[D] SC2 Notes: Revival's Muta/ling Midgame ZvT

EsportsJohn

United States4883 Posts

March 23 2014 17:15 GMT

So I was looking over ZvT games from IEM Katowice and taking down some general notes for benchmarks, 3rd base timings, 4th hatch timings, etc., etc., and happened to come across a curious timing attack that Revival did in two of his games against Jjakji. After closer examination of the numbers, I realized it was a general theme of Revival's play, so I decided to write it down and use it for my own ladder practice.

Essentially, Revival's mid game revolves around taking 4 bases, getting up to 70-80 drones, and maxing out on muta/ling/bling by 14:00-15:00 to hit a massive timing attack. While this is nothing new, I'm beginning to see this timing used everywhere by Zerg players, and I'm fascinated by it. In other words, this is not an individual, unique timing; however, it is a solid way to play the mid game and exemplified by Revival's play.

VoDs:
Revival vs. Jjakji G2 on Frost
Revival vs. Jjakji G3 on Habitation Station

Since Revival gets into the mid game in a variety of ways and ZvT in general has a lot of room for slight variants on all builds, it will suffice to say that essentially Revival's early game consists of:

an economic early expansion with early ling speed
a decently timed 3rd base (~6:00-6:30)
lair before upgrades
an emphasis on creep spread

The following benchmarks are based on a composite number from several ZvTs from both Life and Revival + custom games against the computer with no pressure:

@6:00 -> 44 supply/32 drones
3rd hatch @6:30
Lair finishes @8:00
@8:00 -> 70 supply/50 drones
4th hatch @10:00
@10:00 -> 105 supply/70 drones
2/2 upgrades complete @14:00
@14:00 -> maxed/80 drones

Revival almost always gets his lair before upgrades in order to get his mutalisk count up very quickly in order to deal with drops. He uses his mutalisks strictly defensively in the early parts of the mid game. His strong emphasis on creep spread early allows him to also deal with frontal assaults fairly easily. The result is mutalisks taking care of the skies, creep and limited numbers of ling/bane taking care of the ground. This double defense generally allows him to take a fairly safe 4th without fear of losing it.

With good defense, Revival can get all the way up to 80 drones (about 3.5 bases of saturation) on his 4 bases. The 4th base is very important for the slight extra gas income; more gas income = more mutas/banes in the maxed out attack. That said, if you're gas income is suffering some and/or you can't quite defend the 4th base well enough, you should still be able to hit your 14:00 timing, but with less banelings and mutalisks.

Ironically, getting late upgrades does not affect his timing attack, as his upgrades normally complete at 14:00 and coincide perfectly with his maxout timing. Revival always aims the attack directly at the Terran army near the natural with the intent of killing all or most of the army. It's important to note that 14:00 is also the time period that Terran's 2/2 is getting close to finishing, extra rax have just finished, and the Terran attacking machine is about to kick into action. This creates an interesting dilemma for the Terran player by either 1) forcing them to play defensive when they want to be aggressive or 2) being completely blind-sided as they're moving out to be aggressive.

Banelings, banelings, banelings, banelings....

Often times this attack will just outright win the game as the Zerg player can get right on top of the production structures. However, in case it doesn't, Revival generally goes hive behind it. By setting up his hive transition so early, Revival can buy time with the attack and subsequent ling/muta harassment to catch up in upgrades and get ultralisks on the field.

All in all, it's a very powerful and straightfoward timing. The key to achieving success with this mid game style is not taking too much damage from reaper, hellion, or banshee harassment as well as holding off the initial drops without incurring a lot of damage. This requires a lot of strong fundamentals and early game understanding and scouting. Again, it must be emphasized that this timing coincides with the time period when Terran wants to push, creating an anti-timing for the Terran

. Good stuff.

GL HF!

