EPT
Featuring my new TvZ <3
Set 1: TvZ walkthroughs!
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Set 2: Learning quick drops!
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Set 3: TvP Banshee Hilarity!
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Q: So what's the deal here?
A: I'm a Master League Terran player on NA. I have accounts on KR and EU that are sadly underused. Most of the time, I'm on NA.
I've been streaming for about a year and a half, and I've been listed on TL.net for about a year. I decided It's time to make a thread about my stream.
I stream on a regular basis (every day) and this is what I do
1) Laddering like a bawz
2) Practice games like a bawz
3) Being a bawz.
Q: Why don't you play Protoss?
A: Look for yourself.
Q: Why don't you play Zerg?
A: That video above is my GOOD off-race play.
Q: But wait Blazinghand, I understand that you are, as it were, a 'bawz', but what distinguishes your stream from all the other steams?
A: My stream has that the audio is worth listening to. I'm usually talking, or, failing that, in a skype call with some friends who are. I've got a webcam and a microphone, and I use both. All my games have some commentary and are interesting to listen to as a result. Now, I'm not always talking-- I'm a player, not a caster. I explain the reasoning behind what I do though.
I can talk philosophy with my bros while playing!
A game in which I explain scouting the VR all-in and my defense:
A game in which I don't really explain much but I scout a sentry 4gate and say "sentry 4 gate" and make defense it.
Q: Do you also stream your awesome free coaching?
A: Yes, I stream my free coaching. When I'm not playing I'm teaching. I make videos for people from the Terran Help Thread for fun. I occasionally make guide videos as well.
A typical coaching video:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCAdGCo1AzI
A typical guide video:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEHsTWbSKYU
Q: Do you stream your tournament play and other special events?
A: Yes, I stream special events. I take part in the occasional tournament, and when it's allowed, I stream my play. I also do sweet special events. You won't see this as often as my laddering but they're pretty fun.
On 11/11/11 I played 11 ladder games, and in all of them I 11/11ed:
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Part 1
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Part 11
My tournament run at HWG's Zerg Christmas:
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Upper Bracket Round 1 (Bo3): Blazinghand (T) [Master] vs Sky (T) [Master]
Results:
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Blazinghand 2-0 Sky
Notes:
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Game 1 was an open-and-shut "banshees pretty good in TvT 50% of the time on Shattered Temple" situation. I always go gas-first on Shattered just because of how hilarious it is to effectively proxy a starport without proxying it. + Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/17X01l.jpg)
Game 2 was a case of "hellions pretty good in TvT on Tal'Darim Altar" except that he too went reactored hellions. I, however, had a 2nd Fact for even MORE hellions.+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/QZthxl.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/5ue2Bl.jpg)
Game 2 was a case of "hellions pretty good in TvT on Tal'Darim Altar" except that he too went reactored hellions. I, however, had a 2nd Fact for even MORE hellions.+ Show Spoiler +
Replays:
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VoD:
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Upper Bracket Round 2 (Bo3): Blazinghand (T) [Master] vs Golf (P) [Master]
Results:
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Blazinghand 1-2 Golf
Notes:
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Game 1 I employed a combination of rare aggressive tactics to form a legendary TvP cheese that I used to great effect: Paratrooper Thor. Specifically on Antiga shipyard, IF the protoss player is clockwise from you, you can make a Factory in your main and fly it into his third to make a thor, making your thor rush unbelievably strong and much lower-risk. :D+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/EysrTl.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/GxAptl.jpg)
Game 2 I went for my "big air" style play, and totally flubbed it. I think I generally got outplayed here, in terms of both macro and decisionmaking.+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/WyAOdl.jpg)
Game 3 is the one game this tournament that, going back, I really wish I could have replayed. At this point I was not feeling too great so I 11/11ed him. Believe it or not, my 11/11 TvP isn't so terrible-- it works with about a 50% success rate on small/2-spawn maps against my ladder opponents. This guy shuts it down fairly easily though. + Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/3vdchl.jpg)
