How to Unselect Workers from your Control Group

I have been asked this question before. Some of you may be wondering how do you Unselect workers from your control group with ease. This works as well for unselecting specific units in your control group. For example, removing High Templars, Ghost, Siege Tanks or any other units. The best known way is to Hold down both CTRL + SHIFT keys and Click on the unit icon within the unit box found below of your screen. This is useful when you have your units on the mineral line next to your workers. Here's some screen shots.

1. Drag and select everything.

2. Hold down SHIFT + CTRL and Left click on the Probes in the units selection.

In the events you have more than 24 units, press 2 and repeat using Ctrl and Shift.

Small Tips against Dark Templar DT

We all know the feeling when one or two infamous Dark Templars managed to sneak into our defenseless base during our games. This is the worst feeling in the world, being caught with your pants down without a detection. Everyone had definitely experience this before losing the game entirely being killed by only one Dark Templar. In fact, DT is one of the most used strategies in team games where having your allies to pressure while the Protoss player teching happily behind with an extremely greedy build without a single unit. DTs can come out as early as 6:30 in game time.

Let's get to the main point. This is just some small tips for everyone the next time you have a Dark Templar sneaking between your mineral lines. The main objective is to buy as much time for you or your allies Detection whether in the form of Scan, Obs, Overseers or even Cannons.

If the Dark Templar is not being microed, the unit AI will give priority to units instead of workers. For example, if the DT being assigned SHIFT+Right click on the workers, the DT will always attack the Queen
first. Thus, the next time against a DT in your mineral line, send some units there whether Zerglings or even Zealots. Every second against a DT counts. Good players will definitely target down workers by Queing the attack command. However, things can get messy when he is sending DTs to 3 or 4 different locations. If there is no detectors coming its time to get a new base. The best move is still to move all your workers away after they are being targeted down.

You can do this using the recent discovered worker micro, where you select all your workers and right click on the worker at the middle. Then press hold position. Without moving your mouse, click on the middle worker and attack move somewhere with it. This trick was created against Zerglings and it works against unmicroed DT as well.

Another small tips is to target down your own units with Splash damage, such as Archons or Colossus. I have seen this being done by if I've not mistaken the legendary and currently GSL Code S LiquidHero in his PvP match. See where the Dark Templar blur is at and target your own unit with the splash unit.

You can even surround the DT with your units just to buy time using the Hold command. Best done using Zerglings or even Protoss units to buy as much time. Another way is to hold your position at the ramp to buy as much time waiting for your Observer to get back or building one.

Thus, heres some tips to fight against DT if you do not have Detectors at the point and trying to buy time.

1. Run your workers of course.
2. Hold position at your ramp
3. Surround using your units and the HOLD button
4. Use some units to soak up damage eg Zerglings, Zealots
5. Force Field them. Try to trap them between buildings.
6. Using splash units such as Archons, Colossus, Siege Tanks.

Good luck and pray hard not to get caught with your pants down without a detection against the fearsome Dark Assassins from Aiur.

VODs and Replays You Should Watch

For those of you who does not watch every single VODS and replays in every SC2 major events, you should probably watch these. Some spoilers here for your information.

MLG Winter Qualifiers (VODS)
Watch the performance of multiple GSL winner IMNestea and uprising Protoss star from Startale, STParting impressive performance in the Korean/ Taiwan Qualifiers.

http://tv.majorleaguegaming.com/events/8-winter-sc2-online-qualifiers

MLG European Qualifiers
Team Liquid's very own Ret battles it up with recent IEM- Sao Paolo champion, Violet

HomeStory Cup 4 (Replays)
The return of MC. Enough said. Watch the return of the Protoss president winning his first championship in a long time and 2012.
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/HomeStory_Cup/4

LiquidHero's Replay Pack
Watch and learn from one of the best Protoss player in the world, LiquidHero in his online games against top Korean players including IMNestea.
http://www.teamliquidpro.com/news/2012/02/10/this-week-in-replays-21-hero

LiquidHero vs GSL Champion NsHoseoJjakji in IPL Fight Club Showmatches
Weekly showdown between top players around the world. Will Hero take down the Terran champion?
http://sc2casts.com/cast7346-Jjakji-vs-LiquidHero-Best-of-9-IPL-Fight-Club-Showmatch

Favourite SC2 Champion Vote

Vote for your favourite Starcraft 2 Champion here. Champions representing each race in SC2- Terran, Zerg and Protoss will be selected for this poll. First let's take a look at the contestants.

