Remembering 2012 - A Look Back

I just wanted to take some time to talk about some of the awesome parts of 2012, and record them somewhere to be able to reflect back on them as well be able to show all of you what I've been up to!

Here are the Top 10 best moments of 2012 for me, lets starts from the top:

10.)Promotion + Finishing 3rd in Gold league

Alright, so I've got to keep my priorities straight everyone and while I am proud of myself for working my way up to the top of Gold League, I can't place this any higher on the list. I think at the beginning of this year I was somewhere around mid-silver. I feel like I have been consistently improving my game over the months, and I am now on the edge of another promotion into Platinum! (Woot ^.^) I've probably taken a lot longer than most to get to where I am, but I'm in no rush. I've had a lot going outside the game that I care more about or want to concentrate on more, and personal growth in the end is what it is all about for me. I'll do another post about wrapping up the current builds I'm using and a more in depth re-cap of the season as I normally do. Hopefully this time next year I can say I'm high up in Platinum!

9.) Balloon ride

For my birthday I was given a special birthday present from my parents, but first I had to be blindfolded and driven to a "secret" location. If you read my previous post about this experience (21st Bday post) then you know that I was scared to death at first when that balloon took off. I'm not afraid of heights per-say, but I'll characterize it as "I need to get comfortable". However, the speed at which that balloon took off didn't allow for much of that. Once you get up into the sky though it is such a beautiful sight and the view is just as breathtaking as anyone could imagine (if the ascent hasn't already done that to you).





Don't tell my girlfriend but I would totally take another balloon ride, and I hope that the next time with some begging and pleading I miiiiiight be able to persuade her to go. On my birthday, I actually convinced my 11 year-old brother Ryan to go with me about 10 minutes before take off! Here are just a couple of the pictures I took while floating on.






8.) Ran a 5k
 About 6 or 7 years ago my family started a tradition of running the Flemington, NJ Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot. The last 2 years...I got kind of lazy, and didn't run. But this year I made a comeback! I did a little training up in Vermont before I came home for break, and got up bright and early with my dad and two brothers and we headed off to the race.

This race has been growing every year, this year there were around 6-7,000 people!! I think that when I started running this race years ago there were probably no more than 2,000, so it has grown very quickly over the last couple of years.

 Take a guess what minute marker I started at based on these pictures...

6:00 min/mile pace :O
and there were still easily 1,000 people in front of me with 5:00 min/mile being the starting line. It was so ridiculously packed, but such a fun time. As you could expect, those running the 5K repeatedly said "glad I'm getting my workout in so I can devour turkey later!"

And the winner is...


Andrew (20, Right) - 22:30
 Ryan (12, center) - 24:50
Kyle (Me :D, Left, 21) - 24:55
Dad (Back, 48) - 25:15



Andrew!








7.) Canada

 In the past, we have gone to Sand Lake and that is where we went again over the summer for a week packed full of fishing, fishing, and fishing with some tubing, water-skiing, and wake-boarding sprinkled in. Literally, my little brother Ryan and I get up at 6am and fish until breakfast around 10am, and then we will head out as soon as we can call it "evening" and fish until the mosquitoes are chewing me apart. We look forward to the fishing every year and breaking some of our own records for Bass and Pike. 

On the left and right are shots that I took on the first and second morning of fishing. The lake isn't very populated so it's literally glass and untouched until we hit the water. The bottom was a beautiful shot I took on the last evening of fishing. I love Sand Lake.

Just in case you are wondering, YES, I did catch fish as well. Ryan, however, dominated this year and so I think he deserves the photo op. He just got a new pole for Christmas, so I'm sure he excited to get 'em again next year!

According to Ryan, our record (caught by him) was a monster 6 pound bass that we caught on a live minnow. It might be the one on the left, but I'm not sure because a lot of the fish we caught this year pretty big (stealth brag). It is so nice to get away from everything for a week and just go live in a quiet and peaceful place and enjoy just that. Living in the middle of nowhere is probably not for everybody, but getting to stay on a lake that isn't crowded and noisy and live in a house that is nicely furnished and a fun place to be is one of the most fun vacations I can go on!

