Try to watch some of Shinee's FPVOD-games. He's not Flash, but he streams his ladder runs on Afreeca, which often go to Top10. His play is very clear cut and can give you an idea where to put your priorities.
He has very good mechanics but his APM will be relatively low for a pro for most ladder games. (250ish) It's mostly about optimization, decisions and timing. Lots of games are well below 10min until 2300 MMR.
I'm not saying it's easy to duplicate, because he's very sharp and efficient. But you can learn a lot about how to play Terran because he has a very clear style.
On June 08 2021 16:30 kogeT wrote: The problem with terran is that it is significantly more difficult on mechanics than any other race and it takes thousands of hours to automize your habits before you can be really good. Flash has mastered terran macro (and other things) to perfection, noone even comes close to his level. Then comes TvP which in my view is often a game of protoss mistake, e.g if protoss plays as well as terran they will win most of the time. As for TvT I fully agree it is the least random mirror of all and is purely skill dependant - if you know what you are doing you will never lose to a weaker opponent which is nice.
As for argumenting my 1st point on terran being significantly more difficult mechanicly think about these points:
- Supply depots need to be build one by one, they are big and hard to fit. They are also voulnarable and they can burn down, making terran super sensitive about them in all matchups. They take a lot of space making terran bases clunky and taking a LOT of time. - You need to babysit your SCVs while making any building, and even then you will often end up with not building something. Placing turrets in mineralline is an extreme example and sometimes you need to spend 10 seconds just trying to build your turrets. Any other race builds any building instantly. - Terran macro is most intensive - building marines / vultures requires a crazy amount of APM as they build fast and are very cheap, so you will need to have more macro cycles. Compare P macro to T macro - Protoss orders 1 zealot each 25 seconds spending 100 minerals. Terran needs to order 2 marines every 15 seconds spending 100 minerals. Similar dragoon and vulture. That is almost double the effort on macro. Zerg can build multiple units with one click and produces everything from 1 building, making it way easier too. - Every terran unit has an activated ability, so it is not enough to just 1a2a3a your army and macro, you need to manualy control your units abilities most of the time. - Individual terran units are very weak vs both Z and P and only grow in power in bigger groups and good positions. You need to constantly think about where you are on the map (highgrounds, vision etc.) as otherwise you can lose in 1 second (muta attacking from highground, protoss army catchin you out of position etc.) With other races if you are out of position most of the time you can just move back and avoid the fight, but not with terran. - Terran builds are VERY voulnarable to cheese - 1 wrong decision can mean GG (1 DT, lurker instead of muta, lack of a turret in a key position vs muta, recall etc.).
Now all of the above can be handled and Flash does it perfectly, and that is when terran starts to shine and becomes so strong. But 99.9% of people cannot nail it and struggle with terran and get frustrated.
I recently switch to Z and it blows my mind how big of a skill gap I see when playing vs 1900-2000 MMR people facing my zerg. As terran playing vs B rank protoss, the game would still go at full length (15+min), I could risk getting cheesed, maybe get a bad engagement and play from behind to win in the long game. As zerg, I make 6 mutas and realize that terrans at that level cannot even build turrets in time and lose to 1st engagement. Protoss players lose to 6 lings or just me making hydra from 6 hath. There are no mindgames, no build order wins, just pure dominance based on mechanics etc. As I was playing terran this didnt exist, every game was difficult and I couldnt let my guard down even vs opponents that were 400-500MMR lower than me.
To sum it up, it doesnt surprise me seeing 1900-2000 MMR terrans looking like "they are not doing anything and sitting in the base". They just try to macro correctly and they don't have more APM to use their army, as otherwise they float thousands and get supply blocked all the time..
For the sake of balance
Doesnt Zerg player normally have higher apm than the other races, because larva spawning is around ~12,5 seconds? -> Marine 15 ... :d I think it can be argued about zerg timings with larva saving, and obviously more production output is saved in the Zerg economy, but most of the time you want those units out as fast as possbile. Even without that you would still need 2 click to select the larva.
*Zerg loses worker for every building in connection with supply. Overlords also take a ton of attention and can make you lose the game. Even on Pros matches, sometimes we see overlords fly directly into terran army. So there are negative points for a one production buildingin contrast to the separation -> As such you can count it as something similar to the scv babysitting and to a degree more probally... Zerg needs the information and its overlords(one of the most importnat parts to gather this information) are vulnerable in all matchups-> flying buildings, surprise scanner sweeps, roaming units, static defence, flying units,etc. -> 1/1/1, 2port wraiths, etc. come into mind.
