StarCraft 2: Dark's DANGEROUS Infestors vs herO! (Best-of-5)

Best-of-5 series of top level StarCraft 2 between herO (Protoss) and Dark (Zerg). This series is the grand finals of the ESL Open Cup 159 Korea. While the build orders in this match are mostly standard, the executions in the mid game are very versatile. The micro and decision making from both pro gamers is impressive.
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StarCraft 2 is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment.
#StarCraft2 #SC2 #RTS
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lowko.tv

[@eduardofernades1164]

Map creator: Let's add some carpets for some cool styles. Lowko: And I took that personaly!

[@mirastor1796]

Giving all races the abilitiy to fly the main with this carpet would be an innovation

[@Hammybread]

The carpets do be scuffed though

[@liveinamber1307]

Infestors harassing a mineral line without infested marines?! REVOLUTIONARY!

[@AgAiNsT87]

has nobody seen beasty's infestors to grandmaster xD oldest trick in the book Xd

[@agentoranj5858]

I didn't even know fungal inflicted damage.

[@daethalion1725]

I just imagine Dark thinking: I've given him 20+ workers, a few zerglings and a couple of queens for free. False sense of security achieved!

[@hiddentruth1982]

I haven't played starcraft 2 in about a year but Lowko makes watching it fun so I watch Lowko announce it.

[@ThunderChanter]

Lowko, clearly the creep grows THRU the carpet, and gives it that extra slimey fuzzy feel

[@TXC_Taylo]

Personally I really dislike idea of NOT talking about carpets lol Hearing you talking about such things like carpets, or these little evil critters that are roasting marines over fire and dance like a mad shamans adds more natural vibe to videos. It's not only funny but also kinda calming like sitting and watching SC2 with old good friend, specially after loooong and hard day of work. Keep it up Lowko, your casts are much more that just simple entertainment

[@cooleyzz]

I don't play sc2 at all. But I really like watching dark. He just. Does stuff and it works and I enjoy that

[@jordanleighton6893]

36:50 This is the LowKo contrnt I subscribe for. Carpets and worms

[@stalwart56k]

I would love to see you cast at least part of the best of 9 World Team League Finals in which herO and Dark are ON THE SAME TEAM VS Serrall and Oliviera!!!!! Maybe the last 5 games so we get a sense of the over-all match but don't have to sit for two hours......

[@chillynewberg2652]

I'm down for the full version!

[@mikepreston9179]

Another Loko vid, another good nights sleep. It's become part of the wind-down routine, apart from when battle-mech is involved then it's far more difficult to fall asleep

[@mattmbx5472]

watched the commentary of these games by winter yesterday.. epic series, really cool to watch it from Lowko POV too and i believe winter did miss the 2 infestor action.

[@eriksih7832]

I literally have never missed a second of your videos

[@ByronCorella]

12 years of StarCraft you should know the worm goes in the darkest place.

[@jonathonspears7736]

That was a crazy series. Was really enjoyable to watch.

[@chir0pter]

8:40 it would be super cool if there was an analogous pairing to the hydras shooting over roaches in roach-hydra, but for zerg melee... Yes, I'm talking about making Ultras larger but able to step over zerglings

[@ProtonCannon]

39:16 This is called "Chronoboosting" my dude. You might have heard of it in class.

[@jonathonspears7736]

Take a shot every time Lowko brings up the carpets in one of these videos.

[@Nairdaa]

46:55 "Only 25 workers remaining now for the zerg" :o Nope, for the protoss!

[@Kenjin536]

oracles marking stuff for disrupters is lethal; that was easy bowling at the end of game 2

[@JustLacksZazz350]

Game 2 was insane! Wow! :D

[@Dotz0r]

Who needs creep, when you have a creepy rugg

[@ravenheartartemis]

Lowko if you want to talk about carpets that's fine! Everyone thinks the game is unplayable when something isn't how it should be you know? But those are definitely rugs.

[@mr_ekshun]

Holy shit that nydus! I'm a sucker for that strat, love to see it

[@literatemax]

I love lowko's "carpet talk"

[@stalwart56k]

If Lowko had a comedy show like Colbert, Carpet Talk would be a recurring segment.

[@hydraulichydra8363]

Ah, yes, for cheese, I too love Come On Bear.

[@tomasrvb3011]

Urubu, in Brazilian portuguese, is a bird that is kinda like a vulture, so the model and name make sense lol.

[@TheSmongo]

Thank you Simon.... The only thin i will think about while playing this map now is... yea you guessed it...

[@bongkem2723]

the second game is so sick, herO once again prove to be the best toss right now !!!

