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[WTL] Master's Coliseum 2023 - Playoffs - Page 5

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Tournaments
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Antithesis
Profile Joined August 2010
Germany1275 Posts
September 10 2023 13:50 GMT
#81
Congratulations Serral!

Absolutely phenomenal play. In many ways, it's as close to perfection as humanly possible.
Mutation complete.
Argonauta
Profile Joined July 2016
Spain4967 Posts
September 10 2023 13:54 GMT
#82
Honestly, I think Cure played better games overall
Rogue | Maru | Scarlett | Trap
TL+ Member
tigera6
Profile Joined March 2021
3516 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-09-10 13:57:35
September 10 2023 13:55 GMT
#83
Another 2nd place finish for Cure, which is no shame but the guy must be asking himself what else could he do. Seem like Serral got the entire matchup TvZ "figured out", as long as he not messing up, he just cant lose in a macro game. Will be interesting to see how things are after the bane nerf.

On September 10 2023 22:54 Argonauta wrote:
Honestly, I think Cure played better games overall

Cure play a very solid macro game and his micro was also very decent, but thats not enough to beat Serral unless he throw in something weird here and there. The first 2 games were the perfect way of opening the game, wish Cure could try to do it for the rest of the game.
Amoyu7
Profile Joined March 2023
20 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-09-10 16:14:17
September 10 2023 13:58 GMT
#84
The problem is Cure doesn't know how to play late game. He plays perfectly for first 10 mins, often enters late game slightly ahead, and then Serral just came back and thoroughly outplayed him in late game.

Don‘t whine about balance here, Clem just showed you exactly how to beat Serral in late game in this tournament, knocking Serral out into the loser's bracket. Too bad he can't play TvT to save his life. Cure's handle of 200 supply army and especially Ghost micro is simply not good enough compared to Maru and Clem.

There's a running joke in Chinese community that Cure has a "200 supply debuff", he just looks like a worse player when he hits max supply. This series is a perfect example.
Antithesis
Profile Joined August 2010
Germany1275 Posts
September 10 2023 14:35 GMT
#85
On September 10 2023 22:58 Amoyu7 wrote:
Don‘t whine about balance here, Clem just showed you exactly how to beat Serral in late game in this tournament, knocking Serral out into the loser's bracket. Too bad he can't play TvT to save his life. Cure's handle of 200 supply army and especially Ghost micro is simply not good enough compared to Maru and Clem.

There's a running joke in Chinese community that Cure has a "200 supply debuff", he just look like a worse player when he hits max supply. This series is a perfect example.

Completely agree. I think it's both misguided and disrespectful to Serral to even attempt to turn this into a matter of balance. Serral was literally the only zerg in the top 6, alongside 4 terrans. It is just that in this tournament and at this time, he is, all things considered, by far the best player.

And what a run this was. He dismantled Korean terrans: 5-0 over Maru (cumulative), 3-1 over Byun, 4-1 over Cure, and 2-0 over Gumiho. Further he 3-0'd MaxPax and also won two ZvZs, one of which was a 3-1 against Dark. Incredible performance.

And yet Clem has shown that it is possible to beat him.
Mutation complete.
JJH777
Profile Joined January 2011
United States4420 Posts
September 10 2023 15:40 GMT
#86
On September 10 2023 22:58 Amoyu7 wrote:
The problem is Cure don't know how to play late game. He plays perfectly for first 10 mins, often enters late game slightly ahead, and then Serral just came back and thoroughly outplayed him in late game.

Don‘t whine about balance here, Clem just showed you exactly how to beat Serral in late game in this tournament, knocking Serral out into the loser's bracket. Too bad he can't play TvT to save his life. Cure's handle of 200 supply army and especially Ghost micro is simply not good enough compared to Maru and Clem.

There's a running joke in Chinese community that Cure has a "200 supply debuff", he just looks like a worse player when he hits max supply. This series is a perfect example.


