I just watched an awesome PvT match that I think everyone can learn from. MC vs GuMiho @ Dusk Towers. (VOD here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd0vTZGHdjs )







The game opens as commonly as you could imagine. MC takes a very standard Protoss fast expand, while scouting out the Reaper expand into tech that GuMiho has planned. Importantly, MC sneaks in a Probe that should allow him to guess that a reasonably fast 3rd CC will be on the way. Nothing really out of the ordinary.







From here, MC’s build goes as it probably would have anyways, into the ever-standard Robo/Twilight with Blink and 2 more gates. The Protoss standard from here is to pressure with Blink Stalkers while taking a 3rd base. GuMiho plants a Widow Mine that more and more Terrans have been using over the past 2 weeks as the meta stabilizes:







It’s within the path that the units will walk through, and in a semi-random location. Protoss cannot simply walk into Mordor. I mean babysit their army the whole way across the map. Also with the speed difference of Observers, there is just no way that this won’t kill a Stalker. I suggest that every Terran player does this if their reaper scouts Stalkers instead of Adepts on it’s second run-in to the Protoss base. I also suggest that Protoss players start randomizing their path a little bit more as this is growing in popularity. For instance on Dusk Towers, attack move through your opponent’s path. Anyways, of course he gets a Stalker with this.



Now this next part was pretty interesting to me from MC. MC adds a Forge before his 3rd base. Now, he’s the Boss Toss. There has to be a reason for such an early Forge here. Then I remembered who he was playing against.







GuMiho has a very specific style in TvP. He absolutely loves Siege Tank play vs Protoss.



Let’s talk about Tankivac/Marine play in TvP. After that gross little era at the beginning of Legacy of the Void where not one Terran aside from TY could reliably win vs heavy Adept play, a new style arose upon the back of Zest. The mass Gateway army, of mostly Stalkers and Adepts came to the forefront. This style, as we all know, is super-mobile, and very powerful. It is the true standard of macro PvT. SO, that means that something has to come along and challenge it in a real way. Tank/Marine is one of the best ways to do so. GuMiho is one of the real strategic leaders of Tank play in TvP. We can jump back all the way to the beginning of May to find him leading his team into the new style: (all from one night of Proleague! what a night!)

Super vs GumihO @ Orbital Shipyard PvT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KaBqx3J_S4

Patience vs Ryung @ King Sejong Station PvT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPKMDxlLEFI

Super vs GumihO @ Lerilak Crest PvT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvxeovbni5Q



It’s not exactly the same as we see used in this game, or now in general, but these were amongst the very first professional TvP games played in Korea with the mindset of beating the Gateway-centric Protoss Army with a Tank-based force.



SO… MC has an unusually early Forge. He scouts GuMiho’s base seconds after starting it and the Observer confirms that Tanks are in production. Standard GuMiho. Let’s move on.



MC gets his 3rd Nexus started just a tad later than normal. Gets his +1 attack going quite ab it faster than normal. And gets his 4th gas certainly much faster than a normal Gateway style will. GuMiho in the meantime is just producing his Tanks, Marines, Medivacs, Upgrades. He’s on course for where he wants to be. He’s taken almost 0 damage this game so far. Even catches and kills the Prism. Looking good!(By the way, the second MC takes fire on his Prism from a Viking and realizes it, he starts another one. This is important guys. I mean just in general. Like really, seriously. This is one of the main differences between top Protosses and the best Protosses. The best will always remake that Prism immediately.)



So MC and GuMiho have their production explosions (mass Gateway//Barracks building) at about the same time. Immediately thereafter. Now, if you are following a Zest build order, you probably tried to make a 4th Nexus here before your Gateways. Oh, sorry, unless you are Zest, you are about to die to GuMiho’s first push. This is where MC’s brilliance is shown. He’s playing the player and he’s playing his scouting intel. After these Gateways, MC immediately starts a 2nd Robo and a Robotics Support Bay. And remember that Forge? +2 already on the way. Having that “aha!” moment yet?

The counter to Siege Tanks has always been Colossus. Colossus play just shreds Siege Tank / Bio armies. Colossus also got a recent buff. They attack faster now. That +2 attack is a devastating upgrade for the Colossus.

From here we will need to fast forward a bit. Harassment occurs on both sides. This is normal. Both of them just added on their production for their 3 base economies. To attack now before that production kicks in would be silly, so harassment is the name of the game. Trying to get some damage, keep your opponent busy while you power up. Lots of little scuffles, etc. Here’s an important part: MC is NOT in a rush to get his 4th base up. Zest would be mining from it at full saturation right now, but MC is just chilling on 3 bases. In fact, GuMiho’s 4th will finish before MC’s will even start. MC’s only focus right now is to not bleed off any army until he has his 4 Colossus out. Why? Because he’s going to be at a huge advantage army-wise.







so close so close!







OK, here we go!



Both players are maxed with the same army supply and worker counts. Yes, some of GuMiho’s army is on the way still, and yes he has 2 more Armor upgrades than the Boss Toss, but trust me, none of that matters here. MC has out strategized him fully.



Now, MC does win the battle. He beats up GuMiho pretty hard here, but he makes a mistake that ends up costing him.







MC shades onto the bio army which runs way back. Great move from GuMiho running back there by the way. GuMiho still has some units in the front, and that’s what the Colossus are firing upon. That is a metric shit-ton of damage that those four +2 Attack Colossus are outputting onto a Siege tank and a Marauder or two. In the mean-time, the entire “tanking” (read, damage-soaking) portion of his army is battling a Marine/Marauder/Medivac army that has 2 more upgrades than it does. MC wins the battle, yes, but loses many Adepts. Maybe this is a move to try and prevent GuMiho from getting out with any of his units, but it comes into contrast with MC’s next move.







MC immediately counter-attacks here. He killed GuMiho’s army, so seems OK, right? It doesn’t go well. MC loses absolutely everything. All his Colossus perish here. The problem is, GuMiho is of course not going to continue on Siege Tank production. Marine/Marauder is now going to be the damage-dealing bulk of his army. MC has just lost all of his damage-soaking Adepts, and is counter attacking with a very, very soft army. A solid spread of Marine/Marauder crush through the Stalkers and make quick work of the unprotected Colossus. MC thought he had kill potential, but it cost him the game.



From here GuMiho wins pretty easily with lots of solid drop harassment.





Overall, I think that MC played a brilliant game.Just 1-2 mistakes ended up costing him a game that I think he was far more prepared for than GuMiho was. He played the player, he scouted and did an awesome counter-strategy. I will definitely be adding this to my arsenal. And you should too.





P.S,

if you are looking for some more Colossus PvT games, check out these:

Gumiho vs Classic TvP @ Dusk Towers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiLxQdVwSbA



Classic vs Gumiho PvT @ Dusk Towers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DSpPVKBBwU







These games aren’t quite as straight-forward as this one, but still very solid play from Classic.