[@basedandredpilled7920]

Nice to see the protoss player still being able to win despite facing an enormous disadvantage by playing against imba race.

[@MoridinIshy]

I am with you 100% on the carpet-thing, it bugs the hell out of me!

[@pettyking1621]

As someone who notices small details, the carpets bother me too. Don’t let them silence you

[@nicolascoton6116]

Got a couple of ideas about where to put the worm lol

[@hisazul]

I propose a carpet jar. Every time carpet is mentioned put a dollar in. Drinking game works too... just saying.

[@Salmoddi]

To skip over carpet rant go to 1:30.

[@32Loveless50]

instead of a charge for lings give them the jump ability ofc as an upgrade, and i think a costly one :) this would change the meta :D

[@conorr2661]

That jump ability was ridiculously OP in HotS, picking between it and swarmlings was an absolute no brainer. Zerglings are already really good. No need to change them!

[@moocowspots]

I haven't played sc2 in probably over 5 years now, are sentrys no longer valuable? I feel like they would have helped in the second game to split up the roaches a bit better?

[@Slebonson]

I took the golden minerals on Altitude just because you told us about it. lul

[@stasstreb]

In between its a magical royal carpet, just see it that way!

[@Funkypants597]

23:46 Not quite "put the nail in the coffin" huh

[@sK0pe-d9b]

I'm relatively an old man I used to play StarCraft and a bit of SC2 when Wings of Liberty was released and probably haven't played for almost 10 years. The game looks very interesting but is way too fast for me. Lowko's videos have been fun to watch and got me to download SC2 again. My APM has dropped to 50 lol. The game is way faster!

[@abelsoo5465]

Therefore I prefer to watch pro-gamers play rather than playing myself. I only play the campaigns on normal difficulty to enjoy the story of SC2.

[@anthonyzarakikira1712]

It is hilarious that the last map name means, old toilet... ancient cistern... and lowko thinks "its refreshing" 🤣

[@blwhalphaVODS]

Damn 8 minutes late but not bad vedio. I will continue watching while going to work tomorrow

[@9trogenta13]

-- spoiler -- In the second game at 9:56, toss took the advantage at the beginning, and he won at the end. But did the zerg take the advantage at any point of the game? It seems to me he was winning for a while after his burrow roaches push at 16:30, and if he had traded better the game was his.

[@KoalicusMarsupialensis]

Wait, there is match? Was looking at the carpets...

[@Jdog-tt8qe]

I think dark gg early on the final game. sure he lost a lot but he also killed 50+ probes. he had 6 roaches and some lings in production. if he managed to clean up 23 protoss army supply, they would be pretty even

[@ZenKih]

I dread the day Lowko stop complaining about the Carpet on Royal Blood.

[@bulataliev6106]

Lowko, jaraisin, jaksi content. Kanal tinisch bolsin✊🇰🇿

[@Nairdaa]

3:52 Serral wouldn't lose a single one!

[@Jbell101792]

Dark only needed like 15 banelings to kill those probes, not 40 haha.

[@tjclarke4604]

I still think those curved rugs are just curled up at the ends, as though they were recently unrolled, lol.

[@paulspelt315]

CoD 4 Modern Warfare... takes me back. Thanks for the laugh fellow boomer.

[@Dewelwield1010]

of couse the hatcheries don't need creep, they are one of the only zerg structures to be able to be built off creep.

[@oslx8768]

I know its not your regular content but xqc (big twitch streamer) was playing some 2v2 starcraft and I was wondering if you could watch the VOD and give tips and advice for new players! Love your content btw

[@simonkonicek1300]

tbh it my most favorite map this patch :-)

[@shahbazshaikh9169]

Are there any cool games featuring overlord hunting? I think that's a cool interesting way to harass a zerg

[@pheonixz9322]

I’m curious on what dark does with his overlords if someone could answer this question I would be grateful

[@duynguyen-rs2qc]

Need more Byun casts

[@Name-ru1kt]

Hey don’t give him any ideas or else he might go weeks only doing byun games

[@erikvarga4367]

Dude... there is a reason the carpet is on top of the creep... have you ever seen anyone put carpet under the tiles or wood floor?? Brendas know what they are doing

[@wanderhillen2435]

Brenda and Karen just want that homely feel for their hatcheries. Maybe they even knitted the carpets themselves with leftover needles from when the oracles flew out of range?

[@RnVjayBZb3V0dWJl]

You have any more Infestor stealing scv/probes? ;D

[@zerokappa1433]

Yay

[@pa12345u]

The last game is weird I think Dark can hold at this point he still has more supplies

[@Zer0cul0]

43:30 The game just plays out too fast for a 30 year old boomer like myself. I wish there was a competitive "slow" speed mode so i could enjoy playing the game but sc2 just isn't fun to play competitively when i can only must 50- 60 apm (and that doesn't include thinking or reacting).

