• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 17:30
CEST 23:30
KST 06:30
  • 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
[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy2[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Rough Waters10[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Siren's Call8[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Summer's End9
Community News
BSL Season 232Weekly Cups (Sep 7-12): SHIN, ByuN, MaxPax double down1StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon101Weekly Cups (Aug 30-Sep 7): herO thrives amid growing schism10Official StarCraft website teases new content ahead of BlizzCon?179
StarCraft 2
General
StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16) SC4ALL II: StarCraft 2 Player Announcement 8/8 The Death of Cheese: From a Professional Cheeser Yamato Cup Series
Tourneys
2026 GSTL Announcement Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 SC2 AI Tournament 2026 Fall
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
Nexus Wars 2021 GUIDE [M] (2) Industrial Park
External Content
Mutation # 544 Double Trouble The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 543 Enhanced Defenses Mutation # 542 The Ascended
Brood War
General
BSL Season 23 Bot on ladder an AI researcher's take on the ladder bot BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ [ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy
Tourneys
[BSL23] SM: Ret vs TerrOr -> DragOn vs StRyKeR [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL22] Ro16 Group D [ASL22] Ro16 Group B
Strategy
Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Replay Review Process - What do you do? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Odyssey Mineral Stack Saturation
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread EVE Corporation Diablo IV
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25! Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine All you football fans (soccer)! Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
MarineLorD Fan Club The Creator Fan Club The ShoWTimE Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Diablo Animated Series on Netflix
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Gaming Intensity, Problemati…
TrAiDoS
38 yo Retired SWE loo…
PurE)Rabbit-SF
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
[meme] I finally understa…
LUCKY_NOOB
Regacy Esports:Our Goa…
regacyesports
Dreaming of BW patches (mod…
c3rberUs
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 7512 users

Why You Shouldn't Cheese in Ladder - Page 5

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 Next All
Rotodyne
Profile Blog Joined July 2005
United States2263 Posts
March 16 2010 17:35 GMT
#81
Cheesing 50% vs. Cheesing 10%

The player that cheeses 10% will be better at STANDARD builds.
The player that cheeses 50% will be better at "CHEESE" builds.

Now which one of these players is better? Depends on your definition.

The player that wins more games is the better ladder player. This doesn't mean they are the better player.

But once a 50% cheeser is put into situations where he has to play the same player multiple times, they could be at a disadvantage.

That being said, I'm cheesing my fucking brain out right now.
I can only play starcraft when I am shit canned. IPXZERG is a god.
danl9rm
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States3111 Posts
March 16 2010 17:36 GMT
#82
On March 16 2010 23:16 JTPROG wrote:

In my opinion, which is probably correct, cheesing should not be the strategy you use on a game-to-game basis. Simply put - cheesing is not difficult.


I couldn't read any further once I got to that point. You're wrong on so many levels.
"Science has so well established that the preborn baby in the womb is a living human being that most pro-choice activists have conceded the point. ..since the abortion proponents have lost the science argument, they are now advocating an existential one."
MMmmmmmmmm
Profile Joined May 2009
United States36 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-03-16 17:40:16
March 16 2010 17:38 GMT
#83
the guy does make a good point that a player predominantly practicing cheese is going to have glaring deficiencies in the other aspects of the game and you may be better served mastering the standard game before working on the easier to learn aspects like cheese.
on the other hand cheesing will put you in more novel situations that you may be able to bullshit your way out of which could actually be the most beneficial in terms of truly understanding the intricacies of the game.
so basically this is a dumb discussion because who knows which will be better. i think we can all agree that having 1 all-in build that you do over and over again and ragequit when it fails is not going to help you improve as a player even though it might give you a nice ladder ranking. i believe this is the type of player he is speaking ill of.
freelander
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
Hungary4707 Posts
March 16 2010 17:46 GMT
#84
On March 17 2010 01:59 JTPROG wrote:
Because you face random people on the ladder each game who aren't expecting cheese. Try a BO5. You won't win a tourney with cheese. Winning on the ladder essentially means nothing if it's cheese.


Tell that to motherfucking Julyzerg. First Golden Mouse awarded Zerg player.
And all is illuminated.
JTPROG
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States254 Posts
March 16 2010 17:50 GMT
#85
On March 17 2010 02:46 freelander wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 17 2010 01:59 JTPROG wrote:
Because you face random people on the ladder each game who aren't expecting cheese. Try a BO5. You won't win a tourney with cheese. Winning on the ladder essentially means nothing if it's cheese.


Tell that to motherfucking Julyzerg. First Golden Mouse awarded Zerg player.


