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So as most people are aware, Terrans are having a hard time competing on the ladder (and tournaments) right now. As a Terran player, this can be quite disheartening, but there are some upsides.
In seasons past, I was comfortably sitting high masters playing pretty standard Terran builds in all matchups. With the current metagame shifts, playing standard against players of equal skill level is practically suicide, especially TvZ. What this means is that Terran players are experiencing a deflation of their Match Making Ratings (MMR). *It could also mean that P and Z are seeing inflated MMRs.
The upside to having a lower MMR means you're playing players who are worse than you, but continue to succeed because of the current metagame. To take advantage of this fact, I have begun having great success by using unconventional strategies. The key to victory in this scenario is that your opponents are so used to winning with cookie cutter strategies in each matchup, so when you force them out of their comfort zone, hopefully your skill outshines their metagame advantage.
One example of this is I've been going Mech TvP on maps like Cloud Kingdom, and abusing hellion run-byes and hellion drops to punish greedy Protoss expansions (or use siege tanks to hold 2base pressure/allins), and then sending hellions all over the map while taking all the bases I feel comfortable with. In this particular case, my end-game strategies is to constantly harass and never let my protoss opponent move out with a 200 maxxed army. Surprisingly, mass hellion with about 10 vikings and a few tanks and a raven absolutely murders practically any NON max protoss army... Hellions trade so efficiently with all protoss ground units except colossus (yes even blink stalkers).
Another example (not so unconventional, but just purely successful) is to go Bio in TvZ with a lot of marauders (Think DeMusliM vs Ret NASL). Go for quick upgrades and delayed medivacs and just keep trading / harassing the Zerg. If he goes ling/bling/muta, marauders and good splits soak the blings, the rest is easy. If he goes ling/infestor, equal upgrades with a healthy medivac count (you need atleast 2 reactored ports) should be sufficient. Hive tech is a no brainer. Ultras? Lol Marauders. Brolords? I already have 2-4 reactored starports!
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So while there is a lot of QQ out there about Terran. Sit back, relax, enjoy playing new strategies and have fun on the ladder, it's just a game. If you're frustrated that your favorite pro is struggling as Terran, hang in there, innovation is on the way (and it that's not enough, Blizzard will fix it eventually, I promise).
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Best way to win TvZ for me is to just play passive and play max wars, as I can usually max ~15mins, so I get 2-3 more reactor starports (3techlab ones if i'm feeling like its epic raven time), and 4-6 barracks all techlabs. The hardest part for me for a LONG time was actually making myself make those starports and techlab barracks as I foolishly believed waves of marine tank would eventually win.
OH BTW June winrates aren't going to be skewed as hard as we terrans believe, currently GSL+GTSL terran is 42% win TvZ.
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I (being terran player myself) mostly agree with this. Disbalance brings innovation, in this situation terran players are forced to freshen up and bend their minds a little, and i believe that new strategies that come up in this time will also be adapted in future patches, bringing more diversity. Overall nice read, it gave some food for thought.
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On June 27 2012 10:28 iTzSnypah wrote: Best way to win TvZ for me is to just play passive and play max wars, as I can usually max ~15mins, so I get 2-3 more reactor starports (3techlab ones if i'm feeling like its epic raven time), and 4-6 barracks all techlabs. The hardest part for me for a LONG time was actually making myself make those starports and techlab barracks as I foolishly believed waves of marine tank would eventually win.
OH BTW June winrates aren't going to be skewed as hard as we terrans believe, currently GSL+GTSL terran is 42% win TvZ.
Ya, a Terran sitting on Marine/Tank all game hoping to win isn't very viable anymore. That window of opportunity is just too small now with how fast Zergs get to hive tech.
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Anyone have tips to hold early-midgame. I just feel like my late game is my strength, you know multiple drops, nuke harrass, multiple banshees and what-not while im massing ravens, tanks, and vikings. I just can't get to that late game, i get roach baneling busted, and also get ling swarmed everytime i try to take more bases. :< this is low-mid masters.