[@Zambicus]

Yum yum yum

[@yamilabugattas3895]

I feel like Dark a bit too quick to quit his games. I mean, those were dicey situations, but I think he could have stayed another minute at least in some of those games.

[@c0barsm]

Here we go about the carpets again.....

[@TCPUDPATM]

Damned carpets…

[@abualborz]

I dont know where to put " the worm " . The problem i have in my life. hahahahahahaha ! Find a spot to put the worm in is a problem of mankind i guess .

[@artemirrlazaris7406]

I htink Darks lack of oracle or strat, allwoed hero to do it over and over again, like look if your goign to scout my starport and not prepare then die, lol. I would of loved to see hydras into lurkers, but another ocutner to oracles is spores and burrow, burrow your mineral line, and force a revelation out, depleting the over all dps of an oracle... zerg lacked any anti air or a good defence and those oracles got way to much value for their cost... tbh, though zerg losing scourge units realyl wrecked their early anti air capabitlies that were cheap, and a staple, fora placement of aqueen but three oracles simply chew up queens, against burrow can save teh day... It was a stalker heavy army... which is great against any zergs but massive lings... banneling ling was a great idea... infestors.. fungal could of been good, the problem is air... I like brood lords... sometimes its better to go two bases mild all in to transition a protoss out of blink IE target buidlings are research and units... so you stop and force a restart on the research... question is at what cost. It seems peopel hate short games, but zerg excels at early aggression combined with mild expansion and quick transitions.... of investments. Zerg was not getting effective trades... corruptors are nice, but the oracles would take liek 4-5 queen hits and hten fly back get shield charged and return. Oracles are a bit tanky against queens, but meh... oracles are an annoying unit in which their attack is energy based but hte dps of an oracle is pretty impressive, on all things.4-5 oracles pylon targeting at protoss cna be savage. to me it rivals the thign that turned me off and created a toxic community in sc2 in the beigning, when void rays were obviously imbalanced but nothign was done, thus destroying a ocmmunity... any unit that takes 10 seconds to be able to single handly kill all units instantly is not balanced.. On top of it being air, and ground range is typically less then air.... How would i have balanced the void Ray.. Charging crystals are cool, but as it focuses in its lore, it would of made sense that it slowly flies closer and closer and its damage is proportional to its focal beam, so its max damage is 1 range.. point blank with its laser bema which then range and other units.. owuld have an advantage.... so it has a base damge that increases over time, but limits its range as it cahgnes its focal range, ot increase damage, this owuld allow it ot plough through structures still, like 3-4 seconds for a home base, lmao... but stop it from 4-5 void rays alwaysresulting in gg, from instantly killing anythig and everything. I think several peopel demonstrated how op a fully charged un nerfed void ray is with two bases attack a single army of jsut 5 voidrays in full charge mode.. indestructible.. Oracles technically still ahve that kind of dps... thats never been addressed. I woudl rather see slower damage, so peopel can react, and slower energy taken pershot. so instead of .3 seconds for a worker to die... 2-3 seconds... maybe a classic void cahrge system going on who knows.. but lol.. So... yeah zerg... I really don't like roaches, but I guess I jsut don't like them in teh sense that cost wise never great against protoss compared to other types of units... such as pure zerglings are minerals which allows you to get some air... thats if they are stalker heavy... blink is pretty op, fungal impedes that, but melee andrange and cycling of blink amkes stalkers highly effective and easy to micro... in any caompaign or something... The game itself isn't perfect... Dark was behind with teh oracle attack... Zerg doesn't actually havea counter to mass stalker and blink.. Brood lords are great in grey map zones... he could of evo'd off and defended. Blink grants immunity to any attack that isn't instant, and is a stage attack as animation time frame of a moving attack, if you blink during that transition that shot misses. So technically its fire time of a minion is also rated on its fire. Travel of fire to target. can be dodged. Why marines are great because its instant damage... that cannot be blink dodged that i know of. Blink dodge, for damage immunity to traveling projectiles that have an animation. You have cycling for stalkers, and simply group retreating. Blink is quite quite powerful... Solution is other range units, roach (shorter range) not a great choice, hydra upgraded fairly good choice and cost wise against stalkers 1 to 1, lurker its semi chosie against stalkers, ultra no... so darks would of been better going ling hydra infestor. that would of stopped all air annoyance. ravagers biles are semi okay.. I actually prefer using ravagers in an asssault liek setup.. menaing, you know the exact number ot one shot any building, make aposter ot glance at during a game and hte, nexus gone and then yo ucheck out. Mutas are bit weak, however mass mutas are quite effective becasue of their galive attack, but a good micor stagger spread blink makes its less effective. Queens... not great.. Anyways Heros did great oracle control to limit the queens and workers... dark didn't do any early damage... whihc is okay... but then you are forced to do other builds. Hydars in both cases would of made more sense... or a fleet of 4-5 corruptors.. The best unit against stalkers resoruce wise is lings ,but you need ot get the lings ina surround... so typically you force a blink retreat adn then strike beucase you know tehy run back home. roach burrow attack worked well but the roahc burrowed regen some reason .. not sure if they lowered it but it was crazy at one time,, 3-4 seconds burrowed or less your roahc is max health again, which made them a viable coutner to stalkers... The other alternative is blinding cloud which nullifies all stalker damage out put in an area makign their range useless.. there also another use for it.. but for a ground unit its pretty good... Dark didn't have his A game on, imo... he was attmepting ot get ahead eocnomically to just over run his aopponenet, the eco attack wasn't really that great... two infestors with fungal or three, is better then a fleet of banneling that would of been better for defending and assiting, but he never seem to address the looming problem above.. anyways gg.. Hero did good work..

