• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 13:10
CEST 19:10
KST 02:10
  • 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
Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview5[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies21
Community News
Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28)9[BSL22] Non-Korean Championship from 13 to 28 June4Weekly Cups (May 25-31): Clem doubles, 2v2 circuit heads toward finale0StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th156Weekly Cups (May 18-24): MaxPax wins doubles0
StarCraft 2
General
TL Poll: How do you feel about the 5.0.16 PTR balance changes? RSL: S6 Finals played at BlizzCon 2026 Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners High level ptr replays? where can I find them? StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th
Tourneys
Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28) Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) GSL Code S Season 2 (2026)
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
Mutation # 530 One For All The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 529 Opportunities Unleashed Mutation # 528 Infection Detected
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion Where is EffOrt? BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ vespene.gg — BW replays in browser Quality of life changes in BW that you will like ?
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Grand Finals [BSL22] Grand Finals - Sunday 21:00 CEST Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2
Strategy
Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies Why doesn't anyone use restoration? Any training maps people recommend?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread PC Games Sales Thread ZeroSpace Megathread
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor 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
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread UK Politics Mega-thread Trading/Investing Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club! The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion Cricket [SPORT] NBA General Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
Cara Refund Tiket Agoda The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Does Workplace Frustration D…
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 8627 users

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

Forum Index > Closed
Post a Reply
grimAuxiliatrix
Profile Joined October 2010
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.
Word to your mothership HuK
blooblooblahblah
Profile Joined February 2011
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.
Ganzi beat me without stim. Ostojiy beat me with a nydus. Siphonn beat me with probes. Revival beat my sentry-immortal all-in.
Yoshi Kirishima
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States10372 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
Mid-master streaming MECH ONLY + commentary www.twitch.tv/yoshikirishima +++ "If all-in fails, all-in again."
panzzzzz
Profile Joined April 2010
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
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
United States5139 Posts
April 07 2011 22:09 GMT
#5
This isn't a guide.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Monday Night Weeklies
16:00
#56
RotterdaM854
TaKeTV 367
TKL 287
SteadfastSC173
IndyStarCraft 105
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 854
TKL 287
mouzHeroMarine 244
SteadfastSC 173
IndyStarCraft 105
BRAT_OK 95
UpATreeSC 68
ProTech61
trigger 51
StarCraft: Brood War
Shuttle 1538
EffOrt 833
Mini 622
Horang2 579
Soulkey 296
actioN 124
hero 56
Hyun 47
Aegong 39
Free 36
[ Show more ]
scan(afreeca) 33
yabsab 27
Rock 26
Bale 23
soO 18
Noble 16
Shine 15
GoRush 14
Dota 2
Gorgc4854
qojqva2507
BananaSlamJamma160
Counter-Strike
fl0m7726
zeus363
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King82
Heroes of the Storm
MindelVK13
Other Games
gofns35041
tarik_tv10335
Trikslyr1523
B2W.Neo722
Beastyqt402
KnowMe246
XaKoH 123
C9.Mang0122
QueenE84
Dewaltoss41
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream2306
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 71
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• FirePhoenix11
• Michael_bg 10
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• TFBlade612
• Shiphtur221
Other Games
• imaqtpie218
Upcoming Events
OSC
6h 51m
ByuN vs Shameless
PiGosaur Cup
1d 6h
The PondCast
2 days
OSC
3 days
CranKy Ducklings
3 days
GSL
4 days
Maru vs ShoWTimE
Classic vs Reynor
herO vs Lambo
Solar vs Clem
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
5 days
XuanXuan vs Jaystar
Mihu vs Messiah
eOnzErG vs Dewalt
Bonyth vs Jaystar
TerrOr vs Messiah
XuanXuan vs Mihu
eOnzErG vs Jaystar
Replay Cast
5 days
GSL
5 days
Patches Events
5 days
[ Show More ]
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
6 days
Dewalt vs Messiah
Bonyth vs Mihu
TerrOr vs XuanXuan
eOnzErG vs Messiah
Jaystar vs Mihu
Dewalt vs XuanXuan
Bonyth vs TerrOr
Replay Cast
6 days
WardiTV Weekly
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #4 - GSB
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Heroes Pulsing #1

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
SCTL 2026 Spring
Maestros of the Game 2
WardiTV Spring 2026
Murky Cup 2026
Heroes Pulsing #2
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1

Upcoming

CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
Douyu Cup 2026
BCC 2026
Heroes Pulsing #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
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.