+ Show Spoiler [First Look at the KR/TW Cilent] +
-Main Menu
-Grandmasters Ladder
Oh, I also sent a friend request to NaDa and Sen because I have them on my facebook.
Anyway, on to the games.
+ Show Spoiler [G1 - PvT vs Bronze] +
My first placement was a PvT on Nerazim Crypt with me spawning at the bottom left base. Since I didn't know how good the terran was, I planned on just opening a normal 1 gate expo. I proceeded to 9 pylon scout starting from the top left base but I saw his SCV in my base just as my probe was at the top left base so I assumed he was at the bottom right which was not the case. This resulted in me being unable to get into his base in time.
-My probe was unable to get into the base due to scouting him last but is able to see the 2 rax.
This could mean a 2 rax pressure, 3 rax or some sort of Marine-SCV all-in but I wasn't really bothered too much by that so I continued with my 1 gate expand with a zealot and 2 stalker and scouted him twice at the 5 minute and 6 minute mark with my units.
-Stalkers confirm that the terran has not secured his natural and is sitting on at least 3 rax with marine and marauder
Needless to say, this terran was pretty bad. He did not threaten me at any point of the game and was basically sitting on 1 base til the 11 minute mark where he secured his natural so I just macro'd up and proceeded to attack once I was maxed.
-Rolled him over after my 3-3 finished.
I checked his rank after the game and he was a top 8 bronze.
+ Show Spoiler [G2 - PvZ vs Bronze] +
Second placement was a PvZ on Nerazim Crypt with me spawning at the bottom right.
-Building my pylon on the low ground to prepare for an FFE, my pylon was really late because the delay at the start completely messed up my probe split.
My initial probe scouted him first at the top right base and saw that he was going hatch first into pool and gas. I wanted to 3-pylon him in but he had 2 drones chasing me so I just expanded while getting my gateway and double assimilators. My cannon was delayed because I saw his pool was quite late.
-He tried to use all his drones to kill my probe but failed and that cost him some of mining time.
I've decided to go for a 7 gate +2 blink stalker all-in since the positions were pretty close and my opponent shouldn't be too much better than the previous one so I was pretty confident. I used my initial zealot to poke and force some units from the zerg and to ensure that there was no baneling bust or any sort of aggression coming from the zerg.
Without any sort of map control, the zerg was unprepared for my attack and only had mass lings and banelings to defend, which of course wasn't very good against forcefields and blink stalkers.
-No answer to that.
Yeah, he turned out to be another bronze.
+ Show Spoiler [G3 - PvT vs Silver] +
My third placement was a PvT on Xel'Naga Caverns. I spawned at the top position and went for a gateway scout.
-My probe gets trapped and taken out by a marine only seeing a gas and barracks with no add-on
I went for a 1 gate expand and saw that he was light on marines so I chronoboosted out some stalkers while going up to 4 gates to pressure and potentially bust his ramp.
-You know your opponent is bad when they lose 4 marines and 2 supply depots for a zealot
My stalkers was able to catch a glimpse of his factory and starport with tech labs and that the starport add-on was glowing. I instantly threw down my robotics and retreated my stalkers in anticipation of some sort of 1-1-1 timing with cloaked banshees.
His tried to do a two pronged attack with his banshees but was denied by my 2 stalkers at each base but he didn't have cloak so I assumed he cancelled it but I still got 3 observers out just in case.
-Banshees denied
I continued to pump out units and sent a stalker to his natural to see when he is moving out.
-Stalker sees an expansion
I saw that he was getting his expansion so I planned on doing a immortal bust but when I got there, I saw that he had no expansion so I scouted for hidden bases.
-Turns out this was all he had.
So yeah, that was basically game right there.
-Not a pretty sight for a terran.
Well, he was a silver terran this time.
+ Show Spoiler [G4 - PvT vs Silver] +
My fourth placement was a PvT on Shattered Temple, I planned to do a void ray all-in but abandoned the idea after scouting that he was cross positions. Anyway, I spawned at the left base and he spawned at the right base. As usual, I opened 1 gate expand.
-Scouting probe gets taken out but not before seeing the tech lab addon and a refinery.
A fast tech-lab on the barracks usually indicates a reaper/marauder opener so I kept my units in my base just in case of reapers and kept a probe at the watch-tower to see when he was coming. I also went up to 4 gates and delayed my robotics since I highly doubt he will go banshees.
-A later scout confirms that the terran had marauders and haven't expanded.
-Saw a glimpse of his army and I assumed a 3 rax all-in
-He had stim and a couple of scvs in the initial engagement but I was able to fend it off while losing some probes and units.
I wasn't too worried since he was on 1 base but he kept reinforcing so I had to pull even more probes but eventually I managed to push him all the way back and killed him with a immortal bust when he expanded to his natural.
