• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 14:15
CET 20:15
KST 04:15
  • 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] Finals Preview: Sweet Victory!12[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5
Community News
Dark completes military service, returns to SC28[BSL23] RO16 Group Stage19Weekly Cups (Nov 2-8): herO back on top?2Weekly Cups (Oct 26 - Nov 1): MaxPax, herO, Solar win0Weekly Cups (October 19-25): Clem triples first in 5.0.175
StarCraft 2
General
No more SC2 streamers on team liquid? Dark completes military service, returns to SC2 Greetings.. Serral's getting trashed by New Catsle's Mind Weekly Cups (Nov 2-8): herO back on top?
Tourneys
Dark returns! GSL CK #7 4v4 Team Battle (Nov 19) Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) soO & FanTaSy return! SC2 Kevin Scrim 4v4 (Nov 16) RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 Tasteless Time Warp: SC Evo Showmatch (May 25)
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[G] How to playtest arcade maps Starcraft 2 Advance [D] the control group Simple Questions/Answers
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 551 Robotic Revival Mutation # 550 Graveyard Shift Mutation # 549 Endless Sparkles
Brood War
General
List of top players active on ShieldBattery Recommended BW Settings for Mouse and Video Starcraft:Brood War Discord Servers [BSL23] RO16 Group Stage Starcraft player cRuZa Passed away.
Tourneys
2v2v2v2 Tournament Stage 1: Community Poll [BSL23] Ro16 Group C - Sunday 21:00 CET Small VOD Thread 2.0 CSLAN 4 is Coming!
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Pluto's TvP 5Marine 2Medic Push Infested Terran strategies in 2026 Nuke strategy worked in K-League 2026-11-09
Other Games
General Games
Free Space RTS Game, optimised f. Phone/Tablet etc Nintendo Switch Thread List of Game Threads The PlayStation 5 Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread
Dota 2
Can Game Data Analytics Help Players Improvements
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 European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Trading/Investing Thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Dating: How's your luck?
Fan Clubs
Fan Club Resource Thread Reynor Fan Club The Flash Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece
Sports
TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Football (Soccer) Thread MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
VCT 2027 America Kickoff LAT…
anakin.
The time I organised my…
AssyrianKing
Why I built Repalyzer (1.1.…
BlueStar
Innovate or Game Over?
TrAiDoS
ShieldBattery on Mac
Kraekkling
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 15892 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 States10383 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
WardiTV Invitational
02:00
Replay Cast Not-Summer Invite
TaKeTV 412
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
LamboSC2 345
BRAT_OK 56
EmSc Tv 11
MindelVK 9
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 3025
Rain 1327
Mini 321
Dewaltoss 101
HiyA 92
ggaemo 66
Hyun 52
Pusan 49
sorry 13
yabsab 10
Dota 2
Gorgc7149
qojqva1972
Counter-Strike
pashabiceps2450
zeus461
gobbtv210
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu351
Other Games
Grubby1895
singsing1609
Beastyqt632
XaKoH 167
Trikslyr114
C9.Mang0111
ArmadaUGS91
Chillindude14
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1349
StarCraft 2
angryscii 26
EmSc Tv 11
EmSc2Tv 11
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 48
• Hinosc 7
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• FirePhoenix17
• Michael_bg 7
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV445
League of Legends
• TFBlade1106
Other Games
• imaqtpie820
• Shiphtur574
Upcoming Events
OSC
4h 16m
ByuN vs MaxPax
herO vs Krystianer
Percival vs Shameless
LetaleX vs YoungYakov
Nicoract vs Gerald
GgMaChine vs ArT
CranKy Ducklings
14h 46m
WardiTV Invitational
16h 46m
ByuN vs SHIN
MaxPax vs Solar
Clem vs TBD
herO vs TBD
Lambo vs TBD
Rogue vs TBD
IPSL
21h 46m
TerrOr vs IJ_Terran
rasowy vs Hazorath
BSL
1d
TerrOr vs OyAji
UltrA vs Gosudark
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 14h
WardiTV Invitational
1d 16h
IPSL
1d 21h
Art_Of_Turtle vs KameZerg
Radley vs George
BSL
2 days
Artosis vs Dewalt
Ret vs Tech
SOOP
2 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Weekly
2 days
Monday Night Weeklies
3 days
PiGosaur Cup
4 days
The PondCast
4 days
GSL
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
KCM Race Survival
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-11-12
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HCC Season 3

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
International ShieldBattery League
Individual League
BSL Season 23
IPSL Winter 2026-27
Calamity Cup Div. A Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026

Upcoming

YSL S4
Sector 591
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
StarCraft2 Weekly Open Tournament 2026 Grand Finals
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
Underdog Cup 2026 Div 2-3
PGL Bucharest 2027
BLAST Bounty Winter 2027
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
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.