Fashionably Late

I was going to post last week about the upcoming Season 6 ladder lock, but as you might guess, time has ran away from me. And last night, I suddenly found myself at the end of Monday night, the last evening before the ladder lock, without having even played my qualifier game!

So I told my wife I'd play just one game - and hit the big yellow button. Surprisingly, Battle.net was having some trouble finding me a match, and seeing the following message made me wonder exactly what I was in for...

Finally it found someone, and the loading screen wasn't clarifying either...

Oddly, there was no indication whether we were evenly matched, or whether one of us was favored to win. I wasn't sure if I had ever encountered this before - but guessing from my opponent's profile picture, I predicted I was in for a loss.

I won't spoil exactly how the game went - having not played on the ladder in 7 weeks, it was an experience! And I'll try to cast it later, but the resulting placement was a surprise!

So I'm apparently in Silver again!

And since that was indeed the only game I played that night, I am locked into Silver League for Season 6 - regardless of how terrible I do for the next week before the season ends next Tuesday :)

A lot has been going on this last week (which I'll definitely expound about later!) and I've been tired and unable to focus on SC2 work - and just today have apparently come down with a yucky cold!

But I'm camped out in the basement armed with a humidifier and a big box of kleenex (and hoping my wife will get some sleep!) - which also happens to be my SC2 office... so I'll be playing ONE ladder game after I publish this post - wish me luck :)

Standard in Silver

After winning so many games, it was only a matter of time before my match-making rating (MMR) rose high enough that I would start to encounter solid standard play. Apparently that time arrived two nights ago.

It was late, and I had just played a few 2 vs AI games with a co-worker. I decided to play 1 ladder game before calling it a night. My opponent turned out to be a highly ranked Silver league player - and his play was solid and standard, something I haven't seen in a while!

Although I lost, this is quite a turning point. Battle.net considered me evenly matched with tofool - does this mean my skill is improving back up to that Silver league level? Season 6 starts in a few days, so I guess we'll find out soon enough!

Nukes!

Two days ago, I played my first 1v1 game without an external deadline, and this Terran vs Terran game really showcased a variety of Terran scenarios.

Unfortunately, the game was also super long! I tried to speed things up - but as usual, there's so much that you can learn from a single replay!

As much as I love macro games, I hope this isn't indicative of every TvT I play this week. I had a goal of playing 40 1v1 games this season, and although I doubt I'll make it, long TvT macro games won't help - especially since Bronze seems to be filled with Terrans!

Army Swap and Hero SCVs

After a humiliating defeat at the hands of a drone rush, I return to my economy/production focus in BYOB for this TvT on what seems like a favorite map, Entombed Valley.

Another short game with some discussion of the suitability of ladder play for practice, armies passing each other mid-map, and yet again, another moment for the unlikely heroes in the mineral line to show their mettle!

Tonight (Monday) is the last night for Season 5 before the ladder lock, so I'm looking forward to playing a few games later tonight.

Will I be able to win a bunch and get promoted to Silver before the lock? Doubtful ;-)

Like a Butterfly

Last night, as hoped for, I did a review of my game against Goroth. Like a butterfly flapping its wings, the addition of the early barracks to BYOB eventually had a large affect on the outcome of the game.

I was surprised how close the game could have been had I not been forced to do an all-in attack at the end. It does make me wonder how the outcome would have changed if I hadn't been in so much of a rush to end the game. That many banshees can really turn the tide of a game if used carefully!

BYOB Disruption

Today was a snow day - and I try to play a quick game before the day gets rolling!

Going for a double barracks opening leads to disruption in the BYOB economy and hilarity ensues.

At least it didn't last very long...

Goroth actually messaged me immediately afterwards - he asked why I didn't cloak. And the short answer is, well, I didn't research it!

Not that it mattered, he had me good - and it'll make for an interesting review tonight...

Marine, Marauder... Banshee?

After almost a week since playing 1v1 on the ladder, I hit the Find Match button yesterday morning and wanted to try something a little different.

Not a big different, just a little different.

