I've recently started streaming so hopefully i will get some vods up soon with a few replay packs for you guys. Also, i'll figure out what times i'll be streaming and post them up as well.
I listen to all genres of music, and i would love to take requests from viewers, but if i'm not commentating i will usually be playing stuff like insomnium and tommy emmanuel, melodeath, acoustic. i love opeth as well.
Here's a playlist i made myself of some acoustic songs i like. I can play several of them as well if you'd like tabs or lessons i wouldn't mind helping out someone =] http://grooveshark.com/playlist/Acoustic/50194546
Hi i'm Nam Tran (19) and i've been playing Sc2 for 3-4 months. I was B- on iCCup and 2k elo on LoL(TL EzPzLmnSqz) and I'll occasionally stream some BW + LoL games
irl, this is my first year of computer science at UH. I was a chemie for 2 years at texas tech before i switched majors.
Thanks for reading and i hope you enjoy the stream!
I offer zerg rep anaylsis for free. ( just post your replay in this thread) Replays where you don't understand how to win , or close games where u barely lose make it easier for me to point out more. use mediafire.com to upload or any site really, pretty FAQ O_o.
Anyways, if u think i did a good job or if you're super awesome and nice, feel free to tip me thru my paypal:
heavonearth.ntran@gmail.com
if you'd like some coaching also contact me through that same email.
This GrandMaster Zerg is definitely worth watching/following! Gives insightful commentary throughout gameplay, answers all type of questions and definitely learn alot while watching. I just wish he'll stream moarrrrr!
Original Message From HyperLink: Hi, just wanted to say you have a new follower on your stream.
I see you say free coaching. I probably don't have the practice time and mechanics (which is why I know I'm not progressing) but I was hoping you could possibly answer a few questions rather than take a half hour or so and watch me play just to tell me what I know is my biggest problem (and I'm going to try to fit in more time to get my mechanics better).
I'm a Gold lvl Zerg from last season (haven't done a placement yet since I haven't had time this season to play) but I beat platinum Toss and Terran. My biggest problem is ZvZ.
For the questions...
1. Macro - I am fine getting to 3 base (and macro hatch) and that's where my macro really breaks down. I don't know if I need to secure a 4th base quicker and get gas but I always seem gas starved. My minerals will skyrocket to the thousands but I can't spend them fast enough. Do I need a mineral dump (like lings, queens, spine/spore at this point? I'm kinda at a loss.
2. Scouting - I think that's my ZvZ problem. I underdrone because I don't see him droning, I don't get the army composition. Should I sacrifice lings or overlords? Any specific timings? I think ZvZ is the reason I didn't get into plat last season (in spite of my horrible mechanics).
3. Late game compositions - I'm fairly comfortable with my ZvT (if I survive the early pressure I usually win 9 times out of 10). ZvZ I feel is just "who can get more roaches and infestors but I'm experimenting with muta and it seems fragile. What is the current ZvZ composition I should be shooting for? ZvP... Late game I should really just GG out. I have no idea what I should shoot for (roach/hydra/corruptor, ling/bling/infestor, tech to BL/corruptor?). Any advice?
4. Increasing my effective APM - I hate spamming... My brother (No1 Diamond Toss) will spam early game so hard he's up around 300 average while I sit around 80. I don't feel like I miss anything, my money is spent, my drones leave on time to hit a hatchery at 300 or a pool at 200. Late game I don't feel like I'm horribly slow but should I really care about increasing my APM? How would I increase it so it's effective rather than just button mashing?
Thanks a ton, GL in ZOTAC! Hyperlink
1. General macro tips- First off, just throw me a replay so i can better understand, just add me on skype and drag+ drop or upload and msg it in this thread.
But in general, try to find times to queen inject while you are attacking. Meaning if you sent some mutas to kill a medivac for example, instead of watching the medivac die, do your round of queen injects and spend money on upgrades, morph banes etc.
2. Scouting (ZVZ) tips - scout with lings and overlords, For scouting with lings, adapt your builds so you have speed when you need to scout, send a pair of slow lings at the start to feel out your opponent if needed.
Get ovies into good positions, such as behind the natural to count his drones , near his gas to see his gas count, so you know only speedling etc, scout his ramp, so u can see units that come out, such as lings and roaches , queens on certain maps cannot kill your overlord if you position them correctly near the ramp.
