Pretending to be AFK 4.0 Beating Grandmasters with stupid stuff

Patreon: / harstem
My second youtube channel: / @harstemcasts
Twitter: / harstemsc2
Twitch: / harstem
Instagram : / harstemsc
#harstem #SC2 #StarCraft2

[@googie_140]

Got destroyed by the 'afk' proxy 4rax once, I've never emotionally recovered from that 😂

[@DarkTemplar42]

When it happened to me, I pulled all my probes to kill the CC faster, and was flabbergasted when I saw the marines

[@josefanon8504]

RIP

[@walterthewatermelon7255]

The worst for me was when I was playing a TvP and the protoss did a fake-afk build. I'd seen enough Harstem videos to know what I was looking at, so I scouted his hidden base and expected an easy win. But then I died to his timing anyway.

[@michaelwicker9538]

​@@walterthewatermelon7255 Protos imba, lol

[@walterthewatermelon7255]

@michaelwicker9538 Lol it might be funny to submit it to IODIS.

[@toddwilkolak5277]

It's so refreshing to watch someone genuinely just having a great time gaming. So often I watch videos and people just complain about the game they play too much. Thanks for the continuous great content

[@1un4cy]

People need to just take the game for what it is instead of trying to change it so suit themselves.

[@joshuaherd1015]

Check out uthermal then

[@nick1752]

OMG yes. Now I know why I love to watch Harstem playing! It's exactly this reason, he's having fun!

[@MatVeiQaaa]

imo those who complain about the game they are grinding are either too young or not particularly good at it, also. From my observations really old players dont complain anymore, like 6+ years of experience.

[@GRAYgauss]

@@1un4cy If people did that, starcraft would have zero meta. Making the game for yourself is a great way to have fun, are we not watching prime examples of that? ...The problem is people lynchpinning their value on their rank even though it's such an abstract concept it is fairly worthless in the real world and for the worse cases, often at the expense of real world skills.

[@NuStiuFrate]

Harstem: I wish there was a button to show my opponent it's time to leave. His opponent in the last game probably: I wish there was a button to show my opponent it's time to leave.

[@PeterZaitcev]

nice one

[@economicprisoner]

I seem to recall the original Starcraft had a reveal map option.

[@itskittyme]

"pretending to be AFK" - the dude has 10 times more stuff than me after 5 minutes while I'm not pretending to be AFK

[@LasseLundster]

My favorite challenge, foiled completely by M3s who don't scout.

[@Robothuck]

Well to be honest, in the last game I think he forgot that AFK players dont build overlords in their main anyway so even if Jumy did scout that would have been a big clue lol

[@bentosan]

I saw that too and was screaming in my head to move the overlord

[@JohnDoe-l4d9h]

@@Robothuckhe moved the original overlord

[@lilanedaria]

I look forward to the 50th reenactment of Pretending to be AFK with grandpa Harstem

[@dicksonZero]

grandpa harstem pretends to be afk at his armchair while he is cooking at the kitchen

[@eggymatrix]

What a long way you have come, the first "Pretending to be AFK" was the one that got me hooked, and it is amazing how your stile and ease in front of the camera evolved in the time. Great work! Keep digressing, keep cheesing, keep being awesome!

[@stc2828]

“I will go roach since he might forget stargate exists” void ray instantly flys into mineral line😂

[@dosquats]

Pretending to be afk was the first Harstem content i ever saw. Nostalgic episode GG

[@124horst]

21:45 "does he work fulltime in a circus" got me completely omg hahahha

[@rickzor2700]

6:00 "if this guy stabs me at some point in life I probably deserve it". Best SC2 commentary ever haha

[@Amoeby]

OMG, I've been waiting for so long for this challenge to return!

[@WikiED]

Poor Jumy, got bodied by uThermal's random cheeses then to be stabbed by Harstem's fake afk

[@StampedingSteve]

This takes me back to my SC2 days... i used to kill all my SCVs at the start of the game , liftoff the CC , fly to a corner and actually go AFK. It was great to do before getting food or something. I'd come back and about 40% of the time I would win. The best games would go on for an hour. People would get really confused and think the game bugged out after they walked the map 3-4 times. They'd type in the chat "Hello ???" and eventually leave thinking they spawned without an opponent

[@yoye101]

Man, you are evil!

