[G] CJherO's PvP safe Blink Opener in IEM

Contents

Introduction
- Why study this build?
The Build
- Branch A: Safe branch (opponent has twilight council, or you don't have any information)
- Branch B: FE branch (vs SG&Robo, for example)
- More Common Variation
The 3 Steps of Scouting and How to Branch your build
- Step 1: Probe scout 3:40-4:10
- Step 2 :MSC scout
- Step 3: Probe scout 6:00-7:00
MSC scout: when to and when not to
- Rules for MSC scout (for 2-players map)
  - Example scenario
- Explanation for these Rules
  - Some Definitions of terms
  - Notes
  - Explanation
- Game Analysis
- How to evaluate opponent’s gas timing
Discussion
Summary of analysed games
Resources
- Replays
- VODs
- About me

Introduction

Why study this build?

CJherO did this same build in 4 games out of 9 PvP games on IEM Shenzhen. This fact strongly suggests that herO is very confident about this opener.
These games illustrate how to react to different openers from the opponent.
You can get replays (not only VoDs), which is an extremely powerful resource to study his play in detail

So I studied his replays over the past few days and wrote down this note, but actually I’m pretty unsure if my analysis is appropriate. That is why I posted this as a [D] article.

The Build

9/10 Pylon
13/18 Gateway
14/18 Assimilator
16/18 Pylon (Optional: scout main base and natural, and then go to opponent's base with this probe. If you don't check for proxy gates, you can scout with 18th probe and save extra minerals.)
18/26 Cybernetics Core
18/26 Assimilator
@100% Cybernetics Core: Stalker, warpgate, Mothership Core
25/26 Pylon
26/34 Twilight Council
27/34 Stalker, stop probe production(you have 23 atm)
29/34 Gateway x2, Blink
29/34 Stalker

No choronoboost on warpgate. Chronoboost Probe 3 times, 1 for MSC production, and then use it to Blink research.

Branch A: Safe branch (opponent has twilight council, or you don't have any information)

31/34 Resume Probe Production
32/34 Pylon (proxy, scout opponent natural with this probe)
32/34 Robotics Facility (Sometimes you can skip Robotics for faster expansion. We will discuss the criteria later.)
@100% Warpgate: warp 2 Stalkers & a Sentry
@100% Robotics: Observer

Branch B: FE branch (vs SG&Robo, for example)

31/34 Nexus
@100% Warpgate: warp 3 Stalkers (When vs expand with SG, warp in with your proxy pylon and pressure)
Robotics Facility ~ 7:30-7:45

More Common Variation

9/10 Pylon
13/18 Gateway
15 Assimilator x2 (2 probes on each)
18 Core (fill 3rd probes to both Assimilators)
@100% Cybernetics Core: Stalker, warpgate, Mothership Core
25/26 Pylon
@100gas: Twilight Council
27/34 Stalker, stop probe production(you have 23 atm)
29/34 Gateway x2, Blink
29/34 Stalker

The 3 Steps of Scouting and How to Branch your build

3:40-4:10 Probe scout
MSC scout
6:00-7:00 Probe scout

Step 1: Probe scout 3:40-4:10

Early game all-in such as 10gate 3gate will be scouted with the 1st Step. I will skip discussion of such all-in for now. (Of cource we can discuss later on the thread)

Things to look for when you are in the opponent’s base:

Whether 2nd gateway at 20 supply or not
Whether MSC is building or not
Whether Gateway is chronoboosted or not
Cybernetics Core timing (you can compare to yours)
Gas mining: see remaining amount if double assimilators. (later discussed)
Pylon number and location
Remaining Energy of Nexus

And here are some tips related to the above information:

If you see only 1 pylon (and probably plenty of energy on Nexus), you should suspect fastest proxy oracle; don’t move out with your stalkers. Fastest proxy oracle with proxied 2nd pylon hits before you’ll have the energy to overcharge.
If you see 2gates and 25-50+ energy, he is probably going to do 3 stalkers pressure, and sometimes 3gate follow-up. Look for his probes and proxy pylons. You can’t deny proxy pylon if the opponent plays well, but you can at least force him to make pylons somewhere far from your base.
If gateway is chronoboosted, your probe leaves his base 10sec faster.

This is of course far from a complete list; feel free to add more in this thread please

Step 2 :MSC scout

When you are not sure after MSC scout, or when you skip it, go safe branch (branch A)
If you see both Stargate AND other tech(Robo or TC), you can FE (branch B)
If you see Twilight Council and/or Robo: branch A
If you see 3+ gateways: Branch A, and delay your 2nd Probe scout to 7:00, because probably opponent is not expanding at 6:00. You don’t have to risk your scouting probe for too little additional information.

Step 3: Probe scout 6:00-7:00

When you see Nexus, you can basically expand safely. And sometimes you want to agressively warp-in more stalkers to punish him.

MSC scout: when to and when not to

In PvP, you can scout your opponent’s base with your probe only until his MSC/Stalker is out there. So generally, you can't see his tech structure unless he builds his tech structure particularly early. If you really want to scout his tech, you can float your MSC into his base.

However, your MSC will have to recall to survive, which means no overcharge will be available for the next 3 minutes. You need to have a clear reason to do this.

CJherO sometimes scouts with MSC but sometimes doesn’t. I wondered what the difference was between these games. Below are my hypothetical rules, which I derived from his replays.

Rules for MSC scout (for 2-player maps)

If Opponent has mined double gas with 6 probes right after assimilators were done (i.e, Full Double Gas Mining, which is defined later), scout with MSC.
If this is not the case, you skip MSC scout.

Example scenario
Your probe saw a double assimilator but both of them had 40+ more remaining gas than yours. This indicates he mined gas with 4 probes until starting his cybercore. And his probe is walking around until your MSC is out. You should decide not to scout with MSC, according to the rules above.

