[nirvAnA]

ZvT - Getting a fast third TtPiG!

As part of our updating of our Starcraft 2 Guide: The Grandmaster Manual, the Zerg section has been updated with 4 relevant strategies played in today's game. As you know, our Zerg section was written by the legendary mOOnGLaDe and recently crowned ACL Melbourne champion PiG. These 4 new articles were written by PiG shortly before ACL and as always, some of the content will be shared for everyone to see so players can learn and also get an idea on what the guide is about. Check out the ZvT walkthrough build order below!

For players masters and below, you can subscribe to our sc2 guide which has a package that comes with one free hour of coaching with a TGM coach of your choice. As the guide focuses on building a very strong foundation complete with walk through builds, it allows you to develop your skillset to a high level on your own before your coach spots the little gaps in your play - so that would the most beneficial package recommended. For high masters / grandmasters however, it is advised to get coaching packages directly from coaches and for zergs interested you can find out more on how to get coaching from PiG below.

TtPiG.464

+ [More About PiG & his coaching] +

PiG first started out honing his skills in NA and made a name for himself after taking #3 in a NA ESL Go4Sc2 Monthly Invitational. He soon followed that with strong lan performances including winning a City Hunter Charity Tournament in Sydney. He has also done well in online SEA competitions, finishing high in community opens and all killing teams in the KOF. His breakthrough even however was in the ESL finals to guangzhou, which he won by defeating fellow TGM coach GLaDe in the grand finals. From that moment he secured himself as one of the true top players on the SEA server, basically placing high or winning many high profile tournaments since then. His latest win was taking down ACL Melbourne which had all the absolute best players in Australia playing, show great composure too, coming back from 0-1 down in the loser bracket twice to comeback and win it - cementing himself as one of the absolute best players in Australia.

Apart from SC2, PiG is an avid writer who's studying humanities at university and he likes spending time connecting dOts.


Server Access: SEA, NA and KR
Hourly fee: $25/hour AUD

Package Offer:
I offer extra lesson time to my new students for the first lesson, and for all lessons if they book four lessons in advance:

Extra lesson time, usually running between 10-15 minutes extra.

E-mail: jkrensel@hotmail.com
Skype: jared.krensel

+ [Accomplishments:] +

1st Respawn LAN April 2012 (Zerg) -$200
1st City Hunter's Starcraft II Kingston Comp #3 January 2012 (Zerg) -$250
1st City Hunter Charity Tournament March 2011 (Zerg) -$250 worth prizes
1st AusCraft2 Down Under Derby #3 September 2011(Zerg) -$100
1st Brisbane WCG Qualifier September 2011 (Zerg)
1st in ESL Go4SC2 IEM GZ SC2 Qualifier #3 September 2011 (Zerg)
1st ESL Go4SC2 IEM GZ SC2 Finals Qualfier tournament September 2011 (Zerg)
1st sc2sea.com’s Community Open #51 March 2011 (Zerg) -$25
1st sc2sea.com’s Community Open #54 April 2011 (Zerg) -$25
1st SEACL (clan aLt ace) Season 2 March 2012 (Zerg) -$100
1st Winter Night's Weekly #11 -$40
2nd PokerStrategy Eve Cup #1 May 2012 (Zerg) -$100
2nd City Hunter's Starcraft II Kingston and ROG Comp February 2012 (Zerg) -$125
2nd in ESL Go4SC2 Cup#31 September 2011 (Zerg)
2nd in sc2sea.com’s Community Open #12 February 2011 (Zerg)
2nd in sc2sea.com's Community Open #17 May 2011 (Zerg)
2nd in sc2sea.com's Community Open #22 June 2011 (Zerg)
2nd in sc2sea.com's Community Open #52 January 2012 (Zerg)
2nd in Z33k Random Race Tournament #3 March 2011 (Random) -$5
2nd in Empirisoft Aus-1 1v1 Open January-May (Zerg) -$5
2nd in SEA Starleague Code A Qualifier
2nd Australian Proleague December 2011 (Zerg) - $300
2nd Community Open #48 December 2011 (Zerg)
3rd SEASL Season 2 May 2012 (Zerg) -$100 May 2012 (Zerg)
3rd ACL PRO Gold Coast Nationals January 2012 (Zerg) -$250
3rd ACL PRO Sydney Nationals April 2012 (Zerg) -$250
3rd IEM Kiev SEA Qualifier December 2011 (Zerg)
3rd Cityhunter Kingston Comp #2 November 2011 (Zerg) -$50
3rd Australian WCG National Finals October 2011 (Zerg)
3rd-4th in sc2sea.com's iMaster of SEA #2 March 2011 (Zerg)
3rd in Sc2sea.com's Master's Cup #9 October 2011 (Zerg) -$20
3rd in Sc2sea.com's Master's Cup #13 February 2012 (Zerg) -$52
4th in Sc2sea.com's Master's Cup #15 April 2012 (Zerg) -$30
3rd-4th in Z33k Random Race Tournament #2 March 2011 (Random)
3rd-4th in North American Solo League Tournament #7 January 2011 (Zerg)
3rd-4th in Comon Gaming Cafe Tournament #2 April 2011 (Protoss)
3rd-4th in 3 ESL (NA) Go4sc2 Weekly Cups (6/2/2011, 9/2/2011, 21/2/2011) (Zerg)
3rd-4th in ESL(NA) February Monthly Invitational Finals March 2011 (Zerg)
Committed two all-kills in KOF #3 May 13th 2011
Represented SEA at IEM Guangzhou October 2011 (Zerg) -$600

