As part of our "constantly updated" feature in The Grandmaster Manual, periodically we add new bonus content that will enhance our subscribers experience. This sixth instalment will feature TGM Protoss Coach yang sharing his thoughts on his ladder games.
We hope you enjoy these reports but we would also like to give exclusivity to our premium TGM members so only the 5 first games will be displayed for all and the rest can be seen by TGM members here! For Non-TGM members you can find out more about yang and his discounted coaching packages here and if you're interested in subscribing to TGM which comes with a free hour of coaching you can go here to learn more.
Rating system is from yang to YAAAAAAAAAANNNNGGGGGG
My thought process in the game: I scouted Deth went for a CC first build. My first decision is to go 20 nexus as it allows me to pressure while having an early second nexus, for both chronoboost and probe production. I know I am behind because I only got a few SCV kills with my pressure so I decide to go double upgrades to try and take an advantage there.
I see he is going for a 5rax 1/1 timing so I know that I have to stay on 2 bases until I have blink so I can defend from his aggression without dieing. I defend his push without any damage taken with a great probe count so I know all I have to do is expand and tech to AOE to be in a great position. Seeing him go ghost and while I have 2 robo with colossi was a great feeling. I know that I can have a huge colossi count wihtout any opposing vikings and take the win easily.
What my opponent could have done better: He definately could've kept up his SCV production while his aggression was going on, as it was my probe lead that let me get some a good army up. It was also a mistake to go ghosts blindly without seeing whether I was going colossi or templar first. Especially because I went double robo.
My thought process in the game: This game started with two friends on Teamspeak having a bit of fun. I am not as good as yagoostus gloop so I decided to do something unexpected so I chose DTs.
This was a terrible start to my DT game! I used all my warpins on stalkers to stop him from scouting my shrine, which he scouted anyway! This lead me to have no warpins for my DTs so I completely screwed myself. We had to pause for 5 minutes as we were both laughing so hard at how bad it was... Also something happened about someone being adopted... teamspeak is a funny place. So I rapidly needed my own expansion to not fall behind in probes. I decided to drop DTs to get some free damage to get myself in a better position. I knew that I was in a good position once my third base was up and knew I needed a good transition to colossi to keep him off his feet. Fortunately he engaged at the perfect time for me, while 2 colossi and +2/+2 finished!
What my opponent could have done better: He should've started off without getting freestyled on!
A lot of drop harrass is incredibly hard to hold after being behind and it would've been a smart decision. He also died to my colossi which he didn't expect to come out so soon, which cost him the game!
My thought process in the game: After a lengthy pause in the middle of a standard opener; I see his stalkers being defensive with our observer dance so I decide to move out and be aggressive.
After seeing the colossus I immediately throw down an expansion and try to play as aggressively as I can with my stalkers.
I was very angsty when I saw his nexus as I resumed probes too late and it is not good to be in that position against colossus. I immediately felt in a great position when I sniped the robo and saw the twilight as he didn't have a large gateway army; colossi are terrible in small numbers.
After a very unfortunate decision to risk he didn't have blink and harass his main again, I lost 5 stalkers for free which made me very unsure if I could hold off his attack that would be coming.
Seeing him without any zealots made me happy as my zealots with charge would tank extremely well for my archon/immortal/stalker ball to rip him to shreds.
What my opponent could have done better:I think he made a mistake by trying to transition to blink and attack him. It would've been a lot harder to deal with him if he had kept colossus production up and gone into a macro game.
My thought process in the game: After seeing him not pull drones off gas at a correct time I became suspicious as sloppy play this early is not common.
I decided to wait until I saw his hatchery timing to decide what I was going to do. It was ~40 seconds late and that is extremely suspect so I threw down a sg as it is a hold-all tech route in PvZ.
What do you know, he comes at me with roaches as my void comes out. ezpz
What my opponent could have done better: Do a build that isn't bad
My thought process in the game: The beginning was really bad for me. losing untis through bad control made me start with a big disadvantage. It's important to persevere though.
I know that he sacrificed drones to have that units that early, so I kept poking and prodding to see if he hadn't made units (I could push) or if he had made units and I needed to play defensive and build my probe count. When I saw he had early hydras I knew that hydras are incredibly scary in a large number so I had to keep the hydra count down so I wouldn't just die to an deathball of hydras.
He had stayed low econ for so long in order to keep up the pressure on me that I eventually clawed myself back into a respectable position. Once I saw he wanted to base trade I knew that I could BASE TRADDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEE and I knew he couldn't suffer the fury of my BAAAAAAASSSSSE TRRRRRRRRAAAADDDDDDDEEEEEE might.
What my opponent could have done better: Droned after the initial fight and played a macro game instead of staying low-econ and trying to kill me.
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Azz had a chance at this one point in the game where he had a nexus and 6 probes. But he found a way to **** it up from there 3 times in a row - Iaguz
Great read, but more minute-by-minute insight into games would help even more. Right now we get the general idea and an outline of the events that occured in the game but we never delve into the decision making and thought process that happens during the game.
It should be noted that Yang does have a stream that he uses occasionally to Stream protoss games. I think he self commentates. Perhaps you could watch it sometime?
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