Note : This is only a post from the Starcraft Technical Support Forum.

Okay okay people sorry for the delay in posting this. I've been really busy lately (looking for a new job :) ) and haven't had time.... I have had NUMEROUS requests to post this so I will post this a few times in case anyone misses it.

For anyone who doesn't know what this is about, this post is a followup to my recent challenge to Zerg players. Basically I challenged any Zerg player to play my Protoss on an island map, or any map of their choosing. The purpose of the challenge is NOT to prove that I am a good player or anything. I play SC to have fun, not to get a good record or become the top ranked player. The purpose of the challenge is to help end the current debate that the Zerg are "cheap" or "too powerful" or have "too big of an advantage on island maps". There have been so many posts lately about the Zerg being too powerful and it seems to have gotten out of hand. Rather than arguing back and forth and begging for a patch, I urged non-Zerg players to play the against the Zerg over and over again to learn to combat their tactics. I saw the "challenge" as a way to get the process going....

Originally I intended to post detailed accounts of each game. However, so far all challenge matches I've played (5, I think....) have followed a similar pattern so now I think I'll just give a rough overview of what happens typically and what I did to counter it.

Every game I played my opponent chose the map. Some of them were maps I had not played, some were. Every player I played had a ladder ranking. Now I am not trying to say that I played the top 20 players or anything, but I just want you all to know that the people I played DO play ladder games and are most likely aware of the common Zerg tactics used currently.... If you think the people I played might have sucked then I can tell you who they are and you can play them for yourself.

In each game my build order was something like the following:

Build 3-4 probes (I've been experimenting with different numbers)
Pylon
Probe
Gateway
Assimilator and a enough probes to gather gas and all the mineral patches. At this point I assume you know to build pylons as needed.
Cybernetics Core
Robotics Fac. and Templar Arch. SIMULTANEOUSLY
3 more Gateways
at this point I assume you will be building observatories/etc. when you have the money

As soon as the Robotics and the Templar Arch. are done start building shuttles and Templars. As soon as you have enough money research Psi Storm but don't stop templar production. You should be researching psi storm and building templars at the same time. Extra minerals go to a few Zealots to protect from an unlikely Hydra attack and extra shuttles. You want at least three shuttles. As soon as the shuttle is done I scout around. Obviously this part was a little easier when I knew the map because I wouldn't have to look around so much. A fast Zerg player will have Mutas already so you want to find that expansion fast. Don't worry, if he has mutas already then he has sacrificed a lot, which is something we will get into later.

As soon as the first templars pop out form Archons. Pop one in a shuttle and shuttle him to the expansion with a probe. You need at least one Archon at each expansion to stop scouting mutas from destroying your expansions. Archons are amazing against Zerg air - one Archon can take out 4-5 Mutas all by itself without a hitch. It is especially easy when they are clumped together since the Archon does splash damage. If the first muta attack weakened your Archon have the probe build a shield battery. The shield battery should pop up before the next wave of mutas gets there so you can recharge about 100 points of shields to your archon....

Now you should have been building constant templars at this point and should have a few. Put two in a transport and shuttle them to the base. When psi storm is finished researching research the +50 mana upgrade. This will make up your early base defense. Such a defense will not last forever, but for the early game it will do just fine. One Archon and two templars can take on like 12 - 15 mutas no problem. Of course when guardians get into the picture it will be a little different but remember I said this was an early game defense.

Keep in mind that all of the above should happen VERY fast. If you cannot do this quickly enough you may just not be fast yet. Keep playing until you get faster - try playing the CPU on a small island or something! Just don't whine :) While you are building troops try to establish another base in the same fashion, if possible.

Now what happens from here depends on what your opponent does. He may likely attack the expansion to try to slow you down. In a way this is kind of good - if he sends 9-12 mutas you will most likely kill them all. Psi Storm them all and finish the rest with the archon. If he is smart he will have the mutas target the templars so you must be quick with the storm. If he does you will lose at least one templar. That's okay since 9-12 mutas for 1-2 templars is a good trade. If he does attack the expansion start upping the expansion defense, like to maybe 2-3 archons and four templars. Eventually you will have to do this because guardians will soon be part of the picture.

The rest of your templars should stay at home for now. Build an even ratio of archons and templars. I'd say if you have 6 archons and 6 templars you are impervious to any number of mutas. Keep your templars spread out through the middle of your base. I did play a game where my opponent followed up his expansion attack with an attack to my home base with about 40 mutas. I killed them all with about 4 Archons and 4 Templars.