IMMvP

The best to start off the list is none other than 3 times GSL Champion, MvP from team Incredible Miracles. Deemed the Game Genie Terran and probably the most accomplish SC2 Korean professional gamer to date. He is probably the strongest Korean scene has to offer. With his impressive macro and micro mechanics, MvP has never failed to continue impressing the viewers. MvP has so much different builds and will probably be known as the one who brought 'Mech Play' back into TvT matchup. Artosis's prediction finally came true after months of arguing that Mech is the best build in TvT.

IMNestea

The Professor and Zerg Genius from team IM. Teammate and rival of IMMvP. The most accomplish Zerg player out there with 3 GSL gold medals under his belt. Nestea continue to show that age is not a problem if you are aiming to be the very best. Nestea had been hyped so much by Artosis that we mortals continue to believe Nestea is a God.




MC

 The Boss Toss is Finally Finally back. Since winning his two GSL titles, MC had spend months in the pits of hell losing matches after matches and landing himself into Code B before fighting his way back into Code S. The moral of the story is DO NOT PICK MVP IN YOUR GROUP STAGES. MC had learn his lesson the hard way. MC is finally back in form by winning the HomeStory Cup 4. MC is bigger, stronger and scarier than before. MC is definitely a force to be reckon with.



SlayersMMA

MMA, the legend killer, who slays God, IMMvP over and over again. MMA made the three time GSL champion look like a scrub from Bronze. This is probably an exaggeration. Everytime I watch MMA plays, he kept reminding me of David and the Goliath. Son of legendary Father of eSports, SlayersBoxer is so good that he can make Idra leave the game with his Jedi Mind Trick.



MVPDongRaeGu

The Dong has finally win a tournament in '2012 Arena of Legends: The Kings of Kong' besting Losira in the finals. DongRaeGu  are those players who are probably one of the best but can't win any Championships. We have yet to see him win a GSL. However, DongRaeGu's performance in GSTL is near unbeatable. Taking down three to four or even all-kill his opponent's team is a walk in the park for this future champion.

(Bulgogi- Korean Barbequed Beef) If you do not understand read this very interesting and funny Post Here.

EGHuk

 Although, Huk seems to be in a slump currently landing himself into Code B, EGHuk is the best foreigner SC2 scene has to offer. Trained in Korea, Huk is one of the most fearful foreigners out there. Huk's Signature move of 'Hero Probe' and 'Top 3 Micro' have gained him legions of fans.



FXOLeenock

Leenock the Octopus is the champion of MLG Providence. Being only 16 (Korean 18) of age does not stop this young gamer to be the Top 3 Zergs in the World. The Octopus nickname was awarded for his impressive macro abilities. He can be everywhere at once. Leenock is one of the earliest player to utilize the deadly Baneling landmines. Leenock is the one who puts a hold on Naniwa's growing pride.

Favourite SC2 Champion

Favourite SC2 Females Vote

It's time to vote for your Favourite and Hottest females in SC2. More names had been added. Anna Prosser is now Voteable!

Aphrodite 'Kim Ga Young'

Aphrodite from team Startale is probably the best female Starcraft 2 has to offer. 23 Year old Ga Young shot to the spotlight and has melted the hearts of the SC2 community with her charm and impressive performance winning Iron Lady Champion Cup 6 and Zowie Divina Invitational. She is probably the fastest female rising star in SC2 scene with her skills and good look. Aphrodite is probably known to us as Rainbow's girlfriend. If you ask any Korean Pro gamers who has the hottest girlfriend, their answer will be none other than Rainbow from team Startale. Aphrodite is currently ranked top in the Korean Masters Ladder. This is no easy feet for any gamers out there. Aphrodite's charm and skill has grab the hearts of many.

DaSakura

DaSakura 'Roxanne Daviault', Canadian Zerg player is well known for her participation in Zowie Davina.

Anna Prosser

Our Miss Oregon and Mrs Incontrol.She 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.

SlayersEve

Eve from team Slayers first appeared in the Slayers bench during Gomtv GSTL match. SlayersEve is often regarded as the first professional female gamer in Korea. She is the first female member of a Korean Team. However, we had only caught a glimpse of Eve only once. She has been missing from the SC2 scene after then. Let's not get into what happened during that time where Mrs Boxer was treatening lawsuits to some people. Being a Terran player herself, Eve gets to practice with some of the best Terrans Starcraft 2 has to offered such as MMA, Boxer, Ganzi and Ryung. Slayers is well known as the team with the best Terrans. Will Eve rejoin SlayersBoxer's impressive lineup of Terrans?

