StarCraft 2: Zest's SPICY Stargate Variety! (Best-of-5 vs Solar)

[@fabiodesouza7890]

Man i really happy to find this channel...i watched sc 2 tournaments with day9, hd starcraft and husky 8-9 years ago...i think so many players retired like jaedong, huk, idra, whitera..but anyway im glad to watch sc 2 professional games again even though i dont play on pc anymore.

[@Rockpet]

Lowko a tournament idea could be the best players from each race do 2v2v2 against the best from other races. Like zest and showtime vs maru and clem vs serral and dark

[@ianstadtlander9736]

hope lowko sees this! love this idea!

[@Rockpet]

He highlighted it

[@justanalek1413]

I like this idea but it is impossible I think. Lowko would have to get in contact with these people in the first place and how would they communicate with eachother?

[@Rockpet]

Artosis maybe? Or just Europe pros, sometimes he can talk to Koreans also when they are in tournaments

[@Rockpet]

He has a picture with dark which he said he had like 2 years ago

[@REDandBLUEandORANGE]

Damn that last game was unbelievable close. If zest hadn’t clutched it in the end there he was so done

[@Totototo-nr8dh]

I don't know if you are going to read this but i re-discover Starcraft 2, i was playing it years ago when SC2 was out... and i was watching cast like football on TV. I'm doing it one more time with you for 2 months, eating at work watching your cast. This is so good. I love it so much. Thank you men! One of your French fan :).

[@LowkoTV]

Merci beaucoup!

[@shikasta123]

As painful as that first match was to watch i have to said I m impressed by how well Zest is playing and how FUN his style of play is. I hope he keeps it up and we can see more of his skill. I m now waiting for more PvZ which is something i didn t see myself waiting for before.

[@edmondarmstrong1834]

Skytoss is killing this game for me. A dead donkey can win if they get the right timing. SC needs a 4th race to adjust the balance in the next game.

[@tedculbertson6320]

@@edmondarmstrong1834 And you can't just nerf skytoss because it's the only counter to lurkers.

[@Kevin-jv7mz]

He just built void rays every game and moved over terrain....what is fun about that

[@nickwatson7164]

@@tedculbertson6320 id happily give up lurkers if it meant no more void rays. Like straight up remove them :). I will also trade BL for carriers

[@hockeyguy1166]

@@nickwatson7164 I'm with you on this one. I think there are just way too many units in SC2. Honestly just love ground wars, grinding units, trading over and over.

[@Nutella150]

27:55 *Zest throws psi-blade into the casting booth* “Are you not entertained?! Is this not why you are here?”

[@trijirogaming]

Lowko you missed the massive disruptor hit at 32:45

[@LanceFehr]

I was surprised by how the last game ended. It seemed very abrupt. I thought for sure he'd be behind after losing 31 workers... What a boss! Also the links on your outro kinda spoil it Lowko. You should maybe consider talking a bit after gg so it doesn't pop up before the game is called.

[@LowkoTV]

Oh that’s my bad. Forgot to adjust those, thanks for reminding me. Fixed!

[@realenew]

maybe zest is taking that gold base exactly to bait solar to attacking

[@spencerhubert2256]

Lowko, your beautifully sarcastic "Reeeeally" has been stuck in my head for weeks. Thank you for your wonderful casts and your phenomenal personality

[@UnsoberIdiot]

I was 100% expecting zest to take this 3-0. Nice to see the match make it to the 5th game.

[@gabiteodoru]

I do really like it when you speed up past the more boring parts, and while I do like your banter, I do love it much more when you analyze strategy and even rewind a few times on a multi-tasking situation to explain what's going. Just so you know your fast-forwarding is very much appreciated by some (and even encouraged!) :)

[@chir0pter]

24:38 did Solar split off that worker toward the adepts as bait knowing Zest would autopilot into targeting the closest, but then morphing to a spore just before Zest could fire? Incredible micro

[@Spartsou]

along with the Terran Music in SC2, the LOTV Protoss music is excellent as well, imo, specifically, Valley My shield, Holding up The Sky, and The Golden Armada. I also wish we could choose what music plays in our games even if we're not playing Tarran or Protoss like in the first replay, but, it'll probably never happen unless Microsoft adds a Music Player, which I imagine shouldn't be that hard. Of course, that's after the purchase in a year.

