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ShadowSketch's 100-Game Zerg Journey
 

Welcome to part one of ShadowSketch's 100-Game Zerg Journey!

In this blog series I intend to record one hundred games of Zerg play, gain feedback, highlight achievements and, though I am currently only a BSG player, hopefully aid others too! Before I go much further I would like to write a tiny amount of backstory. Feel free to skip this section.

Previously I played Terran, reaching around a Silver level before losing interest in the game and playing WoW and BFBC2 for a time. It wasn't long before SC2's addictive atmosphere drew me back, but I knew I needed to spice up my gaming. Thus I decided to play Zerg, a completely new playstyle with a fresh and funky atmosphere. The idea for this blog came to me when I saw a similar blog for a WoW player who detailed his gold-making journey over one month, over on GotWarcraft.com. I knew I'd need advice on playing Zerg, and I decided this was the place and the way to do it. Since I'm new the forums, this was also an opportunity to contribute something to the community, and hopefully become a part of it.

Some information about this series, what it is and will become:

- Though my main account is on the SEA servers, all games are played on the NA servers, since I recently discovered I was eligible for a free NA account. This allows me to start with a fresh MMR and record, making my progression a little easier to follow. And hell, it's even a little easier! Thus, I have started from scratch. Today I completed my placement matches (more on these later).

- I will attempt to keep this as a daily blog, but some entries may be a little late. I won't play games that I don't intend to write about, however. Every game I play will be recorded in this blog. I'll be playing roughly 5 games per day, and will analyse them myself, but I'll only write up basic information about each match, more (and a replay) if I need to use it as an example in a plea for help.

- I'll be playing as Zerg every game. No Terran, no Protoss. Zerg appeals to me the most and though some may call them OP or UP, they are my favourite race. This series is for fun only, not power-gaming.

With that all said, here are the results of my placement matches (remember, these are all played as Zerg, on the NA server, on a completely fresh account).

1. Zerg vs. Protoss - Win (sort of...)

I hit the "Find Match" button and waited. The alert sounded and the loading screen appeared. My base appeared before me. I sent my drones to the minerals, started building another worker, and typed "GLHF" to my opponent. Five seconds later, he surrendered. FEAR MY WORDS!

2. Zerg vs. Terran - Loss

Went into this game intending to 14 Gas/14 Pool (the build I am currently using in all match-ups). Pulled off my build quite sloppily but got up a second hatch quite easily. Scouted with my drones, saw marines so I built a baneling nest. Unfortunately my haphazard build had left me drained of resources and my income was not up to scratch, thus I could not utilize this tech. I also forgot spine crawlers which meant my base was wide open to an early attack by a dozen or so marines. Oops.

3. Zerg vs. Zerg - Win

I actually like ZvZ at the moment, I find it quite easy to beat my fellow Zerg opponents with sheer macro. We both went for speedlings and banelings, however some decent early micro on my part rendered an early baneling rush from my opponent quite useless, and my counterattack into constant pressure earned me a mid-game win off of tier 1 units. Nice.

4. Zerg vs. Protoss - Loss

I decided to go with my standard 14 Gas/14 Pool, into roach/hydra. I'm not sure if that's such a great build but it was worth a try. Can someone please clarify the viability of this? Anyway, this match was another quick one, I sent a small force of roaches into my opponents base, but he hit me with around six stalkers and six zealots at the same time, I could not defend this attack nor destroy his base before he butchered mine. Quick loss.

5. Zerg vs. Zerg - Win

Another game of speedling play, my opponent went for a fast expand into four hatcheries (2 in-base, 2 with workers). I scouted his late pool and gas and my tiny bit of game sense told me fast expand, luckily I already had 'ling speed on the way and used macro to continously send in waves of units after destroying an early rush. No way he could respond with few workers and 700 minerals worth of base doing nothing. Easy win.

So, that concluded my 5 placement matches. I hesitated before clicking the "Score Screen" button, preparing myself for the disappointment of Bronze, then left the game. And the verdict was...