Did he cheese every single game? Was he a solid player overall? I already posted an argument to this.
inflowgaming.net
Xeris
Profile Blog Joined July 2005
Iran17695 Posts
March 16 2010 17:52 GMT
#86
The whole argument is dumb, because the OP thinks there's just one way to play a game and if we don't all conform to what he thinks is the right way to play then we're inferior players. For example, I played Artosis the other day and I did this really fast 2 robo rush and attacked with 5 immortals and 2 sentries. It caught him off guard and he said it was a lame cheese (I ended up losing the game anyways), but my question is how is that cheese?

How can really anything be cheese in a 3 week old game? People barely even know how to play it, everything is just trial and error at this point. Think about chess, there are many different play styles, there isn't one accepted way to play chess, whatever gets you the win is what you should do.
twitter.com/xerislight -- follow me~~
Chairman Ray
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
United States11903 Posts
March 16 2010 17:56 GMT
#87
If you want a really high rank, you can cheese all your games, get like a 10:1 WL ratio doing 5 minutes per game. The ladder awards people that gets the most wins in the fastest time, so it's to your advantage if you are good at cheesing.
MaestroSC
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States2073 Posts
March 16 2010 17:57 GMT
#88
there is a lot of psychology that goes into cheesing especially in BO 3/5/7 series but even in ladder. I had a session where i played the same guy 4-5 times. After the first loss i decided to cheese and won. The next game i knew he was expecting cheese so i fast expo'ed and went hardcore turtle. IDK cheese is lame, but not to the point of where i would say no1 should do it, wins are wins. IDK if anything cheese leads to better builds which incorporate the ability to quickly defend/quickly and smoothly transition.
CauthonLuck
Profile Joined July 2009
United States93 Posts
March 16 2010 18:10 GMT
#89
You play the same people over and over again at high ratings, you'll be punished for straying too far to either side of the standard/cheese play style by observant opponents. Ironically the people that hate cheese builds the most will be the ones who face them most frequently. If they don't use any themselves and are too predictable in teching or expanding off 1 rax/gate, opponents will tend to open with pressure builds.

There are those who label any build that involves more than 1 rax/gate in the early game as "cheese" or "all-in," but regardless of how you see it, these early pressure builds force people to vary their play. I used to get 3 warp gate "cheesed" with a proxy pylon on the map nearly every game TvP and it enraged me that I was basically forced to open 2 rax builds or I would die within the first 5 minutes.

After a week of using this opening with a defensive mindset, I found it to be a strong build to apply pressure in the early game even if your opponent wasn't using proxy warp gates and saw that it transitioned well into the mid game and securing an expansion unlike similar builds from bw where making more than 1 rax was akin to all-in play.

Being pressured by these "cheese builds" forced me to take another look at how the game flow in sc2 works and left me with a stronger understanding of opening builds and their transitions into mid game play.

Or maybe I just want an excuse to cheese people as much as possible.
Zoler
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Sweden6339 Posts
March 16 2010 18:15 GMT
#90
On March 17 2010 01:59 JTPROG wrote:
Because you face random people on the ladder each game who aren't expecting cheese. Try a BO5. You won't win a tourney with cheese. Winning on the ladder essentially means nothing if it's cheese.




+ Show Spoiler +
[image loading]
Lim Yo Hwan forever!
pyrogenetix
Profile Blog Joined March 2006
China5098 Posts
March 16 2010 18:15 GMT
#91
i disagree.

you might think cheese is very easy to do but they are not. there is a lot of planning, measuring the time for the rush to reach your opponent, scouting paths etc, probabilities and the opponent's style.

i think what you are trying to say is that it doesn't help you practice mechanics and how to play long games, which is rather true.
Yea that looks just like Kang Min... amazing game sense... and uses mind games well, but has the micro of a washed up progamer.
Zoler
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Sweden6339 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-03-16 18:16:52
March 16 2010 18:16 GMT
#92
double post
Lim Yo Hwan forever!
UbiNax
Profile Joined February 2010
Denmark381 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-03-16 18:18:06
March 16 2010 18:16 GMT
#93
well im gonna disagree with some of what idrA said even though he is pro and have a higher understanding of the game than i do.

Cheesy build doesnt have to be luck based, it becomes luck based when your opponent does a cheesy build or normal strategy/tactic without scouting you and end up winning on it, thats lucky on his behalf and stupid on yours because you didnt scout and counter, i bet sometimes you scout an enemy and see that you would gain an advantage later in the game or even win the game if you do a cheesy tactic.