And yet Clem is 2-17 in games and 0-7 in series vs Solar on the current patch... And 50-50 vs most other top Zergs besides Dark who he is strangely dominant against currently. Against Serral Clem is still sub 50%.

Serral played bizarrely vs Clem far different than his normal ZvTs in all but the final game of the series. None of those were what I'd call a traditional ZvT lategame. I still struggle to see Clem beating Serral the way he played vs the Korean Terrans.
The_Red_Viper
Profile Blog Joined August 2013
19533 Posts
September 10 2023 15:50 GMT
#87
On September 10 2023 08:34 JJH777 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 10 2023 02:52 The_Red_Viper wrote:
On September 09 2023 23:52 JJH777 wrote:
I don't understand how Maru simply can't touch Serral. These games don't even look close.

Serral is incredibly good and he plays the best race to be incredibly good at. That's it.



Clem can at least beat him sometimes though which is more than you can say for Maru in both 2022 and 2023. Maru is the favorite vs literally everyone else in the world at the moment (besides maybe Maxpax) but he can't touch Serral. 0-7 in the last month. He's also an immense favorite even vs Zergs that regularly beat Clem. It makes no sense to me. I know different players matchups can play out differently and variance is a thing but in all 7 of those games there's only one where it looked to me like Maru had even a shot of winning. The rest had Serral in control from start to finish. It's rather depressing as a big Maru fan lol.


Well one also has to take other things into consideration here, for example what server games are played on, what race / playstyle that favors, and just clem having probably more of an idea how serral plays and how to potentially abuse it as he probably played him more often.
But really, a lot of it is also down to chance, small sample sizes one shouldn't put too much stock in.
As for maru though, i think he just isn't very tricky, and as serral generally tries to play as solid as possible in a conventional way, that's working very well vs people who kinda do the same (with the worse race to do so, imo).

I'd love to see serral play terran or toss in a different timeline, just to see if my feeling is right about zerg being the best race to play if you are playing at peak human performance.
IU | Sohyang || There is no God and we are his prophets | For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.” | Ignorance is the parent of fear |
tigera6
Profile Joined March 2021
3516 Posts
September 10 2023 16:00 GMT
#88
The way Maru played just show how he doesnt prepare for specifically Serral, its the exact same build as he would do against Ragnarok or Solar, and he is super greedy/aggressive to the point its becoming a gamble. Every single game Maru does the 3CC build, Serral just feel safe at home, make some Roach and start to get going for the entire game, and wait for Maru to make a single mistake with his army movement or setup and jump on top of it. Byun at least try to do something risky and get a game out of it. Cure played 2 strange build in game 1 and 2 and he almost won both games.

What I have criticize Maru for, as a fanboy, is that he doesnt mix things up, like his mindset is that if he failed with some opening, he will try to do it again hoping it would be better.
Gescom
Profile Joined February 2010
Canada3525 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-09-10 16:33:09
September 10 2023 16:32 GMT
#89
On September 06 2023 20:41 Gescom wrote:
Serral is the kind of player who could win a tournament after marching thru the entire LB, so hold your tongues for a little while longer! ;}

LOL!

Another amazing tourney. GG to all.
Jaedong Hyuk || Bisu Jangbi || Fantasy Flash
HeroSandro
Profile Joined July 2019
542 Posts
September 10 2023 16:39 GMT
#90
On September 11 2023 01:00 tigera6 wrote:
The way Maru played just show how he doesnt prepare for specifically Serral, its the exact same build as he would do against Ragnarok or Solar, and he is super greedy/aggressive to the point its becoming a gamble. Every single game Maru does the 3CC build, Serral just feel safe at home, make some Roach and start to get going for the entire game, and wait for Maru to make a single mistake with his army movement or setup and jump on top of it. Byun at least try to do something risky and get a game out of it. Cure played 2 strange build in game 1 and 2 and he almost won both games.

What I have criticize Maru for, as a fanboy, is that he doesnt mix things up, like his mindset is that if he failed with some opening, he will try to do it again hoping it would be better.

