4M TvZ Part 2: The American Way Text by TL Strategy Graphics by Naganis, Nicopower5000 Liquipedia Contents



Introduction



Polt vs Jaedong

on Bel'Shir Vestige Part I: Timeline of Events

Part II: Polt's Goals and How he Won



Polt vs Jaedong

on Neo Planet S.



Polt vs Jaedong

on Derelict Watcher



Polt vs Hyun

on Akilon Wastes



Opening and Build Orders



Conclusion and Replay Pack

on Bel'Shir Vestigeon Neo Planet S.on Derelict Watcheron Akilon Wastes

Introduction

Terran vs Zerg is a match up in constant flux. The metagame on both sides swings between greed and aggression. The meta has stabilized to a point where a player must be able to pressure a greedy opponent while still being able to defend vs an aggressive one. Regardless of the Terran's choice to open two command or three, they are forced to scout and react to very specific findings.



One player has found an amazing way to walk this razors edge without having to make blind choices in his games: his name is CMPolt. We will be taking an in depth look at how Polt accomplishes this and what we can learn from it. Please note, you should have read the guide titled, “4M: A Guide to Modern TvZ” as I will be assuming that the contents found inside of it are common knowledge to anyone reading this article.



This guide will go through several of Polt's games in order to explain both the specifics of his build and some deviations that are used to adapt to the Zerg's play. The first game looked at will provide a baseline and be more detailed. The next three games will then be compared to the baseline game in order to understand how the build is adapted to each opponent.



How Polt Wins

Watching a lot of Polt games will quickly reveal that Polt is a player plagued with some very specific weaknesses. Polt does not multitask like other top tier Korean Terrans. Polt does not always have the macro that his fellow Terrans display. There will be countless examples of soaring money as he micros a hellion run-by, or of him losing small to mid sized armies simply because he did not look at them and micro at all during the five or six second fight.



That is ok. Polt does not use mechanics to win: Polt is a master of map control, decision making, and positioning. You will be hard pressed to find a player better at these ideas in all of the Starcraft II. The level of understanding that he brings to the table in terms of these three items is beyond daunting and inspires awe in all that take the time to look. With that in mind, lets take a look at his unique TvZ style.



Polt's TvZ

Polt plays to win with his decision making. In TvZ, he favors a 4M mid game. Polt has an adaptive opening that offers an amazingly fine tuned approach to both greedy and aggressive Zerg choices. Polt has been using this opening and style for over a month now and there has been no hard counter employed thus far.



Polt vs Jaedong on Bel'Shir Vestige from WCS AM Finals. Set 1



Part I: Time Line of Events





[0:00 to 5:40] Polt spawns in the bottom location and opens with a very standard reaper FE. He does not go for an overly aggressive 11 barracks, nor does he over commit and send both reapers out. He sends the first reaper straight to the Zerg main and rallies the second into his natural. He arrives in the Zerg main to the sight of four zerglings hatching and an extractor with about 30 gas already mined. His reaper does not kill a single unit and retreats at the 5:30 mark. Behind the reaper play, Polt added the standard reactor/factory/bunker. In a not so standard move, he also adds a starport.



[5:40 to 7:20] The two reapers camp near the front of the Terran natural as Polt adds a second gas and a tech lab to the barracks. The first two hellions rally straight to the likely location of the third base and a viking is produced at the starport. Further hellion production is used to clear out any zerglings on Polts side of the map. The scouting hellions spot the third base of Jaedong at 6:30 and immediately head towards the Zerg natural where they spot two queens and the first signs of creep spread. The two hellions retreat to the watch tower where two new hellions rally in to meet them. Upon meeting up at the tower, the four hellions proceed to the other tower. As his fifth and sixth hellion spawn out, a small zergling attack comes into his natural. Polt pulls all forces home to deal with the force and loses very little as his units were close to his natural when this hit. Polt's viking spawns and begins a multi waypoint attack move that ensure that no overlord will be left alive that is not safely flying over creep. Marauder production now begins out of the tech lab barracks and the final depots are added to the wall off in the natural.



[7:20 to 8:30] The standard six hellion two reaper timing attack heads towards the third of Jaedong. The group hits the watch tower closest to Jaedong's third base on its way. Stim pack, marauders, mines, and one medivac are being produced behind this move out. The reaper/hellion pack arrives at the third and scouts no drones. The pack turns instantly towards the natural of Jaedong and dodges three out of position queens and two evolution chambers [8:05]. The small force scouts two gas at the natural and kills a few drones before attempting to run into the main where they spot that Jaedong has one gas still free before dying.





I told you that Polt does not have the best macro...



[8:30 to 9:30] As the force dies, Polt quickly shifts his attention back to his macro. He adds his third command center, barracks number two and three, two gas, and then two engineering bays. He sends out his now finished medivac with two mines loaded into it towards the Zerg main base. He halts all marauder production and continues to make mines out of the factory and one more medivac out of the starport. He rounds out his mid game infrastructure with two more barracks as barracks number two and three are at about 50% completion. As the medivac arrives in the Zerg main, he drops one mine in the main mineral line and then moves to drop another in the natural mineral line. He is able to see the morphing lair. The medivac safely boosts home and the mines camp the mineral lines until they die.



[9:30 to 11:00] With only seconds before stim to finishes up, all four marauders that Polt has are loaded into a medivac and speed towards the third base of Jaedong. Polt's infrastructure begins to finish up. He starts +1/+1 and combat shields as he adds reactors to his now finished buildings. He lands the marauders off of creep near the Zerg's third and then stims them onto creep targeting down two queens before lifting and flying towards the likely site of Jaedongs future fourth base. He finally adds an armory -- when +1/+1 is about 50% done -- and begins non stop marine, mine, medivac production.



[11:30 to 13:00] The marauder filled medivac lands its force in a hidden spot near where the fourth base will most likely be placed. The marauders aggressively poke from that location to the closest current location covered by creep. Back on his side of the map, his third orbital command is approaching its desired mining location and a supply depot wall is instantly set up to block an attack path to the new base. Two bunkers are added at a defensive rally location that provides cover to all three bases. Mines join the bunkers in a spread out formation. Right at the 12:00 mark a second factory is added and the four marauders spot an attempted fourth base: the marauders stim forward and shut this down. As lings arrive to drive the marauders away, Polt lifts up and boosts back towards home. As +1/+1 approaches completion, Polt adds two more bunkers in the defensive rally as well as a bunker, sensor tower, turret, and one gas at his third base. The second factory that Polt made is given a tech lab as soon as it finished.



[13:00 to 16:15] As +1/+1 finishes, +2/+2 starts and the burrow upgrade for widow mines begins shortly afterwards. A small force of about 16 marines and three medivacs advance to control the watch tower closest to Polt's bases. Mutalisks are revealed and snipe the viking. A lone marine is sent from the group at the tower towards the normal fifth base location on Jaedong's side of the map and the rest of the force swings remains on a ramp near the watch tower in a defensive formation. Polt starts his final three barracks at this point. Once Polt has gathered seven mines and a large bio/medivac force, he pushes towards a location that provides access to Jaedong's fourth. Holding this position also denies an entire half of the map's counter attack paths. He baits a small engagement right off of creep and then uses a scan to clear a large area of tumors. He positions his force on the high ground leading to the Jaedong's fourth forcing to deal with Polt's army. Jaedong executes a 14 zergling run by into Polt's third base while sending in a force of 17 banelings, eight mutalisks, and ten zerglings to take care of the bio mine force camping near his fourth. Every baneling and zergling dies. The last three barracks of Polt finish up, going straight into marine production and without any add ons. A followup wave is able to clean Polt's remaining force on the high ground. Polt rallies in forces to punish the pursuing Zerg player and establish a safe rally point on the low ground with an attack path leading straight to the fourth base nearby. Polt begins +1 armor for mech and and a fourth command center. Polt postures near the fourth base a bit but does not commit onto creep.





The yellow arrow indicates the goal for our rally point

and the white arrow indicates the crucial area that our

army moved to first in order to help ensure solid map

control.



