SortOf's New Standard ZvT (2026) (ZvT Economic)
Description
Alternative to 16-18-17 which sacrifices a small amount of gas in favor of a faster spawning pool and queens
VOD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aDsQs5Rn98Replay - 2026-04-03 - (Z)SortOf,(T)A.I. 1 (Very Easy)
Build Order
| 12 | 0:00 | | |
| 13 | 0:07 | | |
| 14 | 0:15 | | Extractor trick, Rally to natural |
| 15 | 0:21 | | |
| 15 | 0:40 | | |
| 14 | 0:45 | | |
| 16 | 0:52 | | |
| 17 | 1:06 | | |
| 17 | 1:10 | | |
| 17 | 1:13 | | Optional: Take this on 16, right after spawning pool |
| 17 | 1:18 | | |
| 18 | 1:28 | | |
| 20 | 1:52 | | double inject, then double tumor |
| 26 | 2:00 | | |
| 28 | 2:03 | | Pull 2 off gas at 60 gas (leave 1 mining) |
| 28 | 2:12 | | |
| 28 | 2:20 | | |
| 31 | 2:39 | | in main |
| 31 | 2:44 | | |
| 35 | 2:53 | | |
| 40 | 3:08 | | |
| 42 | 3:18 | | |
| 44 | 3:23 | | |
| 44 | 3:28 | | |
| 47 | 3:30 | | Refill gas after 2 base mineral saturation |
| 44 | 3:32 | | |
| 51 | 3:40 | | Scout with overlord or zergling |
| 59 | 3:57 | | |
| 59 | 4:02 | | |
| 66 | 4:12 | | |
| 74 | 4:40 | | |
| 74 | 4:41 | | |
| 76 | 4:49 | | |
| 76 | 4:52 | | |
| 81 | 4:59 | | |
| 82 | 5:05 | | |
| 83 | 5:10 | | |
| 90 | 5:29 | | |
| 94 | 5:44 | | |
| 94 | 5:45 | | |
| 99 | 5:50 | | |
| 99 | 5:54 | | Infestation pit + hydra den at same time, then hive + lurker den at same time |
| 106 | 6:04 | | |
| 106 | 6:08 | | |
| 107 | 6:15 | | |
| 116 | 6:19 | | |
| 116 | 6:22 | | |
| 115 | 6:27 | | |
| 115 | 6:31 | | |
| 123 | 6:34 | | |
| 148 | 7:09 | | |
| 156 | 7:32 | | |
| 168 | 7:50 | |
Analysis
Scarlett and SortOf have cooked up another opening variation! This 15-17-17 will keep you slightly safer against cheese while giving you faster queens.
Despite the relatively recent 25 mineral cost increase, standard early game ZvT still consists of queens before 5:00. If the queen stuff seems confusing, you're just going to make as many queens as you can afford while still spending all your larvae on drones. Each queen will inject the hatchery it spawns from, then use all its energy on creep tumors. If they're going 2CC (they'll usually have 2 depots at their natural at 4:00 if not 3CC, which you can check for with a zergling if you don't want to lose an overlord), you'll need to save energy for transfuse.
For a standard 3CC build, you may need to have banelings or roaches by 5:30 to defend a push.
SortOf reaches 3 base mineral saturation + 1 gas saturation (50 drones total) at 4:40 with 7 queens and 8 lings, which is a good benchmark to aim for vs a standard 3CC opening. He reaches 66 drones at 5:15, so aim for 5:30-5:40 with safety spores and extra units.
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Details
- Created by: flashandfoul
- Published on: Apr 05, 2026
- Modified on: Apr 09, 2026
- Patch: 5.0.11
- Difficulty: Medium