[@Ben-gd1so]

Poor Jumy getting farmed by Thermy's and Harstem's challenges recently

[@Arexsis]

I was just thinking the same thing, poor jumy 😅

[@kaiser2261]

Content creator of the week

[@Garethax]

ForJumy must've had a frustrating week, getting blasted by uthermal AND harstem with random stupid builds lol

[@zes7215]

wrr

[@Slothwell]

"If my opponent scouts, it would suck. However if my opponent DOESNT scout .. it would also suck because this build is GARBAGE" My fucking sides. I don't play SC but this was entertaining enough that i didn't need to understand much

[@hugga-_-Bugga]

I watch Starcraft, I dont play it anymore (hurts my hands). The 3 rax shenanigans had me chuckling the whole time. Good stuff, Harstem. Such a goofy victory.

[@bencheevers6693]

These are always a classic love this series!

[@sebastiankamph]

These afk challenges are the best ever! Actually stupid stuff is enjoyable to watch ❤

[@superverychillguy]

This is my favourite bgmwss, one of the first videos of yours i watched. Glad to see you bring it back.

[@skylordquasar]

I got to gold with afk mass carriers a few years back. Was beautiful.

[@aloe7794]

6:01 captain being on point and hilarious with commentary, I love it lmao

[@loraxak]

After seeing Harstems previous versions of this I used to do a afk DT drop on a map with a rich vespene geyser it was so much fun when it worked.

[@MrSonicjew]

I love playing like this as zerg, taking your second base close by and spreading creep and spines, so fun

[@trayfenodonnell5386]

"Is he a clown...does he work full time in the circus?" funny stuff man lol

[@Sidicas]

But its so amazing when the base blows up and the game doesn't end.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

The funniest thing would be if you did all this build-up and found that your opponent was AFK . . . except then it would be even funnier if THEY had been secretly building up elsewhere as well.

[@realdomdom]

To this day, I have never seen a more hilarious thing than faking to be AFK.

[@iantan5975]

Oh captain my captain, it brings a tear to my eye to behold such buffoonery

[@fostyfrosty7120]

Your third video about pretending to be afk was your first video that i watched, good times!

[@TheLiverX]

You know what they say: Play stupid games, win... stupid games. I think

[@dogscangame]

Thanks for bringing this back, we all appreciate you 🙏🏻👍

[@Alloran]

reminds me of the Bongcloud, just some good old break your brain style starcraft. The real victory comes from making your opponent doubt their sanity.

[@berrycarriez1074]

I love this game but cannot play no where near the level most people can in this but would always enjoy watching your videos and this was one of my favorites back then when you did the original AFK build love watching you play man keep it up!

[@literatemax]

I think in that first game they knew you were bluffing because the "only" thing you had left kept stopping and starting its movement

[@davidloucks1885]

Here comes the sun, ladeeladee. Thanks for remembrance of that song brother.

[@Caipi2070]

27:22 you get 225 minerals from cancelling the hatch, so you don’t need to wait for 200 minerals in the bank to cancel and build the spawning pool

[@Terrorbrot]

never played this game but i really enjoy watching you from time to time :)

[@brandon-em6ol]

when you went to the rewind idky this came to mind but the mini map looks like a emperor's new groove lama lmao(upper right part of map)

[@yaboiyosef7640]

The original afk BGMWSS was the first Harstem video I ever watched

[@xMickx]

I love how he whispers so the enemy won't hear him

[@ZorroDk]

In the last game: The overlord is quite a big tell, isn't it? When moving away the first overload and producing a new, then the new one will not be in the same position as the first one...

[@mothrahlurker788]

Not like people are going to notice that easily.

[@ZorroDk]

@@mothrahlurker788 Maybe not. I just thought that GM/Pro players might :)

[@MKu64]

@@ZorroDk As a GM I can tell you that I would not have noticed 😂 But now I probably will 😅

[@youknownothing1242]

Your game at 26 minutes I got so excited you were trying my suggestion from awhile back but alas no such luck! Was the pretend to be afk with zerg, don't move overlord, offensive proxy hatch offcentered at minerals, cancel soooo you can proxy your pool asap then use 2nd drone to make hatchery centered!

