Happy to announce the result of the GSL style group selection undertaken by Clem and our qualified players!
The selection process (displayed above) was via a snake draft starting with Clem as the top seed (highest EPT points). Clem then had a swap option at the end which he used, replacing Solar's choice Cure with HeRoMaRiNe who was Maru's choice! Interestingly herO picked Serral instead of ByuN!
Main event starts tomorrow so be sure to tune in! Looks like some massive showdowns are coming up!
Our tournament will also be on Matcherino! Check it out and support it if you feel like it.
Replay pack for the entire tournament (Main event and casted qualifier matches) available at $10 via the matcherino page. We appreciate any support in purchasing our replay pack where proceeds go towards production & staff costs.
A big thank you to main sponsor AfreecaTV for making this happen! Do give them a follow after all their support for SC2!
Couldn’t watch live, but Maru seemed to deliver with the clean 4-0 as expected. Maybe this is the season for him to finally win the world championship? Don’t give me too much hopium Maru, it might hurt!
On November 03 2022 22:14 Poopi wrote: Couldn’t watch live, but Maru seemed to deliver with the clean 4-0 as expected. Maybe this is the season for him to finally win the world championship? Don’t give me too much hopium Maru, it might hurt!
Right now only Serral has a >50% change of beating Maru in a Bo5/7 (more like 70% imo). So as long as Serral is on the other side of the bracket with other Zergs then Maru definitely got a shot to win IEM on this map pool.
Maru's performance vs Zergs currently is irrelevant to how he'll do at IEM. The top Zergs clearly don't put as much effort into the game when there's no big money available while Maru seems to try to be in great form all the time and even with that he still hasn't done amazing in TvZ. The top 3 Zergs will be unbeatable again come IEM. The only real chance all T/P have is if all the Zergs are on the same side of the bracket and players like Ragnarok/DRG/Solar score ZvZ upsets.
Just look at what happened last year. Zerg did poorly in the lead up to IEM. Maru was on a winstreak vs all of the top Zergs including Serral and not only did he get bopped but the top 4 Zergs did not lose a single match that wasn't ZvZ..
On November 04 2022 01:14 JJH777 wrote: Maru's performance vs Zergs currently is irrelevant to how he'll do at IEM. The top Zergs clearly don't put as much effort into the game when there's no big money available while Maru seems to try to be in great form all the time and even with that he still hasn't done amazing in TvZ. The top 3 Zergs will be unbeatable again come IEM. The only real chance all T/P have is if all the Zergs are on the same side of the bracket and players like Ragnarok/DRG/Solar score ZvZ upsets.
Just look at what happened last year. Zerg did poorly in the lead up to IEM. Maru was on a winstreak vs all of the top Zergs including Serral and not only did he get bopped but the top 4 Zergs did not lose a single match that wasn't ZvZ..
Yeah that’s perfectly on point, but since Maru is the only player in the game able to play above the maximum human level (at least in my humble opinion), I always get my hopes up that he will be able to do a miracle and win! That’s the beauty of witnessing him play
On November 04 2022 01:14 JJH777 wrote: Maru's performance vs Zergs currently is irrelevant to how he'll do at IEM. The top Zergs clearly don't put as much effort into the game when there's no big money available while Maru seems to try to be in great form all the time and even with that he still hasn't done amazing in TvZ. The top 3 Zergs will be unbeatable again come IEM. The only real chance all T/P have is if all the Zergs are on the same side of the bracket and players like Ragnarok/DRG/Solar score ZvZ upsets.
Just look at what happened last year. Zerg did poorly in the lead up to IEM. Maru was on a winstreak vs all of the top Zergs including Serral and not only did he get bopped but the top 4 Zergs did not lose a single match that wasn't ZvZ..
Jesus, what a tragic tale of woe and inevitable, doomed fate that you paint. Another quality post.
On November 04 2022 01:14 JJH777 wrote: Maru's performance vs Zergs currently is irrelevant to how he'll do at IEM. The top Zergs clearly don't put as much effort into the game when there's no big money available while Maru seems to try to be in great form all the time and even with that he still hasn't done amazing in TvZ. The top 3 Zergs will be unbeatable again come IEM. The only real chance all T/P have is if all the Zergs are on the same side of the bracket and players like Ragnarok/DRG/Solar score ZvZ upsets.
