• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 18:51
CET 00:51
KST 08:51
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book8Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info5herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational14
Community News
PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar)9Weekly Cups (Jan 26-Feb 1): herO, Clem, ByuN, Classic win2RSL Season 4 announced for March-April7Weekly Cups (Jan 19-25): Bunny, Trigger, MaxPax win3Weekly Cups (Jan 12-18): herO, MaxPax, Solar win0
StarCraft 2
General
Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book Clem wins HomeStory Cup 28 How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game? HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview
Tourneys
PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar) WardiTV Mondays $21,000 Rongyi Cup Season 3 announced (Jan 22-Feb 7) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament $5,000 WardiTV Winter Championship 2026
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ? [A] Starcraft Sound Mod
External Content
Mutation # 512 Overclocked The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 511 Temple of Rebirth Mutation # 510 Safety Violation
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Can someone share very abbreviated BW cliffnotes? StarCraft player reflex TE scores Recent recommended BW games
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 1 Small VOD Thread 2.0 KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Strategy
Zealot bombing is no longer popular? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Current Meta Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2
Other Games
General Games
Diablo 2 thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread EVE Corporation Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread The Games Industry And ATVI Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club! The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Play, Watch, Drink: Esports …
TrAiDoS
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
How do archons sleep?
8882
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1859 users

[G] MaxPax's PvT Easy MMR Macro DT Opener

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
ESChamp
Profile Joined September 2014
Canada124 Posts
September 10 2021 21:54 GMT
#1


Replay Download - MaxPax vs HeRoMaRinE

+ Show Spoiler [ Build timings] +

12 0:08 Pylon
13 0:27 Gateway
15 0:42 Assimilator
18 1:14 Cybernetics Core
19 1:31 Nexus
19 1:38 Pylon
20 1:47 Adept (Chrono Boost)
20 1:53 Assimilator
22 1:59 Warp Gate
23 2:07 Adept (Chrono Boost)
27 2:29 Twilight Council
27 2:32 Adept
30 2:42 Shield Battery
32 2:57 Robotics Facility
37 3:22 Dark Shrine
37 3:29 Gateway
39 3:45 Warp Prism (Chrono Boost)
43 3:57 Gateway
45 4:06 Pylon x2
45 4:13 Assimilator x2
46 4:29 Pylon
48 4:37 Dark Templar x2
54 4:38 Blink (Chrono Boost)
56 5:00 Dark Templar
56 5:01 Archon
60 5:11 Nexus
60 5:14 Dark Templar, Stalker
60 5:20 Archon
66 5:24 Forge
68 5:40 Stalker x2
68 5:42 Observer
74 5:44 Robotics Bay
77 6:06 Stalker x3
77 6:10 Charge
84 6:13 Protoss Ground Weapons Level 1
83 6:28 Shield Battery
83 6:29 Colossus (Chrono Boost), Gateway
92 6:51 Stalker x3
98 6:54 Photon Cannon
98 6:55 Gateway
98 6:58 Extended Thermal Lance
97 7:14 Gateway x2
97 7:15 Colossus (Chrono Boost)
97 7:18 Photon Cannon
99 7:32 Nexus, Zealot
99 7:35 Sentry x2
103 7:37 Zealot
107 7:53 Stalker
111 8:00 Zealot x3
117 8:08 Shield Battery
118 8:15 Zealot x4
118 8:18 Colossus (Chrono Boost)
130 8:28 Zealot
74 9:20 Colossus (Chrono Boost)
90 9:39 Dark Templar x4
90 9:44 Archon x2



The Transition:
Now, in a lot of games, you just got some free MMR. Luckily Maxpax is playing vs Biggest of Gabes, who has indeed scouted the DT Shrine earlier. At 5:15, he is grabbing the third base to further transition into the Macro Game, while also warping in 2 more DTs in the front to potentially go for an Archon Drop. At 5:25 a forge is added.

Now from here on out, the game opens up massively for the Protoss, depending on what the gamestate is, and what your preference in playstyle is. The three meta Macro transitions are into a Mass Gate Style with a second Forge, a Storm focused style with a High Templar Archives, or what Maxpax will be showing here: Robotics Bay and Colossi.

With Blink finishing, charge is started, and Maxpax is opting for pressure with the Archon Drop and a handfull of stalkers. Once again trying to punish potential mistakes, without actually committing them. It is ESSENTIAL that we don't lose Starkers unnecessarily. Having a hand full of stalkers in your army is great for Anti-Air and some added damage, however adding more stalkers after this first battle, will not only delay your tech, but production for actually good Core units in your army, aka Zealots.

