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 :)

Still Alive (And Causing A Ruckus!)

Don't believe the rumors - I am still alive, still crazy about SC2, and yes, still have grand intentions to publish more content - and play in Season 6 of the online ladder ;-)

However, these last three weeks have been filled with other activity, including hunting XBox360 Achievements in the Zombie mode of Call of Duty: Black Ops, go-karting, taking care of sick kids, chatting with my wife about all sorts of things, passing out on the floor (apparently loudly snoring), eBay-ing for the first Diablo game, finding a new favorite local GameStop, and most recently, hosting my first StarCraft 2 watching party at my house (which was a grand success!).

So be expecting some future posts chronicling those adventures (ok, maybe not the sick kids part).

Ruckus-wise, I apparently started one with my comment concerning web crawlers in my last post, 1000 Views.

Not only did that post generate the most comments (by far) - but it is very close to the most viewed post on the blog (views of that specific post, not including hits on the main page). For those of you that commented on that post, please check out the post again for my replies :)

As it turns out I have several followers in Spain and Mexico, and their comments (despite being offended by my web-crawler remark) I found greatly encouraging - and make me wonder if all those hits from Russia really are real-life readers...

So a BIG thank you (and apologies) to my international readers - and I look forward to your comments, as I duck behind the sofa ;-)

1000+ Views!

About two weeks ago (Feb 20th), I logged into Blogger and glanced at the stats for the GosuDad blog and saw this:

Now admittedly, likely the 1000th or at least the 1001st page view was myself. And quite likely a chunk of the total views are from some web crawlers - it seems like there's one in Russia and some from various Spanish-speaking countries.

And given how long the blog has been running (almost 8 months), that's only about 4 hits a day.

But besides all those factors - I was still quite excited :)

I have really enjoyed writing posts (and doing the "homework" for them), and it's encouraging to see that others are enjoying what's published! Looking at the stats today, we're over 1100 views!

So a big thanks to all of you readers out there and especially those who have left comments - your interactions really add to the little corner of SC2 where people blog about their favorite e-Sport :)

Season 6 Goals - The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown

As usual, my goals post is over 2 weeks into the season! I was quite excited the Friday after the start of the season (Feb 17) to do this post and enter Season 6 in a flurry!

But between catching up with housework in the evenings and preparing for a Dance Central 2 showdown with CmdrTallon's wife on Saturday Feb 25, time and energy have been short for SC2.

But we are here at last, and let me tell you, the gauntlet has been thrown!

Last weekend, I read a quote from an entrepreneur in Inc. magazine that "If you have more than 3 priorities, you have no priorities."

Given my limited time/energy, and that gauntlet I mentioned earlier, I felt this saying (which I've heard before I think) was quite relevant. So here we go!

(Note: There are about 5.5 weeks left in the season, so I calibrated my goals to that timeframe.)

1. Exercise for 30 min 6 times a week = 16.5 hours

• The gauntlet was thrown by my family doctor, who instructed me on Feb 17 that if my cholesterol doesn't improve, she's going to send me to a nutritionist. Disregarding that in our current state of healthcare in the US, my doctor can't force me to do anything, I took this as my gauntlet (or her gauntlet I guess). Of course, I'll need to focus on my diet as well - but this part is more fun ;-)

2. Do a produced sportscast-style cast once a week = 6 casts

• For many months, I've wanted to do sportscast-style casts with some more production values. Last season I opted to do a casual review style for my ladder games. Although I think was a great choice in regards to content I want regularly on my YouTube channel and blog, it gave little time towards those more involved posts. I have several showmatches lined up between myself and others, and would like to do this style for those casts - not to mention CSL casts (whose season is starting to draw to a close!).

3. Blog once a week = 6 posts

• Although I enjoy casting, it can lead to an absence of non-video blog posts, where I can talk about my life "around" SC2 - the thoughts and experiences that take place outside an actual game session. I think is the strength of the blog format, and hope to put just a bit of focus on it this season.

So there you go, 3 priorities. And I do hope to do some ladder/learning casting this season. But I felt that train/habit was well on it's way last season, and these 3 areas needed focusing - after all...

THE GAUNTLET HAS BEEN THROWN!

Season 5 Goals - Results

No season would be complete without a look at how I fared against my season goals!