6.) Completing my Criminal Justice Administration class
This one isn't going to get a long schpeal because it made my semester hell, and it doesn't deserve any further recognition. On top of normal classes and tests, we had to create the "ideal" criminal justice agency. As it turns out, it is a pain in the ASS to do so from the ground up. After putting over 100 hours into it with my group we made an 80 page agency design, and presented our ideas to the class to get over one of the biggest hurdles in my major. Good riddance CJ Admin, you can stay in 2012.

5.) Turning 21/casino trip/playing poker live

Turning 21 was AWESOME. I love being of age to go to casinos and buy my own alcohol. It's a cool feeling and while I don't abuse either of those privileges it is nice to have the freedom to do either. If you want to read about my birthday and my first trip to Sands Casino (yes, I've been since), then I would like to check out that post here! The activity that is coming in at #5 is finally have the guts to sit down and play live poker. It was only a $1/2 NL game, but I was nervous as soon as I sat down with $160 in front of me. I was shaking as I bet, I played SUCH a tight range, and I didn't really get much done, but I didn't go broke! Now that I have 1 small session under my belt I will be much more confident going into the next cash game/tournament I play and I'm so excited to play again! For Christmas, my family gave $50 to go toward the $100 buy weekly tournament they run, so hopefully I can have some run good and place well in the next couple of weeks. I can't play online, yet, but now I am over the nerves of playing live, and it's a great feeling.

(Sorry it's sideways, didn't want to look like a n00b taking a picture playing live poker)

4.) Warped Tour
 I have gone to Warped Tour for the past 3 years with my girlfriend Jenna and other friends that make the trip down from VT and NH mainly. I looooooveee going because obviously you get to see a ton of your favorite bands, and run your back account into the ground buying merch or simply paying for the ATM fee to withdraw money (...ask me about last year). I got to take a couple good pictures but when you spend the entire day at the venue you need to make battery life last the whole day, so I also want to list the bands that I got to see. Some were for the first time, some were for the 2nd and 3rd time!

                                      I recorded Of Mice and Men playing Second and Sebring!

Of Mice and Men

Falling in Reverse

Take a guess!

 So here is a list of the bands that I got to see:
- All Time Low
- Bayside
- Chunk!, No Captain Chunk!
- Falling in Reverse
- For Today
- Mayday Parade
- Miss May I
- New Found Glory
- Pierce the Veil
-Polar Bear Club



Continued:
- Sleeping with Sirens
- Streetlight Manifesto
- Taking Back Sunday
- Yellowcard


Wow! After counting them up that I got to see 14 bands. I also bought an Of Mice and Men t-shirt, their CD, and expensive venue food and beer!





Even though every warped tour I have been to has been a SCORCHER and I'm completely drained at the end, it always turns out to be a great time. Another plus is when you finally get home, the feeling of AC and a comfy bed or couch is the greatest feeling ever for that moment and you most likely just pass out. I'm already stalking the band list for Warped Tour 2013!







3.) Winning the academic excellence award in Criminal Justice

During the spring 2012 semester I had a blue envelope show up in my campus mailbox. This usually means one of two things, either I am in trouble and it is telling me who I need to meet with or an administrative office needs to get a hold of me. It turns that blue envelope was them informing me that I had been selected to receive the academic excellence award for Criminal Justice! I was so honored to be picked out of all of the CRJ majors, and I was so excited because winning awards is not something I do often. There was a nice reception and my mom and grandma drove up to attend the awards ceremony, and Jenna came as well. I get really embarrassed in front of people, so being up on stage and having my professor speaking about what a great student I am definitely made me bashful.

 
 2.) Taking the LSAT/applying to law schools

I took the October LSAT, and if you'd like to see a more in depth post click here. I ended up getting a 145, and immediately signed up for the December LSAT. I am currently awaiting the results for that test, and they should be here by January 5th. I'm definitely getting nervous. Regardless of what score I get I will be applying to a couple of law schools, and I might shoot one out to a school or two far away and see what happens. I know I'm not going to be getting into any prestigious law school, but I'm proud of myself for following this dream of trying to make it into law school and become an attorney. If I don't get accepted now, I am completely fine with that and I wouldn't mind getting a full time job in a law office as a legal assistant or a paralegal so that I can build my resume more and give myself a better shot of getting in next time I apply. Employers! If you are looking for a hardworking, knowledgeable, and dedicated individual who can learn fast and has a passion for the law drop me a comment! (shameless job-hunt plug)
Here are the schools that I am applying to as of now:
- Rutgers - Newark
- Rutgers - Camden
- Earle Mack (Drexel)
- Vermont Law School
- Seton Hall
- Widener Law

If I get into any law school, you can be sure that I will be posting about it because I will FREAKING OUT WITH EXCITEMENT!

