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[PL] October Imbalance

Forum Index > BW General
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War_Minister
Profile Joined March 2008
Canada86 Posts
October 25 2009 23:26 GMT
#1
I began taking interest in the ProLeague last season; I really liked to see various and sometimes unknown players facing each other for their teams. I chose the series I wanted to see by the players involved, of course, but also by the lack of mirror match-ups, which I find quite less interesting. This second criteria seems to be a problem in this season because most series are filled with mirror match-ups!

If all maps were perfectly balanced, we could expect a mirror match-up ratio close to 33%. I understand that maps cannot be perfectly balanced but, after doing a quick survey all of scheduled games in October, I found that exactly 50% of all games were mirror match-ups (13% PvP, 18% TvT and 19% ZvZ)! This seems very far from the 33% perfection…

I just wonder (I ask to the most veteran fans among you), is this usual in the ProLeague or is October simply an unlucky month?
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. - Soren Kierkegaard
zulu_nation8
Profile Blog Joined May 2005
China26351 Posts
October 25 2009 23:30 GMT
#2
theres always been a lot of mirrors, dont know if October has had more than usual. Look at last year's proleague playoffs, almost every match was a mirror.
lazz
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Australia3119 Posts
October 25 2009 23:30 GMT
#3
generally for each map there is an optimal race, so each coach is very pressured to play the optimal race otherwise it'd put them at a disadvantage.
BanZu
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States3329 Posts
October 25 2009 23:34 GMT
#4
ZvZ
PvP
TvT
PvZ
ZvT
TvP

6 match-ups, half are mirrors.

Is there something wrong with my logic?
Sun Tzu once said, "Defiler becomes useless at the presences of a vessel."
Ideas
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
United States8142 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-10-25 23:38:38
October 25 2009 23:38 GMT
#5
there are so many hundreds of factors that go into statistics like this that it is completely pointless to even look at them.


you think 50% is bad? Just look at the SPL 08 season before they had the at least 1 of each race every match rule.
Free Palestine
haxorz
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
United States138 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-10-26 00:00:49
October 25 2009 23:38 GMT
#6
On October 26 2009 08:34 BanZu wrote:
ZvZ
PvP
TvT
PvZ
ZvT
TvP

6 match-ups, half are mirrors.

Is there something wrong with my logic?


Other people have pointed out that it should actually be 1/3 mirror matches.

This logic is only correct if we assume that coaches choose which race to send for a game at random (i.e., in the ideal case). Suppose a team's best players are Protosses (Khan!?!?!?!). Suppose another team's best players are Zergs. Their coaches will be more inclined to send their better players, so in this example a mirror match is less likely than 1/3.

edit: clarified my point
And theres the GG.
huameng
Profile Blog Joined April 2007
United States1133 Posts
October 25 2009 23:38 GMT
#7
Yes, TvP can happen as TvP or PvT, so you have to count each of the non mirrors twice.

Or think of it this way: you pick any race. your opponent can pick any 3 races, and 1 of those 3 will be the same as yours. so 1/3 matchups are mirrors.
skating
Deleted User 48059
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
86 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-10-25 23:41:49
October 25 2009 23:40 GMT
#8
Yes.
ZvZ
PvP
TvT
PvZ
ZvT
TvP


...you need to add
ZvP
PvT
TvZ
to that list (order matters; player A can play zerg, and player B terran, OR the other way round)
Or, to put it a little differently: player A can be P, T or Z. Whatever player A's race is, there is a *1 in 3* chance that player B will be playing the same race.

Hope that helps; I'm not the best at explaining things sometimes

Kev

edit: yah, I was too slow. stupid long post and slow typing...
ploy
Profile Joined January 2006
United States416 Posts
October 26 2009 00:04 GMT
#9
Uh no thats not right. Order does not matter in this situation. Banzu is right - 50% of the matchups you can watch are mirrors, so it's to be expected that about 50% of the matchups that you see are mirrors.
motbob
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States12546 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-10-26 00:10:43
October 26 2009 00:10 GMT
#10
On October 26 2009 09:04 ploy wrote:
Uh no thats not right. Order does not matter in this situation. Banzu is right - 50% of the matchups you can watch are mirrors, so it's to be expected that about 50% of the matchups that you see are mirrors.

You're wrong. If a team sends out a zerg, it's a 33% chance the match will be mirror if the other team sends out a random player. Thus, mirror matches "should" occur 33% of the time.
ModeratorGood content always wins.
hellokitty[hk]
Profile Joined June 2009
United States1309 Posts
October 26 2009 00:17 GMT
#11
The players probably have something to do with it.
People are imbeciles, lucky thing god made cats.
Nouar
Profile Joined May 2009
France3270 Posts
October 26 2009 00:18 GMT
#12
My god will there ever be a consensus about those statistics ?
Could some people put in their heads a little bit of common sense...

