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- What is a so called "patchzerg" ?
A zerg who only started making a splash in the scene after patch 1.4.3 balance changes (patch notes), released the tenth of may 2012, implying that this zerg only is where he is at due to the patch, and the supposed zerg imbalance that comes with it.
- Are patchzergs real, or are they just a figment of our imagination?
Axiom: If the last balance update in truth is the reason these zergs made it to the top, one would assume high winrates in especially TvZ and possibly PvZ (some would argue that the overlord change made it easier for zerg to be greedy in this matchup as well) while their ZvZ winrates dropped off.
Why? Well we can safely assume that the balance in ZvZ was not affected by this or any previous patch, and while getting further in tournaments, they will now face the better pre-patch zergs. If these zergs in truth got to where they are because of the patch, they should lose more of these matches.
Data gathering
With the conclusion of IEM Cologne this weekend, three names where on the lips of people when the patchzergs came into mentioning. All of them european:
 SortOf
sLivko
VortiX
Using the TLPD for previous matches, and adding the matches of this weekend from IEM Cologne, I gathered the overall winrate statistics for all matchups for these players and the overall winrate since the 10th of may.
Results
SortOf
Pre patch ZvT 13-21 (38,2%)
Pre patch ZvZ 13-5 (72,2%)
Pre patch ZvP 11-15 (42,3%)
After patch ZvT 9-13 (40,9%)
After patch ZvZ 17-15 (53,1%)
After patch ZvP 28-19 (59,6%)
Change ZvT +2,7%
Change ZvZ -19,1%
Change ZvP +17,3%
sLivko
Pre patch ZvT 74-82 (47,4%)
Pre patch ZvZ 104-91 (53,3%)
Pre patch ZvP 82-70 (54,0%)
After patch ZvT 18-14 (56,3%)
After patch ZvZ 42-29 (59,2%)
After patch ZvP 35-40 (46,7%)
Change ZvT +8,9%
Change ZvZ +5,9%
Change ZvP -7,3%
VortiX
Pre patch ZvT 30-24 (51,0%)
Pre patch ZvZ 16-17 (48,5%)
Pre patch ZvP 33-15 (68,8%)
After patch ZvT 26-14 (65,0%)
After patch ZvZ 15-8 (65,2%)
After patch ZvP 23-14 (62,2%)
Change ZvT +14,0%
Change ZvZ +16,7%
Change ZvP -6,6%
Discussion
Both sLivko and VortiX historicly had Zerg versus Terran as their weakest matchup, while doing well in the other two. Looking at the statistics, VortiX used to be an absolute beast in ZvP and doing very well in ZvZ, while his ZvT was holding him back.
Very little is known about SortOf before the 10th of may, except that he could not win against protoss, at all. There were only 5 recorded matches of him playing ZvZ, so it's hard to tell if it was actually that much better than his other matchups. Interesting to note , though, is that still after the patch, ZvT is still his weakest matchup according to statistics.
They all have gotten a boost versus terran, quite a big one in vortix case from being mediocre, but that is expected since zerg in general has enjoyed a good period against that race. ZvT is still not a dominant matchup for either player.
All of the players seem to do very good against the zergs they face even after making it up to the higher level. I decided to take a look at some results these players have against more notable zergs since the patch.
SortOf 2-1 Nerchio
SortOf 4-2 Nerchio
SortOf 2-0 HayprO
sLivko 2-1 mOOnglade
sLivko 2-1 Bly
sLivko 2-1 TSL.Revival
sLivko 2-0 Sheth
sLivko 3-1 TSL.HyuN
sLivko 2-0 Delphi
VortiX 2-0 KiLLeR
VortiX 2-0 TSL.Revival
VortiX 3-0 Golden
VortiX 2-0 LoWely
VortiX 2-0 DarKForcE
These players are obviously capable of beating even the best players in ZvZ, a matchup not affected by any balance or patch. Not only are they beating them, but for slivko and vortix it's their strongest matchup, and SortOf barely scrapes by with a 40,9% vs Terran.
Personal Conclusion
There are no patchzergs. And if there are, these are not them. What we have are three players who have worked hard and yes, gotten a boost with the patch, but stayed equally strong versus their zerg counterparts.
Claiming that these players are where they are because of the patch is not only ignorant, but in truth very rude to these people.
However, I do not claim this to be a proof that zerg is not favored/imbalanced against terran. What I am claiming is that these players are not where they are because of it.
Note: Yes I was biased from the start, but only because I was so sad to see these players getting insulted in every second comment during this IEM. I hope these number can put a hold on the name calling, if only for a bit.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to discuss! (sorry for the lack of fancy pictures)
Edit: fixed some faulty numbers, blaming the heat
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Come on man u come up with this new fancy term and theory and then u disprove it in the same post.
