• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 22:44
CET 04:44
KST 12:44
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL22] Finals Preview: Sweet Victory!12[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5
Community News
[BSL23] RO16 Group Stage8Weekly Cups (Nov 2-8): herO back on top?2Weekly Cups (Oct 26 - Nov 1): MaxPax, herO, Solar win0Weekly Cups (October 19-25): Clem triples first in 5.0.175Evil Geniuses - shutting down23
StarCraft 2
General
Serral's getting trashed by New Catsle's Mind Weekly Cups (Nov 2-8): herO back on top? Liquibets sc2 season 30 No more SC2 streamers on team liquid? StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon
Tourneys
RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 Tasteless Time Warp: SC Evo Showmatch (May 25) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament SC2 iNu's Battles #22 SC4ALL: II Venue Change Announcement!
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
Starcraft 2 Advance [G] How to playtest arcade maps [D] the control group Simple Questions/Answers
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 551 Robotic Revival Mutation # 550 Graveyard Shift Mutation # 549 Endless Sparkles
Brood War
General
List of top players active on ShieldBattery [BW] Looking for Clan Thread! [BSL23] RO16 Group Stage screpdb: new Starcraft reporting tool [Megathread] Daily Funny Videos
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [$1250] International ShieldBattery League 2v2v2v2 Tournament Stage 1: Community Poll Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Nuke strategy worked in K-League 2026-11-09 50,000-Word Terran Builds Memo 2026-10-22 Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy)
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread General RTS Discussion Thread ZeroSpace Early Access is Now Live! Path of Exile
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25!
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread US Politics Mega-thread Trading/Investing Thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Dating: How's your luck?
Fan Clubs
Fan Club Resource Thread Reynor Fan Club The Flash Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
The time I organised my…
AssyrianKing
Why I built Repalyzer (1.1.…
BlueStar
Innovate or Game Over?
TrAiDoS
ShieldBattery on Mac
Kraekkling
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 10742 users

BW racepicking competitively, frustrations - Page 2

Blogs > FyRe_DragOn
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 All
Liquid`Drone
Profile Joined September 2002
Norway28929 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-10-27 10:48:16
October 26 2017 23:48 GMT
#21
To my knowledge it's been more than 10 years since you had anyone remotely competitive outside korea playing either of those combos though. (Trek did play tvz, pvt and zvp.) Most race pickers are zergs who play tvz or pvz instead of zvz, then the rest are terrans (who usually play pvt instead of tvt) or protoss (who usually play zvp instead of pvp). The whole 'what do you do if two players who race pick different, non-matching combos' really isn't a real problem because it only occurs like 1/10000 games. I'm confident every single race picker prefers having to choose a matchup they have no experience with 0.01% of the games rather than 33% of the time.

Not actually saying you were saying it's a big issue, sundersoft. I'm just clarifying this for everybody else. It's a made up problem which doesn't need a solution.
Moderator
AManHasNoName
Profile Joined September 2017
United States165 Posts
October 27 2017 03:29 GMT
#22
So, hypothetically, in a tournament situation where two race pickers go up against each other.

Player 1: ZvP TvZ PvT
Player 2: ZvP TvZ TvT (or PvT)

What race does each person play?
“To love the journey is to accept no such end. I have found, through painful experience, that the most important step a person can take is always the next one.”
ZigguratOfUr
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
Iraq16955 Posts
October 27 2017 04:00 GMT
#23
On October 27 2017 12:29 AManHasNoName wrote:
So, hypothetically, in a tournament situation where two race pickers go up against each other.

Player 1: ZvP TvZ PvT
Player 2: ZvP TvZ TvT (or PvT)

What race does each person play?


If that ever happened in a tournament setting they'd probably just end up having to blind pick their races.
lazersnipe
Profile Joined November 2016
Canada219 Posts
October 27 2017 08:33 GMT
#24
I don't really see an issue involving race-picking. In the case of the ladder, maybe it makes things slightly more complicated for Blizzard? But I can't see it being a real issue.

I figure the point of these leagues and tournaments is to provide good quality/entertaining games. In DragOn's case that would mean ZvP instead of PvP, I don't really see why he should be penalized now, and offer the community lower quality games (in a MU he's 12 years behind in), especially when this was never an issue before. I saw this mentioned earlier, but I also think the viewers would prefer to watch non-mirror's to mirror's more often anyway (of course we'd still have mirror match-ups for those who enjoy them more).

As for the ladder, I'd be happy if they allowed race-picking as suggested. I personally don't race-pick, but I'm tired of getting a lot of mirror MU's on ladder. I don't mind playing it every once in awhile, but I feel like I get PvP more than anything (and I've heard Zergs say the same about getting a lot of ZvZ). Allowing race-picking on ladder would cut down on the number of mirror matches in general. I think race-pickers and even a lot of non-race pickers would be happy about that.
Liquid`Drone
Profile Joined September 2002
Norway28929 Posts
October 27 2017 08:44 GMT
#25
On October 27 2017 12:29 AManHasNoName wrote:
So, hypothetically, in a tournament situation where two race pickers go up against each other.

