There has been a slow shift in metagame for the TvZ match up. Perhaps, a more accurate way to express it is that Terran is trying to break the current metagame.

Let's trace back to the last major patch in November 2013.

Widow Mine got nerfed. The 4M style has suffered due to the less ineffective area effect cover against the swarm of Zerg units. When Terran realise that Tanks still don't cut it, the metagame maintained the same for a period of time right after the patch. Thus, Terran got nerfed in TvZ. The main reason for Terran to stick to the 4M style is simply because it was (and probably still is) the best play style in TvZ. You may have watched Day9's analysis of TaeJa's TvZ style after the patch, whereby TaeJa made tactical changes to adapt accordingly. Nevertheless, the core of the style is intact.

Credits to TaeJa, he might be the only Terran who still enjoys that degree of success in the match up after the patch. Even the TvZ god, INnoVation, was suffering. INnoVation decided to discard Widow Mine altogether and tech straight to Thor. But it didn't work out as he was crushed by Life in Dailymotion cup.

Since then, Widow Mine has been a "hot and cold" unit in the match up. Some players (e.g., TaeJa) still use it like before, while others are trying to play bio without Widow Mines. This is evident in Bomber's games. He was using the usual 4M unit composition against Scarlett in IEM Singapore. Bomber then mainly used either pure bio or bio Tank in the following week against Soulkey in the Hot6ix cup. That was the state of the match up at the end of 2013: Terran had yet to found a main stream style against Zerg since the patch. Thanks to the concern surrounding the TvP match up, the TvZ match up had not received much attention.

Fast forward to the recent Proleague games. Flash was producing Hellbats instead of Widow Mines against Rogue. It might be due to the Roach heavy composition that Rogue was using. However, as the game stabilizes to later stage, Flash still did not opt to produce Widow Mine.

What about mech? More and more Terran are using mech in TvZ after the patch. This trend was obvious in IEM Singapore. Mvp vs. Curious and Happy vs. DRG were just some of the examples in the tournament. But the mixed results of mech had yet to convince me that mech is the answer to the match up after the 4M nerf. Most recently, Flash used an interesting opening against Solar in Proleague.

10 – Supply Depot

14 – Command Centre

15 – Refinery

16 – Barracks

The interesting part of the build the order of barracks and refinery after a 14Cc opening. In general, you open with

10 – Supply Depot

14 – Command Centre

16 – Barracks

17 – Refinery

Flash went for a refinery before barracks. This allows him to build the factory and reactor at around the same time. In short, you skip Marines for earlier reactor Hellions. Although Flash made a pair of Marines before switching the factory on the reactor due to the Zergling at the ramp, the idea is obvious. He then followed up with cloaked Banshee to transit into a standard mech. This build is likely to get punished hard on a two-players map.

The merit of this build on a big map is that you can apply Hellions and Banshee pressure earlier. Apart from the face value, the earlier pressure allows you to play slightly more greedy behind it than the "standard" mech builds. Flash went for a third command centre and followed with two armory for upgrades. Usually, you will add two factories and an armory after the third command centre.

All in all, mech is still far from solid in the match up. Despite the frustration of using 4M, I can see players swapping between the two styles until an actual metagame shifting innovation is done.

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