SC2 2v2 Replays 20-2 Team Masters

Sup guys,

I have been playing some 2v2 team games with my mate nGenEclipse and we are currently 20-2 in Masters in our team games. We have been enjoying a long winning streak around 16 games. We're both Grandmasters for solo in SEA server and have been tearing up the 2v2 team games here. I am posting our most recent replays if you feel like watching some 2v2 Masters games. We are currently top 10 in 2v2 team games in SEA Masters. We're both playing Random for the fun of it and we do not have any fixed strategy and we just do whatever we feel like it within our games.

Do you think that 2v2 is purely massing units such as 4 Gating, Zerglings and Hellions? We will prove you wrong with our superior macro games. Enjoy the replays and post any feedback and comments. Cheers.

SC2 2v2 Replays

PvT Double Forge Build - History and Guide

If you have been following the latest Starcraft 2 games and casts in professional major tournaments such as the recent GSLs, MLG and Dreamhack, Protoss has been doing extremely well recently. The latest build that is used very often by the top professional gamers in the PvT matchup is currently the PvT Double Forge Build. Let's have a look at the brief history of this build. LiquidTyler is one of the very first Protoss out there to have tested with this build which utilizes the double Forge superior upgrades against the Terran arsenal. This was back during the early part of 2012 if I am not mistaken. The main focus of this build is to get double Forges early in the game. With the power of chaining Chrono Boost together with early upgrades, Protoss can have a superior army in the mid and late game. Tyler's build gained some popularity within the Western community for a short period of time. However, during the initial phase this build was not refined.

Skipping to months later the first Korean that showed to the world how to property use a Double Forge Build was a lesser known Korean Protoss professional gamer, CreatorPrime. Creator first revealed this build during the GSTL against team IM (if I am not mistaken), where he was able to take down ~3 of the top Terrans in Korea including the best Terran in the world currently, IMMvP

Who is TiGerSPR with 90-5 record in SEA GM?

If you are playing at the SEA Starcraft 2 server, you will come across this name being ranked number 1 on the server with a astounding record of 90-5 in Grandmasters? Who do you think he is? First of all, this guy is definitely a Korean pro gamer. Only pros can get this record in the relatively less known South East Asian server. At first, I thought TIgerSPR is Slayers_Tiger. However upon confirmation with SoulmanSPR, TigerSPR is lOvShinyStar, a Code A GSL professional Gamer in Korea. You can probably have watched some of his games in GSL.

http://sc2ranks.com/sea/253896/TiGerSPR

http://sc2ranks.com/kr/1596509/lOvShinyStar

Siege Tank Leapfrog with Shift

I have been playing as Terran in my team games recently and have been performing the Siege Tank Leapfrog that crawls towards my opponents base very often. For those of you who does not know what this term means, its basically you Siege up your tanks further away from your opponent's base and slowly moving your tanks furthest at the back to the front and repeat until you are near enough to your opponents, thus crawling your tanks slowly towards them. The strongest point of Siege Tanks whether back in the days of Brood war and now Starcraft 2 is their impressive range 13. This unit has the longest range in the game itself making it the best unit to contain your opponents.

Here's some tips to leapfrog your tanks for you Terran players out there.

- To unsiege a tank press 'D'
- Immediately right click to the location you wish to position the tank

Sentry Drop to deny Mining like Oracle

This Sentry drop deny mining crossed my mind when I was going over the Oracle in HOTS again and read on Teamliquid somewhere about the 4 Sentry Warp Prism drop to Forcefield workers from escaping but I can't seem to find it. I hope some one can link the video and original post here.

You can basically disrupt all mining at a mineral line with 4 Force Fields. According to Liquidpedia here

-At 2 SCVs/mineral and 3 SCVs/gas, a base with 8 minerals and 2 gas will harvest ~672 minerals and ~215 gas per game minute.

-A fully saturated base with 8 minerals and 2 gas will harvest ~816 minerals and ~228 gas per game minute.

A force field lasts 15 seconds. If you can deny 2 workers mineral line, it will cost your opponent 168 minerals. If it is fully saturated it will cost them 204 minerals. This does not include any mining form Mules.

Let's take a look at a rough build.

My GM in Season 4, Have you got yours?

Grandmasters league for season 4 Starcraft 2 just came alive today. I got back my GM back after getting kicked out for having too much bonus pool last season. Lol. Have you gotten yours? If not it is time to put up some training and grab a spot for yourself in the top 200 for your server.

From this season onwards, every Season for SC2 battlenet will last only 2 months. It is no longer 3+months like previously. This is mainly due to most players playing less games after the initial month or two according to Blizzard's research. GrandMasters league will be available one week after ladder reset from 2 weeks previously.

Good luck.

Heart of The Swarm Preview and New Units

Blizzcon!! Blizzcon!! Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm Preview has been revealed. New units for each race are currently being explored and tested. First of all let's have a look at the new HOTS Preview. Check out the new units towards the end.




Zerg  

 

1. Viper 

GSL October Code S Results

Slayers MMA wins GSL October Code S

Slayers MMA took down three time GSL champion IMMvP to win the first GSL Code S title for his team. MMA beat Mvp with a staggering 4-1 record. Before going into the finals, everyone was expecting MvP to win the match 4-1. 70% of the votes before the finals favours MVP. However, in the end MMA proved that he is the better player with his Bio style against MVP's mech builds. Several of the games went down to base trade where MVP had a huge Terran death ball but without a base while MMA had ongoing bases but could not engage MVP's superior army. This is definitely an very interesting series between two best Terrans in the world currently.