Player 1: ZvP TvZ PvT
Player 2: ZvP TvZ TvT (or PvT)

What race does each person play?


Honestly, I'd guess both end up randoming.
Moderator
ninazerg
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States7291 Posts
October 27 2017 08:46 GMT
#26
On October 27 2017 12:29 AManHasNoName wrote:
So, hypothetically, in a tournament situation where two race pickers go up against each other.

Player 1: ZvP TvZ PvT
Player 2: ZvP TvZ TvT (or PvT)

What race does each person play?


I'll tell you why that's a bad example. Nearly every race-picker, including Dragon, does not play their mirror match-up. Dragon plays PvT PvZ, but not PvP. He plays ZvP instead. Ret also used to do this, and played TvZ instead of ZvZ. I've seen race-pickers play each other in tournaments without much trouble. They just decide who is playing what. If they cannot, then it will become necessary to write a simple rule set to resolve the issue.

Anyone who runs a tournament and doesn't write their rules down in clear, concise terms beforehand is being lazy and sloppy. Most people don't want to sit down and write a rule-set because they're too lazy. They'd rather just go "Competitive rules, here's the maps, bo3, go play", then if any issues arise, they just rule by decree. For small tournaments, this is fine. For a league with money involved, this is not okay. If there is no clear rule-set, then the tournament organizer has no standard to go by, and can do ridiculous things like advancing their friends and teammates over people who should've advanced.

The reason I bring up rules is because nobody wants to write a set of rules for race-picking. Not because it's extremely difficult, but because it's easier to be lazy and go "Don't race-pick." So, here's a template I thought of for tournament organizers to borrow:

1. If there is a disagreement among two race-picker players about which match-up will be played in a Bo1 series, and cannot reach an agreement within a reasonable amount of time, a referee will pick who will play which match-up.

2. In any BoX greater than 1, the same procedure will be followed as dictated in rule 1. The LOSER of each match will pick the match-up in the next game. For example:

Player 1 and Player 2 both play ZvP ZvT and PvZ. There is a disagreement about who will play Zerg and who will play Protoss.

map 1: p1 v p2 <- ref picks
map 2: p1 v p2 <- player 2 lost game 1, so he or she wants to be the Zerg player for match number 2
map 3: p1 v p2 <- player 2 lost game 2, but he or she wants to go back to playing Protoss versus Zerg.

"If two pregnant women get into a fist fight, it's like a mecha-battle between two unborn babies." - Fyodor Dostoevsky
Liquid`Drone
Profile Joined September 2002
Norway28929 Posts
October 27 2017 09:02 GMT
#27
two players both play zvt zvp pvz is something that does happen. Usually that leads to whomever picks zerg first in the game lobby getting to be zerg. I played a tourney vs fuNny, the russian guy, a couple weeks ago, and I knew that he was a zvp pvz player. I felt like playing zvp, so I just immediately picked zerg when joining the lobby, and then he went protoss. If he had picked zerg before I joined the first game, I would have just went with p instead. Sometimes I don't actually have that much of an opinion on which matchup I prefer, and I just flat out ask 'you wanna play pvz or zvp?' and then I go with the other one.

Never really seen an argument arise over this, race pickers are fine with playing all three matchups they have decided to specialize on. Having rules in place to deal with a possible conflict is nice, though, but I'd still be surprised if they ever had to be enforced.
Moderator
GeckoXp
Profile Blog Joined June 2013
Germany2016 Posts
October 27 2017 10:22 GMT
#28
On October 27 2017 18:02 Liquid`Drone wrote:
Never really seen an argument arise over this, race pickers are fine with playing all three matchups they have decided to specialize on. Having rules in place to deal with a possible conflict is nice, though, but I'd still be surprised if they ever had to be enforced.


I've seen race pickers complaining a lot in clan leagues and tournaments back in the day, especially in the lower ranks. you have all kinds of weird people having the weirdest picks. the problem evens out, once people are better than - let's say - a high D-Rank. Never experienced any problems with competitive rules, however.
at some point i do understand why an organizer is tempted to just get rid of race picking and/or random, but personally, i wouldn't enforce it. then again, i'd prolly don't complain about it in a league with only a small prize pool, i simply wouldn't attend.
Liquid`Drone
Profile Joined September 2002
Norway28929 Posts
October 27 2017 10:47 GMT
#29
yeah I've never participated in any of the D rank or yellow rank leagues or whatever, so I can't comment on those. But I've played in hundreds of tournaments as a race picker, I've met other race pickers on many occasions, and I don't think we've ever spent more than 10 seconds figuring out the match up.
Moderator
GeckoXp
Profile Blog Joined June 2013
Germany2016 Posts
October 27 2017 10:55 GMT
#30
On October 27 2017 19:47 Liquid`Drone wrote:
yeah I've never participated in any of the D rank or yellow rank leagues or whatever, so I can't comment on those. But I've played in hundreds of tournaments as a race picker, I've met other race pickers on many occasions, and I don't think we've ever spent more than 10 seconds figuring out the match up.


