[PiG]

I realise this is a bit outdated now, but most people on SEA I've spoken to didn't seem to be familiar with Losira style ZvT. So hopefully this is enlightening:


I recently had a ZvT crisis where I just got sick of being unable to beat harass into 2 base push plays with my standard style.

I was investing heavily in gas reasonably early to get a fast lair so i could scout wtf was going on in that marine guarded terran blackspace which could have 3 orbitals or 2 ports hiding in it. But BAM T would harass and force lings or ling/bane when my mineral count already was on the backfoot and the follow-up push would just roll through my low muta count and paltry ground army.

So i was like FK TERRAN CANT SCOUT U BASTARDS I WANT TO EAT YOUR BABIES!!!

But then i rememberd that Losira was sooo awesome to watch the way he played zvt and i rememberd the inspiration i felt watching last season's code A finals. But i was like... doesn't he just do a normal build and transition into 500 BILLION BANELINGS?

Well I went back and watched the games:
http://www.gomtv.net/2011gslsponsors2/vod/62599
http://www.gomtv.net/2011gslsponsors2/vod/61938

And read up what people had said about it and found this: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/view...opic_id=210469

This article is a beautiful summary of Losira's late gase builds overdroning 2 bases hard while sitting on hatch tech and getting roach warren and bane nest up so that you can stop any ground play before teching up and taking your 3rd.

Losira uses a relatively small number of roaches normally simply to absorb damage and tank shots and just MASSES of banelings. He doesn't trade very cost efficiently but it doesn't matter because, whilst he takes a 3rd, any terran pressure is INSTANTLY cleaned up. Rather than wasting 2-3 minutes cleaning up a staggered tank push, Losira is out on the map rolling them up as they move out. He often takes a 4th quite fast and drones his 3rd up VERY quickly. Macro hatches also are useful.

From here you can go infestor when faced with Marine-Tank compositions however atleast a small force of mutas is always amazing for map control and denying drops. It's just important not to say "Yay i have infestor/muta lets just get a few banelings with our army now and spend our gas on that". NO U SHITHEADS!. You still want that mass of banelings to fk shit up while u get ahead in econ. Only in the uber-lategame do u want to consider heavily investing your gas in higher tech.

So anyway what's this weak to and how do you respond?

Banshees: If someone goes 1 port then meh its fine u get an extra queen and build a spore or two. Your gunna be ahead in econ enough to afford some spores.
If faced with a 2 port you might need to go overboard on spores and queens while waiting for hydra/muta tech. I personally favour hydra tech unless the 2 port is really fail. 6 banshees absolutely pown 4 queens, even with transfuse, and spire takes 2 long to build.

Drop play: The lack of any early anti-air makes drops a pain in the ass, and can deny your 3rd. Early 3rd queen and good creep spread mean queens and your ground army can defend from this play, so with good control and not getting distracted from macro you will be fine.

25 Seige tanks: Holy shit yes, your banelings will get owned unless your opponent suddenly gets a HERNIA IN HIS BRAIN and moves out his tanks in a ball, unseiged.
This is why with this play you HAVE to keep the tank count down. If you see 3 factory 2 base turtle mech, dont keep building banelings. Sure Losira made it work in GSL cos some terran did the retard unseiged-ball move out. BUT THAT WAS LUCK. SKILL DOESNT MAKE BANELINGS BEAT MECH.

Nonetheless This build allows you to get a strong econ going very fast. You can intantly build roaches to counter helion openers and if they are meching that heavily BAM take 2 extra hatcheries.

Standard openers into a fast 3rd with defensive 2fact tank play is very strong against this. In these cases you want to be gauging your opponents production and scouting constantly the natural to see that 3rd CC going up. Also if you see a gap in the defenses go trade armies, you NEED to keep the tank count low. If the T is very solid and just defends perfectly and takes this fast 3rd, well you need to have scouted that CC early so u can take 4 bases and drone hard for a while. Either way though this play is very hard to beat as you're investing in alot of units early which you can't use. But you know what? IT DOESN'T MATTER BLAH!! WHY?

Because: If a terran is turtling on 2 base, only scouting through scans, then he will lose to the 90% of zergs that drone aggressively and get very fast 3rd base + mutas. Even if he scouts your slow lair tech, by turtling he is putting the ball into your court, which most GOOD Terran PLAYERS will NOT be willing to do. So yeah, keep your units high, and when he moves out catach him out of position and crush him, or keep some larvae banked to build a defensive army.

So yeah... it's somewhat playing the meta-game, but if you learn to read the terran's play then you will be able to dictate the pace of the game. It's a fkn solid build. Get crackin my fellow zergies.