Im not saying cheesy tactics works 30-40-50-60-100% of the time, im saying that from time to time it might be worth going for the cheesy tactic to get the advantage or win, no matter where or who you play.

and even though its a cheesy build then you wont do it to perfection just because its cheesy " as the OP said " you still need micro and macro to pull it off perfect, AND AGAIN im not saying you need the same amount of micro/macro as in lategame, im just saying some cheesy builds do require some sort of skill to pull off effectively


and for those who says that some cheesy builds CANT be countered then its either because your not good enough to counter it, or its imbalanced, and if its imbalanced then its most likely gonna get fine tuned " nerfed " by blizzard at some point.
ShaperofDreams
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada2492 Posts
March 16 2010 18:29 GMT
#94
On March 17 2010 02:32 JTPROG wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 17 2010 02:24 Chill wrote:
On March 17 2010 01:59 JTPROG wrote:
You won't win a tourney with cheese.

There are countless examples proving you wrong.

Winning on the ladder essentially means nothing if it's cheese.

Depending on how you look at this, it is either subjective or circular logic - Take your pick.



So this boils down to "play with your best chance to win"? I agree.



There was a tourney where someone won every games using cheese? Even if so, how many times did that happen?

"play with your best chance to win"

And you won't win if you don't have a SOLID game besides cheesing, and this is done by practicing predominantly standard play, which is the point of this thread. Cheese little, standard much, if you want to get good.

I doubt anyone has ever won a major tourney did not have a SOLID standard game. And i'm sure they didn't spend much more than 5% of their time playing cheeses either.

So now this theoretical player who is equal in lifestyle, talent, and motive of every other player of the world is cheesing all of the time instead of half the time?

You provide no context to your argument, Id prefer to be the cheesey player against Flash or Bisu 100% of the time, or compared to Korean players in SC1 because I don't have hours to play every day. It would be way more fun to have mastered a bunch of cheese and win some than practice macro and still lose to every one with better macro (aka everyone)

You're full of crap man...even Jaedong is super aggressive and takes lots of shots, if you see an opportunity take it. It would be stupid not to cheese players who go FE all the time.

Also while their are some cheeses that either win or don't win, there are many plays considered "cheese" which have a transition, and maximizing the advantage after that can get complex and is very important to learn.
Bitches don't know about my overlord. FUCK OFF ALDARIS I HAVE ENOUGH PYLONS. My Balls are as smooth as Eggs.
Slayer91
Profile Joined February 2006
Ireland23404 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-03-16 18:31:15
March 16 2010 18:30 GMT
#95
The argument could go as follows:

Player A cheeses 50% of the time in games. Player B cheeses 10% of the time in games. That's not enough information.

If Player B played against players who cheesed 90% of the time, he will play generally much safer, and will be used to defending and winning games against this. In a Bo5 if Player A cheeses a lot he probably won't do so well.
If player B played against other players who all read this thread and decide to cheese 10% of the time he will, even if he defends it he won't be as comfortable with the transitions and might lose the advantage he gained.

So without opponents who cheese you in practice how do you beat the ones that do and do it against you in a tournament? You need to play a whole range of players in ladder, making everyone go do some safe economical fast expand build is just silly.

Also, take into account Player A in this case will either play shorter games and therefore get much more games or else he will play longer games transitioning out of his cheese with either advantage of disadvantage, which will help him a lot. In short, I don't think people should view this cheese thing on another level. It's just part of the game and it's as important as fast expand builds.
fyyer
Profile Joined February 2010
United States145 Posts
March 16 2010 18:32 GMT
#96
People who descredit cheese, especially directed at those who's defining gameplay is around it are scrubs. The game has a set of rules in place, and they're clear. Zerglings can't shoot air, SCV's can't build cannons, and a Barracks costs 150 minerals.

Does the game give a fuck if you got scv rushed? Nope.
Does the game give a fuck if you got 6 pooled? Nope.

Every in game strategy directed towards the final goal - Winning, is valid.
ShaperofDreams
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada2492 Posts
March 16 2010 18:32 GMT
#97
Also its WAY more fun to cheese at the beginning of your learning curve because you win sometimes.

If you try to start playing super tight you will lose to everyone with better macro and not have then perspective of cheese, and therefor lose every game against a decent player.

Not the most relaxing thing after a day of work.
Bitches don't know about my overlord. FUCK OFF ALDARIS I HAVE ENOUGH PYLONS. My Balls are as smooth as Eggs.
Floophead_III
Profile Joined September 2009
United States1832 Posts
March 16 2010 18:34 GMT
#98
Cheese in laddering, practice, and tournaments are very very different things. They all serve different purposes.

