There are a lot of ways to open up in PvP, each with its strengths and weaknesses. One of the safest and most powerful (on some maps) is the Blink/Observer opening. And boy, oh boy, are there a lot of ways to open with Blink/Observer.

This build MC did in the OSL (I think it was vs Best, could be wrong though), and it really caught my eye. One of the most beautifully put together builds of this type that I’ve seen. This was done on Antiga Shipyard, which is the map it would be the absolute best on, but could work on Cloud Kingdom, and to a lesser degree, Shakuras Plateau. Don’t try it on Daybreak.

Here’s the build:

9 Pylon

13 Gateway (scout here, MC didn’t scout IIRC though)

15 Assimilator

16 Pylon (Chrono Nexus)

18 Cybernetics Core

19 Assimilator

20 Gateway

21 Warpgate (Chrono Boost Warpgate upgrade only now)

21 Stalker

24 Pylon

26 Stalker, Stalker

32 Pylon (Proxied somewhere near his base)

32 Twilight Council (just as stalkers pop out of your gateways)

34 Warp in 2 Stalkers at your proxy Pylon, this gives you 5.

Push forward immediately and together with your 5 Stalkers. You will have an army advantage at this moment vs almost every build.

37 Robotics Just as Twilight Council is finishing

(you should have 27-28 Probes, and 5 Stalkers at this time)

From here, Chrono Boost your Blink upgrade, and make some more Stalkers.

41 Gateway, Gateway

2x Stalkers, Observer

At 9 Stalkers, make 2 Sentries and a Warp Prism. If he has an expansion, you can use this to Force Field him in or out of his base and utilize your Stalkers to gain a huge advantage or outright win.

NOTES:

If you push into their base with your initial 5 Stalkers, and realize that they went for a 1 Gateway Blink rush, you have very limited time to do your damage. If he’s good, your stalkers will not get away. Make them count, make some Sentries at home, and get an Immortal.

If you are facing a mirror build, be careful about your choices. You can make Immortals and try to expand, but do not sit at home making only Stalkers. If you choose to continue Stalker production, you must be aggressive, and not miss your Macro at all if he has chosen the Immortal/Expansion route.

Don’t be afraid to abandon the build if you sense aggression in the form of 4 gate. You will have an advantage after defending it, even if you had to make several Sentries.

Against a purely aggressive Blink build, you will need to play defensively with Sentries holding your ramp. He will have more stalkers, and will easily kill you if you miss a Force Field and he has read the situation correctly.

Ok, that’s all I can think of for now. EnjoY~~~~!

Last night Squirtle showed some truly amazing play in Group C of the Code S ro32, which deserves to be gone over again.

Here is his opening build order:

9 Pylon
13 Gateway
15 Pylon
15 Gas
18 Cybernetics Core
18 Zealot
21 Gas
23 Pylon
23 Stalker (Chrono Boosted)
25 Warp Gate
27 Sentry

(Note that scouting occurs on 13 on large 4 player maps, and with the Zealot on 2 player maps. This can be subject to change.)

Now, off of this exact opening, Squirtle preformed 4 completely different builds:

3 Nexus into 8 Gateway Sentry bust
5gate
1 Gate expand into DT drop
1 Gate expand into 2 Colossus timing

It is pretty much impossible to tell which one he is doing with conventional scouting, because two ranged units get out (the stalker and the sentry) before his tech path reveals itself.

4 different builds, all difficult to scout, many requiring different tweaks to your play style to stop. Totally awesome to see planning like that when he’s facing a group full of Terrans who get to watch him play each of them. They can watch and study him, see the same thing they saw in his previous match, and BAM, its something completely different.

As a little bonus, here’s a really really old interview that Hwanni and I did with Squirtle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr2Tqdw8FcE

Open with standard forge expand, then:

20 Gas, Gas
26 Core
28 +1 Attack
32 Pylon, Warpgate
35 Pylon, Zealot
38 Stargate
(Chrono Boost Warpgate and the Zealot, all before this was on probes)
Zealot
(stop zealots at 42 for a bit)
46 Gate, Gate, Gate
(Chrono Boost Warpgate and Zealot)
Pylon, Zealot
48 Voidray
51 Gas, Gas
+1 Armor

Creator had an amazing run in the GSL Team League, much of it off the back of a very macro-oriented Protoss vs Terran upgrade heavy style. Here’s that build! Note that I don’t put in every single probe, chrono, or number. Make a lot of probes. Important chronos are listed.

