Starcraft 2 channels that demand your attention

Ever wonder why single-pilot vessels in Starcraft hover in plain sight instead of making bombing runs?*

While I don’t have Starcraft 2 yet, I know it’s only a matter of time before the darkness overtakes me. At first, I balked at the proposition of giving money to Activision (even indirectly). Then I got a Guest Pass. Although I was awful, that tinge of “needing more of this thing that is telling me to want it” started to settle in. And don’t get me started on the Sarah Kerrigan memorabilia.

I started watching tutorial and commentary videos, looking for ways to improve my current strategy, which so far has consisted of:

1. Expand early
2. Build stalkers
3. Lose

Granted, I know that’s a pretty bad strategy. For one, it doesn’t involve rigorous APM training. Secondly, there are no Carriers involved. And apparently the third part of my macro plan doesn’t usually result in decisive victory, either.

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.

First, The Thinking Gamer offers a wide variety of tips, hints, build orders, and other tactical nuances that an aspiring Silver League player needs to know. And, as opposed to the billions of mindless unthinking gamers out there, he provides advice to viewers other than “get good” or “play Terran.”

For the more macro-minded, Husky Starcraft hosts play-by-play replays of gameplay submissions. From pros to ‘shmos, Husky provides insightful and often hilarious commentary, typically personifying single units and becoming emotionally distraught at their demise.

The man single-handedly created the first real Starcraft 2 meme, for god’s sake:

Good night, sweet prince.

Regardless of your skill level or emotional attachment to supply-generating structrures, both of these channels make Starcraft 2 strategy accessible and fun. And in the end, isn’t memorizing unit counters fun at the heart of what makes Starcraft great?

*Westwood Studios holds the trademark to bombing runs for its Command & Conquer series. The US Air Force pays nearly $345 billion annually for the right to employ this tactic. It’s time we stood up to Washington and took our country back!