made.
Despite the rather large amount of damage Rain dealt with his oracle and the very clean nature of Rain's build, his defense against Flash's timing was still very close.
With such a flawless and efficient execution from Rain: - Doing economical damage early - Streamlining the tech build order by not building unnecessary early units - Delaying and weakening the first move out from Flash - Stopping the 4 medivac drop attempt with revelation
I would really like to know how Flash was able to just about nearly break through in the big 3 base attack at 16:00; because if Rain failed to do even one of the things liste above, it seems he would have been killed outright in the big attack.
It seemed to me that Rain should have had a greater advantage by doing what he did. Instead he barely holds, as we can see at around 17:30, if it hadn't been for that one colossus just finishing in time and some clutch warp-ins, it would have been over right there.
Is it just a factor of mules here? Can Terran nullify the early successful harass by utilizing them?
I was wondering about that, too. Not one mistake + harassment damage and then he has such a hard time holding.
one more super high perfect protoss strat. i was already last time annoyed with the super perfect mvp tails bo cuz everybody in the ladder played it. how about some terran strats 4 sum variation?
Despite the rather large amount of damage Rain dealt with his oracle and the very clean nature of Rain's build, his defense against Flash's timing was still very close.
With such a flawless and efficient execution from Rain: - Doing economical damage early - Streamlining the tech build order by not building unnecessary early units - Delaying and weakening the first move out from Flash - Stopping the 4 medivac drop attempt with revelation
I would really like to know how Flash was able to just about nearly break through in the big 3 base attack at 16:00; because if Rain failed to do even one of the things liste above, it seems he would have been killed outright in the big attack.
It seemed to me that Rain should have had a greater advantage by doing what he did. Instead he barely holds, as we can see at around 17:30, if it hadn't been for that one colossus just finishing in time and some clutch warp-ins, it would have been over right there.
Is it just a factor of mules here? Can Terran nullify the early successful harass by utilizing them?
I think what it comes down to is that you have to realize what Rain was sacrificing by going for his harass. Opening with the stargate and oracles was a huge gas investment, and Rain chose to sacrifice army rather than tech (collosi + double forge) by doing so. Because of this, and especially on this map which heavily favors terran drops, Rain wasn't able to take his third for a much longer time than normal which allowed Flash to regain an advantage in economy by the mid-late game.
Because Rain was stuck on 4 gas for such a long time and going for double forge upgrades, his templar tech was incredibly delayed to the extent that he still didn't have storm by Flash's big 16:00 minute push. If you look closely, Flash was actually cutting a lot of gas for this push- he didn't take his 5th and 6th gas until around 15:30 in order to get a much heavier mineral based composition of heavily upgraded marine / marauder (no Ghosts and only 3 Medivacs).
It's hard to tell because the VoD doesn't have health bars on, but with only 3 medivacs Flash's army wasn't really able to heal between engagements and he had to keep constant pressure on to prevent Rain from getting out storm. I wouldn't say it was all-in by any means, more akin to the big SCV pull timings, but Flash was definitely committing a lot to doing damage with that attack and after Rain holds it and gets his High Templar tech up he's never really in danger for the rest of the game.
Despite the rather large amount of damage Rain dealt with his oracle and the very clean nature of Rain's build, his defense against Flash's timing was still very close.
With such a flawless and efficient execution from Rain: - Doing economical damage early - Streamlining the tech build order by not building unnecessary early units - Delaying and weakening the first move out from Flash - Stopping the 4 medivac drop attempt with revelation
I would really like to know how Flash was able to just about nearly break through in the big 3 base attack at 16:00; because if Rain failed to do even one of the things liste above, it seems he would have been killed outright in the big attack.
It seemed to me that Rain should have had a greater advantage by doing what he did. Instead he barely holds, as we can see at around 17:30, if it hadn't been for that one colossus just finishing in time and some clutch warp-ins, it would have been over right there.
Is it just a factor of mules here? Can Terran nullify the early successful harass by utilizing them?
I think what it comes down to is that you have to realize what Rain was sacrificing by going for his harass. Opening with the stargate and oracles was a huge gas investment, and Rain chose to sacrifice army rather than tech (collosi + double forge) by doing so. Because of this, and especially on this map which heavily favors terran drops, Rain wasn't able to take his third for a much longer time than normal which allowed Flash to regain an advantage in economy by the mid-late game.
