BigFan Profile Blog Joined December 2010 TLADT 24439 Posts Last Edited: 2017-09-30 04:10:15 #1







In SCII, cheese has a bad ring to it since it's not as accepted due to being hard to defend even when scouted (1/1/1 etc...) and where you'll be cursed if you cheese lol. On ICCup, anything goes. People aren't caught up with how to play 'right' if you can call it that. Their main goal is to win the game and that's all they care about. Things like proxy 10/15 gate into dt followup or 9 pool speedling all in are things that I've seen on a decent enough basis(being casual and all), more so if you're peruvian or from SA it seems. This makes ICCup really competitive because there is no limit or boundaries to stick to and makes for some crazy, bizzare yet fun games.



This also reminds of an SCII game that I played on the KR server back when Blizzard first patched in cross-servers and such. TvP on some map, my opponent went for speed zealots(chargelots in SCII terms) and managed to contain me to 1 base. Eventually I break out, re-establish my expansion and hurt his eco with a drop or something. His response? a 2 base 2 colossi(or was it 1?)+workers all in. It was such a quick decision. You can tell it wasn't planned but the goal wasn't to play 'right' but to win. I remember being taken back because despite playing enough vP games(P seemed highly represented on NA plat servers at the time), I've never seen such a desperate move and it almost worked. ICCup experiences have been pretty similar and wacky which I like lol. As an example, an opponent went mass hydras against my MnM, almost broke through and then made 6-7 lurkers and tried to bust me.



I mostly spend my time playing TvZ on ICCup whenever I get the chance. There is the occasional PvZ since I like the bisu build but haven't played any recently. When I first started playing as terran, I had issues walling which meant that if my opponent went 9 pool and kept pumping zerglings or even 2 gate, chances are I'll lose. I actually wrote a battlereport blog on here where I went for one of my signature walls lol. After losing 3-4 games in a row to pure zerglings, eventually I started parking an SCV or two on the ramp for blocking and sacrificed a bit of eco for a longer game. I was able to move away from that as my game sense increased and when I started to scout more carefully and read the signs. I guess better micro (a-moving workers was hard to break lol) also helped.



1 rax FE (cc inbase) started to become my go to build. Depending on the size map (think La Mancha and Circuit Breaker) and position of my opponent, I've even went 1 rax, delayed the first marine and built a cc on the low ground. I felt that I can hold any attacks especially if I scouted my opponent's 12 hatchery 11 pool cross position. It's been interesting to see the progression of my games and that of my opponents.



Even though I've become better at holding off early game shenanigans and my micro has improved(MMF vs. zerglings+lurker) or holding off zergling+lurker all-ins, my mid to late game needs some work. I feel that on maps such as FS, it's pretty difficult to take a third and defend it. I've had no issues taking third on La Mancha and Circuit Breaker which are two big maps and even hold them whenever I'm attacked but on smaller map, it's much harder. I also wonder if it has to do with the map architecture but you can block your ramp with a rax+depot for a third on FS. I guess I just gotta take more risks then even if it means lifting my cc in moments of trouble.



Most zergs I've encountered seem to prefer 12 hatch 11 pool and mutalisks. I guess it makes sense to try and keep the terran in his base while taking a third but enough turrets and good MnM micro seems to be a good enough counter. I have found that some D and higher opponents have decent muta micro which was surprising to me. I guess it's to be expected. Firebats are pretty helpful as well due to their insane dps against zerglings especially if the opponent goes for a zergling attack prior to mutalisks and I've started to add 1-2 early game.



Once games tend to go to the late game, I find that my macro becomes ridiculously bad. I think my multitasking gets stretched thin and the thought of losing my army outweighs the thought of looking away to make more. In a way, it's always amazing to see pros look away from their army even during a battle and make another round of units. Either they are that confident in their ability to micro out of bad situations(think SK Terran against lurker contain) or they realize the value of more units at the expense of losing some if they are attacked. I think their speed is also a major factor. Seems like most pros(think Bisu for 10-12 structures) can make units from 8+ structure within a second or two at best compared to lower levels where'll it'll take several seconds for similar or less structures. Same with changing rally points and re-fixing control groups which is a welcome pain.



APM wise, back when I first started SCII, I was averaging 80 with zerg which is pretty low but seemed good at the time. Transitioning to terran in both SCII(back then) and BW, I've managed to improve my APM to about 100. Nowadays or at least recent games, my APM is averaging about 130 with peaks of 310 which sounds insane. Wonder what I was doing at that time, probably just making workers and units or something lol.



