[Sparrow]

Taking risks is fine and can win you some games, however the current meta on both SEA and NA servers is quite aggressive, you'll probably come across an aggressive player over a macro player 80% of the time, these builds are tailored towards being safe because of that, meaning you'll have a higher win %. Sure you might get behind against a macro player, however you will almost always be ahead against an aggressive one.

[Fullmetal]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Taking risks is fine and can win you some games, however the current meta on both SEA and NA servers is quite aggressive, you'll probably come across an aggressive player over a macro player 80% of the time, these builds are tailored towards being safe because of that, meaning you'll have a higher win %. Sure you might get behind against a macro player, however you will almost always be ahead against an aggressive one.

i definately agree that the meta is quite aggro at the moment and it is very important to sacrifice extra economy in order to metagame your opponent (e.g double cloak banshee but delay 3rd cc so can hold roach/roach bane timings more easily).
But it is also important to remember the sheer importance of cutting as many corners as you can. Cutting corners such as not getting a bunker tvp and cutting corners like going for a fast 3cc can not only give you a huge economic edge over your opponent, but with good scouting you can often get away with cutting such corners.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by DynSL.Fullmetal

i definately agree that the meta is quite aggro at the moment and it is very important to sacrifice extra economy in order to metagame your opponent (e.g double cloak banshee but delay 3rd cc so can hold roach/roach bane timings more easily).
But it is also important to remember the sheer importance of cutting as many corners as you can. Cutting corners such as not getting a bunker tvp and cutting corners like going for a fast 3cc can not only give you a huge economic edge over your opponent, but with good scouting you can often get away with cutting such corners.

If you watch the linked game for the TvZ build, Fantasy does cut corners, he has a 3rd CC at 10:00 and a push at 11:00 which is faster than standard, as well as have 2 banshees. No one said anything about not cutting corners, safe does not mean over building defense. In Fantasy's case he uses units to pressure while scout, the units he uses to pressure are also used to defend any aggression. Behind his pressure he plays greedy because he knows everything that his opponent is doing.

[ToRChoboSniper]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Taking risks is fine and can win you some games, however the current meta on both SEA and NA servers is quite aggressive, you'll probably come across an aggressive player over a macro player 80% of the time, these builds are tailored towards being safe because of that, meaning you'll have a higher win %. Sure you might get behind against a macro player, however you will almost always be ahead against an aggressive one.

I honestly don't agree with this mindset at all, and I feel like practicing this way will severely hamper your ability to beat the best players in tournaments. I think it's self-explanatory that tailoring your playstyle to ladder opponents is not optimal unless you only care for your ladder rank, but playing extra safe and not cutting corners strikes me as lazy. IMO, it's important to continuosly push the envelope and develop yourself as a player, and with such a huge emphasis on safety and on your ladder opponents you're restricting yourself to a very narrow range of builds and disregarding some incredibly important aspects of the game.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by ToRChoboSniper

I honestly don't agree with this mindset at all, and I feel like practicing this way will severely hamper your ability to beat the best players in tournaments. I think it's self-explanatory that tailoring your playstyle to ladder opponents is not optimal unless you only care for your ladder rank, but playing extra safe and not cutting corners strikes me as lazy. IMO, it's important to continuosly push the envelope and develop yourself as a player, and with such a huge emphasis on safety and on your ladder opponents you're restricting yourself to a very narrow range of builds and disregarding some incredibly important aspects of the game.

As I mentioned in the first 2 lines of the post these builds are designed to transition you into a strong mid-game. They are not overly safe, however they do provide the means to defend against most early aggression from your opponent. I'm not saying you play like this every game, however I do feel that practicing builds where you should be able to defend aggression with is a good idea as even if you do them it's not a guaranteed win. You still have to learn positioning, not miss any of your macro timings, scout for what your opponent is doing and try to counter it. This play style (maybe not the build-order) is used by almost every pro kr terran, have a strong build and adapt to what your opponent is doing, if your opponent is playing standard then you have made it safely into the mid-game with no disadvantages.

[syfCabracan]

Originally Posted by ToRChoboSniper

I honestly don't agree with this mindset at all, and I feel like practicing this way will severely hamper your ability to beat the best players in tournaments. I think it's self-explanatory that tailoring your playstyle to ladder opponents is not optimal unless you only care for your ladder rank, but playing extra safe and not cutting corners strikes me as lazy. IMO, it's important to continuosly push the envelope and develop yourself as a player, and with such a huge emphasis on safety and on your ladder opponents you're restricting yourself to a very narrow range of builds and disregarding some incredibly important aspects of the game.

Echoing what Sparrow is saying, there is a difference between grinding the ladder and getting tournement ready. A lot of players are looking to improve their mmr to get a better level of practise from the ladder, so you grind up like this then develop your depth once you are against better opponents.