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Serral: A Brother's Keeper - Rank 11 - Road to BlizzCon

Forum Index > SC2 General
18 CommentsPost a Reply

Serral: A Brother's Keeper - Rank 11 - Road to BlizzCon

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
Graphics byshiroiusagi
October 15th, 2017 15:47 GMT
Photo Credit: DreamHack
Serral
Joona Sotala
Ence eSports


A Brother’s Keeper


by hexhaven


In another place, in another time, Serral would be considered a true child prodigy.

Coming from a family of competitors, Serral was already touring the scene’s tournaments from a very young age. At a time when StarCraft 2’s international popularity was peaking, his older brother Protosser was a familiar sight on the European tournament circuit. The two would travel to events together, with Serral soaking up as much as he could from other players. For a while, Protosser’s results were constantly on the rise, and the world was open for the two brothers.

But there is nothing quite as unrelenting as competitive StarCraft 2. Over time, as the scene waned, so did Protosser’s career. He was never quite able to break through to the upper echelons of the European scene, despite his obvious talent and work ethic. Other interests in his life beckoned, and the older brother finally decided to move on with his life.

The younger brother was just getting started on his own journey.

"In another place, in another time, Serral would be considered a true child prodigy."
With Legacy of the Void, Serral joined the growing number of European Zerg players whose careers bloomed with the ever maturing expansion. After months of hype in late 2016, his breakout result of 2017 was at IEM Katowice, where he topped his group to reach the quarterfinals. Patience and Zest were big scalps in the round robin stage, and only a close loss to another European powerhouse in Nerchio kept him from a perfect sweep. The zergs were the only two non-Koreans to progress to the playoff stages in the 76-man competition, and the overnight hype for Serral built to a crescendo once Nerchio was knocked out in the Round of 12.

A sobering 0-3 loss against Dark was a stark reminder just how long the road to success can be.

Not one to be deterred by a single tournament, Serral recovered quickly, and set his sights on the rest of the WCS. He aced through the first WCS Circuit qualifiers, a feat he also repeated at the other three qualifiers of the year. There was palpable anticipation in the air. In 2016, Neeb had shown the world that the foreigner scene is capable of producing championship caliber players. Perhaps this upstart Finn was to follow suit. Serral had already taken down Koreans in both online and offline matches, showing his newfound prowess against the most fierce opponents in the entire scene.

In the end it was once again the quarterfinals that ended up being Serral’s undoing. The Flying Finn managed fairly deep runs in the four WCS Circuit events, but his single best result was a grand final loss against Neeb in Jönköping. Despite predictions to the contrary, he was time and again unable to break through the opposition's last lines of defense. His GSL vs the World run ended pretty much before it had even begun. The continued drought of results leads to interesting questions.



Winrate


60.87% vs. Terran
68.80% vs. Protoss
67.50% vs. Zerg

Rank


Circuit Standings
3

WCS Points


4730



How far can one go on mere potential? When will the scene clamor for actual, tangible results? Are overeager fans simply crying out for a new savior to rally around?

Serral’s year so far has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs. His tournament results have been sorely lacking, and there’s assuredly no one else more cognizant of that disappointing fact. There’s no doubt that somewhere inside him, a champion is struggling to break free, but so far success has remained elusive.

And yet the offline results don’t tell the whole story. During a brief practice sojourn in Korea, and a mere month before BlizzCon, Serral reached the #1 rank on the Korean ladder. While opinions vary wildly on the importance of the ladder system itself, Korea is still widely considered to be the toughest region in the game. The achievement then is truly tangible evidence of singular skill and dedication to the craft. More importantly, it stands as a symbol of sheer hard work. Rogue’s incredible ladder performance heralded an explosive result in the GSL Super Tournament. Were Serral to display similar levels of sudden improvements, the scene would be in shock. And yet there’s still a chance that the Finn has picked up something special during his stay in Korea. Maybe he’s found the secret missing ingredient to turn him from a great player into one finally fighting for premier titles. Maybe he’s discovered a way to handle his nerves during stage matches. Maybe he’s discovered that whatever he was lacking previously was inside him all along.

