Our first round-of-eight match sees the current best Terran in the world (if not overall best player) Maru face off against one of the best Zergs in the world in Rogue. Honestly, it's a match-up worthy of the grand finals, but we're only being treated to a best-of-five in the quarterfinals due to Rogue's second place finish in his RO16 group.
In terms of form, both players are going into this looking incredible. Maru has done nothing to dispel the aura of dominance he built during his dual title runs in Code S and WESG (his Super Tournament loss to Classic, while relevant, is still just a footnote unless they should face again). Maru dominated both of his groups in this season of Code S, and his overwhelming TvZ ability seems to have survived the Raven patch. He obliterated a pre-patch Zanster in the RO32, as well as a post-patch Solar in the RO32.
Rogue, while not quite as impressive as Maru, has also done extremely well, cruising through a RO32 group which included the GSL Super Tournament winner Stats. Some would say Rogue should have topped his RO16 group, but others might say it was more a credit to Dear and his magnificent play on match day that he stole the #1 spot from far more illustrious opponents. Despite losing the winners match to Dear, Rogue still defeated INnoVAation twice in impressive fashion. INnoVation is rarely made to look like the slower player in a match, but Rogue made him look absolutely lead-footed with his backdoor attacks, opportunistic engagements, and overall army movements.
On paper, this should be a terrific match. Maru vs Dark has provided some of the highest level, most entertaining TvZ matches of the entire year, but each time Maru commented that Rogue is an even better ZvT player than Dark. Everything points to this being the match of the year, except one thing: it’s a team kill.
Team kills are almost always weird. The players, having become intimate familiarity with each other’s styles, tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses, try to exploit this knowledge to bizarre results. These kind of ploy often take the form of cheese, but it can also be in the form of corner-cutting macro builds that make no sense in any other circumstance. A team kill within Jin Air—the only surviving KeSPA team—is taking all of the aforementioned weirdness and cranking it up to 11.
Normally I’d go with Maru to win just off the back of his monster TvZ, but Rogue has defeated every other elite Terran, and Maru vouches for his skill as well. Should we take Maru's word for it? Sure, he might just be being polite to a teammate. But when we look at Rogue's gameplay, it feels like Maru is telling the whole-hearted truth.
prediction Rogue 3-2 Maru
Quarterfinal #2: Classic vs ByuN
The second RO8 of the day has the potential to be a lot more one-sided. In one corner, in the Protoss trunks, we have Classic, one of the most intimidating players of the year. In the other corner we have ByuN, a former champion and fan favorite who has struggled for over a year.
Classic himself has been pretty quiet since the GSL Super Tournament. He hasn’t participated in any online qualifiers or tournaments, instead dedicating himself wholly to the GSL. The results of his choice are evident in his results, going 4-0 across in matches and 8-2 in games across both his groups, defeating Elazer, Dark, TY and even ByuN himself. Overall, while the sample size for Classic isn't large, the quality of the opponents he has faced and defeated is a clear indication that his form hasn’t dipped. Yes, he has lost in most of his big matches, but is a match against 2018 ByuN truly a big match?
After his poor start to the year, ByuN has also cut down on his participation to online cups to shift his gear on the GSL. His advancement to the RO16 wasn’t entirely surprising as he defeated Leenock and Elazer in a MU which he is still strong in, while clearly losing to Classic. To his credit, though, ByuN did manage to adapt when it mattered most, defeating Stats not once, but twice in the new patch to secure his RO8 spot.
While ByuN has proven his capacity to change, it still feels hard to believe he could defeat Classic in a Bo5. Stats, throughout the year always felt shaky and it could be argued that ByuN simply exploited that lack of consistency. Classic himself has remained strong throughout the year. As such, while I know have faith in ByuN to bounce back and assert himself as a strong and respectable player, I just don’t think he’ll do it here and now. This match is Classic's to lose.
Rogue said after his ro16, that in practice he loses to Maru all the time. that being said, i agree that this one will be a coin flip, while Classic will roll over Byun.
You just called stats inconsistent. What world are you living in, OP?
ByuN deeply examined Stats' playstyle, and came up with a style of play that counters it specifically. That's not due to Stats having shaky consistency, that's due to him being TOO consistent.
Anyways...
Hard to say who is gonna advance out of these matches. Every story in the Ro8 is an exciting one.
