I’d like to use this time to insist that every Protoss player in Stacraft 2 team games must construct additional pylons.

“But WiNG,” you begin to stammer in a thick, Korean accent, “I already construct just the right number of pylons! I am rarely, if ever supply blocked. And I place my pylons around my base, granting me adequate sight while also creating redundant Psionic Matrix grids!”

That’s all well and good, but I’m not talking about pylons in your own base. Or proxy pylons halway across the map. Or manner pylons.** I’m talking about a pylon seemingly missing from most team games: the cavalry pylon.

So, what the hell is a cavalry pylon?

Back in the dark ages before Tactical Tuesdays and Thursdays, I recommended two Starcraft 2 commentary channels I heartily enjoy. These commentators offered humor and insight into the game, serving as a window into laughing through the blunders of pro and noob alike. However, there exists a greater force in the Starcraft 2 commentary circuit. [...]

Starcraft 2 patch 1.1.2 is out now and includes a large number of game-changing balance tweaks. Medivacs and Void Rays got hit hard, Roaches got a gigantic boost, and Reapers are now completely unusable. Let’s go through the complete patch notes.

This article is a continuation of a series. See Part 1 and Part 2 for context. In what should be the last of my Warcraft/Starcraft changelog rants, I’d like to talk about the biggest shocker I encountered upon learning Starcraft 2′s launch details. It wasn’t the in-game RPG talkathon, or the Lost Vikings homage. It [...]

Last time, we established that the majority of improvements between Starcraft 1 and Starcraft 2 were actually improvements from Starcraft 1 to Warcraft 3. From the basic 3D camera to the UI and control improvements, a lot of the credit Starcraft 2 has received for its advancement since the original is probably a tad overstated.

More puzzling, however, was the large number of RTS innovations included in Warcraft 3 that are absent in Starcraft 2. The previous article focused primarily on anti-cheesing measures built into each race’s infrastructure that decreased the rock-paper-scissors aspect of early game rushes. With them, Warcraft 3 managed to remove the majority of all-in cheese from the game without placing awkward terrain or time restrictions on players.

What else did Blizzard’s oldest RTS include in its newest offering? For one thing: dynamic environments.

With all the fawning and fanfare over Starcraft 2, it’s easy to highlight how long it’s been since the original Zergling simulator debuted, and how much has changed and improved.

But as accumulated play time increases and more and more aggressive, odd, and cheesy builds emerge, it’s just as easy to overlook how little Starcraft has actually evolved. Where is the modern RTS dynamism and evolution gamers have been waiting for?

Turns out they missed it. It was called Warcraft 3.

If you haven’t gathered by now, I recently caved and purchased Starcraft 2 at KMart’s incredibly reasonable generous $40 price point. What does this mean for you, other than the fact that there’s one more terrible, terrible player in Silver League now? Well, I’ve got 2 Guest Passes available, entitling whoever wants them to 7 [...]

While I’ve certainly learned from experience, experience requires time, effort, and thought. Not particularly willing to dedicate all three of those resources to Starcraft, I discovered two YouTube channels with incredible educational and (dare I say it?) entertainment value.