[19:46 to 21:35] At 19:46 Polt has every single marine near the aggressive rally stim and run straight at the Zerg's fourth. He aggressively pre-spreads them as they go onto creep and scans to the north so he can see any Zerg units in the area. +3 attack finishes at 19:55. Jaedong trades a large part of his muta/ling/bane army to repel this attack. Polt lost around 20 marines and a few mines while Jaedong loses four mutas, 12 banes, a queen, around 14-20 zerglings, and a few drones. As Jaedong kills the last of the first wave, the second wave of 12 marines, 3 mines, and 4 medivacs arrive. Polt scans and then aggressively stims and attacks: killing two burrowed banes as he races toward the hatchery. The force positions itself between the lower gas and the hatchery. 14 mutas and around 24 zerglings repel the force. Polt focus fires mutas and ten of them fall for in exchange for the 12 marines. With that group of marines dead, the meds boost back and join the next approaching force of 12 marines, three mines, and two medivacs. This time, Polt brings some mines onto creep as he attacks the now defenseless hatchery. As the fourth base falls, Jaedong attempts one last run-by into Polt's main which is shut down instantly by units that have just spawned. The last remaining mutas run into marines and the gg is thrown down by Jaedong. It should be noted that Polt will be using an opening and overall game plan that he has shown several times over the month leading up to this game. Jaedong will have surely seen these games. There is nothing in this game that Polt had not used in a professional game before. This game, and the others vs Jaedong, are from a WCS AM finals where the winner would receive thousands of dollars more than the loser.[0:00 to 5:40] Polt spawns in the bottom location and opens with a very standard reaper FE. He does not go for an overly aggressive 11 barracks, nor does he over commit and send both reapers out. He sends the first reaper straight to the Zerg main and rallies the second into his natural. He arrives in the Zerg main to the sight of four zerglings hatching and an extractor with about 30 gas already mined. His reaper does not kill a single unit and retreats at the 5:30 mark. Behind the reaper play, Polt added the standard reactor/factory/bunker. In a not so standard move, he also adds a starport.[5:40 to 7:20] The two reapers camp near the front of the Terran natural as Polt adds a second gas and a tech lab to the barracks. The first two hellions rally straight to the likely location of the third base and a viking is produced at the starport. Further hellion production is used to clear out any zerglings on Polts side of the map. The scouting hellions spot the third base of Jaedong at 6:30 and immediately head towards the Zerg natural where they spot two queens and the first signs of creep spread. The two hellions retreat to the watch tower where two new hellions rally in to meet them. Upon meeting up at the tower, the four hellions proceed to the other tower. As his fifth and sixth hellion spawn out, a small zergling attack comes into his natural. Polt pulls all forces home to deal with the force and loses very little as his units were close to his natural when this hit. Polt's viking spawns and begins a multi waypoint attack move that ensure that no overlord will be left alive that is not safely flying over creep. Marauder production now begins out of the tech lab barracks and the final depots are added to the wall off in the natural.[7:20 to 8:30] The standard six hellion two reaper timing attack heads towards the third of Jaedong. The group hits the watch tower closest to Jaedong's third base on its way. Stim pack, marauders, mines, and one medivac are being produced behind this move out. The reaper/hellion pack arrives at the third and scouts no drones. The pack turns instantly towards the natural of Jaedong and dodges three out of position queens and two evolution chambers [8:05]. The small force scouts two gas at the natural and kills a few drones before attempting to run into the main where they spot that Jaedong has one gas still free before dying.[8:30 to 9:30] As the force dies, Polt quickly shifts his attention back to his macro. He adds his third command center, barracks number two and three, two gas, and then two engineering bays. He sends out his now finished medivac with two mines loaded into it towards the Zerg main base. He halts all marauder production and continues to make mines out of the factory and one more medivac out of the starport. He rounds out his mid game infrastructure with two more barracks as barracks number two and three are at about 50% completion. As the medivac arrives in the Zerg main, he drops one mine in the main mineral line and then moves to drop another in the natural mineral line. He is able to see the morphing lair. The medivac safely boosts home and the mines camp the mineral lines until they die.[9:30 to 11:00] With only seconds before stim to finishes up, all four marauders that Polt has are loaded into a medivac and speed towards the third base of Jaedong. Polt's infrastructure begins to finish up. He starts +1/+1 and combat shields as he adds reactors to his now finished buildings. He lands the marauders off of creep near the Zerg's third and then stims them onto creep targeting down two queens before lifting and flying towards the likely site of Jaedongs future fourth base. He finally adds an armory -- when +1/+1 is about 50% done -- and begins non stop marine, mine, medivac production.[11:30 to 13:00] The marauder filled medivac lands its force in a hidden spot near where the fourth base will most likely be placed. The marauders aggressively poke from that location to the closest current location covered by creep. Back on his side of the map, his third orbital command is approaching its desired mining location and a supply depot wall is instantly set up to block an attack path to the new base. Two bunkers are added at a defensive rally location that provides cover to all three bases. Mines join the bunkers in a spread out formation. Right at the 12:00 mark a second factory is added and the four marauders spot an attempted fourth base: the marauders stim forward and shut this down. As lings arrive to drive the marauders away, Polt lifts up and boosts back towards home. As +1/+1 approaches completion, Polt adds two more bunkers in the defensive rally as well as a bunker, sensor tower, turret, and one gas at his third base. The second factory that Polt made is given a tech lab as soon as it finished.[13:00 to 16:15] As +1/+1 finishes, +2/+2 starts and the burrow upgrade for widow mines begins shortly afterwards. A small force of about 16 marines and three medivacs advance to control the watch tower closest to Polt's bases. Mutalisks are revealed and snipe the viking. A lone marine is sent from the group at the tower towards the normal fifth base location on Jaedong's side of the map and the rest of the force swings remains on a ramp near the watch tower in a defensive formation. Polt starts his final three barracks at this point. Once Polt has gathered seven mines and a large bio/medivac force, he pushes towards a location that provides access to Jaedong's fourth. Holding this position also denies an entire half of the map's counter attack paths. He baits a small engagement right off of creep and then uses a scan to clear a large area of tumors. He positions his force on the high ground leading to the Jaedong's fourth forcing to deal with Polt's army. Jaedong executes a 14 zergling run by into Polt's third base while sending in a force of 17 banelings, eight mutalisks, and ten zerglings to take care of the bio mine force camping near his fourth. Every baneling and zergling dies. The last three barracks of Polt finish up, going straight into marine production and without any add ons. A followup wave is able to clean Polt's remaining force on the high ground. Polt rallies in forces to punish the pursuing Zerg player and establish a safe rally point on the low ground with an attack path leading straight to the fourth base nearby. Polt begins +1 armor for mech and and a fourth command center. Polt postures near the fourth base a bit but does not commit onto creep.[16:15 to 19:45] +2/+2 finishes and +3 attack begins. Another zergling run by does damage to Polt's economy at the third base. Small groups of eight marines stim forward onto creep to poke at the fourth base of Jaedong. They run and micro back at the first sign of Zerg units. The rest of Polt's force is pre spread with burrowed mines a small distance from the edge of creep allowing Polt a certain amount of insurance against over-extending. The aggressive poking onto the creep is fairly constant at this point and provokes a counter push towards Polt's forward rally. This quickly changes from push to over-extension as spread and burrowed mines supported by the next wave of Terran bio easily punish the off creep Zerg player. Polt's aggression does not let up as he extends his position to the hatchery. He is now content to fight at the edge of creep and snipe a single extractor and to watch for the Zerg player to get inpatient and overextend into his aggressive rally and mine field. More run-bys are attempted by Jaedong but they are shut down easily for the first time all game.[19:46 to 21:35] At 19:46 Polt has every single marine near the aggressive rally stim and run straight at the Zerg's fourth. He aggressively pre-spreads them as they go onto creep and scans to the north so he can see any Zerg units in the area. +3 attack finishes at 19:55. Jaedong trades a large part of his muta/ling/bane army to repel this attack. Polt lost around 20 marines and a few mines while Jaedong loses four mutas, 12 banes, a queen, around 14-20 zerglings, and a few drones. As Jaedong kills the last of the first wave, the second wave of 12 marines, 3 mines, and 4 medivacs arrive. Polt scans and then aggressively stims and attacks: killing two burrowed banes as he races toward the hatchery. The force positions itself between the lower gas and the hatchery. 14 mutas and around 24 zerglings repel the force. Polt focus fires mutas and ten of them fall for in exchange for the 12 marines. With that group of marines dead, the meds boost back and join the next approaching force of 12 marines, three mines, and two medivacs. This time, Polt brings some mines onto creep as he attacks the now defenseless hatchery. As the fourth base falls, Jaedong attempts one last run-by into Polt's main which is shut down instantly by units that have just spawned. The last remaining mutas run into marines and the gg is thrown down by Jaedong.