[@AlanChatham]

Lowko needs like a book of household tips that he can read to us for the first 5 minutes of ZvP

[@lordtyrus1]

I love how zest uses the zealots to push the warping archons towards their targets

[@TheJunkernaut]

Last fight I literally felt dumbfounded. Zest went from eating a ton of biles to perfectly microing his whole army of red health bar units, and chases down an army about 20 supply higher than his. Unbelievable

[@titocristobal5573]

You know, force supply blocking the enemy has always been something I've been pondering when playing SC 2. That's something I used to love to do back at Warcraft 3, just build fast air units and attack supply buildings, just enough to do a run by. Make sure to not lose any of the units so you won't be behind when it comes to eco because you're forcing the enemy to spend wood when you're already building an army that will replace the raiding air units. I'm not a SC 2 pro though, so maybe it won't work entirely. lol

[@N0noy1989]

That "used to be" (but sometimes still used) strat in SC1. Bunch of corsairs to hunt the overlords, then it triggers an air force race with the zerg. It's really funny to check the evolution of sc1 air meta with that one.

[@niccololaforteza7983]

Terran theme: plays Lowko: *PENENEW NEW NEW NEW*

[@Starcraft2Raum]

What a siiiiiick match! This is top level entertainment! :D

[@rockstar6goalkeeper]

Man this cast made me realize that starcraft 2 is old. I've been watching stim marines split against splash damage for 10 years. I'm ready for a new rts

[@thtupid]

oldie but goodie. It's like saying tennis is an old game therefore we need a new form of tennis. But I do agree with you though. As a player, it would be nice to have updated graphics, gameplay and all that. But as a spectator, age is not so much of an issue when the game still looks decent. Funnily enough, I think almost/definitely (depending when people read this i suppose) more time has passed now since starcraft 2's first release to now compared to when brood war was first released up until starcraft 2's release. ie 1999 for brood wars to 2010 compared to now.

[@rockstar6goalkeeper]

@@thtupid I don't find any physical sport entertaining to watch so the tennis analogy backfires on me. However, I vivdly remember a startcraft personality (maybe winter? It was long ago) do a long form explanation why traditional physical sports and things like chess do not age, but that same formula DOESN'T work for esports. He breaks it down really well and it becomes apparent that you can't compare esports to soccer or tennis. We need new games and the new games need more than new graphics/ui/quality of life. It needs to reinvent the wheel. Starcraft 3 would need new units, not marines seige tanks and storm all over again

[@thtupid]

@@rockstar6goalkeeper That would be an interesting point of view. I wont necessarily agree because at the end of the day, esports or not are just entertainment and the players are entertainers. That is it. The medium does not matter. As for a games point of view, I agree. New stuff means new rules and new things. But as a spectator, the same is good too. At the end of the day, for me, esports, especially strategy games like SC2, are all about the tactics, management of micro and macro and developing new tactics based on what is available. That is it. Storms and tanks and etc are just part of the equation. Having new units dont necessarily enhance the viewing experience if all of a sudden everybody starts using the new units and discard the old. In a way, how the pros use the said units is what matters. Not what is available to use. For me anyway. I will try find that video you are talking about though. thanks.

[@rockstar6goalkeeper]

@@thtupid hope you find it, it's in one of his monologue videos where he discusses the genre, things like Frost Giant Studios, more recently AoE4. And hey man, if it does it for you that's awesome and you're the reason the game is still alive. But the factually declining audience, playerbase, and overall popularity tell the bigger story. Without novelty games descend into cult classics that will always have fans like you but will overall fade into history

[@thtupid]

@@rockstar6goalkeeper Yeah sadly, I cannot disagree with you there. I am looking forward to the frost giant studio game though! And possibly a sc3 now that microsoft has control.

[@getawaykid]

Xzibit playing carriers on Pride of Altaris: I heard you like protoss ships? So I built protoss ships in your protoss ship while fighting on a protoss ship!

[@1KamaronConClase]

Great match as always! Amazing plays from both players and a banger of an ending!

[@syth9]

FYI it’s “tree-fiddy” if you want that authentic pronunciation. Another great vid, thanks Lowko!

[@Scarecrow-zr3zx]

That collosus warp prism micro at the end though

[@raphaelantoine7331]

Voidrays are so good at sniping hatchery 😱

[@joshuahitchins1897]

Doing their best corruptor cosplay.