Just look at what happened last year. Zerg did poorly in the lead up to IEM. Maru was on a winstreak vs all of the top Zergs including Serral and not only did he get bopped but the top 4 Zergs did not lose a single match that wasn't ZvZ..
To be fair, it was a shitty map pool for TvZ despite Maru winning a couple tournament on it. Most of us, who watched the game, knew Zerg was going dominate in the recent IEM when they get the practice and planning in. This map pool, however does look more Terran favored, similar to the IEM from last year where Reynor had to play out of his mind to win against all the top opponent. And that was when we saw Clem beat Serral, and Maru bopped Rogue as well. So I hope something like that will happen again this time.
Missed the games, but those results are very unsurprising. Maru continues to be the most dominant player of any match up in SC2. I can't think of another player who has ever been as dominant in a single match up as Maru is in TvT.
On November 04 2022 01:14 JJH777 wrote: Maru's performance vs Zergs currently is irrelevant to how he'll do at IEM. The top Zergs clearly don't put as much effort into the game when there's no big money available while Maru seems to try to be in great form all the time and even with that he still hasn't done amazing in TvZ. The top 3 Zergs will be unbeatable again come IEM. The only real chance all T/P have is if all the Zergs are on the same side of the bracket and players like Ragnarok/DRG/Solar score ZvZ upsets.
Just look at what happened last year. Zerg did poorly in the lead up to IEM. Maru was on a winstreak vs all of the top Zergs including Serral and not only did he get bopped but the top 4 Zergs did not lose a single match that wasn't ZvZ..
To be fair, it was a shitty map pool for TvZ despite Maru winning a couple tournament on it. Most of us, who watched the game, knew Zerg was going dominate in the recent IEM when they get the practice and planning in. This map pool, however does look more Terran favored, similar to the IEM from last year where Reynor had to play out of his mind to win against all the top opponent. And that was when we saw Clem beat Serral, and Maru bopped Rogue as well. So I hope something like that will happen again this time.
It wasn't just Maru winning several tournaments that gave me hope in the lead up to the last IEM. It was Zest beating Rogue in an offline bo7 leading to a PvT GSL finals. It was also the 1 Zerg top 4 in last chance a tournament which all of the top 4 Zergs participated in. Something like that basically never happens when they all participate in something and that was only a bit over a month before IEM. They still stomped at IEM though.
On November 04 2022 01:14 JJH777 wrote: Maru's performance vs Zergs currently is irrelevant to how he'll do at IEM. The top Zergs clearly don't put as much effort into the game when there's no big money available while Maru seems to try to be in great form all the time and even with that he still hasn't done amazing in TvZ. The top 3 Zergs will be unbeatable again come IEM. The only real chance all T/P have is if all the Zergs are on the same side of the bracket and players like Ragnarok/DRG/Solar score ZvZ upsets.
Just look at what happened last year. Zerg did poorly in the lead up to IEM. Maru was on a winstreak vs all of the top Zergs including Serral and not only did he get bopped but the top 4 Zergs did not lose a single match that wasn't ZvZ..
To be fair, it was a shitty map pool for TvZ
Understatement.
That map pool looked like something out of 2019. It was fucking atrocious.
On November 04 2022 01:14 JJH777 wrote: Maru's performance vs Zergs currently is irrelevant to how he'll do at IEM. The top Zergs clearly don't put as much effort into the game when there's no big money available while Maru seems to try to be in great form all the time and even with that he still hasn't done amazing in TvZ. The top 3 Zergs will be unbeatable again come IEM. The only real chance all T/P have is if all the Zergs are on the same side of the bracket and players like Ragnarok/DRG/Solar score ZvZ upsets.
Just look at what happened last year. Zerg did poorly in the lead up to IEM. Maru was on a winstreak vs all of the top Zergs including Serral and not only did he get bopped but the top 4 Zergs did not lose a single match that wasn't ZvZ..