If you're underdroned due to being denied scouting, use your army to "fake attack" and force him to not drone, while you get drones up yourself, much like terrran does tvz occasionally, to try and even out the drone count. Otherwise just send our army and rally lings behind it if you're too far behind but you have an army advantage.
3 Late game compositions: ZvT . toss me a rep, but muta/ling / bane into infestor into infestor bl. zvZ. i do a roach infestor , when im ~ 160-180 food(with ~8 infestors, rest roach) i get a few hydra for better army value, 16 drone per min line , with 3 on all gas, ( 3 base zerg) , then i attack. take my 4th, rally roaches behind it. Otherwise, roach infestor into bl infestor. Mutas are a good open but i haven't experimented with them enough to give advice. ZVP. roach ling infestor into bl infestor. get NP as needed
4. increasing apm is just playing more games imo just focus on one thing at a time.- stole this advice from sheth <3 one game, just focus on injects next game focus on ovie spread next game focus on creep spread so on so forth then eventually throw them all together effective APM is a mental battle(remembering to inject, spread creep are just timings ) , increasing apm is just practicing with something in mind to improve.
Hey HeavOnEarth! I'm glad your back streaming! I kept a look out for you at MLG, congrats on making it far in the open bracket but losing to your friend kawaiirice How did you feel about your performance at MLG? Are you planning to join more tourneys?
On December 10 2011 09:13 Hybridxerox wrote: Hey this is Hybrid. Just sending you a few replays. ZvPZvTZvZ
ZvZ rep:
Ok he opens 7 pool you open 14/14. It's cross map shakuras and the first thing i want to comment on is your overlord positioning. First off, you did an excellent job going all the way in and scouting for the creep, as opposed to the middle (space between the bases cross by air shakuras) where you *should* see a potential overlord. However your second overlord was positioned very bad, just sitting at the nat where u could have no means for any possible vision. Since you knew he was cross position from your first overlord your 2nd overlord ( which is at your natural currently) should IMMEDIATELY go towards across the map to your opponents natural expansion, or just outside the natural, or the xel nega towers, but catching the angle of zerglings coming from the cross map location.
That would allow you 10-30 seconds of reaction time depending on how fast you relocate your overlord and how fast u react to the zerglings you see. which is a huge amount of time.
you can start to 1) cut drones from all that gas, noticed that throughout this whole game, there is still that one drone mining useless gas! very important that you see that and allocate some apm to take it off. 2) save 3 larva 3) know where the lings are coming to micro drones properly and prevent any (or as much as possible ) from dying.
Second off, don't drone scout when you open 14/14. there is absolutely no information you cannot receive from your overlord that your drone will see. Let's make it clear that you are sacrificing 100+ minerals of mining time from that drone, to scout your opponents base. Now the question is, does that investment pay off?
Let's take a look at the different scenarios that could potentially occur.
1) he goes 6-10 pool. your 2nd overlord will see the lings incoming and the drone, which couldve been anotehr 100 minerals, is now just useless in his base. 2) he goes 14/14 speedling expo, your overlord will see his expo+ lings, assuming you positioned it at the natural correctly, and in time, which you did do this game. 3) 14/14 or 13/14 baneling bust , you will seee the lings and a LACK of expansion so you already know this is coming, or possibly roach if you dont see the lings. 4) 15hatch, your ovie sees a hatchery. done deal
Therefore, you dont require a drone to scout anything, this is a leak in your gameplay that should be fixed, because these 100 + minerals are a NECESSITY in defending this early 7 pool aggression
Anyways, with that out of the way, on to the actual all in attempt.
When the first 6-8 lings come in, with a drone that starts a spine crawler in a terrible location( ie it cant even touch your hatchery) Your reaction is 100% wrong. First off, you send 5 drones to fight this, losing TWO drones(for nothing!) before u even realize it was a bad idea.
Then you pull even more drones, then realize u cant commit to that and back off.
You already lost at least 100 minerals of mining, two drones, and caused yourself to miss starting 4 extra zerglings from your larva and the queen that should've been halfway done has not been started. Notice that you do indeed have ~184 minerals banked. But , that means i couldve have afforded my queen and 4 zerglings if i didn't have 200 minerals!! ? Exactly. just imagine if you pulled drones off gas a LITTLE bit sooner, or if you just didn't drone scout.