Part II: Polt's Goals and How He Won





[Checkmate] [19:46 to 21:35] Polt's last decision of the game, that led to the winning blow, was to attack into Jaedong's fourth base as +3 attack finished up. It is most likely true that he would have preferred this to be a 3/3 timing attack instead of a 3/2, but I believe Polt simply made a mistake and forgot +3 armor for a very long time. In many of his other games, Polt goes for the +3/+3 timing when facing a Zerg going for the same style as Jaedong.



Why Does That Work?

A question about why a decision or attack works is always answered by looking at the state of the enemy shortly before, or right when, the attack hits. Let's take a look Jaedong's game state at 19:45.



Jaedong has recently finished his hive. +3/+3 have just started and no tech buildings have been added. He is producing about five mutas, ten banes, and 14 zerglings. His bank is sitting at 170 minerals and 13 gas. His creep spread is very limited on the side of the map where his fourth base is and only slightly on Polt's side of the map on the other. To put it simply, Jaedong is trying tech up but can't because he has to spend gas on units like mutas and banes. In fact, he has to spend a lot of gas making these units.



Polt, on the other hand, has just increased his ability for marines to handle banes and mutas. +3 attack makes marines terrifying and able to kill these units very fast. On top of that, Polt is making 12 marines, two medivacs, and three mines with each production cycle. With medivacs being able to boost out of battles as they end, and mines burrowing outside of Jaedong's safe engage zones, Polt has created a situation where Jaedong must spend large amounts of gas in order to trade units and stop each wave of mineral only marines.



Polt's end game goal this game is to hit an anti-hive timing where Jaedong would be forced to trade his gas units for Polt's mineral units. This denies Jaedong the ability to get out real hive tech and punishes him for having spent gas at this timing on anything besides units.



Goal: Kill the Zerg's Fourth Base as +3/(+3) Finishes

[Check] [16:15 to 19:45] Polt constantly pokes at the the exposed fourth base from the safety of his forward rally point. Jaedong is forced to remake mutas and banes with each battle.



Jaedong is gas starved and has just capped his ability to increase the efficiency of his ling/bane/muta force on lair tech: as +2/+2 finishes. Since he must get his hive in order to upgrade further, he must continue to remake very expensive gas units in order to hold his exposed fourth base.



Jaedong is beginning to feel the lessened power of his low tech units vs +2/+2 marines even despite the effectiveness of his run-bys. Jaedong's only mineral dump, therefore, has lost its effectiveness vs Polt's mineral dump.



Jaedong made at least 49 banes and 21 mutas during this three minute timing alone. He most likely made an additional 14 (or more) banes and five (or more) mutas but I only counted what the production tab would show me and the casters had it off several times during the timing. This is well over 3000 gas. 3000 gas spent on lair tech units while hive is morphing.



Polt wanted to ensure that as Jaedong entered hive tech, he would not have the gas to start an end game army. Polt carefully conserved medivacs and mines wherever possible. Never fighting on creep, but keeping the fights constant, also helps to ensure that a group of marines will be always approaching. If Polt maxes out, there is a danger of having one fight clear out his entire force; if this happens, nothing will be moving towards his rally for a long time. The very nature of the constant rally is revealed here: never max so that the Zerg has to spend gas constantly and so that there is never a lull in the timing between fights.



Goal: Constantly Engage and Trade Units

How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: the Zerg will be unable to get out hive units to counter the +3 marines and the attack will arrive at his fourth instantly due to our position on the map. The positioning and constant nature of the pokes will ensure that he has a group of marines ready for when the +3 timing hits.



[13:00 to 16:15] +1/+1 and the third base are now set up and locked down, Polt can now bid for map control and examine the position of his opponent. He accomplishes this by moving out to the closest watch tower. This obviously provides vision, but more importantly, places a soft lock on all of Jaedongs efforts -- anything from attacks to creep spread or even scouting units -- on the bottom left quadrant of the map. He extends this effort by sending a single marine to normal fifth base location on Jaedong's side of the map. This simple move out of +1/+1 bio to a slightly forward position is hallmark of Polt's expert map control skills.



The move out allows Polt to spots mutalisks which, when combined with the knowledge of the Zerg's third base timing, confirms a non all-in play-style out of Jaedong. Polt can now be sure of where the fourth of Jaedong will likely be, and what his end game series of goals will be. It is at this point that Polt -- having seen a Zerg player on three bases with mutalisks out on the map -- should consider the rest of the game laid out before him. He knows exactly what must be done and is going to be proactive about it.



Keep in mind, his next goal is to gain a position in which he can both poke the fourth and avoid fighting on creep, the target of constant rally is now revealed.



Polt needs to clear his way towards the his eventual attack point and rally location. Jaedong is going to make him fight for every step towards it. When Polt finds the edge of Jaedong's creep spread, he stims forward a small group of his marines and baits out an attack from banes and mutas onto mines. When the banes die, he stims the rest of his army onto the creep and throws down two scans back to back. The combo of winning a fight and using two scans allows Polt to kill a good number of creep tumors.



Understanding Polt's next move is a difficult one. Looking at what Jaedong is doing at this moment (14:14 game time) can provide some clues. Jaedong is making 17 banelings, finishing up his upgrades, and completing his fourth base. In other words Jaedong's +2/+2 ground upgrades and +1/+0 air upgrades are not yet finished and he is spending a lot of money on banelings. Larva is currently only being produced out of four hatcheries instead of the soon to be five. All of this adds up to a strong focus on gas based units that are currently weaker than they soon will be. On Polt's end of the game, he is producing nine marines, two meds, and two mines at a time. Three more barracks are to come on line very shortly.



With Jaedong focusing on muta/bane, and Polt wanting to set up the kill move with his +3 timing, Polt goes for a very tricky move that abuses the utility just now offered of a constant rally to the battle line: he moves his entire attacking force of 14 marines, three marauders, six medivacs, and seven mines onto creep into an extremely aggressive location. This is the StarCraft equivalent of placing the enemy king in check. Jaedong is forced to defend the fourth by killing this seemingly over-extended army right now or find a way to deal with a large well entrenched Terran army that has a constant rally with two attack paths to his fourth (one of which would have a high ground advantage). There are countless advantages offered to Polt if Jaedong allows him to have this position.



Jaedong now does the only thing he can do: attack with the army getting as good of a surround as possible. The two trade armies. Polt would have, ideally, lifted his bio into the medivacs that were present and allowed his mines to do the damage but a zergling run-by at his third base distracts him. Looking at how this leaves Jaedong with no living banelings and Polt with a rally soon to be arriving, Polt has won a small advantage that he can now use to gain ground on his goal rally position. Polt makes a token effort to retake the high ground and save his mines but Jaedong's muta flock is able to force them to back off. Jaedong attempts to push out off of creep at this point in an effort to keep Polt away from the vulnerable lower attack path to his fourth but is not able to muster the army needed to fight off the rally of Terran units.



Within 45 game seconds of Polt giving up the area that he had seemingly been sacrificing entire armies to gain, Polt has secured a position that will allow him to deny creep spread from the Zerg's fourth base from starting at all. Polt does not commit to holding the location with his forces until he has another wave of units join with his army. With their arrival, he plants mines in a large spread area off of creep. His rally right next to the Zerg's base is now secure and any attempt of Jaedong's to fight off creep near his fourth will be an over-extension. From here, he pokes onto the high ground with a small group to deny any creep or spot any flanks and waits the remaining few seconds needed for +2/+2 to finish up.