1.) Celebrating 2 1/2 years with Jenna

We've been together for 2 years + 8 months, but I just picked the nearest "milestone" that we celebrated. I actually take her on "Monthaversary" dates, so we've been celebrating every 30 days! In all seriousness though, I am such a lucky guy to be dating Jenna. I think one of the best qualities we have as a couple is that we can be ourselves, and we never feel like we need to perform or act like someone we aren't. Whether we are bummin' around the house hanging on our computers, cuddling up to watch Scrubs, or shopping (Yes Jenna shopping) we just feel happy and relaxed to be together. If you keep up with either of our blogs, you may have noticed that Jenna has graduated, and I am unfortunately still in school. While the first 9 months of this year were amazing due to the fact that we saw each other every day during the spring semester last year, and got to do things like warped tour and go to the beach and spend a lot of time together, this past fall semester has been admittedly harder for us because she is living in NJ and working full-time at a hospital and I am going to school in VT :(

BUT

We made it through 2012 together, and looking forward to the future makes me so excited because while I have 1 semester to go, it is my last semester of school in VT! I will be graduating in May, and I want to start planning and deciding where we can afford to live. Sharing an apartment together has been a dream of ours for a long time because we have had to live, at a minimum, an hour from each other throughout our whole relationship (excluding school). I'm excited for the future because of the possibilities we have together. I loved spending 2012 with Jenna, but I'm so excited for us to do so much more in 2013! I'll just post a couple cheesy of photos of us from the last 12 months to close this out, but Jenna is my #1 :)

If you made it this far, please, tell me what your best moment of the last year was! 

I hope you enjoyed hearing all about my life, and I hope this Top 10 looks as exciting and interesting to you as it was for me to experience! Thanks for reading!

Graduation Day! May 2012

Cheers!

New Years Eve! I took Jenna out on a date and we had some delicious food. Chicken nachos, that is all I'm gonna say.

New league, new struggles.

I'm through my first 50 games, and I'm ready to try to work though out all of the troubles I am having, as well as talk a little bit about what I've been doing post some wins as few and far between as they may seem.

This season I am tracking my wins on an excel spreadsheet to see how well I am actually doing because for some reason Blizzard doesn't allow individual players to track their statistics from battle.net. I am aware their are third-party programs that you can mess with but I'm on a Mac, and a lot of them programs are native to PC. It's all ok though because a simple spreadsheet saves a lot of time. So I guess the big question is: 

What do the stats say?

As you can see, the jump for me from Silver to Gold hasn't been a very easy one. The main differences I see between the two leagues are:

- Consistent worker production: You really cant afford to miss SCV's

- Solid Macro: Hitting those benchmarks I've talked about are really important.

- Better micro: I use the word better because there is a clear difference in what I used to play against versus what I see now, but it's nothing amazing.

- More Rushes/Early Timing Attacks: 4 gates, Proxy Thor Rush, Baneling Busts, etc...

I believe pretty strongly that I possess the first three, and use cheese very rarely, but there is one thing that I really need to start focusing on: Scouting.

I need to scout later, and read up on what I should expect to see when I arrive at thier base. After this, I need to react with the proper counter. I tend to speculate on what their going to do, but I never do anything with this information. Unless its something really odd I just continue on with my build, and if their build hits before mine fully mature - I insta-lose. This could be a key to buffing up my win percentage.

I know I shouldn't be locked into builds after talking about reacting to what I see, but unless I scout something funky or familiar that I know how to deal with here are the builds I am using currently:

TvT: Thozain's Build

TvZ: Reactored Hellion --> Cloaked Banshee --> Marine/Marauder/Tank/Medivac

TvP: Bomber's TvP build

Bomber's TvP build is another one that I have learned from Day9's Dailies and it's working pretty well, it's weakness is a 4gate so you need to scout and ditch this build if you see it coming. My next video is going to be covering this exact build and just how much Protoss ass it kicks when you push between the 10-11 minute mark! 