Serral heads into BlizzCon as one of the most interesting non-Korean players of the year. His career has been on a steady upward trajectory for ages, and he currently stands tall above almost the entire rest of the foreigner scene. He’s third in the circuit standings, even without a single title, simply due to what can be considered a curse and a blessing. He has an uncanny knack for performing above average, but rarely to expectations.

It’s just that now, more than ever, Serral needs to quell his inner demons. He’s had plenty of practice over the year, going up against the likes of Dark, ByuN and Neeb on massive stages. His WCS group will be tough as nails, but the spark inside him is still burning as bright as ever. None of his opponents look truly insurmountable, and the Flying Finn may now pack just the right combination of tricks, skill and confidence up his sleeve. In order to thrive, he desperately needs to wield all three in perfect harmony.

Not one of us is our brother’s keeper. For Serral, this means that he’s free to forge his own path in the world, not bound by the failures or successes of his older brother. The Flying Finn has shown in glimpses that there’s the potential for something incredible lurking just beneath the surface.

As he enters his first ever BlizzCon, Serral just has to prove it.








Writer: hexhaven
Editor: Zealously, munch, Olli
Photo Credit: DreamHack
Statistics: Aligulac
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TL+ Member
Corvuuss
Profile Blog Joined April 2014
Austria354 Posts
October 15 2017 15:59 GMT
#2
Great read as always, and I didn't know that serral toured with his brother, that must have been awesome for him. (for his sc2 career and personally)
I am a slave of Golden from now on. Obey a supreme leader of StarCraft 2 or you get banned. I am really glad to be citizen of Democratic republic of Golden.
bulya
Profile Joined February 2016
Israel386 Posts
October 15 2017 15:59 GMT
#3
W00t???

Serral is below Elazer in this power ranking?
Won't be surprised if Rouge will be the least favored Korean player in this power ranking
Fango
Profile Joined July 2016
United Kingdom8987 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-10-15 16:14:56
October 15 2017 16:06 GMT
#4
Suprising to see Serral this low. I think he's the only foreigner favoured to advance from the groups
Zest, sOs, PartinG, Dark, and Maru are the real champs. ROOT_herO is overrated. Snute, Serral, and Scarlett are the foreigner GOATs
11cc
Profile Joined May 2008
Finland561 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-10-15 16:35:46
October 15 2017 16:26 GMT
#5
I think #11 is a bit low but understandable. His results don't match his potential.

On October 16 2017 00:59 bulya wrote:
W00t???

Serral is below Elazer in this power ranking?
Won't be surprised if Rouge will be the least favored Korean player in this power ranking

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W00t

y0su
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
Finland7871 Posts
October 15 2017 17:03 GMT
#6
On October 16 2017 00:59 Corvuuss wrote:
Great read as always, and I didn't know that serral toured with his brother, that must have been awesome for him. (for his sc2 career and personally)


Their dad traveled with them a fair bit too, got pretty knowledgeable about the game and scene.
pvsnp
Profile Joined January 2017
7676 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-10-15 18:06:26
October 15 2017 18:05 GMT
#7
Interesting that Serral places so low given the amount of hype around him, but I suppose his results haven't really reflected the hype either.

Personally I might still put him above Elazer, but seeing him here is understandable enough.

I do wonder whether #10 will be a Korean or Elazer. I'm guessing Elazer.
Denominator of the Universe
TL+ Member
TheDougler
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada8304 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-10-15 18:11:04
October 15 2017 18:08 GMT
#8
Looking forward to reading the justification for Elazer being the best of Europe.

Edit: Actually I guess I forgot how many semifinals he's made lately.
I root for Euro Zergs, NA Protoss* and Korean Terrans. (Any North American who has beat a Korean Pro as Protoss counts as NA Toss)
Boggyb
Profile Joined January 2017
2855 Posts
October 15 2017 18:17 GMT
#9
On October 16 2017 00:59 bulya wrote:
Won't be surprised if Rouge will be the least favored Korean player in this power ranking

I would. There isn't a credible argument to rank him below anyone not named Innovation or Stats.
pvsnp
Profile Joined January 2017
7676 Posts
October 15 2017 18:35 GMT
#10
On October 16 2017 03:17 Boggyb wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 16 2017 00:59 bulya wrote:
Won't be surprised if Rouge will be the least favored Korean player in this power ranking

I would. There isn't a credible argument to rank him below anyone not named Innovation or Stats.

