[TAEdgE]

Hello everyone! Cam here, or as most of you obviously know me as - EdgE.

I'm here to write for various reasons. I am bored, I can't sleep, but i thought it would be fun (considering how many games I played) to do a write up of the games I played upon my sudden return to Korea, allowing me to check the reps and find some things in the process.

As not too many of you may know, I have had computer problems for a long time, as well as ladder anxieties and neck problems popping up. I have done my fair share of playing, normally on my friends smurfs or even on my own account (getting top 8 GM last season), but the amount of practice i've put in for a while has been way less than adequate.

Basically the TL: DR - a lot of reasons and excuses to not practice.

Now here i am - a great few days coming up including new years eve, and then a new year. A new chapter. I was considering prolonging the extreme practice for the post-new year, but I had to fit some games in to shake off the 'ring rust.' I have a new computer in hand, rapigel in the other (neck gel - used for horses. My neck muscles resemble a horse, similar to Sarah Jessica Parker I guess ) and i am ready to get going!

I know personally I have the talent to showcase my skills in the pool of Zergs known as SEA. mOOnGLaDe, tgun, MaFia, PiG, EnDerr, Shuffle, Ninja, Pokerface.. the list goes on and on and ON. It is hard now, they all have months up on me but I believe personally now (FINALLY) that I have what it takes to not only match them but better them.. if not just for 1 tournament .

Anyway let's get into the games!

Note - for now, i'll be doing the first 5 games and this will not be the same as the '10 ladder games with deL, Jesse and yang' for example, it is just live reporting of my games if you will. Anyway here we go!

i step onto the dark, lonely and unforgiving street that is Korea. I suck up my pride and look to embrace the losses once again. Search has been selected and there is no looking back now.

GAME 1 - vs. High

+ [Map - Shattered Temple] +

Hey mate!

The game starts out with my Terran opponent spawning close air to yours truly. The courageous overlord walks into my opponents base and scouts a barracks and no gasses - but the marines are not moving out. Safety is felt for my return game. My Terran foe opts for a 1 Barracks Expand, shortly after taking his 2 gasses and going for reactored hellions. I opt for a style of ZvT i used to do but have changed slightly after watching Ret do something similar. This style is simply a fast 4 queen with a single spine. My spine is of course delayed due to the 1 Barracks expand, and i go for 2 base Mutalisk often with a macro hatch. I really want to drill home Mutalisk play and steer clear of any Infestor play for now.

Everything is going according to plan and my creep spread is looking luscious and simply heart-warming to any Zerg player out there (you know who you are.) My Terran counterpart has some devious and downright dickish moves planned. 2 Barracks complete with tech labs, and constant hellions are coming my way. He is not afraid to show off his abundance of hellions but the marauders are kept from knowledge. Soon, the marauders expose themselves and i'm in some shit, to put it bluntly.

'Where the **** are my mutas'

20 drones are lost in this attack which was very nicely timed, but I of course know my timings are just off and bad. My scouting needs improvement particularly - if I am this greedy with going mutas with no banes/upgrades or anything then crawlers are a good thing, especially on shattered close air. Anywayyyy as i try to recover my drone count (50 vs 45 after re-droning) I go for an attack which does not go as planned in any way - losing 5 Mutalisks for absolutely nothing. Right now I feel i made a mistake coming back to practice, but I at least know things can only get better from here.

My opponent and I decide it's time to build up. I sloppily lose Mutalisks for no good trades, and his army is growing exponentially strong while mine does not come close. Soon enough, the death push comes, and starts to walk onto my already pushed back creep.

'Hmm.. maybe if... the banes... lings surround' - the thoughts of a dead, hopeful zerg

I go in for the flank and make the best of a bad situation without baneling speed or an army advantage. The results show for themselves:

'Oh well my shit died' - the realisation of a Zerg player

Game 1 is done, but I am at least happy I had no computer lag the whole game (Internet is another story, but that managed well this game too!)

GAME 2 - vs. High

+ [Map - Taldarim Altar] +

Asshole

Game 2 begins and it's one of the greatest match ups in the game - ZvP on Tal'darim. -.- i thought. This thought was echoed due to the positions that i soon discovered.

My plan this game was really shitty, to suit my hatred of playing Protoss on this map. I was going to go for a really late third and get a fast macro hatch on 2 bases, and just use minimal attacking opportunities for my opponent as a psuedo-defence. I get up my upgrades, my lair and roach speed, 3 queens and I have map control. My forge-expanding friend has gone for some fun Stargate units this game. To be specific, he has 1 void ray joined by 5 phoenixes.

Along the way, I find numerous sneaky probes. One can only wonder what wonderful strategic plays this Protoss had planned, but unluckily for everyone wondering that I ruined his dreams of 2 base filled cheese.

