GSL Popularity - Page 18

Let’s begin with the matchup that deviates the most from the norm when played on Pathfinder. For Zerg, short air distances means there is little reason to stray from the standard two or three hatch mutalisks strategy, but Terran players can be tempted into a variety of one-base options.

By now any professional Terran player can pull off a pretty decent two starport wraith build. So well, in fact, that it temporarily became the standard Pathfinder build after its debut. It led to an amusing TvZ metagame which was very similar to the old “Fantasy build” metagame where Zerg would try to go to three hatch mutas while building the bare minimum number of hydralisks required to defend.

From there, Terrans have mixed it up with even more one base builds that try to exploit Zerg’s tendency to pump as many drones as possible before mutalisks. Both Hiya and Suny went for clever one base dropship builds timed to hit before mutalisks; Hiya succeeded and Suny would have if not for his mistakes. There was some creative defense on display as well, when Fantasy dusted off his old “Fantasy-build” which rushes for goliaths and valkyries in order to counter mutalisks (though in that particular game, his opponent read the move and went for a three hatch hydralisk all-in).

Standard 1 rax FE has been decent on the map as well, which is not surprising since you can’t really go wrong with mass M&M into vessels against Zerg. Though it hasn’t been the dominant strat on Pathfinder, it is certainly viable. I did find it amusing though, that Mind, a very safe player who prefers rax FE in almost any scenario, has used 2 port wraith exclusively on this map.

Even with 11 games played, I don’t think we can come to many conclusions on this map. Terran players are still experimenting with different strategies, while Zerg players have yet to utilize many counter-counter builds as of yet. This matchup should continue to be unpredictable and entertaining.