CSL Showmatch: UC Berkeley vs. Seoul National University Bo9 All-Kill Showmatch ft. EGSuppy vs. TSL_Polt

Stream:  http://www.twitch.tv/cstarleague#/

Starting any minute now.

For more information see http://www.teamliquid.net/calendar/2012/09/#event_12289 or snippet below from that link:


Friday, September 14th at 8pm PST for the University of California Berkeley vs Seoul National University showmatch

Site: http://www.cstarleague.com/news/2666/uc-berkeley-vs-seoul-national-university

Thread: [CSL] UC Berkeley vs Seoul National University

Violet vs Polt

TSL.Polt(T) v Empire.Violet(Z) - Tal'Darim Altar - 5.30.2012cast by Ipp of RageQuitTV

Nice long game.

Polt vs Violet Bo3

Polt vs Violet cast by Mr. Bitter & Axeltoss from Lone Star Clash.

Game 2  ||  Game 3

Lone Star Clash: Gratz to Stephano

Stephano beat Polt in a Bo3, but could still face Polt in the Grand Finals.

See Brackets for details.


Brackets:

• http://cyber-sports.net/brackets/21471
• http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Lone_Star_Clash#Bracket

For more information, Lone Star Clash: Gauntlet of Champions.

Watching IPL TOC

Stream:  http://www.twitch.tv/ignproleague

Go Squirtle!

Tonight's games are all Bo5

When:

• 09:00 KST
• 01:00 CET
• Wed 20:00 EDT
• Wed 17:00 PDT

The IPL Tournament of Champions (TOC) is a 16-man, double-elimination, best of 5 format tournament featuring top players from each of our Team Arena Challenge 2 participating teams. Today's matches are Jjakji vs Kas and Polt vs Squirtle for WR1!

Site: http://www.ign.com/ipl

Teamliquid Thread: [IPL] Tournament of Champions WR1 (Day 2)

Sleep vs Polt

xSix Sleep (Z) vs TSL Polt (T) series cast by Crota, aka BlitzShouter.

Game 2  ||  Game 3  ||  Game 4  ||  Game 5

Watching Polt Streaming

http://www.twitch.tv/TSLPolt

I don't think I have seen his stream before, just seen him play in tournaments.

ASUS ROG Winter 2012: Polt vs Bling

ASUS ROG Assembly 2012

A Bo3, Polt vs BlinG, cast by Totalbiscuit & Apollo

Game 2  ||  Game 3

ASUS ROG 2012 - Group Stage - Polt vs Bling

This series is one I missed, and I really want to see it, glad that Totalbiscuit has it up now on his channel http://www.youtube.com/user/TotalBiscuit

Game 2  ||  Game 3

If your looking for replays from the event see this link.

Polt vs Snute

Uploaded 2/24/2012 : TSL.Polt (T) v GL.Snute (Z) on  Tal'Darim Altar cast by Ipp from RageQuitTV.

I am sure after ASUS ROG Assembly Winter 2012, a lot of people will be looking for Polt Replays, one of the reasons why Ipp is one of my favorite VOD casters, is that he always includes the replay that he casts, see link below, on his youtube VOD's.  If you like him please follow him on Twitter or youtube!

Replay: http://drop.sc/119109

For more replays on my Blog just click replays, you can also find that link in the Label Cloud on left side of the Blog.  For more stuff from Ipp click Ipp, which is in Label Cloud as well.

ASUS ROG Tournament ASSEMBLY Winter 2012 Finals: Stephano vs Polt, who will win?

I am rooting for Stephano, I have been a fan of his for some time now, though I was really looking forward to the series between Elfi and Stephano.

And that was a good series, Elfi took the second game off of Stephano in the whole tournament so far, we will soon see if Polt can do better.

I have no idea if Polt or Stephano will win, I am sure it will be an awesome series though.

I am really looking forward to seeing how Stephano deals with Polt's 2 Rax openings, I think that will be one of the deciding factors of the series.

I think early pressure that doesn't let up, or some really unusual timing attacks are the only things likely to be successful vs Stephano.

That is what Elfi did, more or less, was a 2 base timing with heavy Sentry with a few Immortals, and Stalker reinforcement.

And once he started the pressure he didn't let up.