Take a third

As he builds his air up, and adds on gateways, I add on the natural counter to Stargate units - Roaches. + 5 queens. **** the hydras. I go to take my 3rd for the 2nd time, and I am greeted by an incredibly imposing force of 4 zealots. My roaches dispose of the zealots, and the air is dealt with for now. Woo, a third and tech! Half way to victory

Roaches > Stargates

So some S + RRRRRRR action is on the menu for me for a few minutes, while he attempts to balance Collosus tech with adequate gateway numbers. The adversary now goes to take out the rocks, but is greeted by a game-ending surprise that sets up victory no matter what

Zergs know the joy of sentry slaughter

From then on I rally roaches for around 5 minutes (combined with some cute off creep queens) to finish my opponent off. The first collosus pops out to his death, and with that he GG's

1-1!

GAME 3 - vs. Low

+ [Map - Shattered Temple] +

If at first you don't succeed with Korean, keep typing Korean

I return to the battlefield of Shattered Temple and this time my opponent is Protoss, is cross map, and is stupid. I soon find out that this Protoss is this season... depressing if on any other server. My Protoss opposition opts for a 1 gate expand with a quick 2nd gas (unknown to me) while I opt for 14/14 expand, standard as standard can be. My variation has a twist though. Due to Shattered Temple being a bad map for a third, I over make lings early with the intention of killing the rocks to my 3rd. An added bonus is killing their expansion attempt if it is 1 gate, which happens.

Some nifty (completely standard) overlord scouting sees the expansion, and the lings soon pounce.

It went well until I went full-retard. I attack into 2 sentries and a stalker and find holes in his held positioned units, yet lose 14 lings for 0 units. My heart sank and potentially 6 drones are gone for just one cancelled expansion. Definitely not worth it.

Knowing shattered is nice for defending one choke for a while, I decide I want to go for Mutalisks. Suddenly, a thought came into my head. What if he's going DT? He got a 5:30 expansion off of 3 units, he still has 3 units (2 sentries), and a forge is going down (not gateways). Yeh DT's. Down goes the 6:30 Evo, in come the DT's and after some quick reaction time to my sloppy initial placement of a spore, the DT's are repelled.

**** you

I feel behind at this point, and the working count proves that. The initial lings really did put me behind, and i'm feeling that i need to keep those lings alive no matter what from now on if I do this strategy on this map.

The game goes on as usual and i take my 3rd as the gold in an attempt to catch up. Since I am being a bit of a douche and going Mutalisk, may as well keep it up and take the gold. I feel like such an ass right about now. I see he has minimal units for now, so I don't feel pressured, but I start getting greedy and trade 2 Mutalisks for 2 Sentries. Normally it's not the worst trade... if you have more than 7 Mutalisks. I soon discover he has more at his natural, so this was not worth it

I DID THE MATHEMATICS AND THIS IS WORTH IT, KOREAN OPPONENT

Feeling the heat, I decide to keep going Mutalisk while getting macro hatch going. I feel a Roach switch, or even Hydralisk, would have worked much better but I was stubborn and in STTTTTZZZZZZ mode while having fun microing. Soon enough, after taking enough Mutalisk damage, he wants to push out. At this point i've known it was a 2 base all in for a while but I have felt helpless to get enough units for it. I'm a stubborn **** T.T

Here's what kills my shit:

**** I really do suck some times !

Game over! 1-2. Decent start, not doing too flash but not 0-3 at least.

GAME 4 - vs. Mid

+ [Map - Shattered Temple] +

No words needed

Ahh, my best match up (at least on SEA, where there is no lag) and it's close air, so no surprises. Both of us go for a close to identical builds, but there are different paths chosen. My foe sends his drone to my natural, but I notice this quickly, and send my own second drone to help scare off the opposing drone. My hatchery goes down on 16 at 300 minerals, so no harm is done. A good start. My gas is faster than my opponents, but the pool timing is similar. This gives me a sort of defensive advantage in that the threat of faster banelings is there, so he is more likely to be on the defensive which he indeed was.

Mine is 70% done, as my amazing editing skills are trying to show

We are both building up, and i have made half the lings yet have banelings for defence already. Due to this, my drone count skyrockets to 10 more than my opponent. Life is going according to plan. Some skirmishes occur and I get the good end, until this happens...

WHAT THE ******* SHIT I WAS DOING So WELL!

Yeh, we've all had that moment. Rage and all-in ZvZ moments occur a lot, and are often passed off as 'calculated timings'. No, i'm angry. I actually know that lead that I lost (and in panic, made 14 lings during) means i'm eternally behind in drone count with no means to counter pressure effectively. I take my 2nd gas, don't want a lair, and i have my roach warren. No +1, no bullshit, just roaches, and banelings. That's what i want. I build up a sizeable force of roaches (15~) and go for it. Banelings are morphed, and zerglings follow. The fight initiates and his banes (5) defeat my banes (10), leaving 3 of mine left, which barely scratches the other zergs roaches. Drones are pulled, and he does this on both attacks from me and I think it was very wise by him to secure the game. It looks like i'm doing alright, but he has the tech advantage and most likely more drones (and even a 3rd!) behind this so i give up all hope and tap out.