Bonus notes: + Show Spoiler +

ZvT notes:

Revival vs. Jjakji G1
Alterzim Stronghold
IEM WC 2014

15h16p15g
reaper pressure
@6:00 put back on gas
3rd hatch @6:15
Roach/bane bust @9:00
muta/ling followup
4th hatch @11:00

@6:00 44 supply/36 drones
@10:00 93 supply/48 drones
@14:00 147 supply/72 drones
@16:00 maxed

Revival vs. Jjajki G2
Frost
IEM WC 2014

15h16p15g
@6:00 drones back in gas
3rd hatch @5:50
Lair before upgrades
4th hatch @9:00
NO PRESSURE
muta/ling maxed attack ~14:30

@6:00 44 supply/37 drones
@10:00 106 supply/75 drones
@14:00 maxed/85 drones

Revival vs. Jjakji G3
Habitation Station
IEM WC 2014

triple hatch -> pool
triple gas @5:45
hellion pressure
lair before upgrades
4th hatch @11:00
muta/ling maxed attack ~15:00

@6:00 40 supply/28 drones
@8:00 62 supply/47 drones
@10:00 91 supply/60 drones
@14:00 164 supply/77 drones

Revival vs. Jjakji G4
Heavy Rain
IEM WC 2014

15h16p15g
reaper pressure
@6:00 drones back in gas
3rd hatch @6:30
lair before upgrades
hellion/banshee pressure

@6:00 44 supply/28 drones
@8:00 66 supply/41 drones
@10:00 79 supply/55 drones

Revival vs. Jjakji G5
Daedalus Point
IEM WC 2014

15h16p15g
@5:30 drones back in gas
Fast lair
3rd hatch @7:15
NO PRESSURE

@6:00 44 supply/34 drones
@8:00 68 supply/45 drones
@10:00 102 supply/54 drones

Life vs. TaeJa G1
Heavy Rain
IEM WC 2014

15h15p14g
reaper pressure
@6:30 drones back on gas
3rd hatch @6:45
lair before upgrades
hellion/banshee pressure
4th hatch @11:00

@6:00 40 supply/28 drones
@8:00 61 supply/42 drones
@10:00 83 supply/56 drones
@14:00 151 supply/78 drones

Life vs. TaeJa G2
Yeonsu
IEM WC 2014

15p15h
reaper pressure
double gas @5:45
3rd hatch @6:15
lair before upgrades
4th hatch @11:00

@6:00 46 supply/32 drones
@8:00 70 supply/47 drones
@10:00 100 supply/69 drones
@14:00 143 supply/80 drones

Life vs. TaeJa G4
Frost
IEM WC 2014

15h16p17h
VERY fast 3rd
double gas @6:00
upgrades before lair
hellion/banshee pressure
4th hatch @10:00

@6:00 45 supply/34 drones
@8:00 75 supply/54 drones
@10:00 99 supply/71 drones
@14:00 130 supply/81 drones

Probemicro

3708 Posts

March 24 2014 10:38 GMT

dont see how this is unique since its the standard fare for all pro ling/bane/muta zvt game

User was warned for this post

agahamsorr0w

Netherlands359 Posts

March 24 2014 12:43 GMT

On March 24 2014 19:38 Probemicro wrote:
dont see how this is unique since its the standard fare for all pro ling/bane/muta zvt game

learn to read. he just said its his notes from the games, not that this is unique.

Pirfiktshon

United States1072 Posts

March 24 2014 13:17 GMT

dont see how this is unique since its the standard fare for all pro ling/bane/muta zvt game

Personally I think you should get a warning for posting without reading the entire OP.....

Essentially, Revival's mid game revolves around taking 4 bases, getting up to 70-80 drones, and maxing out on muta/ling/bling by 14:00-15:00 to hit a massive timing attack. While this is nothing new, I'm beginning to see this timing used everywhere by Zerg players, and I'm fascinated by it. In other words, this is not an individual, unique timing; however, it is a solid way to play the mid game and exemplified by Revival's play

Is the second paragraph.

Good Write up John I've been thinking about playing random for a bit this will definitely help me

thank you and good job as always <3

Jowj

United States248 Posts

March 24 2014 14:22 GMT

Good notes John! ZvT.txt =) I do think you might want to include somewhere in there the counterpoints to this sort of timing, so that terrans who read can try and apply themselves too. As an example:

-Vulnerable to drops when moving out @ max
-Mine fields leading up to thor+bio is insanely obnoxious to break, the zerg must be very meticulous to not lose too much stuff before the fight even starts

And also maybe include which maps this style works on vs the ones it doesn't. Honestly this kind of timing CAN work on most maps, but certain ones will favor it with wide open 3rds (Polar Night!) vs something like Heavy Rain which can have a very defend able 3rd with tanks and turrets on high ground, etc.