[@tenj00]

Harstem, the guy who goes AFK into 3rax in a tournament against BigGabe.:) PS: My wishes for 2024.

[@TristanOnGoogle]

"ForJumY" is the guy who lost 3 games today in a row vs uThermal right ?

[@danrothman6129]

I love Harstems laugh it goes like this- eHAASST HAAST HAAAA, gasps* EHHAAASST HAAASSTT HAAAST!

[@causeneffect8563]

Can you sing “Here comes the Stem”, instead of “Here comes the Sun”, because you, Harstem, are a mad genius and your videos bring a new day.

[@DevJonny]

suggestion for this: the vanishing army, early pressure, make a good sized army, attack and then retreat, then load all your army into transports, move it to the edge of the map and when they counter attack, base trade them

[@Naraku-no-Hana-WE]

I was so hoping that last game was an afk vs afk build. The rematch and no scout was setting it up perfectly.

[@dustinmorrison6315]

I find it preposterous that a 5k Zerg hasn't scouted the entire map by 6 minutes into the game.

[@yanshi4807]

I know this is going to be a banger 😂 love you captain ❤

[@VegaMain]

I don’t even play this game but I love watching. I don’t know why.

[@riceontopstew]

one of the only yt channels I cant watch at 1.25 speed

[@daryladhityahenry]

Lol I'm so glad at least this strategy work out quite well this time and even got a win!! CONGRATZZZ!!!

[@Neceros]

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 🎮 *Opening and Challenge Setup* - Introducing the "Pretending to be AFK Challenge." - Playing on a barcode account to avoid opponents recognizing previous challenges. - Starting with a cc-first opening against a Zerg player named Demi. 02:30 🏠 *Potential AFK Opponent* - Opponent hasn't scouted yet, raising the possibility of them being AFK. - Deliberate decisions to create uncertainty in the opponent's mind. - Strategic considerations when facing an opponent who may not be actively playing. 04:25 🧠 *Decisions and Adaptations* - Deciding whether to let a base die or lift the orbital command. - Balancing economy and defense in the face of unexpected challenges. - The importance of keeping the opponent busy and maintaining the illusion. 06:42 🚀 *Transitioning to Aggression* - Transitioning from a defensive stance to a Helion run-by. - Capitalizing on the opponent's focus on the AFK facade. - Exploring opportunities for counter-attacks. 08:46 🏁 *Analyzing Early Game and Future Improvements* - Reflecting on the opponent's strategy and potential weaknesses. - Discussing adjustments for future attempts at the AFK challenge. - Consideration of a more aggressive three-Rax approach in the early game. 09:00 🕵️‍♂️ *Pregame Strategy against Protoss* - Choosing a different strategy against a Protoss opponent (jumi). - Opting for a proxy Depot to exploit the opponent's scouting habits. - Balancing the risks and rewards of unconventional openings. 11:47 🌪️ *Adapting to the Opponent's Response* - Responding to the opponent's early aggression with a proxy strategy. - Successfully executing a surprise attack and adapting to the situation. - Highlighting the importance of scouting and adapting during unconventional challenges. 13:02 🧀 *Cheesy Victory* - Winning through unconventional and aggressive proxy play. - Reflecting on the satisfaction of a successful and unexpected strategy. - Acknowledging the need for a diverse range of strategies in StarCraft. 14:29 🤔 *Unusual Zerg Opening* - Choosing to play as Zerg in an unconventional manner. - Discussing the plan to pretend to AFK as Zerg on a large map. - Reflecting on potential opponent reactions and game outcomes. 17:26 💰 *Rich Mineral Strategy* - Exploiting the rich mineral patches for economic advantage. - Discussing the unique mechanics and strategy behind rich mineral patches. - Embracing the absurdity and humor of unconventional gameplay. 19:57 🤣 *Silly Game Conclusion* - Reflecting on the unexpected turn of events in the game. - Acknowledging the humorous nature of the match. - Expressing enjoyment despite the unconventional and chaotic gameplay. 20:26 🦄 *Unconventional Hydra Strategy* - The player discusses an unconventional Hydra strategy involving two and a half bases, a gold mineral field, and a rich Vespene geyser. - Mass Hydra composition is used for aggression. - Opponent's confusion about the player's economy adds to the strategic advantage. 25:13 🤔 *Opponent's Perplexity and Decision-making* - The opponent struggles to understand the player's strategy, questioning if the player is hacking or making unconventional decisions. - The player takes advantage of the opponent's uncertainty to secure a win. - Discussion about revealing one's entire base to signal the game's end. 26:11 🕹️ *Attempting Unconventional Strategy Again* - The player attempts a similar strategy in the next game against a different opponent. - Acknowledgment of the challenge and skepticism about the strategy working twice in a row. - The player faces difficulties with scouting and discusses the economic vulnerabilities of the chosen strategy. 31:00 🚀 *Transitioning and Defending* - The player transitions to a more standard strategy after the initial unconventional attempt fails. - Discussion about adapting to the opponent's playstyle and defending against an aggressive push. - Acknowledgment of the challenges faced and the importance of recognizing when a strategy is not viable. 34:40 🎉 *Wrapping Up and Reflection* - The player reflects on the gaming session, expressing satisfaction with the results. - Acknowledgment of the throwback to a previous successful video and the enjoyment derived from revisiting unconventional strategies. - Gratitude and farewell to the audience, summarizing the episode's theme and outcomes. Made with HARPA AI