-Trapped
-The killing blow
+ Show Spoiler [G5 - PvR (Z) vs Gold] +
My last placement was against a random with a hybrid destroyer portrait on Shakuras Plateau. I spawned at the top right base and sent a 6 scout to check whether he is cheesing.
-Surprise, surprise.
I saw a early pool so I walled off with a forge, gateway and pylon and built a cannon behind it and continued to chronoboost my probes. My cannons were out by the time the lings got here and he just GG'd. Also, this is the first time that someone said GG to me on the server.
-Placed in platinum league.
And that concludes my first hour on the KR/TW ladder. I'm sorry if the quality of my writing and the games were low but I just wanted to share my experience on the KR/TW ladder. I'll be updating my blog with more games later on and I might even consider buying a account in the near future.
EDIT: Hello everyone, I've just finished my 2nd hour of playing on the KR/TW ladder so I will be going through those games now. Also, some of the screenshots were taken in english/replays because I forgot to take screenshots during the games and in order to not waste my playing time, I watched the replays on the English cilent.
+ Show Spoiler [G6 - PvZ vs Platinum] +
My 6th game was a PvZ on Metalopolis. I spawned at the bottom left base and opened gateway first because I don't feel safe FFE on maps such as Xel'Naga, Metalopolis and Shattered Temple.
-Probe scouted 14gas 14pool and saw only 1 drone left in assimilator after he started speed which means a roach or bane all-in is highly unlikely.
I started my stargate at around the 5 minute mark and expanded shortly after I've started my first void ray while getting up 2 more gateways, a robotics and a forge. I only made one void ray and even though I didn't do any damage, it allows me to ensure that the zerg does not have control of the watch towers. It can also be used to kill any stray overlords, not to mention that he has to build spores too because he doesn't know how many stargate units I'm making.
-Completely denied.
My void ray saw no early 3rd so I just powered up on 2 bases. I also built a warp prism and while teching to colossi and parked it at the corner to try and harass him later on.
-No signs of any 3rd yet.
-Void ray and observers scout roach tech and a 3rd.
I took my 3rd at the same time and tried to harass him with my warp prism and void ray but he was turtling pretty hard and had alot of spores so I failed pretty badly. Also, because we were on the same amount of bases, I've never felt the need to attack or harass so I continued to play passively until I saw the zerg getting his 4th at the gold just as I was hittting maxed with 2-2 finishing so I moved out and took my own gold base.
-Zerg attempts to take a 4th at the gold
I moved through the southern passage and forced a cancel of his 4th but at the same time, he sent a large group of roaches through the northern passage going for my 3rd so I chased him.
-Merry go round with roaches.
-Zerg sends out another roach force as I push into his natural but with the wall off and stalker warp in at my 3rd, he was unable to get in so he retreated.
-Good flanks and massive reinforcements by the zerg made it seem much more closer than expected but it's mainly due to my lack of micro because I knew that I've won.
-Too much stuff for him to handle.
-He leaves the game after losing all his expansions.
+ Show Spoiler [G7 - PvP vs Diamond] +
My next game was a PvP on Nerazim Crypt. PvP is my least favourite match-up and most of the time I just 4 gate in PvP so my execution of other builds are pretty bad.
- My probe scouts double gas before 2nd pylon and core, I wonder what might he be doing?
I decided to 4 gate as I was confident I could kill him before he gets whatever tech out and my probe also confirmed DTs as it saw a twilight council before leaving the base. And just as I killed his zealot and tried to walk into his main, I realised that my stalkers couldn't fit into the gap so I had to destroy the wall. He even pulled probes to buy time.
-That really sucks.
By the time I got into his main, his dark shrine was finished and I could hear the sound of DTs warping in.
-FUUUUUUUUUUU.....
I quickly built a forge and 2nd gas and resumed probe production as I didn't have enough gas for a robotics. I was able to get 3 cannons up behind my mineral lines so I didn't really lose many probes.
-Unfortunately, my insanely horrible cannon placement couldn't cover my gateways and stuff so the DTs went to town on them.
-This is what's left of my base after the DTs left.
I saw that he didn't expand behind it so naturally the next thing that he should do is a chargelot archon timing or some sort so I teched to blink since there's no way I can get colossi out in time and if I mirror him, he will simply have more stuff.
-My blink finishes as he prepares to attack. And holy shit, that is alot of stuff.
What happened next was me fighting for my dear life.
-Doesn't look so good at all.
Half of his units were attacking my gateways as he tried to move his army into my mineral line but this allowed me to pick off many units before all his units were able to attack head on.
-This is what is left of his army by the time he broke in.
-Miracle defense.
Somehow, I managed to defend his attack by abusing my sim city and I pushed out with my stalkers.
-He taps out realising that there is no way he could have won that game from that point on.
+ Show Spoiler [G8 - PvP vs Diamond] +
Will be updating later on.
+ Show Spoiler [G9 - PvP vs Diamond] +
Will be updating later on.