Tecness, a sentence for you, you're massing. But does massing miners good? How about making a strategy against miner massers?
How can 'massing miners' be anything other than a smart move, particularly if done early game?
(your teasing him, right?)
One gold-return and the unit is free of charge, and population only becomes a concern AFTER you pumped out a lot of stuff.
A strong army can be quickly put together only with a strong economy, after all. The ultimate army due to finish being built 5 minutes after your oponent fells your statue is no use for you.
I normally go for 8 on gold, 3-5 on mana, depending how many high mana units I need. I try build 8 & 1 before I start to seriously pump out military units, (just what I need before that) and build up to 8 & 3 as I build my military.