Opening:
11 gas 13 rax -> OC -> Factory -> marine -> 2nd depot --->constant Marine Production
2nd gas
starport -> 3rd depot -> Techlab on Factory Switch Tlab onto Starport upon completion (Taeja builds his Tlab on the Rax while he gets out some hellions, this offers some scouting pre Banshee but cuts the marine count and has a bit more trouble defending counter banshees)
@port: x2Banshee (unless you have seen the Flash Variation Gas first!) - Raven -->give Tlab to 2nd Rax --> 2Vikings
@ Factory: wm -> hellion/wm -> Tlab --> Tanks - > give Tlab to 3rd Rax -> resume Tank production
@ Rax - constant Marines from the get go, -> Reactor when convinient (dont delay any gas dependent production to get this Reactor) -> resume Marine production.
Attack with banshee if No Elevator attack is happening.
Keep units back in the mineral line with WM support and safe a scan (needs to be ready by the time your banshee enters his base). If 10 seconds after your banshee arrived at his base no banshee/WM drop showed up in yours, feel free to drop mules. However, be aware of delayed cloak banshees!
Transition:
Keep constant scv and Marine production. Get things in this order:
CC ---> Tlab @ factory, Reac @ Rax, 1 Ebay ---> +1 somewhere inbetween.
add 2 Rax and put them onto the Tlabs ---> Stim, Combatshields (as the Raxes are started you can squeez out 1 more tank and the Raven as the Raxes are building)
Note that you can alternatively follow up with an early 3rd cc or do a different addonswitch considering your opponents build choice. However the cc ebay 2rax follow up is very stable and offers the fastes stim+combatshields possible.
only add a reactor to your starport AFTER you have taken and saturated atleast the 3rd gas geyser
Once you reach 2 base saturation you can decide wether you want to go up to a 5 Rax 2 Factory 1 Port (w\ Reac) setup
or a 3 Rax 1 Factory 1 Port (w/ Reac) + 3rd cc setup. Obviously you can transition into Mech aswell, but as I have little experience with this, I wont be covering it.
Your Midgame composition depends on what your Opponent does:
1.st if its Forgg Style BfHellion, get constant Marauders, Stay on 1 Factory and Try to maintain Air control and abuse your Banshees in Fights.
2.nd if you see a heavy Bio style with an upgrade lead for your opponent, play a defensive midgame (3 Rax 3rd cc --> a quick 2nd Factory) and emphasize your Tank advantage. Make sure to protect yourself against doom drops, but dont overcommit to Turrets before you reach 3 base saturation. Your high Tank count will allow you to secure any defensive or agressive position, If you manage to maintain air control you will also be able to drill into your opponents positions.
3. If your opponent plays a gas first variation into Marine tank with a fast 3rd, emphasize Marine production and Upgrades (5 rax setup!), try to Bleed out his Tank count with drop play and runbys, once you have equal Tank and Marine numbers your superior Upgradess will allow you to win a straight up fight.
Game reads and mid game situations:
vs any 1 rax cc / 1 rax gas cc variation; we are usually behind on marine upgrades
but we should lead in tank count and be able to abuse banshees, until his viking Raven is out, to catch up.
Usually the game equilizes, if we manage to stabilize on 2 bases and finish stim, with 6-7 free scv
kills against a 15 gas expand and 10-12 against a 1 rax fe.
vs gas first into marine hellion w\ reactor:
based on the timing this attack hits seconds after the first banshee is done. If defended correctly (clean shot
with a wm + Banshee is used for defense and is kept alive) Banshee cloak is a clear advantage and should consequently
win the game or gain a sufficient edge.
vs gas first marine hellion w/ reactor:
Plays out much like the w\ variation but is much tougher to hold. This attack hits shortly before the first Banshee
is about to enter the opponents base. Holding at home, without a bunker is, due to the higher
unit count and multiplicator effekt of the medivac and the burst damage of the push, almost impossible.
Target fireing with the wm, retaining units and scvs and stabilizing is most important. However, there will be
a 40 second Timing window to deal uncontested damage with the first banshee before the opponents raven enters
the frey.
vs gas first Raven Tank drop (THE BUILD!!):
This build can be identified and stalled with the banshee. There are 2 variations to it. 1.st raven 2x viking
This usually aims for a contain rather then a killing move. Both banshees need to be ready to counterattack
as the opponent moves out. Back at home you need to be stalling for time with a bunker while working on matching
the opponents Tank viking Raven count. Use scv repair to maintain your Tanks Air and bunkers. Expand and transition
only after his initial force has been dealt with. 2.nd Raven double medivac. Prepare to counterattack with your Banshees,
make sure your Tanks are in a very defensive position, protected by every other ground unit you have and repaired by your
scvs. Do not commit your marines into his auto turrets unless they are fireing at your tank. If you manage to kill the
turrets and some marines Pulling all scvs to clear his push becomes an option. Keep your banshees alive and eat away at his
economy and reinforcements. Since back home your Tank count keeps growing while his push cant be reinforced you will eventually
be able to clear him out. After that it comes down to who lost more scvs and who has the better standing army.
vs Mirrored gas first banshee
Retain your banshees, snipe his first one with the banked scan + wm. Bank another scan, go raven+2xviking
after the second Banshee. Whoever manages to defend more cleanly at home wins the game.
vs Flash´s 1 Marine 1Reaper 1Hellion opening:
this should be revealed the moment you see the delayed Reaper. Expect an early viking follow up from your opponent.