[@mostafapanahi3240]

Oh the last game... solar just went a liiiiitle overboard on the pressure with roaches. Thanks lowko❤

[@ajantebuchanan3629]

great game! Solar stood tall against a Hot Champ, big props. Im not familiar with the rankings but havent heard of solar so Im assuming hes not the highest rank (maybe a little misleading judging by the play style) but definitely showed somethings Zest should consider improving on. To be able to prevail against the unexpected while being transparent is really impressive. Definitely looks good for the champs future...

[@Amoeby]

I like that ZvP has the most optimised early game. I wish the other matchups had it too like in wc3 which has the standard for all matchups. That way we can focus more on how the build is executed and not what build player chooses.

[@miragenikita6329]

its pretty good you speed the boring parts up!

[@VinayKapadiaVK]

Lowko is the Loch Ness Monster, confirmed.

[@nononthegreat1612]

Lowko i want to see more of the 2 player 1 base game.

[@ThousandYearWinter]

34:52 "I could tell you the story of my life.." TELL US

[@xzst]

Void rays are kinda broken tbh. Same with ghosts and lurkers.

[@hockeyguy1166]

I don't think lurkers and ghosts are as broken. Ghosts still require a lot of attention and immortal, zealot is decent against lurkers.

[@Schoolfunds1]

A tournament idea; the player chooses their opponent’s race. Or everyone plays random every time. Or off-race only.

[@asterpw]

Wasn't that an early GG in game 5? The Collossus and Archons were all almost dead and Solar had 9 roaches about to hatch.

[@Arhatu]

This game needs an official 4th multiplayer faction for a new breath of life.

[@AzureAiluren]

Lowko: Man, this protoss air army is so A-move deathball! Corrupters: LOL. LMAO.

[@CookDinger]

You ever A-move corrupters into carriers? You’ll see more spinning and twirling than an episode of dancing with the stars.

[@Rob-dc9bv]

Thumbs up to accelerating the PvZ early games, we've all seen that stuff enough times.

[@gh0str4nger49]

Hey lowko i domt know if you know about DSC but he's done one of the best renditions of terran 3 i have ever heard. you should definitely check him out.

[@M.B___]

I have seen a pro flawless zest game before, the man is the definition of a wild card though.

[@mitoroskokoros589]

finally... tempest

[@yoelezequieldemedici2545]

A protoss wining Katowice? That sooo 2014 Lowko, you so funny :P

[@kozatas]

Zest well deserved it. Watch 4th game to see how Solar's APM is not enough even for creep spreading.

[@MichaelNatrin]

Great matchup.

[@Y0G0FU]

If i was a betting man my Money would be on Maru to win IEM Katowice. But Zest is a very close contender. And in general the competition is incredible this Year. Most of the Pros seem to be on their best. Cant wait for the games :D

[@benjaminlear1619]

Zest: Snipes a Zerg Hive with Rays. Me: Yes, yes. Purified. @Lowko To be fair. Zerg should struggle late game against Protoss. All should. This was literally their design at the start of StarCraft. Since 1998. Also, beating a Protoss player on a timing attack is you being better sir.

[@benjaminlear1619]

As for nerfing Void Rays. I don't know. Terrans are supposed to be the most versatile race. Zerg are supposed to overwhelm with numbers. Etc etc.

[@shikanoin_vik_gaming]

Zest deserved it, and also kind of a disrespect from our Zerg not even calling gg in the first game, even if Zest was just dominating that game, while Zest GGs every single loss.

[@larrystclair6151]

he did type g, could of been accidental bm rather than intentional.

[@shikanoin_vik_gaming]

@@larrystclair6151 You might be right.. But it was a bit frustrating seeing a pro player only calling it game while he's against the only protoss in pro level..

[@larrystclair6151]

@@shikanoin_vik_gaming yeah i can only hope it was unintentional, it would be really lame of him otherwise. it is his job after all he should have some degree of professionalism.

[@larrystclair6151]

@@shikanoin_vik_gaming Also, zest isn't the only pro level toss, hell... he might not even be the best. Trap is killing it rn, Parting also gives him a run for his money.

[@shikanoin_vik_gaming]

@@larrystclair6151 only protoss in top 10 - if MaxPax is still 11.

