BlueBoxSC Profile Blog Joined October 2011 United States 582 Posts Last Edited: 2012-06-18 23:18:57 #1

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Hey TL,



I recently got the chance to sit down and interview Blade - a name you're probably familiar with if you frequent the strategy forums on TL. This interview was a lot more freely thrown together than my other ones, but the end result was just as good! :D



Excerpt:



Blue: Playing farther into this, how do you feel early game Zerg compares to early game Protoss or Terran? We see less variance in play, but is this an inherent weakness? How did things work in Brood War?



Blade: I don't think Zerg has very many options for early game harassment and tends to play a lot more passive as it is just a lot stronger. It's not very hard for Protoss or Terran to defend an early attack by Zerg, doesn't mean it should never be done, but it's definitely not something you can do a lot. I think it's somewhat of a weakness because Zerg has to play predictable for the most part, if Protoss fast expands and doesn't see a third he's going to prepare for some sort of all in because that's what is going to be coming. In general I just feel Zerg has to play a more passive style which is what I like so it doesn't bother me, but does make the race very predictable in early game.



Full Interview:



+ Show Spoiler + Blue: Hey TL, this is BlueBoxSC, bringing you SC2 strategy author Blade55555! Blade, before we begin, is there anything you'd like to say to introduce yourself?



Blade: Hey, thanks for having me. Not really much to say, except I play Zerg at a high level on the NA/Korean servers and I like to write guides on certain styles especially when I am bored and don't see any.



Blue: We'll jump straight into it then. What kinds of things do you consider when writing guides? What pushes you to contribute like you have?



Blade: When writing guides, I like macro focused play styles. I am not much into all inning and don't really feel that writing one is a good way to improve as a player in general. While I think all ins are great to know for best of X situations or to throw your opponent off guard, I feel a player should focus on a more macro focused style to start off before dwelling into the cheese department. So solid, safe, and macro is a short description of what I look into when writing guides.

When I started in Brood War, the community really helped me out. When I would read Liquipedia for BW strats, ask for help in the strategy section, and I would get it and it just helped a ton. When StarCraft 2 came out, I wanted to be one of those contributors to lower levels and to help the best I can. I did not do this at the beginning of SC2, due to wanting to wait until more macro style plays became normal and I felt I could play at a high level.



Blue: Between the two of us, we have two Zerg players. While most players champion a 14/14 opening, you choose to orient yourself around 15 hatch. Can you explain why?



Blade: I feel 15 hatch is a much better opener then the 14/14 opening vs. obviously a non-early pool. In general lings early game suck and drones can fend off early ling pressure with minimal losses as long as they don't mess up to much. That is why I open 15 hatch most of the time, but I do 14/14 as well depending on map, player and on what I scout. I obviously don't want to be too predictable to players I have played many times and only hatch first.



Blue: Playing farther into this, how do you feel early game Zerg compares to early game Protoss or Terran? We see less variance in play, but in this an inherent weakness? How did things work in Brood War?



Blade: I don't think Zerg has very many options for early game harassment and tends to play a lot more passive as it is just a lot stronger. It's not very hard for Protoss or Terran to defend an early attack by Zerg, doesn't mean it should never be done, but it's definitely not something you can do a lot. I think it's somewhat of a weakness because Zerg has to play predictable for the most part, if Protoss fast expands and doesn't see a third he's going to prepare for some sort of all in because that's what is going to be coming. In general I just feel Zerg has to play a more passive style which is what I like so it doesn't bother me, but does make the race very predictable in early game.

In brood war there were many options each race could do in terms of pressure. Zerg could take a fast third base and do a 3 base hydra bust vs. Protoss. The whole goal for this to work would be to deny scouting on the Protoss side with lings to kill the scouting probe. If Protoss didn't scout this, they die most of the time. There are many sorts of early aggressions that every race in BW could do from anything to 3 hatch hydra bust, 2 hatch speedlings, 2 hatch hydra, 2 hatch lurker. I am more familiar with Zerg ones then Terran/toss ones from BW, but on the Zerg side I remember a lot of them in terms of early game.



Blue: Currently, where does the game lie in terms of game plans? ZvX leads to what?



Blade: Well Zerg vs. Zerg can be anything and I don't think there's ever really a point that most Zergs want to be in. Some only want to end it early/mid, some want to make it to the late game. ZvT and ZvP normally the Zerg wants to get the deathball. Especially ZvT as Terrans don't have a very solid counter to bl/corruptor/infestor like Protoss does. Zerg vs. Protoss normally is the same way; the Zerg wants to get the bl/corruptor/infestor. I would rather it work differently, but that is the main focus for the Zerg in both those match ups is defend, defend, get to that army. Protoss can actually fight it though while Terran can't so much, so in ZvP this can lead to more boring games if both players decide not to do aggression which Terran can't do unless they are planning a mech attack or something.



Blue: Do you think ZvT is unfairly slanted in Zerg's favor? We've seen a lot of community discussion on it.