I saw this coming, don't be heart broken guys

So I am now 1-3, and it does not get any better yet. Sad, sad panda.

GAME 5 - vs. Low

+ [Map - Metalopolis] +

Lovely conversation with a Korean. Get a fair few of these

My personal favourite ladder map (actually being overtaken slowly by Shakuras, simply because my win-rate is highest on Shakuras for whatever reason) and another ZvZ. Awesome! Let's better my last game!

I felt this game was going to be a good momentum-setter for my next few games. I opted to go for a hatch first, and I am.. for lack of a better term ******* terrible at moving my overlords to scout his expansion, so I am playing blind. In the dark. Eventually I see he has no expansion, and this is what he is planning

Dick

And before that, he smartly puts down this

Head

I pull a lot of drones for the crawler alone, and I actually feel dead already (forgot an Overlord, build completely fucked). We struggle back and forth and he picks off some free drones. He isn't morphing banelings, but he has no expansion. I'm expecting the huge huge baneling morph and click the mineral line style that was popularised by no one and i'm talking out my ass. Anyway, that's what i expected and I got that. Here is an example of 1. Shit latency and 2. Shit brain (mine)

Well, I just don't want to play any more!

From there, banes kill everything and i tap out. 1-4 is the score.

Ok, and here we are at the half way point and i'm ready to complete this edition of 10 Ladder games!
Some interesting developments have occurred. I can now STREAM! Thanks very much to TAdippa, as well as TARogue for doing some of the artwork for my stream. I will look to stream more next year than in the next few days, but i'll be looking forward to showing my games and i hope i can get at least 10 viewers once in a while at one time! . Note - these 5 games will have a few more images, just for viewing pleasure

I was out yesterday, but I played TCL at my mates house, and was able to win 2-0 over aLiveAdamas, and although his play was not ideal, the fact I held my nerve and more importantly just got the win makes me very happy. A good confidence boost!

Also a thanks to everyone in the thread for the comments, and i'll make sure to respond to people (such as MrFool) who specifically are asking things that i did not respond to yet.*

Anyway, here is a song to keep you going for the read!*

You Tube

You Tube

Also, here's a picture. Here we go!

+ Show +

GAME 6 - vs. Mid*

+ [Map - Antiga Shipyard] +

Maybe he should accelerate his internet. I'm funny. Note - I'm not funny

As the caption points out, this guy is from China, and is already lagging. I know this because Artosis faced him on his stream, and he was the zerg who was lagging in the muta/ling game (Cross spots on Metal). Faced with the burden of even more lag in ZvZ, I opt to do my korean impression on my selfish Chinese opponent

*Insert something funny about coin flips here*

I was weighing up whether to go a drone all in or not, but I figured it was safest to simply to the 6 ling 10-pool, and react accordingly. I scout him first with my overlord, and make sure he does not see the overlord come near his creep or any of his overlords. The lings reach his base and do some decent damage, leaving me with +2 drones (which carries through the whole game.)

How pro do I look with Korean writing when analysing?

I know there is no expansion coming for my opponent, so it is a ling-baneling war! I am normally pretty good at this now, and with a suspected drone lead and my tech catching up i felt very calm. Slowly but surely though, the lag began to pester me more and more. I withdrew from berating my opponent with an insult, thus keeping on a poker face that shows pure concentration. A few back and forths and i was getting the better end. We shared 7 banes, and i had 15+ lings on him, and a drone lead. Things were going my way except for the fact that he was on the offense (always scary if you make a slip up.) Well, a slip up was what i made

Expletive

so a lag spike lead to a panic, and a panic lead to 23 lost zerglings to these banelings. I lose. Here I lose my cool but he understands why

I'm not racist, i'm just big boned

1-5. So, this isn't going well... or is it? Time for Act 2 - The Resurgence *p.s - I just realised I thumbed down Shakuras for Entombed accidentally, but more on what comes of it later.

GAME 7 - vs. Mid

+ [Map - Entombed Valley] +

The name of infinite knowledge, wisdom and GSL wins

So, combat with my creatively name opponents starts. This is my 1st ladder game as Zerg on this map, and looking at the architecture I feel the natural queen needs to use it's first 25 energy as a creep tumor no matter what, and 1 spine even can hold for a long time. It looks alright, i'm not judging the map yet.*
Well there is some drama occurring on the twilight tileset. My opponent is living up to his name and doing the unthinkable. Let these pictures do the story telling:

Analysis - 2nd barracks


Analysis - Little to no dignity

I frantically bring my main queen down, as well as add on a mass of lings + an overlord (always great to remember that overlord.) He ends up sniping my overlord, and backs off a bit. This is before his scvs are there by the way.
The SCV's arrive, and the battle goes very well for me. I kept my cool and kept my drones alive which is very important, and I crush his soul into the ground

This guy deserves hate, but I won, so cheese is a part of the game guys

Bye! 2-5!

