[PiG]

10 ladder games Featuring PiG!

As part of our "constantly updated" feature in The Grandmaster Manual, every week we will try to add new valuable content that will enhance our subscribers experience. This week is the first in series of analysis by chosen Grandmaster Guest Pros / Coaches who go through 10 Ladder Games of their wins/losses from their perspective. The first week will feature sc2sea Coach PiG's 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 subscribing! This is a new series and we hope everyone here will enjoy the new releases from our coaches/guest pros each week!

Players interested in PiG's coaching can PM him here. He currently offers the "lowest rate on SEA!"

#1 PiG (Z) vs Strafe(T)

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My thought process in the game:
Ok so we spawned close-spots and my unusual overlord scouting pattern revealed his proxy 2rax. I scout this way on shattered and metalopolis (Zvp and ZvT only of course) simply because I hate my hatchery getting blocked or letting proxy/2rax players know where I am. If i scout close air spots it's standard for the opponent to send an scv to the edge of their base to check for scouting ovies and bam, they know exactly where you are.

So seeing 1 half-finished rax and 1 only just startng I sent 4 drones from my base along with my scouting drone to harass and hopefully force them both to cancel and my opponent to be COMPLETELY screwed. Both these rax are being built on 11 supply so Strafe is actually cutting scvs at home to get them up so fast, if i delay them, he's infinitely behind.

Deciding to hopefully get a fast win i go gas first to get speedling map domination ASAP. non-speed lings will lose to 1/4 their number of marines if the marines are micro'd correctly and you're off creep, and losing map control is never where i want to be vs terran.

So anyway his silly wallin at the bottom of my ramp is actually one of the most annoying things to deal with, but i know his economy is already screwed and my ovie saw his rax lifting off so i kno theres only 1-2 marines in the bunker, nonetheless I decide to wait for banelings.

I wanted to take a shot at his main but i dint want to overcommit, my bane bust killed 2 supply depots +1 bunker (good trade for 6 banes) but the wall was still intact. So I decided to take the gold to get ahead. I knew i wasn't behind because he'd done an uneconomical opener that failed to damage my economy, followed by an investment of heaps more minerals blocking my ramp and even more to defend his base.

From here Strafe had the common option of going helions and hoping i have no counter, or getting a CC and opting for a normal game. My ovie sac sees everything so i drone up a bit more and get roaches to be safe from helions. I made the mistake of not leaving roaches in my mineral lines after shutting down the first helions and lost a hell of alot of drones, but it didn't matter because I'd already geared up alot of units and just broke his natural forcing him out.

Essentially my unorthodox ovie scouting pattern and pulling drones gave me an epic advantage from where i just needed to play unit-heavy to not die to any all-in type of move such as the 1 base helion play.

Game Rating: 5
Game Duration: 16:20
Replay: Download Replay!

#2 PiG (Z) vs SoulAah(P)

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My thought process in the game:
On scrap station seeing 1 base play with gateway on top of ramp, and getting my 16 hatch down unblocked makes me happy . if he 3 gate expands then I'm way ahead as his timing attacks take forever to cross the map. I only really need to worry about 1 base plays.

My 2 lings see his stargate, but I want to double check so i send in an ovie and it sees the stargate cancel and 2 more gateways going up. Either this guy is doing the LATEST 3 gate expand ever, or hes doing a late 4-5gate push hoping to catch me off guard. Unfortunately I didn't really take into account how late it was in the game for an expand and so didn't react as hard and fast as I should have. I built an extra 5 or so drones i shouldnt have and started spamming spines while i wait for my hydra den.

In hindsight i should have put the spines on the top of the ramp and to the left of it creating a nice concave, and then just readjusted some if he went for the backdoor rocks, either way it would have bought precious seconds.

Also I should have pulled the drones from my natural and queen to buffer my spines longer as if they survived till i had 7-8 hydras with them i would have been unbreakable. as it was the +1 hydras were dropping too fast and weren't getting time to group up so he forced almost every drone off the line and knocked me down to 13 harvesters under his 24.

BUT NEVER GIVE UP!