Congratulations to SlayersMMA and Boxer is definitely proud of his child.

 

New Protoss unit in Heart of The Swarm

Blizzard had previously released a glimpse of the new Protoss unit in Heart of the Swarm, HOTS. Blizzard is still keeping everyone guessing on what this new unit actually does. But currently nothing has been revealed to the community on the new unit at all except an Image outline of it. Let's take a look.

The first thing that crossed my mind when I first saw this picture is, Holy Cow it looks like some kind of Batman's weapon. Lol. In fact it resembles the weapon or (whatever you call that) that Batman throws.

Let's take another step in analysing the new unit. This new Protoss unit is most likely to be an air unit build

Fast Chrono Boost on Buildings for Protoss

I guess most of you already know how do Chrono Boost on Buildings but I'll point this out anyway for those who are still having troubles with it. What is meant here is where you can Chrono Boost all of you Gateways as fast as possible. Top Masters and Grandmasters players can Chrono all their Gateways (eg 6) within 1 second. This is essential when you need as many units as possible to hold off pushes or defending against your opponents. If you can master this, you are another step towards winning more of your games.

Fast Chrono Boost
1. Hotkey all your Nexus in one Key
2. Select the key and hold down 'C'
3. Left click all  your Gateways.

You may say everyone can perform this easy task. However the main difference here is high level players can performed it instantly. Let's take a look at this game by ogsHero.

GSL October Up and Down Results

Were finally here again at the GSL Up and Down matches which determines which gamers get the important Code S slots and who stays or drops to Code A for next season. This time, the Up and Down are dominated by a lot of Protoss players. This is the result of Protoss poor performance previously where Terran 1-1-1 all in reign supreme.

We have 3 top Protoss gamers Sage, Puzzle and Genius competing today. However, only Puzzle manage to cling on to his Code S medal. Long time Code S player, Genius is down into Code A. Sage, one of the best Protoss in the world currently failed to make into Code S again. Gumiho and Puzzle gets Code S.

Group A Day 1 Results

DongRaeGu wins IEM New York

DongRaeGu wins IEM New York SC2 tournament after beating another Zerg gamer, Fruitdealer the first GSL Champion 3-2 in the finals. This is DongRaeGu's second international trophy after his recent Dreamhack win. This tournament had clashed with the MLG. Thus, it only managed to capture a relatively small amount of viewers within the Starcraft 2 community. IEM NewYork will best be known as a Zerg dominated championship with top 3 players being all Zerg.

 

Credit goes to Teamliquid for such an awesome photo.

EGHuk wins MLG Orlando, ogsMC second!!

EGHuk wins MLG Orlando defeating ex teammate ogsMC in the tournament's Grand Finals. Huk was crowned the champion and MC gets the very important GSL Code S spot for next season. What this means is that MC who had been knocked out form Code A into Code B recently is finally back into Code S. Protoss supporters cheered for these awesome news. Huk is the first repeat champion gamer to ever win two MLG titles, where his previous was the first MLG Raleigh event ever hosted against Kiwikaki in the grandfinals.

Never would anyone expect to see a Protoss vs Protoss matchup for the finals in this major Starcraft 2 tournament. MLG is deemed the GSL version of the West and the most prestigious tournament outside of Korea with its huge price money and competition level. Leading off into the finals with a 2-1 lead over MC due to the extended series rules of MLG, Huk only needs to win another 2 games. In the first game, Huk outmicroed MC in a 4 Gate fashion battle on Tel'Darim Altar which is infamous for its 4 Gating heaven or should I say hell. A mismicro from MC failing to target down a very low hp Zealot cost him the game. Game 2 on Xel Naga Caverns had MC lead off with a Cannon rush. However, it was scouted instantly by Huk and a well placed Pylon behind his mineral line thwarts any attempt of incoming cheese. Falling behind, MC

New Units in SC2: Heart of The Swarm

Blizzard has finally gave us another glimpse in the long awaited Starcraft 2 expansion set: Heart of the Swarm. This will be the second installment of the three series of the all time popular online game. Previously Blizzard revealed the campaign play through of HOTS which features on Kerrigan the Queen of Blade's quest in claiming back her Zerg throne against other Overlord's seeking to control over the swarm. This time around, a new unit for Terran and Zerg has been released while the Protoss will be followed soon after. Let's have a peek at the new interesting and exciting new unit image design.

Terran

GSL October Code A Results

Finals


Curious from team Startale wins GSL October Code A and earned his Code S spot for next season.


STCurious 4-0 FXOz

How to Scout with Protoss in PvZ when you Fast Expand

I have to clarify this matter to a lot of Protoss gamers out there who claimed that it is impossible to scout the Zerg player if you go for a Forge Fast Expo build. People claimed that Protoss will be playing in total blind when fast expanding. THIS IS TOTALLY WRONG. It is absolutely possible to scout the Zerg when you are fast expanding.

Let's have a look at the PvZ matchup. The most common starting build is basically a Fast Expanding Build and Gateway Expand. Here we are not referring to any one basing all in cheese builds. Why is FFE so commonly seen in high level games? Pro gamers prefer this opening compared Gateway first for its strong economic advantage gained. Having two Nexus with Chrono Boost puts you toe to toe with the Zerg player in terms of worker economic. However, FFE are vulnerable to all in builds such as Baneling bust and Roach Ling all in if left unscouted.

So How do You scout Zerg when you are FFE?

