Once the opening build is over, Dragon adapts to the opponent’s unit mix and many of its games start to look similar. Nevertheless, the opening makes a big difference in how the game comes out.
The “dirty worker rush” is a late rush with a lot of SCVs. You have to be ready for it, but if you are, it’s easy to beat.
#1 bananabrain
| opening | games | wins | first | last |
|---|
| 1rax fe | 41 | 5% | 2 | 271 |
| 2rax bio | 27 | 0% | 5 | 260 |
| 2rax mech | 46 | 4% | 0 | 279 |
| bio | 45 | 4% | 1 | 282 |
| dirty worker rush | 26 | 0% | 3 | 203 |
| mass vulture | 54 | 7% | 6 | 281 |
| siege expand | 48 | 12% | 4 | 286 |
| 7 openings | 287 | 6% |
#2 stardust
| opening | games | wins | first | last |
|---|
| 1rax fe | 60 | 10% | 6 | 271 |
| 2rax bio | 28 | 7% | 3 | 272 |
| 2rax mech | 78 | 13% | 0 | 288 |
| bio | 45 | 7% | 2 | 266 |
| dirty worker rush | 25 | 0% | 5 | 268 |
| mass vulture | 27 | 4% | 4 | 253 |
| siege expand | 26 | 0% | 1 | 276 |
| 7 openings | 289 | 8% |
It’s surprising that adding a second barracks was best against Stardust. I imagine the extra firepower was good against the first protoss attack.
#3 purplewave
| opening | games | wins | first | last |
|---|
| 1rax fe | 8 | 25% | 5 | 268 |
| 2rax bio | 5 | 0% | 1 | 201 |
| 2rax mech | 5 | 0% | 0 | 136 |
| bio | 202 | 56% | 9 | 287 |
| dirty worker rush | 5 | 0% | 8 | 263 |
| mass vulture | 58 | 53% | 2 | 205 |
| siege expand | 5 | 0% | 3 | 204 |
| 7 openings | 288 | 51% |
#4 steamhammer
| opening | games | wins | first | last |
|---|
| 1rax fe | 8 | 0% | 1 | 282 |
| 2rax bio | 10 | 10% | 0 | 149 |
| 2rax mech | 25 | 16% | 2 | 227 |
| bio | 40 | 25% | 5 | 278 |
| dirty worker rush | 171 | 44% | 4 | 287 |
| mass vulture | 24 | 21% | 6 | 209 |
| siege expand | 10 | 10% | 3 | 132 |
| 7 openings | 288 | 34% |
That SCV rush! Reading through Dragon’s game history file, you can practically see the two learning systems dueling. Dragon loses a string of games - it finds that the SCV rush works - before long Steamhammer switches builds to beat it - Dragon notices and searches for an opening to exploit weaknesses in Steamhammer’s answer - and so on. Steamhammer knows about fast worker rushes, but doesn’t have a special reaction to late worker rushes. It underestimates the danger of the SCVs. Dragon and WillyT are the only opponents that take advantage.
#5 mcrave
| opening | games | wins | first | last |
|---|
| 1rax fe | 9 | 0% | 7 | 279 |
| 2rax bio | 69 | 54% | 5 | 262 |
| 2rax mech | 118 | 40% | 10 | 288 |
| bio | 23 | 26% | 6 | 178 |
| dirty worker rush | 21 | 14% | 2 | 265 |
| mass vulture | 24 | 21% | 1 | 169 |
| siege expand | 25 | 16% | 0 | 276 |
| 7 openings | 289 | 35% |
McRave copes with the SCV rush, so Dragon settles on mainstream builds.
#6 microwave
| opening | games | wins | first | last |
|---|
| 1rax fe | 10 | 30% | 1 | 280 |
| 2rax bio | 18 | 28% | 10 | 161 |
| 2rax mech | 8 | 12% | 15 | 249 |
| bio | 6 | 0% | 0 | 272 |
| dirty worker rush | 15 | 47% | 8 | 285 |
| mass vulture | 224 | 50% | 6 | 281 |
| siege expand | 5 | 0% | 7 | 106 |
| 7 openings | 286 | 44% |
Microwave would likely have done much better if it coped with the vultures better.
#8 ualbertabot
| opening | games | wins | first | last |
|---|
| 1rax fe | 43 | 86% | 85 | 289 |
| 2rax bio | 1 | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2rax mech | 6 | 50% | 71 | 137 |
| bio | 76 | 84% | 3 | 86 |
| dirty worker rush | 69 | 88% | 58 | 286 |
| mass vulture | 69 | 86% | 88 | 287 |
| siege expand | 26 | 65% | 1 | 219 |
| 7 openings | 290 | 83% |
#9 infestedartosis
| opening | games | wins | first | last |
|---|
| 1rax fe | 2 | 0% | 109 | 225 |
| 2rax bio | 12 | 50% | 2 | 228 |
| 2rax mech | 5 | 40% | 80 | 223 |
| bio | 6 | 50% | 108 | 288 |
| dirty worker rush | 25 | 68% | 0 | 224 |
| mass vulture | 226 | 85% | 6 | 289 |
| siege expand | 14 | 57% | 112 | 209 |
| 7 openings | 290 | 78% |
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