After the first muta attack you should start scouting his main base for the counter attack. Hopefully you made an observatory and a few observers. Send them over to his base and check it out. Now if the guy is really going muta crazy I doubt he'll have much of a base defense, heck he might have skipped his hydra den. Remember that at this point it is going to be a tradeoff for him - if he has a good base defense his muta attacks are going to be much easier to handle. If he is sending millions of mutas he is not going to have the resources to really put up a good defense.

If his base defense is poor attack him. Shuttle up about 5 Archons and two templars. Keep your observers around to clear a path. The last thing you want is to have your game-winning assault nailed by 3 patrolling mutas/scourge. Drop off your troops and take out everything you can. You should be targeting the spire first, then the hive. If he defends with mutas just do the same thing - psi storm and finish the rest with archons. Once the spire and hive are destroyed he's pretty much screwed, but most likely you will be able to take out his entire base. Go ahead and do so, just remember to take out the important buildings first. Destroy the spawning pool before you destroy an evolution chamber, for example. You want to set him back as far as possible. Another thing to keep in mind is to pay attention to his overlords. If there are any overlords around when his base is finished take them out with your archons! Many times your opponent hasn't even upgraded their speed yet. Taking these guys out will seriously set him back.

If his base defense is strong then there this will take a bit longer. Usually this is not the case but I did play a one on one game on Dire Straights (BAD idea!) where he had enough $$$ to pump mutas and have a base defense. Build one stargate and an arbiter tribunal. Research recall and build an arbiter. You will need an arbiter to initiate your attack. Group some Archons and templars up. Hallucinate a bunch of arbiters (at least 12, 22 is best though) and send them all to his base. Arbiters are very tough so the hallucinations will last quite long. Send them all in then recall the archons/templars in. Proceed like above. If your opponent has hydras you may want to consider recalling in less archons and more zealots since you can recall tons of zealots.

At this point you should be in control of the game. Although he undoubtedly out resourced you, you have resource advantage since your few troops have been killing 10 times as many guys. Plus if you successfully attacked his home base he will be seriously set back and you will have a huge time advantage as well.

Now for a few notes:

Guardians - When these come into the picture (which doesn't take long when you start wasting his mutas) you will need to up your templar count. Psionc Storm is still your basic weapon against these guys but now you will definitely be losing templars. The templars you use to cast psi storm on the guardians will always die, but again remember you are trading one or two templars for about 4 - 10 guardians. You have resource advantage. You may want to build a couple scouts to deal with them but this is only a secondary tactic.

Scourge - Okay this is kind of tough. First of all remember that the only real counter the protoss have for scourge is hallucinations, so if you find your opponent is trying to box you in with these guys start hallucinating things and taking them out. Many times I have been able to simply use observers to make a path clear of scourge and if that is possible by all means do so and go around the scourge with your shuttles.

The main thing you want to remember when faced in this scenario is that although he can mine more resources you are going to have resource advantage simply because you are going to be killing so many troops. 12 mutas is 1200 minerals and 1200 gas. 40 mutas is 4000 minerals and 4000 gas. That's almost an entire gas mine. I don't mind losing a some templars and archons for that.

You need to expand quickly. Your archons and templars are your weapons against mutas and guardians, use them early to expand and defend early attacks.

Now I am sure anyone reading this can come up with counters to these tactics, in fact I can see holes in them as well. Broodling works well against templars, for example. But remember that that is whole purpose to this challenge - to promote better strategy between players. Broodling requires a queen's nest, a queen, and a researched spell. This means your opponent is using more units, and the more units your opponent makes, the less mutas/guardians there are and the muta rush gets less and less effective. If your opponent is producing advanced units you should be proud of yourself because you are good enough not to be beaten by mutas alone. You have defeated the Muta Cheese. Just remember that now you are going to have to start producing advanced units yourself and not just rely on archons and templars!

So far I have beaten every person that answered my challenge. In every game I have had at least 200 kills, and one game I hit 300 kills. Again, I am not trying to say I am a master of SC or anything. All I am saying is that maybe the muta rush is not as powerful as people think. Maybe the Protoss can beat the Zerg muta rush on island maps consistently if played right. Again, if anyone questions the credibility of the people I played let me know and I'll tell them. Play them for yourself and see if you can beat them.

Are there any players out there that are still convinced that the Zerg are unbeatable on island maps? I'd love to play you. Again, I don't mind losing and I am not out to be the best. I just want to play good players and promote good gameplay.

Oh yes and one more thing. If you enjoyed this post you may be interested in my Protoss Guide. Right now you can find it here:

http://www.tech-base.com/

And soon it will be updated and on (hopefully) even more SC sites....

If you did NOT agree with my post don't flame me, play me. Send me an email and we'll set up a game. I believe you learn by losing, and I am always up for the opportunity to learn from some of the great SC players out there.