So, yeah. I think I've put off getting a promotion from to far too long. So, to kick myself into gear, I'm going to try to keep a blog on my journey there
And we are back for another entry in Panda's Road to Gold. Seeing as this week is the 5th week, 5th entry and what not (which let me tell you, has been quite the journey and I usually fail to keep a blog up for THIS long), I decided, 'Hell, lets just make this extra special'. And here, I have FIFTEEN games (13 from ladder, 2 from SEACL Tier 5) for all of you to read and ponder. Note, I will be using spoilers so that you can jump to any game you want at anytime
Here's the special replay pack for those who really want to watch the actual action
The leagues and ranks of the players here are as of the time I am writing this and not when I saved the replay! Some players may have gone up or down in league and/or rank. Also, some players may have been but I no longer remember who is what :/
vs (Opponent is Top 8 )
I decide to do a little bit of Banshee stuff just to spice things up. Yes, I managed to force my opponent to get alot of Spore crawlers. However, the large amount of resources I dump into making Banshees do not pay off and eventually he gets an economy big enough to support a large flock of Mutalisk which prompts me to ‘gg’.
vs (Opponent is )
Don’t know what prompted me to not do a Reactor Hellion Expand and go for a Siege Expand. The game went horribly in the Zerg opponents favour as not destroying the rocks on this map made moving my Tanks very difficult. I attempted to get my opponent into a base trade scenario but my force is too small and are eventually whittled down that I have to ‘gg’ out.
vs (Opponent is )
I wanted to go Reactor Hellion Expand this time around but a little bit of scouting with a SCV spotted a Roach Warren going up and I knew it was a 7Roach Rush. I decide to bunker up and let the Roaches come at me. My opponent backs off spotting the bunker and Tank. I take the opportunity to expand and slowly build an army worth crushing my opponent. I eventually push out and a skirmish in the middle of the map cost me about 50% of my army. I continue my march to his base and eventually I kill enough units that my opponent runs out of resources and just leaves.
vs (Opponent is Top 8 )
I decide to see if the 2Rax build I learned from breadfan would be viable in a TvT situation. I throw a scan on my opponent’s base and I find a tech lab on his Rax. I’m thinking to myself, ‘surely he can’t be going for Reapers’. And what does he do? Sends his Reaper right through my vision. I manage to scare the invading cur and decided to counter attack. To my complete surprise, my opponent had absolutely nothing to protect his base. He ‘gg’s immediately. Shortest TvT bar a Worker Rush? Perhaps
vs (Opponent is Top 25 )
A Reactor Hellion Expand gone wrong. My macro for this game is terribly off and my opponent is able to have a better economy than me. He goes for a Ling Roach Muta composition with some Infestors. It completely decimates me and eventually I am whittled down to the point where I ‘gg’.
vs (Opponent is Top 8 )
I decide to go again the 2Rax build. However, when I went for the attack, I found 2 bunkers in the way. Watching the replay, my opponent had so few and there was a 50/50 chance I could have blasted through and ended it there. My opponent eventually gets a big army while I attempt to switch to mass Battlecruisers in anticipation of an end game scenario. However, a superior Viking count and the denial of my 3rd forces me to ‘gg’ soon.
vs (Opponent is Top 50 )
I do the new 2Rax build that I am slowly falling in love with. Yes, if you watch the replay, my attack comes in late (almost same time as Warp finishes! D: ) However, my opponent decided to go Phoenix. Now, I would’ve been worried if I didn’t have anti-air or that it was Phoenix-Void Ray. But this kind good sir decided, ‘Meh, I’ll go mass Phoenix and get Zealots and Sentries as my ground army’. Wrong choice good sir when your Terran opponent has shutdown you Phoenixes and have the army supply advantage.
vs (Opponent is Top 25 )
I just realised a lot of my games are TvZ D: We know the drill Yes, I allowed the Zerg to expand and I’m not aggressive. I got lucky when his Baneling Bust didn’t kill everything I had. I eventually win this game with some sick drop micro and bleeding my opponent’s banked up resources dry.
vs (Opponent is Top 8 )
I get out played here. I go for a 2Rax but he has a Sentry. I go back, expand and hope for a good engagement. Collosi fire, Storms and overwhelming Protoss numbers eventually choke me to a ‘gg’
vs (Opponent is Top 25 )
Tell me frankly, are you guys sick of seeing me in a TvZ now? Anyways, standard opening. Get in, get killed. Expand, bunker up and expand again. Something that surprised me was that he got Infestors. But seriously, one or two Infestors worth of Infested Terrans vs a Planetary Fortress with a Tank for support? Eventually he comes in with a wave of Lings and Banelings. It is for naught as it crashes into Mech units with all the Marines running to and fro. I counter attack with the Marines and whatever Mech units left alive. He ‘gg’s pretty soon after.
vs (Opponent is Top 8 )
This ladies and gentlemen, is the gem of this week in my opinion. I decide to go for a Hellion Drop into Expand into Mech. I get supply blocked here and there but I eventually get the drop done. My opponent whereas has gone for quick Siege and Vikings. Now, this is where it gets interesting. As I roast ALL of his SCVs, he decides that saving his economy is not worth it. He instead decides to lay siege to my base. I don’t know how but I held it off and had to do some LDM (Long Distance Mining) before I can get my expansion back up. The same time, I go back and drop in to roast MORE SCVs and he decides to push. I make the decision to roast his Marines at the cost of a majority of my Hellions. He begins to lay siege to my base again but he ‘gg’s once my one and lone Thor walks down the ramp.