GAME 8 - vs.Mid-High

+ [Map - Entombed Valley] +

Oh I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey, I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey, oh

Entombed Valley again. Ah, an aLive member! At the time this game occurred, I was to face aLive two nights in a row in clan wars, and I figured this would be a great mental booster for both games, as well as being good to get a scalp from a solid Korean team. Here we go into the action -
I opt for a hatch first, this is the new map again and it is a 4 player one at that so upon accidentally making a 15th drone, a hatch at 15 is planted down before anything else. That's right. A hatch first. My opponent does not like me doing this. Here is a sequence of events where I match my opponents movements and use some sexy micro to eliminate the threat at minimal cost!

CatZ level MicrO

So, my hatch has gone down at 15 but soon I find out that this is a cross map game, so I know he is going to feel pretty comfortable anyway on this map.*
I get all the good stuff going - heavy droning, a fast 3rd queen, speed, and eventually take the third. I end up not making lings to break the rocks, but it works out fine as it isn't a pivotal part of this game, but perhaps leaving 4 on there would be ideal.
My protoss buddy feels comfortable, here he is with his standard set up and this text that I will translate for you all:

aLiveSRoon: holy ****
DRG smurf..

The standard tech stage that affects most ZvP's is in order now. I opt for an evo and a pretty fast lair, just to keep safe from Stargate pressure, and to get key upgrades such as roach speed, overlord speed and an overseer. My opponent however, goes for the dreaded Dark Templar tech. The DT's hit relatively early, and oh no, my roach warren!

That.. Bastard..

But it wasn't that bad - he did kill my 3rd. Luckily, said 3rd was uninhabited by drones, so considering i was in a pretty good spot anyway I felt fine since I knew his tech potential. On goes the game and i put down a 3rd, and I personally feel no need for a macro hatch in this particular game, so I use a 4th as my macro hatch soon enough.

aLiveSRoon goes for heavy blink stalker and eliminates the rocks near his third, allowing easy access. We have a small skirmish where my roach/ling army meets his pure blinkstalker army. After an ambitious blink, 3 stalkers are lost for minimal gain for him. I also know he has no robo units yet, and has not gone archons or storm or anything crazy. Feeling very comfortable, I add on my hydra den and keep up with strong upgrades. A smooth sailing game feels in order.

I repeatedly deny his third, first with lings, secondly with roach/ling, thirdly with a burrowed ling and finally my massive hydra/roach composition tears through the completed third, the cannons, and eventually breaches the natural, where my sexy changelings (that wear pants, thanks noodle) impose their will over his base and express their free will to dance. GG! 3-5!

Changelings wear pants i'm telling you! - Nathan 'TANoodle' Dannatt

GAME 9 - vs. Mid

+ [Map - Entombed Valley] +

A man of class, and no responses to lowly white people

Entombed motherfucking Valley for the 3rd game in a row. Truth is, I actually don't mind the map. It looks nice, and I will now give Arid Plateau a fair play-through now. We all know the best play-test is the Korean ladder. The amount of abusive positions and manipulative map strategies they come up with is unparalleled. Anyway, the game!

I go into the game and my plan is to for some reason cheese. If I see hellion, roach/bane. If I see reaper, baneling bust. Just a broad game plan, but I like to test the waters, especially on a new map. Also seems that if the Terran gets a siege tank up near his natural extension, it is nearly impossible for zerg to break it without overwhelming numbers early. Will take this into account for further games on this map.

Ghost timing push?

Oh, what is this, he's going reaper. Thankyou, 13 drone scout! Baneling bust! Don't know why i'm so keen to cheese this game, maybe it is his name, but his doom is written in the stars now. Dior goes for some reaper harass, kills a couple of drones but takes a fair bit of damage on his reapers. I now expect him to back off with his reapers and simply plant them at my 3rd/watch tower, but this fashion enthusiast born in 1905 has other ideas

Gimmicks. Probably a marketing one. Nice, Dior

Oh my, a somewhat scary composition early when I have delay exaggerating the issue, but not to worry, the mass ling production started at 27 drones! We scuffle back and forth near the watch tower, as I slowly whittle down his army. He eventually picks up, and goes to drop. Knowing that he will be slow to get back and into position (especially since he turned to my natural first), I straight away move forward with my lings and add on the mass of banelings.

Expert play. Note - for a few images, it will be cut off T.T

With the flood of lings advancing on his position, I move in with the banelings and I am met with minimal serious opposition. I do notice a banshee, so queen production and a Lair is on the way just to make sure I am safe from a DRG vs MMA G2 Crossfire incident. The banelings go to their favourite spot in the base, the SCV line. Carnage ensues.

What Zerg is not smiling in this position I am in?