I consider this apparent suicide attack onto the high ground one of the smartest moves of the entire game as it forces Jaedong to either: give the Terran an amazingly powerful position on the map; or to trade a very gas heavy army and deny the position. Jaedong destroyed the Terran force in a brutal fashion and Polt was still in a better position than the Zerg as a result. Brilliant.



Goal: Kill as Many Gas Units as Possible or Establish the Best Possible Forward Rally to the Zerg's Fourth Base

How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: Without a maxed, or near max, army of upgraded lair units Jaedong has no hope of winning a single fight that will allow him to push the Terran back. We can, therefore, easily take the position on the map needed to execute the killing move later on.



Had Jaedong allowed Polt to have the position he would have surely lost the fourth base during Polt's +2/+2 timing. The game would have played differently with Jaedong most likely attempting to take a fourth on the other side of the map but Polt's position would be even stronger than what occurred in this game.







[11:30 to 13:00] This timing is really about closing out the games opening and setting up for the mid game. Polt uses his medivac with marauders to draw some attention away as his third command center lands and the supply depot wall goes up. He adds bunkers at multiple locations and burrows defensive mines. Two bunkers and three mines cover one attack path leading to his natural and third, while one bunker and one mine cover an attack path blocked by supply depots that leads to his third.



A small time later, he adds a few more bunkers to the area between his natural and third as well as a sensor tower at his third. The viking clears out the last few overlords and his marauder drop denies an attempt at taking a fourth by Jaedong. The marauder drop does its job of pulling Jaedong back as Polt's third and additional defenses go up now complete. Once the drop's role is done, it pulls back to join up with the first wave of marines from Polt's now completed barracks. Seconds later, +1/+1 will finish and Polt will have safely made it to the mid game with a very secure three base economy and a muscular production capability.



Goal: Safely get up the Third Mining Base and Finish Adding the Mid-Game Production Buildings

How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: Polt needs three bases to support a constant rally. All of the defense and sim city not only allow Polt to hold all-ins that hit during this timing, but help to aid him vs zergling run-bys during the later stages of the game. This will help to ensure that his constant rally of marines is allowed out onto the map instead of constantly running back to defend. Imagine how much damage Jaedong's run-bys would have done this game if Polt hadn't undertaken these precautions.



[9:30 to 11:00] Two mines are dropped and deny mining from two of the three Zerg bases for a short time. 16 drones are pulled for 22 seconds at the main and a small number are pulled for less than a second at the natural. Two drones are also forced into becoming spores due to the lack of a completed lair. That is a total of about 250 minerals of lost mining time (tested on same map with Zerg how many minerals 16 workers harvest in 22 seconds and averaged the result of 5 such tests and then rounded up from 246.4 to 250 for ease of reference) and 150 minerals for the two drones and spores.



This drop provides valuable scouting information. Seeing a normally timed lair -- any lair finished before 9:30 should be considered very fast and any lair not started by or shortly after 9:30 should be considered very late -- and no unusually early tech buildings , Polt can safely assume a macro style out of Jaedong. Had he seen signs of fast mutas, roaches, banelings, or even a nydus, Polt would have the luxury of not making add-ons at his barracks in order to get units out quickly to help defend any aggression. Any signs of an attack out of Jaedong would also allow Polt to keep his marauder drop at home and help in defense.



With no danger spotted by the first drop, the second drop is able to leave Polt's base and head towards Jaedong's third. Polt targets down two queens (even ignoring two morphing tumors to do so) and then pulls back to heal. He is able to clearly see that there is no gas taken at the third base.



Polt now has a clear picture of the most likely path of Jaedong's focus. With so little gas income and the lack of any macro hatcheries Jaedong only really can expand at this point. The nature of the Zerg race essentially requires a Zerg to maximize mineral income for his economy, and then to maximize gas income to create a proper army. Jaedong is clearly trying to accomplish some type of greedy element in the near future. Polt knows that Jaedong wants to expand to a fourth, has two evo chambers, and a normal timed lair. Many options for Jaedong exist but they all of a set of plays that Polt does not need to react to till after he is on three bases and has his production in place.



Goal: Scouting, put the Zerg on Either a Timing Attack Style or Macro Style

How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: Every Terran on the ladder knows all about Zerg two/three base aggression. It comes in many varieties and can be very hard to scout. With a scout of all three bases, Polt should be hard to surprise as he takes his third base. Zerg creep will also be limited by the marauders. This is not felt as a large bonus until much later in the game but it is clear that denying queens from spreading creep will aid in future efforts to push creep back. The small loss of minerals and mineral income compounds results of the viking killing many overlords.



[8:30 to 9:30] This is where Polt begins to power up. His recently completed viking begins a well designed route of overlord killing. It starts by clearing any overlord that is spotting behind or around his natural. Once done, it heads west along the bottom edge of the map. It makes a brief stop to clear out any overlord that would be hanging out near or over Polt's future third base location and continues along the bottom edge until it is forced to turn north. It heads through the two western edge bases and then turns to take a south eastern path back towards Polt's main. It skims the upper edge of Polts main and then turns north and clears out the bases on the eastern edge of the map. It doubles back towards his main with a path slightly more central than what it took north. It takes a final path towards the logical fifth base location on Jaedong's side of the map and then finds a rest at the edge of the ramp leading to Polt's watchtower.





The red line shows the approximate path that the viking took

via waypoints.



The ability to shift click attack moves allowed for Polt to create this pathing. It does not complete for a long time and will be causing pressure and lose of map control all the way to the 13:00 mark when it arrives at its resting point.



Goal: Add buildings and take some map control

How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: Polt's drops will be more likely to hit unexpectedly and Jaedong will not be able to take the map control which overlords normally claim. This is on top of the pressure that this puts on Jaedong's economy due to having to replace overlords.



[7:20 to 8:30] The hellion/reaper serves a unique purpose in Polt's plan. On the surface, it appears to be a suicide run to kill drones; however, it is actually a trick to limit the choices of the Zerg player. These hellions are normally used to make it safe to land the very fast third command center that many Terrans favor: Polt has a different use for them.



This is a play that forces the Zerg to have just enough invested into units so that he does not die while still not too many that he is stunting his own economy. Any Zerg that is teching or droning too hard will simply lose too much to recover; and as such, Polt does not have to account for such plays in his plans for later stages of the game. With this run-by, the Zerg will either have a plan that does not allow hellions to get in at all, or Polt will get in and do way too much damage. We will see an example of Zerg denying entry completely later on.



When I first saw this game, I was very confused and in agreement with Day[9]'s analysis of general dislike for the move. Having seen this move in action in Polt's games vs other styles, however, I understand that's its purpose is not so much to do damage as it is to force the Zerg to have a certain amount of defense, or to reveal his intentions by blatantly blocking his entrance 100%.



Goal: Hit the Economy with a Force of Six Hellions and Two Reapers and Kill as Many Drones as Possible

How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: It allows Polt to narrow down the types of Zerg styles that he has to account for.



[5:40 to 7:20] Two reapers remain at home while the first two hellions scout for a third. Once the third and natural are each given a quick scout, the hellions join with the next wave and clear out watch towers. Hellions five and six spawn as Polt is finishing up his natural wall off.



Goal: Scout and Safely Secure the Natural Base

How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: Upon spotting the third base Polt will be able to do a mine drop with confidence of it being effective the mines not being needed at home to defend some extremely early timing.



[0:00 to 5:40] A single reaper is always able to scout a Zerg's gas timing and confirm that only 100 gas was mined in a standard opening. The other reaper should always be able to hold off any cute tactics with early zerglings to deny the low ground command center.



Goal: Scout the Zerg and Protect the Building Command Center.