Our first round-of-eight match sees the current best Terran in the world (if not overall best player) (Wiki)Maru face off against one of the best Zergs in the world in (Wiki)Rogue.
I think the fact that Rogue has picked up the last few major championships for zerg combined with the fact that he's the only zerg in the ro8 means you kinda have to give him the temporary mantle of best zerg in the world.
On June 06 2018 07:20 ThunderJunk wrote: You just called stats inconsistent. What world are you living in, OP?
ByuN deeply examined Stats' playstyle, and came up with a style of play that counters it specifically. That's not due to Stats having shaky consistency, that's due to him being TOO consistent.
Anyways...
Hard to say who is gonna advance out of these matches. Every story in the Ro8 is an exciting one.
The Stats who's so consistant he lost to SouL at Katowice?
Maru is Rogue's last barrier to the championship. He can't be stopped after that, but I think he will narrowly fall here. If not...ROGUE WORLD ORDER. The Artosis hype will never end after that, Rogue might even become the new Nestea meme xD
On June 06 2018 07:20 ThunderJunk wrote: You just called stats inconsistent. What world are you living in, OP?
ByuN deeply examined Stats' playstyle, and came up with a style of play that counters it specifically. That's not due to Stats having shaky consistency, that's due to him being TOO consistent.
Anyways...
Hard to say who is gonna advance out of these matches. Every story in the Ro8 is an exciting one.
The Stats who's so consistant he lost to SouL at Katowice?
Yes. That one. Game one of that series, Soul used a cheesy build with a precise timing that targeted Stats' highly consistent building placement, and did enough damage to put himself very far ahead. Game two, he lost. Game 3, he exploited the same building placement weakness to take the series.
On June 06 2018 07:20 ThunderJunk wrote: You just called stats inconsistent. What world are you living in, OP?
ByuN deeply examined Stats' playstyle, and came up with a style of play that counters it specifically. That's not due to Stats having shaky consistency, that's due to him being TOO consistent.
Anyways...
Hard to say who is gonna advance out of these matches. Every story in the Ro8 is an exciting one.
The Stats who's so consistant he lost to SouL at Katowice?
Yes. That one. Game one of that series, Soul used a cheesy build with a precise timing that targeted Stats' highly consistent building placement, and did enough damage to put himself very far ahead. Game two, he lost. Game 3, he exploited the same building placement weakness to take the series.
Stats loses because he is too consistent.
The OP was refering to Stats's form being somewhat inconsistant, not his choice of builds orders.
If by lack of consistency, you mean the fact that Stats plays too consistently, which is why he loses, and doesn't win every tournament. But that's a very roundabout and confusing way to talk about the most predictable player in the world, who wins all of his games by being totally solid mechanically.
On June 06 2018 07:20 ThunderJunk wrote: You just called stats inconsistent. What world are you living in, OP?
ByuN deeply examined Stats' playstyle, and came up with a style of play that counters it specifically. That's not due to Stats having shaky consistency, that's due to him being TOO consistent.
Anyways...
Hard to say who is gonna advance out of these matches. Every story in the Ro8 is an exciting one.
The Stats who's so consistant he lost to SouL at Katowice?
Yes. That one. Game one of that series, Soul used a cheesy build with a precise timing that targeted Stats' highly consistent building placement, and did enough damage to put himself very far ahead. Game two, he lost. Game 3, he exploited the same building placement weakness to take the series.
Stats loses because he is too consistent.
The OP was refering to Stats's form being somewhat inconsistant, not his choice of builds orders.
If it's always the same build order, that means he's consistent though. His "Form" is always solid. It's highly consistent. His opponents just exploit his predictability to take wins off of him. Even in the games he lost against Soul, his form was good. He just took too much damage from the exploited early game.
On June 06 2018 07:20 ThunderJunk wrote: You just called stats inconsistent. What world are you living in, OP?
ByuN deeply examined Stats' playstyle, and came up with a style of play that counters it specifically. That's not due to Stats having shaky consistency, that's due to him being TOO consistent.
Anyways...
Hard to say who is gonna advance out of these matches. Every story in the Ro8 is an exciting one.
The Stats who's so consistant he lost to SouL at Katowice?
