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Bready's First Blog - Back from a break
 

This is something that I noticed after having an extended break from the game and coming back.

Before my break from SC2, I was in on SEA and had just broken into in NA. I was sure that my Season 7 placement would put my in on SEA, but I never played it. Up til then, I was really paying close attention to my macro. I was refining openings, and I was focusing on hitting my first attack timing right when I was "supposed to". I felt my macro was well beyond my league (in simple terms). There was a the point at the end of the season where I was just messing around in ladder matches, maxing an army as quickly as possible and then A-moving into my opponents base to see if I could win with it, and most times I did.

Fast forward to last night - I finished my last exam for the semester, and I actually had time again to play. Since I skipped an entire season, I have to play 5 placements again. In a couple of practice matches against (mostly ) opponents and in a couple of placements I found I felt like I was playing really badly, but was somehow having better results than I've ever had. I had a lot of mistakes in my macro (supply blocks, SCV production slipping - both of which I had *almost* completely ironed out of my play previously). I found it difficult to execute builds as well as I once had.

The thing that seems to be keeping me competitive despite the rusty mechanics is my new approach to the game - something I had wanted to improve before but was struggling to. Instead of macro being at the forefront of the mind, I have a whole different thought process. Do I know what my opponent is doing right now? What can he be doing? What does he think I'm doing? Where is his army? Where is my army? Can they be doing something useful? Which two or three locations can I drop at once so that he has the hardest decision to make in response? It's more like how I imagine high league players think.

All of this I always thought was beyond my skill level to do this sort of thinking, and it probably is. But still, it's a radical new way I'm perceiving the game, and it's not a conscious effort to do so. It's where my focus automatically goes in the heat of battle. It's also reignited my passion for SC2 in a big way. It's a far more adversarial game than it was before. It used to be... If I do X, Y and Z, I will win. Now, it's about beating my opponent, rather than not messing up. And the game is so much more fun as a result.

The thing is, the whole time I was on my break, I was still watching tournaments, and keeping interested. I don't know if it was this, but for some reason, I am just feeling naturally inclined to play in a more combative way, with a bigger focus on control the map and the flow of the game. I'm not saying it's the right way to play for someone at my level (I think I'll get placed into either or by the looks of it), but I'm enjoying myself while I do it.

I figued I would share, to see if anyone else had similar experiences, or to just show people in a similar situation that even though things are inevitably going to be a bit different after a break, it's not necessarily going to be bad.

Re: Bready's First Blog - Back from a break
 

I personally find that sometimes a break is a really good thing for Starcraft, especially if you continue to watch streams and whatnot. You are able to come back with a clear mind, and the streams that you watch give you insight on the current metagame/playstyles and you still have an idea of the fundamentals while playing with a calm mind.

Re: Bready's First Blog - Back from a break
 

I agree with the above.

Whilst studying in year 12 (This was last year) my only starcraft 2 fix was occasionally watching the GSL or some other streams. When I am back, I somehow just 'knew' what sort of things I wanted to do, and actually happened to win all 5 of my placement matches! It felt amazing.

Good to see you back from the horrors of studies. I finished my last uni exam last friday and I've been really back into the starcraft scene since then. I hope to break into diamond sometime during my holidays

Re: Bready's First Blog - Back from a break
 

Ur plat now?

Re: Bready's First Blog - Back from a break
 

sounds like you'll be improving pretty quickly soon!

Re: Bready's First Blog - Back from a break
 

We should play some games soon. I need to practise too haha, been too long since i've played.

On the topic of your OP, I had a friend who used to play WoW arena competitively. He always seemed to just not be able to break into the upper echelon of the arena players. He would get Gladiator rank (kinda like GM in sc2) but still wasn't happy with his skill level. He took a break off for a few months, came back, and suddenly he was playing so much better then before. It was like he was able to reset his thought processes towards the game and take out all the bad habits he'd been doing and implement new good habits into his playstyle.