For links & etc for this event see ASUS ROG Tournament ASSEMBLY Winter 2012

Starcraft 2 Skills: Yin/Yang or push/pull Strategy

TSL Polt vs Monchi on Bel'Shir Beach, cast by Crota.

This is a beautiful little game.  Toss uses a DT opening that has a lot of flexibility.  I think of this as forcing an opponent down a path that you want them on, or as Yin/Yang.  Yin/Yang because your pushing in one direction, and if enemy pushes back, you just start pulling, either way you take them off balance.

This game has very tight, or close timing, the push by Terran is barely held.  But that is the strongest way to defend in early stages of the game, if you barely hold it, that means your not wasting any resources on defense that didn't need to be spent on defense!!!

This game shows how difficult DT really are for Terran in the early stages of the game, if Terran doesn't have detection it is GG.

But every Scan is worth ~270 minerals, every Turret is worth 100 minerals.  So every Turret forced out of Terran after he realizes DT is one less Marauder or Medivac he can make!  This also means with a tight build the gas he planned to use for Marauder or Medivac is wasted, because it can't be spent.

And if Terran does build those Turrets, then he has to deal with a big ball of lightning!  As this games shows.

Starcraft 2 Thoughts: Simple, Direct Attack vs enemy that doesn't Scout

This game:  TSL Polt vs Monchi, a TvP, cast by Crota, shows how effect a simple direct attack can be vs an unprepared opponent.

My thoughts below the VOD, for more on Scouting see Learning Starcraft 2: Scouting vs Terran




The other day I was talking to a GM Zerg friend of mine about how I felt that even many pro players were lazy about scouting, that they tended to assume way to much about what the other person was doing or not doing.

He agreed with me instantly.

I think this game is a good example of this, Terran does an initial Scout, but doesn't learn anything from it at all really.

Not even the second gas timing, then he doesn't even bother to take control of a Xel Naga Tower.

Now Protoss opened with a very greedy build, which mean Toss took some risk, he would have probably lost to early aggression.

But note at about the 8:55 mark, right before Toss does last warp in prior to attacking, he had enough minerals he could have taken a 3rd and still had a 10 food advantage.

Ask yourself what did Terran know about Toss right before that push? Well he knew Toss had two bases, and where they were, nothing else.

Kinda hard to prepare for something when you don't have any idea what your enemy is doing.

Kinda like a Zombie or Horror movie were somebody walks outside or into a basement, where it is dark, without even looking or turning on a light at first.

Starcraft 2 Skills: Endgame Zerg Stephano vs Polt

I have been waiting and waiting for some Pros in SC2 to start actually playing for the endgame, by endgame I mean when resources are limited or completely gone.  End games require a lot better decision making, and severely punish mistakes.

Since there are no resources left to rebuild if you mess up, like you can in the early or middle game as long as you don't over commit.

This is one of the very few games that I have seen played with an End Game focus, and the race that has, what I believe, are the stronger end game units looses the game.  My comments below the VOD, ie spoiler alert.






I am very impressed by this game, though I think Nydus and/or drop, would have made the game easier for Stephano.  Instead he uses creep for a mobility advantage over Bio/Tank army of Polk.

Also note that by the time the last battle happens Stephano has 90 drones, so his army is actually pretty small.

A lot of Zerg players in Stephano's situation vs turtleish Terran will tech switch to Broodlords, fact is Polt is expecting that since he starts making Vikings to counter Broodlords that never come.

Broodlords are very strong, but they require a very specific support unit composition to be effective. So if you have a strong Ultralisk centered army your not going to be able to support Broodlords well.

Broodlords are similar to a meching Terran, only slower!  Ideally if your going Broodlords vs Terran you need to have a strong defense vs Ghost, Vikings, and if facing a smart Terran Ravens as well (think multiple HSM).  That is what you need to be sure the Broodlords can stay alive long enough to do any damage.

For more on Broodlords specific Unit comp see this post  http://cliffsesportcorner.blogspot.com/2012/01/starcraft-2-thoughts-broodlords-support.html

I really think Terran has the strongest endgame units: Medivac, Orbitals (mules/scan), Ghost, & Raven, since they all have Mana.  Magic units in SC2 have a real edge in the late game IMO.  As long as you can keep them alive they can just trade Mana for enemy structures or units/workers.

Zerg only have Queens, Infestors, and to a limited extent Overseers.  Overseers, only really useful to limited production in ZvP