Critique on a 1v2? Replay included

Hello all. I'm currently in the practice league still, and I just finished a match that I would really appreciate getting some critique over.

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/74542-2v2-terran-protoss-zerg-novice-discord-iv

It was a 1v2, with my team consisting of Terran and Zerg(Me - Kevin) versus Terran and Protoss. My partner left rather early on, and so I was left to try and manage. In that fight I focused nearly wholly on Mutalisks, with a spattering of Brood Lords, as well as some Zerglings and a pair of Infestors(Used entirely to create Infested Marines) on defense. Normally I would have also created some Hydralisks and/or Roaches as well, I can't say for sure why I went without them that time however...it just seemed like the thing to do I guess.

I'd like any tips you all can share, whether on just the fight listed above, or on my playstyle period. If you have any more questions to ask about that match/my playstyle, please feel free to ask, I'm really looking to get some tips before I exit the practice league.

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this

 

going to type this as im watching the replay, im 5 mins in and you allready have an expansion. Allways send ure overlords to scout, put them near the watch towers atleast.

im around the 15 min mark, you have 1500 minerals and 500 gas, you should have explanded again.

23 mins in, now you have over 2.5k minerals and still 500 gas, you really need to expand when you start having unused minerals, Also you have no defence at ure 1 expansion, allready i can see that ure oppenents really are new to the game, they dont scout, they know you have mutas yet there still massing zelots ect, ure macro up till now is good the only problem i have is you have to many minerals and your not scouting, You need need need to scout, so far youve been lucky, the enemy are just letting you mass ure army, most silver+ players would be scouting your expansion and taking it out.

25-28 mins, You attacked his expansion and killed it, props for targeting the pylons first instead of the cannons that shows u know what ure doing, But after that you went for his main, I really think you could have taken it if you targetted the right things, heres what i would have done, Kill his turrets first, then the bunkers with ure mutas, use ure broodlords to kill his marines and you would have got it. 1 thing i notice about the terran ure facing, in nearly half an hour he was 81 food, that is just terribly bad, infact that really is asking to get beat, the protoss ure fighting... well lets just say hes very very new, you killed his expansion and hes making immortals agasint mass air, i dont really need to say much more.

1 more thing, why have you left all ure teammates bio units and all ure speedlings back in ure base? if you attacked with those aswell it was gg, ill watch further.

34 mins in, Yup it happend he killed ure expansion, next time keep any kind of defense there, your lucky it took them 34 mins to get that, if i scouted that undefended i would have taken it out asap, since ure friend has left i cant really comment on ure resorces, your at 7.5k but i think thats becuase your partner left, even so, hotkey his barracks and just pump out marines, get 100 of the little sods as cannon fodder and ure broodlords will do the rest, thats what id have done, Another thing i notice, no overseers, what would you do now if you got Dt rushed?

38 mins in, Ok youve expanded again, but only becuase ure other got destroyed, you should have 3-4 now, its nearly 40 mins into the game. I cant belive you just sent about 100 speedlings into his main with no air support, why on earth would you do that? knowing he has psi storm whitch just wrecked them, Its nearly allways a terrible idea to send half ure army to one place with no real defense, i mean look at the damege they did, not even a supply depot down, that cost you resorces, alltho at this point i suppose they are expendable, Im also noticing you have a CC at ure disposal and ure never scanning, This little 150 upgrade gives you map awareness, scan random mineral lines see if you can kill an expansion ect, basic stuff.

Well it was inevitable, i love how that protoss called u bad, You are 15x as good as him atleast, You lost this game due to many reasons, 1 being you had 1 strat all game, not a bad idea if it works and it was, but ure macro isnt the best yet, but ull learn, You could have won that game if you sent your entitre army + ure teammates into his main, but u have a consisten problem with sending 50% of ure troops, you need to work on that, another thing you need to work on is scouting.

with overlords at ure disposal theres no reason why you cannont scout, youll learn to do this aswell, I also noticed somthing else, instead of letting his army get choked at the ramp you went toe to toe with about 10 carriers, allways a bad idea, carriers should be left for theorycrafting, you know a game has gone on way to long if you see someone has massed them, if you had scouted you could have counterd, but you didnt.

im sorry if i sound a little harsh, you were 1v2 afterall, and ure honestly not a bad player, its just horrible to see someone makin the same mistakes i did when i first started but we all do it, a couple weeks youll look back on that replay and lol at all the things you forgot.

hope i helped

 

Thank you so much for your thourough advice, it was a great help! Sorry it took me so long to respond, I read it this morning before I had to head off to class, and when I finally got some free time I tried to take what you'd told me and attempt to work it to my advantage.

And, I hope I don't sound rude in saying this, but if you don't mind if I take up some more of your time, I would appreciate it if you would give a look into one last match for me. I ran this 2v2 about an hour or so ago, and I won...in a big way. It was Zerg(Me again) and Zerg versus Zerg and Terran.