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On June 27 2012 11:25 HikariPrime wrote: Anyone have tips to hold early-midgame. I just feel like my late game is my strength, you know multiple drops, nuke harrass, multiple banshees and what-not while im massing ravens, tanks, and vikings. I just can't get to that late game, i get roach baneling busted, and also get ling swarmed everytime i try to take more bases. :< this is low-mid masters.
Is this legit?.. Well i'm no master, however building a bunker or two at ramp if you are teching or fast expanding, engi bay-rax-supply-bunker walls for natural and maybe third works against basically any early zerg aggression as far as i can tell from watching pro games and personal experience... And also roach and baneling busts really have huge tells, so just scout and prepare...
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i feel that bio is going to be more and more used in TvZ.... but i feel any change that destroys a standard style of play is bad.
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It only means we have to play harder to beat people who are worse.
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On June 27 2012 10:09 spbelky wrote: Another example (not so unconventional, but just purely successful) is to go Bio in TvZ with a lot of marauders (Think DeMusliM vs Ret NASL). Go for quick upgrades and delayed medivacs and just keep trading / harassing the Zerg. If he goes ling/bling/muta, marauders and good splits soak the blings, the rest is easy. If he goes ling/infestor, equal upgrades with a healthy medivac count (you need atleast 2 reactored ports) should be sufficient. Hive tech is a no brainer. Ultras? Lol Marauders. Brolords? I already have 2-4 reactored starports!
What is this, the beta?
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What is this, the beta?
Oh noes, we are accessing a forbidden unit, that shouldn't have been used since beta ended. Really now, if people find new ways to make old strategies work, why exactly is that bad?
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On June 27 2012 21:59 Demord wrote:Oh noes, we are accessing a forbidden unit, that shouldn't have been used since beta ended. Really now, if people find new ways to make old strategies work, why exactly is that bad? He was just making a joke.
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I cannot play a bio TvZ to save my life. So, I've been going mech instead and having good results with it (although I'm not a good player). Since my MMR has deflated all the way down to the high Gold leagues, Zergs tend to be careless about multitasking and thus lose a ton of drones to Hellion runbys and the likes.
What do you guys think of mech?
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On June 28 2012 00:22 EsX_Raptor wrote: I cannot play a bio TvZ to save my life. So, I've been going mech instead and having good results with it (although I'm not a good player). Since my MMR has deflated all the way down to the high Gold leagues, Zergs tend to be careless about multitasking and thus lose a ton of drones to Hellion runbys and the likes.
What do you guys think of mech?
In my opinion it all comes down to play style, mech as far as i can see it is much more micro intensive, requires really good multitasking, map awareness. Bio armies, on the other hand, basically wins games with stimmed a moving, with a little baneling/drop micro (that is essentialy in mech too), however slick attack timings, build orders are much more important.
To conclude, everything works as long as you can make it work. Be smart and don't give up.
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Did you just say mech requires more micro than bio?
If you a move with bio you will die to fungals and banelings.
If anything, Mech is the only composition you can use where you can just a move, especially if you are going Thor Hellion which is the standard in TvZ.
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On June 28 2012 00:18 huehuehuehue wrote:Show nested quote +On June 27 2012 21:59 Demord wrote:What is this, the beta? Oh noes, we are accessing a forbidden unit, that shouldn't have been used since beta ended. Really now, if people find new ways to make old strategies work, why exactly is that bad? He was just making a joke. I laughed.
Although I think that pic was referring to beta TvP.
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If you a move your tanks then you basically die to anything. Hellions, on the other hand, are really not that much better than bio to micro against against banelings and especially infestors (khem, neural parasite thor). Of course thor hellion is a lot more like bio, but by no means easier to micro (how many times a game do you have to micro as bio against banelings or snipe infestors anyway?), i was thinking tanks there, that soak up a lot of attention to advance with.
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After playing more games on the ladder, my optimism is pretty much only for the best Terrans in the world with the skill to compensate for racial shortcomings. Oh well, like I said, lower MMR just means I get to beat up on newbies!
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