[@asdfasdf-mn8iu]

Tbh, to me this is absolutely pointless, but at least you didn't spend any actual time on it...

[@Neceros]

@@asdfasdf-mn8iuThat sums up a lot of what I do.

[@ramil8029]

nooooo! We waited for the return of this challenge for so many years, and you made a 35 min video, the longest game of which went way off the track of the challenge 😢😢😢 this deserved to be over 1hr video

[@jajemon]

This is my favorite sc challenge .. it's just beautiful

[@mundolincurve7577]

you can still destroy your hatcheries to reveal your position and show the oponnent you are on top.

[@olivander65]

The return of the king

[@Aerational]

I've been doing a 5 CC opener in silver. I'll have 5 bases by 3 minutes and then start to spam down barracks. My 5th CC is built at main base ramp along with ebay for temporary wall then moved to natural and replaced with rax. After 5 CC I focus mainly on spamming barracks but continue to take more mining bases and try to fill the map. Generally by 7 minutes I have about 15 or so barracks, like 6 or 7 Orbitals maybe a planetary or two, and with the mule mining I can spam out marines at an insane pace. It's like zero focus on micro and I basically just become a human tower defense game. I usually lose my main base, sometimes I lose several bases... but so far I've been able to beat like 95% of my opponents by just eventually streaming so many marines from all over the map that it overwhelms people. Again... low rank, but maybe you could do something crazy greedy like that. I'll say this I've had people scout what I'm doing immediately, and start hitting base after base and often I can still overtake them just on sheer income/production basically. They generally start to feel really comfortable when they have destroyed a couple CCs, but don't realize I've already been mass mule mining and have Barracks EVERYWHERE. Basically if you can survive the early game your income and production are going to be so good you can generally overcome the losses you took tp start. Another key is splitting my scvs among all bases so no one base is a game ender to lose.

[@KumarBendrake]

That was great fun, Harstem. Thanks

[@lysy-zn2gg]

Yesss, I was waiting for this one so long

[@visoroverwatch3247]

I feel like i just lost some braincells watching this lol.

[@jims420]

You talking with a low tone helps with the afkness of the build..

[@veldvar4827]

3:53 mind control

[@mates6708]

great video. now every game against terran i get 3rax cheesed. really funny harstem...

[@Aguyfrom225]

I did something similar. I built my base on his third. Made full base on third but pretended i was an idiot. He marched across the map and destroyed my base but i had a fully functioning base at his third and killed his main. He had to dc. He thought it was a base trade. I realizing after the match he was a master rank. After that first placement match, it put me in diamond league immediately. I still have that picture today.