Because Rain was stuck on 4 gas for such a long time and going for double forge upgrades, his templar tech was incredibly delayed to the extent that he still didn't have storm by Flash's big 16:00 minute push. If you look closely, Flash was actually cutting a lot of gas for this push- he didn't take his 5th and 6th gas until around 15:30 in order to get a much heavier mineral based composition of heavily upgraded marine / marauder (no Ghosts and only 3 Medivacs).
It's hard to tell because the VoD doesn't have health bars on, but with only 3 medivacs Flash's army wasn't really able to heal between engagements and he had to keep constant pressure on to prevent Rain from getting out storm. I wouldn't say it was all-in by any means, more akin to the big SCV pull timings, but Flash was definitely committing a lot to doing damage with that attack and after Rain holds it and gets his High Templar tech up he's never really in danger for the rest of the game.
That explains a lot, thanks for the clarification Pursuit!
The way I interpret it then, is that this build was not used just to try and gain a clear advantage, but more for catching Flash off guard and thereby making his build order, execution more shaky.
Despite the rather large amount of damage Rain dealt with his oracle and the very clean nature of Rain's build, his defense against Flash's timing was still very close.
With such a flawless and efficient execution from Rain: - Doing economical damage early - Streamlining the tech build order by not building unnecessary early units - Delaying and weakening the first move out from Flash - Stopping the 4 medivac drop attempt with revelation
I would really like to know how Flash was able to just about nearly break through in the big 3 base attack at 16:00; because if Rain failed to do even one of the things liste above, it seems he would have been killed outright in the big attack.
It seemed to me that Rain should have had a greater advantage by doing what he did. Instead he barely holds, as we can see at around 17:30, if it hadn't been for that one colossus just finishing in time and some clutch warp-ins, it would have been over right there.
Is it just a factor of mules here? Can Terran nullify the early successful harass by utilizing them?
I think what it comes down to is that you have to realize what Rain was sacrificing by going for his harass. Opening with the stargate and oracles was a huge gas investment, and Rain chose to sacrifice army rather than tech (collosi + double forge) by doing so. Because of this, and especially on this map which heavily favors terran drops, Rain wasn't able to take his third for a much longer time than normal which allowed Flash to regain an advantage in economy by the mid-late game.
Because Rain was stuck on 4 gas for such a long time and going for double forge upgrades, his templar tech was incredibly delayed to the extent that he still didn't have storm by Flash's big 16:00 minute push. If you look closely, Flash was actually cutting a lot of gas for this push- he didn't take his 5th and 6th gas until around 15:30 in order to get a much heavier mineral based composition of heavily upgraded marine / marauder (no Ghosts and only 3 Medivacs).
It's hard to tell because the VoD doesn't have health bars on, but with only 3 medivacs Flash's army wasn't really able to heal between engagements and he had to keep constant pressure on to prevent Rain from getting out storm. I wouldn't say it was all-in by any means, more akin to the big SCV pull timings, but Flash was definitely committing a lot to doing damage with that attack and after Rain holds it and gets his High Templar tech up he's never really in danger for the rest of the game.
That explains a lot, thanks for the clarification Pursuit!
The way I interpret it then, is that this build was not used just to try and gain a clear advantage, but more for catching Flash off guard and thereby making his build order, execution more shaky.
Cool game, but man was it close.
Reading his explanation followed by your sig is rather funny
Despite the rather large amount of damage Rain dealt with his oracle and the very clean nature of Rain's build, his defense against Flash's timing was still very close.
With such a flawless and efficient execution from Rain: - Doing economical damage early - Streamlining the tech build order by not building unnecessary early units - Delaying and weakening the first move out from Flash - Stopping the 4 medivac drop attempt with revelation
I would really like to know how Flash was able to just about nearly break through in the big 3 base attack at 16:00; because if Rain failed to do even one of the things liste above, it seems he would have been killed outright in the big attack.
It seemed to me that Rain should have had a greater advantage by doing what he did. Instead he barely holds, as we can see at around 17:30, if it hadn't been for that one colossus just finishing in time and some clutch warp-ins, it would have been over right there.
