OK so first off, I'm not super into Starcraft or anything. I played the original a ton back in the day but I was pretty young and never played it to get good. I've played a bit of SC2 and have watched Brad play multiple matches thanks to TNT as well as replays. So I'm no expert here, but I think I know how to beat Brad:
 

Build a bunch of anti-air defense around your resource gathering base (whatever it's called). 

Is Brad a Void Ray rusher? In that case, just rush him before he can build his precious Void Rays. Just make a couple of marines will do, and just pump out more and direct them into his base. If you are Zerg then just do a quick Zergling rush and you'll win. If he uses the normal Void-rush tactic then he should have no defense until he gets his first Void Ray. :)
 
Edit: Just noticed that you say he's defensive at first. In that case, just get Reapers (Terran), Dark Templars (Protoss), or Roaches (Zerg) and rush him as fast as you can without him detecting you.

You are assuming that Brad wouldn't see what you are doing and attempt to counter it.  If he noticed all of your "anti-air" units and buildings, he would make units that counter that.
 
If here were to make Void rays, and you were to attempt to counter them with JUST anti air defense, you would lose if you turtled the whole time.  Once your void rays number above 10, they can pretty much take out anything.

You really need a specific strategy to beat Brad? If you can get to the silver league you're set.

" You are assuming that Brad wouldn't see what you are doing and attempt to counter it.  If he noticed all of your "anti-air" units and buildings, he would make units that counter that.   If here were to make Void rays, and you were to attempt to counter them with JUST anti air defense, you would lose if you turtled the whole time.  Once your void rays number above 10, they can pretty much take out anything. "

" You are assuming that Brad wouldn't see what you are doing and attempt to counter it.  If he noticed all of your "anti-air" units and buildings, he would make units that counter that.   If here were to make Void rays, and you were to attempt to counter them with JUST anti air defense, you would lose if you turtled the whole time.  Once your void rays number above 10, they can pretty much take out anything. "

If their strategy is to watch Flash on youtube until they can ape it, they have zero ability to improvise.

Yeah, in any case you should be scouting as much as possible to counter what he's doing.

 It seems like Brad's strategy is to fight off the other player's light harassment until he can build a ton of those flying laser dudes (technical term), and then he just flies over and destroys the main resource gathering building. At that point the other player is pretty much screwed unless they've got a ton of expansion going on.  Again, I know astonishingly little about StarCraft tactics, but wouldn't that work? Wouldn't it just hold Brad's attack off every time if you built enough anti-air defense around that building? I'm sure Brad has other tactics, but what I've described seems like a tactic that Brad uses a lot. "

Cast bufu.

" @Cataphract1014 said:

" You are assuming that Brad wouldn't see what you are doing and attempt to counter it.  If he noticed all of your "anti-air" units and buildings, he would make units that counter that.   If here were to make Void rays, and you were to attempt to counter them with JUST anti air defense, you would lose if you turtled the whole time.  Once your void rays number above 10, they can pretty much take out anything. "

But if you spend all of your resources on a ton of ground units instead of using it all on a few void rays, you could rush him while he's trying to "Void Ray Rush". Again I know very little about this. "

" Cast bufu. "

" @JJWeatherman said:

" @Cataphract1014 said:

" You are assuming that Brad wouldn't see what you are doing and attempt to counter it.  If he noticed all of your "anti-air" units and buildings, he would make units that counter that.   If here were to make Void rays, and you were to attempt to counter them with JUST anti air defense, you would lose if you turtled the whole time.  Once your void rays number above 10, they can pretty much take out anything. "

But if you spend all of your resources on a ton of ground units instead of using it all on a few void rays, you could rush him while he's trying to "Void Ray Rush". Again I know very little about this. "

Even if they someone is doing a "Void ray rush", they will have SOME ground units.   You need a gateway and a cybernetics core to even get stargates, so it would be a waste to have those buildings and not be using them for something.   All during the TNT, I don't remember brad making void rays anyway, he had a big mix of ground units. "

" @JJWeatherman said:

 It seems like Brad's strategy is to fight off the other player's light harassment until he can build a ton of those flying laser dudes (technical term), and then he just flies over and destroys the main resource gathering building. At that point the other player is pretty much screwed unless they've got a ton of expansion going on.  Again, I know astonishingly little about StarCraft tactics, but wouldn't that work? Wouldn't it just hold Brad's attack off every time if you built enough anti-air defense around that building? I'm sure Brad has other tactics, but what I've described seems like a tactic that Brad uses a lot. "

  Oh, so he will never advance into platinum... You cant void ray rush against a plat+ player.. (Unless they are retarded) "

From what I;ve seen Brad just like to mass sentrys and stalkers more than anything. 