How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: Seeing gas, and the amount mined, allows Polt to know if there will be zergling speed or not and if there is some kind of super early attack incoming with either roaches or banelings. Seeing enough gas for zergling speed will tell Polt to leave the reapers at home until he needs them for the six hellion two reaper timing. If he had not seen gas at all, he would be able to safely send them with the first hellions and rally hellions forward to establish a soft contain. Now lets look at the game a totally different way. In order to understand both how Polt won and why he choose to do things, we shall look at the game as a series of decisions and goals. If we start with the end of the game, and work our way to the start, we will begin to see a clear set of goals that he accomplishes. These goals were designed to create a series of advantages that lead to a clean win.[Checkmate] [19:46 to 21:35] Polt's last decision of the game, that led to the winning blow, was to attack into Jaedong's fourth base as +3 attack finished up. It is most likely true that he would have preferred this to be a 3/3 timing attack instead of a 3/2, but I believe Polt simply made a mistake and forgot +3 armor for a very long time. In many of his other games, Polt goes for the +3/+3 timing when facing a Zerg going for the same style as Jaedong.A question about why a decision or attack works is always answered by looking at the state of the enemy shortly before, or right when, the attack hits. Let's take a look Jaedong's game state at 19:45.Jaedong has recently finished his hive. +3/+3 have just started and no tech buildings have been added. He is producing about five mutas, ten banes, and 14 zerglings. His bank is sitting at 170 minerals and 13 gas. His creep spread is very limited on the side of the map where his fourth base is and only slightly on Polt's side of the map on the other. To put it simply, Jaedong is trying tech up but can't because he has to spend gas on units like mutas and banes. In fact, he has to spend a lot of gas making these units.Polt, on the other hand, has just increased his ability for marines to handle banes and mutas. +3 attack makes marines terrifying and able to kill these units very fast. On top of that, Polt is making 12 marines, two medivacs, and three mines with each production cycle. With medivacs being able to boost out of battles as they end, and mines burrowing outside of Jaedong's safe engage zones, Polt has created a situation where Jaedong must spend large amounts of gas in order to trade units and stop each wave of mineral only marines.Polt's end game goal this game is to hit an anti-hive timing where Jaedong would be forced to trade his gas units for Polt's mineral units. This denies Jaedong the ability to get out real hive tech and punishes him for having spent gas at this timing on anything besides units.[Check] [16:15 to 19:45] Polt constantly pokes at the the exposed fourth base from the safety of his forward rally point. Jaedong is forced to remake mutas and banes with each battle.Jaedong is gas starved and has just capped his ability to increase the efficiency of his ling/bane/muta force on lair tech: as +2/+2 finishes. Since he must get his hive in order to upgrade further, he must continue to remake very expensive gas units in order to hold his exposed fourth base.Jaedong is beginning to feel the lessened power of his low tech units vs +2/+2 marines even despite the effectiveness of his run-bys. Jaedong's only mineral dump, therefore, has lost its effectiveness vs Polt's mineral dump.Jaedong made at least 49 banes and 21 mutas during this three minute timing alone. He most likely made an additional 14 (or more) banes and five (or more) mutas but I only counted what the production tab would show me and the casters had it off several times during the timing. This is well over 3000 gas. 3000 gas spent on lair tech units while hive is morphing.Polt wanted to ensure that as Jaedong entered hive tech, he would not have the gas to start an end game army. Polt carefully conserved medivacs and mines wherever possible. Never fighting on creep, but keeping the fights constant, also helps to ensure that a group of marines will be always approaching. If Polt maxes out, there is a danger of having one fight clear out his entire force; if this happens, nothing will be moving towards his rally for a long time. The very nature of the constant rally is revealed here: never max so that the Zerg has to spend gas constantly and so that there is never a lull in the timing between fights.How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: the Zerg will be unable to get out hive units to counter the +3 marines and the attack will arrive at his fourth instantly due to our position on the map. The positioning and constant nature of the pokes will ensure that he has a group of marines ready for when the +3 timing hits.[13:00 to 16:15] +1/+1 and the third base are now set up and locked down, Polt can now bid for map control and examine the position of his opponent. He accomplishes this by moving out to the closest watch tower. This obviously provides vision, but more importantly, places a soft lock on all of Jaedongs efforts -- anything from attacks to creep spread or even scouting units -- on the bottom left quadrant of the map. He extends this effort by sending a single marine to normal fifth base location on Jaedong's side of the map. This simple move out of +1/+1 bio to a slightly forward position is hallmark of Polt's expert map control skills.The move out allows Polt to spots mutalisks which, when combined with the knowledge of the Zerg's third base timing, confirms a non all-in play-style out of Jaedong. Polt can now be sure of where the fourth of Jaedong will likely be, and what his end game series of goals will be. It is at this point that Polt -- having seen a Zerg player on three bases with mutalisks out on the map -- should consider the rest of the game laid out before him. He knows exactly what must be done and is going to be proactive about it.Keep in mind, his next goal is to gain a position in which he can both poke the fourth and avoid fighting on creep, the target of constant rally is now revealed.Polt needs to clear his way towards the his eventual attack point and rally location. Jaedong is going to make him fight for every step towards it. When Polt finds the edge of Jaedong's creep spread, he stims forward a small group of his marines and baits out an attack from banes and mutas onto mines. When the banes die, he stims the rest of his army onto the creep and throws down two scans back to back. The combo of winning a fight and using two scans allows Polt to kill a good number of creep tumors.Understanding Polt's next move is a difficult one. Looking at what Jaedong is doing at this moment (14:14 game time) can provide some clues. Jaedong is making 17 banelings, finishing up his upgrades, and completing his fourth base. In other words Jaedong's +2/+2 ground upgrades and +1/+0 air upgrades are not yet finished and he is spending a lot of money on banelings. Larva is currently only being produced out of four hatcheries instead of the soon to be five. All of this adds up to a strong focus on gas based units that are currently weaker than they soon will be. On Polt's end of the game, he is producing nine marines, two meds, and two mines at a time. Three more barracks are to come on line very shortly.With Jaedong focusing on muta/bane, and Polt wanting to set up the kill move with his +3 timing, Polt goes for a very tricky move that abuses the utility just now offered of a constant rally to the battle line: he moves his entire attacking force of 14 marines, three marauders, six medivacs, and seven mines onto creep into an extremely aggressive location. This is the StarCraft equivalent of placing the enemy king in check. Jaedong is forced to defend the fourth by killing this seemingly over-extended army right now or find a way to deal with a large well entrenched Terran army that has a constant rally with two attack paths to his fourth (one of which would have a high ground advantage). There are countless advantages offered to Polt if Jaedong allows him to have this position.Jaedong now does the only thing he can do: attack with the army getting as good of a surround as possible. The two trade armies. Polt would have, ideally, lifted his bio into the medivacs that were present and allowed his mines to do the damage but a zergling run-by at his third base distracts him. Looking at how this leaves Jaedong with no living banelings and Polt with a rally soon to be arriving, Polt has won a small advantage that he can now use to gain ground on his goal rally position. Polt makes a token effort to retake the high ground and save his mines but Jaedong's muta flock is able to force them to back off. Jaedong attempts to push out off of creep at this point in an effort to keep Polt away from the vulnerable lower attack path to his fourth but is not able to muster the army needed to fight off the rally of Terran units.Within 45 game seconds of Polt giving up the area that he had seemingly been sacrificing entire armies to gain, Polt has secured a position that will allow him to deny creep spread from the Zerg's fourth base from starting at all. Polt does not commit to holding the location with his forces until he has another wave of units join with his army. With their arrival, he plants mines in a large spread area off of creep. His rally right next to the Zerg's base is now secure and any attempt of Jaedong's to fight off creep near his fourth will be an over-extension. From here, he pokes onto the high ground with a small group to deny any creep or spot any flanks and waits the remaining few seconds needed for +2/+2 to finish up.I consider this apparent suicide attack onto the high ground one of the smartest moves of the entire game as it forces Jaedong to either: give the Terran an amazingly powerful position on the map; or to trade a very gas heavy army and deny the position. Jaedong destroyed the Terran force in a brutal fashion and Polt was still in a better position than the Zerg as a result. Brilliant.How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: Without a maxed, or near max, army of upgraded lair units Jaedong has no hope of winning a single fight that will allow him to push the Terran back. We can, therefore, easily take the position on the map needed to execute the killing move later on.Had Jaedong allowed Polt to have the position he would have surely lost the fourth base during Polt's +2/+2 timing. The game would have played differently with Jaedong most likely attempting to take a fourth on the other side of the map but Polt's position would be even stronger than what occurred in this game.[11:30 to 13:00] This timing is really about closing out the games opening and setting up for the mid game. Polt uses his medivac with marauders to draw some attention away as his third command center lands and the supply depot wall goes up. He adds bunkers at multiple locations and burrows defensive mines. Two bunkers and three mines cover one attack path leading to his natural and third, while one bunker and one mine cover an attack path blocked by supply depots that leads to his third.A small time later, he adds a few more bunkers to the area between his natural and third as well as a sensor tower at his third. The viking clears out the last few overlords and his marauder drop denies an attempt at taking a fourth by Jaedong. The marauder drop does its job of pulling Jaedong back as Polt's third and additional defenses go up now complete. Once the drop's role is done, it pulls back to join up with the first wave of marines from Polt's now completed barracks. Seconds later, +1/+1 will finish and Polt will have safely made it to the mid game with a very secure three base economy and a muscular production capability.How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: Polt needs three bases to support a constant rally. All of the defense and sim city not only allow Polt to hold all-ins that hit during this timing, but help to aid him vs zergling run-bys during the later stages of the game. This will help to ensure that his constant rally of marines is allowed out onto the map instead of constantly running back to defend. Imagine how much damage Jaedong's run-bys would have done this game if Polt hadn't undertaken these precautions.[9:30 to 11:00] Two mines are dropped and deny mining from two of the three Zerg bases for a short time. 16 drones are pulled for 22 seconds at the main and a small number are pulled for less than a second at the natural. Two drones are also forced into becoming spores due to the lack of a completed lair. That is a total of about 250 minerals of lost mining time (tested on same map with Zerg how many minerals 16 workers harvest in 22 seconds and averaged the result of 5 such tests and then rounded up from 246.4 to 250 for ease of reference) and 150 minerals for the two drones and spores.This drop provides valuable scouting information. Seeing a normally timed lair -- any lair finished before 9:30 should be considered very fast and any lair not started by or shortly after 9:30 should be considered very late -- and no unusually early tech buildings , Polt can safely assume a macro style out of Jaedong. Had he seen signs of fast mutas, roaches, banelings, or even a nydus, Polt would have the luxury of not making add-ons at his barracks in order to get units out quickly to help defend any aggression. Any signs of an attack out of Jaedong would also allow Polt to keep his marauder drop at home and help in defense.With no danger spotted by the first drop, the second drop is able to leave Polt's base and head towards Jaedong's third. Polt targets down two queens (even ignoring two morphing tumors to do so) and then pulls back to heal. He is able to clearly see that there is no gas taken at the third base.Polt now has a clear picture of the most likely path of Jaedong's focus. With so little gas income and the lack of any macro hatcheries Jaedong only really can expand at this point. The nature of the Zerg race essentially requires a Zerg to maximize mineral income for his economy, and then to maximize gas income to create a proper army. Jaedong is clearly trying to accomplish some type of greedy element in the near future. Polt knows that Jaedong wants to expand to a fourth, has two evo chambers, and a normal timed lair. Many options for Jaedong exist but they all of a set of plays that Polt does not need to react to till after he is on three bases and has his production in place.How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: Every Terran on the ladder knows all about Zerg two/three base aggression. It comes in many varieties and can be very hard to scout. With a scout of all three bases, Polt should be hard to surprise as he takes his third base. Zerg creep will also be limited by the marauders. This is not felt as a large bonus until much later in the game but it is clear that denying queens from spreading creep will aid in future efforts to push creep back. The small loss of minerals and mineral income compounds results of the viking killing many overlords.[8:30 to 9:30] This is where Polt begins to power up. His recently completed viking begins a well designed route of overlord killing. It starts by clearing any overlord that is spotting behind or around his natural. Once done, it heads west along the bottom edge of the map. It makes a brief stop to clear out any overlord that would be hanging out near or over Polt's future third base location and continues along the bottom edge until it is forced to turn north. It heads through the two western edge bases and then turns to take a south eastern path back towards Polt's main. It skims the upper edge of Polts main and then turns north and clears out the bases on the eastern edge of the map. It doubles back towards his main with a path slightly more central than what it took north. It takes a final path towards the logical fifth base location on Jaedong's side of the map and then finds a rest at the edge of the ramp leading to Polt's watchtower.The viking clears out the overlords near Polt's own bases then clears out the overlords on the side of the map on which his first drop would arrive. It then was used to clear the out the side of the map that the marauder drop would be heading towards. Finally, it was used to spot for any hatchery at the fifth base location at the same time that the marauders where checking the logical fourth.The ability to shift click attack moves allowed for Polt to create this pathing. It does not complete for a long time and will be causing pressure and lose of map control all the way to the 13:00 mark when it arrives at its resting point.How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: Polt's drops will be more likely to hit unexpectedly and Jaedong will not be able to take the map control which overlords normally claim. This is on top of the pressure that this puts on Jaedong's economy due to having to replace overlords.[7:20 to 8:30] The hellion/reaper serves a unique purpose in Polt's plan. On the surface, it appears to be a suicide run to kill drones; however, it is actually a trick to limit the choices of the Zerg player. These hellions are normally used to make it safe to land the very fast third command center that many Terrans favor: Polt has a different use for them.This is a play that forces the Zerg to have just enough invested into units so that he does not die while still not too many that he is stunting his own economy. Any Zerg that is teching or droning too hard will simply lose too much to recover; and as such, Polt does not have to account for such plays in his plans for later stages of the game. With this run-by, the Zerg will either have a plan that does not allow hellions to get in at all, or Polt will get in and do way too much damage. We will see an example of Zerg denying entry completely later on.When I first saw this game, I was very confused and in agreement with Day[9]'s analysis of general dislike for the move. Having seen this move in action in Polt's games vs other styles, however, I understand that's its purpose is not so much to do damage as it is to force the Zerg to have a certain amount of defense, or to reveal his intentions by blatantly blocking his entrance 100%.How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: It allows Polt to narrow down the types of Zerg styles that he has to account for.[5:40 to 7:20] Two reapers remain at home while the first two hellions scout for a third. Once the third and natural are each given a quick scout, the hellions join with the next wave and clear out watch towers. Hellions five and six spawn as Polt is finishing up his natural wall off.How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: Upon spotting the third base Polt will be able to do a mine drop with confidence of it being effective the mines not being needed at home to defend some extremely early timing.[0:00 to 5:40] A single reaper is always able to scout a Zerg's gas timing and confirm that only 100 gas was mined in a standard opening. The other reaper should always be able to hold off any cute tactics with early zerglings to deny the low ground command center.How this helps Polt accomplish his next goal: Seeing gas, and the amount mined, allows Polt to know if there will be zergling speed or not and if there is some kind of super early attack incoming with either roaches or banelings. Seeing enough gas for zergling speed will tell Polt to leave the reapers at home until he needs them for the six hellion two reaper timing. If he had not seen gas at all, he would be able to safely send them with the first hellions and rally hellions forward to establish a soft contain.

Polt vs Jaedong on Neo Planet S from WCS AM Finals. Set 3: Two Base Muta into Muta/Zergling/Baneling



This game follows the exact same plan as game one and every difference that occurs is an intentional reaction by Polt to what Jaedong is doing. Here is the breakdown of what Jaedong does differently and how Polt modifies his play to react appropriately:



Jaedong Goes for a Gasless Opening

What does this mean? This means that Jaedong will be using mineral only items to secure his first expansion. Zergling speed will be extremely delayed. It is more likely to see queens and spine crawlers to hold early game pressure. Early hatch based tech plays are very unlikely. The most likely followups by Jaedong are to either take a very fast third base or to go for a two base lair tech play. In this game, Jaedong chooses to add gas and tech to lair before he even attempts to take a third base.



How does Polt react? Instead of keeping both reapers at home he sends the second reaper to join the forward force as the first two hellions spawn. The hellion/reaper force bounces between the two likely third base locations that Jaedong will be going for and snipe creep tumors when possible. He engages the queens lightly but does not trade any of the units.



Jaedong Does not Have a Third by 6:30

What does this mean? This means that Jaedong is going to tech up to something on two bases before taking his third base. With the gasless opening seen in this particular game, it is very likely to be a lair tech followup instead of a hatchery tech follow up.