To be fair, it was a shitty map pool for TvZ
Understatement.
That map pool looked like something out of 2019. It was fucking atrocious.
Honestly the existence of Dark, Rogue, Serral, and Reynor would have had zerg the favourite to win even if you handpicked bad zerg maps from sc2s history. The fact blizzard still let those giant maps fill the pool made it not even a contest.
The hope for every global tournament is still to have the 3 of them on one side of the bracket and Maru/herO on the other lol
On November 04 2022 01:14 JJH777 wrote: Maru's performance vs Zergs currently is irrelevant to how he'll do at IEM. The top Zergs clearly don't put as much effort into the game when there's no big money available while Maru seems to try to be in great form all the time and even with that he still hasn't done amazing in TvZ. The top 3 Zergs will be unbeatable again come IEM. The only real chance all T/P have is if all the Zergs are on the same side of the bracket and players like Ragnarok/DRG/Solar score ZvZ upsets.
Just look at what happened last year. Zerg did poorly in the lead up to IEM. Maru was on a winstreak vs all of the top Zergs including Serral and not only did he get bopped but the top 4 Zergs did not lose a single match that wasn't ZvZ..
To be fair, it was a shitty map pool for TvZ
Understatement.
That map pool looked like something out of 2019. It was fucking atrocious.
Honestly the existence of Dark, Rogue, Serral, and Reynor would have had zerg the favourite to win even if you handpicked bad zerg maps from sc2s history. The fact blizzard still let those giant maps fill the pool made it not even a contest.
The hope for every global tournament is still to have the 3 of them on one side of the bracket and Maru/herO on the other lol
It wasn't just that as well. The lead-up to IEM was about 6 weeks if I remember correctly, and with that particular map pool having been in play for close to 4(?) months (I can't remember the exact length). I knew that when Maru won DH Last Chance that he wouldn't do well in IEM itself because his style of play (and the maps!) will be studied and countered given how much time has passed. Whenever the Zergs have a chance to optimise their play and strats in maps, they always do well.
That's why I'm in favour of what DH Valencia did, with all new map pool for the tournament.
On November 04 2022 01:14 JJH777 wrote: Maru's performance vs Zergs currently is irrelevant to how he'll do at IEM. The top Zergs clearly don't put as much effort into the game when there's no big money available while Maru seems to try to be in great form all the time and even with that he still hasn't done amazing in TvZ. The top 3 Zergs will be unbeatable again come IEM. The only real chance all T/P have is if all the Zergs are on the same side of the bracket and players like Ragnarok/DRG/Solar score ZvZ upsets.
Just look at what happened last year. Zerg did poorly in the lead up to IEM. Maru was on a winstreak vs all of the top Zergs including Serral and not only did he get bopped but the top 4 Zergs did not lose a single match that wasn't ZvZ..
To be fair, it was a shitty map pool for TvZ
Understatement.
That map pool looked like something out of 2019. It was fucking atrocious.
Honestly the existence of Dark, Rogue, Serral, and Reynor would have had zerg the favourite to win even if you handpicked bad zerg maps from sc2s history. The fact blizzard still let those giant maps fill the pool made it not even a contest.
The hope for every global tournament is still to have the 3 of them on one side of the bracket and Maru/herO on the other lol
Yeah, you need a bit of both for other race to win IEM, a non-Zerg-favourable map pool, and the bracket luck where other races dont have to face all the top Zerg to win the tournament. Even if Maru had beaten Serral in IEM, he would had to face Rogue, and then Reynor/Dark. Its just not possible, or require a miracle, for anyone to beat 3 out of the top 4 Zerg in a row.
On November 04 2022 01:14 JJH777 wrote: Maru's performance vs Zergs currently is irrelevant to how he'll do at IEM. The top Zergs clearly don't put as much effort into the game when there's no big money available while Maru seems to try to be in great form all the time and even with that he still hasn't done amazing in TvZ. The top 3 Zergs will be unbeatable again come IEM. The only real chance all T/P have is if all the Zergs are on the same side of the bracket and players like Ragnarok/DRG/Solar score ZvZ upsets.
