First look at SC2: HOTS Beta

SC2: HOTS, Heart of the Swarm Beta has been released by Blizzard. However, at this stage, only a selected number of players are able to participate in this Closed Beta. Those invited include most of the professional SC2 gamers and random players that signed up for the Beta Trial in your Battle.net account profile. If you are one of those lucky few managed to get your hands on this piece of treasure, congratulations. However, most people like me are not able to get into the beta at this stage, until Blizzard plans to release it to the mass public before actual release of the game itself. If you want to know the actual release date for HOTS, you will probably won't find the answer so soon as this is Blizzard here we are talking about. The awesome gaming company will only release the retail version after it has been perfected and they do not fear to prolong the date. (I predict it to be released during Christmas time or early next year)

Lets, come back to the actual first look at SC2 HOTS at this release of Beta. If you cant get your hands on the Beta trial key, you can always watch the live streams available as well as VODs. There are even tournaments for HOTS beta currently.


The Imbalance of Warhounds
SC2 Heart of the Swarm Beta is all about Warhounds. This is probably the first thing you will notice after you watch the games. Every Terran just make Warhounds and more Warhounds. This is the current metagame in hots. You see them in every Terran matchup, from TvP, TvZ and even TvT. Warhound is currently imbalanced. They are a versatile unit and require minimal micro and they do so well against nearly everything except air.

Warhound is probably very closely resembled the Goliath back in Brood War without the anti air ability. Initially the unit is created to replace the clunky Thor in the expansion. According to Blizzard, Warhound is an anti-Mech and anti-Siege unit. They are strong against anything armored on the ground. Not to forget its mighty ability, Haywire Missiles. What it does is basically shoots a long range (10 range) missile at a Mechanical unit. What's more it is autocasted.

Thus, Warhound is currently having the most impact in the Hots expansion metagame. It has been nerfed once by Blizzard. Blizzard are still figuring things out to balance it. Do not take all the actual units as the final unit design, as Blizzard will always redesign certain units during this Beta stage.

Swarm Host is a Good Unit
Next, lets move over to Zerg, the main focus race in Heart of the Swarm. Zerg was given the most new design including the Viper, Swarm Host, Hydra Speed, Ultralisk charge etc. At this stage Swarm Host has crazily high DPS for the locust. A strategically spawned Locusts can easily face the Protoss death ball. Talk about high damage per second.

The good thing is that, we actually see Zerg players to rely less on the Infestors unlike in Wings of Liberty, where basically the Infestors counters everything. Zerg is looking very good in this expansion. However, we have yet to see the Viper making much effects in the Zerg matchup. Probably the Gas requirement is too high?

Protoss is just Terrible in HOTs Beta
This is another thing that is most noticeable at this stage. Protoss race is just terrible and too identical to Wings of Liberty. The play style remains near identical. Protoss gets gimmicky units such as the useless Tempest, which cost an arm and a leg (300 minerals, 300 gas, 75s build time and requires a Fleet Beacon), the highest tech for Protoss. It basically deals laughable damage, with long range.

Carrier is a much better unit compared to the Tempest. If Blizzard wants a long range unit that can break siege lines, give back the Carrier and buff it slightly. Remove the cost for interceptors, longer range or fix so that Carriers can be microable like Brood War. Tempest do not justify for its cost at this stage.

Oracle is just another gimmicky unit. It is very interesting with the Entomb ability, Revelation (Reveal clock units) and Preordain (Give vision for enemy buildings). This unit alone does not justify Protoss players to get the Stargate in some matchups like PvT. If another Stargate units like Void Rays, Pheonix, Carriers or even Tempest are better units, then we will see more players going for Stargate. In PvZ we are seeing some play with Stargate units at most. You can do the Oracle haress but nothing stops a Terran player from killing you.

Hots Outlook Overall
I personally like where the expansion is heading at this stage. Maps are generally getting larger compared to WOL. Thus, players can expect for longer more macro oriented games as oppose to all ins, although 1-2 base all ins will still be strong.

