We're Gonna Need A Lot of Wine Barrels: The Problem of Cheese

Ah, cheese. It can mean a great many things, depending on the context, ranging from a popular overpowered choice in a game, a risky early game choice, or just using something that's incredibly annoying. In any game that involves strategy & choices, whether's it's Warhammer 40k or SC2, accusations of cheese and cheese use are abound. It's always a question; if it works, why not use it? Does it cheapen the win to know you're using something "overpowered," or is it simply stupid not to use what the game gives you (although this idea treads dangerously to the Dark Side of glitch abuse).

It's an interesting question, and I'm afraid I can't give you any answers, but I can provide some (hopefully ) hilarious examples. You see, I've always been mostly against cheese, except in specific situations. For instance, 2 common "cheeses" of the Protoss army in SC2 are the cannon rush and Void Rays. The former is the kind of "risky early game strategy" kind of cheese, while the "Cheese Rays" are more the type of thing often considering overpowered (OP). I'd never been a fan of the cannon rush, the only time I've employed it was to annoy Aaron (and it only worked once out of the two times I've used it). On the other hand, I like Void Rays, but recently I've been trying to avoid them in order to a) not be so predictable and b) improve the number of options I can bring to the table in a game.

However, this was all to change.

Today, I was playing a series of games with Branden and Aaron in ranked 3v3, where we'd been seeded silver. Despite this, for some stupid reason, we kept getting paired up against platinum players (sometimes diamond and gold thrown in there) which was incredibly annoying, since we were at a huge disadvantage, and suffered three defeats. Somewhat annoyed, Branden suggested something to let off steam: all 3 of us do an initial cheese rush. Branden, the Terran, would proxy mass reapers, Aaron the Zergling would do an 8pool Zergling rush, and I would for the first time in a ranked game employ a cannon rush. It was risky, and we were convinced we'd lose, but we decided to try it anyway. And with that introduction, I now present one of the infamous SC2 Battle Reports with Pictures™

This was my entire base for a good portion of the map

I dream big, but alas these players prove to be experienced (we later found out Diamond/Plat/Plat) and mobbed by attempts at blocking in with cannons. Much sadness.

Sadly they also catch Branden's proxy bunker, and kill it (see the red in the top left).  Branden quits thinking it's over. How mistaken and regretful he would be proven.

Having lost the cheese, I expand and switch to the next cheesiest thing I can think of. I mass produce Void Rays, thinking the game would be over soon.

I tear into the top-right base and take it out without almost any losses. I am shocked.

I move into the next base and encounter resistance, losing all but 3 Void Rays, but take it out and most of the other two armies.

Faced with lots of money and nothing to spend it on, I completely wall in my base several times over with cannons. Void Ray production continues. 

Realizing the Void Rays are coming, the enemy counters well: lots of Marines and Hydras. Will it be enough?

I discover this counter, and attack only to realize I'm overpowered. But they are trapped in the top left, with no other bases. So my 18 Void Rays fly off to kill the various attempts at expanding they're still doing. Around this point Aaron is wiped out. It is me vs. 3 enemies, all very skilled. Aaron takes over my probes (now useless since my expansion was blown up and my original was out) and scouts around, since there's nothing else he can do.

Realizing my Rays will keep flying around destroying everything (and probably assuming I was still producing more Void Rays, although I was out of money at this point) they go the Imperial Guard route and charge the wall of cannons, eventually breaking through and beginning the destroy my base, hoping to win a base race.

I'm not sure what to do, until Aaron notes if they blow up my base they probably will win. I attack, and they make the mistake of focusing on the buildings and not on the Rays, which kill them and leave me a Pylon and an Assimilator. I go back and blow up their main base, but the Zerg player is still left and has built Hatcheries everywhere. I go hunting, and he sneaks 8 Speelings in and blows up my last 2 structures. I thought I'd lost... till I realize Branden still has 2 supply depots. 

Before he can destroy this and win the game, I discover his last base... next to the Depots.  I blow it up (well Aaron does, but using my units).

Yep.

So that's it. I won. Seriously, by massing Void Rays and turtling up while my teammates were shredded, my 18 Rays were able to take out 3 considerably more skilled opponents.

I found this situation incredibly hilarious and deeply frightening. There's no way this should have worked, but somehow it did.

Naturally my two compatriots demanded we try it again, and so we did.

The minimap is best for seeing this (I'm red and my teammates both blues) but I succeed this time in blocking in the top side of the shared base. Instead of trying to fly out, he chooses to try to out wall me and eventually break out. Meanwhile, Branden proxies his entire base down in the bottom left, keeps massing and harassing while Aaron spends the entire time running past defenses and killing workers.

He probably makes a good decision; he's walled in by cannons, so make some Colossi to break them and then expand outwards. He missed one thing though.

After I saw my wall was solid, I expanded twice, once to my natural and again to a Gold expansion. We knew they were walled in, so I stopped cannoning and made Void Rays. you know what counters Colossi? Yep.

Still stuck, the 3 of them are hit by Aaron and Branden's air force, while mine flies down after fending off a Banshee strike.

Upon seeing the void rays, two of the quit outright. I kid you not.

Aaron offers congrats to the final player.

This is something I love seeing: an entire Protoss base offline after I've hit the Pylons,  and my units sitting above the base calmly wiping everything out.

So yes, we went ultimate cheese twice... and it works. I really don't know what to take from it. On the one hand, I'm kind of ashamed of us for doing this... but on the other, it worked undeniably well. I think it also helped that the cannon rush wasn't meant to destroy, merely to block in; it was an essentially an army sitting outside their base, just less mobile. Somehow it was more threatening though, although part of this is I suspect they couldn't see that far (thus didn't know exactly how many were there). In a game like SC2, having a) map control and b) not letting the opponent know what you have are essential keys to winning a game. But yes, I am mixed on my feelings about this; while it was funny, it's far more satisfying when winning through a more interesting strategy (I'm sure my APM was way way low for this game.

As always and especially in this case, I welcome your thoughts.

-HTMC