Match making in Starcraft 2

I have noticed a few things while laddering in Starcraft 2 that I'd like to talk about.  First, for the uninitiated, Starcraft 2 match making tries its best to give you opponents who are on your level based on a hidden stat called "Match Made Ranking" or MMR (I'm not actually sure what the second "M" stands for, but I've always said it "made" so whatever).  Your MMR is similar to the Elo system designed to rank chess players.  Here's the wikipedia article on Elo if you are staring blankly at that last sentence. Basically, it's a system that should be able to figure out the odds of a player winning a match.  The ideal scenario is to have a 50/50 chance of winning every game, but that's where things get funny.

3 Rax Stim Opener and General Build Tips

"3RAXSTIM" is a strategy for opening a round while playing as Terran in Starcraft 2.  This is NOT an all-in strategy and can smoothly transition into a macro game if the timing attack doesn't end the game.  The initial push WILL win you a lot of games if handled properly, but if they survive, you'll still be in the lead.


Special thanks to Razklath for all his help.

Where I Learned 3 Rax Stim and How it's Worked for Me

I learned how to open with 3rax stim from the viewers of my twitch.tv stream.  I was low silver at the time and was probably losing 60% of my rounds on my way to a demotion to bronze.  I was facing guys who were in the bronze league (and not top 8) who were slightly favored in the pre-game.  A viewer named Razklath  said "You are trying to do too much.  I think you need to do something more simple until your control improves."  We did a few practice rounds where he emphasized what needed to be done, how to judge my performance, etc and I was off.

Starting with my first round after learning the opener through the next day I went 24-4.  I was promoted to gold 2 days later and was enjoying Starcraft more than I ever have.

Video example, build order, and guide after the jump