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RotterdaM explains the StarCraft 2 meta in 2020
We talked with Kevin ‘RotterdaM’ van der Kooi about his views on the current StarCraft 2 meta ahead of new weekly tournament Xel’Naga Finest.
Kevin ‘RotterdaM’ van der Kooi has been around since the humble beginnings of StarCraft 2. Before that, he was a professional Warcraft 3 player and since then he's transitioned into a Grandmaster Protoss player and professional caster. The Dutchman has casted games all over the globe and has seen the game transform into its current style of play. Ahead of Xel’Naga Finest, we had the chance to sit down and pick his brains on the current meta of StarCraft 2. Which race is the strongest and why? Who should you be maining right now if you want to be in with a chance of defeating Reynor live on stream?
Right now, RotterdaM’s favourite match-up is Terran versus Protoss. “I love the dance of both races trying to get the better start and love the clash between ghost and high templars. Even though it's been Protoss favoured in the past, I think lately the match-up looks to be in a better place and has provided some fantastic games,” he explains.
While he plays Protoss himself, he doesn’t think Protoss is the strongest race at the moment. In his eyes, Zerg are on top right now. RotterdaM names the power of creep (because of the vision that it gives) and new techniques that have been developed by the pros themselves as reasons for the race’s strength. However, he doesn’t think that the race is imbalanced:
“The race is just fundamentally strong. Since players have gotten so good over the years at StarCraft 2, vision is everything and with creep, zerglings and overlords I think it gives them an advantage to perform at the highest level. Seeing something coming even just five seconds earlier can make all the difference in a successful defense or a quick defeat.”
RotterdaM doesn’t necessarily think that the game's meta naturally evolves without patches. He does say that there are trends in the meta though. He explains that one moment a certain opening is popular and suddenly it falls out of fashion. He says: “I believe SC2 will always change – with or without patches. However, it's important to change stuff from time to time. StarCraft 2 is not Brood War [the expansion to the original StarCraft which turned the game into one of the first major esports] and in Brood War the mechanical ceiling is through the roof. StarCraft 2 is mechanically a bit easier – still incredibly high of course, but a lot more modern and easier to use than Broodwar – which is why I think patches are important.”
The terrain for Terrans right now
For those Terran players that haven’t played in a while, RotterdaM has good news for you: both Mech and Bio are still perfectly viable options. “It depends on who’s using the compositions and also who they're going up against. Certain Terrans are clearly better mech players than others, while zome Zergs struggle a lot more versus Mech than they do versus Bio.”
Protoss players have it rough however; RotterdaM says the mirror match-up is still “the wild wild west” but he does admit that “it makes for some fantastic shows”. Another match-up that has evolved a lot over the years is Protoss versus Zerg. The Dutchman explains that the main army compositions now are Zergling, Baneling and Ravager from the Zerg side, versus Archon’s Zealots and Storm (High templar) from the Protoss. “Those are the main unit compositions right now, but there are a lot of other cool builds. Glaive openings are popular, Dark Templars are showing up a lot. Zergs will still try to make some Roach Mutalisk madness happen as well. Don't forget about Nydus Swarmhost, not as good as before, but still scary.”
The most iconic cheese of StarCraft 2 remains the six pool (unfortunately this is no longer possible because players start with 12 workers now). RotterdaM says that the very best Zergs don’t cheese too much in Zerg versus Zerg, “but it’s still super viable and even at the biggest tournaments you'll see plenty of crazy one base or very low eco two base strategies in the match-up.” He goes further saying that none of those strategies are seen as particularly strong, but it still happens quite often in professional play.
During map bans, RotterdaM says that the viewers should look at maps that their favourite pros ban. He says: “It could be fun to see if the maps you struggle on as a Zerg, Terran or Protoss are also vetoed by your favourite players.” He explains that map picks tell a certain story about the style of the players. Some maps are good for Mech and you'll see Zerg players veto them all the time because they don’t want to face mech. The most unique map in the map pool right now is Golden Wall. RotterdaM says that a lot of people don’t seem to be very fond of the map, “but I think the map is pretty epic and has already provided us with some fantastic games.”
RotterdaM will be casting Xel’naga Finest every Wednesday from 18:00 CET, so be sure to register to play or tune in on the Red Bull Twitch channel to watch.
