[GSL 2019] Season 1 - Grand Finals

On April 12 2019 16:51 pvsnp wrote:
Five years.

Five years of endless war, of skirmishes and battles, of shifting tides and fickle blessings. Five years of gains and losses across a war-torn nation, reduced to little more than churned mud and shed blood. Yet here he stands, in the same spot overlooking the same valley, ready to make it five years and a month.

Not all are so fortunate. High atop the ridge, he can still taste the smoke from the wreckage-strewn valley. Only a day ago those charnel heaps were proud armies under famed generals. He frowns at the nearest fallen standard. The Man of Iron had led the final charge, they said, a desperate, doomed attempt to break free of the slaughter field. Such was the fate of the forsaken. He squints at what looks like the Sun’s sigil, but the bloody rag of a banner could have been anything. The gods know there are plenty to choose from.

Delayed by a petty trap, he’d arrived at this familiar battleground just as dusk turned to night. Too late to do anything except make camp on the ruins of yesteryear. To rally the stragglers and hear out their grim tales of disaster. Listening painted him an eerily reminiscent picture. By all accounts the enemy was in earnest–nine full armies shrouded in a blessed nimbus. Dawn lights tawdry standards in the smoke, staking out each of their chieftain’s conquests. Psychopaths and Assassins and would-be Kingslayers abound. And over all of them, the mark of the Deformed Avatar.

In his youth he would have charged down there, filled with righteous fury, hurling his army at the enemy lines until they broke or he did. Five years ago, he’d done exactly that, and reaped a bloody toll in the doing. For a single glorious moment he’d outshone the gods themselves. But in the end, it was not enough. In the end, he’d been forced to accept that fury alone was no match for divinity.

Now he is older. Wiser. Smarter. Fury has its time and place, but so too does patience. And discipline. And deception. Five years is time enough to cross the span of heaven and earth. To make oneself anew. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Now he wears the thrice-forged crown of the ancient homeland. He is king, and this is his kingdom. And even the gods cannot deny that.

On April 12 2019 21:29 Rodya wrote:
The idea the Maru relies on having time to prepare is really dumb, but it is of course a lie that people trying to promote foreigners and WCS events will continue to perpetuate (so no point in engaging with it). Stop being so obsessed with stupid statistics and narratives and actually watch Maru play... his godlikeness is not because of his preparation, its his ridiculous intuition and mechanics.

In a recent interview, Maru said that the reason he didn't go far in IEM was because of his mental being bad - nothing to do with preparation. But no, armchair players would rather concoct their own crazy theories than listen to what Maru says.

Classic 4 - 3 Maru, and this could be even more one sided against Maru - Classic's preperation should be just too good.