EPTDidn't seem so long ago that all I could do was rant and rave about how hard playing as Terran vs Zerg was. "God! Roaches are too strong! "Jesus! Hydras are so easy to mass a retard could do it!" "What the FUCK Broodlords?" Those were some common expressions on my stream as I struggled to figure out the matchup and every time a patch came out that nerfed Zerg, I was thinking: "Alright, finally." But now I'm starting to change my tune.
Now that TvZ is being figured out, we're seeing interesting strategies develop, for example: Thor drops, more mech like Siege tanks in late game, Nukes, mid game Banshee switches. I've also started to see that Zerg can be easily scouted and countered before any of their tech is brought into play and all a Terran has to do is sit back and slowly push out to take his half the map, no offense is necessary outside some hellion drops or banshee harass, or if you wanna take it back SC1 Vanilla style, just a Marine drop in a vital tech area to snipe an evolution chamber. Zerg has an extremely tough time sieging a Turtle Terran and here are my thoughts on why TvZ is now tougher for the Zerg.
First, Terrans have the best defensive weapons and structures in the game. Bunkers that can be upgraded to hold more men, not to mention the armor upgrade that benefits it and the Plantary Fortress which is the ultimate in expansion defense. Sensor towers that will help you spot where the enemy will be approching from, allowing you amble time to shift your army. Siege Tanks outrange everything in the Zerg arsanel save Broodlords and when you mix more than 5 of those together, the splash just annilates anything that Zerg can field on the ground. As for Broodlords themselves? Terran just has to watch for the Hive building and mass just a small army of Vikings in the background, ready to react to any attack. Thors can easily protect them from Mutalisks or Corrupters.
Second, Terrans are more cost effective, if a Terran can hold his half of the map or almost half. He can amass and save more minerals then a Zerg. In order for a Zerg to win, he has to prevent a Terran from taking and holding expansions, that means he is sacrificing his army over and over to stop a Terran from slowly pushing out. The game ends when a Zerg can successfully prevent a Terran from taking an expansion and the Terran runs out of money or when the Zerg uses all his resources and fails at stopping the push and is forced to concede. This is IF the game gets to this point.
Third, Mech is so damn strong now because the most recent patches have fixed splash damage capabilities. Thor/Tank/Hellion armies coupled with some infantry support are crushing Zerg in the mid game. A good Terran will scout and know when to push to punish a Zerg if he drones too much or techs too hard, and if the Zerg does amass a bigger army, hurting his econ/tech. The Terran will just sit back and continue to turtle and take bases, STILL putting a Zerg behind.
Now I'm not saying Zerg will never win a game ever. It all depends on the player but you will find only the best Zergs are going to be pulling wins out over Terran players and usually it will be because the Terran made a mistake.
So to all my Zerg friends out there. You had your day, but now it is time for the Terrans to rule the Beta. =)