OH and I also think its interesting that he doesn't get upgrades before lair,vs someone like Jaedong who does upgrades first Every Single Time.What kind of timings does that make Revival weak to, like 2rax/fac/port timings that hit just before mutalisks?

Marcinko

South Africa1014 Posts

March 24 2014 16:16 GMT

Thank you SC2John for this, think I'll try this on ladder. As always a good write up. Glad you decided to help us Zerg’s out since we not getting much love lately.

On a side note: If you got free time and in the mood to write a guide, can you possible cover Life's ZvZ?

EsportsJohn

United States4883 Posts

March 24 2014 17:42 GMT

On March 24 2014 22:17 Pirfiktshon wrote:

Show nested quote +

thank you and good job as always <3

Thank you. Yeah, this isn't a completely unique or interesting build, but it's a very noticeable trend in several of Revival's games (Vortix also did this in a couple of his games in the Vasacast Invitational this weekend). If we examine someone like Life or Jaedong, they usually have very different ways of using their mutalisks and initial lings; there's a great variety in how defensive a player is vs. using counterattacks, how much players focus on creep spread (and direction), etc., etc.

On March 24 2014 23:22 Jowj wrote:
Good notes John! ZvT.txt =) I do think you might want to include somewhere in there the counterpoints to this sort of timing, so that terrans who read can try and apply themselves too. As an example:

-Vulnerable to drops when moving out @ max
-Mine fields leading up to thor+bio is insanely obnoxious to break, the zerg must be very meticulous to not lose too much stuff before the fight even starts

And also maybe include which maps this style works on vs the ones it doesn't. Honestly this kind of timing CAN work on most maps, but certain ones will favor it with wide open 3rds (Polar Night!) vs something like Heavy Rain which can have a very defend able 3rd with tanks and turrets on high ground, etc.

OH and I also think its interesting that he doesn't get upgrades before lair,vs someone like Jaedong who does upgrades first Every Single Time.What kind of timings does that make Revival weak to, like 2rax/fac/port timings that hit just before mutalisks?

In general, the best thing going in Terran's favor against this style is getting any damage done at all, whether it be harassment via reaper, hellion, or banshee, or any kind of drop damage before 14:00. Anything at all to slow down the Zerg gas income and prevent them from reaching a critical mass early on. Also, the mine fields are a good example as well; mines force Zerg to be a lot more careful in this maxed out engagement and end up buying the Terran a lot of time to get extra units out.

And yeah, I'll maybe add something about maps, good point.

On March 25 2014 01:16 Marcinko wrote:
Thank you SC2John for this, think I'll try this on ladder. As always a good write up. Glad you decided to help us Zerg’s out since we not getting much love lately.

On a side note: If you got free time and in the mood to write a guide, can you possible cover Life's ZvZ?

Yeah, I'll take a look at Life's ZvZ. I've been meaning to look at it, but his games against Rogue at IEM were highly variable. If he wins against soO in GSL, I'll have a little more to go on

Big J

Austria16289 Posts

March 24 2014 17:55 GMT

OH and I also think its interesting that he doesn't get upgrades before lair,vs someone like Jaedong who does upgrades first Every Single Time.What kind of timings does that make Revival weak to, like 2rax/fac/port timings that hit just before mutalisks?

Yeah, basically this. In case of macro games, many Terrans these days go for 3reaper-->6hellion-->cloaked banshee-->delayed upgrade openings. Or straight up Mech openings. Early mutas can be quite good against those and you don't really need upgrades (or against Mech you don't want them, because you don't know which ones for some time).
I think a double ebay into "INnovation push" with 6hellion/16marines/2medivacs (pick up once the hellions are dead) before mutas should be very good against this style. Because it forces the zerg to slow down or straight up punish him for storing gas for mutas and leads up to powerful 1-1 vs 0-0 and 2-2 vs 1-1 timing possibilities.

Nice read, will keep an eye on Revival for some time, have been looking for ways to get up my mutas faster (for faster AA and to keep the Terran honest... so many turtle Mech builds around these days) too.

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[D] SC2 Notes: Revival's Muta/ling Midgame ZvT

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