The mid/late game transition that maxpax made in game one where he gets his first few colossus out, and then goes heavy into disruptor production is him reading Clem like a book. Clem (essentially) goes 9 vikings into an 8 disruptor maxpax. Just played him like a fiddle
Protoss do have to micro the most, almost all of their units have abilities and energy that needs to be managed and executed flawlessly to win any engagement.
its insane if remember how i saw maxpax firsttime when beastyQT was explaining how he stumbled upon random toss doing some really weird uncountrable strategy. he recorded few videos about him, tryed his strategy.. and look at him now. number 1 protoss in the world..
Maxpax has really come a long way. I remember when he used to be that odd Protoss cheeser with weird builds. But now it feels like he had Clem's number the whole time in that first game.
i love when p play tons of blink, warp prism micro, recalls, dt's, lots of good freeze fields; then seeing colossus and a few immortals pref. maybe some air support. man I looove fast teleporting and invis protoss+ good home def :D should have learned harder into that I think on design ^^
1:02 I find it funnily interesting that the top 3 are rated highest against Zerg, besides Serral, the best Zerg. If only Serral could spar against another Serral and just create the most insane monster
12:07. The problem is how the APM counts. Individual micro take a lot of attention but count less APM. When you focus on the blink timing to dodge the mines or on disruptor nova explosion, what else can you do simultaneously to have a higher APM count? You have to look at only one location for secs and then make another command instead of switching different groups to do something else. This really lowers down the average APM. Another example is kiting with large slowly firing units, instead of trying to break your wrist, you have to sync the firing rate and your moving rate to maximize the DPS. Again, low apm be counted and occupy a lot of attention.
With his Probius, with his big balls to faces, with his flow of seamlessly synced micro/macro... MaxPax is looking monstrous. That 1st game was unreal on both sides. Nonstop assaults and reinforcements. Clem hung on so well, but MaxPax was a war machine.
Oh I thought MaxPax already was the #1 protoss. I remember thinking it was MaxPax, Reynor, and Clem as the young titans in the top 5 and then Serral being the starcraft king. Then Maru chilling in the top 5 somewhere. Now that I lay this all out it doesn't make that much sense, but narrative ranking rarely does.
1:10 - We talk about balance, map design, competitive scene. Me, I talk about how now the top three match the order of the single-player campaigns. Now this means in a few months MaxPax will be #1, Maru #2, and Serral #3.
Just gonna say that I think the protoss micro belief has it's logic to it. Mostly stemming from skytoss still in everyone's mind, but also because the protoss micro-intense units are mostly early game stuff whereas zerg's are early and late game for example and terran is all game (if you're playing bio). And during early game, you have fewer units to keep track of and fewer engagements - maybe 2 max in most cases. So there is a logic to it. Even if you CAN actually micro as protoss.
When it comes to people complaining about Zerg's infestors and vipers, Harstem always says that Templars outrange them. Harstem himself can't micro well. Even her0 is just mainly early game micro. So we really haven't seen Protoss pushed to the level of Serral. A good game that shows this is Geralt vs Serral where Geralt was on point with the templar micro and shut down so many infestors. I believe that if there's a Protoss version of Serral, it will really show the true side of the race instead of people just complaining. Right now though, Terran seems to be the (stim) A-move race.
@@N0noy1989 Half my point was that there really isn't many difficult spellcasters and stuff to micro for protoss late game. Early you have zealots and stalkers. But I wouldn't really count templars because storm aoe is so big, it's not quite the same as picking out a siege tank or medivac from a terran death ball via abduction. Each race has some advantages and disadvantages that are unique to it which is one thing that I believe makes the game so fun to watch. Like Lowko always talks about all the vision creep gives, but at the same time... you're at a disadvantage for scouting early because you have to rely on slow moving overlord that's easily and quickly killed off. Plus unlike most protoss and terran units, zerg has to choose the right mix of zerglings and/or roaches in addition to queens because you can't just go queens, but no air defense can bite you real hard. Is it more of a disadvantage than the advantage you get from creep vision later on? Idk. But it's a tradeoff. And that's what makes the game interesting. Seeing who uses their advantages and unique options better.
I like to think about Max like the 3rd member of the Clem-Reynor group Each has their race, younglings destroying everybody... While you have Maru-Hero-Rogue on KR server I would kill to see some 3v3, I would bet on KR though!
Hey Lowko, by the way… your comment about chess. Its not small advantage, in pro chess plays its actually something around 1%. In casual games its 2-6%
I think was surface area, actually. The medivac pickup is so fast, but putting a field there turned the marines from being backed into a corner to being spread out, giving tons of surface area for the zealots to tear away.
dayum. i love maxpax playing this stalker/prism aggression. normally i am a zerg main (multiple master). but i switched to toss for fun. now i can't play anything else. its so much fun. plus, this stalker/prism + blink build. is something i spam since yesterday. i got so many wins cuz of that. now seeing maxpax playing the exact same shit. i feel confident climbing more. currently i am only plat/diamond mmr on toss. but considering i just switched a couple of days ago after playing for over a decade zerg. i think i do pretty good already. i hope to hit masters again, but this time around as toss. peace edit: i am far away from this nicely fluent micro'ing from maxpax. very nice to enjoy his plays.
The main problem of protoss seems to be low mobility (and awful design of disruptors). Zerg is fast, terran has medivacs, but protoss simply cannot move fast. Cannot split army. Cannot retreat without losing a bunch of stuff, usually his most expensive units, especially against marauders. And gateway units are mostly garbage cannon fodder after early stage of the game, so protoss has no choice but rely on boring, slow moving deathball.
It's forcing the Protoss to play hyper-aggressive to keep unit tiers low. Imagine how different these games would have gone if Terran had time to build Tanks.
"garbage cannon fodder" is too harsh. They're less cost-efficient than Terran and Zerg basic units, to be sure, but being able to warp them in quickly anywhere you have pylon power is a big advantage. Besides, the other races have their own weaknesses that Protoss does not: Terran infantry doesn't work in the midgame unless you invest a bunch of minerals, gas and supply on Medivacs. Also, if your medivacs get sniped by Phoenix, Vikings and such, Terran infantry powers down dramatically. In the case of Zerg, they have to commit to an upgrade path early on: Melee & Carapace upgrades for Zerglings, Banelings & Ultras; or Missile and Carapace upgrades for Roaches, Hydras & Lurkers. By comparison, Protoss can mix & match their units more freely, because their ground unit upgrades are shared by everyone.
@@Taznak far less cost efficient, so even ability to warp them is not that good as it seems (outside of cheeses); zerg and terran units destroy them too easily. Everyone plays bio with medivacs, it is not expensive and very powerful army. And medivacs are hard to snipe because of marines. Zerg is by far most powerful macro race. It can overwhelm enemies with numbers even when having inferiors upgrades. Zealots are joke compared to lings.
@@ObeliskM I agree that Protoss gateway units are generally inferior and Protoss as a race is a little underpowered. The one thing I disagree about, is that Warp In is stronger than you give it credit for. Zerglings may be a lot stronger than Zealots, but Protoss can warp in 10 Zealots in the enemy's main base with a Prism and it's very hard to stop; it's much harder for Zerg to sneak in 40 Zerglings into the opposing main.
Soon as I heard a chess reference I had to comment. Actually, chess is perfectly balanced. Neither side has an advantage and the game is mostly drawn at the competitive levels. The computer does give white a slight edge for being the first to move. That dosen't mean white is winning from the start. It is a draw from the starting position. Starcraft is a great Rts game and I am glad to see each faction at the top of the leader board, but we all know that a draw is very unlikely.
White are expected to win or draw, black are expected to draw or lose. So black usually go for lines that are known to force a draw. A black win is rarely seen at highest level. Also, white had the initiative, and black has to play reactive to "liberate". The only thing that balances chess is that players alternate sides. If you give one player always white and the other always black, only the white has a chance to win, while the black fight for draws.
@@XabiBello I have been playing chess for over a decade. The starting position is equal. Whites only advantage would be to move first. It isn't enough of an advantage to be considered winning. Think of it like this, there is only one way to win and that is with checkmate. However, there are several ways to draw.... perpetual check, stalemate, and three-fold repetitions. Even without considering the odds, it is actually a noticeable draw from the start because you have the exact same pieces. People look at the half a point advantage for white and consider it to be better, but like any strategy game, it is a small plus that they must convert it in to a much larger one over the course of the match.
Toss is kindof a-move IF you lean heavily into CIA composition; otherwise no, you gotta micro your little toss heart out or you'll get blasted by terran or swarmed by zerg.
Wow! Insane play by MaxPax denying Clem an economy and a foothold in the game. Clem was hanging by his fingertips off a cliff and MaxPax was stamping on his hands.
Blink on Stalkers is an ABSURDITY it should only be on DT and this unit NEED to be replaced by Dragoon. Alpha Star proved it and nothing should completely Negate the damage of an an attack!!
congrats to maxpax hes the best protoss for about a month then hes going to move to number 3 once hero stops making such dumb mistakes and stats gets a few more games under his belt
the ping pong nova balls in game 1 and zealot+pheonix challenge in game 2, what a god tier protoss !! but protoss only got 2 in the top 10, still unbalance af and they even nerf carriers+disruptor, dang it.
Now that we have a top 3 with all races included, can we please get a 1v1v1 with all 3 of them?
A free for all would be awesome!
ROFL... Interesting idea!!
Chad suggestion
Then we will got zerg bullied
Serral would win. It would be more interesting to have t&p vs serral.
15:40 that's one hell of a zealot charge
Do you think it was on purpose because he knew he had such a better economy?
That blink vs widow mine was a thing of beauty. Especially slowed down! 😮
12 years on and it's still not reached the skill ceiling. My god I love this game ❤
The "skill ceiling" will Never be reached while blizzard constantly "adjusts" units...
@@JSp4wN Very little of that to come.
I Love it, how proud he said" i dont micro i just attack move". while clem and maxpax microing they'r ass off.😂
Sure looked like the best Protoss in the world, that micro was clean!
MaxPax has come such a long way. His play has cleaned up so much and the agressions omg.
Grats for MaxPax!
10:37 Wow, truly beautiful. Time to try and lose 4 Stalkers xD
Who would have thought Max would be rated so high 2 years ago
*raises hand*
Everyone?
No way I put him at like beastyqt level, like really good but not elite but now he's top of the top
@@Matthew-uf1oh yah I meant I thought within 2 years being in top 3 is very unlikely top 20/ 10 yah for sure
Its always satisfying to see a protoss beat a terran.
No it isn’t
Nice to see terrans lose, yes, but having protoss win balances it out.
Dub Protoss 👑
ALWAYS!!!
@@cosmy8381 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 The NaCL is delicious
16:29 lowko out of context gold mine
"Just micro better" instantly made me think of PartinG, "It's so easy, just micro like me!"
16:31 Not the balls to the face!!!! 😮😅
2:25 CLEAR THE WAY FOR PROBIOUS!!!! LONG LIVE THE KING OF THE PROBES 😂😂
The mid/late game transition that maxpax made in game one where he gets his first few colossus out, and then goes heavy into disruptor production is him reading Clem like a book. Clem (essentially) goes 9 vikings into an 8 disruptor maxpax. Just played him like a fiddle
Protoss do have to micro the most, almost all of their units have abilities and energy that needs to be managed and executed flawlessly to win any engagement.
clem vs max pax...aka .....the adderal kid vs the computer LOL
its insane if remember how i saw maxpax firsttime when beastyQT was explaining how he stumbled upon random toss doing some really weird uncountrable strategy. he recorded few videos about him, tryed his strategy.. and look at him now. number 1 protoss in the world..
Maxpax has really come a long way. I remember when he used to be that odd Protoss cheeser with weird builds. But now it feels like he had Clem's number the whole time in that first game.
Good job lowko, once again beautiful insight and a good video as well to follow. Thank you.
i love when p play tons of blink, warp prism micro, recalls, dt's, lots of good freeze fields; then seeing colossus and a few immortals pref. maybe some air support.
man I looove fast teleporting and invis protoss+ good home def :D should have learned harder into that I think on design ^^
If Serral could figure out ZvZ his ranking wouldn’t even be close. Kinda crazy.
Do not give CLEM any CLEMENCY
Two of the greatest protoss games i've seen wow
1:02
I find it funnily interesting that the top 3 are rated highest against Zerg, besides Serral, the best Zerg. If only Serral could spar against another Serral and just create the most insane monster
12:07. The problem is how the APM counts. Individual micro take a lot of attention but count less APM. When you focus on the blink timing to dodge the mines or on disruptor nova explosion, what else can you do simultaneously to have a higher APM count? You have to look at only one location for secs and then make another command instead of switching different groups to do something else. This really lowers down the average APM.
Another example is kiting with large slowly firing units, instead of trying to break your wrist, you have to sync the firing rate and your moving rate to maximize the DPS. Again, low apm be counted and occupy a lot of attention.
Amazing game and cast, thank you!
16:26 But sometimes you just take some big balls to the face.
Lets go Maxie!
16:27 ahem...
SuS
Days since we last heard the LOWKO intro:3
I heard a baby cry and my car took a second longer to start a sign for bad times ahead
"Not a whole lot of micro" - misses the first two reapers dying
Great to see top tier play where Toss wins
With his Probius, with his big balls to faces, with his flow of seamlessly synced micro/macro... MaxPax is looking monstrous. That 1st game was unreal on both sides. Nonstop assaults and reinforcements. Clem hung on so well, but MaxPax was a war machine.
Oh I thought MaxPax already was the #1 protoss. I remember thinking it was MaxPax, Reynor, and Clem as the young titans in the top 5 and then Serral being the starcraft king. Then Maru chilling in the top 5 somewhere. Now that I lay this all out it doesn't make that much sense, but narrative ranking rarely does.
0:38 In case you're unfamiliar "aligulac" - illleavealink to it
This made me laugh way more than it had any right to
1:10 - We talk about balance, map design, competitive scene. Me, I talk about how now the top three match the order of the single-player campaigns. Now this means in a few months MaxPax will be #1, Maru #2, and Serral #3.
27:00 maybe i'm wrong, but i think maxpax put the forcefield there to slow the pickup down?
Taking big balls to the face
Bonkers seeing someone look that dominant against Clem
Lowco, please could you add the date of the match on the video description 🙌
Just gonna say that I think the protoss micro belief has it's logic to it. Mostly stemming from skytoss still in everyone's mind, but also because the protoss micro-intense units are mostly early game stuff whereas zerg's are early and late game for example and terran is all game (if you're playing bio). And during early game, you have fewer units to keep track of and fewer engagements - maybe 2 max in most cases.
So there is a logic to it. Even if you CAN actually micro as protoss.
When it comes to people complaining about Zerg's infestors and vipers, Harstem always says that Templars outrange them. Harstem himself can't micro well. Even her0 is just mainly early game micro. So we really haven't seen Protoss pushed to the level of Serral. A good game that shows this is Geralt vs Serral where Geralt was on point with the templar micro and shut down so many infestors. I believe that if there's a Protoss version of Serral, it will really show the true side of the race instead of people just complaining.
Right now though, Terran seems to be the (stim) A-move race.
@@N0noy1989 Half my point was that there really isn't many difficult spellcasters and stuff to micro for protoss late game. Early you have zealots and stalkers. But I wouldn't really count templars because storm aoe is so big, it's not quite the same as picking out a siege tank or medivac from a terran death ball via abduction.
Each race has some advantages and disadvantages that are unique to it which is one thing that I believe makes the game so fun to watch. Like Lowko always talks about all the vision creep gives, but at the same time... you're at a disadvantage for scouting early because you have to rely on slow moving overlord that's easily and quickly killed off. Plus unlike most protoss and terran units, zerg has to choose the right mix of zerglings and/or roaches in addition to queens because you can't just go queens, but no air defense can bite you real hard. Is it more of a disadvantage than the advantage you get from creep vision later on? Idk. But it's a tradeoff. And that's what makes the game interesting. Seeing who uses their advantages and unique options better.
Note that MP never made any late game units, not even 1.
I like to think about Max like the 3rd member of the Clem-Reynor group
Each has their race, younglings destroying everybody...
While you have Maru-Hero-Rogue on KR server
I would kill to see some 3v3, I would bet on KR though!
Incredible set! Thank you lowko!!! 🎉
Have we reached, the Maximum Paximum?
today's arrow is a solid 9/10, has a nice curve
It feels like protoss vs terran is just once ghosts come into the match suddenly the protoss just start getting bullied.
I like the big balls to the face comment.
What the heck was that charge at 15:38
Maxxy Paxxy!!!!
Clem built two reapers first off that reactor and u didn't catch them in the cast at all, was really curious how those died
Lowko any interesting games on the Protoss vs. Protoss front? All PvZ and PvT recently.
Mapax is playing the most impressive game this is wonderful
I agree with you Lowko, MaxPax should go to offline tournaments...
Well deserved world 1st for Maxpax
“But sometimes even the best terrans, they end up taking one of those big balls to the face” -Lowko 2023
))))))))
great game!
Hey Lowko, by the way… your comment about chess. Its not small advantage, in pro chess plays its actually something around 1%. In casual games its 2-6%
Am I crazy, or lowko is callinnng the colossus upgrade extended thermo lens?
As a Terran main, I’ve only won against Protoss once. I also don’t play all that much, but it’s still a total of 11 games against Protoss
Those random forcefields are meant to block the medievac pickups I guess
I think was surface area, actually. The medivac pickup is so fast, but putting a field there turned the marines from being backed into a corner to being spread out, giving tons of surface area for the zealots to tear away.
wow MP is on fire
Man, widowmines fought really hard but MaxPax eventually got the best of him.
Whats that ranking website?
dayum. i love maxpax playing this stalker/prism aggression. normally i am a zerg main (multiple master). but i switched to toss for fun. now i can't play anything else. its so much fun. plus, this stalker/prism + blink build. is something i spam since yesterday. i got so many wins cuz of that. now seeing maxpax playing the exact same shit. i feel confident climbing more.
currently i am only plat/diamond mmr on toss. but considering i just switched a couple of days ago after playing for over a decade zerg. i think i do pretty good already. i hope to hit masters again, but this time around as toss.
peace
edit: i am far away from this nicely fluent micro'ing from maxpax. very nice to enjoy his plays.
Nice to see terran scrambling around trying to stop multiple attacks and failing.
Maxpax ftw!
Lowko: just micro!
me: cries in 90 APM and 2500 MMR, never climbing any higher
you are betten then me mate i avarage 54-60 APM
@@edgardo400zx don't worry about it mate APM ain't everything :)
This guy is SOOOO good!
Maxpax was relentless… damn
These guys are unbelievable but… one sentry at the 6 minute mark locks Clem’s army out of his main.
13:40
6 zealots + DT in main
8 zealots in 3rd
Main army at 4th...
Clem defended it like it was nothing really...
Amazing game from protoss❤
Rank 1 Toss without playing offline Tournaments, impressive!
The main problem of protoss seems to be low mobility (and awful design of disruptors). Zerg is fast, terran has medivacs, but protoss simply cannot move fast. Cannot split army. Cannot retreat without losing a bunch of stuff, usually his most expensive units, especially against marauders. And gateway units are mostly garbage cannon fodder after early stage of the game, so protoss has no choice but rely on boring, slow moving deathball.
It's forcing the Protoss to play hyper-aggressive to keep unit tiers low. Imagine how different these games would have gone if Terran had time to build Tanks.
"garbage cannon fodder" is too harsh. They're less cost-efficient than Terran and Zerg basic units, to be sure, but being able to warp them in quickly anywhere you have pylon power is a big advantage.
Besides, the other races have their own weaknesses that Protoss does not: Terran infantry doesn't work in the midgame unless you invest a bunch of minerals, gas and supply on Medivacs. Also, if your medivacs get sniped by Phoenix, Vikings and such, Terran infantry powers down dramatically.
In the case of Zerg, they have to commit to an upgrade path early on: Melee & Carapace upgrades for Zerglings, Banelings & Ultras; or Missile and Carapace upgrades for Roaches, Hydras & Lurkers. By comparison, Protoss can mix & match their units more freely, because their ground unit upgrades are shared by everyone.
@@Taznak far less cost efficient, so even ability to warp them is not that good as it seems (outside of cheeses); zerg and terran units destroy them too easily.
Everyone plays bio with medivacs, it is not expensive and very powerful army. And medivacs are hard to snipe because of marines.
Zerg is by far most powerful macro race. It can overwhelm enemies with numbers even when having inferiors upgrades. Zealots are joke compared to lings.
@@ObeliskM I agree that Protoss gateway units are generally inferior and Protoss as a race is a little underpowered. The one thing I disagree about, is that Warp In is stronger than you give it credit for. Zerglings may be a lot stronger than Zealots, but Protoss can warp in 10 Zealots in the enemy's main base with a Prism and it's very hard to stop; it's much harder for Zerg to sneak in 40 Zerglings into the opposing main.
Yeah Protoss skill expression is more limited compared to T and Z
Imo terran players micro more. Thats why historically their wrists burn out much faster.
haha! my favorite Protoss is the number 1 Protoss, haha!
The f2 a move comes from lower leagues where everybody is to bad to really complain.
since star craft 1. the weakness of protoss is EMP shockwave,. this game would be finish earlier if it wasn't for the emp shock wave
As a Terran player, I take a lot of big balls to the face, 16:25
Soon as I heard a chess reference I had to comment. Actually, chess is perfectly balanced. Neither side has an advantage and the game is mostly drawn at the competitive levels. The computer does give white a slight edge for being the first to move. That dosen't mean white is winning from the start. It is a draw from the starting position. Starcraft is a great Rts game and I am glad to see each faction at the top of the leader board, but we all know that a draw is very unlikely.
White are expected to win or draw, black are expected to draw or lose. So black usually go for lines that are known to force a draw. A black win is rarely seen at highest level. Also, white had the initiative, and black has to play reactive to "liberate".
The only thing that balances chess is that players alternate sides. If you give one player always white and the other always black, only the white has a chance to win, while the black fight for draws.
@@XabiBello I have been playing chess for over a decade. The starting position is equal. Whites only advantage would be to move first. It isn't enough of an advantage to be considered winning.
Think of it like this, there is only one way to win and that is with checkmate. However, there are several ways to draw.... perpetual check, stalemate, and three-fold repetitions.
Even without considering the odds, it is actually a noticeable draw from the start because you have the exact same pieces. People look at the half a point advantage for white and consider it to be better, but like any strategy game, it is a small plus that they must convert it in to a much larger one over the course of the match.
Toss is kindof a-move IF you lean heavily into CIA composition; otherwise no, you gotta micro your little toss heart out or you'll get blasted by terran or swarmed by zerg.
You can't call someone #1 if they've never won a LAN tournament lol
Wow! Insane play by MaxPax denying Clem an economy and a foothold in the game. Clem was hanging by his fingertips off a cliff and MaxPax was stamping on his hands.
Protoss Players always cheers me up. Go get em champs. ;-;
You heard it here, Terran players take big balls to the face.
Lowko should play chess
Blink on Stalkers is an ABSURDITY it should only be on DT and this unit NEED to be replaced by Dragoon. Alpha Star proved it and nothing should completely Negate the damage of an an attack!!
maxi pax! ha ha ha!
GGWP
congrats to maxpax hes the best protoss for about a month then hes going to move to number 3 once hero stops making such dumb mistakes and stats gets a few more games under his belt
Online only champion tho
if you suck at being protoss then play like MaxPax or Hero, EZPZ
In grandmaster vs grandmaster chess games, something like 75%+ won games are played as white. Can someone please fix this IMBA!
Is you lololowko?????😅
the ping pong nova balls in game 1 and zealot+pheonix challenge in game 2, what a god tier protoss !! but protoss only got 2 in the top 10, still unbalance af and they even nerf carriers+disruptor, dang it.
PIMBA
Disruptor is so broken
Maxpax only won because he was up 2 bases in every game and he could've still lost the game if he miss-microed.
👍🦸♂