Explanation for these Rules
Here I explain reasoning for my rules above. Before explaining, I want to define some terms for later convenience.

Some Definitions of terms

Extreme Double Gas Mining (Extreme DGM):
- 14assimilator, 14or15assimilator, 3probes for each right after assimilators are done.
Full Double Gas mining 15assimilator (Full DGM):
- 15assimilator, 3probes for each right after assimilators are done.
Medium Double Gas mining (Medium DGM):
- 15assimilator, 15assimilator, 2probes for each right after assimilators are done. fill 1 more probes for each after cybercore start.
14Gas 18Gas Mining (Late DGM):
- 14assimilator, 18assimilator(after core), 3probes for each right after assimilators are done.

Notes

Extreme DGM is rarely used. Example is Zest's fast phoenix opener, where he builds a gateway at 12 supply for faster stargate. Other example is the fastest proxy Oracle opener.

Full DGM is common. Usually means SG, DT, or some FE with Sentry. Usual Blink opener doesn't need as much gas as FullDGM gives.

Medium DGM is also common. Blink opener with MediumDGM is common, but of course, MediumDGM doesn't necessarilly mean a Blink opener.

Explanation

Now I’ll explain the reasoning for my rules above. First, why MSC scout when you see Full DGM? Full DGM suggest the opponent’s doing some gas-heavy build; SG or DT+Robo, or some kind of Sentry Expand. And remember, you are doing a blink opener, so there’s a huge difference between a SG and DT scenario. If SG, you can expand without detection, and if DT, Robotics is mandatory. (1 gate or 2 gate expand is obvious if you send a 2nd probe scout (Step 3). In addition, Full DGM makes early gateway pressure not probable, because that kind of aggression needs a lot of minerals. So spending 100 MSC energy is less risky.

On the other hand, Medium DGM suggest that the opponent wants more minerals than gases. Of course he can do a DT build with Medium DGM, but the most probable scenario is Blink vs Blink, or Blink vs Gateway pressure. So if you scout with MSC, you’ll probably find Twilight or Robo or 3gates, which means you are going to do Safe Branch with Robotics anyway. Then, why spend MSC energy for scout if you are going down the same branch anyway? Also, when gateway aggression is possible, spending 100 energy for recall can be risky. (Of course there are always exceptions in Starcraft II, my idea is just a kind of first-approximation)

Game Analysis

Lets see some actual games. herO skipped MSC scout in the game vs Classic in Coda LE. In this game, Classic did Medium DGM into Blink opener. So in this game, my rule holds.

However, herO skipped MSC scout in the game vs Jim, also in Coda LE, where Jim did Medium DGM. So my rule doesn’t explain this game. What is the difference?

Jim’s 3rd pylon started very late and herO saw that.
Jim’s scouting probe left herO’s base too early.

Both facts suggest he might be building proxy structure such as Stargate (and he actually was).

Okay, so now we understand that from herO’s point of view, it seemed that something strange was going on. But still we can debate whether or not he should scout with the MSC. In my opinion, he should have skipped the MSC scout.

In this proxy scenario, MSC scout will see one of the following:

no tech structure around 3 pylons
Robo (Both DT and SG are possible proxy structure)
Late twilight (which means SG into Blink)

In case 1 or 2, you are going to do safe branch because you can’t rule out DT possibility.
In any case, Medium DGM makes early 3gate aggression possible, where MSC energy is so expensive.
In case 3, you might able to fast expand, but tbh, I’m not sure what to do in this case.

Considering these points, I think MSC scout is generally not worth it. So I came up with my rules. As always, any feedback is appreciated.

How to evaluate opponent’s gas timing

The easiest way is to compare the opponent’s remaining gas amount to that of your first assimilator. If their assimilators have greater remaining gas than yours by more than 35-40, he probably did Medium DGM.
If that difference is less than 20, he probably did Full DGM.
We could calculate and memorize time-to-amount relationships for each gas mining pattern, but I’m too lazy to do that.
If anyone has any tips, I’d appreciate it!

Discussion

I’ll list up some themes I didn’t mention in the OP here. I hope they’ll stimulate our discussion :D

What are the pros/cons of herO’s safe blink opener compared to more standard, 15 Assimilator x2 (Medium DGM) variation?
- Warpgate timing is a litle faster with the safe opener. This probably makes it easier to hold 5 stalkers into 3 warpgate aggression, for example.
More tips about scouting:
- First probe scout(Step 1).
- More scenarios after MSC scout. For example, what if you see a Stargate but not another structure? Should you FE or not and why? And when you see SG/Robo, should you delay your 2nd probe scout? (herO did so, in vs Jim Terraform)
Mid game guidelines: I couldn’t discuss the midgame because this article is already so long and I’m totally unsure about the midgame.
- How many blink stalkers are appropriate for each scenario?
- In 2base vs 2base scenario, when you can safely build your natural assimilator and forge and when can you not?

Summary of analysed games

........................................................................................................................
Game........................................MSC scout..........Opponent’s Tech..........Branch
herO vs Jim Terraform................YES....................SG+Robo....................FE......
herO vs Jim Coda......................YES....................SG (proxy)...................Safe...
herO vs Classic Terraform..........YES....................SG/Twilight..................FE......
herO vs Classic Coda.................NO.....................Blink w/o Robo............Safe...
herO vs Classic Cactus..............NO.....................SG Expo......................FE.....
........................................................................................................................

Resources

Replays
IEM Shenzhen Replaypack

VODs

About me

ID: Lapack
AM Masters Protoss
Twitter: @_Lapack/
TwitchTV: http://www.twitch.tv/lapack_rts

[G] CJherO's PvP safe Blink Opener in IEM

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