He was SO all-in and his money was drying up as well, I could see his expo wasnt down yet with my scouting ovie so i knew if i just held on i had a chance! I pushed out and clean up his pylon and after building a few more units I scouted with lings and saw he was way back on his side of the map! and without an expo i was like hellz yeah lets drone back up if he pushes again he'll take forever to get here. So i did that, up to equal harvesters 25-25 but i was still on 2 base and was now producing +1 hydras. I knew if i got a decent number of these up on creep then i could just micro them so zealots were useless, and i figured he would have next to no ff after losing all his sentries.

SoulaAh seemed too afraid to engage, then left some units behind for free kills. As I see him putting up his expo I decide to threaten a push through the rocks and see if he has few enough units to just kill him. I decide he has enough that hydras off creep wont be efficient so i keep droning up to max saturation and getting roaches + drops so that i can have complete map control and force him to play my game whilst i tech infestors. 3 overlords filled with hydras sit waiting for him to move out at his 2 bases. They drop and kill every probe and a nexus right as he attacks and i just carefully micro backwards as he storms and I keep landing fungals to soften him up.

His decisions: In hindsight he should have kept up the pressure after he killed so many drones so I didn't have time to utilise all my larvae to catch up so fast. If he kept forcing units a little longer I wouldn't have gotten as far ahead. It might not have won him the game but it was probably his best choice. Maybe he should have just forge fe on this map, I don't really know.

My decisions: Building drones after seeing what could only really point to a 5 gate push was just dumb. I reacted to late and then panicked a bit with my spine placement. Was lucky to win this one.

Game Rating: 8
Game Duration:21:25
Replay: Download Replay!

#3 PiG (Z) vs SoulAah(P)

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My thought process in the game:

I went hydra last game so lets get roaches. I dont like having my expo blocked on a map where the toss' expo is so safe, so i take a weird one which he doesnt see. I see chronoboost on warpgate and then scout 6gates with overseer so i know i dont need to use my hydra den just yet and just need to set up a burrow ambush, which i was already preparing for incase i scouted something like this. So i pump roaches and annihilate his army from underneath it. Pretty much gg right there.

I drone my 3rd and make sure he isnt expanding. Then he turtles till 200/200 so i get broods and another 2 bases. Easy win after killing his first push.

Roaches are good on this map! Wide open spaces mean ff isn't as effective so if the toss wants a 3rd they need to come out into the open and fight your swarm!

Game Rating: 5
Game Duration: 21:16
Replay: Download Replay!

#4 PiG (Z) vs TAsanchez(z)

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My thought process in the game:
Wow! A zerg who has the balls to do a safe opener! (14 gas 14 pool). We both scout each others speedling expos, a greedy build against 14 gas 14 pool as if your opponent goes ling bane with good control you simply won't have enough to hold and should really cancel the hatch if you see bane tech + no hatch from opponent. I scout his and realise i won't need to cancel or use magic baneling micro and so i get a banes nest immediately and start pumping lings. I subscribe to Jimdiddy's law of zvz: All-inning isnt really all-inning, because he has to match your all-in, with ATLEAST equal units or hes screwed.

And considering speedlings negate map distance you get very little defensive advantage. So I mass ling knowing if hes droned even 2-3 drones after his hatch he will probably just straight up lose. Turns out he has the same idea though so its a zergling brawl outside my nat. Ling positioning is actually pretty important in how they win battles and its pretty much like setting up a roach concave, just harder to keep them in position. I set up my concave perfectly and he attacks into it, so despite his 4 ling advantage, which normally would give him a HUGE advantage, we come out with me on 3 lings and him on 6.

w00t he screws up his ling bane micro and i pull ahead. HE squeezes in drones and then successfuly defends. I know i dont have good offensive bane micro and so this should only be pressure but i dont drone behind it, nor commit to the attack by rallying in units so now even tho i get 3 drone kills im still down 5 harvesters... I FINALLY start droning as i swap to roach as i go in for round 2 of bane pressure, hoping simply to use my good micro with small numbers to trade efficiently and make him forget injects/macro. Turns out well for me until i waste 1 bane on nothing and then decide to kill my weakened lings in his mineral line without getting a single drone kill.

