[lolwut]

TY Apth. Here is my replay. http://www.sc2sea.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=502

[Nemo]

Originally Posted by lolwut

TY Apth. Here is my replay. http://www.sc2sea.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=502

vs and lolwut is . That's one for you then Apth.

[Apth]

Originally Posted by lolwut

TY Apth. Here is my replay. http://www.sc2sea.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=502

Overview
You indicated you're having problems with late game ZvP. What you should keep in mind - and this applies to all matchups - is that how you get to the lategame can often be what the problem is, rather than what actually happens during the later stages of the game. I think this game is a good example of this.

Things I Liked
You kept his expo's scouted. Not enough players do this. For awhile now the only thing I've been working on is consistently having ling scouts at all the expos. It helps immensely. Nice work.

Earlygame - FFE Response
The first thing I noticed was your reaction to his FFE - or in this case, a lack thereof. As a Zerg player, in most situations, you want to be a base up on your opponent. In most ZvPs you'll watch on IPL, GSL etc, you'll see one of two responses to FFE -

• A quick third (essentially a double expand), or
• Some kind of all-in/cheese/sexy Nydus rush (see Bboongbboongprime vs some Protoss scrub GSTL finals)

By not doing either of these things, you let your opponent cement an economic advantage with no opposition from you.

Earlygame - Tech Scouting
You had no vision of your opponents main base, and his tech, until 11min. This was a little terrifying for me; although you put down some blind spore crawlers, you actually had no idea what was coming out of his base.

While spore crawlers are the safe choice - they provide both detection and AA, covering Voids/Phoenix/DTs - you're Zerg. We don't play safe. We throw down hatcheries without any kind of protection, because we're freakin' baller.

Seriously though, you should be attempting to refine your play and trim any unnecessary expenditure from it - scouting will let you know if you need to put down spores or not. I find the 6-7 minute mark a good time to tech scout if you're facing off against FFE, the Grandmaster Manual or some clever folk will be able to elaborate more.

Midgame - Econ
Your econ wasn't great moving into the midgame for two reasons.

1) Your third was quite late. It came up around when you should have been thinking about a fourth, given a fast third as a response to FFE.

2) VoidRays took out your third, because you had no idea they were coming. Some extra Queens or a few Hydras would have taken care of that nicely. Refer to scouting above.

Lategame - Expansion Responses
You let your opponent expand without a response. Given you had no economic lead to speak of, you should have been thinking about denying the economic lead your opponent was trying to take. Nydus worms, baneling drops, roach drops, general harassment - all good things.

This is the same concept as the FFE response - your opponent is trying to take an economic advantage. Either deny it, or take an economic advantage yourself, thus nullifying his.

Lategame - Upgrades
At the end of the game, your opponent was on 3/1, and you were on 1/1 - no melee, no air. Your upgrades should have been a lot higher than this. While it didn't contribute too much to your loss, it will definitely matter in other matches. Upgrade early, upgrade often.

Lategame - Positioning
That first real engagement at 19minutes - your Brood Lords were way behind the rest of your army, attacking pylons.

Brood Lords are siege units. Think of them like tanks - you don't see Terran players wandering their marines around out of range of their tanks. Brood Lords force your opponent to either engage, or run the hell away - either way, you're dictating the terms and position of the engagement.

Positioning is critical in ZvP - you always, always, always need to attack the Protoss army from multiple angles. Brood Lords allow you to lure the Protoss army out of choke points and into open ground, where you can eat them. Nom nom, Protoss tears.

Overall
In short - you sat back and let your opponent get a deathball up, then got rolled. If you're going to be passive, make sure you have an economic lead. If you don't have an economic lead, you either need to take one, or take your opponents lead away from them. Attack, harass, whatever.

Don't forget to scout, don't forget your upgrades, but most importantly - get ahead, then get more ahead.

Hope that helps

Quick Comments

lolwut:

Thanks!

[lolwut]

Originally Posted by Apth

Overview
You indicated you're having problems with late game ZvP. What you should keep in mind - and this applies to all matchups - is that how you get to the lategame can often be what the problem is, rather than what actually happens during the later stages of the game. I think this game is a good example of this.

Things I Liked
You kept his expo's scouted. Not enough players do this. For awhile now the only thing I've been working on is consistently having ling scouts at all the expos. It helps immensely. Nice work.

Earlygame - FFE Response
The first thing I noticed was your reaction to his FFE - or in this case, a lack thereof. As a Zerg player, in most situations, you want to be a base up on your opponent. In most ZvPs you'll watch on IPL, GSL etc, you'll see one of two responses to FFE -

• A quick third (essentially a double expand), or
• Some kind of all-in/cheese/sexy Nydus rush (see Bboongbboongprime vs some Protoss scrub GSTL finals)

By not doing either of these things, you let your opponent cement an economic advantage with no opposition from you.

Earlygame - Tech Scouting
You had no vision of your opponents main base, and his tech, until 11min. This was a little terrifying for me; although you put down some blind spore crawlers, you actually had no idea what was coming out of his base.

While spore crawlers are the safe choice - they provide both detection and AA, covering Voids/Phoenix/DTs - you're Zerg. We don't play safe. We throw down hatcheries without any kind of protection, because we're freakin' baller.

Seriously though, you should be attempting to refine your play and trim any unnecessary expenditure from it - scouting will let you know if you need to put down spores or not. I find the 6-7 minute mark a good time to tech scout if you're facing off against FFE, the Grandmaster Manual or some clever folk will be able to elaborate more.

Midgame - Econ
Your econ wasn't great moving into the midgame for two reasons.

1) Your third was quite late. It came up around when you should have been thinking about a fourth, given a fast third as a response to FFE.

2) VoidRays took out your third, because you had no idea they were coming. Some extra Queens or a few Hydras would have taken care of that nicely. Refer to scouting above.

Lategame - Expansion Responses
You let your opponent expand without a response. Given you had no economic lead to speak of, you should have been thinking about denying the economic lead your opponent was trying to take. Nydus worms, baneling drops, roach drops, general harassment - all good things.

This is the same concept as the FFE response - your opponent is trying to take an economic advantage. Either deny it, or take an economic advantage yourself, thus nullifying his.

Lategame - Upgrades
At the end of the game, your opponent was on 3/1, and you were on 1/1 - no melee, no air. Your upgrades should have been a lot higher than this. While it didn't contribute too much to your loss, it will definitely matter in other matches. Upgrade early, upgrade often.

Lategame - Positioning
That first real engagement at 19minutes - your Brood Lords were way behind the rest of your army, attacking pylons.

Brood Lords are siege units. Think of them like tanks - you don't see Terran players wandering their marines around out of range of their tanks. Brood Lords force your opponent to either engage, or run the hell away - either way, you're dictating the terms and position of the engagement.

Positioning is critical in ZvP - you always, always, always need to attack the Protoss army from multiple angles. Brood Lords allow you to lure the Protoss army out of choke points and into open ground, where you can eat them. Nom nom, Protoss tears.

Overall
In short - you sat back and let your opponent get a deathball up, then got rolled. If you're going to be passive, make sure you have an economic lead. If you don't have an economic lead, you either need to take one, or take your opponents lead away from them. Attack, harass, whatever.

Don't forget to scout, don't forget your upgrades, but most importantly - get ahead, then get more ahead.

Hope that helps

Thanks Apth for a very informative review of my replay. I hope it will improve my gameplay in the future TYTY