One thing that's disappointing is that I have yet to make valkyries work. I like the unit itself but one of the several times I've tried it, I got called a noob after I was stomped lol. 2 base valkyrie with MnM support sounds like a viable build (don't really read up on builds to know) and I guess something that I wish to strive for to add more diversity to my game. I also do recall watching TvZ with valkyries (Canata vs Jaedong or something?). Overall, it's been a great experience and rage-inducing when you're losing 6 games in a row lol. Playing on Iccup, it's rare to go on a big streak regardless of opponents which is why I wrote this blog:







8-0 against Zerg players! I was told I was a turret whore in one game on FS lol and in another, I was asked if I reset my stats and why I'm D- (he misread, I was D). I guess it's a good compliment. I think this is my highest rank I've had(about 1500) and though I don't think I'm D+ yet (my vT is absymal since I've played 5 games at best and vP needs a lot of work), it's nice to see some improvements. Gone are the days where I lost to zerglings/lurkers and I now welcome the days where I lose to defilers/ultralisks more often XD



On a side note, after watching my replays from recent games, I felt pretty bad for my zerg opponents. Even though I've had other zerg opponents(think D+ or in some cases, C-) outplay me before and it felt like I had no chance and that something felt off, I felt the same way when watching things from the zerg's perspective. I guess that's what makes BW great. When you have players like Flash and Jaedong playing against each other, race-specific imbalanced units like defilers, vessels(looking at mass vessels here with irridate/defense matrix) etc... can be dealt with and amounts to nothing more than a nuisance. Thanks for reading! All comments are welcome. If anyone wants to hear about specific experiences, please mention it in the comments



ps I still can't wall to save my life lol.

pps to clarify, I don't think vessels are imbalanced by themselves but mass vessels(thinking 7+) are ridiculous in terms of irridate potential.



