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Before I begin to talk about the games, I want to talk about how I prepared. I hadn’t played starcraft once since the 2nd qualifier. That was my practice going into the event. Now I know a lot of people didn't understand my reasoning here so let me explain why. After the groups were announced there were 2 weeks until Brisbane, I knew that uni would take up a lot of my time and that at best I’d get maybe 50 games in. These games would probably take place the weekend before. For those who’ve come back from a break to play a lot of games on ladder (over the period of a day or 2), you almost always suffer from it initially. You might start off with some wins but as the day progresses you lose to silly things and eventually come out negatively. That at least, has always been my experience.

For the purpose of starting to practice a lot this is absolutely fine. Once you adjust to playing that much you build stamina and close the small gaps in your play that caused you so many problems on that first day. However, if you come out of one of those days and can’t play again you completely shatter your confidence. You just got crushed by people who you normally could beat but didn’t because you made stupid mistakes. These are the days that cause the angry tweets and “I quit” posts. There’s two ways to follow a day like this, hit the ladder again and ease your way back into wins through the mmr system or carrying your destroyed confidence and mental game into the next tournament.

I knew this going into Brisbane. I knew that practice would only be an enemy for me so I avoided it. I didn’t think about strategies I thought about mindset. I didn’t think about whether I was ready to defend 9 pools, I thought about how I would react if something didn’t go to plan. For me, preparation was all mental, I wanted to get in my opponent’s head, throw them off their game and eventually win. I talked big going into the tournament. For me it was a way to make people think, “I wonder what he has done, why is he so confident, what has he prepared such that he isn’t afraid of me.”

And so, I went into Brisbane. My first series was against my teammate PiG. Going into the group I wanted to have a plan for every match I played. I had a notebook, and I wrote about my experience talking to, playing against and watching Jared, I had the series entirely planned out. The only requirement was for me to win a standard game against him.


Setting up to play against Jared.

Game 1 could have been that game, I played well but got slightly too greedy after an early lead. I hadn’t had the chance to properly warm up (not in terms of time but play some of the weaker players in the group first) and my head couldn’t keep up with my hands and I lost. Game 2 was on Alterzim Stronghold, a map that for some reason I had forgotten was still in the map pool. To be honest, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do on this map, I still needed a win but I didn’t know how to get there. So I decided if I was going to win, I wanted to do it in such a way it would give me a huge mental lead going into the 3rd game. I went 3 hatch before pool, in zvz. It almost worked but with my unfamiliarity of the build I misread a few situations and eventually lost. I didn’t mind, Id learnt a lot and I knew beating Jared in general would be tough, let alone as my first series of the day.
My next series was against Law. In the past I have gotten caught up on playing the player, instead of playing the game. For this tournament I knew that while my opponents were good, they weren’t great and I could definitely take them out in straight up games. This has been a bane for me against players like MightyKiwi who plays his own game, safe solid and without risks. Against a player like that you have to turn back to fundamentals and the longer game to win. I knew going into the Law series that I needed to focus on playing the game, not the player. So both games I played a very safe macro style which managed to get me the 2-0. I don’t really remember the games but I remember them as not onesided but definitely clean wins for me. Law is a really nice guy and I really want to see him succeed. He’s the kind of player you want to practice with and learn with and hang out with. I hope I see him again in Sydney.

Moving on from that I played Eros. Eros is a very sneaky player, you know he’s probably going to cheese you but he’s going to do it in some way that makes you go, …how in the hell did I lose to that. Interestingly, in this series I didn’t experience that feeling but I know most people who are familiar with eros know what I’m talking about. In game 1 he did a speedling all in against my gasless and I got caught with my queens out. I desperately tried to drag the game out, building spines and teching to infestors off 2 bases. I figured if I got the most cost efficient army ever I could maybe make an insane comeback. Unfortunately, he hit a strong timing just before my infestors popped and over ran me. 0-1. At this point I knew I had to focus up, its scary being 0-1 down and I knew Eros was perfectly capable of catching me off guard with something super sneaky. Game 2, I chose do go for a gasless roach speedling timing, which put me ahead. I almost threw it away by overcommitting on killing his third with a speed roach attack but I managed to barely hold his counter and take the game. I don’t remember game 3 but I won somehow. I was really annoyed with myself that I’d almost lost 0-2 but relieved I’d managed to pull it out in the end.


