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Posted on June 14, 2013, Ryan Visbeck State on StarCraft: Blink-Stalker Protoss Vs. Protoss

State on StarCraft is a weekly column on Game Front by Ryan “State” Visbeck, a pro StarCraft 2 player. Each week State brings you his unique perspective on all things StarCraft, including tips, tricks and stories from the front line of competitive play.

NOTE: “State” is officially sponsored by Game Front.



Contents:

Hi, everyone!

This week, we’re going to break down a PvP opening that sOs used in the WCS Season 1 Finals. In addition, an exclusive replay pack featuring games on the North American server is available for download at the end of the article.

If you don’t follow the Korean StarCraft II scene, you might not have heard of sOs. Known for his unique strategies and crisp execution, sOs was the highest-placing Protoss player in both WCS Korea Season 1 and the WCS Season 1 Finals. In the SK Planet Proleague—a team league run by the eSports organization KeSPA—sOs is the fourth-winningest player with a 27-14 record overall. In short, sOs is really, really good.

In the match that we’re analyzing, sOs uses well-executed blink-stalker aggression to end the game early. Though his strategy was likely selected as a response to Alicia’s persistent stargate play, it’s a powerful and flexible build that has the potential to win games outright.

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