I will probably not be making a blog post about this build, but instead I will just make a video and post it to my Youtube channel The Lost Tutorials. 

Check back at my channel in the next week or so, or just subscribe, and I should have it up! If there is a certain race you are struggling with, and are in Gold or below, feel free to send me a message and we can work on it. 

Enjoy

-Kyle

Season 8, Let's go!

Just making a quick post to wish anyone reading good luck in season 8! I ended up finishing in 5th place in silver league, which I'm happy with.

I played the all important placement match, and I ended up losing to a Top 8 Gold Zerg. I was pretty bummed, and it as the results popped up I was put back into Silver. I hopped into another match real quick and it was a TvT. I used the Thorzain build that I recently made a post about, and after all but starving him for minerals I ended up winning. Expecting this to be the first win in the long process of actually getting promoted during the season, I let the results load and it stalled for a bit. Finally, an unexpected message popped up...Here it is:

BOOYAH! Promoted to Gold League!
I am so happy that I finally made it into Gold :D 
Next stop Platinum, but who knows how far away that is.  

Good luck!

Kyle

Frustrated with TvT?

Here is my go-to build that I have been using for quite some time now in TvT match-ups on mainly 4 person maps, Daybreak squeaks in as a one you can do it on too :)

So I copied this build from Day9, who copied it from Thorzain. It is a build that is very marine heavy, and will be able to get you Stim, Combat Shields, and +1 all before you push out around 10:30 mark. The build is actually very simple, and I will post it for everyone, as well as post a video. Just to do a little breakdown of the strengths/weaknesses of the build:

The Good Stuff:
-Done properly, you will have a HUGE supply lead by the time you push out. In other words, you will have a bigger army then him and you can choose what to do with this advantage. Maybe drop in his main? Or, if you're ballsy enough, just run up his ramp and break the front.
-Low APM build, easy to execute.
-allows you fend off early banshee harass, and others early annoyances.
- Very easy to transition into the mid-game (if your opponent makes it that far)
The Bad Stuff:
-Like most 1 rax fast-expands, tank pushes can be hard to hold if not scouted properly.
-The initial push can be torn apart pretty easily by someone who is stuffing his natural ramp with tanks. (Hint hint: Just drop in his main)
-Tanks
-Siege Tanks
-At your ramp

I don't want to make this sound like some god build because it doesn't win 100% of the time, and if you aren't sharp on reacting to what you see him doing you could lose very easily. This build is very susceptible in the early game so scout, scout, scout.


Here is the build order:
10 supply
12 rax #1
15 Orbital
20 Command Center
22 Rax #2 + 2 Gas(at main) + supply depot
- Rax #3 is build by the SCV that is building Rax #2
-Tech lab Rax #1(combat shields ASAP, then get Stim next), and Reactor on rax #2 ASAP
-Reactor Rax #3 as soon as its done.
~ 40 ebay + factory (start +1 attack once complete)
-Starport immediately after factory completes, and put a reactor on factory.
-Switch the two and quickly get to medivacs out.
Push as soon as medivacs are complete, you should be at around 90-100 supply.

The transition here is for you to choose based on how your first attack went.
-Double upgrades and keep throwing marines at him?
-Switch into a standard marine/tank/viking composition?

I'm sure all of that seems confusing with all of the reactors and tech labs, and whatnot, but to see this build in action I strongly suggest you watch Day9's analysis of the build, you could practice it yourself, or you could check out this lovely video I have made showing the build order in action!
I think its important to note that I actually forgot to get +1, and...well....you'll have to watch the video to see the outcome I suppose :)

I must be doing SOMETHING right.

I am on FIRE right now. I started today ~11th place

As usual, here are my win ratios by race for the day:

TvT 10-0

TvP 3-4

TvZ 5-2

I was so surprised when I was working out the win rates and I hadn't lost to Terran all day. This used to be my worst match up, and I know the exact reason. I was stuck in the mindset of "marines can do anything" and "you can win without tanks". While it is possible to dos, I have found that it is much easier to just do a better job at building tanks than your opponent. A lot of the Terrans I played today just had build orders that were slow, and couldn't defend against a push in the mid game. So, I have succumbed to using tanks, but apparently it is working really well for me!