My Season 5 Goals post was my last post in 2011, and I didn't play much SC2 or blog or cast until well into the new year - so I'm not too hopeful that I reached many of my goals...

(As I predicted, Season 5 ended on February 13th, so the length of the season was indeed 8 weeks. I think this will be standard from here on out.)

1. Play 40 ladder games (5 per week)

I only played 22 games this season - and I don't think I ever hit 5 games a week, even in my busiest weeks. But, as far as consistency, I did much better. Last season I think over half of my games were in the last two days of the season - whereas these games were spread out fairly evenly over maybe 5-6 weeks. I'd like to improve in this area, but given my schedule lately, I don't think I can play, review and cast more than a few games a week.

2. Lose 5 lbs from the beginning of Season 5 (XX3.6 lbs).

My weight on Feb 14 was xx3.2 lbs., so basically no progress there (hehe, no I didn't lose some multiple of 10 lbs ;-) I think over the holidays I gained 4 lbs, so I suppose getting back to pre-holiday weight is good. But as you'll see in my next goals post, this area needs a serious reboot...

3. Blog more regularly - 24 posts (3 per week)

If you count all posts up until the season retrospective, I did 24 posts, 12 in January and 12 in February. If you only count up until Feb 14, it's 22. So either way, that's pretty good. Once I started posting in January, I was posting almost every day - which was much more than I had originally hoped for! Most of the posts were video-related, which rolls nicely into the next goal...

4. Cast more often - 8 games (1 per week)

This is the one goal I actually excelled at! I casted 24 videos, casting about 77% of my games played (17 games). Back in my goals post, I said success would hinge on my ability to get up early - back then I was casting in our family room. A lot has changed since then - with my new casting desk in the basement, casting has become much more convenient. I also mentioned that "letting go of perfectionist tendencies" would be key. And I was right! This season I went for a more casual feel, casting games live and casting replays in a personal review sort of style. I think this is more in line with my original idea for the blog and casting - turning my normal SC2 activities into content. Although I still wish to do more produced content - for the CSL, showmatches with other players and casters, etc. - I think the personal, intelligent, yet novice-level analysis is something different that I can bring to the scene. That and family-friendly content - that is a rarity online for sure!

Whew, only one more post to do before I start Season 6 - goals!

Season 5 Retrospective

It's that time again - time to slap together some tables and reflect on another season of the 1v1 ladder!

	After Qualifier	Final Standing
League	Bronze	Bronze
Rank	80	25
Rank Points	0	356
Bonus Pool	28	155

Rank

I always find this statistic odd. I was very surprised to get top 25 in my division, especially given how few games I played. Even in Bronze league, most players at the top of the division have won A LOT of games - and likewise have played even more games total!

I could do a whole blog post on the workings of the ladder rank (and still hope to)...

But for now, let's just observe that apparently when I was demoted to Bronze, I was demoted far far down the ladder. Almost all my games this season were played against favored opponents, which increases the rank points gained from winning and decreases the points lost from losing. I also always had bonus pool available, so I always got double rank points from winning.

Both of those combined with a fairly decent win-rate (although in my opinion a very temporary win-rate) and playing a small number of games (less exposure to risk of losing) led to a lot of points!

Matchup Wins Losses Total Win Rate TvP 2 3 5 40% TvT 9 2 11 82% TvZ 2 2 4 50% PvT 1 1 2 50% Total 14 8 22 64 % Green = best match up for race Race Played As Games Terran 20 Protoss 2

Match-ups & Race I found this very weird. I suspect that Terran is fairly popular with casual players as it is in some ways, the easiest race to understand - so that might explain the high Terran numbers. My Terran win-rate is less explanable. Perhaps it had to do with those externally triggered timing pushes? Casual Terran players are more likely to hole up in their base and hope for a long game - and those massive all-ins were simply not expected. I used BYOB for most of my games as well, and I don't think most players expect banshees in a unit composition against Terran - or banshees in general. I've always had trouble against Zerg and Protoss - especially with upper Bronze or Silver league players (as you'll know from previous seasons!). Those players know how to use banelings and upgrades. I am so excited to start playing Protoss next season!

