• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 14:48
CEST 20:48
KST 03:48
  • 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
ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play2Team 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 Preview8
Community News
Weekly Cups (June 22-28): Zergs thrive in new patch2[TLMC] Summer 2026 Ladder Map Rotation05.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start)97ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo40Weekly Cups (June 8-14): Clem and Solar double, PTR tested0
StarCraft 2
General
5.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start) ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play Is the larve respawn broken? Weekly Cups (June 22-28): Zergs thrive in new patch Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool
Tourneys
RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28) INu's Battles#17 <BO.9> Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family Mutation # 531 Experimental Artillery Mutation # 530 One For All
Brood War
General
ProGamer Paychecks Story BW General Discussion ASL 22 Proposed Map Pool Best thing happen to StarCraft since Remastered? Data needed
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Grand Finals The Casual Games of the Week Thread [BSL22] GosuLeague Casts - Tue & Thu 22:00 CEST
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies Why doesn't anyone use restoration?
Other Games
General Games
ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Beyond All Reason
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
[94721]Better Good-Health Signs Than 3-15 Bans/Yea TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club! The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion McBoner: A hockey love story Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Listen To The Coaches!
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 7596 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 States10374 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
RSL Revival
17:00
S6 Europe Server Qualifier
SteadfastSC396
TKL 265
IndyStarCraft 176
EnkiAlexander 68
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
uThermal 457
mouzHeroMarine 417
SteadfastSC 396
TKL 265
IndyStarCraft 176
RushiSC 30
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 2936
Snow 391
ggaemo 326
firebathero 313
hero 157
Dewaltoss 123
Movie 42
Aegong 29
Rock 20
Bale 6
Dota 2
Gorgc3251
qojqva2703
singsing1359
Counter-Strike
fl0m1533
Other Games
Grubby2371
summit1g1597
FrodaN1084
ceh9597
Beastyqt581
mouzStarbuck186
C9.Mang0173
Trikslyr62
UpATreeSC48
Mew2King39
Chillindude23
JuggernautJason22
fpsfer 1
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream320
Other Games
BasetradeTV192
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 56
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Other Games
• imaqtpie698
• Shiphtur315
Upcoming Events
Bombastic Starleague
1h 12m
PiGosaur Cup
5h 12m
Kung Fu Cup
16h 12m
Replay Cast
1d 5h
CrankTV Team League
1d 16h
Bombastic Starleague
2 days
The PondCast
2 days
HomeStory Cup
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
HomeStory Cup
3 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
4 days
HomeStory Cup
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
WardiTV Weekly
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-06-29
Douyu Cup 2026
Murky Cup 2026

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
CSL Season 21: Qualifier 2
SCTL 2026 Spring
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

Upcoming

CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
ASL Season 22:Wild Card Qualifier
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
BCC 2026
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E1
Heroes Pulsing #3
FISSURE Playground #5
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.