Yes. That one. Game one of that series, Soul used a cheesy build with a precise timing that targeted Stats' highly consistent building placement, and did enough damage to put himself very far ahead. Game two, he lost. Game 3, he exploited the same building placement weakness to take the series.
Stats loses because he is too consistent.
thats not the consistent (generic) that people mean when they talk about a consistent (enduring, stable) playstyle. when you play too predictably and too middle of the road, you will get inconsistent results, especially in tournaments with long preparation time like the gsl, as that is easily exploitable in multiple ways. sure, technically your choice of word is not incorrect, but the context is wrong.
I was really hoping sOs would advance, but whatever Rogue is going to beat Maru, obviously it's going to be close, they're the two best players in the world, and I think who ever wins this match wins GSL. Classic vs. ByuN, hoping ByuN wins but I don't think Classic will lose. Rogue 3 - 2 Maru Classic 3 - 1 ByuN
On June 06 2018 07:20 ThunderJunk wrote: You just called stats inconsistent. What world are you living in, OP?
ByuN deeply examined Stats' playstyle, and came up with a style of play that counters it specifically. That's not due to Stats having shaky consistency, that's due to him being TOO consistent.
Anyways...
Hard to say who is gonna advance out of these matches. Every story in the Ro8 is an exciting one.
The Stats who's so consistant he lost to SouL at Katowice?
Yes. That one. Game one of that series, Soul used a cheesy build with a precise timing that targeted Stats' highly consistent building placement, and did enough damage to put himself very far ahead. Game two, he lost. Game 3, he exploited the same building placement weakness to take the series.
Stats loses because he is too consistent.
thats not the consistent (generic) that people mean when they talk about a consistent (enduring, stable) playstyle. when you play too predictably and too middle of the road, you will get inconsistent results, especially in tournaments with long preparation time like the gsl, as that is easily exploitable in multiple ways. sure, technically your choice of word is not incorrect, but the context is wrong.
Enduring and stable apply to both contexts of the word.
The argument you are presenting me with is basically this: "The most consistent players mix up their playstyles so as to be less predictable." Which is akin to saying, "If you're too consistent in the way you play, you become less consistent as regards your results".
Why not just use a better word, like "Effective"?
Then it becomes, "Stats had a less effective season because his playstyle was too predictable." This is closer to the truth, and less confusing then, "Stats had an inconsistent season because his playstyle was too predictable". Notice how the second statement just kind of feels wrong.
On June 06 2018 07:20 ThunderJunk wrote: You just called stats inconsistent. What world are you living in, OP?
ByuN deeply examined Stats' playstyle, and came up with a style of play that counters it specifically. That's not due to Stats having shaky consistency, that's due to him being TOO consistent.
Anyways...
Hard to say who is gonna advance out of these matches. Every story in the Ro8 is an exciting one.
The Stats who's so consistant he lost to SouL at Katowice?
Yes. That one. Game one of that series, Soul used a cheesy build with a precise timing that targeted Stats' highly consistent building placement, and did enough damage to put himself very far ahead. Game two, he lost. Game 3, he exploited the same building placement weakness to take the series.
Stats loses because he is too consistent.
thats not the consistent (generic) that people mean when they talk about a consistent (enduring, stable) playstyle. when you play too predictably and too middle of the road, you will get inconsistent results, especially in tournaments with long preparation time like the gsl, as that is easily exploitable in multiple ways. sure, technically your choice of word is not incorrect, but the context is wrong.
Then it becomes, "Stats had a less effective season because his playstyle was too predictable." This is closer to the truth, and less confusing then, "Stats had an inconsistent season because his playstyle was too predictable". Notice how the second statement just kind of feels wrong.
i dont see how that first version is better and the second one feels perfectly fine to me :D as i said, technically you are not wrong, but the context is the deciding factor here and in that OP and his statement are completely accurate.
On June 06 2018 07:20 ThunderJunk wrote: You just called stats inconsistent. What world are you living in, OP?
ByuN deeply examined Stats' playstyle, and came up with a style of play that counters it specifically. That's not due to Stats having shaky consistency, that's due to him being TOO consistent.
Anyways...
Hard to say who is gonna advance out of these matches. Every story in the Ro8 is an exciting one.
The Stats who's so consistant he lost to SouL at Katowice?