Cheese in laddering is to gain ranks (often as fast as possible). It requires less effort and is mechanically easier to execute and requires minimal to no scouting. It's a good way to beat people who are not familiar/practiced against whatever cheese you're doing.

Cheese in tournaments is often used to beat players who are better than you. It also can be a way to overcome a disadvantageous matchup on a certain map. Most importantly though, cheese keeps people from doing eco abusive strategies every game. If everyone played standard, there'd be no reason not to eco abuse (14 cc, etc). Cheese has to be part of the game, but it serves as a balance.

This thread is about cheesing in laddering for the sake of winning. Winning what? You should be learning as much about the game as you can. It's not even a real ladder. It's beta. I think cheeses are fine every now and then, but it should not be the only weapon in your arsenal.

As for what Idra has been saying about cheese being luck based play - it's entirely true. You're banking on whether your opponent:
a) scouts you
b) knows how to respond
c) has worse micro than you

These things are entirely outside your control and you're basically flipping a coin for the game. It's legitimately bad play and it proves nothing at all about skill levels. People will continue to do it because they legitimately suck at the game and can't win without it, but at the end of the day they've accomplished nothing.
Half man, half bear, half pig.
Trowabarton756
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States870 Posts
March 16 2010 18:35 GMT
#99
On March 17 2010 01:59 JTPROG wrote:


lol I think IdrA is the only one who understands/seems to agree with what I'm saying. That's okay, I'll take a pro gamer over 100 others.


but flash also cheeses....
http://www.teamliquid.net/video/streams/Trowabarton756
sAAvior
Profile Joined July 2007
Poland248 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-03-16 18:42:48
March 16 2010 18:38 GMT
#100
If you are good your overall game (mixing built orders/scouting is such that no cheese succeeds against you more often than 50% (or more likely at least 60%). This is basic game theory stuff.
If your game doesn't meet this requirement then you suck and "cheesing" against you is very clever thing to do. If it does meet this requirement why would you mind people "cheesing" and getting automatic 40% or something against you ? (if you are THAT much better just play more solidly at the beginning of the game).
As to "cheesing" in ladders, you gotta learn various ways to exploit opponents. It's quite possible that you will meet some, even very good, whose the biggest weakness is that they lose 70% of the time to 5-pool. Not 5-pooling against such people in the name of some strange "cheese is bad" philosophy is just dumb.

Also lol @ at Idra's argument about "bad for esports" the most succesful televised game (poker) is that popular exactly because of element of luck. Same with golf for that matter. I really fail to see why the game which has no luck involved should be more popular , better for tv, or better "for esports" in general.
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
BSL
19:00
S23 - Announcement Showmatch
Ret vs TerrOr
DragOn vs StRyKeR
ZZZero.O165
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
ProTech130
-ZergGirl 114
JuggernautJason48
StarCraft: Brood War
Shuttle 469
ZZZero.O 165
NaDa 22
soO 17
zelot 6
Dota 2
monkeys_forever241
NeuroSwarm65
febbydoto14
League of Legends
Doublelift3198
JimRising 393
Heroes of the Storm
Grubby3542
Liquid`Hasu558
Khaldor272
Other Games
summit1g5756
FrodaN2972
Liquid`RaSZi2368
KnowMe230
XaKoH 148
ZombieGrub90
Mew2King58
CosmosSc2 20
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• mYiSmile119
• Reevou 8
• intothetv
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• FirePhoenix14
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota21497
Other Games
• Scarra735
• imaqtpie594
• Shiphtur170
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
2h 30m
Afreeca Starleague
12h 30m
Shine vs Rush
WardiTV Weekly
13h 30m
Monday Night Weeklies
18h 30m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 12h
Afreeca Starleague
1d 12h
Light vs EffOrt
OSC
1d 14h
PiGosaur Cup
2 days
Kung Fu Cup
2 days
The PondCast
3 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
4 days
Korean StarCraft League
5 days
CranKy Ducklings
5 days
GSL
6 days
Yamato Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

K-JUNGMAN
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Big Dog Cup 2026 Div 1

Ongoing

ASL Season 22
Super Anchor Qualifying S3
CSL 2026 AUTUMN (S22)
Acropolis #5
Acropolis #5 - GSA
Calamity Invitational
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026

Upcoming

Acropolis #5 - GSB
Acropolis #5 - GSC
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
Copium Cup
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
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.