Stephano wins IPL 3

French Zerg Pro Gamer, Stephano wins IPL 3 after tearing apart Korean Zerg gamer, FXOLucky 4-0 in the finals. This is a huge surprise as he is often considered the underdog in the whole Starcraft 2 tournament. What's more, Stephano managed to grab the title amidst facing against some of the Korean best SC2 players present at the tournament. His impressive and smart Zerg strategies and tactics managed to bring the title back to the Westerners. Stephano was previously a progamer from Warcraft 3. This is the second international tournament where foreigners wins another international tournament. The previous was EGIdra's magnificent run at IEM:Guanzhou. Is this the end of the Korean domination? Will the fat price money being siphoned into the Korean economy coming to an end? Let's hope so.

GSTL July Results

GSTL July Finals Results

Team MVP wins GSTL July beating Prime 5 - 3.

MVP 5 vs 3 Prime
Vampire P vs Check Z
Noblesse T vs Check Z
Noblesse T vs Terius Z

Noblesse T vs Creator P
Noblesse T vs BboongBboong Z
Genius P vs BboongBboong Z
Keen T vs BboongBboong Z
Keen T vs MKP T

Force Field Guide in PvZ SC2

I am still seeing lots of Protoss Force Field wrongly against their Zerg opponents in PvZ. Let's first analyze the Protoss vs Zerg matchup. For Protoss, most people will be utilizing the Stalkers, Sentries and Colossus with probably some Immortals being thrown into the mix. This is the most common unit mix you will be using and facing against in your online game opponents. However, there's some new variations such as Zealots and Archon mix popping up in the metagame currently or Air unit usage such as Phoenix and Void Rays. As for Zergs, we often seen Roach and Hydra mix, Zerlings with Infestors or Mutalisk builds.

Lets stick to the Stalker, Sentries, Immortal and Colossus ball. With this army mix, all your units have a range attack. The correct way to Force Field against Zerg players is to Force Field the front of their armies. Let's take a look at the snapshot taken below between TSLJYP and Dimaga in the recent IEM Guangzhou.

The Gracken Wins IEM Guangzhou

Finally, the Western pro Gamers has showed who they are made off by claiming a championship trophy after such a long time since the Koreans broke into the international Starcraft 2 scene. EGIdra, the Gracken has finally reclaim a championship for himself after such a long drought since IPL2. The notorious and infamous Idra placed first out of the 16 invited gamers including 2 Koreans, Puma, Revival and JYP.

Making into the round of 8, Idra took out TSLRevival with a 3-1 record. Next beating teammate EGPuma, the champion for NASL and IEM in the semifinals 3-0 and finally besting Elfi, the Protoss player from Finland in the finals 3-1. Who cares if Idra GG or not. Most important is Idra still has what it takes to win an international tournament.

IEM Guangzhou Standings
1. EGIdra
2. elfi
3. EGPuma
4. HasuObs

Replays can be found here

Top 10 Hottest Video Game Female from Final Fantasy

This post will be introducing to you Top 10 of the Hottest Video Game Female from the world of Final Fantasy. If you are a huge fan of the video game by Square Enix, you should be looking forward who will be voted as the top 3 here. I will be taking the female characters from Final Fantasy 1 all the way to the final installment of the ongoing series, Final Fantasy 13. I am a fanatic of Final Fantasy and have personally played nearly all of the game titles from the old Snes titles, Playstation, PS2, PS3 and even some of the Nintendo DS titles. This is just my personal preference and everyone would have a different opinion on who should rank the top. Without further babbling lets get the interesting and sexiness started.

10. Terra Branford - FF VI 

Lets start the list with Terra from FFVI or III from the old Snes title. Terra will always be one of the best female lead character in FF. Although this title is one of the oldest title, Square Enix has spawn a couple of remake for it.

9. Quistis Trepe - FF VIII

The Best Protoss Gamers in SC2 Now!!

oGsMC

Protoss President oGsMC feel from the top of the food chain and found himself a bottomless pit dropping from a league after another into Code B. MC who was once the best Protoss gamer in the world is no longer near his invisible form he once was. Popularize and revolutionize the gameplay of Protoss, MC has led the Aiur's pack into what was deemed a broken race in the early release of Starcraft 2. MC created builds such as 6 Gate all in against Terrans, Stargate Void Ray and Phoenix mix against Zergs, 3 Gate Stargate in PvTs and fascinate the fans with the best Force Field usage the world has ever seen. MC's understanding in the

Protoss after 1.40 in Starcraft II

Its been a long time since the last time I posted here. Sorry guys, I was kinda busy with my life. Anyway Patch 1.4 has been up for some time. What do you guys think about the new patch and its implication of the game itself. Just to recap some of the major changes here.

Protoss
1. Warp Prism Buff
2. Immortal Range 6 from 5
3. Blink 110 to 140

Zerg
1. Neural Parasite Range 9 to 7
2. Fungal Growth reduced damage

Terran
1.Hellion nerf. Requires 3 shots to kill workers.

General Vision up ramp reduced by 1.

All in all the new patch 1.4 does not introduced any huge changes to the game itself. However, we have seen more uses of both Immortals and Warp Prism by Protoss players from pro levels all the way down to the lower leagues. Warp Prism is so much more durable now compared to being just a paper plane previously. Warp Prism is able to survive from Marines and Queens much longer.

