Basically during this time, I had also decided to change race to Zerg, for two reasons basically. 1st) Partially a bet with a Korean housemate that I could not even win at mid-masters with Zerg if I only had played it for a few days. 2nd) I had always wanted to have been Zerg, but it was always suggested by my friends/manager that I play Terran, because historically it has been what I was most successful with.
Anyway ladder started out pretty easy, since I used a low-masters ID. But as I climbed up slowly and slowly, I started to face the more complex all-in's and much harder to read build orders. I kept trying to play the "game of drones" style that I was so fond of from having watched/played vs against Ret/IdrA, that even korean's seem to ignore. (most koreans think you must stop droning at 40 or so to defend the Slayers hellion/marine push, ret has shown many times you can have 60 drones and still hold it). And even house members have yelled(not literally) at me for droning so hard, claiming it's "abusive" and "lucky" if the opponent doesn't attack.
However, what I constantly tell them, is that I am trying to always think in the future. Everything with my play as Zerg (most notably thus far only vs Terran) is all trying to think in the future. In maybe a year from now, Zerg's will have discovered ways to stop these timing attacks, whilst at the same time droning as hard as possible. Ret has shown us many times, as has IdrA, you can stop these 8~9:30 minute timings, while still having close to 60 drones or so. It just requires pristine control and very high level of game sense. What I am trying to say by this is, I will drone and lose games over and over, until I find the perfect timings, and additionally, I will find a way to have a 13-14minute hive and rely on superb unit control (infestor/burrow baneling) to allow me to be as greedy/tech as high as possible. The same exact way lurkers and dark swarm stalled for hive in sc1, infestor and burrow baneling serve the same roll.
Anyway, as I moved up the ladder I was getting crushed constantly and falling down 200 points, and then climbing back up etc. Now finally I sit around high masters on three of my ID's with zerg (despite not playing/knowing zvz). I watched vod's/replay's of IdrA trying to see all the exact minute timings for things like lair/baneling nest/etc, but then also took it to map testers myself to see if there was possible ways to obtain even greater income, using an even more razor-edge thin line of defense. Then I also began to start toying around with the infestor playstyle(to which I also always run to now, in the event that I am put behind early-game.) Infestor's are overpowered, yes, but I think really, they're going to be the unit zerg "relies" on soon (much like Defiler in sc1, it was so overpowered it was fair.) However in the same sense, we have yet to see a truly good player utilize the late game combo of infestor/broodlord. Up until now, everyone we have seen use it, is actually fucking terrible at it. Think back to sc1 when players first started using defiler/lurker, and how everyone was like "oh my god he's so good with it!!" and now look at zergs like Jaedong and Action. They make those yesteryear players control, look like utter garbage. This is my same theory for infestor/broodlord currently, is that no one truly knows how to control these units, and yet still, they're powerful. This is good though, because it means that it opens more doors for players to seperate themselves from the rest.
Additionally, the main focus point of my zerg play is constantly reminding myself to only use the minimap, and control everything else with the keyboard while watching my creep. What I mean by this (and if anyone has watched my stream, they'd probably understand). In the future and down the line, zergs will have to learn to control their army using the minimap, and macroing only with keyboard, and doing injects as fast as possible. returning to their base only to split overlords/tech/upgrade. They should ALWAYS have their eyes on their creep tumors, for the fastest possible creep spread, since it really is an underdeveloped mechanic of most zerg players. It is maphack, but it is a maphack you must work for. As I said before. Zerg's concept should be "Defend, defend, defend, defend" until they achieve the ultimate army "infestor,broodlord,corruptor" if you can achieve critical mass of these units, after having stabalized a good economy, and secured a good end-game, then Zerg should always win, just like sc1 Terran 200/200 mech with 3-3. If Terran was able to stabalize 4-5 bases, achieve 3-3 upgrades, and hit 200/200 mech, often times it spelt death for the opponent. But to achieve that unharmed, was the hard part.
Zerg rewards the player with the better mechanics, however just like sc1, even the player with superior mechanics can lose to random all-in's and just very hard to stop builds (See white-ra vs boxer.) Despite having superior mechanics, Boxer still lost, because of very awkward timing attacks. It is the same way in sc2. However I believe. If the mechanic-gap is so wide (e.g: Flash vs White-ra, in the same situation) then the mechanics will always triumph.
Just like some famous martial artist said, "Speed will always beat power." And zerg is the only race that can truly "outspeed" the opponent, just like Terran in sc1.
Additionally, I have received a lot of PM's/messages/whatever, about people asking about what it takes to be a real progamer(note: actually committing to Korea for an indefinite amount of time, and actually living in a korean teamhouse) and what it took to get here/etc. I was going to talk publicly about this, but in fact it's very long, and not something that should be put into a blog. I might write an article about it in the near future, but I am not sure yet. It's really an odd situation on how to answer these questions.
Anyway, that's it for now, it's a long-blog because I have missed up on the last few weeks :). Sorry about that.
Like always though, highlights of the last few weeks (some good, some bad):
-SlayerS`Golden has come back to stay here indefinitely.
-MVPwOn is now living here.
-Oasis left the house T_T
-I managed to beat Bomber in a macro game ZvT(this meant a lot to me, after only playing zerg such a short time.)
