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.

MarineKingPrime MKP's Sister

This is MarineKingPrime MKP's cute, pretty and hot sister. I guess she will be getting more fans and admirers for her good looks. Next to her is MKP's mom.

GSL August Code S Brackets and Predictions

The group nomination has been done and the GSL August Code S brackets has been released.

Group A
Wow Nestea and MMA. 3 times GSL champion against the MLG champion. Kyrix and Happy better try harder this time.
Predictions: Nestea, MMA

PvT Killing Scouting SCV

For all Protoss players, do take note of this Tips that will help your online game immensely against Terran and to some extend Protoss opponents. First of all, this trick requires a little bit of micro to kill the SCV or Probe with your Zealot. Basically you place your first Zealot near the bottom of the ramp (around middle to bottom).

Sometimes the SCV will get into your base before your Zealots pop up. But lets assume the SCV havn't reach your base at this point on 4 players map. Due to unit AI, the SCV will pass through the Zealot. Zealots requires 3 hits to kill a SCV. Once you have deal the first hit,

PvP Cannon Rush Cheese on Xel Naga Caverns

Good old Cannon rush cheese still works wonders even in Grandmasters SC2. I have done countless of Cannon rush especially on Xel Naga Caverns during my online game play. Xel Naga Caverns is the only 2 player map currently left in the solo 1v1 map pool. Thus, this is the perfect map to cheese your way. I have won countless of Protoss vs Protoss on this map by Cannon rushing.

Heres the build order (Standard build)

• 9 Pylon
• 12 Forge (Scout with your Probe)
• 2 more probes (14/18) (You can stop Probe production for now)
• Basically you need 300 minerals to wall off behind your opponents mineral line with 3 Pylons
• When your Pylon is done, Build 2 Cannons and watch your opponent rage!!

SC2 Online Game Season 3 Map Changes

Season 3 of SC2 online game has started. Players are battling their ways and playing hard in their online games to obtain the very valuable SC2 Grandmasters League for Season 3. For your information, Grandmasters League from each Server, America, EU, Korea and SEA will only be available after 2 weeks from the season 3 ladder reset. This allows players to try out new maps from the new season and increasing their MMR (Match Making Rating) during this duration. After 2 weeks, the top 100 SC2 players with the highest MMR on each online game Battlenet server will be promoted into the Grandmasters League.

1v1 Maps removed
Lets take a look at the new map changes. In solo 1v1, four maps has been removed from the map pool as some of the maps are often vetoed by players.

• Scrap Station (2)
• Slag Pits (4)
• Delta Quardrant (4)
• Metalopolis (4)(Wow)

IMMVP wins MLG Anaheim!!

Two times GSL Champion IMMvP wins his first international tournament MLG Anaheim taking down defending champion Slayers_MMA in the grand finals with style. This is MVP's first international Starcraft 2 tournament and the Korean monster takes it down convincingly. No doubt he is truely the best Terran currently. MVP's superior run throughout the whole tournament definitely impress the world. Some people claims that the SC2 Terran champion seems to be in a slump currently without any concrete results at the Korean SC2 GSL. However, MVP proves that he is indeed still in a impressive form.

MVP run throughout the whole tournament is no easy task for any progamers. Having to face, MVPDongRaeGu, who is the favourite to win MLG Raleigh, The Emperor himself, Slayers Boxer
, and finally defending champion Slayers_MMA with good controls, decision making and strategies.

MLG Anaheim is yet another Korean dominated tournament with top 4 beinge all Korean Terran players. 3 of the four semi finalists are from team Slayers, a very strong performance from the Korean team. Boxer, MMA and Ganzi are all top world class players. The next 4 consist