[@khalilomar6364]

40:05 As a toss I feel the same about zerg

[@Dude1112]

How did the Zerg lose exactly 562 gas around 8 min mark when shown? Zerg can’t pay for repair. Where did the 62 come from? Am I missing something obvious?

[@Alternative-Works]

Cancels on gas buildings or morphing gas units is like 64% or something, gives you weird amounts

[@milesbilleter4782]

Awesome content.

[@paulchiu8853]

Epic last game , if the colossus range can be done 10 seconds earlier , the fight would’ve been one sided for zest

[@lukasbrian8368]

mmm' thats some zesty cheese, my favorite

[@danielbrannon8371]

The only thing that could make Blizzard do another balance patch is Protoss winning at IEM.

[@johnkovacs9722]

I dont understand why after the first two losses doing the same build they wouldnt have gone mass blink stalker, those tempest losses were HUGE and could have been a half army of stalkers destroying the mostly all air army

[@NGBigfield]

Game #1 was a German blitzkrieg against Poland

[@pv2639]

pass the Dutchie on the left hand side

[@Villafrea]

Lowko, are you saying the only thing I have to do to win a GSL is to give up my Friday beer? If that's so you may be casting some of my games shortly... I have already started my climb up in the ladder by winning a hold tournament last Friday. Would you mind warning Serral and Maru there is sheriff in town baby

[@TubeTAG]

> Against Protoss I feel like i’m just getting lucky You’re playing against the meta. Which may not feel any better but you don’t get 65% win rate on pure luck. Sooner or later the disruptor follow up will become meta and you’ll finally have to change. Probably after Zerg players stop playing whatever the double stargate hard counters.

[@sergritm]

I couldn't look at the first game. This is my ZvP summed up.

[@maxefficiency8384]

When does the IEM tourney start?

[@adrianSolca]

Serious question; if Protoss is so easy as lowko says and Zerg is so hard, why is the list of top tournament winners full of Zerg players?

[@vuhdoo7486]

Can anyone tell me where i find this replay?

[@georgisgarage]

ahahaah i love how salty you are about the skytoss. Ive been a toss player for years and recently have been playing Z.....I'm starting to agree

[@Jbell101792]

I really think solar would have won that battle in the 3rd game if he just shifted his corruptors away from the archons. I also think he would have won that battle in the 4th game if his roaches had a few vipers as backup (abduct those colossus!). I know... easier said than done.

[@mho...]

Protoss Ground armys are the be(a)st!

[@electricitybomb]

zest is the new trap

[@ShroomGill]

zest is insane

[@juztina7346]

Last match solar still ahead he already kill all the probes

[@BGPsychology]

10X!

[@jarenb2331]

Dear blizzard- bring down power of end game air toss and buff earlier units.

[@ryuck6981]

POG !

[@wazio69]

so is zvp back to the 10 min no rush from original sc lol

[@REDandBLUEandORANGE]

If you don’t like the way that you play zvt just play like Serral :D Just get those vipers and steal all there hopes and dreams

[@You-ul8qw]

39:48 Yeah I getcha, but tbh this is something protoss players have had to do and have been doing for far longer than zerg players. It's why people get upset when they lose to protoss, because rather than being outplayed they were outsmarted. Much unlike PvZ, ZvT is a matchup completely dependent on mechanics, there is no strategy required in them, you just make some units and try to control them well whilst your life hangs in the balance. 1 small slipup can lead to you losing the game at masters+ level mostly due to terran being a very mechanics based race. It can be these risks as to why protoss players used to lose so much, as players like Serral and Serral, has massive brains and can guestimate what his opponent is doing off of little information by using his mega mind. Zerg players who enjoy ZvT more than any other matchup (almost all of them) can then get upset when they lose to a player who got 'lucky', as they 'happened' to be caught with their pants down and have nothing they can do about it can be very frustrating as the protoss didn't require much skill to pull of their little cheesy trick. Similar things can happen to protoss players when they lose a game they were miles ahead in because the zerg player had a spire somewhere in their complex hivemind of bases, and made 7 mutalisks which killed too many workers of the protoss. PvZ is a matchup of psychological warfare and tactics to best anticipate your opponents own tactics. It is not a matchup of mechanics so do not be fooled into thinking it is. I have beaten late game skytoss as a lategame zerg up to the 4.6k mmr mark and if you figure it out, you can have very high winrates. My recommendation for zerg players, play protoss. Play it well and consistently. Watch builds on it, and play it almost as much as your zerg main. This will help you significantly, and perhaps even bump your PvZ winrate to 90%.