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/75156-2v2-terran-zerg-novice-monlyth-ridge

I attempted to expand as much as I could, in the end I had an entire swarm of Mutas(nubering in at around 36 or so) and around 6 Brood Lords on attack, with 4 Ultras, 4 Hydras, and a small slew of Lings all of which were mainly used for defense. My partner had entered as a random, and near the end of the match informed me that it was his first time playing with Zerg. I wiped the Terrans off of the map practically, if not entirely, by myself. Against the Zerg, my partner assisted, but I believe I could have finished him off alone as well.

One thing that I would still say is my biggest weakness after that match would have to be that I still need a LOT of work on my scouting. This really became apparent to me in the very-end game when one opponent seemed to have been rebuilding or retaning a base on the map, and I had no idea where they were located.

If you (or anyone else for that matter) are willing to give me a bit more advice to see, as always, I would really appreciate it. But, if not, then I would still like to say thank you again for your previous, thorough message. It really was helpful, and I really think you made a lot of good points that I think, on their own, will help me play better...so thanks

 

glad i could be of any help ill get myself a coffee and a smoke and watch that other replay now, lets see if you learnt anything .

as before ill edit as i go through.

3 minetes in, youve allready expanded which is very good, alltho a small tip, if your playing 1v1 agasint another zerg dont expand so early, i dont know how much 1v1 you play but people love to rush zerg with reapers/zealots/speedlings. alltho in 2v2 theres a bit more leeway, i also noticed youve sent an overlord to scout, awsome!

8 mins, Wow props so far, ure macroing of ure expansion/main is flawless at this point, im also happy youve invested in a spine crawler, and good job with the creep tumor. your minerals are fairly low so far so good.

12 mins, Ok, you have ure first mutas, this is in good time, alltho i have 1 concern, before these mutas all you had for defense is 1 spine crawler, now i noticed ure minerals wernt to high but you could have spent say 300-400 on some zerglings, just to make sure if you do get rushed you have fighting chance, alltho you wasnt rushed so it makes little odds, you may want to keep it in mind.

15 mins, Awsome a third expansion, now your really showing me uve improved 500% from the last game i watched, i also saw u scout with the baneling, i stopped just as those banshees were in the middle its going to be interesting to see what you do, At this point your playing very well. 1 small thing, you still have around 700 minerals, maybe this id the time to upgrade those mutas at the spire.

22 mins, Awsome you scouted his expansion and killed it, this will kill his econemy, its like watching a diffrent player tbh. your doing very well, i like the fact uve mixed ure game a bit and got some speedlings/ultras. Also you have an overseer, another good improvement, for the cost there so worth it, nice to see you using one.

26 mins, 4th expansion going up, you have complete map control from here, i love the way youve done the creep tumors and built some hydras, if you see any voidrays/banshees/mutas, a few hydras are awsome to have. your minerals are high but i think you can be excused of that with 4 expansions .

ok finished, well done on that game ure showing alot of improvement, a couple things to remeber, i think you know ureself you need to work on scouting a bit more but you did scout alot more this game than the other one, those overlords, just put them in random places all over the map, they dont need to be on minerals or anything just throw them anywhere, you never know what the other team is planning and they can provide such good scouting.

your oppnents wernt very good overall but i wont take away how well you did, i liked the fact u changed up ure army a bit but again you only really used the muts in the final battle, my advice is to hotkey all ure ground troops to say 1 and all ure air to 2, thatway your not trying to control 100+ troops, in better games you maywell have needed those ultras ect, just somthing to think about.

As for expanding youve got that sorted, one thing i will say again is just be careful about when you do it, dont expand too soon but dont expand to late , early game get some speedlings to soak up some of those minerals and provide some defense before the 15 min mark, and if you have spare minerals upgrade ure units. ure macro is fantastic for a new player so i wont comment on that.

if you want to try some 2v2 with me pm me ure details ( name and code ) ill add you if you like.

final note, well done!

 

Thanks for posting your comments on that, I really appreciate it!

I'm still having trouble getting the hang of scouting though, I think my biggest issue is that I'm actually afraid to send my overlords out to scout for me. I think it feels really dangerous to send my supply units out to do that for me, and so I tend not to.

I have to agree with you on that issue about being rushed, for the life of me, I can't seem to set up a proper defense against it when I've come across it since then.

Since then I've finally gotten out of the practice league, and found that after that, it gets muuch harder to succeed in this game. Even back in the Practice League I was abyssmal at 1v1, I just can't seem to get the hang of playing like that down. Despite my play-style issues, I got through the placement for 3v3 and wound up in the Platinum League, I haven't finished the placement for any of the others yet though.

And thanks for offering to play some 2v2 with me, it'd be sweet to play some games with you, I'm always looking for new people to play with! I'll send my name and code in a PM right now :yes: