Day 400. Cyclones still being produce. We have mined the planet clean of resources, and have moved on to mining other planets to continue the fight against the bugs. Even civilian vehicles and drivers have been drafted in to The Great Cyclone. High command tries to deny us access. But they too will be assimilated for their arrogance. None may withstand The Great Cyclone. It is all and all will be Cyclone.

Sir our Cyclones are ineffective and being picked off over and over. MAKE MORE CYCLONES!

This had to be an experimental game for thermal, right? Just to see how going pure mass cyclone would be like?

“It’s like Zerg Vs Zerg but one Zerg is made out of metal” Next Blizzard meeting: “Hey guys do we have this new co-op commander Stettman”

Cyclones' lock on is spell damage, so it doesn't benefit from attack upgrades, only from the mag field accelerator. It also ignores armor, so both zerg carapace and terran mech weapons were almost irrelevant in this match.

In Soviet Russia terrans zerg zergs.

All he was missing were Widow Mines along his kiting routes...

I wish uthermal would have transitioned to battlecruisers. Cyclone Battlecruiser is a VERY powerful unit Comp.

I think they just played monobattles.

If terrans want to be like zerg, our infestators can help them

I love how BeastyQt plays this strat, starting with helion-cyclon he transitions to battlecruisers, liberators and ghosts with lots of nukes. I'm not even a terran player but it's so satisfying to watch

No way these guys are in platinum league

I'm so conflicted. I love seeing terran overcome and win against zerg, but if terran is playing like zerg i dont know who to cheer for.

Summary of this Match: thermy: "I'm going all in on cyclones and nothing else".

Just when you're about to sleep. Lowko uploads a starcraft match. Here we go again. Insomnia XD

Wish he used a couple of widow mines. Those clumps of hydras looks so tasty.

Fantastic game and fantastic casting, Lowko! I wanna thank you for always saying "don't forget to smile" at the end of your videos. You were talking about how you had a huge smile on your face while casting this, and that reminded me to smile. I've been feeling especially down the past few days and you helped me put a genuine smile on my face. Please continue being as awesome as you are.

no one swarms better than red army!

"Scouting for a possible Fusion Core"...LOVE how the game continues to evolve and we FINALLY get to see BCs taken seriously.

This was such a fun video. Both glass cannon armies were always one mistake from getting wiped, it was thrilling.

Such a cool game! Love how you can’t really say who’s winning, while both players stick to their first strategies :) really great casting Lowko, thanks so much!

Does anyone else feel like Abduct is arguably the best spamable ability in the game? especially considering how Vipers can regenerate energy from buildings.

Woahh. What a crazy game. Thanks for uploading, Lowko. Amazing play by both players. I think the biggest weakness in uThermal's strategy is that he has to constantly pull BACK while engaging. Once Solar realised this, he was able to engage at angles and locations that forced uThermal to pull back away from his expansions, making them easy to pick off. If you can't hold your ground and defend at least some of your expansions, you will lose in the long run, which is exactly what we saw happen.

He should've got + dmg for cyclones, probably would've changed outcome.

40 minutes of Lowko gasping at the incredible skill of abducting with a viper. Rly?

I think the cyclones got in each others way a lot there... the group was so big that when they are locked on and turned to retreat while shooting, the cyclones at the front of the group get pushed so far away from their targets they stop shooting. So during each retreat phase only the rear cyclones are effectively firing... and these ones are the ones taking most of the damage and often being destroyed. So essentially all you have is the healthy cyclones not shooting... and the shooting cyclones being destroyed. Meaning overall damage output of the force is neutered. I would have liked to have seen a group of seige tanks on the centre of the map to form a strong point. They would have been useful to provide safe ground to retreat to for those cyclones and might allow smaller more flexible groups of cyclones rather than such a big unweidly mob. I think this game illustrates the cyclones ineffectiveness as a core unit but excellent in support and harrass.

FOR THE SWARM???

I think if Thermal did run by's targeting the drones first, then going back for hatchery, or doing cyclone on hatchery and hellion on drones he would have won. Thermal lost over 4,000 minerals in workers alone, while Solar had only lost 1,250 minerals in workers at the 25 minute mark, with basically equal kills on his command centers. The hatcheries were nice, but Solar never really needed to slow down to replenish his worker count, meaning so long as he never lost his army, he just needed to wait it out and keep abducting until Thermal started running low on resources.

I don't understand why no Vikings got built to zone away those Vipers... Great game though, thanks Lowko

OMG! it was like watching a table tennis match! if you blink you miss a set!! What patience by Solar, hats off!! ♥

Lowko, keep in mind it wasn't just solar who stick to plan. It was thermy who stubbornly refused to build even a single siege tank, or transition to BCs. He was trying this out like no tomorrow. Sadly, there wasn't tomorrow. Only one liberator throughout the whole game?! By the way, comment here the final cyclone lost count. I'm quite curious! :D

After binge watching the Florencio files it is a genuine breathe of fresh air to see professional games again lol.

Thank you for making all of this StarCraft content Lowko. You make videos so well, you're a gem

@18:00 Those 18 scvs could have taken the hydras! haha I was really hoping he'd pull them, maybe turn on auto repair and attack the hydras

Had an exam today that went good, I just had an insane 28min macro PvZ game with constant aggression that i won, now this, man i love this :D and i was thinking this was gonna be a bad day. Thanks for the amazing content lowko!

My god the cyclone craze is strong, I was sitting here trying to fold a piece of paper into a cyclone while watching this video.

I really thought Thermy should have win that but Solar really hung in there. That was a great match.

why do I get the feeling that both of them had a conversation first before starting this match and had an agreement that they'll stick to one or two attacking unit as much as possible

31:05 He made 1 swarmhost lol

Some thoughts about uThermal's play: 1) I don't think he ever got building armour and PF range upgrade. Both would help a ton with defending run-bys since every expansion beyond the third started as a PF. He had an engineering bay for turrets anyway. 2) Bunching up a giant group of cyclones is not good. While the cyclones in the front can lock on and get value, the cyclones at the back are dead weight and actually hinders micro somewhat(bumping into retreating cyclones and letting them being abducted) unless there's a good concave so that everyone locks on(this map is quite narrow so that's unlikely). The extra cyclones at the back could've been split off to do their own thing. 3) Hellions would've been a good mineral dump. Besides being cheap and good at roasting drones they are also good at killing hydras in some situations. It depends on the micro on both sides: if the hydras stand still and shoot at any incoming hellions, then hellions suck vs hydras. If however, the hydras are moving due to being kited by cyclones(and therefore cannot fire) hellions have a much easier time getting into point blank range, at which point a clumped hydra ball will get completely obliterated by blue flame. 4) Hellions and cyclones should have their separate hotkeys so that cyclones can maintain outside hydra/abduct range, while hellions wait for the right moment as mentioned in 3) to speed in. Hellions fighting from within the cyclone ball means that their flame thrower can usually only fire once at one hydra before being killed. Some thoughts about Solar's play: 1) Speedlings may or may not have helped. Solar may have feared that uThermal would've built many more hellions in response to lings. However lings can wrap around and can draw cyclone lock on autocasts to protect the more vulnerable hydras. 2) Burrow traps could be used to catch retreating cyclones. uThermal's scans were used to provide vision so cyclones can kill locked on'd units. Burrowing cracklings on retreating paths(which are fairly predictable) can help get surrounds and trap cyclone squads. Hellions in drive mode don't do well against lings when they are in your face already. 3) More queens with the main army may help too, seeing as how they are not armoured and take less damage from cyclones while having a ton of health. They are also important for creep spread which is essential for chasing down kiting cyclones.

Terran mechanics seem the best suited to fast expansion. You can land prebuilt CCs instead of guarding a structure out on the map, drop MULEs to start mining from a new location immediately, lift off and run if it's attacked and if it's destroyed you can land a spare and start mining again in a few seconds rather than waiting for a new hatchery or nexus to finish.

uThermal didn't get the attack upgrade for mech because the lock on is an ability and its damage isn't affected by upgrades. If you go for cyclone it's to use the lock on ability most of the time and not the standard attack.

You're by far the best starcraft commentator. In general I find when 2 people comment horrible because they start chatting with each other.

I wanted him to make more hellions or maybe even BCs. Cyclones tend to trade inefficiently in large clumps. This tactic was also done with hellbat drops on the hydras. Forgot which pro player though.

im suprised thermal didnt make more hellions, as with blue flame they pretty easily crush hydras

probably shoulda made primarily hellions, and 1/4 cylcones either that, or transitioned to siege tanks + battle cruisers just a hunch, i'm not a pro in any sense

I guess that’s the power of Industry 4.0 🐶

Lowko: i smashed the like bouton. You owe me a new computer ;_;

I kept thinking why uthermal don't product ghosts to snip down the vipers... Or even tactical nucs...

I love how they play their games

Felt like a sprinter trying to compete in a race and realizing too late that it's a marathon against en endurance focused runner.

“It’s getting its upgrade right... nyow!” Lowko is a furry confirmed 3:33

This game was fantastic and this was a great cast.

If Thermy had upgraded his weapons, or dropped a couple of BCs into the mix, he'd have won.

What a game, thanks for he cast Lowko

Those abducts are so incredibly valuable

At 20 to 21 minutes "now that's a lotta damage"

What I miss in this strategy are small repair-squads of SCVs, 30+ SCVs on a base, but no repairs on broken cyclones,.. Only the front row of cyclones gets lock on, so send the front row for repairs and keep attacking with rest

"Dude, He's doing zerg things!" Professional caster everyone. Jk, love u lowko.

Love this game!!! Micro cyclone has long time been my favorite unit and this was just splendid to watch!! Keep it up Lowko!

I'd have to agree with the idea of using some zerglings. Once the enemy army is mostly cyclones use them for a wrap around and then just don't replace them. Solar might start building Helions but by then it wont matter since the lings were a one off thing. on the flip side some ghosts with EMP might have provided a chance for a solid push and might have tipped the match.

Would've been interested to see what a few Vikings to hunt those Vipers would've done. I'm bad though so I dunno if that would've been a thing.

My enjoyment of this cyclone fiesta has been SUBSTANTIAL

A few vikings, maybe just 5, to keep the vipers honest would have been awfully helpful. Thing about mono-builds is that they are very good, but pure mono-builds can be hard countered. A few supporting units here and there work wonders.

The fact that thermal didnt get a few bc's just enrages me

If Uthermal wanted to play this style, he should have taken a page from Ketroc. Get building armor, hi-sec auto tracking, and full upgrades. This was half-hearted.

Would have love to seen a mass bc switch after he got 5th command center up

Cyclone is love. Cyclone is life.

back to the industrial age - so many factories! haha

That lack of attack upgrade though. SO many hydras left with 1 hp because of it!

God Thermy is good gotta remember to watch more of his games

I would like to see a Protoss vs Terran Archon game! Neeb, Stats and Showtime vs Maru, TYTY and Special

38:12 minutes of lowko saying "What the-?"

“All of their units die when you blink twice.” Lol

What a solid zerg vs zerg

That almost looked like the Terran was testing options rather than going for optimal composition. Nuthin' but Cyclones provided some interesting outcomes, but was pretty limiting in a lot of ways.

I'm thinking a few things : 1) Maybe adding like 5 or 6 widow mine on the map would have helped a lot. Start harassing and back into the widow mines. It's pretty good against hydra without detection and it forces the opponent to be more careful. 2) Healing on zerg units is usually undevalued quite a lot, but I think it shines a lot here and shows why zerg is better at swarming. Basically what happens is that all damage dealt to the cyclones are permanent, so even if you don't lose them, the damage spread on the ennemy army still has some value. While damage spread on a zerg army tend to heal. Might not heal completely but it makes it much less effective and it also means that by adding fresh units your are increasing your chances of your injured units of healing back up to full. It's basically like having free units in the long run. 3) Maybe the zerg could have added one or two infestor to the mix. some good ol' fungal would have really helped the zerg player I think.

I think producing large amounts of hellions in the middle of it would have been good. Get a enough to surround like with lings then roast the hydras

excellent background sounds

That lack of flexibility of thinking and ability to accommodate by thermal is stunning. Yeah, in the beginning his hit squads of cyclones were quite effective, but why did he insist to but his head against hydras/vipers when it was clearly ineffective?

Expendable cyclones vs. Zerg

Even just a handful of Vikings could have turned that for thermal

I understand that lowko likely won't be reading anymore youtube comments at least on this video, but I would highly recommend the game between Serral (Finland) and Rail (Russia) doneon ladder. I do not have the replay, but hopefully you could find it :D

If thermy had just thrown in some widow mine micro too i think he would of had some massive map control.

10:54 parts. Same army size, with Zerg reinforcement in 3 second few cyclone trade for 2 viper and some Zerg units and manage to escape, I would say it's a even trade. Cyclone=my worst nightmare.

Evolve or die. There's strength in diversity. Sink or swim together. BUILD A FRIGGIN SIEGE TANK DEAR GOD.

the reason uthermal lost was due to not committing to mining on the zerg side of the map his plan was to keep him boxed in mining as much as he could but if he had mined those top right bases it would have been gg

One cyclone, Ah, Ah, Ah 🧛‍♂️👆

How does it feel Zerg !

Nero parasite early should give you the idea to make smaller units vs larger units. Abducts and nero parasite just kill expensive units, should go bio late game - bio vs zerg army on terran defensive line. Hit with 1 or 2 bc and you still die if you wait on the tactical jump.

*Thank* *you* *lowko,* *very* *cool*

I still don't see how a metric shit-ton of fully upgraded marines backed by just as many medivacs aren't used for the sheer "WTF?!?" factor. lol

The vipers were the MVP's of this game

UThermal should have hit back hard after taking out all the Vipers and before Solar got more - circa 33:00

Amazing game. Really interesting. Thanks so much Lowko!

Imagine thermy secretly produced some Widow Mines in the middle of the battle.

Your soothing voice is lovely on a tired morning

13:53 , 106 workers?!!😱

i would give ten LIKEs for this strange match of a game.

What if instead of just going mass cyclones, he played a more standard Mech style with the cyclone runbys mixed in? It seemed like the runbys were working but the cyclones were getting rekt in straight up fights