Whenever someone new starts playing BW, first thing that's mentioned to them is that they should be prepared to lose a decent amount of games on ICCup, usually in the vicinity of 50 games or so until they can at least hold their own and maybe win a game. My own record when I first started playing on ICCup was a dismal 20-84 or about 19% win rate stretched over several seasons. Think about it. 19%! ya, I got stomped hard lol. Also, some of those wins were opponents disconnecting or in a game or two, they just decided to leave after I gg'd (pity points? lol).In SCII, cheese has a bad ring to it since it's not as accepted due to being hard to defend even when scouted (1/1/1 etc...) and where you'll be cursed if you cheese lol. On ICCup, anything goes. People aren't caught up with how to play 'right' if you can call it that. Their main goal is to win the game and that's all they care about. Things like proxy 10/15 gate into dt followup or 9 pool speedling all in are things that I've seen on a decent enough basis(being casual and all), more so if you're peruvian or from SA it seems. This makes ICCup really competitive because there is no limit or boundaries to stick to and makes for some crazy, bizzare yet fun games.This also reminds of an SCII game that I played on the KR server back when Blizzard first patched in cross-servers and such. TvP on some map, my opponent went for speed zealots(chargelots in SCII terms) and managed to contain me to 1 base. Eventually I break out, re-establish my expansion and hurt his eco with a drop or something. His response? a 2 base 2 colossi(or was it 1?)+workers all in. It was such a quick decision. You can tell it wasn't planned but the goal wasn't to play 'right' but to win. I remember being taken back because despite playing enough vP games(P seemed highly represented on NA plat servers at the time), I've never seen such a desperate move and it almost worked. ICCup experiences have been pretty similar and wacky which I like lol. As an example, an opponent went mass hydras against my MnM, almost broke through and then made 6-7 lurkers and tried to bust me.I mostly spend my time playing TvZ on ICCup whenever I get the chance. There is the occasional PvZ since I like the bisu build but haven't played any recently. When I first started playing as terran, I had issues walling which meant that if my opponent went 9 pool and kept pumping zerglings or even 2 gate, chances are I'll lose. I actually wrote a battlereport blog on here where I went for one of my signature walls lol. After losing 3-4 games in a row to pure zerglings, eventually I started parking an SCV or two on the ramp for blocking and sacrificed a bit of eco for a longer game. I was able to move away from that as my game sense increased and when I started to scout more carefully and read the signs. I guess better micro (a-moving workers was hard to break lol) also helped.1 rax FE (cc inbase) started to become my go to build. Depending on the size map (think La Mancha and Circuit Breaker) and position of my opponent, I've even went 1 rax, delayed the first marine and built a cc on the low ground. I felt that I can hold any attacks especially if I scouted my opponent's 12 hatchery 11 pool cross position. It's been interesting to see the progression of my games and that of my opponents.Even though I've become better at holding off early game shenanigans and my micro has improved(MMF vs. zerglings+lurker) or holding off zergling+lurker all-ins, my mid to late game needs some work. I feel that on maps such as FS, it's pretty difficult to take a third and defend it. I've had no issues taking third on La Mancha and Circuit Breaker which are two big maps and even hold them whenever I'm attacked but on smaller map, it's much harder. I also wonder if it has to do with the map architecture but you can block your ramp with a rax+depot for a third on FS. I guess I just gotta take more risks then even if it means lifting my cc in moments of trouble.Most zergs I've encountered seem to prefer 12 hatch 11 pool and mutalisks. I guess it makes sense to try and keep the terran in his base while taking a third but enough turrets and good MnM micro seems to be a good enough counter. I have found that some D and higher opponents have decent muta micro which was surprising to me. I guess it's to be expected. Firebats are pretty helpful as well due to their insane dps against zerglings especially if the opponent goes for a zergling attack prior to mutalisks and I've started to add 1-2 early game.Once games tend to go to the late game, I find that my macro becomes ridiculously bad. I think my multitasking gets stretched thin and the thought of losing my army outweighs the thought of looking away to make more. In a way, it's always amazing to see pros look away from their army even during a battle and make another round of units. Either they are that confident in their ability to micro out of bad situations(think SK Terran against lurker contain) or they realize the value of more units at the expense of losing some if they are attacked. I think their speed is also a major factor. Seems like most pros(think Bisu for 10-12 structures) can make units from 8+ structure within a second or two at best compared to lower levels where'll it'll take several seconds for similar or less structures. Same with changing rally points and re-fixing control groups which is a welcome pain.APM wise, back when I first started SCII, I was averaging 80 with zerg which is pretty low but seemed good at the time. Transitioning to terran in both SCII(back then) and BW, I've managed to improve my APM to about 100. Nowadays or at least recent games, my APM is averaging about 130 with peaks of 310 which sounds insane. Wonder what I was doing at that time, probably just making workers and units or something lol.One thing that's disappointing is that I have yet to make valkyries work. I like the unit itself but one of the several times I've tried it, I got called a noob after I was stomped lol. 2 base valkyrie with MnM support sounds like a viable build (don't really read up on builds to know) and I guess something that I wish to strive for to add more diversity to my game. I also do recall watching TvZ with valkyries (Canata vs Jaedong or something?). Overall, it's been a great experience and rage-inducing when you're losing 6 games in a row lol. Playing on Iccup, it's rare to go on a big streak regardless of opponents which is why I wrote this blog:8-0 against Zerg players! I was told I was a turret whore in one game on FS lol and in another, I was asked if I reset my stats and why I'm D- (he misread, I was D). I guess it's a good compliment. I think this is my highest rank I've had(about 1500) and though I don't think I'm D+ yet (my vT is absymal since I've played 5 games at best and vP needs a lot of work), it's nice to see some improvements. Gone are the days where I lost to zerglings/lurkers and I now welcome the days where I lose to defilers/ultralisks more often XDOn a side note, after watching my replays from recent games, I felt pretty bad for my zerg opponents. Even though I've had other zerg opponents(think D+ or in some cases, C-) outplay me before and it felt like I had no chance and that something felt off, I felt the same way when watching things from the zerg's perspective. I guess that's what makes BW great. When you have players like Flash and Jaedong playing against each other, race-specific imbalanced units like defilers, vessels(looking at mass vessels here with irridate/defense matrix) etc... can be dealt with and amounts to nothing more than a nuisance. Thanks for reading! All comments are welcome. If anyone wants to hear about specific experiences, please mention it in the commentsps I still can't wall to save my life lol.pps to clarify, I don't think vessels are imbalanced by themselves but mass vessels(thinking 7+) are ridiculous in terms of irridate potential. Former BW EiC "Watch Bakemonogatari or I will kill you." -Toad, April 18th, 2017