Protoss...well, I don't really know. I still use the Halby 2-1-1 build that I made a video for (you can find it on my blog), but the stupid buff for the observer build time is allowing the Protoss to easily counter me because they know what is coming a good minute ahead of time. It's frustrating, but I'll have to figure something out. This is turning into my weakest match up because I simply don't know what to do. Maybe give a mech a try? If you have any suggestions leave a comment!

Speaking of mech, I have been obliterating Zerg players using the DeMuslim push into thor/banshee/marine. I have not face much of a challenge using this style of play. It took some getting used to because I love marines, I always felt that Mech was so sluggish, but the amount of damage it can handle is incredible. If you bring along SVCs to auto-repair you have almost invincible units.

I'm going to be going more into about this match up in particular for this post because I think Zerg is the race that low level Terrans, like myself, have A LOT of trouble handling.

I'll try to keep this from becoming a wall of text, so I'll leave a lot of talking to be done in the video.

Here I will post the build order that leads up to the initial first push. This push is designed to take out the Zerg's third base at around the 9:30-10:00 mark. So here we go!

DeMuslim Push Build Order 3-1-0 into 3-3-2

10 supply
12 rax
14 supply
16 gas
17 Obital
20 CC
21 Factory
23 (reactor on rax)
    - Rax #2 (tech lab as soon as done-start stim)
    - Rax #3 (tech lab as soon as done-start combat shield)
    -ebay (start +1 attack)
    -bunker
    -supply

NOTE
This is a VERY basic build order, and you do really need to watch the video because you need to put the buildings in the right places. At the 10:00 minute mark, or whenever stim finishes you need to push out and try to take down their 3rd with what should be, if done perfectly, a $3500 dollar army including research. You'll have stim, combat shield, and +1 weapons, and this push will be very deadly.
From here, as the name of the BO suggests, you need to throw down 2 more factories, and 2 starports. From here I like to transition right into mech. So for your next push you'll have thor/marines/banshees and he probably won't expect it. You end up teching up real quick after the first push and it makes it hard for the Zerg to catch up. Just make sure you continue to deny his expansions, while adding on your own.

             DeMuslim Build into mech - TvZ

After of day of kicking some ass, I guess/hope you would be curious as to how much progress I made today. Well, here we are!

I'm 1st place in Silver league!! I'm going into tomorrow with a 9-game win streak. I would be ecstatic if I got promoted :)



P.S. Next post will be focusing on Terran, to those who are stuck trying to win dreaded tank wars :)

-Kyle

TvP 2-1-1 vs Platinum toss

I've been kicking some ass recently, this one was a new best for me by beating a platinum player!

New build order video up on my Youtube channel! Watch it here!

It is a build that I stole (hehe) from Halby. It is a 2-1-1 that he uses. Here is the build order, but for more details check out the video.

10-supply
12-rax
14-rax
16-OC
17-gas
22-gas
bunker at 4:00
26-factory
@ 100 gas-double reactor
@next 100 gas-starport
-1 medivac, then tech lab and pump banshees

You can expand behind this if you choose to so that you can move into a mid game.

-Kyle

Starting Season 7 off right!

I ended up losing my placement match to a top 8 gold player, and so, I was put back into Silver...

My goal for this season is staying within the top 15 all season, and pushing for a promotion if I can. I got off to a great start this season by going 4-0 in my first four games! The builds are becoming more fluid for me, and I am just playing better overall. I did take my first loss last night when I tried to 6 rax a Top 8 Gold Zerg on Metalopolis -_-


I also want to try to play at least 2-3 matches per day if can. School is in the process of winding down and so I'm hoping I will a bit more time to play.


Just wanted to give an update, and I miiiiiight have a new video coming out that uses Halby's 2-1-1 build against TvP, so stayed tuned for that!

 One of the first four wins I got this season went a little something like this...needless to say I think I'm getting good enough to play on a Gold level all the time. Enjoy! :)

-Kyle

Momentum before season 7 begins!

Does this record look familiar anyone!?