Map Wins Losses Total Win Rate Entombed Valley 4 2 6 67% Antiga Shipyard 3 2 5 60% Arid Plateau 2 1 3 67% Xel'Naga Caverns 2 1 3 67% Shakuras Plateau - 2 2 0% Tal'darim Altar LE 2 - 2 100% The Shattered Temple 1 - 1 100% Metalopolis - - - 0% Green text = map was new for Season 5 Red background = map removed for Season 6

Maps I ordered these by number of games played, and the results were interesting. Every player can veto 3 maps (I don't veto any). My suspicion is that many players veto the 2-player maps, and one of the older maps (The Shattered Temple or Metalopolis). This would lean the map pool towards newer, 4-player maps. As for my performance on each map, I really don't think I played enough games to draw any conclusions. As the maps get better, the less likely one-base all-ins and cheese like drone rushes will succeed. I am really looking forward to the new 2-player maps in Season 6 though - both were community-created maps (not Blizzard) and were chosen for their tournament worthiness. There should be some awesome macro games coming up!

Opponent's League Wins Losses Total Win Rate Gold 2 1 3 67% Silver 7 3 10 70% Bronze 4 4 8 50% Qualifier 1 - 1 100%

League Ok, there have been lots of surprises so far - but this one REALLY surprised me. My last season was filled with low win-rates against all leagues, and so my high rate against Silver players was a big shocker. One change from previous seasons is that most of my games were played before the ladder lock. I have a feeling that many of my Bronze opponents in previous seasons were up and coming Silver players. But who knows? Maybe I'm actually getting better? Hard to say - though I do believe that this indicates I'm at least a high Bronze player, if not low Silver.

Well, that about does it - all-in-all it was a great season, and a nice parting experience playing Terran!

BYOB: You're Full of Surprises

Since my final Terran ladder game on Monday, I've been pondering some aspects of that game - particularly the progression of the handful of army engagements.

Despite it being very late last night, I really wanted to get this review done and uploaded - one more step towards finishing out Season 5 and moving on to Season 6. Well, that and my wife had just started another episode of The Office, and I was waiting for laundry to finish - so I had some time :)

So some interesting things to keep in mind when I start playing against Terrans as Protoss next season! Now for a few retrospective posts and a goals post for Season 6!

BYOB's Final Stand

Monday night I played my last Bring Your Own Banshee game in Season 5 - vs a slightly favored Protoss player. In typical BYOB fashion, I had to try to end the game at a particular time, but it was a spectacular end to a good season!

So that was fun - despite the outcome - and I look forward to reviewing the replay as part of my end-of-the-season activities. And yes, I really look forward to switching to Protoss for Season 6!

Xel'Naga Surprise

Last night, I played quite possibly my last 1v1 ladder game on the classic map, Xel'Naga Caverns. This map has been in the ladder pool since beta, so SC2 players (those with the beta at least) have been playing on this map for 2 years!

I was excited to have a chance to play on this map - I rarely saw it this season - I suspect most players are vetoing it.

And I was matched against a Zerg, another rare occurrence for me this season. So I was excited to get into the game.

So yeah. Perhaps this explains why this map gets vetoed a lot and is being replaced in Season 6!

Although I'm quite far from my original goal of playing 40 games this season (I'm at 21 now), I look forward to playing my last games in Season 5 tonight!

Right now, I'm rank 24 in my division - which is already more than I expected at the beginning of the season, when I was demoted back down into Bronze League. I hope to cast a few of the games live - at least my last game of the evening - so it'll be a fun time :)

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!

Defense: Banshees Optional

Last Tuesday, I got to play against a Protoss on the 1v1 ladder - a rarity apparently at my level!

The outcome of the game itself was a surprise to me - as at some point, I decided my banshees weren't needed for base defense...

So upon review, it was the execution of base ramp attacks and the consistency of unit production that shaped the final outcome.

Now whether I'll remember that for next time is another thing - as you'll see in my next cast!

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 ;-)

Handling A Drone Rush

I've only faced a drone rush twice before on the 1v1 ladder, and I think both times were before I started blogging!

But there I was last night, minding my own business in Bronze League, hoping to play a short game, and pow - drone rush!

Despite the embarrassing loss, hopefully we have all learned some new tricks or understanding to use when defending against a drone rush!

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!

Taking a Brief Break

These last 2 weeks have been quite busy for me Starcraft-wise. From Saturday January 14 to Friday January 27, I recorded 11 videos and published 11 blog posts.