User was temp banned for this post.
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I don't believe I came up with this term; it has been frequently used for some time now ;P
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i agree that they appeared mysteriously after a patch. born from a patch, the patchzergs.
User was temp banned for this post.
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Please read it all before commenting 
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Where was the insulting? Stream chat? That's not an accurate representation of what people with a functioning human brain actually think. Also, you can't take such small amounts of data and go "see, it proves nothing!", proof by contradiction means nothing when what you're trying to prove is ridiculous.
Cool compilation of stats though.
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You havn't really understood the reasoning behind it if you say that, which is a shame :s
Edit: calling them patchzergs is insulting because of what it implies. Anyone with a "functioning brain" can think in those two steps.
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Post sample sizes or this is meaningless (hint: its likely meaningless).
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Johnnyrecco should be in this too.
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On August 20 2012 09:27 See.Blue wrote:
Post sample sizes or this is meaningless (hint: its likely meaningless).
The sample sizes are in the post if you actually bothered reading it. I can't believe you just actually posted this.
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you have to appreciate some of the things the Starcraft community comes up with, but this is just silly in my opinion. too many terms in this game, I honestly don't know what the purpose of this discussion would be.
if a patchzerg is a zerg player who's peforming better after the 1.4.3 patch, and these zerg players have been performing better after the 1.4.3 patch, then yes I suppose they are, but the term doesn't need to exist in my opinion. in any case, I hope you're able to get to the bottom of it.
and if you think calling them patchzergs is insulting then why would you instigate this conversation? it seems a lot of the people responding have never even heard the term before, myself included.
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sort of going 50% increase vs toss, wtf??????????????
and yes i do think that patch zergs are real, i havent seen heard any zergs complain about how hard the match ups are for them, its like the game has made a complete opposite balance swtich since beta
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People who complain about "patchzergs" are people who have absolutely no idea with regards to who is good in the foreign scene beyond the top 10. "OMG I don't know this guy therefore he's a noob; this noob just beat a player who i know is good, the game must be broken argh"
It's simple. If you want to have an educated opinion on who is good at the moment, you need to follow a lot of starcraft, including the much overlooked daily/weekly cups and smaller invitationals. If you can't be bothered to do that then that's fine, I respect your choice but don't talk about something that you are intentionally uninformed about, it just makes you look ignorant and foolish.
Thank you OP for putting the time and effort into this thread, I agree completely with you. On a semi-related note, this sort of reminds me in a way of Stephano back when he made his breakout, people thought he was a flash in the pan and not a genuinely talented player even though he's had absolute stomps (over top european terrans at the time) dating all the way back to april / may 2011 if I recall correctly.
I'm pretty excited with regards to what the future holds for these players, as well as some others like Ziktomini, JohnnyREcco, Scarlett etc. Always good to have more talent. ^^
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I think you're missing a major comparative point.
Non "patchzergs".
Surely it would make sense to look at the variation in winrates of the other zergs (e.g Stephano) who were big before the patches.
Also there is the timing, which coincides generally with school holidays (for much of the time anyway) where players may either have finished HS and have more time, or simply be on summer holidays, and have more time to practice and play.
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I remember Slivko from IEM Sao Paulo. He almost took out Supernova I think it was. Definitely not a patchzerg.
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The real question is why aren't you laddering and becoming the next
PATCHZERG
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On August 20 2012 09:18 nkr wrote:- What is a so called "patchzerg" ?A zerg who only started making a splash in the scene after patch 1.4.3 balance changes (patch notes), released the tenth of may 2012, implying that this zerg only is where he is at due to the patch, and the supposed zerg imbalance that comes with it.
Wrong. As someone said in the IEM LR thread, patchzergs are pirate zergs that play with eyepatches to make them better  other than that I wholeheartedly agree with your post.
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The first few posts are horrible. You raise a good point.
On August 20 2012 09:27 xPabt wrote:
Johnnyrecco should be in this too.
And this. Some may say that he's already been working his way up the ranks pre-patch but at the speed he's doing it in.. that's a bit ridiculous.
Edit: You should also try adding in some other zergs as a comparison - that way we can really see the "difference" that this patch makes.
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I think that the patch affected zvt the most. You can see that they all improved quite a bit (5.4%, 7.7%, and an astounding 14%). patchzerg it is!
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You're overrating people's intelligence (just look at the first few posts), it will backfire at best. People will just see the title and it will help popularise the term even though you make the opposite point. You should change the title.
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EPT