Continuing to play with BYOB, I wanted to see how substituting marauders for the tanks would change the composition. I think marauders are a little more flexible, especially in the early game.

I found myself playing against a fully favored opponent - and yep, you guessed it, he was a Terran!

At this point, I'm convinced that having air units for visibility when attacking up a ramp is super valuable. It doesn't hurt if the air units can attack ground units as well ;-)

With the game being so short, I figured I could do a quick review as well. So today is a double feature!

Yes, those are my little zerglings at the end, and yes, that was my first published casting blooper!

I usually have a few false starts before a review, and have lately been deleting them immediately. I forgot I hadn't deleted this one. It completely surprised me and got a few laughs, so I figured I should include it. Now you can't just jump into a blooper right away after a cast, but luckily I had some cute SC2 footage with the kids!

A Third Look

Believe it or not, one of my previous opponents, Alien***kick, found my videos of our game on YouTube and commented!

He was wondering how he lost the tremendous lead he had at the beginning of the game, and after watching my live cast and my posted review, I realized that there was still some exploring to do on his side of the game.

Yesterday morning I recorded a review, but it was over 30 minutes! So last night, I recorded a shorter, faster version - which brings me up to 5 recordings of this particular game! (I only posted 3 of them.)

So a mixture of production, knowledge, and army control issues allowed me back into the game - but by far, the lesson to be learned is: when your armies are even, don't run into a sieged tank line!

So with that, I consider the book closed on this game!

Analyzing BYOB (Bring Your Own Base?)

Last Sunday afternoon I did my 1st review of my game against Alien***kick, but the review was a bit long and one of my YouTube subscribers pointed something out that I wanted to investigate.

So last night I casted a 2nd review with the hopes of shortening it and answering some more questions. Unfortunately, it was only 34 seconds shorter - but I think all my questions were answered.



Although this game seems like a fluke, had I purposely done these two timing pushes because of scouting, etc. (instead of blindly doing them) - I would truly be a gosu dad!

TvT Live: Bring Your Own... Orbital Command?

Another live cast of BYOB - with a new twist. With less than 22 minutes to play, I queued up for a 1v1 and came out with this gem of a game. Who knew that timing attacks could be dictated by the time remaining in an episode of Bridezillas?

This brings new meaning to the phrase "expand towards your opponent" ;-)



And apologies to my fellow SC2 dads out there - I had almost finished uploading this video before thinking I should blur out my opponent's screen name during the loading screen. It did get a few chuckles from me as you saw. You'll have to explain to your kiddos that there are times (perhaps rare) that alien donkeys need a kick or two ;-)

Taking A Second Look

After replying to Brock's comment on my last video, I was inspired to do a second review of the game against MaGestic.

Despite the short length of that game and the AFK situation, there were some interesting points to discuss - and as I'm a talkative fellow, I went much longer than the 10-15 minutes I intended to cast!



There's something to be said for watching all your replays - especially if you're in a mood to learn something!

TvT Live: AFK and My Little Starcraft Buddy

Last night I gave the live casting another go - and had a fairly short TvT involving my opponent being "away from keyboard" (AFK) for the first few moments. The following review was accelerated when my little Starcraft buddy came home with his mom and he got to make a guest appearance :)



I did watch the replay slower afterwards and there were some interesting points. I don't know if I'll do a separate video for it - but of course, the more I think about the game, the more I'll lean towards casting a review :)

TvT Live: Bring Your Own Banshee (BYOB)

Last night, I tried once again to cast a game live while playing - and succeeded! Not only that, but the game was short enough that I rolled right into casting the replay at normal speed (Faster game speed), and the whole thing was only 23 minutes :)

Another change - after playing such long games due to my economy/production focus, I decided that I should move out with my forces sooner - and this time tried bringing some banshees and SCVs. Yeah, I guess you could call it an all-in, but I was planning on expanding afterwards...



It'll be interesting to take this general game flow to other match-ups. I do enjoy sending out armies and not just sitting back and expanding like crazy. Hopefully Battle.net will find me some suitable Bronze league Zerg and Protoss opponents!

SCVs to the Rescue!