Dark made GSL semis, SSL finals, and GSL ST semis. He lost every series in the last game, against Inno, Stats, and herO.
Given that Rogue only beat herO and Inno in the last game, and lost to Stats, I could see an argument for Dark > Rogue.
Denominator of the Universe
TL+ Member
Morbidius
Profile Joined November 2010
Brazil3449 Posts
October 15 2017 18:50 GMT
#11
Elazer and Gumiho up next obviously.
Has foreign StarCraft hit rock bottom?
Fango
Profile Joined July 2016
United Kingdom8987 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-10-15 19:28:44
October 15 2017 19:28 GMT
#12
On October 16 2017 03:17 Boggyb wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 16 2017 00:59 bulya wrote:
Won't be surprised if Rouge will be the least favored Korean player in this power ranking

I would. There isn't a credible argument to rank him below anyone not named Innovation or Stats.


Out of Inno, Stats, Rogue, Dark, and herO, they almost always beat eachother 4-3/3-2. You'd struggle to argue that any of them are certainly above the others. Any of them could lose to eachother
Zest, sOs, PartinG, Dark, and Maru are the real champs. ROOT_herO is overrated. Snute, Serral, and Scarlett are the foreigner GOATs
muppet70
Profile Joined January 2017
Sweden72 Posts
October 15 2017 20:32 GMT
#13
Being good on the ladder and playing from home is one thing, good at an offline event is a different challenge where Serral have struggled, for an opposite, look at Sos who often performed so well in key tournaments without much previous results.

I think Serral have what it takes but it'll be maybe another year or two until he really shines and gets stable enough.

Compared with Snute (who got ranked one worse here than Serral) I think Serral can take bigger scalps than Snute, but Snute will perform more consistent, more important I consider Snutes group easier than Serrals in the global finals.
Kafka777
Profile Joined December 2015
361 Posts
October 15 2017 22:02 GMT
#14
Serral is an excellent player. Fantastic I would say, but has few tactics, this doesn't work well in tournament environment. Elazer is far less predictable, which may or may not work better, however has higher potential for surprise.
D-light
Profile Joined April 2012
Finland7364 Posts
October 15 2017 22:04 GMT
#15
Not a huge shocker to see Elazer and Gumiho ahead of Serral, but luckily these rankings aren't the be all end all. Hope we can see his improvements from Korea in Blizzcon.
why even
Zaros
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United Kingdom3692 Posts
October 15 2017 22:59 GMT
#16
On October 16 2017 03:17 Boggyb wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 16 2017 00:59 bulya wrote:
Won't be surprised if Rouge will be the least favored Korean player in this power ranking

I would. There isn't a credible argument to rank him below anyone not named Innovation or Stats.


Well its a TL power rank so Innovation is obviously going to be #1 thats how these things work, personally on current form I would rate Rogue #1
pvsnp
Profile Joined January 2017
7676 Posts
October 16 2017 00:12 GMT
#17
On October 16 2017 07:59 Zaros wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 16 2017 03:17 Boggyb wrote:
On October 16 2017 00:59 bulya wrote:
Won't be surprised if Rouge will be the least favored Korean player in this power ranking

I would. There isn't a credible argument to rank him below anyone not named Innovation or Stats.


Well its a TL power rank so Innovation is obviously going to be #1 thats how these things work, personally on current form I would rate Rogue #1

Liquid bias
Denominator of the Universe
TL+ Member
ShmubDub
Profile Joined May 2016
3 Posts
October 16 2017 01:46 GMT
#18
On October 16 2017 00:59 bulya wrote:
W00t???

Serral is below Elazer in this power ranking?
Won't be surprised if Rouge will be the least favored Korean player in this power ranking



If you count TRUE then yes, Rogue will not be the lowest ranked korean for sure.
LDaVinci
Profile Joined May 2014
France130 Posts
October 16 2017 08:35 GMT
#19
Serral being by far the #1 mmr player, and has been for so long in EU. But his results in big events aren't showing this.

I hope he will show the world his best play and that he will please us Zerg with great games and a final victory !!
(Ok, I got over excited while writing)
Those who refuse to become better, already stop being good
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