I am going to take a build used by someone in the pro scene and try to emulate it and see how effective it can be in the hands of a regular player. If this turns out to be popular I would like to turn it into something I do on a weekly basis. If anyone has any suggestions of a good build from any race then please leave it in the comments section below. This week I looked at IM_Mvp's 3 Rax build which involves getting, you guessed, three barracks; one with a reactor and two with tech labs off of one base and one gas. Marines are built from the reactored barracks whilst the other two make marauders and research upgrades. Also a reaper can be used to scout.
The Build
Here is an outline of the build if you want to try it yourself.
12 Barracks
13 Refinery
14 Scout
15 Orbital Command
15 Marine
16 Supply Depot
15 Reactor on Barracks
17 Barracks
18 Barracks
21 2 Marines
22 Supply Depot
24 2 Marines
25 Barracks with Tech Lab
27 Barracks with Tech Lab
28 Marauder
31 Supply Depot
31 Stim Pack
33 Reaper
After this build marines, marauders, combat shields and concussive shells.
I thought Mvp was a good choice as he has been doing really well in the GSL and soon will be playing in the final at Blizzcon. I was definitely right to choose this build as it's simple and easy to learn but powerful and doesn't prevent you from changing strategy later in the game if required. After my second attempt I could do it without having to look at the timings and out of the ten games I just played I managed to win nine without too much trouble. The game lost was awful on my behalf and shows I need to learn how to deal with banelings because they frighten me to inaction.
Against Terran
Both of the TvTs I played went pretty much the same way. The opponent got cloaked banshees which I managed to scout before they did any damage and then they didn't have enough actual units to defend themselves. The second Terran I played impressed me more than the first as he at least managed to build some siege tanks and nearly had enough to defend his ramp. However when I started attacking he wasn't in siege mode and I had enough troops to force my way through. I think that this strategy would work well against Terran in the early game but if you don't manage to defeat them it may struggle against an opponent with a lot of siege tanks or bunkers. I think I'll keep trying this strategy against Terran to see if it does work in a proper game.
Against Protoss
Mvp's build is ideal against Protoss as it can deal with anything they can throw against you early on except for maybe good forcefields. Proxy warpgates could also be a problem as the reactor takes ages to build and you only have a single marine to defend yourself with. After the three barracks are up it's pure production until one of you is defeated so can be very hard to stop. When I saw an opponent going for early expansions I always new that I would have to attack soon before the nexus became profitable and they could out produce me. Stimmed marines and marauders are great at kiting zealots and catching up with any fleeing stalkers. The one time a Protoss looked like he had enough units to kill me I caught his army off guard and managed to kill it without taking many losses.
Against Zerg
The only game I lost was to a silver Zerg who, after my initial attack was thwarted, macroed like crazy and built mass baneling and mutas. I dropped two sets of blue flame hellions in different bases and managed to kill a lot of drones but by then it was too late; he was two bases ahead. I never know what to do against banelings but to counter the mutas I built thors. I tried to move all my bio back when I saw the banelings coming, so that the thors would absorb most of the damage, but the thors blocked the way and everything of mine died. It was all very embarrassing. The other three Zergs I played all went early spires without really producing units and without having any map control; so they didn't know I was about to attack until I attacked. I was disappointed by how easy they were to defeat as a Zerg player should know as soon as you leave your base and shouldn't be relying on not getting attacked early on. Upon scouting an early lair or spire I always attacked straight away before they could get muta numbers up.
Conclusions
I think that this will definitely become my standard build against Protoss as without good forcefielding the amount of stimmed marines and marauders is difficult to deal with and in the middle leagues good forcefields are rare. This build was effective against the Terrans I played but they both went banshee and I'd prefer to stick with either hellion siege tank or marine siege tank as bio can easily get destroyed by early mech. I'm still scared to face Zerg as a Terran so I think that this strategy is very good for me to shut them down quickly. The longer I play against Zerg the more I start to play badly and lose my forces to stupid things. Before these games I was worried about being moved down a league when the new season starts but winning so many games in a row has given me confidence that I can stay in platinum. With a bit more experience and knowledge I think I'll be able to do very well as a Terran. Thank you for reading and please feel free to leave a comment.
 |
| It's a pretty simple build to get used to and can be super effective. |
Here is an outline of the build if you want to try it yourself.