After a rough day yesterday trying to perfect some builds and dropping all the way to 12th, I used those very same builds but with much greater flow to them by not supply blocking myself or forgetting a production cycle. I even managed to beat 2 gold Zergs!

Today's Record: 7-2

To break it down like I normally do, today only 1 Terran gave me trouble. It was my fault for letting him tech to mass cloak banshees and eventually battlecruisers. I find it strange that I've played at least 2 other TvT's where I end up losing to this hunk of junk in the sky within the last 3 days! The easiest and most obvious way to stop this is to squash them early because it takes a good 12-15 for this to work, which a leaves a TON of time beforehand to win the match. The other loss was a Zerg on Metalopolis who managed to hold off my Six Rax Rush and make the tech switch to roaches; not much I could have done here.

 I've been watching a lot of gameplay, specifically Thorzain, because I like how methodical he plays. His builds after watching them time out perfectly, and this is why I've taken on two of his builds.

TvT 2-1
Here I am using Thorzain's 3 rax opener that allows you to get around 30 marines with Combat Shield, Stim, AND +1 with two medivacs to push out with at the 10 minute mark. I had a hard time believing that you could fit all of that in. It is incredibly strong and can run through even a Terran who is going to fortify his base with tanks. If he can hold your initial push off, you transition into double factory play. this.build.is.beastly.
Check it out here: TvT awesomeness 

TvP 1-1
For this matchup, I have gotten comfortable using Halby's 2-1-1 build that makes it very easy to contain a Protoss with sieged tanks, a ton of marines, and a medivac. You wont get any upgrades with the initial 2-3 tank/marine push because you'll be using the money you would spend on upgrades on infantry. This build is really meant to kill the Protoss before collosus pop out, but it makes it easy to transition into the mid-late game because it is a variant of the 1-1-1.
The basic principle of this build is this: You are choosing to have a bigger army that isn't upgraded, instead of a smaller army that would have minimal upgrades. These can produce two totally different outcomes. This is an easy and fun build to do!
Check it out here:  Click to crush the protoss!


TvZ 3-1
So after 6 raxing A LOT, I now acknowledge that I can't use it on big maps because of the time it takes reinforcements to arrive. From now on I will only be using it on the most effective map, Metalopolis. Every other map is bigger than this, so I needed a new build. After watching a couple I chose to learn, and stick to Thorzain's Marine/hellion expand into MTV. Not only is his initial push a great way to do some serious economic damage, but it again is easy to do and just flows smoothly. Just hit all the timings, and it you will CRUSH the Zerg with your second push. 
Check it out here: Zergy Zergy Zergy Yeah!


Now that I feel pretty comfortable against all races, I will be trying to make and post videos of how well I execute them all, and just how well they work overall! 


I'm really hoping that with an MMR in the Gold range that if I can win my placement match I can be moved up after only 1 season in silver! Keep your fingers crossed for me.


I hope you enjoyed reading, and I'll you in season 7!

 Check out my channel!

 

Today's Record

I played 9 games today, and only have one area that I'm still unsure about. Overall, I feel really good about my play and the builds that I am picking.

My record today: 7-2
4-0 vs. Terran
0-1 vs. Protoss
3-1 vs. Zerg

(I didn't count the win with a match date of "yesteday")

Not dropping a game versus Terran speaks for itself. I'm scouting correctly, stopping drops, denying elevator play, and then putting on pressure of my own. My typical build in this matchup is usually a 2 hellion, 4-marine medivac drop -- expand -- into double factory play. I can set up a contain really quickly and begin upgrade continuously after that. He either runs out of minerals and has to throw all of his troops at my tank wall, or try to drop into a turret ring. I fell like I've gotten this one down for now.

My one and only game against Protoss ended up with me getting crushed. I just didn't have enough to defend his push. This is definitely a match-up that I need to play more defensive in until at least the 9:30 mark when I can get a banshee to his base to harass. Recently, I haven't done much damage at all with 2 rax pressure, and so I'll be switching to what I hope will be an effective strategy. Its going to be a 1-1-1 that techs straight to cloaked banshees so I can harass and try to throw him off his build. In the mid game the strategy is to get a good mix of marine-thor-banshee. I'm hoping this will work because Protoss is starting to become my shaky match.