Is it just a factor of mules here? Can Terran nullify the early successful harass by utilizing them?
I think what it comes down to is that you have to realize what Rain was sacrificing by going for his harass. Opening with the stargate and oracles was a huge gas investment, and Rain chose to sacrifice army rather than tech (collosi + double forge) by doing so. Because of this, and especially on this map which heavily favors terran drops, Rain wasn't able to take his third for a much longer time than normal which allowed Flash to regain an advantage in economy by the mid-late game.
Because Rain was stuck on 4 gas for such a long time and going for double forge upgrades, his templar tech was incredibly delayed to the extent that he still didn't have storm by Flash's big 16:00 minute push. If you look closely, Flash was actually cutting a lot of gas for this push- he didn't take his 5th and 6th gas until around 15:30 in order to get a much heavier mineral based composition of heavily upgraded marine / marauder (no Ghosts and only 3 Medivacs).
It's hard to tell because the VoD doesn't have health bars on, but with only 3 medivacs Flash's army wasn't really able to heal between engagements and he had to keep constant pressure on to prevent Rain from getting out storm. I wouldn't say it was all-in by any means, more akin to the big SCV pull timings, but Flash was definitely committing a lot to doing damage with that attack and after Rain holds it and gets his High Templar tech up he's never really in danger for the rest of the game.
That explains a lot, thanks for the clarification Pursuit!
The way I interpret it then, is that this build was not used just to try and gain a clear advantage, but more for catching Flash off guard and thereby making his build order, execution more shaky.
Cool game, but man was it close.
Reading his explanation followed by your sig is rather funny
Guy Sajer's quote was in reference to realizing the need to move out of your foxhole when soviet tanks are about to intentionally run over and crush you in the middle of a pitch-black winter night. My need for explanations, long or otherwise, is in reference to an in-depth analysis of a complex strategy games between two professionals playing at a level few people will ever be able to.
Why is this guide so cool? Because we're surprised that Protoss can actually beat Terran. A guide for Terran or Zerg doesn't have the same effect, because everyone knows these races can win just by brute force. But as a Protoss, you need something special to win, and the impact of guides like this proves it.
On May 14 2013 03:37 Morlock wrote: Why is this guide so cool? Because we're surprised that Protoss can actually beat Terran. A guide for Terran or Zerg doesn't have the same effect, because everyone knows these races can win just by brute force. But as a Protoss, you need something special to win, and the impact of guides like this proves it.
No this guide is so cool because we are fucking boss at making awesome content regardless of race
On May 14 2013 03:37 Morlock wrote: Why is this guide so cool? Because we're surprised that Protoss can actually beat Terran. A guide for Terran or Zerg doesn't have the same effect, because everyone knows these races can win just by brute force. But as a Protoss, you need something special to win, and the impact of guides like this proves it.
User was temp banned for this post.
By all that is holy do you see that balance whine over there?
In all seriousness, it's good people are developing alternative strategies to the bog-standard WoL metagame. The problem isn't that Terran are OP, it's that the metagame has changed so your typical 1 gate expand into 2 base double forge colossus into 3 to 4 base colossus HT matchups aren't going to be the standard anymore.
Great article. Unfortunately from what I understand there are no replays available for Pro-League games, nor any of the other games in the text, which makes it more difficult to get the exact timings.
Did any Masters or higher player try to execute this build and can post a replay, so can have a look at the approximate timings ?
On May 13 2013 19:22 Bahajinbo wrote: Absolutely amazing guide - I use Rains style almost exclusively in PvT. But I tend to skip the stargate tech. I think it's a bit of a gamble to delay double forge & colossus production and rely on the oracle to do damage. The positive thing I noticed in this particular game are the uses of revelation to spot every army movement of Flash. Still, I'm not sure if the stargate tech is a gamble or not if it doesn't do much damage.
oracles man. apparently they can be used outside of early cheese.