Any unit needs attention to be used effectivly. I am not sure if an ability makes it more attention intensive though. Thinking from the zerg side, buggy Ultras come into mind-> chokes,etc.
Isnt Zvt one of those matchups that can go south in an instant for the Zerg players? Natural bust, Drops, flying paratroopers,etc.
Is 8rax a cheese? :d What about all those bunker rushes vs zerg? What about late sunken? Those 1 base rax openings, the flying factory into the zerg mains,etc. How are Zerg builds vs Terran not very vulnerable?
"I recently switch to Z and it blows my mind how big of a skill gap I see when playing vs 1900-2000 MMR people facing my zerg. As terran playing vs B rank protoss, the game would still go at full length (15+min), I could risk getting cheesed, maybe get a bad engagement and play from behind to win in the long game. As zerg, I make 6 mutas and realize that terrans at that level cannot even build turrets in time and lose to 1st engagement. " I dont think it is fair to compare to different matchup based on time without defining "all" the variables. After all ZVT and TVP are quite different matchups. (TvZ and ZvP are probally closer) Your example is questionable.
"Protoss players lose to 6 lings or just me making hydra from 6 hath. There are no mindgames, no build order wins, just pure dominance based on mechanics etc." ? 2 gate, proxy 2gateway, 9/9,9/10, Nexus first, 10 gate 2 base all in, 5gategoon,etc.? Isnt the cannon timing a mindgame itself. So Zerg rewards good mechanics?
" As I was playing terran this didnt exist, every game was difficult and I couldnt let my guard down even vs opponents that were 400-500MMR lower than me."
Flash's mastery of the terran race and its mechanics are at a meta-level compared to other players
His ability to multitask and prioritize actions, especially while under pressure, convey an incredibly deep understanding of the game that I've not observed in most other FPVODs. Even top terrans like Light and Last seemed an order of magnitude behind flash. It takes an expert level of skill to "contain" the entropy of a starcraft game. Most top terrans seem able to do this. But we're watching skills at another level when we watch Flash wield the entropy like a weapon and bend it to his will.
Just watch this mindblowing FPVOD vs Larva and you'll see what I mean. Even the other pros observing (hero, snow, stork) were completely speechless:
On June 10 2021 04:26 rararara wrote: If it helps OP:
Try to watch some of Shinee's FPVOD-games. He's not Flash, but he streams his ladder runs on Afreeca, which often go to Top10. His play is very clear cut and can give you an idea where to put your priorities.
He has very good mechanics but his APM will be relatively low for a pro for most ladder games. (250ish) It's mostly about optimization, decisions and timing. Lots of games are well below 10min until 2300 MMR.
I'm not saying it's easy to duplicate, because he's very sharp and efficient. But you can learn a lot about how to play Terran because he has a very clear style.
I agree. Shinee is a great player to learn from, especially if you have low apm. In other words: he's the Terran player to look at for non Koreans xd
On June 11 2021 17:37 tankgirl wrote: Flash's mastery of the terran race and its mechanics are at a meta-level compared to other players + Show Spoiler +
His ability to multitask and prioritize actions, especially while under pressure, convey an incredibly deep understanding of the game that I've not observed in most other FPVODs. Even top terrans like Light and Last seemed an order of magnitude behind flash. It takes an expert level of skill to "contain" the entropy of a starcraft game. Most top terrans seem able to do this. But we're watching skills at another level when we watch Flash wield the entropy like a weapon and bend it to his will.
Just watch this mindblowing FPVOD vs Larva and you'll see what I mean. Even the other pros observing (hero, snow, stork) were completely speechless:
Damn, noone can throw down buildings so quickly, in the heat of battle, like Flash... I think I noticed this back in the days when he started streaming, he was just so much quicker about these things than any other Terran streamer I'd watched until then.
The whole early-game until the mutas arrive shows so well how he has mastered Terran economy on another level... looks as if each small decision is 100% thought through in real-time, I mean, in the moment. He has a precise plan, obviously, but it looks as if he's constantly adapting to the current situation, "build this SCV or delay it for the factory add-on", "not start this upgrade now but after this depot", etc.
