The goal of this blog is to write an entry for every match I play, and link to a replay. This serves three purposes:
1) I am forced to analyze my own games and pinpoint the moment I really lost the game, and what I can improve
2) I can store some data about my losses to highlight trends that I keep losing to, and skills that I lack that might require focused attention
3) Other users can provide suggestions and help me learn from my games.
About me:
I am a Zerg player currently in high Diamond league. I have been playing since early beta, but took a pretty big break in Season 2. I would say I'm equally confident about all three matchups, though if I had to pick, I'd say ZvT is strongest and ZvP is weakest.
I come with a big history in the competitive Fighting Game scene, knowing how to handle tournament matches and how to improve myself.
I'm not sure if this blog will be for anyone but myself, but if so, it will still be a good way to analyze my games. I'll make a post every few games to summarize my recent games, and any feedback is appreciated.
Thanks for reading!
Today's Matches:
ZvZ - Loss
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&id=224248
Map: Searing Crater
My Opening:
9 Overlord
13 gas
14 pool
Enemy Opening:
9 Overlord
14 gas
14 pool
We both had very similar builds here. We went ling speed with first 100 gas, pulled one drone off gas, and got a baneling nest. Our timings were almost identical. At 4 minutes, we both had 21 supply, but I had 2 more drones and had 4 more zerglings.
I moved in with my lings and was chased away by his superior numbers. I unfortunately lost my overlord scout to his queen. He put down an expansion around 26 supply and we had a ling/baneling battle outside my base. He had superior numbers, and took out almost all of my zerglings before the banelings finished morphing. Once they did finish, he simply won the ling/bling battle, killed my army, my queen, and two drones.
I played it out for another few minutes trying to pull ahead, but he simply forced a roach macro game and won with his superior position. The match was lost at the ling/bling battle.
What I did wrong:
My scouting overlord should have been in a position to not get killed by a queen, and also see his zergling numbers as they approached my base. I should have had more units (even after travelling to my base, he had more units), and I should have micro'd better with the banelings.
ZvT - Win
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&id=224250
Map: Shakuras Plateau
My Opening:
9 Overlord
14 Hatch
Enemy Opening:
12 Barracks
13 Gas
15 Marine
16 OC
I tried to scout too hard after stealing gas, and ended up losing my first drone, which was kinda stupid. I saw his first hellion leaving his base, and further scouted a factory with a reactor which gave me time to prepare against the hellion harass.
I held it off with speedlings and roaches, saw his rax-heavy build and rough expansion timing, and was able to get a good muta force up. I held off his first attack, and ate a lot of drone losses to a hellion drop. I should have had better overlord placement to see it coming. I did some good damage with muta harass, and scouted the third turning into a PF, giving me confidence to build a 4th. More muta harass led to major economic damage, and I was able to deny a 4th for long enough to win with superior economy.
What I could improve:
Scouted his second earlier, letting me build a third earlier.
I lost all my mutas around 18:50 after misjudging the outcome of a battle and thinking his marines would die faster.
ZvT - Win
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&id=224259
Map: Nerazim Crypt
My Opening:
9 Overlord
14 Hatch
Enemy Opening:
12 Barracks
13 Refinery
15 OC
15 Tech Lab
into Reaper
I accidentally let my gas steal finish, and he didn't attack it with marines - which means he's gonna do an early attack. I get a few lings out as soon as my pool finishes, scare off his semi-early bunker, and his reaper does minimal damage that my queens can easily fend off. He leaves a supply depot burrowed and I can run in with lings and kill a brand new mule, and his harassment continues to fail. From that point on I just built a quick force of mutalisks and won with heavy harass, he was so far behind he couldn't defend it at all.
What I could have done better:
Creep spread was pretty crappy, and I got supply blocked at some really bad times. Overall better macro. I'm also not sure my harass defense was really enough to deal with dedicated reaper harass if he had decided to do that.
ZvZ - Loss
+ Show Spoiler +
Map: Searing Crater
My Opening:
13 gas
13 pool
Enemy Opening:
15 hatch
15 gas
14 pool
Analysis:
I spotted his hatch and tried to do damage to his base, but his ling numbers matched mine. We traded lings in his base until his expo queen hatched. I went for banelings, figuring his quick expo wouldn't be able to deal with ling/bling, but my macro slipped really badly and I was supply blocked for a long time floating lots of money. I really look like a beginner in this game, but it was all just trying to micro the ling/bling battles correctly... which I didn't do. I tried to fall back and use banelings defensively while I got my expo up, and due to failure micro on both our parts I held him off. Horrible macro left me 8 lings short of his army while I was floating 600 mins, and my roach warren was really late. He killed my expo, and secured his win.
What I could have done better:
I had a drone advantage for a while, I should have scouted his expo to know he wasn't mining from it and therefore was going heavy units.
My macro was an atrocity.
Probably should have responded to early hatch differently, but I'm not sure how.
ZvZ - Loss
+ Show Spoiler +
Map: Typhoon Peaks
My Opening:
14 hatch
Enemy Opening:
14 gas
14 pool
Analysis:
He attacked my queen with an early ling force. If my timings and micro were correct, I would have fought this off without losing my expo queen. After that, I supply blocked myself badly at 28, and his next ling force trounced me. That's really all I can say, I lost this very quickly.
What I could have done better:
Saved expo queen
Not supply blocked myself, built a sufficient ling response force