Finally, this is just the Beta phase, where changes are very likely to be made in the near future until the full release of SC2: HOTS retail version. Blizzard is currently looking into all these factors and taking them into consideration. And Dustin Browder's brain child the Collapsible Rocks fails to make any impact at this moment. Hope this game gets released as soon as possible.

Top Protoss Builds for Every Matchup

I will be showing you the most popular and top Protoss build for every matchups against Terran, Zerg and Protoss. These builds are a must know for you and deemed the most reliable builds and standard openings being used by top pro gamers in Korea and Internationally. If you plan to climb the Battlenet ladder, you should start practicing these builds and learn the main strength and weaknesses. SC2 best players like MVP, Nestea, DRG are the masters of builds. They have spend most of their time practicing the same build over and over again. When oGsFin,  (ForGG was his ID back in Brood War days) first transitioned over to Starcraft 2, he had been seen doing the same 1-1-1 build over and over again in his stream. He even use it in all the matchups. This is  how you should be practicing one build at time until you are a master in that build.

Protoss vs Terran Matchup
Let's start off with the Protoss and Terran matchup. Your main aim is to survive as long as possible and play a late game in PvT. This is due to the strength of Protoss late game army composition of Upgrades, Storm and Colossi. Terran is very efficient in the early game while Protoss in the late game. 1 Gate expand is deemed the most standard build nowadays. Long gone were the days of 3 Gate expand or 2 Gate Robo build. The main reason for the decreasing in their popularity is players are getting better in holding pressure from their opponents and larger macro maps. Thus, macro builds are preferred compared to pressure builds. This does not mean that these builds are not feasible. We can still see Gateway pressure timing builds once in a while. Sase and Naniwa are popular for
the 2 Gate pressure build with Zealot and Sentries. From the Terran point of view, 1 Barracks Gasless expansion is the standard to go build.

1 Gate Expansion   
MC, the Protoss President was the person to popularize this build during its early days. Now, 1 Gate expansion is the most commonly used build in the PvT matchup. First let's take a look at the build order.
9 Pylon (Chornoboost Probes 3 times)
12/13 Gate (Scout)
16 Pylon
17 Core
18 Zealot
22 Warpgate
22 Stalker (Chrono)
24 Pylon
26 Stalker
30 Stop Probes, Nexus, 2 Gates
*From here on the build varies from what you have scouted. You should know how to scout these builds by now. First thing to check gas or no gas by Terran. Wall or no wall. Top players can still hide their builds keeping their opponent guessing for a long time. Sending your first Zealot straight to the Terran's natural is a good way to determine his build. No point chasing the SCV around. Most Terran expand straight at the natural. If there's no expansion poke his front. If there's a Bunker, he is most likely going for a tech build either Marines/ Tanks or 1-1-1. If there's a reactor means its a 2 Barracks.

• Two Barracks Reactor Tech Lab 6:00 pressure, throw down 2 more Gates. You can delay your gas and continue to build units from your first Gateway
• 1-1-1 or No Gas Fast expanding Terran. You can get greedy here. After you put down a Nexus, continue to Chrono out Probes and get an Assimilator. Put down a Robo or 2 more Gates.
• Start preparing to defend drops from 10 minutes onwards if the Terran started with a Gasless FE.
• During the mid game, you have a choice of going for High Templars or Colossus. Each has their own strength. HT tech allows you for faster upgrades with Blink and Charge. I feel that Colossus are better at lower leagues as less micro is required. Higher league players and pros prefer the faster Twilight tech.
• You main strategy is to drag the game into 3 or 4 bases with full 3-3 Upgrades and a good mixture of Colossus and HTs. This is Protoss main strength. The late game deathball with around 16-20 Gateways. Protoss can warp in Zealots instantly during the battle for immediate reinforcement

Protoss vs Zerg Matchup
Lets start here by spending a bit of time analyzing the infamous Stephano Max Roach Army Build at the 12 minutes mark. With this build the Zerg player is on 3 Bases and having a max Roach army rallying towards the Protoss 3rd base. This is the most commonly used strategy on Battlenet now and even professional top Protoss players are falling to this pressure. However its still beatable with Godlike and perfect Forcefields and defense. Here I will be outlining on the 2 base Immortal All in build, as I feel this is a very strong strategy approach for this matchup. Zerg players are getting really good at scouting Protoss natural expansion Gases and at defending a 4 Gate +1 Zealot pressure at 8 minutes mark.