On June 08 2021 16:30 kogeT wrote: The problem with terran is that it is significantly more difficult on mechanics than any other race and it takes thousands of hours to automize your habits before you can be really good. Flash has mastered terran macro (and other things) to perfection, noone even comes close to his level. Then comes TvP which in my view is often a game of protoss mistake, e.g if protoss plays as well as terran they will win most of the time. As for TvT I fully agree it is the least random mirror of all and is purely skill dependant - if you know what you are doing you will never lose to a weaker opponent which is nice.
As for argumenting my 1st point on terran being significantly more difficult mechanicly think about these points:
- Supply depots need to be build one by one, they are big and hard to fit. They are also voulnarable and they can burn down, making terran super sensitive about them in all matchups. They take a lot of space making terran bases clunky and taking a LOT of time. - You need to babysit your SCVs while making any building, and even then you will often end up with not building something. Placing turrets in mineralline is an extreme example and sometimes you need to spend 10 seconds just trying to build your turrets. Any other race builds any building instantly. - Terran macro is most intensive - building marines / vultures requires a crazy amount of APM as they build fast and are very cheap, so you will need to have more macro cycles. Compare P macro to T macro - Protoss orders 1 zealot each 25 seconds spending 100 minerals. Terran needs to order 2 marines every 15 seconds spending 100 minerals. Similar dragoon and vulture. That is almost double the effort on macro. Zerg can build multiple units with one click and produces everything from 1 building, making it way easier too. - Every terran unit has an activated ability, so it is not enough to just 1a2a3a your army and macro, you need to manualy control your units abilities most of the time. - Individual terran units are very weak vs both Z and P and only grow in power in bigger groups and good positions. You need to constantly think about where you are on the map (highgrounds, vision etc.) as otherwise you can lose in 1 second (muta attacking from highground, protoss army catchin you out of position etc.) With other races if you are out of position most of the time you can just move back and avoid the fight, but not with terran. - Terran builds are VERY voulnarable to cheese - 1 wrong decision can mean GG (1 DT, lurker instead of muta, lack of a turret in a key position vs muta, recall etc.).
Now all of the above can be handled and Flash does it perfectly, and that is when terran starts to shine and becomes so strong. But 99.9% of people cannot nail it and struggle with terran and get frustrated.
I recently switch to Z and it blows my mind how big of a skill gap I see when playing vs 1900-2000 MMR people facing my zerg. As terran playing vs B rank protoss, the game would still go at full length (15+min), I could risk getting cheesed, maybe get a bad engagement and play from behind to win in the long game. As zerg, I make 6 mutas and realize that terrans at that level cannot even build turrets in time and lose to 1st engagement. Protoss players lose to 6 lings or just me making hydra from 6 hath. There are no mindgames, no build order wins, just pure dominance based on mechanics etc. As I was playing terran this didnt exist, every game was difficult and I couldnt let my guard down even vs opponents that were 400-500MMR lower than me.
To sum it up, it doesnt surprise me seeing 1900-2000 MMR terrans looking like "they are not doing anything and sitting in the base". They just try to macro correctly and they don't have more APM to use their army, as otherwise they float thousands and get supply blocked all the time..
For the sake of balance
Doesnt Zerg player normally have higher apm than the other races, because larva spawning is around ~12,5 seconds? -> Marine 15 ... :d I think it can be argued about zerg timings with larva saving, and obviously more production output is saved in the Zerg economy, but most of the time you want those units out as fast as possbile. Even without that you would still need 2 click to select the larva.
*Zerg loses worker for every building in connection with supply. Overlords also take a ton of attention and can make you lose the game. Even on Pros matches, sometimes we see overlords fly directly into terran army. So there are negative points for a one production buildingin contrast to the separation -> As such you can count it as something similar to the scv babysitting and to a degree more probally... Zerg needs the information and its overlords(one of the most importnat parts to gather this information) are vulnerable in all matchups-> flying buildings, surprise scanner sweeps, roaming units, static defence, flying units,etc. -> 1/1/1, 2port wraiths, etc. come into mind.
Any unit needs attention to be used effectivly. I am not sure if an ability makes it more attention intensive though. Thinking from the zerg side, buggy Ultras come into mind-> chokes,etc.
Isnt Zvt one of those matchups that can go south in an instant for the Zerg players? Natural bust, Drops, flying paratroopers,etc.
Is 8rax a cheese? :d What about all those bunker rushes vs zerg? What about late sunken? Those 1 base rax openings, the flying factory into the zerg mains,etc. How are Zerg builds vs Terran not very vulnerable?
