Start of Season 2

Good news! Season 2 started today.  Why is this good news?  Well when I first started playing the game my main race was Protoss.  I played the standard 5 placement matches, was ranked in Platinum league and then took a hiatus from the game.  Faced with the facts of starting off as a new Zerg player and the inability to reset your ladder rating, I have kept my distance from the ladder while I continue to accumulate knowledge of my new race.

Imagine my joy when I read the following from the Battle.net faqs:

"The second StarCraft II League season has begun! Bonus pools and standings have been reset. If you've already been placed in a league, you'll only need to play one placement match to kick off the new season." - http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/2534922

I immediately played my placement match and was placed one step down from the Platinum League and into the Gold League. 

Now that the idle players are temporarily gone from the ladder I'm expecting the difficulty to increase drastically.  Not sure if this is my 'true' ranking yet.  Hopefully there is no other place to go but up!

The Zerg and the Darkness

If you train hard, you'll not only be hard, you'll be hard to beat. - Herschel Walker

So I've been playing Zerg for a couple of weeks now and have met a few milestones:

Goals Met

• Play 100 1v1 games as Zerg.
• Beat the A.I. on Very Hard mode.

I've also decided to re-evaluate one of my previous goals based on some new information:

• Beat the A.I. on Insane mode.

I read somewhere that the Insane AI cheats by getting extra resources.  Since I am trying to be a better 1v1 player this is not a good way to train.  Aside from throwing off my internal timings I feel as if I would have to resort to gimmicks to defeat the Insane AI.  Normally I try not to abandon my goals, but am making an exception for this one.

New Goals

• Win 10 1v1 multiplayer games vs human opponents
• Play 100 1v1 multiplayer games

I have some ladder anxiety which I intend to deal with by repeated exposure to ladder pressure.  I am going to try to play as many games as a can per day.  Results at this point do not matter. For me this is a challenge and opportunity to train.

Monkey Magic

Slayers Boxer - Image Source: fomos.kr

What sports moments have had a profound influence on you throughout your life?

Here are some of my top sports moments:

• Witnessing the one and only Dream Team
• Michael Jordan's dominance
• The Green Bay Packers winning Super Bowls XXXI and XLV
• SlayerS_`Boxer` (Boxer) AKA The Emperor

Its funny how you can remember everything when these sports moments occur; where you were, what you were doing, even the sounds and smells.  These moments are ingrained into my subconscious.  Discovering SlayerS_`Boxer` was similar to a traditional sports moment but different as well.  For me, this moment was my catalyst into the world of eSports.

I remember receiving an email from my cousin around 2006 with a url to a youtube link.  My cousin was one of my trustly and reliable 2v2 partners.  Every now and then we would converse, reminisce, and then dust off our Starcraft: Broodwar CDs for another run at glory.  Our strategies were nubishly basic.  We would play games on our accounts until our records scared people off, then create new names. The custom games we created included names like '2v2 no rush', '2v2 noobs only'.  This continuous cycle would last for several months until something else captured our attention.  I naively thought I had a firm understanding of the game, but little did I know my world was about to be shattered...

I remember the moment I clicked the link. The highlight video began with some Korean tour bus music playing in the background.  My first reaction to this was something along the lines of "What the hell?".  The next thing I remember is being hit with these awesome moments  in rapid succession.

Vulture harassment! 


Dropship micro!! 


Offensive usage of Bunkers!!!  

I was literally blown away by how good this guy was and how the game could be played on this level.

I started reading up on Boxer and how he was one of the first professional gamers.  His play style was not only revolutionary to me, but it also changed the way Starcraft was played and helped him gain his large following.  He has won the following major tournaments:

• OSL Champion (2 times)
• MSL Champion 
• WCG Champion (2 times)

I am happy to say that Boxer is still an active pro-gamer and is currently one of the highest paid players today.  His focus is now on Starcraft II and he continues to grow his fan-base with the help of some of his unorthodox plays.

Discovering Boxer is what started my journey into the world of esports.  I will always remember that first highlight tape.  For your viewing pleasure I have included a link below.  If you are familiar with Starcraft but not the professional scene yet like I was back in 2006 remember to pick your jaw up from the floor!

Dances with Zerg

"To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping" - Chinese Proverb

A New Spawn is Born

I picked up Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty when the game launched and proceeded to quickly burn through the story mode and challenges. My main multiplayer race was Protoss and I casually played until the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion was released.

Being the recovering WoW junkie that I am, SC2 was dropped in favor of WoW for a couple of months until I had my fill. This whole time I was continuously following the SC2 Pro scene, mainly the GOM TV Global Star League (GSL). The more SC2 that I watched, the more I felt drawn to the Zerg play style.

To the average player, playing Zerg requiers more macro management than the other races and seems to have a steeper learning curve. Players have to focus on spreading creep and injecting larva while judging whether or not to build workers or attacking units.

After quitting WoW again, I decided to take my hobby of playing SC2 more seriously and start learning the Zerg race. Since I am also in to writing and web design, this blog conveniently allows me to pursue all three hobbies at once.


Basic Mindset

Whenever I decide to pursue a new hobby I re-read the book Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment by George Leonard. Its a short 200 page read that prepares my mindset. The basic message is that our society is about instant results and gratification.  However, the process of mastering anything contradicts this as whenever we are learning a subject we go through a cycle of growth and plateaus. 

Most people lose interest and give up when they hit their first or second plateau. Becoming a true master of something is learning to be content with the plateau until that next epiphany hits and begins your next growth phase. I plan on going deeper into this subject of proper mindset in future blog posts.  I recommend reading this book at least once regardless of what subject you are trying to learn.





Current Goals

My current goals are reasonable ones that should be easily attainable.

• Play 100 1v1 games as Zerg.
• Beat the A.I. on Very Hard mode.

I have also included a goal that may take more time to accomplish, but gives me a target to aim for.

• Beat the A.I. on Insane mode.

My reasoning is that the easy goals will allow me to learn a basic understanding of the Zerg units and hotkeys. By finishing these goals I can mark down some accomplishments which should give me some confidence continuing my path to Zerg mastery. I will re-evaluate my goals once my first two goals are accomplished.


Practice Map

After some basic research I have decided to practice vs Terran A.I. on the map Xel'naga Caverns. This map is a 2 player map that has been in use on the ladder and in major tournaments including the GSL. It is considered to be a pretty balanced map to learn on. I am planning on learning the Zerg vs Terran (ZvT) matchup first. The last time I looked up player statistics on Battle.net, Terran was the predominate race played by most people. Since I am more likely to face a Terran player I want this to be my strongest matchup.

Xel'naga Caverns

Basic Build Order

Here is the basic build order I plan on using:

• 9 - Overlord
• 14 - Hatchery
• 14 - Spawning Pool
• 15 - Overlord
• Drone until Pool finishes then build a Queen and 2 zerglings.
• Build a Queen and Spine Crawler when the Hatchery finishes.
• Wing it from here.

I am going to try different unit combinations after this initial build order to gain a basic understanding of what works and doesn't work.


Final Thoughts

The content here scratches the surface and is very basic at the moment.  Hopefully as my skill level increases I can provide more detailed thoughts and analysis.

I plan on updating this blog weekly.  Some posts will detail my progress and others will delve into different subjects related to SC2 that I find interesting.  If you wish to post a question or comment please keep it good mannered.

And so the journey begins... wish me luck!

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