FFE into Immortal 7 Gate All in
Forge Fast Expo is the most common openings in PvZ now. So let's start with it.

• 9 Pylon (Low Ground)
• 14 Forge
• 17 Nexus, Gateway, Cannon (You can start anyway you want, even with 16 Nexus, 16 Forge)
• 18 Pylon
• 19 2xGas
• Get +1 Upgrade with first 100 gas, start +1 armor later
• Core (Upgrade WarpGate)
• When Core is done Build Sentries non stop and get a Robo
• 3rd and 4th Gas (Fully saturate both your bases)
•  When Robo done Build 3 Immortals and 1 Warp Prism
• 6 more Gateways
• You should be moving out during the 10 minutes mark with around 8 Sentries 3 Immortals and continue warping in units.
• The key to this build is good Force Fields on the Roaches. If you can land some money Force Fields, the Zerg is as good as dead.

Getting up a 3rd base can be hard in PvZ due to the popularity of the Stephano Max Roach build. However it can still be done with 6 Gate and a Robo with Twilight for +2 and Blink putting down the 3rd and then additional Gateways. You need to split your army properly and has some perfect Force Fields to survive. If you manage to secure your 3rd after holding off the Roach Pressure. It is time for you to build up the death ball. The key here is to hit before Zerg has Broodlords. This is their most vulnerable timing. Zerg will be planting down lots of Spine Crawlers to delay your push. So find a good spot to engage and kill him before Broods. If game goes on, Mothership with Archon toilet is the only way to go against the Max Zerg Infestor Broodlord army.

Protoss vs Protoss Matchup
Robo build is very common now. Either you opt for the 3 Gate Blink with Obs build or Robo openings. Robo builds skew towards the defensive aspect while Blink allows you to be aggressive. Expanding in PvP can be risky at times. However, maps such as Shakuras that allows 2 Force Fields to block off the ramp is a good example of expanding earlier. PvP is all about Robo>Twilight>Stargate>Robo. This is the circle where Robo build has an advantage over Twilight, while Blink/ DT builds rolls over Stargate. Stargate with Phoenix can often destroys Robo player with good timing.

• 9 Pylon
• 12 Gate
• 14 Gas
• 15/16 Pylon
• 17 Core, Zealot, Stalker
• 18-20 Gas (Early gas is very common now as 4 Gate is not as deadly anymore)
• Robo, Gate, expand (You need a few Sentries to help you defend your natural)
• Nexus done 2 more Gates and Robotics Bay
• Your aim is to have Colossus with 6 Gate available at 2 bases.

Thus, this concludes what are the best builds currently for Protoss in every matchup in SC2. Try these builds yourself and practice until you are familiar with them. Learn the strengths and weaknesses of each build and you are on your way to becoming a better player. Who knows you may be the next MC. 

My 4v4 RT Game vs Stephano, Incontrol, Idra and LzGamer

Hi guys, this is my 4v4 Random Team match against some of the most feared players on the North American server, Stephano, EGIncontrol, EGIdra, and EGLzGamer. Ever seen Idra and Stephano played together? This is your chance. I was surprised to be matched against these professional players while I was screwing around. They can be seen screwing around as well in this game. I will share with you the replay. Enjoy!!

http://drop.sc/191801

How to get Masters in 4v4 Random Team with Protoss Build

A lot of you may be only interested in playing team games. Even when I first started out in Starcraft 2, I only do 3v3 and 4v4 team games all the time with my mates and had only played a few solo games. However, if you are keen to really improve in this game, I seriously recommend you to start playing your solo games. Team games can only get you so far. In this article I will show you how to get Masters League in random team 4v4. This is useful for players from Bronze level up to Diamond League. My main focus here is the Robo built that I constantly use up until now. For your information, I am ranked top 3 in my Masters division on North American server. Do take not all these games are Random Teams as I prefer to play alone on this server to screw around. I am having serious lag issues with my 300 ping, approximately 1.5s lag on this server. Thus, playing serious here is out of the question.

