Promoted to Platinum! :O

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! I can call myself a Platinum league player now!

 There isn't much to say in the way of how the game played out. If you've read my posts in the past then you know I went 2 rax poke into 2-1-1 all-in. This was my placement match for the start of the new season and after I won the game, I nervously waited as the "loading" symbol began to spin. I literally jumped out of my chair as I saw the placement screen with a shiny new platinum symbol next to my name! 

I've gotten to play around 25 games in the new league, and it is rough. I am hovering between 30-50th place. I was so nervous within the first 10 games of not winning any and getting instantly demoted. Luckily for me, that didn't happen and I've been clawing my way up the ladder. There are a couple observations I wanted to make about the jump from Gold to Platinum.

1.) Faster Players

Plain and simple, there's a noticeable jump in the speed at which people are playing. I've noticed that people are playing from 70-200APM (Actions Per Minute). While you don't need 200 APM to win, these players don't give up as easily and try to use their speed to micro their way out of what would be a sure loss for a slower player.

2.) Better Macro

This is one thing that I attribute a lot of my losses to. I NEED to work on better worker producing from all of my buildings so that I am hitting all of my benchmarks. A solid platinum player has the basic mechanics perfected and this allows them to be confident in engagements because they will have the maximum army size possible relative to a given time in the game.

3.) Unorthodox Builds/All-ins

So, either people will play super standard, but hit all of the benchmarks and do everything they need to, or people will come at you with a 1 base all-in that is different to what I was used to playing against in Gold. Following is what I faced in Gold, and what I'm seeing in Platinum(G/P).

vs. Z - Baneling Bust/8 pool

vs. P - 3 gate robo expand/void ray all-in or 4 gate or Cannon Rush

vs. T - Mass marine/MECH or heavy drop play

It sucks because every game I'm stressing over what is going to be coming at me regardless of scouting. I still have to do a bit more studying on what I see as I scout and how I'm going to respond to it. It's like getting used to playing against a whole new style against each race.

4.) Less Zergs/More Protoss

 I'm pretty sure this has been proven statistically, so I'm not surprised. As you move up in experience
there are less and less Zerg's competing at the higher levels. As a result of this, I have been plying a TON against Protoss, which isn't a bad thing! I'm very comfortable in this match-up, as you would know from my win-rate vs. them, and I know my build almost to perfection.


Just wanted to post a little bit of Starcraft related news after that massive post about 2012 :D

Good luck this season everyone and look for Reedy on the ladder! If you run into me feel free to say hi!