Blade: This is a somewhat hard question to answer. Short answer yes; but not as badly as the community says. The reason I say this is foreign Terrans have struggled with Zerg pretty much since macro TvZ became the normal thing to do. I have seen many Terrans complain about TvZ balance from the foreign side so this patch makes it even harder for them. On the Korean side their Terrans are much stronger then foreign Terrans and pre queen buff there weren't many Terrans in Korea who said they struggled in TvZ. With the queen buff now they are complaining, and I do agree that right now ZvT is definitely Zerg favored. Is it so bad it needs to be reverted? Maybe, this is another hard question to answer because if you look in the past when Zerg got a buff or Terran nerfed, Zerg did extremely well for up to a month before the game evened out again. Remember the rax before depo being removed? Terrans complained that they would never beat Zerg again if the Zerg was "good". A month later (if even that) the game was back to Terran favored or balanced (can't remember which). So right now it points to being too strong, but who knows maybe in 2 weeks Terrans figure something out? I don't know how long blizzard or anyone should wait before doing a patch, but I imagine in the next 2 or so weeks I will have a more of an opinion on if it needs to be nerfed/reverted or if Terrans figure something out.



Blue: How does ZvP stack up? Some of the Dreamhack games so far have been depressing, as a Zerg myself.



Blade: I think Zerg vs. Protoss is ok balance wise; I do vent my frustrations when streaming on the race, but this is more frustration then what I actually think. I feel the matchup is incredibly boring. I have yet to really talk to a Zerg who says he really has fun playing ZvP. The matchup is just incredibly boring in either toss 2 base all ins and if he loses army, he loses most of the time, if Zerg loses his army he loses most of the time. In a macro game it is no more exciting. Zerg gets late game bl/corruptor/infestor; Protoss gets mothership/archon/templar/colossi, pretty much every toss unit. It then turns into whether one of them mess up and lose their army. If toss is sloppy and lets neural get his mothership, he loses unless the Zerg really messes up. Then the same goes for Zerg, if he gets sloppy and gets vortex’d he loses the game unless toss decides not to put archons in. In general, it leads to a very boring game and I rarely see people legitimately think ZvP is exciting to watch or play. For Dreamhack it's been okay, but Zergs have been playing kind of dumb sometimes doing some silly moves, but I have seen Protoss doing the same exact thing so it's meh.



Blue: Enough about balance, I think. You are a "Blue poster" on TL. What does that entail?



Blade: From what I know, it just shows I know what I am talking about, but I really don't know. I can't remember how I got it, as I just posted one day and saw I had it and thought it was pretty cool to see. It isn't really anything other than showing that I believe, I don't have to post there or anything and I don't really know how they pick or if they still add new posters to it. Just a way for my posts to stand out more than the average user!



Blue: Going to admit, that's news to me. Surprised that TL has a bit of haphazardness to it, actually. Well, we're about ready to wrap this up. Do you have anything to say, before we close?



Blade: Oh I wouldn't say that, from what I know they picked respectable posters and pros. I don't think it was random or anything, I just know I found I had it which I would hope was because I made good posts and what not.

Only things I can say are - anyone who wants to follow me on twitter is twitter.com/Blade555 or my stream which I do commentary while streaming most of the time twitch.tv/55555 and would like to thank you for the interview!





Thanks for reading! =)

And please upvote on Reddit? c:

http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/v8ufz/interview_blade_sc2_strategy_author_generally/



Any and all feedback is appreciated, and if you're interesting in hearing more from me or Blade, follow us on your favorite sites.



Blade:

Twitch - twitch.tv/Blade55555

Twitter - twitter.com/Blade555



Blue:

Twitter - twitter.com/BlueBoxSC Hey TL,I recently got the chance to sit down and interview Blade - a name you're probably familiar with if you frequent the strategy forums on TL. This interview was a lot more freely thrown together than my other ones, but the end result was just as good! :DExcerpt:: Playing farther into this, how do you feel early game Zerg compares to early game Protoss or Terran? We see less variance in play, but is this an inherent weakness? How did things work in Brood War?: I don't think Zerg has very many options for early game harassment and tends to play a lot more passive as it is just a lot stronger. It's not very hard for Protoss or Terran to defend an early attack by Zerg, doesn't mean it should never be done, but it's definitely not something you can do a lot. I think it's somewhat of a weakness because Zerg has to play predictable for the most part, if Protoss fast expands and doesn't see a third he's going to prepare for some sort of all in because that's what is going to be coming. In general I just feel Zerg has to play a more passive style which is what I like so it doesn't bother me, but does make the race very predictable in early game.Thanks for reading! =)And please upvote on Reddit? c:Any and all feedback is appreciated, and if you're interesting in hearing more from me or Blade, follow us on your favorite sites.Blade:Twitch - twitch.tv/Blade55555Twitter - twitter.com/Blade555Blue:Twitter - twitter.com/BlueBoxSC BwCBlueBox.837