[nirvAnA]

New TGM Coach! EveStrafe!

First up, due to my other project commitments our Starcraft 2 Guide: The Grandmaster Manual had not been updated as frequently as I wished. Over the next week, there will be a big update with the freshest build orders for all 3 race sections by players such as PiG, Strafe, iaguz and our soon to be announced mystery protoss coach. In fact, most of the content is already written up and just needs formatting to be done. Also, as a thank you to all the recent subscribers, anyone who has subscribed to our Starcraft 2 guide in the last 3 months is welcome to PM me for a complimentary 1 month extension so you are able to view all of the new updates.

More about EveStrafe!

Today we are proud to introduce / EveStrafe to our coaching roster as an official TGM coach. Strafe first found success in gaming at the top of the foreign scene in Starcraft 1 where he won the WCG Netherlands qualifiers twice - Home of Starcraft 1 legends LiquidNazgul & NTT and represented his country at the world finals. Like many high level RTS players, he gave playing poker as a living a shot and ended up making an obscene amount of money which led him to relocate to the "land of paradise" Bangkok where he has been living for the last 5 years. His success has basically giving him the financial freedom to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants all day, with a good chunk of that time being playing Starcraft 2. He enjoys MMA fighting as a hobby and has had some good success in Starcraft 2, winning ESLs, beating Enderr and coming third at the ESTC Bangkok and making tgun rage! After giving friends a few lessons, Strafe has taken a strong liking to coaching and helping others and is keen to offer his coaching services to students.

His coaching rates can be found on SC2SEA's official coaching roster. Strafe will be contributing some fresh content to the Terran section and today he shares with us a walkthrough build order of his best matchup of TvT, a matchup where he holds an outstanding 92% win rate on SEA. A preview can be seen below and the full version is available to all TGM members here.

+ [More About Strafe] +

Server Access: SEA,KR,NA,EU
Hourly fee: $20
Package fee: Negotiable
Contact: psrobbiev@gmail.com, ps.robbiev(Skype)

+ [Accomplishments] +

1. #1 WCG NL 2002, 2004 and qualified for Korea for SC:BW
2. #1 ESL twice
3. #3 ESTC Bangkok for 500$
4. Placed in the top of the Grand Master league for 5 consecutive seasons.

+ [Coaching Outline] +

Strafe played poker professionally for 7 years and has made over 60 educational videos on how to beat online poker during this time. He has also been a coach and hand evaluator during these years on PokerStrategy.com where he helped thousands of players become better at the game. He will use this experience to help you spot the weakest links in your game and provide personal tailored advice on how to improve your actual game play. The coaching will help you learn how to learn rather than discuss actual strategies.

PM Strafe here!

+ [Strafes 1.4.3 Gas first Walkthrough build] +

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Overview: Gas First in Terran vs Terran By EveStrafe

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Terran vs Terran is my favourite matchup and the build I'm sharing with you today is a gas first build which is flexible macro orientated build that relies on good banshee control and proper reactions. I will first outline the build order to do, and then 4 common situations you will find yourself in and lastly, exactly how to react optimally in each of these 4 situations.

The key to this build is having good banshee control and scouting well so you can tailor your game plan according to what your opponent is doing. What we see with our first initial scv scout could potentially alter what we do completely. The reason why we go gas first is to get our banshee out as quickly as possible, which allows us primarily to harass but also to scout and gain map control. We do not opt for getting cloak and instead to get a very early expansion ourselves therefore not falling behind economically. With good banshee control you do not even need cloak and the most basic rule of thumb is if there are no vikings present on the map, you should never lose your banshees. Your can expand early with liberty as the opponent would be forced into a defensive mindset and also has to spent money getting turrets regardless because of the possibility that you could have researched cloaked.

From there, depending on what we see we can either get a third really quickly or build up a small death squad of marines and hellions to accompany our banshee and go for a quick blow in order to get ourselves ahead.

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The Build Order

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Food	What to build
10	depot (build it next to your geyser)
12	gas (with the scv that finished building the depot
13	rax
15	send out your scout. Use the SCV thats building in the command center.
17	Factory
17	Marine
18	Orbital
18	Depot
18	Tech lab onto your barracks
19	Starport. Lift your barracks and build the starport at the tech lab.
19	marine
20	hellion

Continue making hellion/marine until you have 3 of each and start the banshee right away. Your depot should finish right around the same time as the starport finishes up.

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How to react against it?

