Understanding Starcraft 2

[Clockwork]

So I've heard a lot recently of people that want to watch SC2 but have no idea what the commentators are saying. I'll use a thread here to explain what they mean and why some plays are significant.

So, basics.

Mirror match: A match between two of the same race.
Foreigner: Anyone not Korean. Which is why despite there being an american tournament between two american teams, they might still be referred to as 'foreigners'.
Natural: The mineral patch right outside your start base, the one where you naturally expand to.
WoL: Wings of Liberty, the first third of SC2
HotS: Heart of the Swarm, the second.
LotV: Legacy of the Void, the final chapter.
Greed: Going for more economy at the cost of military.

Strategies!

Rush: This one still eludes me, no idea what this is.

Timing Attack: When one team is just about to finish researching a critical tech or one which puts them at an advantage over their opponent they might set up for what is known as a timing attack. An example in the Legacy of the Void expansion would be Roach tunnelling for the zerg, once that is researched the zerg player will have a much stronger army than they did the second before it was researched.

Timing Window: The time before the opponent catches up in tech or provides counter tech/units. E.g. Protoss player does a run by with invisible Dark Templars, the timing window would be the time it takes for the opponent to get a source of detecting stealth.

Cheese: An unorthodox tactic usually with boom or bust mechanics (either you kill your opponent quickly or you lose). An example would be building a barracks right outside the enemy base and spamming marines until either the other player stabalises or you kill enough workers to win. Other variants are used to force a change of play from the opposing player, such as building a cheap building right on top of their natural.

Bio Heavy: A heavy biological force, usually made up of lots cheap units, good for midgame fighting with certain techs. Most used for timing attacks.

Straight to Air: Does what it says on the tin. No longer a strategy really but may resurface in LotV.

Scouting!

Why is scouting important? SC2 is all about countering your opponent. To do this you need to be able to have an educated guess as to which strategy they'll be using. If you scout your opponent and see that they have no gas building built then it's most likely they'll be rushing with weak bio. To counter, build a wall and a few ranged units. If you scout one gas but nobody working it then it's likely they're saving for a timing attack or going to harass early with one or two fast units like reaper. Two gas and you know they're doing something weird like straight to air, rush them.

[Clockwork]

Not sure anyone watches these but hey.

First one is so cool, second is all right as well.