Dont overcommit to Banshees (canceling cloak + 2nd banshee is an option), instead focus on speeding up the
transition as you get Raven + Vikings. With every scv your banshee killed you gain an economic edge that you
need to conserve by not taking damage at home. Note that some players will send their first viking to intercept
your banshee (if done right your banshee dies before cloak finishes), thus using a sneak path can be beneficial.
vs Proxy Marauder or any Rax commitment before Expansion
Stay alive with bunkers and scv pulls, use the factory for defense asap (dont premake a Tlab for your starport! hellions vs 2rax reaper, mines vs Marauders), get cloak and go up to 3 banshees if you want to control the game or prepare a Tank medivac push to end the game early. You will be forced into a defensive early game but your tech will carry you through with an advantage if your control is appropriate.
Tricks and Tells
Building placement is a key factor in TvT, with the Banshee first, you are mostly worried about counter drops or banshees, so keeping your Base tight with a layout that permits only one ground entrance into your mineral line that then can be covered by your WM is a good way to go about things that is very resource efficient (you gain some extra mining time compared to a player who builds a wall) and is very compact and thus easy to defend.
A standart Gas first opener cannot afford the lost mining time from an scv scout or a scan, thus if your opponent commits anything to scouting at all you will know that he is either playing a build that relies on scouting (15 gas, Reaper Fe, 1 rax Fe) or that if he opened gas first aswell, that you are ahead. If your Cloak got Scanned, feel free to cancel it and do a Tank all in, your opponent, not only spent 270 minerals on a scan, but also has to prepare Turrets and Vikings. His overcommitment can be punished! However you can just aswell continue with the original plan.
If your Opponent does not scout you at all (prebanshee) you can be fairly sure that he is playing a gas first build himself.
Thus skipping banshees entirely in favor of a more defensive Raven Tank composition is a viable metagame idea.
You can however just proceed with the original play.
Burrow your Widowmine right in your mineral line, preferably in a spot where scvs frequently stand on top of it. That way, it is impossible for your opponent to see. Keep your marines a bit away from the mine to lure his units into it and then finish them of with a quick step forward!
In many midgame situations you will wish that you had retained your original banshees, so take care of them. They cannot be reproduced in the midgame since you need your Starport for medivacs and vikings. Keeping 2 banshees and the Raven alive for the midgame can be the difference between breaking your opponents siegeline and crumbling to it!
use seperate control groups for your first 2 banshees, a chasing Viking Raven fleet can only go in one direction! so if they chase one of your banshees, the other can freely enter his minerallines or snipe a couple of marines. You will have to macro while microing your banshees but in many circumstances your banshee can be ordered to retreat via the minimap. Make use of it!
A very basic manouver with 2 banshees is the Pingpong attack: you send 1 banshee to each end of their base and attack with 1 while the other retreats. Its easy to micro and farely efficient against builds that have trouble providing detection in 2 places at once.
Target fire with your banshees to maximise their Damage!
Summary:
Gas first Banshee is by no means the best way to play the Matchup, it is easily scouted and prepared against and has some significant weakness against Hellion elevator plays, but it offers a significant amount of control and can, if played correctly, withstand almost everything your opponent does and enter the midgame on even footing. So, if you are confident in your control and ability to read the game, Gas first Banshee provides you with a very reliable Build to enter the Midgame and can often times eek out slight edges that can win you the game later on.
About me:
I play around Top diamond Level on EU, sometimes beating Masters. My Bane is TvP
my TvT is above average, roughly 60%. I am only human, thus this is my very personal take on the Matchup and as such it has no aspiration what so ever to be absolute or even correct. If you are sure that I went wrong about something, I would gladly be corrected.
Pro game References:
Wcs AM Polt vs Bomber Game 1 on Foxtrott labs Link
Bomber goes for gas first Banshee and gets scouted by polts delayed gas first reaper.
Bomber cancels cloak and goes into a greedy 3 cc before doing anything else, Polt calls it and completely neglects turret production. Upon scouting polts cc before Port variation Bomber start Powering imediately, skips a raven and goes for stim + Tank immediately. Also, after seeing polts reaper Bomber favors a Hellion over the wm as he knows that counter Drop play or Banshees are no threat at this point in the game. The game develops into Marine tank wars.
Game 4 of the same Series on Overgrowth:
Bomber opens up with gas first banshee but delays his 2nd gas for quite a while in favor of an earlier cc. Upon polt, who did a 13 gas 111 into a quick medivac, scanning him he starts the medivac energy upgrade to fake a cloak opening, which polt calls, goes into a delayed cloak upgrade. Note that Bomber smartly uses his factory and his Rax to semi wall his Ramp and puts his WM behind it so that nothing can enter his base by ground. The game turns into a slugfest with Polt trying to damage bombers defensive position with hellion rine medivac, while Bomber harrases him non stop with cloak banshees. Oddly though Bomber goes for 3 Techlabs to be able to keep making Banshees while he gets Stim and tanks at the same time.
Game 5: Bomber plays a cute variant where he again delays his second gas and does a 3 hellion 6 marine elevator play before he follows it up with 3 cloak banshees and a cc against polts 12 12 Reaper --> reac 111 Fast expansion.
Flash vs Taeja IEM Toronto Game 1 on Nimbus link
Taeja opens with the standart gas first into cloakbanshee (exactly as described in this guide) against Flashes 12 12 Reaper - Reac fast cc followed by 111. Flash scouts Taejas second gas and prepares turrets and goes into hellion viking. Taeja proceeds to kill some scvs and Transitions into reac@rax cc Tanks raven+ viking and an ebay. This is a very standart way to play out the opening against an early expanding player.
Game 2
Taeja opens Standart cloakbanshee (squeezes 2 hellions out without delaying anything! the guy is a macro monster -.-") while Flash completely counters his opening with the gas first delayed Reaper into Viking inteception (the Flash Gas first). Both players follow up with the Forgg 2 fact BfH viking Raven 2 base play.
Have fun.
replays will be posted later today, I wont be providing sources for pro games, but if someone else has some ready I would be happy to implement them.