The dream match between Maru and Rogue ended in a victory for the reigning Code S champion, as Maru emerged with the narrow 3-2 victory over his Jin Air teammate. Rogue proved that he was indeed the king of ZvT late-game, even defeating Maru's infamous Ghost-Raven based armies, but was unable to defend against Maru's aggressive two-base pushes.
In the following match, Classic defeated ByuN 3-0, the scoreline hardly a surprise given the two players' form in recent months. Though ByuN had enjoyed a Cinderella run to make it to the quarterfinals, he was unable to repeat his upset of elite Protoss Stats in the RO16.
The results set up a meeting between Maru and Classic in the first semifinal, a rematch of the GSL Super Tournament quarterfinals where Classic defeated Maru 3-1. The quarterfinals will continue on Saturday, Jun 09 4:00am GMT (GMT+00:00) with Zest vs Dear and TY vs GuMiho.
Classic is finally past all of the zergs and it seems as if nearly no one is rooting for him. Poor lad has had himself knocked out by former team mates and zergs in most every GSL since he was the champion (beating zerg team mate soO in the final).
I am not rooting for him either. Gogo first repeat champion!
On June 07 2018 05:21 Serimek wrote: If Maru beat Classic, I can see him becoming the first back-to-back GSL champion.
Honestly both Maru and Classic are significantly better than anyone on the other side of the bracket. Both of them are probably looking at their match like it's the decider.
The only way I could see either of them losing in the final is in a mirror match.
On June 07 2018 05:47 Drfilip wrote: Classic is finally past all of the zergs and it seems as if nearly no one is rooting for him. Poor lad has had himself knocked out by former team mates and zergs in most every GSL since he was the champion (beating zerg team mate soO in the final).
I am not rooting for him either. Gogo first repeat champion!
the upper half of this bracket ended up way too heavy. Not sure how much of Classic s 3-0 was due to Byun s wrist. Guess Maru v Classic should be worth watching. Tho it s sad there are no zerg games left this season
Honestly, now that there's no zerg I could see Zest making it all the way to the trophy. His PvP is always good and his PvT has also been pretty impressive of late.
Maru can study Classic's PvT. Classic cannot study Maru's TvP. So, there's an advantage for Maru there. Then again, Maru's strongest MU is TvZ, no TvP, so it can really go either way.
On June 07 2018 05:49 Lysergic1 wrote: Classic is the only player remaining I could expect to beat Maru (Across both brackets). Gogo Maru!
TY can most certainly beat Maru. His TvT is incredibly good. Given that we haven't seen Maru play TvT in quite a while, it's hard to gauge his form in TvT.
An important result for Classic's self-esteem for the next ultimate test. Any predictions from now on could be logical. Classic vs TY would be a dream final match for me. Individual preparations change the entire momentum of players. Nobody talks about Zest right now and I am not satisfied by his play in Ro32 and Ro16, but if he awakens, we all know that Zest is Best in sertain small periods. But as some guy said above: For now Maru and Classic are above all. Who is going to keep his good shape and shall understand his opponents playstyle - we shall learn soon.
I am surprised how weak new patch ravens are btw. They were the milestone of Maru's excellent hyper late game especially against Dark in those two matches. Classic is not the type of player who shall pull the game to 25 minutes. In the same time he likes to keep terrains into two bases and his aggression is a bit of "defensive" unlike Stats pure defensive phylosophy. I think that Maru shall try to controll the game from the very beginning. The reason of his ultra late game now made him a champion, because before he was the best proleague player, but his experience in 7 round matches was very small and he used lots of cheeses when he got his OSl trophy. Both of the are damn scary, it will be some epic semifinal.
TY lost to Gumiho last year in this phase for a big surprise to all and that is how Gumi became later a champion. So anything is possible - the two most intelligent terrains and pro-s in a rematch, this is gonna be some really epic meeting too. Zest and Dear still remain in the shadows.
If Maru takes the championship vs TY or GuMiho after beating Classic, that would really cement his reputation. Hardest TvZ, hardest TvP, and then at least one of the hardest TvTs for the title. I'm not sure there could be a harder road.
On June 07 2018 05:21 Serimek wrote: If Maru beat Classic, I can see him becoming the first back-to-back GSL champion.
The first? I'm pretty sure NesTea is already a back-to-back GSL champion.
Depends on what you consider the 2011 Super Tournament to be that occurred between the seasons that Nestea won. Polt is generally regarded as a GSL champ so I don't believe Nestea is considered a back-to-back champ.
Personally, even though I really want to, I don't consider Nestea a back-to-back champ. The 2011 Super Tournament was vastly different from the ones of today and was just as rigorous as a regular season. Not to mention the early GSLs underwent so many format changes that it may as well count as a season.
On June 07 2018 05:21 Serimek wrote: If Maru beat Classic, I can see him becoming the first back-to-back GSL champion.
The first? I'm pretty sure NesTea is already a back-to-back GSL champion.
Depends on what you consider the 2011 Super Tournament to be that occurred between the seasons that Nestea won. Polt is generally regarded as a GSL champ so I don't believe Nestea is considered a back-to-back champ.
Personally, even though I really want to, I don't consider Nestea a back-to-back champ. The 2011 Super Tournament was vastly different from the ones of today and was just as rigorous as a regular season. Not to mention the early GSLs underwent so many format changes that it may as well count as a season.
Exactly.
There is also Zest and INno who won GSL organised tournaments + a GSL season at the same time, but those tournaments were not GSL season nor a tournament like the one Polt won.
As always, Classic is not favored or hyped, no matter his form or his historically amazing PvT. I sure hope he stomps Maru. I will be extra happy if he does it with cheese, all-ins & protoss bullshit
On June 07 2018 05:21 Serimek wrote: If Maru beat Classic, I can see him becoming the first back-to-back GSL champion.
The first? I'm pretty sure NesTea is already a back-to-back GSL champion.
Depends on what you consider the 2011 Super Tournament to be that occurred between the seasons that Nestea won. Polt is generally regarded as a GSL champ so I don't believe Nestea is considered a back-to-back champ.
Personally, even though I really want to, I don't consider Nestea a back-to-back champ. The 2011 Super Tournament was vastly different from the ones of today and was just as rigorous as a regular season. Not to mention the early GSLs underwent so many format changes that it may as well count as a season.
Exactly.
There is also Zest and INno who won GSL organised tournaments + a GSL season at the same time, but those tournaments were not GSL season nor a tournament like the one Polt won.
Classic is so lucky... Roguejwa would have embarrassed him, but instead he got a free ticket to finals, where he will get even easier opponent. I know classic is a PvT God but it's so hard to root for him... Boooring.
On June 07 2018 05:47 Drfilip wrote: Classic is finally past all of the zergs and it seems as if nearly no one is rooting for him. Poor lad has had himself knocked out by former team mates and zergs in most every GSL since he was the champion (beating zerg team mate soO in the final).
I am not rooting for him either. Gogo first repeat champion!
I'm still rooting for Classic and Dear. But every time I have hope/faith in Classic, he gets stomped (usually by a SKT Zerg like Dark/SoO). Hoping this time around he may finally get through to the finals and maybe even win it all.
EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/GSL/2018/s2ro8d1over.jpg)
Maru and ![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/GSL/2018/gslbracket1_1.png)