How does Polt react? Polt does attempt to dive into the natural with his six hellion and two reaper force but Jaedong blocks it with a wall off. Since Jaedong is still on two bases, Polt does not do a mine drop and keeps the mines defensive. Polt's usual marauder drop is shut down by mutas. Upon seeing the mutas, Polt throws down two turrets (one in each mineral line) and positions one mine in his natural, two on the edge of his main, and one at his future third base. He throws down a fourth command center in his main before he even takes his third base. Polt waits for +1/+1 to be almost finished before floating to his third base.



The fourth command center is a key reaction point that can not be overlooked. Polt does not really use this command center to flood out SCVs, but instead uses it to allow for a greater number of scans and mules than normal. This helps him to both, keep his income up in the face of harassment, and to clear out the larger amount of creep that is present due to the delay in taking map control due to the muta play.



Jaedong Transitions into Muta/Zergling/Baneling out of his Two Base Muta Opening.

What does this mean? Jaedong is bringing the game back to standard play after a different opening. How does Polt react? Polt brings his mid game in line with standard play as well. He uses the +1/+1 timing to establish his third base. He does not move out with his troops until he has safely filled a bunker, built the supply depot wall, and finished a sensor tower at the third. Once safely established, he pushes out to clear creep that is extending from the Zerg's fourth base.



As +2/+2 comes into play and +3/+3 starts, Polt seems to be in a losing position. This, however, is not the case. A careful examination of the game state reveals why. At the 16:05 game time mark we can see that Polt has 44 SCVs and that Jaedong has 80 drones. Polt has a total of 125 food and Jaedong has a total of 172 food. In total, the army sizes of the two players is only 11 in favor of Jaedong. More importantly, Polt is able to maintain the income needed to build out of all eight barracks, two factories, and the single starport and Jaedong is being forced to spend his gas as he acquires it. In essence, the main goal of Polt is being accomplished and Jaedong is going to be gas starved as he tries to both defend his fourth base and tech to hive. Polt only spends money on workers when large hits from banes bring him below 40 total workers.



At the 17:16 mark, Jaedong has 85 workers and 146 food compared to Polt's 44 workers and 108 food. That is a difference of 3 army supply favoring Polt. Jaedong is now starting his tech to hive and Polt is teching to +3/+3. Polt has cleared the creep completely to the fourth base before +3/+3 is done and continues to poke and force trades off creep.



Polt finishes +3/+3 at 20:45. He has 142 food and 102 army supply. Jaedong has 107 Army supply. Polt attacks at 21:05 and quickly kills the base. Jaedong gets his first feel of hive tech moments later with the completion of adrenal glands but it is too little too late.

Polt vs Jaedong on Derelict Watcher from WCS Finals. Set 4: 3 Base All-In

This game follows the exact same plan as game one and every difference that occurs is an intentional reaction by Polt to what Jaedong is doing. Jaedong blindly counters the small moves of Polt's opening and then goes for a roach/bane attack on three bases. For our purposes, this will be a short section just to highlight how Polt is able to stick to his plan even when denied the perks of his opening and has to deal with a large mid game attack that would throw off most Terrans. There is very little decision making based changes in this game so we will be examining in a different style than the last game.



Polt Does not Make Hellions.

Polt makes zero hellions this game. He opens CC first and goes straight to mines for a stronger mine drop. Having watched this series, and many of Polt's games, I strongly suspect that this was a calculated risk. It is meant for best of X series and not for a standard play discussion. Jaedong blocks this by having a spore ready at every base but does not abuse the fact that any very ling heavy play would have done a lot of damage to this variation on the opening.



Polt's Mine Drops are Completely Deflected

And this is fine. Polt drops the mines to kill an overlord near the base he was deflected from. His logic is to do at least some damage and get out of there since his main objective was deflected. He lifts two mines back into his medivac and sends one to the logical location for a fourth base and burrows it there. The medivac returns home and the marauder drop phase begins.



The Marauder Drop is Completely Deflected

It's like Jaedong has seen this build before ... Polt is forced to run with the drop to keep the units alive. Just like with the mine drop, Polt favors keeping the units alive over forcing damage. He retreats and joins the medivac up with the rest of his army. As +1/+1 finishes, he moves out and tries to open up the path to where he thinks Jaedong will be taking a fourth. He has yet, through any of the pokes so far, to see what mid game unit composition Jaedong will be favoring so he throws down a scan and spots roach play.



3 Base Roach/Bane!

Polt adds a few more bunkers to his defensive rally and prepares for the attack. Mines are burrowed in a spread out fashion and bunkers each only have one unit in them. The bust breaks through the bunkers and Polt pulls SCVs as it hits his natural. The bust is broken and Polt stabilizes as +2/+2 nears completion.



+2/+2 in a Post-Bust World.

Polt first rebuilds his defensive rally. When +2/+2 is finished he pushes out and begins to aggressively clear creep in the middle of the map. With a mine at one location for a fourth to go down at, Polt scans the other location a fourth can easily be placed and finds Jaedong's fourth before it is even half done. Polt throws caution to the wind and goes straight for the fourth with a group of bio and medivacs while another group clears out the path to the other logical fourth location. Every single mine is held back until a critical mass of 17 mines is achieved. Once that happens, Polt moves out with his entire army to establish a strong location near the 2nd fourth base location of Jaedong: his mine having been killed. This is a similar move to the first game where Polt moved out with seven mines to force a large engagement and trade away gas units.



As +3/+3 gets closer, we see Polt establish his rally near the fourth of Jaedong. History is about to repeat itself. When +3/+3 is in play for Polt, he kills the fourth of Jaedong and seals the deal yet again.

Polt vs Hyun on Akilon Wastes from MLG Anaheim Grand Finals. Set 1: Roach Bane and Late Game Sky Terran



http://s3.majorleaguegaming.com/anaheim2013replays/champ1.zip (This link contains replays for the series that this game was a part of.)



Polt is going to be using the exact same game plan. We will see the opening used in its most textbook fashion with no risky alterations. This game will showcase how to deal with a very new style of Zerg play: roach/bane macro.



Polt Scouts More Than 100 Gas Mined but Less Than Three drones Mining the Extra Gas

What does this mean? The Zerg wants to either spend gas on Lair at around 6:00 or to take a third and spend gas on some hatch level tech building as the third base completes.



How does Polt react? Polt checks for a third as soon as possible. Hyun had used zergling aggression to delay the scout timing but Polt still scouts by around the 7:00 minute mark. Upon seeing the third base he can be sure that it is not a fast lair play. Polt will therefore not be doing the normal hellion/reaper timing since roaches or banes are likely.



Polt Sees Roaches With his Hellion/Reaper Force

What does this mean? The Zerg is either going for a roach based all-in on three bases or is going for the roach/bane macro style.



How does Polt react? Polt keeps his distance from the roaches but aggressively pushes back creep whenever the roaches try to move out. By doing this, Polt is able to force the Zerg to show the amount of units that he has actually made. Polt never sees more than seven roaches at this time and, in fact, sees that drones are being made and sent to the third. At that time, he sacrifices the force in order to try to do some damage to the macro of Hyun, force some more units, and get a scout on the Zerg. He sees that Hyun has started a tech to lair and still only has seven roaches. Polt should feel secure that this is a move macro style roach play rather than all-in. If he was still not sure, at 10:20 his viking spots the fourth base of Hyun starting which should completely confirm his intentions to macro.



Polt puts Hyun on a Roach Opening into Macro Play

What does this mean? The Zerg is not going to be trying to overwhelm the Terran with three hatcheries of roaches: Polt has time to build up. The Zerg will be focusing on a roach style macro play or transitioning into muta/ling/bling play. Polt needs to spot additional roach production or find the first mutas in order to confirm this.



How does Polt react? Polt sends out the marauder drop. He did not do the mine drop due to the scouted extra gas mined and the possible all-in or fast tech play to lair suggested. Polt's build order and macro continue on as if it was a standard game vs ling/bling/muta.



Polt is aggressive with his +1/+1 timing. His marauder drop returns for when upgrades are ready to be in effect and he moves out with a decent sized bio/medivac force. He pressures the now completed fourth he had previously spotted and gets his first real confirmation of the unit composition of the Zerg.