Just a week ago, seeing that I had been matched up with a Zerg would have made me feel as though I already lost without the match even starting. In all 4 of these games today I opened with my 6 Rax Rush Build. Surprisingly it went unscouted by the Overlord in all of my matches. My initial push didn't win the game outright, but I was able run each opponent out of resources, avoid his busts, and tech up a little bit. One thing I have gotten better at doing is getting a reactored starport earlier, and begin to produce a few tanks to back up my marines. A tank or two is good enough against one base Zerg to keep the contain.
The obvious counter to mass marines are roaches, but only one of my opponents made this switch which I was very suprised at, and that switch resulted in me losing. The others just insisted on trying to stop my push with banelings...

I have had a string of winning days now, and I'm crossing my fingers to be placed in Gold for next season! That would be pretty awesome. Anyways, this win streak and improvement in play has taken me from barely holding top 40 in silver, to here:

If anyone has any solid TvP builds feel free to send them my way because I might be needing them!
Maybe new video tomorrow?
Check out my SC2 Channel here: The Lost Tutorials

Anyone in college reading this right now go check out the CSL (Collegiate Star League). I just found it today, and I'm considering seeing if I could find any interest at my school to register us for the league. It is really cool idea, and there are Ivy League schools involved, as well as smaller schools! Sorry for the length of this post, but I hope it was enjoyable to read.


--Kyle

6 Rax Rush V2

Like I promised in my last video, I would be posting another game play that went a bit more typical than a Nydus worm in the back of your base : P

So here it is! Just a few pointers that I'll also mention in the video:
Split your marines
Keep as many troops alive as to build your army,  
Contain the Zerg
Expand (~8-9 minutes) so you can maintain marine production/
Take double gas as you expand, then get at least combat shield to continue the contain.
Lastly, if he doesn't quit you want to keep him on 2 bases until he runs out of minerals.

Check out the new video!

TLO Six Rax Rush -- TvZ

Hello everyone!!

I'm on break again, and I'm going to try and push out at least 2-4 videos this week. This one is TLO's Six Rax Rush.

I will post a more standard using this build when it happens, check out the video to find out why it might not be such a "typical" game.

He is the build order that I use to execute this build.

  10 supply
  12 rax
  14 supply
  15 Orbital Command
~17 build 5 rax
- spend money on ONLY marines. You should push out around the 6:30 mark(or 35 supply) with about 17 marines.
- you should have about 18 SCV's mining.

Set the way point to the front of the Zerg's base for reinforcements and continue building only marines.

Enjoy!

Help Me.

So I'm in Silver league now, hooray!

However, I just keep getting my ass kicked. I'm starting to question my builds, and just get frustrated. For any terrans out there, please give me your opening builds for each race. Also, do you ever put on early pressure, or just wait to hold off their first 7 or 8 minute attack?
There aren't many builds that terran can win in the early game with like a 6 pool from zerg, or cannon rush from protoss...we can really only harass.
TvP - 2 rax pressure with almost never win you the game, you'll be lucky to take out a stalker and maybe a zealot as well.
TvZ - bunker rush can be effective against someone who doesn't know how to defend it, but most people in silver are making lings before they finished droning up, which this opening slightly relies on.
TvT - Not much going on here.

My final conclusion would be that I need to just keep building up an army at home because trying to pressure is only going to put me behind, hence why I get steamrolled after I try to pressure.

I'll probably be sticking around the base until the almost standard 7 or 8 minute attack. If I'm still getting my ass kicked after this, I don't even know.

Bronze Build Orders - TvZ (Hammer Ups)

 TvZ

Here it is everyone! This is the build that I am using against Zerg 95% of the time. It is super effective against the lower leagues; a silver in this case. Just make sure to KEEP THE MEDIVAC ALIVE!

For the build order of this video please refer to TvZ post right before this one.

Any questions or comments please feel free to ask!

--Kyle

Bronze Build Orders - TvZ

TvZ

So I know that in my Bronze Build Orders post, I put that I use a 3 tank timing push and I also posted a link to a video of a GM Terran who uses it. Well, I've been trying to use another build that I got off of Battle.net from a guy named Hammer. I just recently used his build in a TvZ and it DESTROYED. So I guess I am beginning to expand off of only knowing one build per race, and I can finally begin to have options (yay!).