Micro-wise, Maxpax is trying to get some damage done with the Archons. As Archons are very tanky, the main thing to worry about is to not lose the Prism. Macro wise, we're setting up the minimum amount of Static D (Cannons in Mineral lines, shield battery the base), while getting the gateway count up to 8-10 without building units in the meantime, if possible. That way, the big gateway explosion will enable the perfect abusing of the economic advantage we have gained.

Defending the Counter
Now, if you've macroed well, and did some damage, depending on your transition, you could go for a final push to end the game while taking a fourth base or gases..or both. Gases allow for easier Tech switching, another base allows for more Gateways. However, Maxpax only traded decently here, which means the Terran can go for their counter attack. This phase is now all about vision, knowing where the Terran army is coming from, if it might be dropping. In between the drop and the Colossi, Maxpax has been pumping out observers to gain some vision. If a raven is out, Map vision and vision of main army both is preferable to..well, losing your Observer. You may also add pylons, or even move single zealots / surviving adepts in spots to see the army and drop movements.

If the army is moving out, you want to safely kite the Terran army with your larger range, keeping them from stimming on top of you with forcefields, while baiting out stims, sieges and raven disables far away from where the actual fight will happen. If you did it correctly, the fight will then be happening at one of your bases, fortified with batteries, and an incredible army advantage from your economy kicking in earlier.
jimminy_kriket
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Canada5525 Posts
September 12 2021 01:06 GMT
#2
Thank you for the guide, I will be using it on ladder. I am curious as to why maxpax didn't place his initial pylon gateway and core in position to block the reaper ledge. Against any decent player who opens reaper I would think this gets scouted pretty easily and it did.

One could argue that it's probably going to get scouted anyways, or that he expected a marine opening which is somewhat meta at the moment. Still seems strange not to try. Or perhaps its actually better to let it get scouted because the terran might over invest in turrets making the archon harass more potent due to lack of units.

What do you think?
life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery
HolyHit
Profile Joined March 2013
Germany4 Posts
September 12 2021 16:38 GMT
#3
It's probably because of the tightness of the 12 pylon 13 gateway, and getting the best out of that opening.

If the main focus is the dt drop itself, a normal opening, 14 pylon 16 gateway, would probably be the better option, as it's easier to proxy the dt shrine / wall-off the main. But since the DT shrine being scouted is never a game ending moment, I'm guessing the focus really was just on getting that 12/13 as clean as possible.
jimminy_kriket
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Canada5525 Posts
September 16 2021 23:51 GMT
#4
That makes sense, I haven't been using 12 pylon very much so I wasn't sure how impactful being behind15 minerals or so would be to the overall timings.
life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery
_fool
Profile Joined February 2011
Netherlands681 Posts
September 18 2021 18:34 GMT
#5
I'm not a Protoss player, but I really appreciate people putting out this type of content! Stuff like this makes TL the go-to SC2 platform. Well done!
"News is to the mind what sugar is to the body"
qcHanHan
Profile Joined September 2011
Denmark72 Posts
October 05 2021 09:02 GMT
#6
Still works like a charm for me in master 1 (y) Lovely build.
HerO - herO - PartinG - sOs - Rain - Zest - Stats
Danijonn
Profile Joined October 2021
2 Posts
October 14 2021 20:04 GMT
#7
--- Nuked ---
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 9m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 10017
Artosis 620
Hyun 168
Shuttle 35
NaDa 17
Dota 2
Dendi863
syndereN448
League of Legends
JimRising 352
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox1706
AZ_Axe147
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor290
Other Games
summit1g5995
FrodaN4901
Grubby4195
Liquid`RaSZi1953
ToD164
ForJumy 78
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1828
BasetradeTV122
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 17 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 73
• musti20045 25
• Migwel
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• RayReign 31
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota21208
League of Legends
• Doublelift6144
Other Games
• imaqtpie2032
• Shiphtur316
Upcoming Events
OSC
9m
CranKy Ducklings0
Replay Cast
9h 9m
Wardi Open
12h 9m
Monday Night Weeklies
17h 9m
Replay Cast
1d
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 10h
LiuLi Cup
1d 11h
Reynor vs Creator
Maru vs Lambo
PiGosaur Monday
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
LiuLi Cup
2 days
Clem vs Rogue
SHIN vs Cyan
[ Show More ]
The PondCast
3 days
KCM Race Survival
3 days
LiuLi Cup
3 days
Scarlett vs TriGGeR
ByuN vs herO
Replay Cast
4 days
Online Event
4 days
LiuLi Cup
4 days
Serral vs Zoun
Cure vs Classic
RSL Revival
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
LiuLi Cup
5 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
LiuLi Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
Rongyi Cup S3
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Nations Cup 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S1: W8
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
WardiTV Winter 2026
LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
FISSURE Playground #3
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.