Nice read! This kind of opening is the greatest in my opinion, a threat but not an all in. Smart and aggressive play not only makes for the most entertaining games and the most skill demandings strats, but also the best overall idea: the best defense is a good offense
Flash was so close to breaking Rain after that great protoss play to start because of the indirect pressure of medivac speed in HotS, spoken of in the article. Medivac speed means toss third bases that are about two minute later, coupled with terrans being able to take their thirds about two minutes earlier, which is 4 more minutes of economic advantage than Terrans used to have. I hope tosses can find a way to take that third more easily even in the face of drop mobility. Maybe using more Oracles? Since they can kill marines faster than they drop from medivacs. I wonder how well they do in early/mid game battles with some tanking zealots. Or a few phoenixes to tickle medivacs and at least make them regroup rather than sitting behind your base?
Despite the rather large amount of damage Rain dealt with his oracle and the very clean nature of Rain's build, his defense against Flash's timing was still very close.
With such a flawless and efficient execution from Rain: - Doing economical damage early - Streamlining the tech build order by not building unnecessary early units - Delaying and weakening the first move out from Flash - Stopping the 4 medivac drop attempt with revelation
I would really like to know how Flash was able to just about nearly break through in the big 3 base attack at 16:00; because if Rain failed to do even one of the things liste above, it seems he would have been killed outright in the big attack.
It seemed to me that Rain should have had a greater advantage by doing what he did. Instead he barely holds, as we can see at around 17:30, if it hadn't been for that one colossus just finishing in time and some clutch warp-ins, it would have been over right there.
Is it just a factor of mules here? Can Terran nullify the early successful harass by utilizing them?
As other have pointed out, Stargate is a huge investment, despite the amazing harass and overall play.
Also, in my opinion, Flash had a really great engagement.
This is an amazing guide, but I think Flash made a few mistakes that allowed this to work, and Rain BARELY won those battles using perfect decision making, micro, macro, warping in the exact right units, etcetera. Things that you can't expect anyone except a top Korean team Protoss to make.
However, this was a tough map for Rain, so perhaps on a larger map a lesser player could use the same strategy as well.
On May 13 2013 17:48 FinalForm wrote: kinda hard to make these guides for terran i guess
Pretty much this.
Or, a TL might be lacking a Terran author that can dissect and analyse Terran play and write an article about it. I suggest a Terran and a writer pair up, one analyses and the other becomes sort of an "editor".
Sadly, I neither can write nor analyse Terran play LOL.
I know I'm a little late to the party, but I just wanted to add something.
I watched the VOD of this game, and it was really astonishing on the technical level, i.e. the players played really well using extremely refined builds and timings, all with perfect mechanics.
But what was really awesome was that people were actually numerous at the proleague studio (you can hear the crowd and you can see at the end of the VOD). When Rain held Flash's initial push after losing his collosi, people were cheering him. When the PF went down, people were cheering. The use of the oracle was refreshing and exciting to the viewers.
To me, it gives a glimmer of hope as to seeing SC2 become big, maybe not as big as BW, but close. And it takes an extremely high level of execution for SC2 to be genuinely exciting and unpredictable. The game was shifting very quickly, and the better player won in truly epic fashion.
I hope more games like these come about, and I'm guessing that most will be from the Korean scene, as "foreigners" have not yet reached the level of mechanical refinement that Koreans have. But I hope that games like these mark the beginning of actual SC2 success, in terms of an esport.
EPT
Flash, though infamous for his cheese plays in Brood War, is mostly known for his standard macro play in TvP. His trademark style relies on consistent pressure followed up by a three-base timing attack, usually one that attempts to hit right as the Protoss player is in the middle of a tech switch. His favorite opening is the 14CC, which he uses to gain an economic advantage, and optimizes his builds to ensure that his timings are always slightly stronger than what his Protoss opponents are normally used to. Unlike his Terran brethren, he rarely focuses on drops in the match-up, preferring instead to use them as mere threats while he keeps his army count high for his eventual head on attack.
Rain's PvT, on the other hand, is perhaps the definition of solid macro play. Though Rain doesn't rely on the same builds as much as say, Creator, but a large majority of his openings eventually transition into strong macro mid-games. Rain will almost never all-in an opponent early in the game and you can be sure that all his builds are crisp and perfectly optimized. In short, he is THE Protoss to copy. That being said, HotS has thrown many Protoss builds out the window, so he's been busy coming up with a completely new set for the new expansion.![[image loading]](/staff/Teoita/14CC.jpg)
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