Here is the "Hammer Ups" Build Order
10 supply
12 rax
14 rax
--save up enough gas to put down both refineries at once and then drop them
--next 150 minerals makes an orbital
--save up another 100 gas, and then put tech labs on both barracks and begin to pump out 8 reapers.
24 factory
25 starport--make a medivac as soon as its done.

Take your reapers over and attack his mineral line first. Obviously reapers can jump up and down cliffs so please don't take them right up his front door. PLEASE! It won't work.

As you're harassing you should have a CC in the works, building barracks, and begin to start making marines and transitioning into marine/tank/viking.

At the bronze level, this can stop a lot of Zerg and win the game. It punishes greedy Zergs who like to fast expand. This build in leagues as high as diamond turns into a way to slow down their economy, giving you the opportunity to take the lead.

I will post a video of my own breaking it down, but if you want to to check out Hammer's page go ahead. He has a lot of good tutorials!

--Kyle

Bronze Build Orders - TvT

 

This is the 111 build that I outlined in my last post that I use for TvT. Check it out, comment, and subscribe for my TvP and TvZ builds coming out soon plus more!

Bronze League Openings

So, yes, you've probably already judged me for admitting that I am in Bronze league but if you are struggling figuring out how to win consistently as Terran, then please take the time to read this post. I believe it will at least give you a solid build against all races, and if not then maybe you haven't seen this version of a build and can add it to your list!

For this match-up unless I scout something really funky or they are rushing me I use a 1-1-1 build.
10 supply
12 rax--> make 2 marines, and scout
13 gas
16 Orbital
16 Supply to finish wall
@100 gas build factory--Tech lab as soon as finished
20 Starport
22 rax
~24 switch factory and Starport--**Start cloak research first**, then make 2 banshees
-Send Banshees to do damage to their mineral line around 9:30 minutes
CC ~10 minutes and expand behind your next push.

One of the big advantages to this build is that you can really do what ever you want from here based on what you see early on from scouting, and then from what you'll see from the banshee harass. A lot of the time I will add another rax, factory, and go with a standard marine/tank/medivac. Adjust your unit composition to counter what you see from the numerous times you will get a peek at his base.

Here I use a 3-rax expand that holds up SUPER well against what you'll most commonly be facing, which is probably some sort of stalker, zealot, sentry combo. You also won't have to worry about dark templar play because I put a raven in the mix that negates them being permanently cloaked, plus you'll also have scans.
10 supply
12 rax -- *Scout here* make 1-2 marines, then get a reactor
13 gas
15/16 Orbital
16 supply to finish wall
17 rax -- tech lab once done; research Stim first
24 rax -- tech lab once done; research combat shields second, then concussive last
25 factory
31 Starport--tech lab once done, make a raven
--Make sure you are constantly producing marines and marauders.
**Around 9:30 you should start a CC, and push out with your army. All upgrades should be done by the time you get to their base. Lift you CC off to your natural so you can expand while you put on some pressure/destroy their natural, or contain them in their base.

This is definitely my WEAKEST match, and one that I need to work on myself, but this build should bring you success against the lower leagues.I got this build from TerranSpecialistSC2, who is a GM Terran player on the NA server, and it is a hellion-harass into 3 tank timing push. Phew, I know that might sound like a lot, but it works once you get it down.
10 supply
12 rax make 2 marines, then @ 50 gas make a reactor
13 gas
15 Orbital
16 supply to finish wall
18 factory
-Here you want to swap your factory and rax, then make 4 hellions. Send them to his base to harass, contain, but most importantly keep them alive.
--Put a tech lax on the swapped rax.
21- CC
-After the 4 hellions are made, switch the two back and begin making tanks. Get siege mode for them.
Around the 9 minute mark, or when you have 3 tanks, you should push out. Expand behind this as well.
**Check out TerranSpecialist's video for an example of this build because he does it a lot better than I do. Check it out here, and try not to be to intimated by all clicks and highlighting he does :P


I will be posting videos of how I do these build in some live matches soon, and post them here from my Channel. Hope these can give everyone some success, or help you out getting some easy builds under your belt. Let me know how they work for you!
Videos coming soon!


--Kyle