MegumixBear

MegumixBear 'Tricia Sugita', Japanese American female SC2 gamer with top gaming skills. Ranked in high Masters on the North American Server, this cute girl gamer streams her online games and has shown tremendous improvements. She is definitely a fun girl to be with and she has some wicked dance moves that can drop your jaws.

Quantic.Flo

Flo 'Flo Yao' from Quantic Gaming, is the silver medalist from the Davina International Invitation behind Aphrodite. Flo had previously joined team Quantic Gaming to show her determination in becoming not only the best female SC2 gamer but the best gamer overall. Joining Quantic always Flo to train with some of the best foreigner players out there such as Naniwa, Sase and Destiny.

eSaharaMaddeLisk

Swedish Zerg player Madeleine 'Maddelisk' Leander is a top female competitor in the SC2 females only cup.

KellyMilkies

KellyMilkies 'Kelly Ong' had previously shot to the spotlight for being the first female International GSL commentator at the Korean GomTV. A competitive female gamer, she had previously engage in CounterStrike and Dota. Kelly is always well known for her charm and being the most competitive female gamer in the SEA SC2 scene.

SlayersJessica (Kim Ga Yeon) 

Our empress from team Slayers and the woman behind the legendary and Father of esports SlayersBoxer.

Rachel 'Seltzer' Quirico

Torch's girlfriend and the female that appears in the GomTV studio.

Place your votes for your Favourite Female in Starcraft 2.You can have multiple votes.

Favourite SC2 Female Vote

SC2 Rebinding and Remapping Hotkeys

Rebinding and remapping hotkeys in Starcraft 2 is one of the most overlook advance features in this game. Rebinding and remapping hotkeys are currently used by a lot of Professional gamers to improve their micros and macro abilities. Blizzard Entertainment had done a wonderful job in the hotkey features in SC2. Most of the hotkeys are perfectly assigned. However, some of the hotkeys are still being kind of wrongly placed. I'll give you an example here. Let's take the hotkey for Immortal from the Robotics Facility. The original hotkey assigned to this unit is 'I'. This seems to be good at first sight as it uses the first letter of Immortal. However, the more I play this game, the more I feel that this is wrong. I have added an alternative hotkey of 'R' for Immortal. This instantly improve my gameplay. So the new hotkey for Immortal will be 'I' and 'R'.

Why Assign and Rebind Hotkeys
This feature aims to change some of the custom hotkeys for the custom assigned hotkeys from Blizzard in SC2. The main feature of using this remapping hotkeys is to assign the keys 'Towards the Left side of your Keyboard'. As you all know, having the hotkeys towards the left side improves and smooths your gameplays thus having better unit creation and upgrades. If we take the example of the Immortal before, everytime when we wish to train an Immortal, we have to move our left hand to the 'I' button.
This is not very efficient as we have to move our left hand too far to our comfort. With 'R' hotkey set, we can immediately train the powerful unit. Imagine when you are trying to Hallucinate some Immortals for their awesome defense. You will have to press 'C' 'I' 'C' I' on an on. You may miss the 'I' button a few times. If we use 'C' 'R' 'C' 'R' this can be done easily.

Heroes of Newerth and Dota
The best examples are Heroes of Newerth and Dota from Warcraft 3. Remapping all the abilities to ASDF is one of the most used feature for top players.

Upgrades on Forge
Another hotkey rebinding that I found really useful is the Upgrades from Forge. Up until now since the launch of SC2, I am still not used to the original hotkeys assigned by Blizzard for upgrades on the Forge. Thus, I have change them to Weapon (A), Armor (S) and Shields (D). This is really useful for everyone. The reason behind setting them to A,S,D is humans are visual creatures. We got used to seeing the three upgrades from left to right starting with Weapon, Armor and Shield. Thus assigning ASD to them eases our hotkey capabilities.

Remapping Camera
Create Location 1
This feature enables you to Hotkey a Location to button such as F1, F2, F3. And you will be immediately brought the the location once you press the assigned buttons. Let me tell you, every professional players use this Location Hotkey Feature. However, I am unsure what keys do they assign to. My best bet is that they set them to F1, F2 and F3. F1 is often remap for your Main Base. F2 for your Expansion and F3 for your Third. Main Base and Expansion is the most used. Some professional gamers do not hotkey the third base. Setting hotkeys to your bases improves your macro and micro abilities. For example, you catch a Terran Drop heading to your main base. Thus you Press F1 and micro your units instead of Clicking on the Minimap first. F1 is definitely faster than the Minimap option.

However, do not take my words for the exact hotkeys used by pro gamers here. This is just my guess. Some of them may be using F2 and F3 for main and expansion. F1 is left to its original feature for idle workers. If you have change F1 to your main base, you can set your Idle workers to ~.

