Despite being a highly-talented player who has dedicated his time and energy to being one of the very best StarCraft II players, it is  Dan 'Artosis' Stemkoski's commentative and evaluative skills that have earned him so much notoriety. In his latest evaluation of StarCraft II's characteristics, Artosis discusses the recent nerfs targeting the Zerg in Patch 12. Some of the concepts he explores include, but are not limited to, how the Zerg measure up to the Terrans and Protoss in competitive play and what races major players in South Korea play and how they compare to one another.

Over-Nerfed: Why Zerg Dominated Asia

Many people have wondered why the Asian StarCraft II Beta has been dominated by Zerg, while others have not. There are two reasons for this.

Zerg have less than the Protoss and Terran in this game. It's quite a simple concept. The Zerg have much less to work with.

Units usable in combat:

Zerg: 9

Terran: 12

Protoss: 14

This is a huge difference, especially when you consider that one of the Zerg units, the Ultralisk, is completely inferior to any other choice the Zerg have. This brings us down to eight units. Why does this make the Zerg better on the Asian server?

Streamlined learning. This is all that the Zerg has to work with. That means, the best units, ideas and strategies boil down much faster. There is simply less to test. StarCraft II is a very complex game, with many, many factors contributing to any situation. The Zerg have less of these factors. You have a very limited number of options. This doesn't make playing the Zerg easier, per sey, it just makes figuring out how to player the Zerg right easier. While other races are still around with three to five extra units, the Zerg already know what combination work and don't work. This makes every practice game a Zerg player plays worth more, as they are already past the testing phase.

There is one other reason, one which may weigh into it even more than the simplicity behind the previous reason. It is in the players who chose Zerg on the Asian server. First, let's state some things that should be obvious and accepted.

1) Korea is better at RTS games than any other nation in the world.

2) StarCraft is by far the most competitive RTS game in the world, especially in Korea.

3) The absurd majority of skilled gamers in Korea play or have played StarCraft professionally, both because of the competition and rewards of the game.

4) Going back in time in professional StarCraft I, you will find, on average, more free-styled and free-thinking players, due to the game being less developed.

5) This is StarCraft II. See #3.

So with these facts in mind, we will now go over which StarCraft I professional gamers are playing StarCraft II.

ZERG

Cool[fOu] - the top-ranking Korean Zerg. Ex-captain of eSTRO professional SC1 team.

TheWinD - a well-accomplished ProLeague player, regular in broadcasted TV matches.

SiR@SoNi - an extremely old school and respected Zerg player.

ZergLee - one of BoxeR's original picks to join his newly-formed pro-team, (now SKT1).

Junwi[saM] - a legendary old school Zerg, with 2nd and 3rd place in StarLeagues.

[z-zone]SoO - one of the greatest Zerg players of early StarCraft.

Within the Zerg lineup are some very influential Zerg players from the evolution of StarCraft.

PROTOSS

Tester[gm] - Ex-captain of eSTRO professional SC1 team. Tester has won the most tournaments so far and is considered the best player in Korea.

Tester stands alone as the only ex-professional SC1 player playing Protoss and dominates the scene.

TERRAN

Hannibal - Hannibal had a brief stint on a professional SC1 team, making no noise whatsoever.

It should be noted that one of the best Korean Terrans, known as Maka in SC2, was known as "TownHall" in Warcraft III. He was described by WC3 pros as "a good amateur".

Take a good, honest, unbiased look at the Korean SC2 scene as I have just described it. If Zerg was NOT dominating the Korean scene, THAT would mean that there is some sort of imbalance in the game. Sadly, things like this are clearly not taken into consideration (at least, not strongly enough), while patching the game.

What have the top Korean Zerg players been doing since the last Zerg nerf in Patch 12? Well, I can't speak for all of them, but two of the very top players, Cool[fOu] and TheWinD, have both been practicing Terran on the Asian Ladder.

* Please note that I am sure that I have missed some of the ex-pros who are playing SC2 in Korea. I left out GARIMTO because he is playing Random.