I constantly send some lings to his base, hiding and striking when he least wants me to, leaving his SCV count so low it was actually 0 at one point. I thwart the reapervac harass once and for all, and the only problem left is the banshees as his main is in ruins

Queen Micro - the bottom one turned invisible

The banshees go down and I expect he started to cry, as his micro was less then good when he doesn't even have another unit or worker. GG, 4-5. The resurgence is real

GAME 10 - vs. High

+ [Map - Shattered Temple] +

Some names just make me happy

I travel back to the popular battleground from the first 5 games and give entombed valley a break. It is a ZvP on shattered, and using the lessons learnt from yesterday I feel decently confident in my play. Still, I have won 3 in a row so this may be a game where I am tested. That is not always the case with Korea though, funny shit goes on with MMR here!

So this game goes according to plan for the both of us. No shenanigans occur yet. I opt for the wall-break early lings, and he goes for a stock-standard 3 gateway expand. I notice the later nexus yet high sentry count, so I am not too worried, only an emergency spine crawler is placed. I take down the rocks relatively fast, and realise I can make 4 less lings than I did, which is quite useful.

My opponent has a strong holding army, and is capable of putting on light pressure with it, but what he has planned is actually quite devious

Carriers

No, it's not carriers but it is the void ray. A unit I historically have had trouble with on this map, but due to the much faster third, the hatchery was basically complete, so there was no denying of the drone, or even denial of the rocks being killed. My Protoss friend adds on a considerably large flock of phoenixes, eventually totalling six, but the window to do serious damage is long gone for my Protoss friend

I said it before and i'll say it again, **** hydras, as much as i love 'em

The both of us are relatively even. His phoenixes come in and do some nice damage taking out 10 drones, but another 25 are on the way with my old school PiG impression being spot on. The protoss has a fearsome army out now, and is playing quite well.

Scary for any mere mortal

But..

I'm Zerg, ******* mobility, bitch.

So now I assess my options. I can pull back and attempt to the deny the third with lings or a pack of roaches, I can sit back and add on infestors (+ mineral sink into zerglings), I could so something funky like go banelings and drop.. I could go roach/corruptor/ling (maybe hydras, but he has 2 collosus), and eventually hope to go broodlords... or...

I can ******* attack, bitch

Well.. it did not go as planned, but with his third denied I did not feel out of the game. I had a fighting chance. I opted to try and sneakily harass his third a bit while bolstering my roach army with lings and infestors. His very scary and imposing force was steadily removing creep, and I was fearing the win streak was coming to a close. Knowing I was behind, I pounced, hoping to get him out of focus so his forcefields were not effective. Luckily for me, his army was on move... I kill 1/3 of his army for free, and he leaves. Here is what is left of the army after I stay in the game to make it feel worthwhile.

Phew, victory well earned

Well, with that abrupt ending I AM 5-5! Woo! Unfortunantly, my net is being a bit annoying on Korea, and I was out yesterday so the ladder games did not continue but I tried to make sure this would work. Also, I probably said this before but I was able to go 2-0 in TCL. He played a bit... silly buns, but a wins a win and the nerves enjoyed it.

Look out for my stream for future times and again, i'll respond to some of the comments. Thanks for all of them, by the way!

Well, doing better than MoMan at least.

You Tube

You Tube

[/CENTER]

Quick Comments

	Nemo:	Awesome !
	deL:
	QEDJenkins:
	Maynarde:
	Synizta:
	TAScarecrow:	Keep at it <3
	TAriiChard:
	NvRossi:	Well written and keep it up!
	neon:

[FaDeGofire]

this is pretty cool it's nice to read your thoughts even though you didn't do that great or the games weren't uber epic. looking forward to the next games! gl hf

[Nemo]

Very well written and precisely illustrated, so its very entertaining to read.

Thanks for that awesome work, Edge.

[aLtMrFool]

Oh edge, don't fret cause you have the edge~ I got stuck in diamond after like 10 games in KR/TW server because of ladder lock.. Came back after season reset to lose 6 games in a row after placing into masters with the first loss:P I know that shittiness feeling of losing many games in a row esp after unintended breaks like NS (grr)! Finally went 6-7 after more games and almost had a 7 win streak but botched it because of my shitty brain which sometimes still panic and can't know that tanks at low ground can't have sight over high ground without air support

And I agree! Year end period = best period to give excuses to train and just lay on the couch and rest instead

Well in any case... EdgE hwaiting!

Side note - People always like to spam me at the start of every match asking me whether I'm from Team IM or maybe I'm guessing wrongly:P I don't know korean so I can't reply either, how did you learn your korean! I'm thinking about learning abit of it on my spare time

Quick Comments

TAEdgE:

[ROOTPetraeus]

Awesome games brohan! Koreans OP.

Quick Comments

Antel0pe:

And yet I'm still Silver in NA D:

[syfMiley]

Mate I will ladder alongside you until I have the mmr to hit greats like the mighty Camlito on ladder.

[Cute]

EdgE to reclaim his rightful throne!