Just look at what happened last year. Zerg did poorly in the lead up to IEM. Maru was on a winstreak vs all of the top Zergs including Serral and not only did he get bopped but the top 4 Zergs did not lose a single match that wasn't ZvZ..
To be fair, it was a shitty map pool for TvZ
Understatement.
That map pool looked like something out of 2019. It was fucking atrocious.
Honestly the existence of Dark, Rogue, Serral, and Reynor would have had zerg the favourite to win even if you handpicked bad zerg maps from sc2s history. The fact blizzard still let those giant maps fill the pool made it not even a contest.
The hope for every global tournament is still to have the 3 of them on one side of the bracket and Maru/herO on the other lol
And that's the thing too. I'm not mad that Zerg has 5 or 6 Elite players and Terran and Protoss each have one.
I'm mad that tournaments are looking at that disparity, and not doing anything about it, and I'm mad that this is the same trend that has been happening since Wings of Liberty.
It's ok if Zerg is dominating everything because if Zerg is dominating it means a non-Korean player can win. If it's Protoss or Terran dominating, then it's guaranteed to be a Korean winning.
It's shitty priorities, and it happens to be something that in my opinion WAY too many Starcraft 2 fans care about more. They'd rather see Serral or Reynor win another ZvZ final, in another Zerg favored map pool, with another set of groups that somehow even though they are supposed to be random, fuck over several of the top Koreans and give one or both of them an easier ride to a higher seed in the tournament. .As long as they are holding the trophy, these fans are happy. Doesn't matter if it's a fair trophy or not. Doesn't matter if it's at the expense of sacrificing the quality of the games.
It's been this way since Idra, Destiny and Stephano cemented that Zerg was going to be the foreigner race in SC2. Except back then foreigners actually needed the handicap. They don't anymore, and yet we're still watching tournaments allow Zerg favor to pollute the tournaments.
To be honest, I thought herO was going to add Colossi after the 2 initial Disruptor. That army of herO could have won the fight with some more flash damage.
And he play zero Oracle opening this series which making its harder to control the creep and protect against ling runby. I guess the damage from the Disruptor was able to justify this.
Glaive build has a major weakness, which is getting counter attacked by a million roaches after killing drones. Usually you trade adepts for drones at some point, if Reynor had gotten spores in time in G3 he would've won by a-moving 38 army supply across the map against like 8, but maybe DT:s would've stalled until disruptors, Reynor wasn't on Lair tech ye?
i think it's probably just that noone played glaives as it was figured out and now zergs lacked practise so it works for like a few weeks and then fades away again as zergs get into holfing it again.
On November 05 2022 02:07 darklycid wrote: i think it's probably just that noone played glaives as it was figured out and now zergs lacked practise so it works for like a few weeks and then fades away again as zergs get into holfing it again.
That statement is true for any build of any matchup and this is the reason why metas change over time even if there are no patches.
Nah serral and reynor just look unprepared today missing some reads and well maxpax recenlty played alot of glaives and they just looked lost vs it so yea.
On November 05 2022 02:44 darklycid wrote: Nah serral and reynor just look unprepared today missing some reads and well maxpax recenlty played alot of glaives and they just looked lost vs it so yea.
Serral also had time to cancel his corrupters after his OV spotted a bunch of zealots/archons but didn't for some reason.
Wow, looking at the bracket, seems like Maru is the favourite to win. The only one that might bring him any issue is herO, and we just heard that herO has COVID.
On November 05 2022 13:57 buzz_bender wrote: Wow, looking at the bracket, seems like Maru is the favourite to win. The only one that might bring him any issue is herO, and we just heard that herO has COVID.
Basically Dark also has a shot if he got back to his top form, but him and herO will have to fight it out, and if Clem manage to beat them both then its even better for Maru. So yeah, Maru should have this one unless he pull a Maru and does some weird shit to lose the game.