PiG v HuK (February 2012):

You Tube

You Tube

I often stream coaching (www.twitch.tv/ttpig) as long as the student is comfortable with it, and save the VODs so they can rewatch:

• Intro Mechanics lesson on hotkeys, injecting, macro and info on holding 2-rax (Ends around 1:15:00): http://www.twitch.tv/ttpig/b/291669769
• ZvZ Platinum Roach-infestor positioning micro and +1 timing attack (starts at 5:00): http://www.twitch.tv/ttpig/b/291607122

• ZvP Master level roachstyle coaching: http://www.twitch.tv/ttpig/b/291546292

+ [Coaching outline over 1 hour:] +

Before the lesson even starts: I get replays from my students and watch them. I also have a quick chat asking the problems my students think they're having and what they want to improve on. From this I gauge their skill level, where and what to focus on. I will check that my student is performing their basic mechanics and openers correctly.

Coaching outline over 1 hour (For a student who wants general improvement): I start from the basic level ensuring all my students really UNDERSTAND how to build their economy in a safe and efficient way and how to control their units and structures effectively. We start around perfecting safe openers for each matchup , including how to react to your opponent and exactly how to deal with all the popular forms of aggression. We will practice against a friend or myself and make sure that there is an understanding of how to defend just about anything whilst building economy.

For higher level players or players whos problems are much more focused around decision making, positioning and micro, I give much more specialised lessons. These are also based on what you have problems with and what I see in replays you provide.

Some students feel they can learn macro on their own and would rather focus on aggressive tactics and want to learn some new cheese and timing attacks. For this I have a variety of techniques and cheese builds which we will run through against friends of the students or myself until you are capable of inducing nerd-rage all across ladder.

+ [Testimonials:] +

Jack 'Audacity' McClatchey – Platinum to Diamond
Audacity.764

"Jared 'altPig' is the most amazing starcraft player and manly man you will ever meet. After a mere 3.6 seconds of tutoring I was #2 grandmasters (second only to the man himself) while Idra, Sen and Nestea pestered me for builds and practise. Shortly after my lesson's conclusion, I looked down to discover I had grown a full beard. The only thing I would criticize was the breaks in which aLtPig would plug in a new keyboard, having set fire to the previous one with his furious apm."

Lolz aside, he wrote a serious one as well:

"Jared “aLtPiG” is a great teacher, far better than I expected. He is very easy to work with and provides great overall help on any part of play that you might have trouble on. Information that helps in the long run such as the analysis of replays is also covered. If you are thinking about having lessons with aLtPiG I would greatly recommend it, I believe he was the main factor in my promotion to the diamond league."

Josh 'Volition' Davenport – Gold to Platinum
Volition.893

"I joined PiG as a lowly gold zerg, having played terran previously. Before we started, PiG took the time to ask the way I wanted to play, what I believed were my strengths and weaknesses and the parts of the game with which I personally struggle. With this information, in conjunction with my replays, PiG was able to teach me builds that fit with my mid and late game styles. However, the lesson did not just involve the memorisation of builds - it also involved information, lots and lots of information. PiG isn't one of these coaches that will try to change your playstyle so that it is exactly like the way he plays - and the training is better for it as the solutions/builds he presents are possible for you to execute. The lessons are structured with lots of notes, mostly typed by PiG. Make sure you save them to your pc - I still refer to mine when I am struggling with a matchup.