" You really need a specific strategy to beat Brad? If you can get to the silver league you're set. "

" @Cataphract1014: @hakooon: Alright, my logic is clearly flawed. I'd be interested in hearing what kind of strategy you guys would go into a match against Brad with, knowing what you do about his play-style. "

 Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll catch this Brad for you, but it ain't gonna be easy. Bad fish. Not like going down the pond chasin' Jeffs and Ryans. This Brad'll swallow you whole. Little shakin', little tenderizin', an' down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that'll bring back your tourists, put all your businesses on a payin' basis. But it's not gonna be pleasant. I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you've gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don't want no volunteers, I don't want no mates, there's just too many captains on this island. Ten thousand dollars for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn Brad.  
 
Or alternatively i say we take off and the nuke the whole God'amn Brad from Orbit.

how many of you would play as well in a room full of activity on a live stream, compared to how you play at home?

Brad is in the platinum league. I remember him updating Twitter about it a couple days ago.

"  Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll catch this Brad for you, but it ain't gonna be easy. Bad fish. Not like going down the pond chasin' Jeffs and Ryans. This Brad'll swallow you whole. Little shakin', little tenderizin', an' down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that'll bring back your tourists, put all your businesses on a payin' basis. But it's not gonna be pleasant. I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you've gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don't want no volunteers, I don't want no mates, there's just too many captains on this island. Ten thousand dollars for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn Brad.    Or alternatively i say we take off and the nuke the whole God'amn Brad from Orbit. "

I would probably not stand a chance against Brad, but the best counter for a Void Ray rush is to rush him first. Once he gets an army of those it's game over.

You got me, you cracked the code. That's some master strategizing right there! I'm doomed!
 
It's ridiculous to draw generalizations about the way someone plays StarCraft II based on watching one or two of their matches. Every game is different and demands different thinking and execution. Unless someone only knows how to 6 pool zergling rush or some other silly cheese strat, even a vaguely competent player will change their play style based on the map and what their opponent is doing. To illustrate how wrong this line of thinking is, I only use void rays, or indeed any kind of air, during maybe one in five matches, if not one in 10.

" how many of you would play as well in a room full of activity on a live stream, compared to how you play at home? "

" You got me, you cracked the code. That's some master strategizing right there! I'm doomed! It's ridiculous to draw generalizations about the way someone plays StarCraft II based on watching one or two of their matches. Every game is different and demands different thinking and execution. Unless someone only knows how to 6 pool zergling rush or some other silly cheese strat, even a vaguely competent player will change their play style based on the map and what their opponent is doing. To illustrate how wrong this line of thinking is, I only use void rays, or indeed any kind of air, during maybe one in five matches, if not one in 10. "

Revealing Brad's strategy to the entire internet is kind of a jerk move.
 
EDIT: Seems like I'm a little late to the party here.

" Revealing Brad's strategy to the entire internet is kind of a jerk move. "

Barrel roll?

" You got me, you cracked the code. That's some master strategizing right there! I'm doomed! It's ridiculous to draw generalizations about the way someone plays StarCraft II based on watching one or two of their matches. Every game is different and demands different thinking and execution. Unless someone only knows how to 6 pool zergling rush or some other silly cheese strat, even a vaguely competent player will change their play style based on the map and what their opponent is doing. To illustrate how wrong this line of thinking is, I only use void rays, or indeed any kind of air, during maybe one in five matches, if not one in 10. "

" Revealing Brad's strategy to the entire internet is kind of a jerk move.  EDIT: Seems like I'm a little late to the party here. "

" @Milkman said:

" Revealing Brad's strategy to the entire internet is kind of a jerk move. "

Except there is no "one" strategy he would use every game.  Every game is different, that is what makes starcraft multiplayer so good.  You can't just go into a match and say, "Oh, I'm just going to do void rays!" and not do anything but void rays no matter what the other player is doing.  If they are any good, you will lose every time. "

I've gotten auto-tune to work with VOIP, so I've got the ultimate advantage over anybody, psychological warfare.

@Milkman said:

Revealing Brad's strategy to the entire internet is kind of a jerk move.

Except there is no "one" strategy he would use every game.    

Or he'd scout it, not build air units, and make your 2000 minerals of AA structures useless.
 
Plus you could never just sit on one base for that long.