The camera stay in the constant action in the zerg side, non stop engagements, and when it looks back at the Terran base, Maru is on 5 bases lol. Usual Maru I guess
I love herO style of aggression but it would work so much better for him if he know when to stop and went back to more macro. Clem was playing much more defensively in the last couple games and his macro wasnt as quickly, but herO decide to push anyway while its completely fine for him to macro up 1 base and add in more gateways.
On November 06 2022 00:21 Athenau wrote: Is it just me, or have terrans been getting a lot more value out of their banshees in TvZ lately?
Yes, I noticed this at least with Clem.
Clem plays 3CC - Banshee in 85% of his TvZ as an economy build, and thats why Serral and Reynor are much better at defending against Banshee as they face it all the time. KR Terran barely play any Banshee opening in TvZ and thats why the KR Zerg arent not as smooth in the defense effort. I once saw Solar lost 3 Queen to a simple 2 Banshee push because his Queen was out of range of the spore.
On November 06 2022 00:21 Athenau wrote: Is it just me, or have terrans been getting a lot more value out of their banshees in TvZ lately?
Yes, I noticed this at least with Clem.
Clem plays 3CC - Banshee in 85% of his TvZ as an economy build, and thats why Serral and Reynor are much better at defending against Banshee as they face it all the time. KR Terran barely play any Banshee opening in TvZ and thats why the KR Zerg arent not as smooth in the defense effort. I once saw Solar lost 3 Queen to a simple 2 Banshee push because his Queen was out of range of the spore.
It's also why Clem's the best at it, because in addition to his insane micro he plays that build all the time haha.
Hoping Dark wins. Clem-Dark would be sick, and then Maru/Dark or Maru/Clem would be pretty sick as well.
On November 06 2022 00:48 Pandain wrote: Dark most entertaining player of all time?
You have to give that to Rogue
Rogue is probably amongst the least entertaining players of all time. When he's at his most creative the games are absolutely terrible. Actually I'm not even sure I would call him creative - he's just good at picking abusive builds.
On November 06 2022 00:48 Pandain wrote: Dark most entertaining player of all time?
You have to give that to Rogue
Rogue is probably amongst the least entertaining players of all time. When he's at his most creative the games are absolutely terrible. Actually I'm not even sure I would call him creative - he's just good at picking abusive builds.
On November 06 2022 00:48 Pandain wrote: Dark most entertaining player of all time?
You have to give that to Rogue
Rogue is probably amongst the least entertaining players of all time. When he's at his most creative the games are absolutely terrible. Actually I'm not even sure I would call him creative - he's just good at picking abusive builds.
I dunno. I find rogue games the most entertaining.
His abusive builds and one sided beat down are absolutely entertaining and full of lols.
Maru long tvz are the definition of least entertaining. Especially once he decides to turtle up and mine up the map. Literally nothing significant happens for the next 20-30 minutes. For Maru fanboys they call this the “peak of sc skills”. While the majority of the casual fan base dies of boredom
I guess it depends on the understanding of the spectator. U only can appreciate insane mutitasking and micro, macro and decision making to the fullest, if u have enough knowledge of how hard and (almost) impossible it is. To even get in these lategame situations without beeing behind needs so much skill.
On November 06 2022 00:48 Pandain wrote: Dark most entertaining player of all time?
You have to give that to Rogue
Rogue is probably amongst the least entertaining players of all time. When he's at his most creative the games are absolutely terrible. Actually I'm not even sure I would call him creative - he's just good at picking abusive builds.
I dunno. I find rogue games the most entertaining.
His abusive builds and one sided beat down are absolutely entertaining and full of lols.
Maru long tvz are the definition of least entertaining. Especially once he decides to turtle up and mine up the map. Literally nothing significant happens for the next 20-30 minutes. For Maru fanboys they call this the “peak of sc skills”. While the majority of the casual fan base dies of boredom
On November 06 2022 00:48 Pandain wrote: Dark most entertaining player of all time?
You have to give that to Rogue
Rogue is probably amongst the least entertaining players of all time. When he's at his most creative the games are absolutely terrible. Actually I'm not even sure I would call him creative - he's just good at picking abusive builds.