Let's take a look at the hotkeys I have Changed. This is just my personal preference.
Protoss

• Immortal - R and I
• Forge - Weapon, Armor, Shields to A S D
• Cyber Core - Air Weapon (A), Air Armor (S), Hallucination upgrade H and C.
• Fleet Beacon - Graviton Catapult G and C
• Robotics Bay- Gravitic Boosters (Observer Speed) B, Gravitic Drive (Warp Prism) G and A

As you can see the hotkeys used above, most of them are being assigned to Upgrades. For example Upgrade for Warp Prism, we can assign an additional hotkey of A. A is the hotkey for Warp Prism on Robotics. This eases our macroing ability. The easiest way to assign the Upgrades for Units such as Observer speed, Warp Prism Speed is to assign them identical to the unit hotkey.

Zergs and Terran
If you are Zerg or Terran you can go ahead to assign your own personal hotkeys like the examples shown above. For example, I always find Metabolic Boost 'M' hotkey upgrade to be very troublesome as the key is located towards the bottom right of keyboard. You can always use 'Z' or even 'S' for Speed. Do try out rebinding and remapping your hotkeys in SC2. You will be surprised how useful this feature is in Starcraft 2.

oGsMC is Finally Back and Wins Home Story Cup (HSC)

Protoss President, oGsMC is finally back in form by winning one of Europes finest tournament, Home Story Cup (HSC), the first SC2 tournament in 2012. The Boss Toss or Kratoss Protoss has finally been out from his multi months slump which landed himself out of Global Starcraft League (GSL), Koreans most prestigious SC2 tournament. Having clawed himself back into Code S, MC's play is looking stronger and fiercer than ever. Having achieved a third place in the previous Home Storey Cup behind Huk and Naniwa, MC once again is seeking his first championship since his slump. His hunger and thirst for a win here has never been higher from his multi months slump.

Finally, oGsMC manage to claim yet another championship. Home Story Cup is a very prestigious SC2 tournament hosted by Dennis Gehlen, or more oftenly known as Take by the community at his very own apartment. Players and contestants will enjoy a never seen before casual surroundings and fun atmosphere. However, HSC has often been lauded for one of the most competitive scene due to its high profile Korean invitees facing the very best the Westerners has to offer. 7 Koreans were invited into this HSC alongside 25 other international high ranking players such as Stephano, Thorzain, Socke, Nerchio, Dimago and others. Leading the Korean onslaughts were 2 time GSL champion and the eventual HSC winner oGsMC, multiple GSL 2nd placer, MarineKingPrime, Violet, Liquid's very own Hero, upcoming Startale Star Sound, EG's new acquisition JYP and Protoss player Real.

In the end, the 6 of the final 8 players were Koreans. This
shows the Korean domination in HSC and international scene once again. Dimaga and Nerchio were the two only foreigners manage to claim their spots in the top 8. Nerchio was ripped apart by oGsMC in a straight 3 set wins. Nerchio seems to be playing at his worse when being faced against the Protoss president. Nerchio was completely dominated by MC. However, Nerchio is a much better player than what he has shown as he manage to knock out to PvZ player, LiquidHero claiming himself a top 8 spot. Nerchios nerve seems to be getting ahead of him facing against one of the best player in the world. Dimaga won the first game against JYP through a long 50 minutes game of endurance. However, JYP proved his worthiness in Evil Geniuses acquisition by winning the next 3 straight games.  

In the round of 4, MC has to face JYP another GSL Code S player. Through history, PvP is probably MC's weakest and most random matchup during his international events as he has been knocked out multiple times by other Protoss players such as Huk. The semifinals were very hard fought by both of these Code Sers. In the very end, MC manage to claim a victory by the slightest margin. In the finals, MC is being faced with upcoming Startale Terran Star, Sound. Sound has been regarded as one of the strongest Terran player from team ST and even above Bomber by some players. MC proved that why he is the best Protoss in the world now by taking up 4 straight sets without dropping a single map against the Terran. Thus, MC claimed the first Starcraft 2 tournament in 2012. This marks a perfect start for the Protoss President. We will definitely see MC perform better in the coming GSL matches. Finally MC is lusting for his third GSL Championship having won the last one nearly a year ago.

The Protoss President is finally back with more solid plays, crazier micros and superb decision making skills. Let's pray for a Protoss GSL champion once again that is currently dominated by Terrans. Congratulations to oGsMC for winning Home Story Cup (HSC). MC is $7,500 richer.