TvZ: Proxy Reaper FE

With the introduction of Heart of the Swarm comes new Reapers with regen! Honestly, in WoL I didn't touch them, but now they've become quite a pillar of openings in most match-ups. The idea behind this rush is not to kill them Zerg, but put them behind economically by lost mining time, drone kills, and/or forcing them to make lings. I don't remember which Terran, it was either Last or INnoVation that used this in MLG Dallas and crushed some souls. I believe our lord and savior Flash has used this as well.

10 supply
12 rax (proxied)
12 gas (SCV production cut for this)
15 Reaper
16 OC
16 supply

* Constant Reaper production (about 3)

EXECUTION: Depending on what 2-player map you're using this on, you will have to time out when to send the SCV out to proxy, it is nearly always before the first supply depot finishes. Where your first Reaper is rallied is your first decision - the main or the natural, sometimes I like to bunker their natural or the ramp leading to it, if they pull drones you can kill them, if not then they have to make a lot of lings to get rid of the bunker. The idea is to do some economic harass and force lings. Make sure to rally the rax to the Reaper (or Bunker) so your next Reapers will go to it. Assuming the Zerg has done what 95% of Zergs do and went hatch first, you'll have some time before their first Queen pops depending on how fast they put the pool down. Single target the drones. You have to micro this harass constantly, so your Reapers need to be hotkeyed. If you ever get surrounded by workers or lings, you messed up.

Your next choice is when you want to stop making Reapers, I've personally found 3 to be the sweet spot, as shortly after the 3rd one pops, ling speed finishes (if you saw gas) and you need to haul ass out of there. While you're microing be sure to watch your minerals, because once you get to 400, you need to lay your expo down. If you want to be greedy, you can lay it at the natural, but it's much safer to put it where your rax would've been. Following this, you can lay down another CC or start your production facilities - depending on what you want to do (I like dropping an extra two raxes and a fac).

If you've done a lot of damage in drones or forced a lot of lings, the Zerg will either all in your or get really greedy, no matter what you always build at least one bunker. In my experience on NA, most Zergs like to semi/all in you. So you auto-build walls and a bunker or two, all the time.

IN GENERAL: You should not expect to straight-up win with this opener, but you can easily transition into an all-in or macro game, using any composition. This is one of the reasons I love this flexible opener against Zergs. Cool side NOTE: Three micro'd Reapers can actually wreck a single Queen, don't be afraid to engage, just make sure to constantly micro the Reapers while macroing. The micro. This is why we love Terran guys.

Replay: http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=details&id=282327