Godaddy Web Hosting is Pure Trash

This may be very very relevant for any of you who are interested in setting up a new gaming website or anything of your interest in the future. My advice here. Never ever go for GoDaddy hosting. They are pure trash and worthless. I have my other Wordpress blogs hosted there and the services is terribly bad. Loading a page will often takes as long as 20 seconds or more(which is very normal) and some times it even time out very often. I got really sick with them and will change my hosting to others asap. This is a nightmare experience for me as they are my first web hosting company.

Protoss a Dead Race?

BREAKING NEWS!!! oGsMC and Slayers_Alicia are out of Code A. Today march the dead of the Protoss race in Starcraft 2 online game. Professional Protoss gamers continue to fall out of GSL left and right. This time around even the Protoss President himself oGsMC and even the best PvT player Slayers_Alicia (claimed by Artosis) are out of Code A. Protoss misery continue one after another. Will there be any end to this Armageddon?

With two of the best Protoss players around the world falling down to Code B, Aiur seems to be in a deadly plague. The GSL is currently being dominated by Terrans and to a lesser extend Zerg gamers. Protoss seems to occupy only a tiny minority of the valueble spots.

It hurts to see Protoss players continue to underperform in the current metagame. As we all know, Terran is probably the best race in the metagame currently. Terran gamers have the tools to exp

oGsMC is Streaming His Games!!

World best Protoss player in SC2, oGsMC is currently streaming his online games. Watch how the Protoss President rip the Korean online server. A must watch for every Protoss player or MC's fan. Learn directly from the first person view of the Grandmaster himself. Watch how MC micros, make decision and MC Force Fields.


oGsSK

Here's the stream.
http://www.own3d.tv/live/119334/oGsSK

Soulman / Master (SEA GM Rank 1/Korea GM Top 200) Replays

Soulman / Master holds the Rank 1 Grandmasters in the SEA online game server and Top 200 Grandmasters in the Korean game server. Soulman was an ex member of the professional gaming team fOu (For Our Utopia which is currently known as FXO Korea). He is a top tiered Protoss and has climbed the SEA ranks with ease. Currently he has joined team SPR, a Korean clan from the SEA server. This is a replay pack that I had gotten from him.

Replays
http://www.2shared.com/file/rJJLqOZd/master_soulmanfou_replays.html

GSL August Code S Results

GSL August Code S Finals 
IMMvP wins GSL August Code S. Two time GSL champion MvP added yet another title into this already impressive resume. MvP will be joining his teammate IMNestea with each having three GSL wins.

IMMvP 4-1 oGsTop

Latest Update on PTR - Infestor Nerfed Again

This is the latest update for the SC2 Public Testing Region.

Infestor’s Neural Parasite can no longer target Massive units.
 Zerg had another round of nerf in the form of Infestor. Previously, in the current PTR, Fungal Growth damage has been reduced from 36 (+30% armored) to 30 (40 vs Armored). Now Infestor can no longer Neural Parasite massive units. This change is indeed huge as they can no longer steals Massive units such as Thors, Colossus, Archons and massive air units such as Carriers, BattleCruisers and

Diablo 3 The Best Online Game Beta Revealed

The gates to hell has once again been unleashed. Blizzard Entertainment Inc has finally revealed the long awaited online game Diablo 3 Beta. Two decades has passed since the demonic lords Diablo, Maphisto and Baal had unleashed their wreath upon the World of Sanctuary.Players once again are being thrown back into the twisted realm of Diablo.

This time around in Diablo 3, gamers will be introduced with better and unseen before gorgeous 3D graphics with new introduced playstyle. In Diablo 3, players get to choose one of the five different character classes from the Demon Hunter, Monk, Wizard, Barbarian and Witch Doctor. Each hero is equipped with new and improved unique skills, spells and abilities to help you combat the terror within the hells of Diablo 3.

GSL October Code S Players

GSL October Code S Progamer Player List

TERRAN

1. OptimusPrime
2. IMMvP
3. MVPKeen
4. oGsTop
5. SlayersRyung
6. SlayersMMA
7. ST_Bomber
8. ST_Virus
9. oGsNada
10. IMHappy
11. asd
12. TSL_Clide
13. MVP_Noblesse
14. TSL_Alive
15. oGsEnsnare
16. oGsSuperNova
17. SlayersTaeja

20 Terrans in GSL October Code S!!!

GSL October Code S will consist of 20 Terrans, 7 Zergs and 5 Protoss players. Yes you didn't read wrongly. TWENTY out of 32 Code S players are Terrans. We will be witnessing a lot of Terran vs Terran games in the upcoming GSL October Code S. It is no surprising that Terrans has been performing extremely well recently in both the Code S and Code A matches. Protoss pro gamers continue to fall out one after another from Code S. Even two times GSL champion oGsMC was given a one way ticket into Code A. Will this trend continue in the future?

Let's hope that the upcoming patch 1.40 will help to buff up the Protoss games. Is this what we call imbalance for a game? When a race is performing extremely well against the other two races, this is probably a sign of the game being imbalance. Currently, Starcraft 2 is heavily favouring the Terran race. Zergs has been doing not too bad as compared to Protoss. However, the number of Zergs within Code S

GSL August Up and Down Matches

Day 3

So many games were being played today. Slayers_Taeja managed to claim the first spot into Code S. There was a three way tied between JYP, Tester and MarineKing for the second spot. Each of the players are required to play a game against each other to determine the winner. In the end, MarineKing emerged victorious over the two Protoss, claiming his very important Code S. Thus, this ends the Up and Down matches and games for the GSL Code S October. In GSL October we will witness a lot of Terrans in Code S and a lot of Protoss in Code A. Even oGsMC fell down to Code A yesterday. Let's hope that the next upcoming patch will  help to buff up the Protoss games in the future. 