My second game playing Terran in Season 5 was quite the adventure. I tried to take advantage of the large map (Tal'darim Altar LE) and that I was playing in Bronze league to do a fast expand and really focus on the economy and production aspects of the game.

My opponent actually did a good job of keeping me on the edge - despite staying on one base for most of the game! Although the final outcome was somewhat anti-climactic, the game really stood out to me - perhaps for obvious reasons :)

Back vs Bronze!

I played for about an hour Thursday night and got in 4 games - all of my opponents were slightly favored. And to my great surprise, all 4 games were mirror match-ups - ZvZ, PvP, TvT, TvT. I lost the first 3 with a glorious finale (for my opponent).

Time: 34:01 No, these are not my battlecruisers.

Time: 34:11 About 7 seconds later in real time - battlecruisers in large numbers are terrible!

Time: 34:12 This was just a pretty picture :)

Time: 34:29 GG! From the mini-map, you can see that he's on 4 bases - I was on my third, but he had cleaned up my first and second. By maybe 8-9 minutes into the game, he had killed a few SCVs with Banshees and had expanded before me. He had been at a serious economic advantage for most the game - thus, the battlecruiser finale!

That game was versus a Bronze league player - so I was hoping that I had lost enough games (6 in a row) to get the matching-making system to realize I was in upper Bronze rather than mid-Silver. My next opponent was in Bronze league - and the game was quite close, as you'll see.

Time: 8:19 This is probably the crucial moment of the game - both of our armies are passing right by each other outside his base (I'm blue). Neither of them can see each other. I think his is stronger - we both have Stimpack (fire 30% faster for 10 HP), I have +1 armor and he has Combat Shield (Marines +10 HP).

Time: 8:41 This was a glorious moment, I stimmed the Marines, and ran them up the ramp - CHARGE! I had no idea that he had such a large army - thankfully his army was at the Xel'Naga tower (as you can see on the mini-map). And he had also just started on his second Command Center - so had not used that money to build SCVs or army units.

Time: 9:13 He had two options - go back to his base or go to mine and try to win a base race. He chose the latter. By the time he arrived, I had a small force waiting - and lots of SCVs to repair my wall.

Time: 9:13 Unfortunately for him - by this time, I had killed 22 workers and was going to start focusing on his Command Centers. That's the price of deciding to counter-attack from half-way across the map when your opponent is already breaking down the front door.

Time: 10:40 With all but 2 of my Marines dead in his base, all he has is one Barracks and a bunch of Supply Depots.

Time: 10:40 And in my base, he has broken through the wall and is making his way to the mineral line. But all my Barracks are still running, with the +1 attack upgrade is almost finished. Within moments, he'll lose his army advantage.

Time: 12:06 I've cleaned up his units in my base, and his comment says it all.

Time: 12:17 And with that, he sends his last units (he was out of minerals) for a final push. By the time he arrives, I have enough upgraded units to hold him off. GG!

As he was slightly favored, I got 32 points for that win - making up for about 4 of my previous losses. I'm at rank 65 in my division with 54 rank points. And these 4 games brings me up to 14, which is just about half-way to my goal of 30! I only have a few more opportunities to play - so it's gonna be close!

Replay Review: GenDisarray - TvT Panic Attack

Yesterday GenDisarray sent me a replay of his Season 3 qualifier, asking for "some constructive criticism". He claims he's "horrible" at TvT, and admits to having an "initial panic attack" when he saw the loading screen. Is he really "horrible"? Knowing him I doubt it, but let's see his panic attack in action...



The bullet points:

• Keep building SCVs from your Command Centers - at least until you hit max for 2 bases (60 SCVs).
• Keep building marines from your Barracks - especially if you went for the 1-1-1 build, as they are critical to your balanced approach.
• When you expand, build more production buildings - doubling the amount you would sustain on a single base is a good guideline.
• If high-priced units like tanks, ravens, or vikings are in a bad position, retreat and repair. Most (all?) air units can out-run marines. Even with numerous production buildings, it takes time for Terran to build these expensive units.
• If caught off gaurd, keep tanks in Tank Mode. They have a fine damage-per-second in this mode, and will do more damage before they die than if you take the time to change them into Siege Mode.

