Sunday, December 11, 2011

Starcraft 2 Skills:PvT Warp Prism, SaSe style

[Couple of Edits for Clarity 12/11/2011]

In his written comments for this VOD, Day9 states that "PvT is widely considered to be the hardest matchup in the game."

Note early in the VOD, what Day9 says about getting to a specific look, I think of that as my Goal, Plan, or Strategy, I want to get there no matter what path I have to take to get there.  So the enemy is forced to react to me.

If I can force the game into my Strategy, then I have an advantage, since I have practiced my Plan more than other ways of playing.  Ideally your main opening/build order should force your enemy to play the kind of game you want.  Or failing that, at least prevent enemy from forcing you into your weaker styles of play.


Warp Prism play works to Pin enemy in base like DT or Cloaked Banshee pin the enemy in base.  The Warp Prism is a stronger Pin, because of Warpgate technology, as long as the Warp Prism is kept alive, you can reinforce attack quickly.  And there is always the threat of a Backstab attack. 

It is also the only strong Pinning attack I know that doesn't require gas, SaSe's style does use Sentries, but WhiteRa does Warp Prism play with Zealots.

The mobility of the Prism also allows for warping Zealots in the rear of attacking enemy, allowing Zealots to kill reinforcements, or attack enemy army from rear.  So it provides a defensive Force Multiplyer.

Final point, Drops can follow Phoenix Play as a safe transition to strong Colossus/Zealot late game (Terran will have to make more Vikings than normal, or Thor to counter Phoenix, making Chargelots stronger).

Part 1 below, Part 2, Part 3. My Comments below VOD.



One additional Tactic of Warp Prism play, if you have enough Sentry energy for the number of Force Fields needed, that works well as a follow up to dropping mineral line.  Is to push at the Natural, to draw the enemy to the front, Force Field choke at enemy's Natural so they can't counter attack & Force Field the Ramp [Edited to add "The Ramp" cut it out by accident in a revision, sorry. Cliff], then drop/elevator/warp into the main with the Warp Prism.

This is more difficult to do, but it is stronger because of that complexity.  It also has elements of Yin/Yang, which I find appealing.  You show an attack to the enemy to provoke a response, then fade away from it and attack enemy where he is weak.  Or another way of thinking of it, from Martial Arts, is attacking enemy where they are weak.

By poking at the front, you will be forcing enemy to respond to you the way you want to, so you are controlling the enemy.  If they refuse to be drawn, you can simply attack the Natural while Force Fielding the Ramp, the standard play.

You can also try as a fallback plan if you attack the Natural, but the enemy's army is to strong, and you advanced to far (overextended attack) to retreat.  Not likely to work, but if your going to lose your units anyway, it may be worth trying.

That is very difficult to pull off, I don't recommend trying it on purpose though, unless your High  Masters or above.  Rather it is just attempting to make the best of a bad situation.  Zealots are very good at killing workers, and take time to kill.

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