[@mirastor1796]

In the last game, I was waiting for a BC to appear in your main 🤣

[@ugaaga198]

Would be more effective when pausing the game early on and then pretending not coming back, so the enemy continues the game 😂

[@jfabiovieira]

Could we have a dummy (or not) tournament with a few players that can only play "Beating Grandmasters with stupid stuff" That would be awesome to see the casters confused and everyone else ahah I would watch that :D

[@joshuaherd1015]

Aha Ahahaha Ah Ah Aha so funny

[@neverping]

Hartem, congratulations to come up with such challenge! Have you told uThermal about your new idea?

[@NicholasWaldrop-x3g]

Can we get a "Beating Grandmasters pretending to be an idiot" game?

[@dschortz]

Bgmwss dropping multiple nukes simultaneously.

[@Static2332]

You should also bring back the proxy double forge or engineering bays for Terran. Maybe fake out some other kind of cheese?

[@thomasgrams9715]

There's something funny to me in saying, "we're gonna do a 3 rax follow up" after faking being afk.

[@robbasgaming7044]

I haven't watched sc2 for years. But what is this map called?? Rådhuset station? I live close by, it's a subway station in Stockholm lol

[@JamesMichaelDoyle]

i have to ask, why do people use hellions and not get blueflame? especially against mass lings?

[@Kuzmorgo]

ooh yea, you should lift the CC at like 50% health, and start raging in all chat, how your cat fell out the window, and you had to rush off to make sure it was alright, and you come back to the PC, and you see you are almost dead, etc etc. Keep raging, and floating the CC to the corner. Your opponent then assumes you gonna be an ass, and rush out air units to kill the CC, further ruining his build.

[@omnimoeish]

lol that first game it was 19 to 49 workers at 4 minutes in.

[@FredDekker-c8z]

simple men, click, like and watch Harstem FOREVER!

[@Borrelaas]

In the first game i think the other guy would be less inclined to scout the top left if Harstem would've not just let the first CC stay idle flying over the natural, but rather had the CC fly towards the lower right and trying to keep him chasing it thinking it would land or something.. Just my thoughts

[@altonito777]

Forjumy played against uThermal in his new random cheese to gm series, in the first game uThermal sprayed a 2nd place medal in his base before destroying him and then had 3 other matches against that same guy and now he also gets tortured by this afk build omg xD

[@michaeljackson765]

You should be able to share vision with your opponent if you choose, you can in broodwar.

[@Cylindryk]

It would be very interesting to see this game commented by Lowko, by from your op perspective. ;)

[@mattivoutilainen2348]

❤❤Love to see this again❤❤

[@GnikWoc]

hey @harstem, are you going to be doing any Stormgate content? Super suprised to not see any yet!

[@codyladd8982]

no one that doesnt scout that early is worth playing

[@celestrius9197]

After the first match im thinking if you quit hellions at 4 and had 2 mines available behind minerals and gas for the mutas itd be too late for him to react probably. And this is definitely gonna bait out high muta

[@SebastiantheXII]

Would it be viable to use the lifted Command Center like an Overlord to scout the enemy?

[@joshuahudson2170]

I wonder what pro players would do if their initial scout found nothing at the starting location.

[@drewaforbes]

One of the best BGMWSS :)

[@gabrielstarlight9003]

Someone needs to convince another pro to do this challenge in the hopes that they encounter each other on the ladder. It's a long shot I know but just imagine. It won't happen if we don't try.

[@lyrilili]

you could probably convince uthermal

[@Alex-d3l9b]

One time i spawned in, wrote some fake error message, assaisin failed to spawn. Killed my svcs, loaded up the last couple. And then flew off into the corner. He made a viking flew it over to me and got right to the absolute edge of finding me, then accepted it was real and quit the game. All in the time it took me to go make a coffee xdd

[@njdarda]

i just watched forjumy getting tortured by uthermal and now this. ;-;

[@Jdogthepim]

Lmao 3 cc to start a afk challenge that's some legendary mode

[@hodgzer]

You thinking so much faster than you can speak)))

[@BillyCarsley]

ForJumy had just dropped 3 maps to uThermal's random cheese builds.

[@itanruiz7828]

The best strategy is the unkown strategy

[@Jacob-er1tt]

i think i found the perfect counter for this strat, if you think they are afk pause the game