Since every player has missteps like this, then noone would have to be called consistent. Some people call Inno consistent, while he also lost single matches to 3rd tier players on numerous occasions or had virtually no results in 2016 season. Stats, soO, or Gumiho have lost to people like souL but still can be classified among the most consistent players
On June 06 2018 07:20 ThunderJunk wrote: You just called stats inconsistent. What world are you living in, OP?
ByuN deeply examined Stats' playstyle, and came up with a style of play that counters it specifically. That's not due to Stats having shaky consistency, that's due to him being TOO consistent.
Anyways...
Hard to say who is gonna advance out of these matches. Every story in the Ro8 is an exciting one.
The Stats who's so consistant he lost to SouL at Katowice?
PvT heavily favors the aggressor, no matter who you are and what race you play. You can't consistently defend your way through this matchup. The room for error in early game is too small compared with ZvT or PvZ.
ByuN 2:0 Stats and then 2:1 Stats shows that he has prepared in tvp, also classic is very strong in pvt i guess both bo5 will be 3:2, who to be advanced is not surprising
Classic is supposed to tear Byun apart. I am pretty sure that he is very happy with the results of Group D, because actually sOs and Stats could eventually change Classic's plans. If Rogue plays with the same passion and skill just like he did last year against Innovation, Maru won't be able to continue, but we shall see, still they seem very equal. Maru defeated Dark this year twice, but Rogue is very different opponent. The problem for Classic is not Byun, but the winner from the other match because he will be his ultimate challange which will show us is he finally ready for a big final match again just like old times. In such matches with long preparations we've witnessed that anything is possible, so we shall see. For now I completely agree with the predictions in the article. Honestly this year I'd like to see a champion that is not terran after three Code S Terran champs (Gumi, Inno, Maru), unless TY finally make it, but I've lost so much energy to see his failures for years.
First of all, they actually already met. Strange not to mention Rogue's 3-2 victory at the semifinals, even, of IEM Katowice. Rogue won (as he did against TY) precisely by avoiding the very late-game, which has been his style for some time now. Extremely powerful and well-executed timing attacks mixed with cheeses and early pressures.
Second, Maru did not "obliterate" Zanster at all. The storyline of that match was precisely that the foreigner should actually have taken at least one game of the best TvZ in the world. At times, Zanster had Maru on his heels but ultimately made some bad decisions.
I agree that it will be a close match, 3-2 for any one of the two. Marauder/Viking buffs should help Maru in the mid-game.
Byun should not be underestimated. Yes Classic is tough and might be the better Starcraft player measured by gameplay skill, but the outcome also depends on experience how to win in a tournament.
On June 06 2018 21:11 [F_]aths wrote: Byun should not be underestimated. Yes Classic is tough and might be the better Starcraft player measured by gameplay skill, but the outcome also depends on experience how to win in a tournament.
Classic has more experience in how to win in tournaments though.
On June 06 2018 07:20 ThunderJunk wrote: You just called stats inconsistent. What world are you living in, OP?
ByuN deeply examined Stats' playstyle, and came up with a style of play that counters it specifically. That's not due to Stats having shaky consistency, that's due to him being TOO consistent.
Anyways...
Hard to say who is gonna advance out of these matches. Every story in the Ro8 is an exciting one.
The Stats who's so consistant he lost to SouL at Katowice?
Yes. That one. Game one of that series, Soul used a cheesy build with a precise timing that targeted Stats' highly consistent building placement, and did enough damage to put himself very far ahead. Game two, he lost. Game 3, he exploited the same building placement weakness to take the series.
Stats loses because he is too consistent.
thats not the consistent (generic) that people mean when they talk about a consistent (enduring, stable) playstyle. when you play too predictably and too middle of the road, you will get inconsistent results, especially in tournaments with long preparation time like the gsl, as that is easily exploitable in multiple ways. sure, technically your choice of word is not incorrect, but the context is wrong.
Then it becomes, "Stats had a less effective season because his playstyle was too predictable." This is closer to the truth, and less confusing then, "Stats had an inconsistent season because his playstyle was too predictable". Notice how the second statement just kind of feels wrong.
i dont see how that first version is better and the second one feels perfectly fine to me :D as i said, technically you are not wrong, but the context is the deciding factor here and in that OP and his statement are completely accurate.
EPT
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Maru face off against one of the best Zergs in the world in 