Violet vs Tester
MarineKing vs Taeja
Violet vs JYP
MarineKing vs Tester
Taeja vs JYP

GSL October Code A Qualifiers

SC2 GSL October Code A Qualifiers has ended. This is the 'F5' season for Starcraft 2 community hoping to grab the latest news on the performance of their favourite Korean gamers in the preliminaries. Now, everyone gets a chance to watch the Qualifiers live broadcasted by GomTV. A total of 369 players took part this time. 12 players will have a chance to compete in the GSL October Code A. The matches in the qualifiers are brutal as there are just too many good players out there not in Code S or A.

In the end, the legendary Slayers_Boxer, GuineaPing, STAce, IMYongHwa, Squirtle, LiquidJinro failed to make it into Code A. If you are following the Project A by GomTV which features the legendary Brood War player, Yellow on his take on Starcraft 2 and trying to get into Code A. Yellow lost to the hands of the unknown Protoss player, MealStroM in the second round of his group play.

12 Players made into Code A next season by winning their groups.

1. MvPDream T
2. NSHoseoSage P
3. LiquidHero P
4. FXOOz P

Ask Questions to Help you Improve

If you have any questions related to Starcraft 2 that you wish to ask, feel free to drop a comment below. You are free to post questions related to specific strategies, your execution, how to improve your gameplay by posting your replays, build orders, guide, defending specific pushes, overall game plan or anything you want. We are here to improve ourselves to be a better gamer.

Cheers.

10 Reasons Why Professional Gamers are Good

1. Professional Gamers train hard and practice long hours up to 10 hours a day.
2. Pro Gamers always learn from their mistakes by fixing their games.
3. They practice a specific area of their gameplays over and over again. For example, doing the same build or strategy multiple times on different maps. That is why their gameplay execution is near perfect.
4. Pro Gamers accept suggestions to improve their game plays.
5. They practice with other pro gamers. It is best to practice with someone equal level or better than you.

PvT Defending Terran 1-1-1 All in with Stargate Opening

Every Protoss in SC2 is trying their best to figure out the best defense against the deadly Terran 1-1-1 all in. The next patch should fix this problem slightly. However, currently the best defense against 1-1-1 is the Stargate Opening. You should be very familiar now with the Terran 1-1-1 as this cheese has been done over and over again by pro gamers in Major SC2 tournaments from GSL to MLG. In fact, the extremely high win rate for this build makes this strategy near impossible to be defended for Protoss. I have written a post previously why Terran 1-1-1 all in is so imbalance HERE. Let's take a look why is 1-1-1 so deadly

• Protoss players can know the 1-1-1 push is coming and still lose to it. 
• Build order Lose (Banshee)
• Timing
• Perfect play by Protoss
• Terran setting up a Hard Contain 
• The 1-1-1 Hits Twice not Once

The ultimate defense against Terran 1-1-1 for Protoss is the STARGATE BUILD. Some people may argue that the best way is to go for a fast expansion such as 1 Gate expansion or even 16 Nexus for a superior economy. However, Terran player can easily scout the Protoss build early in the game and tweak their all in timing to what you are doing. This is the weakness of the fast expansion builds builds.

Let's take a look at the Stargate Openings.

Void Ray Opening
Stargate openings give the Protoss gamer access to Void Rays and Phoenixes. These are the best units to push the Terran or setting up defence against Banshees. Void Rays are totally broken

Protoss PvT Gateway Zealot Archon Style

If you are familiar with the SC2 pro gaming scene, you will probably notice that most professional Protoss gamers are currently using the mass Gateway Style against their Terran opponents. Mass Gateway style utilizes the army mix from Gateways such as Zealots, Sentries, High Templar and Archons. The age of Colossus with Robo build has long been forgotten.

Why is Mass Gateway Build preferable?
Before we go any further, let's take a look at why Protoss players are opting for this build instead of Robo openings and Stargate builds.
1. Gateway units are cheap. Thus, it is worth to trade with Terran armies
2. The strength of Upgrades
3. Zealots with armor Upgrade are great Tanks
4. Efficient resource usage where Zealots only requires Minerals and High Templars require mostlly Gas.
5. In fact, Zealot Archons can be easy to micro while being extremely effective
6. Ability to reinforce instantly during late game with multiple Gateways.

Build Order
I try not to stick to a specific build order here. There can be a couple of different openings against Terrans such as 1 Gate expansion with 1 or 2 Gas, 3 Gate expansion and Nexus first. You are free to use any openings you prefer in your online games depending on the map and your choice.

Let's stick to the 3 Gate expansion for this build.

• 3 Gate into Nexus expansion

GSL August Code A Results

GSL August Code A tournament starts today. Code A Brackets.

GSL August Code A Finals Results

Slayers_Ganzi wins GSL August Code A. Ganzi won an extremely hard fought finals against MarineKingPrime. The long drawn out games were determined in the final game 7. Ganzi did not played extremely well with couple of obvious mistakes. However, the Slayers Terran still manage to win his ticket into Code S. MarineKing still have a chance to get back into Code S through the Up and Down Matches.