"build a ton of those flying laser dudes (technical term) "

" @Brad:  That may be true Brad, but if we were to watch a number of your replays would could eventually see the "Brad-style" emerge.  Things like where you like to build buildings, how you like to move units around the field and such are traits that sort of identify gamers who have played a lot of a specific game.  Maybe it would be a tendency to love Immortal/Stalker pushes or to rushing with 4 gate or whatever.   We simply don't have enough data, yet.  I'm guessing this is part of the reason you are learning Terran (besides making the stream more interesting). Of course each game will be different and the units build won't be the same, but when facing a match-up against a known opponent, it makes sense to see their old replays and find things that are similar.  Of course, that isn't any substitute for scouting in game, but it can help you to know that so-and-so loves to use cliffs or player x likes controlling the Xel'naga towers.  That in turn will help you know where to find their army or what sort of plays to expect from them. "

" @JJWeatherman said:

"build a ton of those flying laser dudes (technical term) "

I'm sorry but I just don't understand. This is all too advanced for me. What am I even doing here? "

And of course playing a game while talking about it is totally different than trying to win.  And Quicklooks aren't about exhibiting skill, they are about demonstrating the game to give people a feel for it.  And they are also usually done for games they have only put a little bit of time into.  Quicklooks shouldn't be used as an indicator of anybody's game aptitude.  The fact Brad has some serious achievements in hardcore games under his belts means something.  Quicklooks tell us nothing about his skill.
 
And for the record, I'm not saying the skill level of anyone matters, I'm tired of people bagging on Brad for no reason whatsoever.

"And of course playing a game while talking about it is totally different than trying to win.  And Quicklooks aren't about exhibiting skill, they are about demonstrating the game to give people a feel for it.  And they are also usually done for games they have only put a little bit of time into.  Quicklooks shouldn't be used as an indicator of anybody's game aptitude.  The fact Brad has some serious achievements in hardcore games under his belts means something.  Quicklooks tell us nothing about his skill.  And for the record, I'm not saying the skill level of anyone matters, I'm tired of people bagging on Brad for no reason whatsoever. "

" @YoungFrey said:

"And of course playing a game while talking about it is totally different than trying to win.  And Quicklooks aren't about exhibiting skill, they are about demonstrating the game to give people a feel for it.  And they are also usually done for games they have only put a little bit of time into.  Quicklooks shouldn't be used as an indicator of anybody's game aptitude.  The fact Brad has some serious achievements in hardcore games under his belts means something.  Quicklooks tell us nothing about his skill.  And for the record, I'm not saying the skill level of anyone matters, I'm tired of people bagging on Brad for no reason whatsoever. "

It's fun. Isn't that reason enough? "

" @Zuul said:

" @YoungFrey said:

"And of course playing a game while talking about it is totally different than trying to win.  And Quicklooks aren't about exhibiting skill, they are about demonstrating the game to give people a feel for it.  And they are also usually done for games they have only put a little bit of time into.  Quicklooks shouldn't be used as an indicator of anybody's game aptitude.  The fact Brad has some serious achievements in hardcore games under his belts means something.  Quicklooks tell us nothing about his skill.  And for the record, I'm not saying the skill level of anyone matters, I'm tired of people bagging on Brad for no reason whatsoever. "

It's fun. Isn't that reason enough? "

 So how does it feel being a sociopath, anyway? "

my strategy is to use sensor towers

" And of course playing a game while talking about it is totally different than trying to win.  And Quicklooks aren't about exhibiting skill, they are about demonstrating the game to give people a feel for it.  And they are also usually done for games they have only put a little bit of time into.  Quicklooks shouldn't be used as an indicator of anybody's game aptitude.  The fact Brad has some serious achievements in hardcore games under his belts means something.  Quicklooks tell us nothing about his skill.  And for the record, I'm not saying the skill level of anyone matters, I'm tired of people bagging on Brad for no reason whatsoever. "

Just try to prevent him from photobombing.

If you cut his hands off before playing it evens the playing field..... so i hear.

" @Zuul said:

" @YoungFrey said:

"And of course playing a game while talking about it is totally different than trying to win.  And Quicklooks aren't about exhibiting skill, they are about demonstrating the game to give people a feel for it.  And they are also usually done for games they have only put a little bit of time into.  Quicklooks shouldn't be used as an indicator of anybody's game aptitude.  The fact Brad has some serious achievements in hardcore games under his belts means something.  Quicklooks tell us nothing about his skill.  And for the record, I'm not saying the skill level of anyone matters, I'm tired of people bagging on Brad for no reason whatsoever. "

It's fun. Isn't that reason enough? "

 So how does it feel being a sociopath, anyway? "

You can nots beat him.