"I recently switch to Z and it blows my mind how big of a skill gap I see when playing vs 1900-2000 MMR people facing my zerg. As terran playing vs B rank protoss, the game would still go at full length (15+min), I could risk getting cheesed, maybe get a bad engagement and play from behind to win in the long game. As zerg, I make 6 mutas and realize that terrans at that level cannot even build turrets in time and lose to 1st engagement. " I dont think it is fair to compare to different matchup based on time without defining "all" the variables. After all ZVT and TVP are quite different matchups. (TvZ and ZvP are probally closer) Your example is questionable.
"Protoss players lose to 6 lings or just me making hydra from 6 hath. There are no mindgames, no build order wins, just pure dominance based on mechanics etc." ? 2 gate, proxy 2gateway, 9/9,9/10, Nexus first, 10 gate 2 base all in, 5gategoon,etc.? Isnt the cannon timing a mindgame itself. So Zerg rewards good mechanics?
" As I was playing terran this didnt exist, every game was difficult and I couldnt let my guard down even vs opponents that were 400-500MMR lower than me."
->Ragetosis is right!!!
Spawn rate of one larva is not the right way to look at it. Letting one larva sit there is usually not a big deal. It matters more if you let there be 3 larva since only then do you start to lose total long term production. Whereas with Marines you ideally want exactly the right number of Barracks and to spawn Marines exactly every 15 seconds.
It is also sometimes better not to use larva until you're sure you know what you want from it. You can't cancel eggs like you can Terran or Protoss units.
And the ability to make three of something per building is quite nice. If Hatcheries are containable in one screen you can even select up to 12 Larva in one go.
Zerg macro is hard for many reasons, but Larva spawn rate is not comparable to Marine build time from a mechanical demand perspective.
It is interesting to get insight from other race like that. From a zerg perspective, when I switched Terran, I found this race to be easy, not in the way that it's easier to win, but easier to think. First and foremost coolest thing about Terran is the safety aspect particulary in the opening game, I was so happy to start a game not thinking about rush bunker or double gate. You are just feeling safe. Second thing, SCV are so fucking strong, third thing is end game, Terran are fucking built for end game so if the game drags on, it is YOUR advantage.
I feel Terran relies much more on defense, macro, micro and speed that any other race (which is to me the real hard part). Most dominant Terran in bw history are Nada, iloveoov, Flash, all of them were HEAVILY macro oriented players, it looked like they were just rolling over their opponents with sheer number.
I know this will not be liked but I felt when playing terran that I didn't have to be very creative in order to improve, when you think about it, terran's gameplay is pretty straight forward and macro/micro/speed is more rewarding than strategy plain and simple (exclude TvT). As a zerg I was stuck at 2000MMR because of this lack of creativity/strategy, I am kind of convinced that Terran can climb higher with minimal strategy. When I lost with Zerg, the feeling was often a feeling of being powerless like you are just not enough as a human being. You lose in Terran the feeling is like, "ok where did I fuck up, I had everything in my hand to win, ho ok I got countered stupidly on that move, fine next time won't happen"
Now T v P is an other story, this match up is hard for Terran and you get easily punished, but I never felt powerless as if I was playing Zerg.
Yeah, during Kespa era there has always been a number of terrans who'd go on a hot can-beat-anyone streak in TvZ or TvP, just based off of crisp mechanics and not really ever bringing anything new to the table. Didn't happen nearly as much to Z or P. This trend fell off entirely after Kespa, though.
On June 08 2021 16:30 kogeT wrote: The problem with terran is that it is significantly more difficult on mechanics than any other race and it takes thousands of hours to automize your habits before you can be really good. Flash has mastered terran macro (and other things) to perfection, noone even comes close to his level. Then comes TvP which in my view is often a game of protoss mistake, e.g if protoss plays as well as terran they will win most of the time. As for TvT I fully agree it is the least random mirror of all and is purely skill dependant - if you know what you are doing you will never lose to a weaker opponent which is nice.