vs i
Some lag in the beginning really threw us a loop. We have a little bit of chit chat and then get back to the game. I decided to go the 2Rax build I used for TvT whereas rezyn goes for a Siege Expand. I attempt to kill him off just before Siege completes but I only end up wasting a scan and killing a depot before I have to hightail it out. I drop and manage to snipe his Stim. I eventually drop a bigger force for the kill shot and manage to get the ‘gg’ and a ‘wp’ too
vs i
In this game, I intended to go for the win as quickly as possible and used a build I picked up (sources are disclosed). It is a simple 1Rax FE with a kazillion Raxes(ok fine, its 4-6 Raxes with Reactors and double Tech Lab). Before I can reach my intended quota, rezyn drops me which almost catches me with my pants down. Learning a little something from Starcraft Master custom map, I willingly send my SCVs to their death as I know the Marines will take friendly fire. I clean it up and slowly get to where I want. The first drop doesn’t do much except make him wary of more drops. A second larger drop still doesn’t do the job and this time Tanks are in play. Adding a few Marauders, just as I am doing a third drop, he drops me. However, my forces were larger and heavily upgraded; able to whittle his base down faster than he can that he decides to call in the ‘gg’ with a ‘wp’.
After my SEACL, rezyn congratulates me and says the build order I used was interesting. He decides to use it during a ladder game with good effect. I am glad I showed someone something new and effective. After all, T5 isn't just about glory, its also about improving and going the distance
Summary? 22 - 15 in Season 6 for the Week 5 of the new season for me plus 2 games from SEACL T5. Good week. This week I felt really comfortable though it looks like my macro could use some refining. Special shout out to rezyn for being a baller for postponing our game as well as my clanmates who were understanding and supportive of my situation. you guys . And this week was the first time I had an actual win over a player on ladder! Looking forward to next week. Any feedback on my replays are welcomed. See you guys next week
What Nemo said! This is my favourite blog entry just because you've played so many more games than in the others. You don't need to play 1000 games a day, but playing 3-6 each day for a week (with maybe a day off here and there) is definitely the way to improve. Less and you might not get any worse, and will probably have your good days where you seem better, but long term you want to have a steady stream of games to improve over. I can't wait to watch the replays after work tonight
The fact that you're hitting plat opponents means that you are VERY close to promotion. If you beat the first plat MMR player you come across, chances are you will go straight to gold with a high placement (happened to me bronze to silver and silver to gold). Don't sweat it if you don't beat them though - they are 2 leagues above after all.
Notes as I go (without watching reps):
Game 1 - banshees are a bit funny in TvZ. I personally restrict them to 2 roles - all-ins, and support for mech armies when you get scouted and opponent goes mass roach. They are so gas heavy like you said.
Game 2 - Yep, gotta say you should practice new and crazy things in a custom, even if vs AI at least once before taking it to the ladder, on ladder focus on refining your execution rather than expanding your quantity of builds
Game 3 - Standard
Game 4 - Nicely scouted, want to see the replay!
Game 5 - Works in TvT nicely (especially with proxy marauders), but it's a bit cheesier (the reason it works so well in TvP is that trading works in the favour of Terran that early in the game - in TvT it doesn't (but does favour the player with the better macro) so you want to do a lot more damage. Consider going double tech lab and making 2 marauders at a time. Reapers are dangerous to use at low level because of the lack of control. Good job punishing him for the choice.
Game 6 - I'll stream a look at this replay for you if you like
Game 7 - The advantage of that kind of early aggression is that you're in a strong position with a lot of fast units. Just go home, expand, get some upgrades (I would go fast stim when leaning on a heavy marauder element), and just enjoy maxing out a bio army really fast.
Game 8 - I'll stream this one too - I'll help you refine that timing.
Game 9 - I want to watch this badly - keen to see how you are with drops!
Game 10 - Sounds like good decision making. I'm keen to see what you did after you went home (did you expand, did you get fast medivacs, did you get combat shield up etc). Sounds like it went quite standard, and yes storms are a pain to deal with.
Game 11 - Good job
Game 12 - Standard
Game 13 - Nice! Sounds about right in a siege situation. The person who gets impatient and attacks loses :P
Games 14 & 15 are tournament play so I'll brush them off... for now...
hahaha XD just too much free time :P Its a good thing I have good teachers in school or else I wouldnt be able to play this many games :P
Quote:
Originally Posted by breadfan
breadfan's comment (its quite long and if I quote it itll make this post super long lookin :/)
thanks though, you don't have to stream the replays you mentioned cause its really just bad decision making and macro. And Game 9's drop micro was just picking all my stuff up quickly as the Banes come rolling in and dropping em 1 by one and far apart on top of em till he runs out of resources :P Game 10 was horrid. Had map control and yet wasn't able to control the game D:
Game 13 is the one that I'd like you to look at. Two factors favoured me in that game, my macro and my opponent's macro. Though, when I look at the statistics, I lost alot of things and workers :/
And you gonna leave Game 14 and 15 alone...for now? o_O?
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NA - ThePandarine.180 :: SEA - ThePandarine.180
Proud to be Nunquam redono, nunquam deditionem
hey panda, i got an idea
when you give a summary, tell us what map it is on, so people (me) who cant watch replay can make a bit more sense of it
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' - is for Boxer - is for Idra - is for I have no self respect'
the great ToRZorba hating on chargelot/archon Previous known as ToRBobby
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