SlayersGanzi 4-3 MarineKingPrime

STBomber Dominated MLG Raleigh

Bomber from team StarTale wins MLG Raleigh. Amist the Hurricane Storm Irene, a Korean Terran player teared through MLG Starcraft 2 tournament with an impressive total record of 16-1 overall. This is no easy feet for any pro gamer to win one of the largest SC2 tournament with such a dominating state. During the pool play, Bomber ended with undeafeated 5-0 with a total of 10 wins and 3 loses against top pro gamers such as MVPNoblesse, Sweden's very own Sjow, the infamous EGIdra, EGMachine and LiquidHaypro. Bomber proceeded to clean through the Winner's bracket without dropping even a single game until the very finals beating SlayersCoca twice and DongRaeGu (DRUG). Bomber earned his fat paycheck of $5,000.

Bomber against Coca is a story to be told with such high impressive games between the two Koreans. Bomber took down Coca in the winners bracket sending the Korean Zerg into the Losers bracket. Coca defeated MVPDongRaeGu to have a chance to once again facing the Korean Terran in the ultimate Grand Finals for a rematch. However, Bomber proves to be the superior player in the end. Bomber claims the MLG Raleigh Championship trophy while Coca should content with his second place placing. Coca ended his pool play with a perfect 10-0 victory in his group facing against world class players such as Naniwa, Huk, Rain, Incontrol and Trimaster.

Let's take a look at the final Standings for MLG Raleigh
Standings
1. ST.Bomber
2. SlayersCoca

Splitting Workers between Expansion

Most people will be asking this very same question. What is the most efficient way to split your works between your main and expansion. There are currently 2 ways known in splitting your workers.

Option 1
Drag half the workers at your mineral line and send them to your expansion. A lot of Korean Pro gamers are using this way. This way you will lose the mineral mining for the few seconds during the transfer. You have to transfer a second time to move excess workers to the natural for the Gases.

Pros

•  Easy to execute
• You keep the initial rally from your Nexus
• You do not risk your workers traveling across the map after the initial transfer

Cons

• Oversaturating the main base is very common. I have seen countless gamers oversaturate their main and undersaturate their expansion. As we all know the optimum efficient mining requires 16 workers per base. 

Option 2
Rally both your Nexus to the minerals at your expansion.

Easy Macro Expand with Shift Queuing for Protoss

This is a very simple, efficient and fast way to easily expand while keeping up with your macro. This works for Protoss due to Probes are not require to stay while building a structure. We will be using the Shift Queuing technique to expand efficiently. This gets even more important the longer you are in your online games as you will have to keep up with the macro by expanding around the map. The image below describes very clearly how to do this.

• First, build a Nexus using B , N
• Hold down the SHIFT KEY (keep holding), B, E to build a Pylon
• B, A click B, A click to build both of the Assimilators
• Finally, Right Click on the mineral

From the way points shown above, you can clearly see the commands being issued.

SC2 Patch 1.4.0 PTR Notes Analysis

Patch 1.4.0 has been released and will be used in the online game PTR servers. This will be a major patch where there are lots of changes implemented to each race. First let's take a look at the patch notes. I will only be focusing in the Balance change and some other important changes.

Balance
General
        Unit vision up ramps has been reduced by 1.

PROTOSS
Immortal
        Attack range increased from 5 to 6.
Mothership
        Acceleration increased from 0.3 to 1.375.
        The Mothership’s Cloaking Field no longer cloaks all units instantaneously, but rather adds units to the   cloak field over time (maximum of 25 per second).  This should alleviate “Mothership Lag” issue when a Mothership comes online.
Stalker
        Blink research time increased from 110 to 140.
Warp Prism
        Shields increased from 40 to 100.

TERRAN
Barracks
        Build time increased from 60 to 65.
Hellion
        Infernal Pre-Igniter damage upgrade decreased from 10 to 5.
Raven
        Seeker missile movement speed increased from 2.5 to 2.953.

ZERG
Infestor
        Fungal Growth damage changed from 36 (+30% armored) to 30 (40 vs Armored).
Overseer
        Morph cost decreased from 50/100 to 50/50.
        Contaminate energy cost increased from 75 to 125.
Ultralisk
        Build time decreased from 70 to 55.


The first change is where unit vision up the ramp is reduced by 1. This greatly increase

TvZ 2 Barracks Pressure Build

I will be talking about the very common strategy used by Terran players against their Zerg opponents, the 2 Barracks pressure build.  This is in fact one of the most common openings you will be using against Zerg or facing against if you are a Zerg player in your online games. There are few different types of 2 Barracks pressure build depending on the where the Barracks are built. This version here is an ALL IN build. If you fail to end the game, you are very much dead. First lets take a look why is the 2 Barracks opening so effective in the current online game metagame or even during tournament plays. This is an old build but is always fun to use once in a while.

• Basically, the 2 Barracks is a very strong pressure build in PvZ. The main purpose of this build is to force Zergs into making tons of Zerglings early in the game to disrupt their ability from Droning hard. 
• Overmaking Zerglings will cost Zergs the game as the Terran player can macro up.
• Zergs will not have Zergling Metabolic Boost or more commonly known as the Ling Speed Upgrade early in the game. With proper Marine Stutter Step micro you can kill lots of Zerglings and even Drones. 
• Forcing Zerg players to pull Drones to stop the Bunker from completing. This further disrupts their economy
• A mistake by Zerg players can often end the game
• Fast game if you are into the cheesing short game strategy

A fast Hatchery is the most common build in ZvT. In fact most professional Zerg gamers

Sexy Linda Liao in Bra advertisements!!