As for argumenting my 1st point on terran being significantly more difficult mechanicly think about these points:
- Supply depots need to be build one by one, they are big and hard to fit. They are also voulnarable and they can burn down, making terran super sensitive about them in all matchups. They take a lot of space making terran bases clunky and taking a LOT of time. - You need to babysit your SCVs while making any building, and even then you will often end up with not building something. Placing turrets in mineralline is an extreme example and sometimes you need to spend 10 seconds just trying to build your turrets. Any other race builds any building instantly. - Terran macro is most intensive - building marines / vultures requires a crazy amount of APM as they build fast and are very cheap, so you will need to have more macro cycles. Compare P macro to T macro - Protoss orders 1 zealot each 25 seconds spending 100 minerals. Terran needs to order 2 marines every 15 seconds spending 100 minerals. Similar dragoon and vulture. That is almost double the effort on macro. Zerg can build multiple units with one click and produces everything from 1 building, making it way easier too. - Every terran unit has an activated ability, so it is not enough to just 1a2a3a your army and macro, you need to manualy control your units abilities most of the time. - Individual terran units are very weak vs both Z and P and only grow in power in bigger groups and good positions. You need to constantly think about where you are on the map (highgrounds, vision etc.) as otherwise you can lose in 1 second (muta attacking from highground, protoss army catchin you out of position etc.) With other races if you are out of position most of the time you can just move back and avoid the fight, but not with terran. - Terran builds are VERY voulnarable to cheese - 1 wrong decision can mean GG (1 DT, lurker instead of muta, lack of a turret in a key position vs muta, recall etc.).
Now all of the above can be handled and Flash does it perfectly, and that is when terran starts to shine and becomes so strong. But 99.9% of people cannot nail it and struggle with terran and get frustrated.
I recently switch to Z and it blows my mind how big of a skill gap I see when playing vs 1900-2000 MMR people facing my zerg. As terran playing vs B rank protoss, the game would still go at full length (15+min), I could risk getting cheesed, maybe get a bad engagement and play from behind to win in the long game. As zerg, I make 6 mutas and realize that terrans at that level cannot even build turrets in time and lose to 1st engagement. Protoss players lose to 6 lings or just me making hydra from 6 hath. There are no mindgames, no build order wins, just pure dominance based on mechanics etc. As I was playing terran this didnt exist, every game was difficult and I couldnt let my guard down even vs opponents that were 400-500MMR lower than me.
To sum it up, it doesnt surprise me seeing 1900-2000 MMR terrans looking like "they are not doing anything and sitting in the base". They just try to macro correctly and they don't have more APM to use their army, as otherwise they float thousands and get supply blocked all the time..
For the sake of balance
Doesnt Zerg player normally have higher apm than the other races, because larva spawning is around ~12,5 seconds? -> Marine 15 ... :d I think it can be argued about zerg timings with larva saving, and obviously more production output is saved in the Zerg economy, but most of the time you want those units out as fast as possbile. Even without that you would still need 2 click to select the larva.
*Zerg loses worker for every building in connection with supply. Overlords also take a ton of attention and can make you lose the game. Even on Pros matches, sometimes we see overlords fly directly into terran army. So there are negative points for a one production buildingin contrast to the separation -> As such you can count it as something similar to the scv babysitting and to a degree more probally... Zerg needs the information and its overlords(one of the most importnat parts to gather this information) are vulnerable in all matchups-> flying buildings, surprise scanner sweeps, roaming units, static defence, flying units,etc. -> 1/1/1, 2port wraiths, etc. come into mind.
Any unit needs attention to be used effectivly. I am not sure if an ability makes it more attention intensive though. Thinking from the zerg side, buggy Ultras come into mind-> chokes,etc.
Isnt Zvt one of those matchups that can go south in an instant for the Zerg players? Natural bust, Drops, flying paratroopers,etc.
Is 8rax a cheese? :d What about all those bunker rushes vs zerg? What about late sunken? Those 1 base rax openings, the flying factory into the zerg mains,etc. How are Zerg builds vs Terran not very vulnerable?
"I recently switch to Z and it blows my mind how big of a skill gap I see when playing vs 1900-2000 MMR people facing my zerg. As terran playing vs B rank protoss, the game would still go at full length (15+min), I could risk getting cheesed, maybe get a bad engagement and play from behind to win in the long game. As zerg, I make 6 mutas and realize that terrans at that level cannot even build turrets in time and lose to 1st engagement. " I dont think it is fair to compare to different matchup based on time without defining "all" the variables. After all ZVT and TVP are quite different matchups. (TvZ and ZvP are probally closer) Your example is questionable.
"Protoss players lose to 6 lings or just me making hydra from 6 hath. There are no mindgames, no build order wins, just pure dominance based on mechanics etc." ? 2 gate, proxy 2gateway, 9/9,9/10, Nexus first, 10 gate 2 base all in, 5gategoon,etc.? Isnt the cannon timing a mindgame itself. So Zerg rewards good mechanics?