Game 2 I went for my "big air" style play, and totally flubbed it. I think I generally got outplayed here, in terms of both macro and decisionmaking.+ Show Spoiler +
Game 3 is the one game this tournament that, going back, I really wish I could have replayed. At this point I was not feeling too great so I 11/11ed him. Believe it or not, my 11/11 TvP isn't so terrible-- it works with about a 50% success rate on small/2-spawn maps against my ladder opponents. This guy shuts it down fairly easily though. + Show Spoiler +
Replays:
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VoD:
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Lower Bracket Round 2 (Bo3): Blazinghand (T) [Master] vs Ekans (P) [Master]
Results:
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Blazinghand 2-1 Ekans
Notes:
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Game 1 I employed a combination of rare aggressive tactics to form a legendary TvP cheese that I used to great effect: Paratrooper Thor. Specifically on Antiga shipyard, IF the protoss player is clockwise from you, you can make a Factory in your main and fly it into his third to make a thor, making your thor rush unbelievably strong and much lower-risk. :D+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/sEasCl.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/6Izmbl.jpg)
Game 2 I went for my "big air" style play, and eventually got overwhelmed.+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/keaqKl.jpg)
Game 3, it was my turn to pick map, having lost game 2. I won't apologize for what I did. I picked Tal'Darim Altar so he would fast expand, and 6-raxed him. Tal'Darim lacks the defensive features by the nat and main that most maps have, making Protoss more susceptible to this sort of play. If you can't stop my 6-rax, I see no reason not to use it. Risky FEs are called 'risky' for a reason: 6-rax looks exactly like 1 rax FE... and at a tournament I cannot afford to pull my punches. + Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/3nwzQl.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/1AN4Wl.jpg)
Game 2 I went for my "big air" style play, and eventually got overwhelmed.+ Show Spoiler +
Game 3, it was my turn to pick map, having lost game 2. I won't apologize for what I did. I picked Tal'Darim Altar so he would fast expand, and 6-raxed him. Tal'Darim lacks the defensive features by the nat and main that most maps have, making Protoss more susceptible to this sort of play. If you can't stop my 6-rax, I see no reason not to use it. Risky FEs are called 'risky' for a reason: 6-rax looks exactly like 1 rax FE... and at a tournament I cannot afford to pull my punches. + Show Spoiler +
Replays:
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VoD:
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Lower Bracket Round 3 (Bo3): Blazinghand (T) [Master] vs Goodspeed (P) [Platinum (?? how did he get so far?? ._.)]
Results:
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Blazinghand 2-0 Goodspeed
Notes:
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Game 1, after defending some truly uninspiring warp prism harass I roll over him with some banshees. + Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/yMUosl.jpg)
Game 2, I'm not really sure what he was doing here, but he expoed slowly and died to paratrooper 6rax.+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/meNjvl.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/bidwIl.jpg)
Game 2, I'm not really sure what he was doing here, but he expoed slowly and died to paratrooper 6rax.+ Show Spoiler +
Replays:
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VoD:
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Lower Bracket Round 4 (Bo3): Blazinghand (T) [Master] vs FinalForm (T) [Master]
Results:
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Blazinghand 0-2 Goodspeed
Notes:
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Game 1, I open with a poorly-executed Reactor Hellion attack. I recover slightly, but my expansion is too slow, and after a bad engagement or two he is able to overwhelm me with tanks.. + Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/FRtX1l.jpg)
Game 2, at this point I'd been playing for about 8 hours without really eating. So I decided that 6-rax would be a good strat in TvT ._. kind of a poor choice. Lost to a single banshee.+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/OApeOl.jpg)
Game 2, at this point I'd been playing for about 8 hours without really eating. So I decided that 6-rax would be a good strat in TvT ._. kind of a poor choice. Lost to a single banshee.+ Show Spoiler +
Replays:
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VoD:
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My favorite moment of the entire tournament:
"terran pretty good"
Q: Have I seen you playing with and getting stomped by puCK and doing team games with dkiller?