Gold League! Quite chuffed with this result. I'm definitely eager to keep playing and learning how to use Zerg effectively.

And that concludes part one! Thankyou for reading, please leave all feedback on my games or my writing in the comments, I'd really appreciate any constructive criticism or even suggestions. Stay tuned for part two tomorrow!

As for your games, good luck, and have fun!

PS: I know the post looks pretty bland, I'll attempt to put a banner together, and/or put some screenshots in, at the very least.

Re: ShadowSketch's 100-Game Zerg Journey
 

Good luck fellow zerg brethren! We have to stick together. What type of inject style do you use? Swapping from terran to zerg myself, I found sorting out the injecting mechanic to be the most troubling. Good luck with your blog

This cracks me up:-
"Went into this game intending to 14 Gas/14 Pool (the build I am currently using in all match-ups). Pulled off my build quite sloppily but got up a second hatch quite easily."

You have named two steps in your build, and state you pulled it off sloppily.

Re: ShadowSketch's 100-Game Zerg Journey
 

What you can also include are the maps that you've played on for each match. Each map has a couple of nuances that we may be able to point out for you so you can keep watch of your play in the future If you're reeling it all off from memory, you can enable the saving of all replays or just check your match history in case you forget.

As for Roach/Hydra ZvP, it should be a solid and stable composition at your level. However if you feel that you're struggling then feel free to keep trying different unit combinations as ZvP has been explored a lot on the Z side of things with a lot of branching out of different styles.

And congratulations on getting into Gold league ^_^

Re: ShadowSketch's 100-Game Zerg Journey
 

Thanks Volition! Right now, I bind all my hatcheries to 4 and all larvae queens to 5. Then I hit 5-V, hold shift and backspace-click, backspace-click, etc. Works really well, only becomes an issue if my queens get displaced and mucked up.

Yeah, somehow I managed to butcher a 14 Gas/14 Pool with late drones and buildings. A bit embarrassing, but I'm expecting a lot of derp moments with Zerg. I find the hardest aspect of Zerg is not one particular thing (though scouting is always a challenge for me), but rather the ability to remember everything at once.

Thankyou too, Matt. I'm taking brief notes after each match (match-up/army comp/turning point/result) to help jog my memory, writing down the map as well is easy. Thanks for the suggestion! As for the Roach/Hydra, I like this as it's a simple yet versatile composition, but is my 14 Gas/14 Pool a good opener for this build, or should I try something else?

Cheers guys!

Re: ShadowSketch's 100-Game Zerg Journey
 

Ah, a fresh zerg player!

I remember being young and naive, ready to take on the world with the might of the swarm behind me. But heed my warning, broodling! It's all fun and games in the beginning. Oh yes, everything was just fantastic in the beginning...

...But there comes a day where you lose eight games in a row to the most asinine (yes, asinine) of builds. Builds that you couldn't even fathom in your wildest dreams. And trust me, this day will come. And that's when the slow, dark descent into madness begins...

Sincerely, a bitter old zerg player.
-goes back to smoking his pipe in a dark room, muttering something about forcefields and bunkers-



I'm kidding!
(kinda)

Re: ShadowSketch's 100-Game Zerg Journey
 

Uh, thanks for the support Cute! ... If that's what it was... o.O

Haha, but seriously, I've already had loss streaks of 15+ with Terran on my main account, I'm no stranger to losing and this blog and the games it features are more about fun and improvement rather than winning and promotions. If it takes me 20 losses to finally nail my Roach/Hydra build, so be it!

Re: ShadowSketch's 100-Game Zerg Journey
 

This wouldn't have happened if you just picked Protoss. ;3

Re: ShadowSketch's 100-Game Zerg Journey
 

Okay, so some real-life commitments have come up and I can't follow through with this blog. Thankyou everyone that contributed to this post.

Re: ShadowSketch's 100-Game Zerg Journey
 

too bad. Might have been interesting

Re: ShadowSketch's 100-Game Zerg Journey
 

granpa, can you tell me about the time you killed 2 marines with 1 zergling and a can of beer?