" As I was playing terran this didnt exist, every game was difficult and I couldnt let my guard down even vs opponents that were 400-500MMR lower than me."
->Ragetosis is right!!!
Spawn rate of one larva is not the right way to look at it. Letting one larva sit there is usually not a big deal. It matters more if you let there be 3 larva since only then do you start to lose total long term production. Whereas with Marines you ideally want exactly the right number of Barracks and to spawn Marines exactly every 15 seconds.
It is also sometimes better not to use larva until you're sure you know what you want from it. You can't cancel eggs like you can Terran or Protoss units.
And the ability to make three of something per building is quite nice. If Hatcheries are containable in one screen you can even select up to 12 Larva in one go.
Zerg macro is hard for many reasons, but Larva spawn rate is not comparable to Marine build time from a mechanical demand perspective.
It is true that until you reach the 4th larva spawn timing you dont lose production in contrast to the other races. And i also agree that you want to see what the opponent strategy is, before you commit to your production. Since you are bind to the spawn rate and would lose immensly in that regard. If you need to canceal your larvas. Iam not sure if it is on the same step as the build timings of the others races in regard of strategic importance. Since there are other factors to consider, like the fact that those races can premake their production, while doing other stuff like overwhelm you in some regard. But larva spawn time is mechanically demanding in connection to instant drone production and the fact that often you need to think what you are even producing. It isnt just mindless clicking on that larva/hatcheries like some people seem to suggest. And not to forget the fact that you will need to separate the units often after that.Or suffer consquences like overlords/drones flying into death. All typ units clumbed up in cluster hell,etc. Of course the other races suffer similar stuff, but separated production has its benefits aswell.
On June 14 2021 01:39 Soulforged wrote: Yeah, during Kespa era there has always been a number of terrans who'd go on a hot can-beat-anyone streak in TvZ or TvP, just based off of crisp mechanics and not really ever bringing anything new to the table. Didn't happen nearly as much to Z or P. This trend fell off entirely after Kespa, though.
I don't agree that this trend fell off. Hiya, Sea, and sSak did a great job of holding the torch until Flash/Last/Mind came back.
On June 14 2021 01:39 Soulforged wrote: Yeah, during Kespa era there has always been a number of terrans who'd go on a hot can-beat-anyone streak in TvZ or TvP, just based off of crisp mechanics and not really ever bringing anything new to the table. Didn't happen nearly as much to Z or P. This trend fell off entirely after Kespa, though.
I don't agree that this trend fell off. Hiya, Sea, and sSak did a great job of holding the torch until Flash/Last/Mind came back.
I would take it even further and say that it was truly after Flash that Terran started to have something truly new. Like 2015 there was a short period with +1 4 rax sk terran against zerg and gas-cc-factory expands in tvp but it was Flash who truly shaked matchups in 2016. And I personaly think it was due maps starting from ASL 4 that caused most groundbreaking changes like bunkered expand against p or factory openings against z. The "dark ages" were mostly fs and cb in every tournament with modern 4 player maps like Sniper Ridge, La Mancha and Neo Jade.
On June 09 2021 10:03 MrHoon wrote: iirc flash first started as a random player and moved onto terran when he realized he had more success with terran than the other races
it was a theme with a lot of highly touted amateurs back in the day - proficient in all three races but stuck with/were told to go with terran when turning pro because it was considered the most stable race within the scene in order to achieve success.
iloveoov and sea most notably were terran players who before turning pro could play the other two at a high level (the story goes is that iloveoov was headhunted by boxer himself after he got beaten up by him with all three races on the gamei ladder).
Its quite simple in my opinion. Balance at the top level cant really be compared to balance at lower levels. Dont try to confuse Artosis ladder struggles to what progamers experience. TvP can be a huge pain at lower levels.
At the absolute highest levels, all players has adequate mechanics to play their respective race properly on a purely mechanical level. Thus, "easy" or "hard" doesn't matter as much. At that point, it is my belief that Terran is probably the strongest race, all else being equal - simply because the Terran lategame army is so strong.
At lower levels, and by that I mean literally everything below the cream of the crop, the mechnical challenges of each race become very defining of which race is "hardest" to play. In this respect, it is to me clear that Terran is the most challenging race mechanically.
EPT
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