For a player who has won so many preparation based tournaments, he sure does suck at it 😛
Poopi
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
France13023 Posts
September 10 2023 16:43 GMT
#91
Congratulations Serral, easy win as expected
WriterMaru
Kreuger
Profile Joined October 2011
Sweden1006 Posts
September 10 2023 16:56 GMT
#92
Sick performance from Serral

32-4 in maps (including group)

After losing to Clem 3-1 he went through these players in a lower run:

Lambo: 3-0
Dark: 3-1
Maxpax: 3-0
Maru: 3-0
Byun: 3-1
Cure: 4-1

Gantz023
Profile Joined June 2023
36 Posts
September 10 2023 18:40 GMT
#93
Serral's tournament was incredible, not only winning but crushing his opponents, and to say that it is just a matter of balance is not looking at who finished in the top 6. 4 Terran, 1 Zerg and 1 Protoss. no other zerg could advance.

It only remains to be seen if Serral can maintain this level of play, the truth is that the other players found themselves without hope. I share that Cure has to mix more unusual builds and try to surprise Serral. which is the reason why he loses so much in ZvZ. THE SURPRISE
Poopi
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
France13023 Posts
September 10 2023 18:53 GMT
#94
On September 11 2023 03:40 Gantz023 wrote:
Serral's tournament was incredible, not only winning but crushing his opponents, and to say that it is just a matter of balance is not looking at who finished in the top 6. 4 Terran, 1 Zerg and 1 Protoss. no other zerg could advance.

It only remains to be seen if Serral can maintain this level of play, the truth is that the other players found themselves without hope. I share that Cure has to mix more unusual builds and try to surprise Serral. which is the reason why he loses so much in ZvZ. THE SURPRISE

Given the low number of top players, race representation is not a particularly good indicator of balance
WriterMaru
Ciaus_Dronu
Profile Joined June 2017
South Africa1848 Posts
September 10 2023 19:07 GMT
#95
On September 11 2023 03:53 Poopi wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 11 2023 03:40 Gantz023 wrote:
Serral's tournament was incredible, not only winning but crushing his opponents, and to say that it is just a matter of balance is not looking at who finished in the top 6. 4 Terran, 1 Zerg and 1 Protoss. no other zerg could advance.

It only remains to be seen if Serral can maintain this level of play, the truth is that the other players found themselves without hope. I share that Cure has to mix more unusual builds and try to surprise Serral. which is the reason why he loses so much in ZvZ. THE SURPRISE

Given the low number of top players, race representation is not a particularly good indicator of balance


The low number of top players is an argument for anything being a meh indicator.

But we all know the best indicator is the one that lets us complain about Zerg when it's Serral vs Terran world
ZeroByte13
Profile Joined March 2022
801 Posts
September 10 2023 19:42 GMT
#96
There's an easy solution - I just skip all Serral's non-ZvZ games.
When there are no (non-ZvZ) games without Serral left - the tourney is over.
tigera6
Profile Joined March 2021
3516 Posts
September 11 2023 03:19 GMT
#97
On September 11 2023 01:39 HeroSandro wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 11 2023 01:00 tigera6 wrote:
The way Maru played just show how he doesnt prepare for specifically Serral, its the exact same build as he would do against Ragnarok or Solar, and he is super greedy/aggressive to the point its becoming a gamble. Every single game Maru does the 3CC build, Serral just feel safe at home, make some Roach and start to get going for the entire game, and wait for Maru to make a single mistake with his army movement or setup and jump on top of it. Byun at least try to do something risky and get a game out of it. Cure played 2 strange build in game 1 and 2 and he almost won both games.

What I have criticize Maru for, as a fanboy, is that he doesnt mix things up, like his mindset is that if he failed with some opening, he will try to do it again hoping it would be better.

For a player who has won so many preparation based tournaments, he sure does suck at it 😛

To be fair, I never think Maru as being the "preparation" player despite him winning many GSL tittles. Hes juts more talented than most KR players and just refuse to die when behind. TY and Cure have better preparation build than Maru imo, and Rogue is the ultimate prepared-build player. Maru just feel like doing whatever he think is good and keep heading straight into it, and if he failed he will try again harder till complete humiliations (Blizzcon 2018).