You would have had those minerals, man.
So things i want you to do in your play.
-play calmly and collected don't freak out. just use your brain and think. Realize you can't do much to stop this aggression and just mine minerals with your drones. Don't pull them in this situation. if lings try to aggro your drones, surround them. your lings should be done by this point so he shouldn't be able to engage you.
-Pull guys off gas sooner because you should know by now that you gas is useless in this scenario.
Start those 4 lings IMMEDIATELY and queen. You did well on the 4lings, great job + reaction. however- 1) NO QUEEN ? 2) spend larva as it comes!!! After creating your initial 4 lings, you actually allow yourself to get up to TWO extra larva. Instantly turn that shit into lings , sir.
And this is where you lost the game. In addition to everything above, the fact you had no queen, were missing 4 out of the 8zerglings you should have had at that moment, he was allowed to take your spawning pool to half HP.
when he moved his spine in position for your spawning pool, you were forced to engage, or risk losing your pool.
now , already, if you fix those things above you would have easily defending this aggression, and won the game.
BUT in addition there are other alternatives 1) if your spawning pool was in another location you wouldnt have lost it 2) even if you lost your spawning pool , playing correctly you couldve still won. The second situation is strange. but hear me out
when he kills your spawning pool, or you realize its about to die, make another one now assuming you waste no units , he cant engage you because u still have lings+ queen, so he starts to focus the hatchery with one spine. you just sit and wait. when the hatchery is at <400 HP, your pool should be done, you should have extra larva to spend on zerglings and completely destroy the siege.
Hope this was helpful. I'll get around to your zvt and zvp tmrw.
Also you noted that people go 6-10pool like 90% of your games. in that case a simple way to win is to just do a build such as 13 pool, 14 gas. your 6lings will be done by the time he hits your actual base and from there its very easy to play
Manipulating builds to counter exactly what u perceive your opponent to be doing is an important skill for a zerg player, so i hope you realize this applies to more than just ZvZ (6-10 pools)
Also, another easy build to do is 13gas 14pool bane ling. this is my personal favorite for winning easy games and also practicing my bane ling control, which is vital in any ZvZ http://mediafire.com/download.php?14b9baa94gmp0gv If you noticed in the game my speed finished slightly before his so he was forced to engage my lings, and i snuck some lings by to make banelings. Usually the games are not this one sided but this replay shows you the potential power of the build.
Well i watched it, roachling into muta corrupter off 1base , i believe itw as an double gas trick into 11pool into 3 drones or something crazy into defensive roach play
First off, logic. try to think your builds though
Spine crawler:
You made a spine crawler when you had information on his spawning pool , and knew he had no zerglings completely unnecessary , making that spine costs u a ton of money.
2nd gas way too early: just keep track of your gas, you definitely do not need that 2nd gas, and it hurts your mineral income
expand: ( keep in mind you should always be expanding)
you should take an expansion when you have the army advantage , when you feel its safe, when u know or think u can defend it. you had 10 roach and a bunch of lings to his 3 spines at one point . you can easily secure an expansion you had 3 queens 3 corrupters few spores
Alright so here are some build orders ZvZ , ill start with a very easy one
14 pool(meaning at 14 supply, making a spawning pool) 14 gas , roach den when pool is done , mass roaches . fairly sure if u just mass roachs u will win at your ranking
Another build order:
(harder , but more standard) 14gas 14pool 15 ovie cut gas at 100 ( take your workers out of the extractor) keep larva at 15 supply, for zerglings
keep making zerglings+ 1 queen for inject
at 300 minerals take expansion, keep making zerglings
optional : use zerglings to scout and instead of mass zergling, if opponent defends , drones if opponent has banelings, spine + more queens, block ramp etc
EPT
![[image loading]](http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff386/amichProductions/Retry/GrandmasterIcon.png)
~~![[image loading]](http://bogy.mine.nu/sc2/replays/images/sc2_icon_zerg_16.png){kind=icon}
streaming HQ games with insightful commentary on the NA and korean ladder.
and 2k elo on LoL(TL EzPzLmnSqz) and I'll occasionally stream some BW + LoL games
How did you feel about your performance at MLG? Are you planning to join more tourneys?