Standard 1 gas PvT opening, then:

18 Zealot

22 Stalker (Chrono)

Stalker (Chrono)

30 Nexus

Stalker

31-34 Gas, Gate, Gate, Pylon OR Gate, Gate, Gas, Pylon. (choose based upon a variety of things, you want more gas, but vs aggression the gates will be better)

38 Robo

Sentry, Zealot, Sentry

Observer, Observer

50 Gas, Gas

67 Forge, Forge

Sentry, Zealot

75 Twilight

start 1/1 upgrades (chrono them a lot)

Immortal, Blink

Add more Stalkers

99 add 3 Gateways and your Robo Support for Colossus

105 Zealot Charge Upgrade, start 2/2 on Forges

110 Colossus, Range, 3rd base

As your 3rd finishes, start 3/3, get Templar Archives, add 4 more Gates, and make some Archons.

This build is really safe and powerful. You really need to hit all the timings on the build, and not mis-macro. Creator executed the entire build up to 110ish supply in many of his games almost to the exact supply number, you should try to as well!

This build was ripped from Sage’s PvZ game on Terminus Re during the GSL Code A. (forget which Zerg). Its definitely best on the Terminus Re where there are no destructible rocks leading to the third base. Remember to beware of Nydus Worms, as they are extremely powerful against any forge fast expand build on Terminus. The build can be used on other maps as well, but you must be very careful with your 3rd base timing!

The Build:

Open with Standard rules of Forge Fast Expands vs Zerg, then guessing he was last spot and you went for a 19 Nexus for safety:

20 Gateway

22 Gas, Gas

Core

Zealot

33 Pylon

Warpgate Upgrade, start +1 attack

Stalker

39 Gas, Twilight Council

43 Dark Shrine (about 7:20 on game clock)

Gateway, Gateway, Gateway

48 Robo (7:50 - 7:55 on game clock), (the robo can be proxied somewhere clever for more power if you like)

Warp in 4 DTs as Dark Shrine finishes, and Warp Prism as Robotics finishes. Warp in no more units until you drop in the Zerg main base, then warp in 4 more DTs. Target down any Spore Crawlers, the main Hatch, tech, etc. Make sure you get away with 4 of your DTs, as they will be needed later.

At home, after buying DTs #5-8, make sure to add some Cannons to your wallin. Immediate Stargate tech for Voidrays is very smart as well. The most danger you will be in will be a Roach/Overseer counter-attack.

The following build was created pre-patch 1.04 as a safe way to get into Blink/Observer for ultimate safety. I warn you now, this build is a bit of overkill at top levels. I never do this build exactly as it is written here, unless I’m 100% sure that they are 4gateing me. Normally I cut a Sentry, the 5th Stalker, and the 3rd Gateway out to speed it along, but that’s an extremely complicated discussion for another time.

9 Pylon

11 Chrono Nexus

12 Gateway (slight probe cut)

13 Chrono Nexus

14 Gas

15 Chrono Nexus

16 Pylon, Scout (if its a gigantic map, or you fear proxy gateways, scout before)

17 Core

19 Gateway, Gas

20 Warpgate

20 Stalker (stop probes for a bit) (chrono)

22 Pylon

22 Stalker (chrono)

24 Stalker (chrono)

26 Sentry

30 Sentry

30 Pylon

Restart Probe Production

Stalker, Stalker, as Sentries finish

~40 Robo => Twilight => Gate => Pylon

Observer + Blink immediately.

Too many branches from here to go further with the solid build order at this time.

This build was originally designed for Tal’Darim Altar. Sage used it in one of his GSL Team League games, and won with it in pretty convincing fashion. I’ve tested it some, and it works extremely well vs quick expansion builds which are so popular on the map. Don’t expect to beat some 3 Barracks SCV allin with this build. There are a few branches which change based upon what you scout, but I haven’t mapped all the branches out enough to go over those right now. Now, on with the build!:

9 Pylon

13 Scout

15 Nexus

15 Gateway, Probe

16 Gas

17 Pylon

19 Core

20 Gas, Zealot

Rally Probes from your main base to your expo, do not transfer any.

26 Warpgate

30 Stalker

32 Twilight Council

32 Gas

34 Pylon, Gas

38 Gateway, Gateway

40 Sentry

40~42 Dark Shrine, Robo

Forge, +1, Blink (get Charge instead if you are scared), and 6 Sentries total, as your tech finishes.

Remember to manage your DT’s well, and don’t lose that Warp Prism! You have to do some damage and cost him some time with this build. Normally you will be harassing 3 locations with 3 DTs. Most Terrans you find will save up Scans to punish you for spending so much economy getting into the DT Drop, so make sure you keep your macro up. (You normally can make ~4 DTs after the drop to make him burn the scans and stop his attack, but it can be dangerous. 1 Scan short and you lose the game. Great follow-up Macro is often your best choice for good practice, though it can be harder, and you probably won’t win as many games.)