I think Serral used to be in the same boat, he just play his macro game as perfect as he can, and try to react to his opponent move. But these days, especially in ZvT, he start dictating the entire game, by forcing his opponent to react to his early build.
SamuelGreen
Profile Joined August 2013
Sweden292 Posts
September 11 2023 07:43 GMT
#98
On September 10 2023 22:48 Argonauta wrote:
Serral winning after that hold from Cure is omegalul


Did you see the match? Cure a-moved his army right into an obvious trap. I agree that it was omegalul, but it amazes me that Cure got that far with plays like that.
dysenterymd
Profile Joined January 2019
1250 Posts
September 11 2023 16:10 GMT
#99
On September 11 2023 12:19 tigera6 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 11 2023 01:39 HeroSandro wrote:
On September 11 2023 01:00 tigera6 wrote:
The way Maru played just show how he doesnt prepare for specifically Serral, its the exact same build as he would do against Ragnarok or Solar, and he is super greedy/aggressive to the point its becoming a gamble. Every single game Maru does the 3CC build, Serral just feel safe at home, make some Roach and start to get going for the entire game, and wait for Maru to make a single mistake with his army movement or setup and jump on top of it. Byun at least try to do something risky and get a game out of it. Cure played 2 strange build in game 1 and 2 and he almost won both games.

What I have criticize Maru for, as a fanboy, is that he doesnt mix things up, like his mindset is that if he failed with some opening, he will try to do it again hoping it would be better.

For a player who has won so many preparation based tournaments, he sure does suck at it 😛

To be fair, I never think Maru as being the "preparation" player despite him winning many GSL tittles. Hes juts more talented than most KR players and just refuse to die when behind. TY and Cure have better preparation build than Maru imo, and Rogue is the ultimate prepared-build player. Maru just feel like doing whatever he think is good and keep heading straight into it, and if he failed he will try again harder till complete humiliations (Blizzcon 2018).

I think Serral used to be in the same boat, he just play his macro game as perfect as he can, and try to react to his opponent move. But these days, especially in ZvT, he start dictating the entire game, by forcing his opponent to react to his early build.

Serral is also just hard to prep against, he has no real exploitable weakness in ZvT, unlike the other top Zerg. Reynor is often too greedy in the early game and not amazing against turtle Terran, Dark hurts his own eco by going for weird builds, and Solar is a mid-game brawling specialist. Against Serral you need to perfectly execute or hope he's playing off, or go for really risky builds.

I think Cure's approach was pretty good actually, and with slightly better execution I feel like he should have won the hell-bat push game and the cyclone game. Yes, going for weird builds you run the risk of getting shut down hard, but when you're crushed in standard games why not try?
Serral | Inno | sOs | soO | Has | Classic
Puudu
Profile Joined July 2021
2 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-09-12 17:53:20
September 12 2023 14:37 GMT
#100
I have been wondering.. maybe someone more knowledgeable can say that if this is not so: I've been wondering why only raynor and clem have been giving serral trouble on a constant basis in the last few year (yes he has lost to others, but there have been points during these last years that if he faced one of these 2 in the playoffs his chances of winning a tournament would go down significantly).

Is it because both clem and raynor are fast players and don't rely on strategy as much (I remember raynor used to exploit the fact that Serral at times was playing so standard that he could get away with playing greedy or controll the pace of the game with early pressure)? Even faster than serral at their peek? So serrals playstyle of counter attacking multiple locations constantly is not as effective vs them? Koreans seem to be win with strategy (I know I'm generalising, Maru for example seems like an exception) and this is not as good vs serrals since his scouting and ability to read the game and react to game is so good vs players who rely on strategy (eg. the build working out in their favor).

I could elaborate more.. but won't just in case this doesn't spark a conversation =)
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