We’re back again with another TvP (Terran Vs. Protoss). I have decided I am going to try and put away my DECADES of being a hardcore Star Craft shill and present these as if I was new to the IP. I also was asked to give a bit more detail and I love that idea so I will be doing that as well!
Round Two sees me fighting against a gentleman I’ve played before Theodor, a very excellent Protoss player. I know that he is very skilled and I am excited for our rematch.
We pick lists and end up with these
My List
This is my baby, I love this list. It feels fantastic to play, it has a high skill ceiling and you can truly just bully people. Whether I can live up to that hype remains to be seen 😀 This list is FAST. Everything can do some TotallyLegal Stim Packs and become one with the Speed Force. The damage is insanely consistent between the amount of Critical Hits and precision I can bring to the table (It is both consistent in the amount of Saving Throws I can force my opponent to make, but also in the amount of damage I can push through regardless of Surges). I also have some intangibles, being able to activate things last thanks to Raynor making things activate again, being able to be shot or charged first and shake it off thanks to Medics, having a large pool of Command Points to be able to use many abilities. All in all, it’s why I love Terran (Though let’s be REAL for REAL right now. As soon as Siege Tanks are here Bio units can go get dusty on my shelf)
Theodor’s List
Also it’s important to note that Theodor has
| Supply Drop & Gather Resources for both lists |
| Breach & Acropolis for both lists |
Protoss are terrifying. They are an Unholy amalgamation of Speed, Durability, and Shenanigans. There is Teleportation (Adepts and Stalkers), Placement Effects (Tactics Cards, Stalkers), Pure unfiltered movement abuse (Zealots and Tactics Cards), and then Movement Blocking (Sentries).
We end up after the draft playing Breach as the Deployment and Gather the Resources as the mission.
Pre Game
I think I have some key advantages here, Medics LOVE to play Gather the Resources. I think Breach isn’t a terrible deployment for either of us, and I think I have a lot of good options for killing Stalkers. I have Raynor and I am MUCH more comfortable with this list.
Round One
Round One Movement – Here we go! I bring in the two barebones units of Marines on the top side of the map, My thought process is that I want bodies, I want activations, I want to be able to get the last word during phases so I can line up big shots. I am addicted to Jim Raynor and his Elephant Gun (Com-Rifle) because the potential 9 damage is just so fun. I really, really hummed and hawed, debating heavily about whether to bring in the Marauders or the 9 man Marines. In the future I truly doubt I would ever start a game without the Marauders and Medic support on the field.
Round One ends in this position, Jimmy wasn’t able to get far enough up the board to cover the whole middle zone with his Elephant Gun, so the Stalkers ZOOM up and take the center.
Round Two
Round Two Move – Stalkers are unable to get out of range of Jimmy and His Trusty BOOMSTICK and so they go back into reserves with some help of Artanis. Now my top side is really, really short on help. My Marauders are floundering in the bottom due to that swap and I feel a bit of pressure mounting. I have a great idea on the bottom to try and scooch the Shield Marines up forward and then drop Raynor’s Raiders onto that zone in the bottom right and deny a lot of points (The Adept unit hadn’t entered the board yet) But I was unable to accomplish that feat by about 0.5 inches. So they park within 8″ of the Adepts for maximum damage and pop Stim and Shield. Jimmy hands out some Critical Hits and the Medics clean up some of the damage caused by the Rampant Drug Use. On the Protoss side of things…lotsa moving. The Artanis swap was the only Shenanigan. Some Shade are placed to tie things up at the end of the round and get some precision going.
Round Two End – Man I lose so much. Again I get absolutely RUINED by the Artanis swap. As I said last report this is going to be a brutal learning curve. And here were are…LEARNING. I am jailed into my left 1/3 of the board. Artanis, Adepts, and Zealots have carved a bloody path through two units of Marines. And Protoss bodies are on all the objectives. The Psionic Energy this round was used mainly for Tactics Cards (Getting Precision) and the Command Points were mainly spent on Medic abilities and Tacticool Drugs. This is painful a bit, my Marauders are a non-factor, my Marines are getting torn apart, and I am drastically behind in scenario.
Round Three
Round Three Movement – Don’t worry team, my Veterans of Tarsonis Marauders are finally on the crucial objective. Raynor’s Raiders are screened out from stealing zones, both with Proxy Barracks, and with their Deployment ability. I do use a cheeky play to get some points with the Ready for a Pickup? On the remaining three Marines up top.
Protoss converge on the bottom zone, getting everything into melee and letting the Murder begin.
I spend a lot of activations getting Stim Packs and Medic activations ready to try and clear out the bottom left.
Round Three End – In heartbreaking fashion, I get a wild attrition swing and start to see some hope, but Theodor is too crafty, too wise, and too good at this dadgum game. He has calculated the points exactly and because of some thrilling Heroics by Artanis (Living against that fusillade) and some clever target priority (Killing Squishy Medics for points) by Theodor he surpasses the Win Automatically threshold SCTMG has built into it’s scenarios and I lose. I retreat to lick my wounds and learn from my mistakes!
Final Score 16-5 with a vast majority scored at the end of round three. Just an excellent play by Theodor.
Post Game
Let’s call a spade a spade, Theodor is better than me at this game, sometimes dice were WILDLY unfortunate (He had some EPIC defense rolls), but that doesn’t matter. That’s not why we’re here. We’re here to improve so let’s focus on what I can improve. Namely. Better deployments.
What I Did Well – I did enjoy how I used the abilities on Jimmy, and his Elephant Gun is just too much fun.
What I can Improve On – Yeah, I am going to focus in on one thing (There is much more than one thing) but I really think a big change in the game would’ve been getting my Marauder’s central WAY earlier. Like… Move, Go Go Go, Jimmy Reactivate, Stim, Move again should’ve been my turn one. They can threaten the world, have the center zone to activate Veteran’s Of Tarsonis, and provide a staging ground that my opponent has to respect instead of allowing things to just have free reign everywhere.
What My Opponent Did Well – I mean, a lot. Inverse to the amount of mistakes I did haha, but first thing he was just a great opponent. Always fun to play against. Had a great post game talk about what I could improve on. But his positioning was very clean, he always was on zones, but out of range. Doing the Gather Action where necessary. Just a great player!
That’s it for Round Two, I’ve learned a lot these past two games (Yes even from you Smerc :D) but I really want to present myself better next game as I know I can do better than this!
Feel free to reach out with any hints, comments, or ideas! I love this game and am excited to keep SCTMG content coming.