Hyun's Roach/Bane Composition is Revealed to Polt

What does this mean? Polt should now know that he will not be winning with a +3/+3 timing on the Zerg's fourth after trading units throughout the mid game. Roach based armies are very good in the mid game and will trade in a much more cost effective way than muta/ling/bane. Roach based armies, however, do not trade well vs large forces at a well defended position. Polt knows, therefore, that he must macro up a large force and use it to defend enough bases to transition to the mid game. Once there, he can create an army that is able to beat, cost-effectively, any hive tech army that Zerg can make.



How does Polt react? Polt uses his +1/+1 bio/medivac force to keep the enemy back. He loads up into the medivacs when the enemy army trys to kill it and threatens a drop at both the fourth and main in order to force Hyun to pull back. This bio drop pulls back to the side of the map after doing no damage. Behind this, Polt is throwing down a fourth command center followed by barracks six through eight. Polt pushes out before +2/+2 is done with a very large bio mine force (nine total mines). He forces a large engagement with this force off of creep. The two medivac drop that had previously faked aggression and pulled back moves into the Zerg main at the same time. Polt picks off a queen and then retreats. This force is now used to cover the left side of the map bases for the remainder of the game. Polt began two additional command centers behind this aggression.



Polt now begins to create a mine field on his side of the map that can be used to protect rallied forces and most of his bases. He continues to poke forward with bio/medivac but quickly lifts and retreats to the mines at the first sign of a bad engagement. He lands his fourth command center and begins the planetary fortress upgrade. He also begins to add additional command centers (also destined to become PFs) to support his mine field.



Hyun Pushes a Strong Roach Attack into Polt's Defenses and Begins to Transition into Infestors

What does this mean? This means that Hyun is no longer going to be focusing on roaches. Roaches are horribly supply in-efficient and are one of the worst units in a max supply fight. The larger than normal gas bank that Hyun has built up during the mid game will allow an easier transition to hive tech.



How does Polt react? Polt holds the attack and then counter pushes. Polt wants to see what the the next move will be for Hyun. Behind this, Polt takes gases six, seven, and eight. Polt confirms an infestor play follow up. He now knows to expect -- in about four to eight minutes -- a large hive army. He throws down two starports shortly after the additional gas completes.



As +3/+3 finishes, Polt sends two medivacs with bio to the right side of the map. He now has one group of bio/medivac on each side of the map as well as his defensive line. Each of the groups on the flanks are two to three medivacs strong and able to fill each medivac with bio. Both groups aggressively assert themselves in their respective locations. The group on the left side pushes out one or two units and the group on the right side beings to clear some creep near the Zerg's fifth. The group on the left continues down towards the middle of the map clearing some creep in the middle. Each group has the goal to contest map control and each group retreats to the nearest safe point when the Zerg shows up. While these forces are serving the key function of map control, they do not appear to be vital to Polt's end game composition as they do both end up dying. Do note that Polt quickly replaces either force whenever they die.



Polt adds more defenses in the form of mines and planetary fortresses while adding a fusion core and another starport. His now idle engineering bays find additional value in the building armor and range upgrades. Every starport beyond the very first has been given a tech lab as it finishes and raven production starts when possible. Polt does take a fifth base but does not saturate it with SCVs. He sends enough SCVs to it to mine gas and drops any mules he desires at this base. This base is very obviously a risk and it will pay off best by giving gas and not allowing the Zerg easy SCV kills. This base is quickly denied by a zergling/baneling/infestor force. With so few workers there, it can be argued that the base was a poor trade for Hyun. Aggression with the entire Zerg army like this is met by Polt sending in the bio/medivac force, on the opposite side of the map, to hurt or even kill a base of the Zerg's.



Once Polt has five ravens, he begins the production of battle cruisers. Polt retakes his fifth and again focuses only on gas collection there. Polt ensures that he does have a small viking force to help vs any spire units but none are coming. Hyun's large hive attack finally arrives and almost breaks Polt. The defensive mine field and seeker missiles from the raven fleet thin out the force. The battle cruisers and bio are able to clean it up.



Polt Breaks a Hive Army Attack of Hyun

What does this mean? Polt is beginning to trade cost effectively vs Hyun and Hyun has a very small window left to win the game. He needs to break Polt with the next wave of units or be in a very bad position.



How does Polt react? Polt does not move out. Polt keeps adding ravens and battle cruisers and waits for the next attack. I believe that he would also move out at max but Hyun, being a top level player, knows that the larger Polt gets the harder it is to break. Hyun attacks again and loses his second hive army.



Polt moves out after this attack with around 170 food of sky terran and bio. He cleans up slowly but surely. Hyun leaves the game a few minutes later.

Opening and Build Orders

Polt's FE 1/1/1 Opening into 3 Command Centers



10 Supply Depot

12 Barracks

12 Gas

15 Orbital Command

16 Supply Depot

17 Reaper

19 Command Center (Low Ground)

21 Factory

22 Reactor on Barracks (Swap to Factory)

25 Bunker and 1 Marine

30 Starport (Viking)

32 Gas and Tech Lab on Barracks

54 Stim (after two marauders and followed by Combat Shields when done)

@6 Hellions, begin Mine Production

Stop marauder production at four

@8:30- Command Center (Orbital Command ASAP)

Polt's CC Rax Gas FE 1/1/1 Opening into 3 Command Centers



10 Supply

14 Command center (high ground wall off)

15 Barracks

16 Gas

17 Send scouting SCV

18 Marine (two total before reactor)

19 Orbital Command x2

20 Bunker

21 Factory

22 Reactor

25 Gas

28 Starport

Stim

Marauder production (goal of 4)

Command Center (Orbital command ASAP)

Polt's 4M Transition



2x Barracks* (Reactor When Done) (Reactor Starport When Reactoring these Barracks)

2x Engineering Bays* (Constant Upgrades once done)

2x Gas

@50% Barracks Completion- 2x Barracks (Reactor When Done)

@Orbital Command Done- Float to 3rd and add 2x Bunkers to Cover Main Path

ASAP: Supply Depot Wall at 3rd Base

@~12:00- 2x Bunkers, Factory (Tech Lab and Mine Upgrade ASAP) and 3x Barracks

ASAP: Sensor Tower, Bunker, and 1 Gas at 3rd Base

@+1/+1 done: +2/+2

@+2/+2 done: +3/+3



*When going CC first, Polt goes for the engineering bays before the barracks. I would suggest, however, going barracks first. Both ways are viable and players should explore both paths.

That's how we play 4M in 'Murica. Boo-ya. That's how we play 4M in 'Murica. Boo-ya.

Conclusion and Thanks





I would like to personally thank Cooler Master Storm: thank you for sponsoring Polt. I was searching through VODs looking for inspiration for another article when I saw Polt lose an army in a weird way and then win the game shortly afterward. I was so confused and the comments in the YouTube thread made me think others were as well. It took me several times watching through the VOD of Polt's game on Neo Planet S vs Jaedong to understand the depth of the genius of Polt. I take pride in my CM Storm tower and the fact that even a very small percent of the money I spent on it went on to support him as he plays this wonderful game.



Lastly, I want to thank Polt. God damn, you are the one true American hope. GG and GL.



Replay Pack: The American Way As always, I want to thank the TL Strat team for all their help in making this guide. I want, also, to thank everyone that has read and posted in the '4M: A Guide to Modern TvZ' thread. I read every post and a lot of what I focused on in this guide was to round out what I missed in the last one.I would like to personally thank Cooler Master Storm: thank you for sponsoring Polt. I was searching through VODs looking for inspiration for another article when I saw Polt lose an army in a weird way and then win the game shortly afterward. I was so confused and the comments in the YouTube thread made me think others were as well. It took me several times watching through the VOD of Polt's game on Neo Planet S vs Jaedong to understand the depth of the genius of Polt. I take pride in my CM Storm tower and the fact that even a very small percent of the money I spent on it went on to support him as he plays this wonderful game.Lastly, I want to thank Polt. God damn, you are the one true American hope. GG and GL. Polt vs Jaedong on Bel'Shir Vestige Set 1. From WCA AM Finals. Polt vs Jaedong on Neo Planet S Set 3. From WCS AM Finals. Polt vs Hyun on Akilon Wastes Set 1. From MLG Anaheim Grand Finals.