A: Probably not, nobody watches my stream that late at night.
Q: I only like cool kids, though. Are you a cool kid?
A: Yes, I am a cool kid.
Q: So who are you and where are you from? How did you get into Sc2?
A: I'm Noah. I'm from San Francisco, California. I played BW at a casual, trollingly bad level on Battle.net, then eventually iCCup. I heard about Sc2 from a friend who was in the beta, and got a key.
Q: Oh you were in the beta? That's why you're so good, then?
A: Well, in the beta I was in like silver league (back when the leagues were Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Plat). I managed to eek my way into Gold League. When they removed Copper, I ended up in Gold League.
I was bad for a long time. I'd never heard of TL or strategy forums, so I put together my own strategy. In every matchup I'd make a depot on 10 supply, then go 12 rax, 14 rax, 16 rax, 16 rax, then Orbital. I'd make marines, and once I had 20 marines I'd go attack my opponent. My reasoning is that marines are good and if I delay my Orbital I can get more marines :D and also that it's more important that you execute your build crisply than that your build itself be good-- as long as you spent all your resources you'd be ok. Spending all your resources is easy if you don't mine gas!
In time, I met zergs who made banelings, protosses who made units other than zealots, and terrans who made bunkers, and this stopped working. It was around this time I found sPsDebo's stream. I watched him and learned the glory of tech rushes, and every MU I rushed Cloak Banshee or Blue Flame Drop, eventually making Diamond.
Then I decided to get good. I heard Debo say something about getting banned on teamliquid for saying "trolls gonna troll" so I thought I'd check the website out. I came here, learned stuff, then went and defeated my opponents.
Q: You look kinda weird. Ok wait I phrased that wrong-- I can't tell what ethnicity you are. What's the deal bro?
A: My father is Persian and my mother is Korean. However, I don't speak Farsi nor do I speak Korean. I enjoy the cuisines of both cultures, though. In any case, it has been hypothesized by friends that the reason I'm so good at sc2 while being so bad at other games is that I'm half-korean. I gently remind them that I'm not actually good at sc2.
Q: How much taxes do you pay?
A: God, why does everyone ask everyone this question? Way to be an asshole, dude.
Q: Why do you stream?
A: I stream for two reasons. The first is that it motivates me to ladder. If my stream is on, even though I have like 1 viewer, it's painfully obvious if I'm not laddering, and I have to ladder. The other is that I like doing video lessons for people on the forums, and having a stream is the easiest way to do that.
Q: Why do you go to tournaments? You're not good enough to win any...
A: WOW WAY TO BE AN ASSHOLE. Ok, yes, I don't win any tournaments, and I likely won't. I'm okay with that. I go to tournaments because I find it fun, and I get to meet other people who play sc2 and are competitive about it. Only one guy gets to win each tournament, and I'm not that guy, but I'll get to meet him and maybe grab a beer with him later, so it's worth the $10 entry fee.
Q: So what does "Blazinghand" mean? Are you a stoner? Is it about masturbation? Is your hand on fire?
A: Blazinghand was the handle I decided on when I first made a battle.net account during Brood War. I was... in middle school at the time, and thought it was a sweet name. I wanted to name myself after my favorite spell from Baldur's gate, "Burning Hands", but that was already taken. I revised it to D)A-Blazinghand back when sporting clan tags was what all the cool newbies did, then back again after Dark Army fell into obscurity. I've been using it for starcraft on iCCup and BNet ever since.
Q: I see you have thousands of posts here on TL.
A: Yeah, I post a lot in the Terran Help Me Thread, and I'm active in TL Mafia. You should stop by both of those!
Q: PEJ?
A: Well, it didn't stand for anything. Now it stands for either Peace Earth Justice or Pros EnJoy. There's some disagreement as to what's canon. It's a long story how we got it in the first place.
Q: Thank you for your time. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
A: Nothing at the moment. I'll be updating this post occasionally with VoDs, replay packs, and the like.
Thanks for your time, and stop by and check me out!
Blazinghand.736