It has been closed to two years since the official launch of Starcraft 2. Hardcore avid gamer like me had played thousands of games from solo to team games and to some extend the custom games. By now most and nearly all of us had improved to a certain skill level, varying from individuals due to determination,
interest and time. Do take note, a lot of us may have reached our skill level cap. What this means is that we have reach a certain ceiling in our game plays. Be it micro, macro, APMs which has all been stabilized. If you are in Diamond after playing for 2 years, it is time for you to step up and work harder getting out of your comfort zone.


Let's come back to the main focus. How do you get into Masters League in 4v4 with Protoss. I will only focus in Protoss as it is my main race and my Robo build is probably the best to reach your target. Masters in 4v4 games are easy to achieve if you really know what you are doing. Most of the players I have seen are probably Diamond in solo League while Masters in 4v4. Team games are what it means, 'Team Games'. You are not playing alone. So no matter how good you are, or you may be MVP, MC, Nestea or DRG, you can only do so much in 4v4. You need to rely on your team mates here.

First of all, lets take a look at this Protoss Build

• 9 Pylon (Scout as most random team players do not. Thus rely on yourself) (Wall with your ally if needed)
• 13 Gate
• 15 Gas
• 16 Pylon
• 17 Core
• 18/19 Gas
• You may skip Zealot if your Terran ally is sharing the same base and walling off
• WarpGate upgrade, Stalker
• Robo
• Sentry 2nd Gate/3rd Gate
• Expand
• Robotics Bay
• Colo + Thermal Lance
• 3 More Gates
• Attack with 2 Colo
• Get 3rd Nexus, Twilight Council, Forges, more Gates

This is just a rough build and the perfect outline. In fact if we look at 4v4 team games, most of the players go for some macro build. Lets leave out those games where you are against 4 Pre Arranged Team players. They will most likely 10 Pool Ling+Hellion rush for a fast win. Here we are looking at a standard game.

With this opening, you can proceed to get an expansion. This is the most standard build. You may try variations like 1 Gate expand into 3 Gate like those used in solo, Search for 'MC 1 Gate expand Build'. Continue building workers and Chorno boost some of them. Have a good mixture of Sentries, Stalkers, Colossus before you attack. This outlines most of the rough build order. With this build you can probably reach Masters with some micro and good macro. Once you have 2 Colossus or 3, get all of your allies and attack together. Guardian Shield with Colossus will shred most armies.

Things to pay attention to in your Random Team games

• Always communicate with your allies. Let them know when to attack. This is probably the most important factor in my team games. A lot of players will play their own game, which means they do their own stuff. No helping team mates etc. When you are attacking just type 'Attack and Blink/Ping on the minimap your destination.' Most times, your allies will come with you.
• This Robo build is the safest and consistent as you do not die to Dark Templars, which is very commonly used in 4s.
• You can always play greedy on some maps (Huk 20 food expand, Parting Gate 17 Gas, Nexus, Pylon, 1 Gate expand are all good builds. Just remember to have 3 Gates if you sense pressure form your scouting)
• Place your Observers at the point where your enemy units will gather and attack. 
• You will most likely having a hard time against 'Arranged Team' players as they have better team work. 
• Leave the game when its unwinnable position and search for a second one.
• Keep on trying if you lose to cheese or any other shenanigans.

Thus, this concludes one of the best Protoss build in 4v4 team games and will most likely get you to Masters League Division with some practice. Good luck.

EDIT: Got my Rank 1 4v4 Team Game Playing (Random Team) with Protoss.

