PiG Daily Articles

Welcome to the PiG Daily strategy article! The PiG Daily is a show by Jared "PiG" Krensel that focuses on StarCraft 2 strategy and becoming a better player. We've joined forces to create an article series that summarizes his dailies into short, digestible articles that provide insight on builds, tactics and game sense. By combining with Spawning Tool, this series will bring you the most comprehensive learning experience for build orders and strategies.

How to use Spawning Tool

We highly recommend using Spawning Tool in order to follow the basics of these builds. The PiG Daily and our strategy articles will serve as supplementary guides to understand the subtleties behind each decision.

The best players in the world often love to sit back and rely on the advantages of defensive play, growing their economy and upgrades whilst goading their opponents into unfavourable attacks. They know that if they execute their defence properly they will always win over aggression, and they demand that very perfection from themselves every game.

Link to the Spawning Tool Build

TY's Double Raven 3CC in TvT

This is a super macro-focused build used a huge amount recently by the two best terrans in the world: TY and INnoVation. It’s especially powerful in our current map pool with maps like Proxima Station and Honorgrounds featuring protected natural expansions. The build usually shuns scouting or aggression in favour of generic play that can block the majority of things the opponent can throw at you, whilst powering economy, production and tech at a staggering rate. Of course you are defending with an elite group of high-tech units and so your micro and positioning needs to be on point. There are a few different adjustments and variations based on map and preference which I’ll discuss below. I wouldn’t recommend this opening to low or even mid-tier players unless they really love their defensive macro play.

Notes

Against more aggressive openings:

You should only build cyclones if your opponent opts for a very aggressive opening. In the VODs section, aLive tries to break the natural with reapers and cyclones, and TY pushes it back with cyclones of his own. Even the most dedicated attacks can be stopped with a few cyclones and good zoning.

If your opponent attacks with mostly infantry, then you can imitate TY and go for hellions instead. Use the hellion to scout, but make sure not to lose it. When TY skips the cyclone, he also adds the tank before the factory/starport swap for the added security. The starport will sit idle for a little but, but it's a small price to pay for a good defense.



For Proxima and maps with in-base natural:

The in-base natural is easy to defend, making it unnecessary to spend resources on hellions or cyclones. Your marines and reapers should be enough to defend the ramp unless your opponent decides to all-in early. Only deviate from your plan if you scout a big attack coming, because a 'normal' poke should be easy to defend with the units you already have.

VODs

The two games that best illustrate this build are the last two games from TY's series at IEM Katowice against aLive. Down 1-2 and with his tournament on the line, TY reverted to safe, solid play in order to claw his way into the finals. On Honorgrounds, TY showed a no tank variation. In the clincher on Abyssal Reef, TY's switched things up with a cyclone for safety, which paid dividends when he managed to ward off a big raven/tank/marine push.