[@ProfMaddex]

lowcarpet, when?

[@1lomi901]

I don't understand the no-match of dark in match 1 Hero lost 2 oracles and 2 adepts for 2 queens and 10 drones And those units are awful to defend the exact same final attack. What did Hero do wrong ?

[@-42-47]

Yeah, I'm starting to get frustrated with your carpet rants, mostly because I'm personally more annoyed by the ramps, the one shown at 0:35 in particular. The wooden fish bone pattern should not fade into the stone squares, clearly there should have been a hard boundary there instead of that awful fade.

[@Panda-cp9cs]

last game gg was too early. why did dark not make more queens?

[@yuuminakajima6197]

Lowko is sort of cringing sometimes when it comes to doing an intro regarding Royal Blood. Hahaha!

[@Haluxis]

Keep talking about the carpets, theyre cursed and should be noted as such o:

[@100thMkey]

This is what peak Male performance looks like. you may not like it, but you have to respect it.

[@ElectionUpdate-n7k]

Bean and 2nd

[@jesseppi5027]

Hearing about the carpets every once in a while is nice, but its annoying when its every time the map is played, and more so when you point out that people complain about when you talk about them.

[@vegetasaijan6052]

What about this: You can complain about the carpets all you want, but you never again use the fictional word "anyhow"?

[@Spartsou]

it's not easy to roll up carpets with tassels, the tassels get all over the place, same thing with the map carpets with the tassels.

[@Maxvla]

This map is certainly Protoss favored, a tribute to Tasseldar, himself.

[@Spartsou]

@@Maxvla 🤣

[@frankwhite2072]

That was a slugfest.

[@R9D6xC29]

Carpet..... LOL

[@Lo7q7le7guste7mrtf]

I mean you don't need creep in the first place to start building a hatchery so....

[@goatfish480]

S-s-spawnnnn kill

[@tinycatmakfat]

Why don't you how like viewer games or something on these maps that dont get much play?

[@thatonedavid123]

Keep talking about the carpets . Enrage them.

[@Neloish]

Think god I was in withdraw.

[@ObeliskM]

What just happened in 2nd game? How Hero won despite having much less supply and losing 50 probes? I also wonder whats the point of building ravagers in pro matches, they suck since all top level players dodge their biles easily.

[@ferallhamster970]

Yes, but after killing a bunch of drones, they had equal worker counts, and hero had an army capable of stomping darks. It happens

[@Taznak]

Roach army supply is deceptive. 50 Roaches equals 100 army supply, as do 50 Stalkers- but with good Blink micro, 50 Stalkers will crush 50 Roaches easily. Roaches cost 75 minerals and 25 gas each, whereas Stalkers cost 125 minerals and 50 gas each, so of course Stalkers will be individually stronger if they cost 75% more resources. Add to that a big upgrade advantage, and Hero's Stalker army was getting hugely favorable trades; Dark had more income, but that money was just being bled away by having to replace all the Roaches that Hero was killing.

[@dahiakarajaofera8243]

Rugs

[@Ilcka]

leave the runners alone lowko >=/

[@hiddentruth1982]

it's 2023. talking about someone's carpet is harassments now.

[@JakobusMaximus]

Distuptors are just cancer units. They are so bad for viewers and players.

[@crystaldazz]

Were you drunk during this commentary?

[@RavagHer]

protoss with the quick upgrades is key