12 Barracks
13 Refinery
14 Scout
15 Orbital Command
15 Marine
16 Supply Depot
15 Reactor on Barracks
17 Barracks
18 Barracks
21 2 Marines
22 Supply Depot
24 2 Marines
25 Barracks with Tech Lab
27 Barracks with Tech Lab
28 Marauder
31 Supply Depot
31 Stim Pack
33 Reaper
After this build marines, marauders, combat shields and concussive shells.
I thought Mvp was a good choice as he has been doing really well in the GSL and soon will be playing in the final at Blizzcon. I was definitely right to choose this build as it's simple and easy to learn but powerful and doesn't prevent you from changing strategy later in the game if required. After my second attempt I could do it without having to look at the timings and out of the ten games I just played I managed to win nine without too much trouble. The game lost was awful on my behalf and shows I need to learn how to deal with banelings because they frighten me to inaction.
 |
| Banelings still make me panic. |
Against Terran
Both of the TvTs I played went pretty much the same way. The opponent got cloaked banshees which I managed to scout before they did any damage and then they didn't have enough actual units to defend themselves. The second Terran I played impressed me more than the first as he at least managed to build some siege tanks and nearly had enough to defend his ramp. However when I started attacking he wasn't in siege mode and I had enough troops to force my way through. I think that this strategy would work well against Terran in the early game but if you don't manage to defeat them it may struggle against an opponent with a lot of siege tanks or bunkers. I think I'll keep trying this strategy against Terran to see if it does work in a proper game.
 |
| After the starport was scouted it was easy to counter. |
Against Protoss
Mvp's build is ideal against Protoss as it can deal with anything they can throw against you early on except for maybe good forcefields. Proxy warpgates could also be a problem as the reactor takes ages to build and you only have a single marine to defend yourself with. After the three barracks are up it's pure production until one of you is defeated so can be very hard to stop. When I saw an opponent going for early expansions I always new that I would have to attack soon before the nexus became profitable and they could out produce me. Stimmed marines and marauders are great at kiting zealots and catching up with any fleeing stalkers. The one time a Protoss looked like he had enough units to kill me I caught his army off guard and managed to kill it without taking many losses.
 |
| His forces got stuck on the ramp so the zealots in the middle couldn't attack and the stalkers at the back wouldn't fire. |
Against Zerg
The only game I lost was to a silver Zerg who, after my initial attack was thwarted, macroed like crazy and built mass baneling and mutas. I dropped two sets of blue flame hellions in different bases and managed to kill a lot of drones but by then it was too late; he was two bases ahead. I never know what to do against banelings but to counter the mutas I built thors. I tried to move all my bio back when I saw the banelings coming, so that the thors would absorb most of the damage, but the thors blocked the way and everything of mine died. It was all very embarrassing. The other three Zergs I played all went early spires without really producing units and without having any map control; so they didn't know I was about to attack until I attacked. I was disappointed by how easy they were to defeat as a Zerg player should know as soon as you leave your base and shouldn't be relying on not getting attacked early on. Upon scouting an early lair or spire I always attacked straight away before they could get muta numbers up.
 |
| Most of the Zergs I faced only build spines and lings and didn't scout to know when they needed more forces. |
Conclusions
I think that this will definitely become my standard build against Protoss as without good forcefielding the amount of stimmed marines and marauders is difficult to deal with and in the middle leagues good forcefields are rare. This build was effective against the Terrans I played but they both went banshee and I'd prefer to stick with either hellion siege tank or marine siege tank as bio can easily get destroyed by early mech. I'm still scared to face Zerg as a Terran so I think that this strategy is very good for me to shut them down quickly. The longer I play against Zerg the more I start to play badly and lose my forces to stupid things. Before these games I was worried about being moved down a league when the new season starts but winning so many games in a row has given me confidence that I can stay in platinum. With a bit more experience and knowledge I think I'll be able to do very well as a Terran. Thank you for reading and please feel free to leave a comment.
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