Player A, whatever race he plays, has 1/3 chance to play a mirror. You don't have to calculate any further.
NoiR
Hot_Bid
Profile Blog Joined October 2003
Braavos36379 Posts
October 26 2009 00:37 GMT
#13
Maps are almost never balanced through all three non mirror matches, PvT TvZ PvZ. They are usually slanted toward two races or one race. All teams know this, so obviously there will be far more mirror matches because the teams know to send a Z on outsider and tornado, a T on match point, etc.
@Hot_Bid on Twitter - ESPORTS life since 2010 - http://i.imgur.com/U2psw.png
lone_hydra
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
Canada1460 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-10-26 00:57:35
October 26 2009 00:56 GMT
#14
PROBABILITY FIGHT! I'm gonna bust out some monty hall theory on y'all nubs.

Seriously, whoever wins, help me with my STAT 230 course T-T
Fav Gamers: 2)Stork 5)Bisu
haxorz
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
United States138 Posts
October 26 2009 01:04 GMT
#15
On October 26 2009 09:18 Nouar wrote:
My god will there ever be a consensus about those statistics ?
Could some people put in their heads a little bit of common sense...

Player A, whatever race he plays, has 1/3 chance to play a mirror. You don't have to calculate any further.


I just want to clarify for everyone - this is true in the ideal case (see my previous post). Of course, pro SC irl is NOT the ideal case.
And theres the GG.
cascades
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Singapore6122 Posts
October 26 2009 04:29 GMT
#16
Honestly I don't understand how people can be so bad at probability. It is utterly mind-boggling, and in fact I have wondered about it lots of times, without being able to come up with any explanation.

How were the statistics for the previous seasons anyway?
HS: cascades#1595 || LoL: stoppin
Arrian
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
United States889 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-10-26 04:34:04
October 26 2009 04:33 GMT
#17
On October 26 2009 09:37 Hot_Bid wrote:
Maps are almost never balanced through all three non mirror matches, PvT TvZ PvZ. They are usually slanted toward two races or one race. All teams know this, so obviously there will be far more mirror matches because the teams know to send a Z on outsider and tornado, a T on match point, etc.


Hot_Bid hit the nail on the head. The key word in the whole equation is random, and what race coaches choose to put on certain maps is demonstrably not random, for a slew of reasons.
Writersator arepo tenet opera rotas
Wilko
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Germany470 Posts
October 26 2009 04:47 GMT
#18
On October 26 2009 08:40 weepingblades wrote:
Yes.
ZvZ
PvP
TvT
PvZ
ZvT
TvP


...you need to add
ZvP
PvT
TvZ
to that list (order matters; player A can play zerg, and player B terran, OR the other way round)
Or, to put it a little differently: player A can be P, T or Z. Whatever player A's race is, there is a *1 in 3* chance that player B will be playing the same race.

Hope that helps; I'm not the best at explaining things sometimes

Kev

edit: yah, I was too slow. stupid long post and slow typing...


Shouldn't mirrors also be counted twice?

Like:

T1 vs T2
T2 vs T1
Z1 vs Z2
Z2 vs Z1
P1 vs P2
P2 vs P1
Heyoka
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Katowice25012 Posts
October 26 2009 04:49 GMT
#19
On October 26 2009 08:30 zulu_nation8 wrote:
theres always been a lot of mirrors, dont know if October has had more than usual. Look at last year's proleague playoffs, almost every match was a mirror.


Its been way more than usual. I have the actual numbers in the latest PL article, there have been twice as many mirrors so far this month as compared to last year's maps.
@RealHeyoka | ESL / DreamHack StarCraft Lead
cascades
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Singapore6122 Posts
October 26 2009 04:50 GMT
#20
On October 26 2009 13:47 Wilko wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 26 2009 08:40 weepingblades wrote:
Yes.
ZvZ
PvP
TvT
PvZ
ZvT
TvP


...you need to add
ZvP
PvT
TvZ
to that list (order matters; player A can play zerg, and player B terran, OR the other way round)
Or, to put it a little differently: player A can be P, T or Z. Whatever player A's race is, there is a *1 in 3* chance that player B will be playing the same race.

Hope that helps; I'm not the best at explaining things sometimes

Kev

edit: yah, I was too slow. stupid long post and slow typing...


Shouldn't mirrors also be counted twice?

Like:

T1 vs T2
T2 vs T1
Z1 vs Z2
Z2 vs Z1
P1 vs P2
P2 vs P1


Yes. So it is still 1 in 3.
HS: cascades#1595 || LoL: stoppin
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