Getting some rest in before the open bracket finished.

Next up I had the European terran juggernaut in Val. We knew he was going to play a greedy mech style going in and a lot of the zergs had been discussing the best builds to use against him. The consensus seemed to be a super fast 2 base muta into roach play. However, I wasn’t comfortable at all with that play style and while I agreed with it in theory, I knew it would fail in practice.

(ADVICE: Always do what you’ve practiced, even if this new strategy works the longer the game drags on, the more new unfamiliar decisions you will have to make and eventually you will make the wrong one and shoot yourself in the foot.)

So I went in planning to play a straight up game. Hellions. Oh. My. Goodness. Hellions. I lost probably 30+ drones to hellions at around 8 minute into game 1. WELL THIS IS AWKWARD. I stayed in the game and managed to drag the game on until an eventual loss to battle cruisers after 50 minutes. I had transitioned into muta swarm host before deciding that a broodlord timing would be able to do serious work. I had built 12 corruptors by the time I realized my greater spire hadn’t started. I made a mistake in continuing to commit to the broodlords even though my timing had passed. I was behind, desperate and thought this was my only shot. After he dealt with the broods with ease I attempted to transition to a swarm host viper play style. I knew he would have to have no clue what he was doing to lose (I can only imagine how many units lost I was behind). Unfortunately he managed to close it out with his BCs.

Afterwards PiG gave me some excellent advice. I don’t know if I would’ve played half as good without his help. I went into game 2 with a clear head and a plan. I executed it and slowly and methodically picked him apart. It felt amazing. I felt like I played so well and everything had gone completely the way I had wanted. After 50 minutes again, he gg’d out and I was completely over the moon. I then checked the in game time and it said 2 am. “Wait what it didn’t go for that long did it?” Fortunately the clock was just wrong but for a minute there I was convinced I’d been playing for 6 hours. PiG talked to me again after game 3 and again it was immensely helpful. I am very privileged to be on his team and will miss his presence in Sydney. Finally, for game 3 I killed him as he took his third with a muta into roach switch. It hadn’t been the plan but when I realized my mutas would be out before he could clear the creep at his third, I made the snap decision to switch to roaches and keep him stuck on 2 base. It worked excellently and I won the series 2-1. I was very proud of how I played in this series, I took a losing situation and almost came back in game 1, and turned it around to play some of the cleanest games I’ve played in a tournament ever. Watch the series if you have the chance.


The master advises the apprentice. Credit: https://www.facebook.com/DominionGamingTv

Finally, I played runamok. in the first game he left his depot down and died to my ling flood. In the second game I killed him with lings. I don’t really know how, it just kind of happened. From watching him play he seems like he understands the game pretty well, he’s just missing the mechanics that are required to be top top terran player. Interested in seeing if he can make that step because he’s really the only up and coming terran we have going around atm. #cutforhut

So at this point I was through 4-1 with an 8-4 map score. This got me out in 2nd and concluded the first day. On Sunday we waited around for the bracket to finish. I guess now is a good time to talk about everyone at the event. First off, KingKong, PiG, Dot and Jackson are just top people. I really enjoyed their company over the weekend and am very keen to defend Sam’s 9 pool if we play! Maybe I will learn how to micro control by then haha. The regular Brisbane crew was great as always, special shoutout to DoMo for being awesome as usual and Alpha for not making it far enough to get rekt by xormentor (). Law, Wally and phoenix, it was an absolute pleasure to meet you guys, I hope you all can make it to Sydney. I really enjoyed our cast Kez, I’m going to remember that series for a long time hahaha. Petrify and pezz, didn’t talk to you guys as much as last Brisbane but you guys and hut are all players I have a lot of respect for and want to see make it to the top in our region. Finally, shout out to schnitzel (I know you’ll be mad if I don’t mention you) and the ACL boys for putting on a really fun event despite the smaller scale.