The good news is i now have roach/bane, the scariest thing ling/bane can face. So i can atleast pressure with this and force more units while i drone up. He should see with his ovies that my pressure is fake (no reinforcements) but still builds alot of roaches and spines, letting me catchup in harvesters a little bit. I know im still probably behind so decide a hard +1 timing attack is probably my best shot, hoping sanchez went for 2 much tech all at once. I am up in harvesters so it isn't completely all-in, but i havent even started my lair so it does NEED to do damage.

The timing works out as his next rounds of roaches are popping just slightly too late so that his army evaporates too quickly. If i hit just 20 seconds later i would have lost for sure. If i cut 6-7 more drones and attacked earlier it would have been even more effective.

A decisive and well-executed attack won it for me from a bit of a disadvantageous position. Sanchez was getting pathoogen glands, burrow and roach speed and if infestors got out I woulda been screwed.

Game Rating: 7
Game Duration: 17:36
Replay: Download Replay!

#5 PiG (Z) vs LaoChampa(z)

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My thought process in the game:
What the hell it's a random player who I've never heard of? And on a 4 player map (Typhon peaks). Oh god why am I talking in bnet chat to people when I should be considering when to scout, what standard opener to do and such!? I should be focused on the game!

So I start to think: 9 scout seems ok, and I'll gamble on a hatch first. Unfortunately he's going for a 10 pool, and as i almost NEVER hatch first in zvz i decide to cancel it and go for 1 base play. I only lose 1 drone to the initial lings so that's fine but im already on tilt from playing a situation im not used to. he transitioned into 1 base roach play... ok so i should be able to take an expo as we're cross-map. I also should be droning but I stupidly make roaches... friggin on tilt dumb decisions. I see hes massing roaches so i figure its just a mongoloid 1 base tier 1 mass roach attack.

EXCEPT IT WAS ONLY 6 ROACHES! I already had 8, and yet i let this pressure make me build another 3. my drone count is retardedly low at this point. I scout lair with an ovie and am like ok its just speed + burrow roach build... something which is scary if you have such a shit econ position. This puts me further on tilt so i decide to be proactive and attack him but he cancels his hatch and pulls up his ramp.

So im like, 1 base vs 2... alright sweet position. Except for the fact that his 1 base has so many more drones its pulling in more income then both of mine... and he has some good tech, turns out hydras. Strange choice but good enough. I see his army and figure roaches beat hydra in a straight up fight and he wont have enough roaches to buffer them. It turns out i was so far behind it didnt matter as my roaches just popped instantly. GG.

Random players fk me up. I have no practice vs them. I was basically thinking i DO NOT want to do a speedling opener vs T. cos if he gets helion/banshee it fks the only way i know how to play tht style. I can make a hatch first build work vs Toss with some of my more Catzesque plays, and its what i want vs T. Unfortunately I guess i need to learn this opener vs Z. I probably could have kept my expo and just got a massive advantage right there. Ah well you win some you lose some..


Game Rating: 5
Game Duration: 14:43
Replay: Download Replay!

+ [Games 6 to 10] +

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#6 PiG (Z) vs nGenMafia(z)

#7 PiG (Z) vs nGenMafia(z)

#8 PiG (Z) vs nGenMafia(z)

#9 PiG (Z) vs tDpMaltiso(z)

#10 PiG (Z) vs Iaguz(T)

Players interested in PiG's coaching can PM him here.

Quick Comments

nirvAnA:

Loved the read :) Insane writing skills!!

[TAEdgE]

i'll snipe you if you want to do another ten

[NvJazBas]

"I subscribe to the law of zvz: All-inning isnt really all-inning, because he has to match your all-in, with ATLEAST equal units or hes screwed."

One of the best way to put ZvZ imo. So true.

[PiG]

Oh Jazbas I realise I didn't give credit where credit is due; aLtJimdiddy taught me the law of all-ins! Editing now so everyone knows where my knowledge really comes from! :P

[TAEdgE]

SEA zergs keeping together~