[crAzerk]

Awesome stuff edge! Great reading material for my boring job haha

[EveTechtron]

yay, another zerg that can woop my arse in a zvz =[
ps. remember that time we played in a tournament and i said you had to win it for knocking me out, and you did. that was awesome.

[TASlowHands]

Keep at it, then go super Sayian on SEA

[aLtShortizz]

This is good stuff!

[PiG]

Good read bro! Some advice from someone who's found how to control rage on korea mostly would be to watch day9 episode 100 (second half) about his life of starcraft. I never watched it before but it was bloody good and there's a great point his mum told him when he was raging about it just being chemicals and to just chill out and take a break, wait for them to pass. Don't try to beat rage down by playing more etc, just let it pass and once its gone start playing again. Also don't beat yourself down for losses, its easy to blame those chemicals on your own failure but every 100 losses is just another 100 signposts towards greatness. Never stop analysing and improving. Until you win GSL 5 times in a row you are but a noob on a journey of self-improvement :P

Best of luck can't wait to see you pwning it up again!

Quick Comments

Maynarde:

Words from the wise man himself.

[TAEdgE]

Yeh Jared i watched that a while ago now (maybe over a year o_o) and probably shoud re-watch it. I actaully embrace losses much more now, the problem is just sitting down and getting the first two or so games in, then playing the rest of the day is very easy. Just gotta click search and play, and loss streaks are of course the worst but it's more the demoralising zvz losses in delay that get the chemicals going haha. Thanks for the reminder, might check it out again !

I actually am having a lot of fun playing and even writing/talking about my games so that's a good sign.

Anyway thanks to everyone for the nice comments !

Quick Comments

Maynarde:

ilu <3

[dippa]

I love your captions

[aLtMrFool]

First time I ever met you was TvZ on shattered temple edge.. You crushed me :P TvZ gotta be my worst matchup, I'm so fragile at it past mid-game! Maybe ill meet you on Kr/Tw ladder one day! Till we meet again, let's train hard

Just wanted to drop a reply again because I feel exactly the same way you do ^_^ I'm starting to enjoy playing the game and have stopped going crazy over losses and actually stop ladder sessions just because I lose! But the same problem of getting the first few games to get my gaming blood pumpin'!

I used to be stuck at masters( for like ever since masters was introduced till mid season 4) just because I couldn't take losses well and wouldn't click find ladder match because I was too afraid to lose! And games don't go well when you think 'I can't lose'. They actually go better when you think 'I want to win!' And it also makes the game more enjoyable! Glad you're hwaiting hard and on the right track to gosu-ness!

* Maybe you can help fix my fragility in past mid-game TvZ some time :P

[neon]

EdgE Master as seen in original SC.

GL EdgE all the best with your practice looking forward to more updates !

(and by original SC I mean Soul Calibur :P)

[TAEdgE]

Ok, and here we are at the half way point and i'm ready to complete this edition of 10 Ladder games!
Some interesting developments have occurred. I can now STREAM! Thanks very much to TAdippa, as well as TARogue for doing some of the artwork for my stream. I will look to stream more next year than in the next few days, but i'll be looking forward to showing my games and i hope i can get at least 10 viewers once in a while at one time! . Note - these 5 games will have a few more images, just for viewing pleasure

I was out yesterday, but I played TCL at my mates house, and was able to win 2-0 over aLiveAdamas, and although his play was not ideal, the fact I held my nerve and more importantly just got the win makes me very happy. A good confidence boost!

Also a thanks to everyone in the thread for the comments, and i'll make sure to respond to people (such as MrFool) who specifically are asking things that i did not respond to yet.*

Anyway, here is a song to keep you going for the read!*

You Tube

You Tube

Also, here's a picture. Here we go!

+ Show +

GAME 6 - vs. Mid*

+ [Map - Antiga Shipyard] +

Maybe he should accelerate his internet. I'm funny. Note - I'm not funny

As the caption points out, this guy is from China, and is already lagging. I know this because Artosis faced him on his stream, and he was the zerg who was lagging in the muta/ling game (Cross spots on Metal). Faced with the burden of even more lag in ZvZ, I opt to do my korean impression on my selfish Chinese opponent

*Insert something funny about coin flips here*

I was weighing up whether to go a drone all in or not, but I figured it was safest to simply to the 6 ling 10-pool, and react accordingly. I scout him first with my overlord, and make sure he does not see the overlord come near his creep or any of his overlords. The lings reach his base and do some decent damage, leaving me with +2 drones (which carries through the whole game.)

How pro do I look with Korean writing when analysing?