On November 06 2022 04:01 DarkGamer wrote: I guess it depends on the understanding of the spectator. U only can appreciate insane mutitasking and micro, macro and decision making to the fullest, if u have enough knowledge of how hard and (almost) impossible it is. To even get in these lategame situations without beeing behind needs so much skill.
On November 06 2022 00:48 Pandain wrote: Dark most entertaining player of all time?
You have to give that to Rogue
Rogue is probably amongst the least entertaining players of all time. When he's at his most creative the games are absolutely terrible. Actually I'm not even sure I would call him creative - he's just good at picking abusive builds.
I dunno. I find rogue games the most entertaining.
His abusive builds and one sided beat down are absolutely entertaining and full of lols.
Maru long tvz are the definition of least entertaining. Especially once he decides to turtle up and mine up the map. Literally nothing significant happens for the next 20-30 minutes. For Maru fanboys they call this the “peak of sc skills”. While the majority of the casual fan base dies of boredom
Literally this, the way he set ups his army effortless and the on point rotations to defend multiple bases locating every unit when it needs to be when he does those turtle games are the best tactical starcraft I have seen.
sOs was the most entertaining player ever, period. You never knew what he was going to do: redefine the meta or proxy 3gate in you opponent base 3 games in a row. Also he was the best at base trades so he initiated them quite often, and base trades are always fun and tense
On November 06 2022 00:48 Pandain wrote: Dark most entertaining player of all time?
You have to give that to Rogue
Rogue is probably amongst the least entertaining players of all time. When he's at his most creative the games are absolutely terrible. Actually I'm not even sure I would call him creative - he's just good at picking abusive builds.
Rogue's play is very visually unappealing, but he really plays it as a strategy game. It's great viewing as a player, since you can always see exactly what he's playing for, and how he's chosen to solve the game in front of him. All the other players have cooler tricks and stuff, but Rogue really bares the essentials of the game in a way that nobody else has quite replicated. Really great player to analyze, though not for leisure viewing admittedly
On November 06 2022 03:47 TossHeroes wrote: Dark saving us from tvt snooze fest
Dark the hero we need
We should be careful what we wish for. Dark is as unpredictable as any player. He could just go on to win this whole thing and give us yet ANOTHER Zerg champion just because he feels like it.
Dude DGAF that all the other Zergs bombed out in quick fashion.
On November 06 2022 04:36 t5Fab wrote: sOs was the most entertaining player ever, period. You never knew what he was going to do: redefine the meta or proxy 3gate in you opponent base 3 games in a row. Also he was the best at base trades so he initiated them quite often, and base trades are always fun and tense
Unconventional players are always fun to watch, and dominating players are also always a show. Dark is both, and that's why he's the most entertaining. And even when he's winning easy matches he's enough of a showman to make it fun.
sOs is another good shout. Although he's probably the biggest hype killer in sc2 history so maybe not.
Feels like Byun should have taken the air domina ce earlier, before Maru had his fourth. Byun just kept trying with marine/tank for too long and Maru was back in the game.
On November 06 2022 22:51 tigera6 wrote: Dark just plays a way different style than Serral/Reynor that Clem got thrown off his game too much.
Clem should just ask Reynor to play Roach/Ravagers timing attack whenever they try to play each other in order to perfect ways to counter to it.
To be honest, Reynor arent very good with Roach build, he usually get ahead and then threw the lead away by doing Roach. Serral would be a much better practice partner but I doubt he would prep Clem for that, because he want to use that against Clem as well.
On November 07 2022 00:12 tigera6 wrote: Maru didnt watch the match of Clem vs Dark? I think you need to make double factory mines against Dark build of pure ling bane.
Dark played for a huge ling bane bust off 1-1 (45 banes off 66 drones, 11 at home and 34 across the map), I think if you're out on the map at all against that then you're gonna take damage.
I genuinely think Dark is the scariest player to try to contest map control against, he is in such a happy place when he's under mild pressure but has the freedom to counterattack
The part on Stargazers where Dark turned 20 trapped and overcommitted lings in the nat into a snipe on +2 armor by running lings around at the front was so good haha
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