The hottest Starcraft 2 Gamer, Linda 'Pikachu' Liao is making waves in the Asian entertainment scene currently. Linda's popularity has skyrocketed and is deem one of the best upcoming female star in the entertainment industry. The part time Starcraft 2 gamer gained her fame in the SC2 community scene after winning first place champion in ESL SC2 Female Cup. Linda also appeared in Triumph's undergarment advertisements showing off her nice, curvy and sexy figure. These are some video collections

What Gaming Equipment (Mouse, Headset, PC) are you Using?

I was wondering what gaming equipments are you guys using. Kindly list your gaming Mouse, keyboard, Headsets, PC or even mouse pads if you are interested in sharing. Thanks.

I am currently on budget gaming devises.

PC: Core 2 Duo. I have to play a Custom game everytime before going into a match to prevent lagging in game. T_T
Mouse: Logitech M125 ($10 mouse) Not even gaming
Keyboard: TECOM ($10 keyboard) lol
Headset/Speaker: SoundMax another ($10 stuff)
Thus, I have to play with the lowest Graphic Settings. T_T

Whats yours?

oGsMC and His GirlFriend?

We have heard that oGsMC has a girlfriend and we can see clearly that MC is wearing a ring on his finger. MC even admitted this fact. The truth is we have never seen MC's gf before. Is this MC's girl friend? She seems to be extremely pretty and cute. She can even be an actress in Korea with her good looks. I guess she is most likely to be MC's gf from how close they are in the photo taken below. Gogo Obama Toss!!

ZenexByun and His Cute Puppy!

ZenexByun has finally gotten the puppy he always wanted. Byun first appeared in the Korean GSL scene with his nickname as Bleach. It was soon changed to Byun. Byun wasn't a top tiered Terran player during the previous seasons and has not accomplish much compared to champions like IMMvP, SlayersMMA, PoltPrime and MarineKing. The SC2 pro gamer always wanted a puppy which he can keep in his professional gaming house. However, having a puppy is not an easy task as it costs quite some money just to feed the canine and other expenses. Finally during the GSL Code S July, Byun's coach promised that he is allowed to get a puppy if he managed to qualify into the GSL July

EG.Puma Wins IEM Cologne

Eg.Puma wins IEM Cologne, taking down his second international event claiming his second SC2 tournament with impressive results throughout the whole tournament. Facing against Puma in the finals is none other than oGsMC the Kratoss Protoss, ObamaToss, two times GSL champion. This will be their rematch from the previous North American Starcraft League (NASL) where these two champions meet in the finals. Puma bested MC in the NASL with a 4:3 record. This time in IEM Cologne, Puma once again took down MC with a straight 3 wins. Puma's superior performance has been remarkable beating Socke 3-0 in the semifinals and 3-0 Nercheo in the quarterfinals. This is a amazing 9-0 results in top 8 matches.

MC on the other hand once again fell in the hands of Puma. MC wanted this rematch so badly and he got it. The best Protoss player in the world wanted to have his revenge against

Huk Leaves Liquid to Join EG!

The very much awaited announcement from Team Evil Geniuses has been released. EG had kept everyone in the SC2 community wondering by launching a website with a timer set of X days, X hours and X minutes countdown of a major announcement. Everyone had their fair share of the guessing game. Finally, the cat has been out of the bag.

Huk will be joining Team EG. This is a very huge announcement as Huk is deemed the best foreigner in the Korean Starcraft 2 gaming scene and being the only foreigner in the Code S. Team Liquid has finally decided to release Huk as his contract has come to expiry. Huk will no longer be in the Team Liquid. The Canadian Protoss player has signed a new contract with EG and will be named EG.Huk

4 Reasons why Hellions are Imbalanced !!

Every player who played SC2 online game probably have nightmares when you talk to them about Blue Flame Hellions. Hellions are probably the most irritating unit in SC2 with its insane high Damage to Light units such as workers. Its always painful to watch games where the Terran player manage to sneak some Blue Flame Hellions or normal Hellions into the opponent's base and burning down the workers at the mineral line in seconds. Hellion is probably one of the most oftenly used unit in TvZ and TvT and to some extend in TvP. The resurgence of Mech builds in all the matchups makes the Hellions one of the most fearsome unit. Here's why Hellions are broken and imbalance!!

1. Cheap Cost 100 Minerals
Hellions are insanely cheap which cost only 100 minerals. This is probably the most efficient Terran haressing unit available as no Gas are required. Terran can saved up the Gas for other Gas heavy Mech units such as the Siege Tanks. A 100 mineral investment unit that can end the game if left unchecked is imbalance.

Progamer's Mouse, Mousepad and Keyboard

If you are wondering what gaming mouse, mousepad and keyboard your favourite player or progamers use, this post is a very good guide. Here I will be showing which mouse, keyboards and to some extend headsets being used by the best SC2 gamers out there including Idra, Boxer, MVP, Huk and Whitera.

Gaming equipments is probably the most essential tools for every gamers. Every gamer has their own preference and style in choosing their gaming keyboard and gaming mouse. These gaming tools are equivalent to cars to racers. This is how important they are. Using a different mouse and keyboard can often affects the gameplay of these gamers. They have to first get used to different mouse, keyboard as well as configuring the perfect settings before each games. Thus, we always see some downtime in tournaments where players need to obtain their perfect settings such as mouse speed and keyboard. FoxMoon refuses the tournament staff from touching his mouse in order to plug the mouse into the PC. This proves that how important are the gaming tools for them.



