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[G]KiWiKaKi's Stargate Expand PvZ (MLG Spoilers)

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grimAuxiliatrix United States105 Posts April 07 2011 21:28 GMT #1 I didn't see any other posts about this, so I thought I'd do a brief write up of Kiwi's strategy from the first KiWiKaki v IdrA game on ST from MLG Dallas 2011. I say strategy because he does a normal 3gate expo, but diverges from the norm rather quickly. All the replays from MLG can be found at this link if you want to see for yourself: http://www.majorleaguegaming.com/news/download-mlg-dallas-sc2-rep-pack-1/ If you are unfamiliar with the 3gate expand, here is the Liquidpedia article: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/3-Gate_Sentry_Expand The Opening Kiwi focuses on denying IdrA's attempted 15Hatch, delaying it significantly using the typical pylon shenanigans. While doing this he performs a 3gate, dropping his Nexus at around 6:00. IdrA is going for a fast upgrade speedling/baneling style The Cool Part As soon as Kiwi drops the nexus, he follows up with a stargate Sacrificing gateway production, he chronos out a void ray Instead of anxiously rushing to IdrA's base, he searches around for Overlords, while making phoenixes and dropping a robo Pokes with the void ray, with little success Cuts phoenix production at 4 and drops 2 more gates Uses the phoenixes to deal massive damage, taking out queens and overlords Builds a robo bay while harassing Loses the void, but instead of dumping more resources into another void, he continues harassment with just the phoenixes Makes stalkers, colossi and gets Thermal Lance Pushes, and using FF's to deny most of the banes, takes a victory Why it works Keeps the zerg pinned, forcing them to spend money on new queens, overlords and spore crawlers and keeping the Toss' natural expansion safe Transitions into robo tech quickly to deal with a hydra response In the event of a corruptor response (such as IdrA's), the zerg will not be able to afford many, and the phoenixes will tank while the colossi deal with ground forces TL;DR Use a void ray + 4 phoenixes to harass while teching to colossus, ensuring that the zerg won't be able to kill the colossi effectively. P.S. I'm not entirely sure how well this would work in the event that the opponent decides to just Mondragon it, since Kiwi didn't have much of a ground force while he was harassing.

blooblooblahblah Australia4163 Posts April 07 2011 21:36 GMT #2 This is similar to the FFE into quick stargate build which is a pretty popular build at the moment. This build seems just a safer option at the cost of a later expansion and stargate. It's great to deny the zerg a 3rd with the Void ray and following it up with phoenixes as they don't have creep connecting to their 3rd.

Yoshi Kirishima United States10366 Posts April 07 2011 21:42 GMT #3 Thanks for sharing, though about the Phoenix tanking part, Phoenixes don't do much damage especially against Corruptors, so that will only work if the Corruptors target the Phoenixes foolishly. And yeah the only real thing I can think of is just mass roach, perhaps not necessarily a rush but later when he is getting Colossi tech etc., you could just mass Roach and try to eat his ball up, and "Mondragon" it if need be xD

panzzzzz United States109 Posts April 07 2011 21:42 GMT #4 This build has been around for a while now, where you get your void ray + 3 or 4 phoenixes and harass to buy time for a colossus build-up. One intent of this build (besides trying to do damage) is to force hydras, which plays well into your late game plan of colossus. The glaring weakness you mentioned was that you have a very weak ground army early on and are very susceptible to 2 base all-ins and the like. Thus, you generally only see this on maps with longer rush distances, such as Shakuras and the new GSL maps like Taldarim or Crevasse.

Saracen United States5139 Posts April 07 2011 22:09 GMT #5 This isn't a guide.

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