Two weekends ago, I started work on a computer program to help me create the summary and intro clips for my upcoming CSL casts. Last week, I tried to start interacting with subscribers and commenters on YouTube. And a few days ago, I got permission from Blizzard to use assets from the game and soundtrack in my videos (with some qualifications of course)!

Last week was also an adventure on the daddy side of things!

My daughter started potty training, we confirmed that we had at least one raccoon living in our attic, and apparently my hefty son has lost a pound since his last pediatrician appointment. So we now have a one-way door installed on the roof (thanks to a wildlife control company) and my son now has full snacking privileges for the next six weeks!

So as you might guess, by last Friday evening, I was ready for a break from the 1v1 ladder!

CmdrTallon had been bemoaning losses to the Protoss Four-Gate, so I offered to do some practice games with him. I believe this is the first time I've done this sort of thing - played custom games with someone to work on a specific part of the game.

We did 4 games of four-gate, once on Shattered Temple, and three games on Tal'Darim Altar. By the last one, he did an excellent job of shutting down my proxy pylon before it even finished.


Time: 6:48 - Two marauders and one marine kite my two advance zealots, and I'm forced to cancel my pylon and pull back.

At this point, I changed my focus to expanding - which I suppose was against the rules for a practice session focused on 4-gate... and ten minutes later, we had a large engagement which characterized the rest of the game.


Time: 16:48 - This large force of marauders struggles to push up the ramp against charge-lots, guardian shield, stalkers, and immortals.

After that, it was time for something less, um, intense. So we played two 2 vs. AI co-op matches, and won :)

Then, I'm not sure how this happened, but we rounded off the night with my first ever custom map game (the mod style of custom map) - Blizzard's "Left 2 Die"!


The basic concept is that play is divided into timed Day and Night modes. During the day, you take your forces out to kill infested terran buildings and earn points for enabling new units. During the night, you run back to your base to defend against a steady stream of infested units and large mutated zerg units!


Time: 4:07 - Night 1, 2:27 left - Our first night, and you can see why a Nazi zombie fan would like this custom map!


Time: 4:35 - Night 1, 1:59 left - The zombies (er, infested Terrans) are in the base! Here, one of the mutated Zerg units is leaping from his previous kill to slice up a marine. Who says SC2 isn't dramatic?


Time: 6:33 - Night 1, 0:01 left - With infested Terrans all over the base, these two marines are about to bite the dust.


Time: 6:36 - Day 1, 3:58 left - Moments later, they are saved! Daytime starts, and the infested Terrans explode into flames! Time to rebuild the base!


Time: 11:54 - Night 2, 2:40 left - The second night begins, and we encounter some nasty mutated Zerg units - this one explodes into a massive ball of acid when killed!


Time: 13:49 - Night 2, 0:45 left - The night is almost over, but the infested Terrans break through a wall of debris, entering an undefended area of the base! Thankfully, my vultures had carpeted the area with spider mines. Since I haven't played the SC2 single-player yet, I had never played with vultures in SC2 to this point - they are wicked awesome!


Time: 26:07 - Day 3, 0:27 left - The next night is about to start, and my infantry are healing up. That's right, that white infantry unit is healing a marauder! Meet another cool unit not available in standard multiplayer, the medic!


Time: 28:21 - Night 4, 2:14 left - Another massive mutated zerg unit, the Stank - basically a huge ultralisk, but not the balanced version from multiplayer! See the little swirlies on some of the units (even the bunker!)? It's a status effect placed on units that are THROWN by one of the Stank's attacks. And yes, that's a TON of defensive units :)

As you can tell, this was SUPER fun!

So much so, that I played a round on Saturday night, a round on Sunday night, and a few half-played rounds in between. Is this as addicting as Nazi zombies? Close, but not quite. Now had Blizzard tied more achievements to it (like for finishing X games per difficulty like they do for normal Custom games) or some sort of high score system, I would find it a huge distraction from playing competitive 1v1 ;-)

So I had a nice break over the weekend, and now it's time to get back into casting and preparing content for the CSL!

Lessons From A Protoss

Last night I did a review of my first BYOB game versus a Protoss, and we learn some things about assaulting ramps and keeping production structures busy - from both players.

(I also try casting again as "CuePhoenix, your gosu dad")




One of the things I love about StarCraft 2 is that at all levels of play, there's something to learn from your replays. There's always room for improvement, and you can learn so many things about the game just by watching your own play!