[@Nightmare_52]

so you could say that zest is getting.... zesty

[@WebWingRecords]

As a Protoss main, game #1 felt SO good! 😁

[@avalonaura4076]

I am disappointed. You didn't title the video "Zesty Stargate Variety"

[@SaltpeterTaffy]

Protoss main here, just enjoying a warm mug of zerg tears during game 3.

[@justsomeguy1671]

Tempests just don't seem as good as voids, unless I'm mistaken I think if he'd put his resources into voids he'd have had them out quicker and done more damage. I think the amount on overkill is what makes them worse

[@squee222]

I'm actually ok with you speeding up these games when they are repetitive. This video is already an hour long, and you don't want to go much longer than that.

[@reaper8113]

Day 99 of asking lowko to play Emperor battle for Dune

[@jirivaltr560]

Bruh, you do not usually make fun of protoss A-moving. But when you do, you are right about it. This time, well, not so much. Look at that fucking micro Zest has shown us! These carrier/voidray micro steps, archon attacks and stuff... definitely not 20 APM. Actually he microed it better than Zerg.

[@MsNotorials]

You're right, that was at least a blazing 50 APM from Zest!

[@guitogabriel]

I dont know how zest Wons the last game

[@Computertypad]

Warpprism hopping won the last game... pfh

[@velocirapper]

I dunno of it was spicy really. It was more... zesty Huehuehuehue

[@jean-philipperodriguez3617]

As usual, with every match with Protoss, I look at the end directly, and if Protoss win, I just leave : I don't stand at all the current meta with the Protoss and way too much casting on protoss victory thoses last weeks. For me protoss vs anything is the worst games to watch : overcheated unit (carrier) and built-in cheese technics all day long... X_X

[@_TheDinoMaster]

Pog

[@ronstanley7850]

Ha, you're gonna put yourself out of a job if you do what you did at around 33 minutes: "I'm gonna put this on 4x speed because I know what they are gonna do, nexus here at second this, yep he did, these games are boring at the beginning and end, I will just slow this down, because I know you guys get annoyed." There's an English phrase, "seeing how the sausage is made," which is a metaphor for how if you show how it's really done, no one is as interested in the end product anymore.

[@marcomarin1196]

another day in Voids are too OP and a-move carriers are boring

[@reactivereplays5666]

Can't stand Lowko's Protoss hatred in every game he casts for 5 years because he is dogshit at the ZvP matchup. Glad Winter started focus casting games on youtube so we can get unbiased casts.... Unsub

[@zungnguyen5300]

hey, is this just me or the game is kinda dark?

[@matthewclark7955]

Its weird you keep pointing out how boring the openers are and pointing out how there is variety in the other match ups. But you keep missing the key piece of information Protoss cannot actually win anything at the level where it matters. So this isnt just the best opener for p vs z, its the only one the Protoss can do to actually try and win anything.

[@brutalmadness9099]

Vipers abduct. STUPID

[@jacobedkins1997]

Someone please tell Lowko to stop making puns

[@jacobedkins1997]

Jk

[@navins11]

Your zerg bias is starting to become annoying. Every video it's noticeable. Also stop whining about the same start each game, it's also becoming annoying.

[@navins11]

and 5 sec later u admit to having zerg bias... w/e not deleting my comment as both points still stand.

[@dppsupporter5622]

Lmao protoss joke race

[@spokoman23]

Lowko, thanks again for the unbiased casting... LOL, not.

[@edmondarmstrong1834]

Skytoss has literally killed this game for me. I still enjoy tvz and tvt matches but a dead donkey can win playing Skytoss, it ruins my enjoyment of the entire thing because Blizzard couldn't give a single shit.

[@pepinillorick5741]

This game is just ruined, that was fking stupid, unfair, unfun. Just uninstall. Oh Lowko be strong, play something else once in a while, i would go insane.

[@minecrafttryhard5711]

I found a way to play sc2 on my phone just reply to this comment and I'll tell you