One of the things i have noticed during my time being taught by PiG is that he is very specific, whether that be in instructions, timings or playstyle. Everything he does and teaches seems to be done for a reason, and those reasons are explained thoroughly. I come away from each lesson feeling like I have gained a greater understanding of the zerg race, and with a greater knowledge of the game in general. With greater knowledge and understanding, the game becomes more and more interesting as you start to see things you would have previously overlooked.

While there is no guarantee lessons with PiG will get you promoted or rank 1 in your division. I have, however, been promoted since starting my lessons (to a lowly plat player). However, becomming a better player is only part of the benefit of obtaining coaching from PiG - I find I want to play more and understand why I am winning or losing. Add to this that he is always online to answer questions, it is extremely good value for the hourly fee.

I have no problems in recommending coaching from PiG, and I have lined up more lessons in the future. If you have any questions and are too shy to approach the man himself (dont be, he is nice), do not hesitate to shoot me your questions."


Frank 'Sangyerians' Li - GM to winning a laptop!
sangyerians.287
KayZ.154

"When you get training from PiG, you definitely get value for money. PiG played practice games with a friend of mine before a big LAN tournament and helped him win first place (Kayz winner of Cityhunter Anniversary Festival Silver division, won a laptop!). If that’s not a direct correlation between PiG’s coaching and success, I don’t know what is.

Not only is PiG a great coach, strategist and general SC2 connoisseur, but the reason I chose him above others is because he is an all round good person. What sets PiG apart other coaches is that not only is he a fantastic player, but I realised that he is a great guy from the posts and contributions he makes to UNSW/USYD StarSoc (shameless plug) amongst other mutual forums we frequented.

I had the pleasure of meeting with PiG in person and chatting with him and you could not meet a nicer person if you tried. No really, don’t even bother. His mentality and focus on helping the student become better and to, above all, have fun embodies his love for the game and ability to convey his vast knowledge of the game to any level of player. Patient with those who need it and efficient with those who prefer it, you can try and find a zerg coach who not only has value for money (not that that’s important, PiG is worth every penny) and is friendly, approachable, knowledgeable, skilled and above all, humble in his teachings, as PiG is. A+++ would buy again."

Steve 'FaDeEveTs' Hunt - Master to Grandmaster
fadeevets.153

About 4 weeks ago i was a mid-high masters player and had my first lesson with pig.

He went over some macro mechanics, taught me the exact amount of drones to make and how to tell, and also provided me with a new and more solid hotkey setup (previously i was using the backspace method, which is easy for laziness and makes you feel pro, but trust me when you get used to pig's method it's much better). Jared really cleaned up my macro and polished some edges in my play, including army positioning and use, i went off to ladder and practice for a few weeks. After feeling more confident in TvZ which is the matchup we covered, i came back to pig and went over a solid roach playstyle for ZvP, mere days after the session i was consistantly beating protosses such as pRoRenson on ladder ( )

So yep, now that GM has been unlocked i've slid right into GM and am currently around the 70th mark, which is much higher than i would've achieved without pigs help. Considering pig is also considerably cheap for the level of play that he is at, i would honestly recommend him to any zergs who want some help in any aspects of their play. GLHF!

Nicholas 'TTneKo' Fane - Low Diamond to Grandmasters
TTneko.131

I came to sc2sea looking for coaching about late september (I hit GM 1/11/11) I remember looking through all the Zerg coaches, seeing all the prices and thinking, well I'll guess I see how a cheap one goes. So I saw PiG for 20$ and I pmed him straight away about it, and to be quite frank, I didn't really expect much from him

I was completely wrong. Our first lesson really wasn't about a "stupid build I lost to" or just some yeah make a bunch of drones and units. PiG and I got into a game, and went over everything I wasn't expecting to be taught. Not only did he go through the mechanics of Zerg and how to play "efficiently" He pointed out a few major flaws I didn't realise myself, and quickly fixed them with extremely simple tips, and not only that, I payed for 1 hour of coaching and got 1hour 45 minutes in my first lesson. With only 2 lessons I went from being a low diamond that just does whatever every game, to a player going 15-2 on the ladder daily against people who were way above my level.

To put it one way, PiG not only taught me builds, he really taught me about Starcraft. Timings, mechanics, tips, how to read an opponent and everything you can think of, I learned from him.