I know there is no expansion coming for my opponent, so it is a ling-baneling war! I am normally pretty good at this now, and with a suspected drone lead and my tech catching up i felt very calm. Slowly but surely though, the lag began to pester me more and more. I withdrew from berating my opponent with an insult, thus keeping on a poker face that shows pure concentration. A few back and forths and i was getting the better end. We shared 7 banes, and i had 15+ lings on him, and a drone lead. Things were going my way except for the fact that he was on the offense (always scary if you make a slip up.) Well, a slip up was what i made

Expletive

so a lag spike lead to a panic, and a panic lead to 23 lost zerglings to these banelings. I lose. Here I lose my cool but he understands why

I'm not racist, i'm just big boned

1-5. So, this isn't going well... or is it? Time for Act 2 - The Resurgence *p.s - I just realised I thumbed down Shakuras for Entombed accidentally, but more on what comes of it later.

GAME 7 - vs. Mid

+ [Map - Entombed Valley] +

The name of infinite knowledge, wisdom and GSL wins

So, combat with my creatively name opponents starts. This is my 1st ladder game as Zerg on this map, and looking at the architecture I feel the natural queen needs to use it's first 25 energy as a creep tumor no matter what, and 1 spine even can hold for a long time. It looks alright, i'm not judging the map yet.*
Well there is some drama occurring on the twilight tileset. My opponent is living up to his name and doing the unthinkable. Let these pictures do the story telling:

Analysis - 2nd barracks


Analysis - Little to no dignity

I frantically bring my main queen down, as well as add on a mass of lings + an overlord (always great to remember that overlord.) He ends up sniping my overlord, and backs off a bit. This is before his scvs are there by the way.
The SCV's arrive, and the battle goes very well for me. I kept my cool and kept my drones alive which is very important, and I crush his soul into the ground

This guy deserves hate, but I won, so cheese is a part of the game guys

Bye! 2-5!

GAME 8 - vs.Mid-High

+ [Map - Entombed Valley] +

Oh I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey, I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey, oh

Entombed Valley again. Ah, an aLive member! At the time this game occurred, I was to face aLive two nights in a row in clan wars, and I figured this would be a great mental booster for both games, as well as being good to get a scalp from a solid Korean team. Here we go into the action -
I opt for a hatch first, this is the new map again and it is a 4 player one at that so upon accidentally making a 15th drone, a hatch at 15 is planted down before anything else. That's right. A hatch first. My opponent does not like me doing this. Here is a sequence of events where I match my opponents movements and use some sexy micro to eliminate the threat at minimal cost!

CatZ level MicrO

So, my hatch has gone down at 15 but soon I find out that this is a cross map game, so I know he is going to feel pretty comfortable anyway on this map.*
I get all the good stuff going - heavy droning, a fast 3rd queen, speed, and eventually take the third. I end up not making lings to break the rocks, but it works out fine as it isn't a pivotal part of this game, but perhaps leaving 4 on there would be ideal.
My protoss buddy feels comfortable, here he is with his standard set up and this text that I will translate for you all:

aLiveSRoon: holy ****
DRG smurf..

The standard tech stage that affects most ZvP's is in order now. I opt for an evo and a pretty fast lair, just to keep safe from Stargate pressure, and to get key upgrades such as roach speed, overlord speed and an overseer. My opponent however, goes for the dreaded Dark Templar tech. The DT's hit relatively early, and oh no, my roach warren!

That.. Bastard..

But it wasn't that bad - he did kill my 3rd. Luckily, said 3rd was uninhabited by drones, so considering i was in a pretty good spot anyway I felt fine since I knew his tech potential. On goes the game and i put down a 3rd, and I personally feel no need for a macro hatch in this particular game, so I use a 4th as my macro hatch soon enough.

aLiveSRoon goes for heavy blink stalker and eliminates the rocks near his third, allowing easy access. We have a small skirmish where my roach/ling army meets his pure blinkstalker army. After an ambitious blink, 3 stalkers are lost for minimal gain for him. I also know he has no robo units yet, and has not gone archons or storm or anything crazy. Feeling very comfortable, I add on my hydra den and keep up with strong upgrades. A smooth sailing game feels in order.

I repeatedly deny his third, first with lings, secondly with roach/ling, thirdly with a burrowed ling and finally my massive hydra/roach composition tears through the completed third, the cannons, and eventually breaches the natural, where my sexy changelings (that wear pants, thanks noodle) impose their will over his base and express their free will to dance. GG! 3-5!

Changelings wear pants i'm telling you! - Nathan 'TANoodle' Dannatt

GAME 9 - vs. Mid

+ [Map - Entombed Valley] +

A man of class, and no responses to lowly white people

Entombed motherfucking Valley for the 3rd game in a row. Truth is, I actually don't mind the map. It looks nice, and I will now give Arid Plateau a fair play-through now. We all know the best play-test is the Korean ladder. The amount of abusive positions and manipulative map strategies they come up with is unparalleled. Anyway, the game!

I go into the game and my plan is to for some reason cheese. If I see hellion, roach/bane. If I see reaper, baneling bust. Just a broad game plan, but I like to test the waters, especially on a new map. Also seems that if the Terran gets a siege tank up near his natural extension, it is nearly impossible for zerg to break it without overwhelming numbers early. Will take this into account for further games on this map.

