Auction Starleague Finals

Brackets and Results on Liquipedia

VODs on Twitch

by Waxangel

MaruPrime followed the Royal Road to the promised land, defeating SKT_Rain 4 – 2 to become the Auction Starleague champion. Despite suffering two, one-sided losses against the defending champion Rain to begin the series, Maru only became stronger under adversity, turning things around to win four straight games. Those four games were reminiscent of his semi-final match against INnoVation, where he took win after landslide win, while the player many had considered his superior was sent reeling with no recourse.


It was the crowning achievement of an unlikely tournament run, as well as one of a long pro-gaming career. Despite being just sixteen years old, Maru came into the tournament as one of the most experienced veterans of the GSL, but one who had failed to distinguish himself as much more than a spot-filler in the thirty-two man Code S. Thus, it was easy to dismiss Maru's run through the the Ro32 and Ro16 of the Auction Starleague as being just a hot run from an otherwise mediocre player. However, a quarter-final win against Symbol, a semi-final sweep against INnoVation, and a grand finals 4 - 2 victory against Rain proved that this was not the Maru of old, but one who had matured in the new era of Heart of the Swarm.

With his victory, Maru became the youngest Royal Roader in OSL history, and brought the beleaguered PRIME team their first Korean title in a year. With his mother crying in the audience and head coach Gerrard fighting back tears as well, Maru offered only a measured amount of outward happiness, true to his reserved demeanor. While some newcomer champions fail to grasp the difficulty and weight of their achievement, it was hard to think that was the case with a veteran of so many failed campaigns like Maru. Perhaps, instead, he was already looking ahead not just to the next challenge at the WCS Season II Finals, but the many more triumphs that might lie ahead in his limitless career.

Game Recaps

Game One - Akilon Wastes: Game one was pretty much a perfect "Rain Game," with the SKT Protoss being allowed to showcase his safety-first style perfectly. Both players opened up with perfectly normal builds, cutting no corners and playing it almost as safe as possible. Rain shut down any attempts Maru had at dropping before they even started, and built up toward his army of death. At some point Maru had to have realized that he had allowed his opponent to do exactly what he wanted and that he was very, very dead, but it was too late by then. Rain pushed out, wiped Maru in the only major engagement of the game, and took the GG. Rain 1 - 0 Maru.

Game Two - Anaconda: Maru decided to go for one of his and teammate ByuN's favorite TvP openers in game two, going for marines, hellions, and a medivac off one base to apply some early game pressure. While Maru did some damage, using his troops to attack both the main and natural together, he was unable to make the attack worth its cost. A follow-up banshee did even less, leaving Maru in a tough spot. Already in a difficult position, things got even worse for Maru as Rain took advantage of his well-placed forward pylon, counter-attacking immediately after killing most of Maru's troops. Rain's attacks took Maru from behind to irrevocably behind, and he GG'd out after offering some token resistance. Rain 2 - 0 Maru.

Game Three - Bel'Shir Vestige: Undaunted by having one of his favorite aggressive builds shut down in game two, Maru went for another one of his signature strats in game three: double proxy-barracks. Although Rain put up an admirable defense, he could not keep up with Maru's impeccable micro and tapped out. Maru 1 - 2 Rain.

Game Four - Star Station: After a very short game three, the series went back to longer games as the players landed on Star Station. Maru decided to go for a mixture of standard and aggressive from his previous games, making a fairly fast expand but also applying some pressure with a marine-mine drop. However, Rain's defense was solid, with cannons already in place to defend the harassment. Afterward the game flowed along normally, which did not seem to bode well for Maru given how game one has turned out. As more minutes passed, Rain looked to be in better and better shape with great upgrades and tech.

Unfortunately for Rain, it took just one sensational engagement from Maru to make everything come crashing down. With vikings, infantry, and most critically, EMPs that blanketed Rain's army, Maru was able completely rout Rain's army in a max-out fight, coming out with a sixty supply lead. Maru marched his remaining across the map to Rain's territory, and with the help of an endless stream of reinforcements, collected the surrender from Rain. Maru 2 - 2 Rain.

Game Five - Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct: With the score tied up, Maru opted to take another risk, but this time it was an economic risk. Going up quickly to three command centers and two engineering bays, Maru looked to take an advantage over his famously risk-averse opponent. However, a good mothership core scout came in at the right time, revealing Maru's plans to Rain.

Whether it was his original plan or a change of direction, Rain decided he would try to punish Maru's greed by going for an immortal + gateway unit all-in off two bases. With just one bunker up, Maru appeared to be in danger as Rain approached, but a critical sighting of the forward pylon tipped Maru off before it was too late. Four bunkers went up his natural, completing just in time to repel the attack. Fully committed to the all-in, Rain tried to force his way through, but it was for naught. Maru's defenses were set, with stim and medivacs soon on the way. After a doomed attempt to play the game out normally, Rain surrendered to give Maru the series lead. Maru 3 - 2 Rain.

Game Six - Whirlwind: With everything on the line, Rain opted to diverge from his normal, safety-first style once more, going for quick dark templar drops while taking a fast third as well. On the other hand, Maru was content to play things out normally once more, taking a fast expansion on the lower ground.

Once again, Rain's gambit did not go as well as planned, with Maru having the awareness and spare scans on hand to wipe out the DTs and minimize the damage taken. With almost no time brought at all with his DT drop, Rain scrambled to put together some kind of defense against Maru's impending stim and medivac timing that threatened to strike his expansion. Although Rain did manage to push out a few immortals and sentries, his force-fields were not good enough to overcome the overwhelming might and numbers of Maru's bio. Rain was forced to give up his third, his natural, and finally, the OSL championship.

Maru 4 - 2 Rain.