It depends a lot on the league itself and what goals the organisers have in mind. if it is a larger league, you might have divisions with lower ranked players, and those come with their own problems, such as complaining about smurfing, random and race picking. same goes for tournaments, it just eats time to not set up a ruling in this case, e.g. "then both pick random". never underestimate the authority and willingness people show when it comes to just get to the next round without actually having to play. sometimes users are assholes. therefore, i do like brain's approach of saying "go and host your own tournament if you don't like mine". people should always act like that.
Liquid`Drone
Profile Joined September 2002
Norway28929 Posts
October 27 2017 11:15 GMT
#31
yeah I mean so far I've had no issues. Only two tournaments ban race-picking - PATL, and this SK clan league. I'm not part of any team that currently participates in leagues, and PATL i'd be ineligible for either way. But I'd be really sad and dismayed if this was gonna start a trend, I'm loving playing tournaments, but I'm not playing in a tourney that does not allow for race picking.

I should win the lottery and start hosting tourneys with the rule 'you are not allowed to pick the same race twice in a row'. I'd enjoy that.
Moderator
AManHasNoName
Profile Joined September 2017
United States165 Posts
October 27 2017 11:31 GMT
#32
Thanks for the infos everyone! Appreciate you indulging my hypothetical :D Quite an interesting conversation here.
“To love the journey is to accept no such end. I have found, through painful experience, that the most important step a person can take is always the next one.”
JieXian
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Malaysia4677 Posts
October 28 2017 19:28 GMT
#33
On October 27 2017 18:02 Liquid`Drone wrote:
two players both play zvt zvp pvz is something that does happen. Usually that leads to whomever picks zerg first in the game lobby getting to be zerg. I played a tourney vs fuNny, the russian guy, a couple weeks ago, and I knew that he was a zvp pvz player. I felt like playing zvp, so I just immediately picked zerg when joining the lobby, and then he went protoss. If he had picked zerg before I joined the first game, I would have just went with p instead. Sometimes I don't actually have that much of an opinion on which matchup I prefer, and I just flat out ask 'you wanna play pvz or zvp?' and then I go with the other one.

Never really seen an argument arise over this, race pickers are fine with playing all three matchups they have decided to specialize on. Having rules in place to deal with a possible conflict is nice, though, but I'd still be surprised if they ever had to be enforced.


Yep, I play ZvP ZvT and PvZ too, and did so in a TL D Rank tournament a few years ago
Please send me a PM of any song you like that I most probably never heard of! I am looking for people to chat about writing and producing music | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noD-bsOcxuU |
endy
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Switzerland8971 Posts
October 28 2017 22:44 GMT
#34
Racepicking should be allowed as long as you play against the 3 races. That sucks and I hope organizers will realize it's a mistake to ban racepicking.
ॐ
Prev 1 2 All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
PiGosaur Cup
10:00
#107
PiGStarcraft523
CranKy Ducklings63
davetesta31
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
PiGStarcraft523
RuFF_SC2 207
CosmosSc2 53
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 62282
GuemChi 1499
Artosis 553
EG.Machine 15
Force[name] 11
Shuttle 0
League of Legends
Doublelift4934
Counter-Strike
fl0m2873
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King89
Other Games
summit1g10014
shahzam533
C9.Mang0338
Day[9].tv332
WinterStarcraft236
NeuroSwarm71
ViBE66
Trikslyr54
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick852
BasetradeTV131
[ Show 11 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• EnkiAlexander 59
• CranKy Ducklings SOOP8
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Other Games
• Day9tv332
Upcoming Events
INu's Battles
8h 16m
ByuN vs Classic
3D!Clan Event
12h 46m
The PondCast
1d 6h
KCM Race Survival
1d 6h
WardiTV Invitational
1d 8h
OSC
1d 19h
Ultimate Battle
2 days
OSC
2 days
ByuN vs MaxPax
herO vs Krystianer
Percival vs Shameless
LetaleX vs YoungYakov
Nicoract vs Gerald
GgMaChine vs ArT
CranKy Ducklings
3 days
IPSL
3 days
TerrOr vs IJ_Terran
rasowy vs Hazorath
[ Show More ]
BSL
3 days
TerrOr vs OyAji
UltrA vs Gosudark
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
IPSL
4 days
Art_Of_Turtle vs KameZerg
Radley vs George
BSL
4 days
Artosis vs Dewalt
Ret vs Tech
WardiTV Weekly
5 days
PiGosaur Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-11-09
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HCC Season 3

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
International ShieldBattery League
Individual League
BSL Season 23
IPSL Winter 2026-27
Calamity Cup Div. A Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026

Upcoming

YSL S4
Sector 951
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
StarCraft2 Weekly Open Tournament 2026 Grand Finals
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
Underdog Cup 2026 Div 2-3
PGL Bucharest 2027
BLAST Bounty Winter 2027
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.