I have and always will recommend PiG to any aspiring Zerg player as he is not only an incredible player, but he is an amazing human being. he's never hesitant to help me over Skype with any problems and what I find truly amazing, is he treats me and everybody with respect, even when I was a shitty low diamond player he never talked down to me or treated me as anything other than a friend.

I'd personally like to thank Jared for everything he has done for me in Starcraft, I know I would have never been at the level I am playing at, or even what level I'm about to step up and play at if it weren't for him I wish him all the best in his future of Starcraft and hopefully one day, I'll be able to play against him in a tournament

If you want the best, there is no other way to put it. Jared "Ttpig" Krensel IS the best

PM PiG for coaching right here

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Update 1: ZvT Taking an early third:

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+ Show +

An advanced build where you focus on securing an early third base against macro style terrans.

The Build Order

This is a rough guideline against the standard 1 rax expansion terran opening.

Food	What to build
9	Overlord
15	Hatch
15	Pool
17	Overlord
17	Extractor
18	Hatch finishes
26	OL
26	3rd Queen
30	Research ling speed, pull drones off gas (About 4.50mins)
44	Third hatch (About 6.20)
46	Roach Warren at natural, second gas, put drones back on 1st gas
7:00+	Evos for melee and carapace ups, 3rd and 4th gas
70ish	Macro hatch in main (About 8.10) followed by Lair (8.30) and second evo

Always use building positions to your advantage! The roach warren building placement helps deny hellion runbys.

Idea behind the build:

This build is advanced because it requires you to know how to react to different things terran can do early game, and the early ling speed is important in dealing with any possible threats. It is especially good vs macro terrans as it allows you to maintain an extra base up on the terran quickly and cannot be stopped by any early game timings from expanding terrans. Versus expanding terrans you will be able to drone up comfortably before even the earliest timing attacks, as you will see in the replays that follow.

Replays:

PiG vs iaguz1 - A common all in timing off 2 bases is a hellion / mm combination which is dealt with easily with a pure roach army with good flanking.



Situational Reactions

• Get a Spine crawler after 3rd queen if they open with a gas
• If they go hellions very quickly (coming across the map at 5:00, immediately go hide a drone at the 3rd base).
• Against terrans who go CC before rax, they will be unable to do anything to you and you can expand at your third even earlier, at the 4.45min mark.

Early Game Notes:

• Get 3rd queen immediately, a 4th queen is recommended.
• 2nd gas 6:00+
• About 5 roaches to defend natural and 3rd + hold tower.
• Overlord sacrifice 6:45
• Drone super hard until at least 8 drones at 3rd, main and natural saturated then pump zerglings and add gases once you have that level of saturation
• Add macro hatch, lair and bane nest when you can afford it.

In the midgame there are two main paths you can take:

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Method 1: Going straight to infestors.

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Advantages: Faster infestor energy and easier transition to broods! If you get them fast enough you can skip banes entirely!

This opens the zerg to go tier3 faster, and gives you a powerful defense with fungal growth. Zergling/Infestor is great against marine/tank play, and gives you the ability to stop any kind of harrass dead in it’s tracks. Note- this requires good infestor micro, as they are fragile and fungal can be tricky to use.

Infestor play, is basically defensive cost effective play, until you reach a tier3 tech, whether it be ultralisks or brood lords. Taking extra bases slowly while deflecting any kind of attack using neural parasite and fungal growth. Infestors mix very well with brood lords and ultralisks, as fungal holding the enemy in place will result in safe brood lords, or ultras killing everything in melee.

Weakness: Your ling numbers are low so you have to be SPOT on with defending drops and splitting your army just right so you don't leave your main army too weak. You also can't take a 4th and 5th safely for a while.

Replay:
PiG vs iaguz2 - skipping of banes straight into ling infestor versus m&m play.

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Method 2: Going straight to 5-6 base on a very low gas (2-3 geysers) with an insanely scary ling army!

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Advantage: You get a huge number of bases very fast and great map control. Often Terran are aggressive and will attack into you allowing your massive mineral army to trade effectively
Weakness: Your infestor and broodlord transition is delayed a lot so you want to find ways to be aggressive, an extremely defensive terran can be very cost efficient. You need banelings or big marine-tank balls can decimate lings.

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Update 2 ZvT - Defending against early bunker rushes

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Available to members here!

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Update 3 ZvZ - Opening pool-gas-hatch

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Available to members here!

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Update 4 ZvP - Playing against 1 gate FE play

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Quick Comments

	breadfan:	Zerg don't need any help vs terran thanks
	ToRVenom:	@Breadfan... sure they do ... medivacs op