EGIdra
Lets start the list with the infamous EGIdra, the Gracken himself. Idra uses the SteelSeries 6Gv2 keyboard and SteelSeries Kinzu gaming mouse.
Keyboard: SteelSeries 6Gv2

Name the SC2 Pro Gamers Quiz Game!

If you think you know the Starcraft 2 professional gaming scene very well, maybe you should test yourself your knowledge on whos who in the SC2 scene. Try to name as many professional SC2 gamers name as possible and state your score. This quiz is created by NerdOpinionShow. Good luck!!

Protoss vs Terran and 1-1-1

I am starting to wonder is Protoss the weakest race in Starcraft 2. Watching the GSL SC2 tournament is hard for me as top world class professional Protoss gamers are falling left and right. Lets take a look at the recent Code A GSL August. Out of the 32 players from the Code A, 9 are Protoss, 8 Zergs and finally 15 Terrans. After the round of 32 only 2 Protoss are left. This is a really bad result for the Protoss players.

(This post is not a Balance Whine, just an opinion and view of the current PvT)

The first thing that comes to mind is most Protoss players are having an extremely hard time facing Terrans currently either in Tournaments and online game plays. Protoss win rate against Terrans stood at a measly approximately 40% win rate or even lower when facing the 1-1-1. The main culprit and reason behind the fall of Protoss players during these few weeks is the emergence of the Terran 1-1-1 all in build. If you are not familiar with the Terran 1-1-1 build, this deadly build is where the Terran player goes for a 1 base 1 Barracks, 1 Factory and 1 Starport Build. Terran players will often start off the haress with Cloak or unclocked Banshee haress followed by a large push around the 9-11 minutes mark with Marines, Siege Tanks, Banshees, SCVs and with or without Raven. This is probably the hardest build to hold as Protoss players.

During the push, Terran players will walk across the map and Siege Up the tanks outside the Protoss base or

My Season 3 Grandmasters

This is my SC2 online game season 3 Grandmasters. Good luck in getting yours.

Team fem-fx Female SC2 Team

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new female Starcraft 2 Gaming team; Team fem-fx. Currently there are 11 members in Team fem-fx. Their members are: femFxYui (P), femFxNemi (Z), femFxKaren (T), femFxRailin (Z), femFxBOSSLADY (P), femFxSam (P), femFxRogue, femFxWarrden (T), femFxKatiedonut (Z), femFxSquee (Z).

 

Anna Prosser, Miss Oregon, Incontrol's Girlfriend

How often do we get to see a professional gamer's girlfriend being a Miss Oregon? This is Anna Prosser, the winner of Miss Oregon USA 2011 and competed in the Miss USA 2011 pageant title. Anna Prosser is our friendly Protoss player, EGIncontrol (Geoff Robinson) from team Evil Geniuses. Anna Prosser is often known as Uncontrollable is definitely the diva in the world of Starcraft 2. She has contributed a huge part into the SC2 community with her wonderful professional gamer interviews and tweets.

Important Timings for Protoss Players

As an avid Starcraft 2 online game player, I can't stress enough how important timings are in the game itself. The implementation of the 'In Game Timer' by Blizzard into SC2 is invaluable to top tiered gamers as this minor addition to the game has created a new dimension into it. Prior to In Game Timer, players are always left to wonder how long the game has gone and went into a guessing game. Without a timing, players are left in the dark to determine strategies and units that are coming their way.

The most important factor in Timing is determining what opponent strategies and tech path. Lets take an example here. A Clocked Banshee with normally reach the Protoss's base at 7:30 mark. This is a very important factor in crafting your build order as a Protoss. Most players have nightmares if you talk to them about Banshees. I can't stress enough how ugly things will be if a Protoss player is caught without a Detector against  one or even two Clocked Banshee at your Base.

Timings play too much importance in the game itself. All professional gamers utilized the timer to their advantage by determining build orders to certain timing. Lets take a look at the very very important timings below for Protoss players.

vs Terrans

GSL August Code A Brackets

GSL August for Code A Brackets are out!! This time we have so many world top class pro gaming SC2 players in Code A. Previous Code S players such as MarineKingPrime, Fruitdealer, sC, Leenock, anyproPrime, CheckPrime will be facing new Code A players such as The Emperor himself, SlayersBoxer, the fearsome DongRaeGu from MVP and even the foreigners are making a huge debut this season in the hands of Naniwa, Thorzain, Fenix and Sase. Code A for GSL August tournament this season will probably be the toughest one so far since the launch of SC2 online game.

This is typically normal for every video and online games, as players are getting better each season. Korean players has always been known for their hardcore training routine and efficient training. Previous Code S players such as Leenock, MKP and FXOsC are definitely Code S materials. These players are probably unlucky being knocked down into Code A this season. Will the foreigners able to made their way through into Code S against the very best Korean players?

Korean GSL Female Caster, Lee Hun Joo

If you guys are wondering who the hot, pretty and sexy Korean Female SC2 GSL caster is, her name is Lee Hun Joo. She is very experienced and has done a wonderful job casting and commentating the SC2 matches in Korean together with two other guys. Lee Hun Joo has an extensive knowledge and experience in SC2 and her information is always accurate and to the point. The strongest point in her casting is being able to made the game so much more interesting with her tone. You will be amazed at how good this Korean GSL female caster is.

She was previously a Broodwar gamer back in the days playing Zerg. She has started casting Brood War games in 2001 for MBC Game and has always known the competitive Starcraft 2 scene in Korea very well. Her beauty and knowledge will definitely impress everyone.