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What your initial scout should be looking for:

1. Try to see if he has a CC on the low ground and is doing an early expansion.
2. See what addon he is making to his Barracks if any. If you see a tech lab completed, it's going to be reapers. If he is making a reactor we can expect a lot of units either marines or hellions. Probably combined with a medivac.
3. Try to see if he went gas first or not. Simply click the refinery to see the amount of gas that has been mined and compare it to your own refinery. If he went gas first then it's important to see whether he is going an additional refinery.
4. Always select the number of SCV's. If you can't find any building, he has no gas and few SCV's mining then you know you are getting 2 raxed.

Situation 1: Against an Early Expansions

When he has a CC on the low ground it will most certainly mean that he is going to make a bunker in front of it and fill it up with some marines. This is a problem for us, although our marine/hellion/banshee combination absolutely shreds marines to pieces, they seem incapable of killing a bunker. But don't panic. Keep in mind that when your opponent is going a quick command center he cannot have a high unit count. Therefore you can control the map and he is also usually playing in the dark until you reveal your tech. Especially when he scouted you and puts it together that you are making banshees he will stay defensive and try to protect himself. In his mind he is ahead economically, so all he has to do is minimize his losses and then he will have a huge lead.

As a result we will only make 1 marine and no hellions, which is an example of "meta-gaming" as the opponent has to be forced into a defensive position in the event you are 1/1/1ing and committing to a 1 base play. We use the 1 marine to drive out the scouting SCV first and if it died we can use the marine to control the watch tower. Otherwise keep the marine at home and prevent the SCV from getting any further information. Instead of making the marine/hellion death squad we will throw down our own command center as soon as possible. Then we will add 2 more raxes, still not making any marines. We are also free to start our second banshee as we don't have to worry about them getting a banshee any time soon. In fact against a quick CC we can get out 2 banshees+1 viking at the time they start their banshee production.

Setting up an early expansion for ourselves as well.

Now comes the crux of this entire build. You must do damage with those 2 banshees. Taking out marines is fine. Note that a banshee two shots a marine and scv. With good control, you can "kite" marines and SCVs easily with 2 banshees, one shotting them each time. You don't necessarily need to take out SCV's only. If you can get 10 kills on both banshees, whether they are SCV's or marines you will see that you are actually on equal economic footing or even slightly ahead and you'll have a higher army supply. It's really important to practice your multi-tasking and hit and run skills with the banshees. Always targeting the hurt marines/scvs rather than distributing your damage.

If you kill a lot of marines, he will not be able to attack you any time soon so you can go for a third command center. If you kill a lot of SCV's but few marines, he will try to get aggressive, so it's better to tech up to 1-1, get your medivacs, tanks/marines production rolling. You can stay defensive for a bit if you feel you killed enough SCV's, and then move out when you have stim/combat shield and 1-1.

Defending our fast third with ease. Note our first two banshees are still alive!

Download Replay: 1.4.3 Strafe vs RedArchon Ladder - Textbook play versus the fast expansion opening.

Situation 2: Against Reaper Openings

Available in our Members Section here!

Situation 3: Against gas first openings

Available in our Members Section here!

Situation 4: Against 2 rax openings

Available in our Members Section here!

Subscribe to TGM today!

Quick Comments

Theend:

THATS A LOT OF CHIPS :d

[Loach]

nirvAnA getting a piece of the hype thread

Quick Comments

nirvAnA:

hahaha nah~ thats gonna be the only clue and its like super easy!

[inFeZa]

Spoiler alert. It's me teaching everyone my Fluffsky build

[NDG.Stitch]

WOOT STRAFE! You go buddy!

[Stallion]

WOWOWOWOWOW that looks like a really well written walk through. congrats strafe im sure you will do an excellent job . That fuzz ball looks interesting

[x5.NotoriouS]

Wait so this guy right here is an accomplished poker player, MMA fighter, awesome at starcraft 2 and spends his time being a boss in Bangkok....


shutup and take my money!

Quick Comments

x5.Phoenix:

hahaha!

[SLCN.CautioN]

Eve fighting!!!!

[syfChadMann]

Grats Strafe - may you teach everyone your secrets of sideways movement!..



Srsly. Grats yo

Quick Comments

SLCN.Kez:

give up sc2 and start becoming full time comedian :p

[EveRekanise]

Ill pay $20 an hour for MMA training

[Trinion]

A friend of mine played Strafe on KR/TW today I think
Has a pretty sexy record!

[Nemo]

Grats Strafe !

[Strafe]

Glad to be an official coach on this site! Thanks for all the congratulations everyone. Sorry if I'm slow to reply, I have been moving to a new house while starting up my company so a bit preoccupied