So all in all, GenDisarray just needs to keep up his pace. Going for the quick expansion really paid off on the economy side, but it takes some practice to take advantage of the extra income. This is something I struggle with as well - apparently we both need more practice ;-)

Update 11/1/2011: I updated the video to point to my new YouTube channel.

Sprinting to the End of Season 2!

It's been a while since my last post, and you're probably wondering, "Did he ever make it to the Top 25?"

Well, you'll find out ;-)

That evening after my last post, I played 2 games:

Result	Player's Race	Player's League	Map
Win	Zerg	Gold	Tal'darim Altar LE
Loss	Protoss	Silver	Xel'Naga Caverns

So I ended the night at rank 29 with 209 rank points.
"djer" was rank 25 in my division with 266 points, so I needed at least 267 points to push him down to rank 26.

The next morning I played 2 games before leaving for work:

Result	Player's Race	Player's League	Map	Notes
Loss	Terran	Silver	Metalopolis
Loss	Terran	Bronze	Shakuras Plateau	top in his division

So I was back to where I was after my last post: Rank 30, with one less point at 188 rank points!

And I only had the evening to play before the end of the season!

So that night, I put my baby boy to bed, did my Jillian Michaels workout (priorities first after all!), and told my wife my only plan for the evening was to play SC2 - and I started playing...

Result	Player's Race	Player's League	Map	Notes
Loss	Terran	Silver	Typhon Peaks	doh! 4 game losing streak!
Win	Terran	Bronze	Delta Quadrant
Loss	Protoss	Bronze	Scrap Station
Win	Terran	Bronze	Scrap Station
Win	Protoss	Silver	Delta Quadrant
Loss	Terran	Bronze	Xel'Naga Caverns
Win	Zerg	Silver	Tal'darim Altar LE

At this point, I was rank 26 with 262 points - I only needed 5 points to beat "djer"!

Result	Player's Race	Player's League	Map	Notes
Loss	Terran	Bronze	Delta Quadrant	Nooooo!!!!

So now it's just before midnight, and I was at rank 27 with 252 rank points.

I needed 15 points to get ahead of "djer", and push him out of the rank 25 spot. A single win would do it.

My wife was working on a project, putting up a bunch of photos over our fireplace. So I was given the go ahead for one more game...

Here's a videocast of my final game of Season 2 - enjoy!



Like that ending graphic? I thought it might be a nice touch. Wondering how I did it? Don't worry - at some point I'll add a section to my "How I make SC2 Videos" page describing how I did this :-)

Update 11/1/2011: I updated the video to point to my new YouTube channel.

Top 25 Here I Come!

After my last post, I was very excited to post more often and of course, play more often - and over the last week accomplished one of those... you can probably guess which one!

Part of that was due to my desire to do more casting (thanks Brock for the encouragement!) - and so kept waiting for a good game that was short enough that I wouldn't have to break it into 2 parts (due to the YouTube 15 min limit).  Funny, that never happened.

So here's a cast of my most recent game - done in a more "play-by-play commentary" style than "retrospective analysis" style.  I tried casting in the third person, as if I wasn't one of the players.  It was really fun!  My wife told me when I started casting that I should really ham it up - she thinks it's cute when I do that - so here's a bit of ham and me creeping a little more out of my shell!



Listening to the cast afterwards, it was funny to hear how many mistakes I made or times I corrected myself, but was right the first time!

So now my standing is Rank 30 in my division - with only tonight and tomorrow left in the season!

As you can see from the screenshot above, I'll need 80 rank points to beat the current rank 25 player in my division.  With my record (8 wins, 4 losses) and the amount of points I'm getting per win or loss, I figure I need to play 6 games before Tuesday morning.

Of course, the player currently ranked 26 is active and has played a bunch of games recently, so I think he's shooting for the same spot I am!

Do you think I have what it takes to make it into the top 25?

Update 11/1/2011: I updated the video to point to my new YouTube channel.