So on the second day they announced the bracket. The entirety of x5 was all on the same side. Damn, I knew it was going to be a long hard road to the finals if I wanted to win this. On the other hand I knew that if I could beat KingkOng and PiG it would make a win mean that much more to me. However, first up I had to play against Petraeus. I mean, Wally. Ahhhh I don’t even know anymore.


Map vetos against petraeus.

Anyways, I jokingly called him a walkover hoping to throw him off knowing that it was his first LAN and nerves can run high when the stakes are raised. I figured if I won game 1 he’d be in a tough spot mentally and it would hopefully get me the win. With that goal in mind I decided to 9 pool, again, playing the player instead of the game. I have never been particularly good at 9 pool and only use it sparingly in tournaments. I ‘d also never played Wally in a tournament before and had no read on how he would play in a series. I gamble entirely on him going 15 hatch and me getting in his head. And it failed, miserably. He 14/14’d and I was 0-1 down. Again, I started to worry. “What if I get 2-0’d” “top 12 isn’t good enough” are all thoughts that I had to suppress before I started the 2nd game. At that point I refocused and decided I’d rely entirely on my fundamentals is instead of mind games to get the job done, like I should have done from the start.

Game 2 was the happiest I’ve ever been after winning a game of starcraft. Ever. I really hope someone casts this game and everyone watches it because it was absolute insanity. Text wouldn’t do it justice so I highly recommend you get a hold of the replay if you can. In hindsight, I am very glad of the mindset I had going in, I stayed in games for as long as I could and managed to almost come back in game 1 against Val and made the comeback in this game against Wally. We jumped into game 3, again, “focus on fundamentals, he has to be feeling off after that game.” I opened 15 pool, I knew I couldn’t take any risks with my tournament life on the line. Put down my 16 hatch. Made. A. Drone. “Oh no, ok Ryan, keep it together, 16 overlord is fine as long as they don’t 9 pool.” I quickly went to my overlord and saw 2 lings run by. DAMNIT! I sighed and slumped a little in my chair. I made a quick decision, “Ok I’ll pull 10 drones instead of 6, I won’t be in the best spot but I’ll make the best of my mistake”. I was defending; I hadn’t lost a drone yet. I was feeling okay. My queen spawned and I pulled my drone home. He started to target down the hatch and I realized too late that I didn’t have enough lings yet. He killed the hatch my queen and the majority of my lings. I was so dead. Knowing I had to make something happen, I did my best to get back into the game economically before hard committing to targa banes. The micro war that ensured was close but he didn’t make a big enough error in his control for me to straight up kill him. And that was it, his mutas popped after several minutes of fighting and his counter attack killed me.


Defeat. Credit: https://www.facebook.com/aclpro

That was it. I was devastated. I couldn’t face anyone. It was the worst I’ve ever felt after playing a game of starcraft. Eventually, I got up and shook Wally’s hand, he definitely deserved the win and he deserved the courtesy of a handshake even if I felt awful. I packed up my stuff and went downstairs and sat with my head in my hands for a few minutes. Trying to come to terms with it I guess. Eventually, I came upstairs and sat on one of the couches they had. I couldn’t speak; I was completely destroyed and needed some time to recover. Eventually, DoMo managed to bring me back to the living and I watched Wally as he played kingkong. I want to say I am so thankful to Sam and Dot for their support. I am so glad that Sam is my teammate now because he is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

I went on to watch the semis from kingkong’s view. Needless to say, he is an excellent player and it was really inspiring to watch him pick apart pig and take the series. When the finals came around, chadmann, wally, domo, phoenix, law and I gathered behind the terran hope himself to see what he could do. Seeing him take a game and almost go up 2-1 was incredible to watch and showed that Hut definitely has the potential to reach the top echelon of players in the scene.

The tournament ended up being a fantastic experience for me and I am so excited to be going to Sydney in a couple months. This tournament has really inspired me to work hard and I hope to improve a lot and show a new and improved NXZ at the next ACL.

Thanks for reading, I know it was long but a lot of these games meant so much to me and I hope some of that came through.

Lastly, a big thank you to NVIDIA and x5 who support me so well. Check them out in my sig!