PvZ, Shakuras Plateau, Loss

Link: Replay
Opponents' Rank: Plat 55
Recap:

I open with the FFE, and the Zerg opens hatch first. Z catches my cannons at the natural and kills it with drones. We both go full workers as I get up to 5-gate blink/DT and Z gets a roach warren and infestation pit.

I move out right when Z's third is going down and try to pressure it with blink stalkers, but get caught and killed. (I'm supply blocked here and it makes a big difference in the number of stalkers I have.) My wave of DTs does no damage at the natural but does shut down mining at the third for a while.

At this point I've been slightly ahead on workers all game. I put down the robo for colossus and put up a third. We skirmish a bit for position in the middle of the map, but no major changes in the power balance occur. The Z's 4th goes up.

The decisive battle happens when I'm maxed and the Z gets brood lords. We sort of pass each other so positioning is odd, but the Z has the brood lords parked over one of those raised islands, which is terrible for me, so I back off. I do slightly better once we re-engage, but he cleans up with a bunch of roaches and 2-3 brood lords left and I can't recover.

Lessons

This whole plan of the FFE revolves around being able to put on pressure once I move out, and that fails miserably here. There were a few issues here, but they boil down to that first wave of stalkers getting trapped and killed.

To make that wave hit harder, I should adjust a few things.

First, not getting supply blocked, naturally.

Second, and I think this is something I should have carried over from the 3-gate sentry expand opening, my pressure needs a forward pylon for reinforcements.

Third, I want to coordinate the use of my DTs better. In a case like this where he has to bring his overseer and an army with him, I should put my stalkers in the way and intercept that army, buying time for the DT and maybe catching him by surprise.

To bring it all together, the new plan is: be active on the map with my first set of stalkers, clearing the towers, but stay off creep. Use the map control to put up a forward pylon and reinforce. Wait for the first wave of DTs to go in, then catch Z's army leaving the main. Do damage, stall for time, maybe snipe the overseer.