Ghost timing push?

Oh, what is this, he's going reaper. Thankyou, 13 drone scout! Baneling bust! Don't know why i'm so keen to cheese this game, maybe it is his name, but his doom is written in the stars now. Dior goes for some reaper harass, kills a couple of drones but takes a fair bit of damage on his reapers. I now expect him to back off with his reapers and simply plant them at my 3rd/watch tower, but this fashion enthusiast born in 1905 has other ideas

Gimmicks. Probably a marketing one. Nice, Dior

Oh my, a somewhat scary composition early when I have delay exaggerating the issue, but not to worry, the mass ling production started at 27 drones! We scuffle back and forth near the watch tower, as I slowly whittle down his army. He eventually picks up, and goes to drop. Knowing that he will be slow to get back and into position (especially since he turned to my natural first), I straight away move forward with my lings and add on the mass of banelings.

Expert play. Note - for a few images, it will be cut off T.T

With the flood of lings advancing on his position, I move in with the banelings and I am met with minimal serious opposition. I do notice a banshee, so queen production and a Lair is on the way just to make sure I am safe from a DRG vs MMA G2 Crossfire incident. The banelings go to their favourite spot in the base, the SCV line. Carnage ensues.

What Zerg is not smiling in this position I am in?

I constantly send some lings to his base, hiding and striking when he least wants me to, leaving his SCV count so low it was actually 0 at one point. I thwart the reapervac harass once and for all, and the only problem left is the banshees as his main is in ruins

Queen Micro - the bottom one turned invisible

The banshees go down and I expect he started to cry, as his micro was less then good when he doesn't even have another unit or worker. GG, 4-5. The resurgence is real

GAME 10 - vs. High

+ [Map - Shattered Temple] +

Some names just make me happy

I travel back to the popular battleground from the first 5 games and give entombed valley a break. It is a ZvP on shattered, and using the lessons learnt from yesterday I feel decently confident in my play. Still, I have won 3 in a row so this may be a game where I am tested. That is not always the case with Korea though, funny shit goes on with MMR here!

So this game goes according to plan for the both of us. No shenanigans occur yet. I opt for the wall-break early lings, and he goes for a stock-standard 3 gateway expand. I notice the later nexus yet high sentry count, so I am not too worried, only an emergency spine crawler is placed. I take down the rocks relatively fast, and realise I can make 4 less lings than I did, which is quite useful.

My opponent has a strong holding army, and is capable of putting on light pressure with it, but what he has planned is actually quite devious

Carriers

No, it's not carriers but it is the void ray. A unit I historically have had trouble with on this map, but due to the much faster third, the hatchery was basically complete, so there was no denying of the drone, or even denial of the rocks being killed. My Protoss friend adds on a considerably large flock of phoenixes, eventually totalling six, but the window to do serious damage is long gone for my Protoss friend

I said it before and i'll say it again, **** hydras, as much as i love 'em

The both of us are relatively even. His phoenixes come in and do some nice damage taking out 10 drones, but another 25 are on the way with my old school PiG impression being spot on. The protoss has a fearsome army out now, and is playing quite well.

Scary for any mere mortal

But..

I'm Zerg, ******* mobility, bitch.

So now I assess my options. I can pull back and attempt to the deny the third with lings or a pack of roaches, I can sit back and add on infestors (+ mineral sink into zerglings), I could so something funky like go banelings and drop.. I could go roach/corruptor/ling (maybe hydras, but he has 2 collosus), and eventually hope to go broodlords... or...

I can ******* attack, bitch

Well.. it did not go as planned, but with his third denied I did not feel out of the game. I had a fighting chance. I opted to try and sneakily harass his third a bit while bolstering my roach army with lings and infestors. His very scary and imposing force was steadily removing creep, and I was fearing the win streak was coming to a close. Knowing I was behind, I pounced, hoping to get him out of focus so his forcefields were not effective. Luckily for me, his army was on move... I kill 1/3 of his army for free, and he leaves. Here is what is left of the army after I stay in the game to make it feel worthwhile.

Phew, victory well earned

Well, with that abrupt ending I AM 5-5! Woo! Unfortunantly, my net is being a bit annoying on Korea, and I was out yesterday so the ladder games did not continue but I tried to make sure this would work. Also, I probably said this before but I was able to go 2-0 in TCL. He played a bit... silly buns, but a wins a win and the nerves enjoyed it.

Look out for my stream for future times and again, i'll respond to some of the comments. Thanks for all of them, by the way!

Well, I'm doing better than MoMan at least

You Tube

You Tube

[NvRossi]

i like it when blogs put music to read alongside

[MooZfY]

I had a fun time reading this thread :3 GIGGITY

[Nemo]

Thanks for that awesome work Edge. You have a real talent for writing.

I love the captions and especially your Chinese translation :
aLiveSRoon: holy ****
DRG smurf..