-Artosis/Tasteless are awesome.
-Burgarking (GGIcaruS) joined GosuGamers.
-Hanbin is still gay.
-I've started to officially learn Korean through lessons.
Anyway ladder started out pretty easy, since I used a low-masters ID. But as I climbed up slowly and slowly, I started to face the more complex all-in's and much harder to read build orders. I kept trying to play the "game of drones" style that I was so fond of from having watched/played vs against Ret/IdrA, that even korean's seem to ignore. (most koreans think you must stop droning at 40 or so to defend the Slayers hellion/marine push, ret has shown many times you can have 60 drones and still hold it). And even house members have yelled(not literally) at me for droning so hard, claiming it's "abusive" and "lucky" if the opponent doesn't attack.
However, what I constantly tell them, is that I am trying to always think in the future. Everything with my play as Zerg (most notably thus far only vs Terran) is all trying to think in the future. In maybe a year from now, Zerg's will have discovered ways to stop these timing attacks, whilst at the same time droning as hard as possible. Ret has shown us many times, as has IdrA, you can stop these 8~9:30 minute timings, while still having close to 60 drones or so. It just requires pristine control and very high level of game sense. What I am trying to say by this is, I will drone and lose games over and over, until I find the perfect timings, and additionally, I will find a way to have a 13-14minute hive and rely on superb unit control (infestor/burrow baneling) to allow me to be as greedy/tech as high as possible. The same exact way lurkers and dark swarm stalled for hive in sc1, infestor and burrow baneling serve the same roll.
Anyway, as I moved up the ladder I was getting crushed constantly and falling down 200 points, and then climbing back up etc. Now finally I sit around high masters on three of my ID's with zerg (despite not playing/knowing zvz). I watched vod's/replay's of IdrA trying to see all the exact minute timings for things like lair/baneling nest/etc, but then also took it to map testers myself to see if there was possible ways to obtain even greater income, using an even more razor-edge thin line of defense. Then I also began to start toying around with the infestor playstyle(to which I also always run to now, in the event that I am put behind early-game.) Infestor's are overpowered, yes, but I think really, they're going to be the unit zerg "relies" on soon (much like Defiler in sc1, it was so overpowered it was fair.) However in the same sense, we have yet to see a truly good player utilize the late game combo of infestor/broodlord. Up until now, everyone we have seen use it, is actually fucking terrible at it. Think back to sc1 when players first started using defiler/lurker, and how everyone was like "oh my god he's so good with it!!" and now look at zergs like Jaedong and Action. They make those yesteryear players control, look like utter garbage. This is my same theory for infestor/broodlord currently, is that no one truly knows how to control these units, and yet still, they're powerful. This is good though, because it means that it opens more doors for players to seperate themselves from the rest.
Additionally, the main focus point of my zerg play is constantly reminding myself to only use the minimap, and control everything else with the keyboard while watching my creep. What I mean by this (and if anyone has watched my stream, they'd probably understand). In the future and down the line, zergs will have to learn to control their army using the minimap, and macroing only with keyboard, and doing injects as fast as possible. returning to their base only to split overlords/tech/upgrade. They should ALWAYS have their eyes on their creep tumors, for the fastest possible creep spread, since it really is an underdeveloped mechanic of most zerg players. It is maphack, but it is a maphack you must work for. As I said before. Zerg's concept should be "Defend, defend, defend, defend" until they achieve the ultimate army "infestor,broodlord,corruptor" if you can achieve critical mass of these units, after having stabalized a good economy, and secured a good end-game, then Zerg should always win, just like sc1 Terran 200/200 mech with 3-3. If Terran was able to stabalize 4-5 bases, achieve 3-3 upgrades, and hit 200/200 mech, often times it spelt death for the opponent. But to achieve that unharmed, was the hard part.
Zerg rewards the player with the better mechanics, however just like sc1, even the player with superior mechanics can lose to random all-in's and just very hard to stop builds (See white-ra vs boxer.) Despite having superior mechanics, Boxer still lost, because of very awkward timing attacks. It is the same way in sc2. However I believe. If the mechanic-gap is so wide (e.g: Flash vs White-ra, in the same situation) then the mechanics will always triumph.
Just like some famous martial artist said, "Speed will always beat power." And zerg is the only race that can truly "outspeed" the opponent, just like Terran in sc1.
Additionally, I have received a lot of PM's/messages/whatever, about people asking about what it takes to be a real progamer(note: actually committing to Korea for an indefinite amount of time, and actually living in a korean teamhouse) and what it took to get here/etc. I was going to talk publicly about this, but in fact it's very long, and not something that should be put into a blog. I might write an article about it in the near future, but I am not sure yet. It's really an odd situation on how to answer these questions.
Anyway, that's it for now, it's a long-blog because I have missed up on the last few weeks :). Sorry about that.
Like always though, highlights of the last few weeks (some good, some bad):
-SlayerS`Golden has come back to stay here indefinitely.
-MVPwOn is now living here.
-Oasis left the house T_T
-I managed to beat Bomber in a macro game ZvT(this meant a lot to me, after only playing zerg such a short time.)
-Artosis/Tasteless are awesome.
-Burgarking (GGIcaruS) joined GosuGamers.
-Hanbin is still gay.
-I've started to officially learn Korean through lessons.