How to Cannon rush Cheese Zerg on Antiga Shipyards

This is a new strategy just shown to the world in one of Idra's games. The infamous Idra is on the receiving end of this cannon rush. As we know, Idra is one of the best foreigner Zerg out there from team Evil Geniuses. This cannon rush was very smartly done on Antiga Shipyard by the Protoss opponent as it only requires 2 Pylons to block off below the ramp as shown in the VOD. Once your Pylons are completed, you can throw down a cannon. This will push your Probe back out at the other side of the Pylon. Use this Probe to build an Assimilator at the Zerg's base to give you vision. Then build another one or two cannons. This is a very strong cheese as it utilizes the same opening as the normal Forge Fast Expo (FFE) build which is the most commonly used starting build in Protoss vs Zerg matchup. Remember to bring along another one or two Probes in case your first Probe got killed. Once your cannons are completed, you can use your Probe to give you vision while dodging the Zerglings.

Good luck in trying out this cheese and prepared to be flamed
and raged by your opponents.

SK MC and his Girlfriend

SK MC and his Girlfriend. Taken during his stream.

Three Championships Three Winners: Polt, MKP and DRG

The past week has been full of incredible world recognized tournaments being held across the globe. First there was the ASUS Rog, MLG Winter Arena and GSL 2012 Season 1 Finals. Incredible games and the fiercest matches were being played by some the world best Starcraft 2 players over the past week. The Korean travel across to new lands in hopes of claiming another championship under their flag. The foreigners fought fiercely defending their pride within their homelands. Players such as Stephano, Huk, Idra, Ret, Whitera and all the foreign champions fought bravely against the invading Koreans. In the end, only one shall remain. When the dust clears, only one champion will be crowned.

TSLPolt wins ASUS ROG

Polt from TSL claims the championship besting Stephano in the grand finals 4 to 1. The Korean had an incredible weekend taking out players such as Taeja, Hero, Lucky and finally Stephano. The Frenchman on the other hand performed very well before falling in the finals to the Korean. Stephano is the favourite to win this tournament and stopping the Korean domination. Do take note, this is only a few days after the Ghost nerf. Terrans are having a huge problem against the Zergs endgame might. However in the end, the GSL Super Tournament winner managed to add another gold medal carrying the Korean flag behind him.





MarineKingPrime wins MLG Winter Arena

MLG Winter Arena will definitely be remembered as the day where Sundance threw down a huge bomb at the Starcraft 2 community. MLG Winter Arena will be the first to be Pay Per View (PPV) format where $20 are being charged and no free streams are being offered. Fans around the world were caught surprise by this announcement. Rage are being heard all across the forums and puppies are being killed (lol). However, in the end, the tournament had been a success.

MarineKing wins his first international major tournament. The Prime ace had finally managed to grab the frontpage after having multiple silver medals under his belt. The curse of King of Kong has finally been broken. A very impressive performance taking down DRG 4-2 in the final record. MKP seems so godly throughout the weekend keeping himself all the way through the Grandfinals without losing a single set in the upper bracket. DongRaeGu the ace from MVP on the other hand may be considered as the best Zerg in the world currently overtaking the Professor, IMNestea.

MLG features some of the most impressive performance by the foreigners. First, Naniwa took down his rivals, both Nestea and Leenock in an epic cheese fest series. You will definitely remember the infamous 6 Probe rush and the Forge Fast Expo or die Trying mentality against Leenock. This prove that how good the Swedish had became since traveling across to the Korea, the Mecca of Starcraft for his training. LiquidRet bested three time GSL champion IMMvP in an epic series. However, this is not the last time we see DRG and after a week....

MVPDongRaeGu wins GSL 2012 Season 1

DongRaeGu clings his first GSL title after defeating teammate and buddy MVPGenius. Heading to the finals, both players were extremely confident on taking down the other. During the previous rounds, Genius 2-0 DRG showcasing some of the most impressive performance proving that he understands his teammate in and out. Both of the players are incredibly serious during the finals. In the end, DongRaeGu was crowned the GSL 2012 Season 1 champion taking down his Protoss opponent in an entertaining series 4 to 2. Genius play were shaky and his indecisiveness cost him the crown. This march another GSL Zerg champion showcasing the straight of the Zerg race once again in Korea.