Maru vs Classic

by Destructicon
- TL_Destructicon



While GSL finals have an unfortunate history of being rather one-sided, the elimination rounds leading up to them have previously provided us with brilliant best games and series. TY vs Zest was close, but the the second semifinal features arguably the two best players of their respective races and could prove even better than the first.

Maru is considered the best player in the world by most at the moment, while Classic is the de-facto best PvTer—and arguably the best Protoss overall—in the world. Not only are they both in peak shape, but they are equally driven and hungry for victory. While the stakes this far into the season are extremely high, they still have very different implications for the two players.

While Maru has achieved heights we have not seen from him in years and displayed lategame restraint and patience we weren’t sure could come out of a former Prime player, there is one small question mark over his undoubtedly great form. That, at the moment, is his TvP. The vast majority of his impressive wins as of late have come against Zerg players, his entire WESG run was a TvZ masterclass. His TvP hasn’t been as impressive. It is recently padded by victories over the less impressive Patience and Dear, and even then his victories felt closer than they perhaps should have. It also needs to be taken into account that Maru seems to rely on a lot more mindgames and trickery in TvP compared to the vZ matchup. Classic will provide a challenge that can hardly be compared to Patience or Dear, so Maru will need to show more himself if he is to defeat him.

Classic on the other hand faces a completely different challenge, that of capturing the hearts and minds of fans. In terms of results Classic is actually extremely close to Maru. Both are GSL and Starleague champions, as well as victors of international tournaments.

And yet while he has nearly as many golds as Maru and as many, if not more, high place finishes, his achievements still get swept under the rug. His more recent wins were again played down due to perceived Protoss dominance, while Maru has escaped that same treatment despite making another matchup (TvZ) look rather broken himself. It likely has to do with Classic's style, as while he is extremely efficient in his play and a very intelligent tailor of a large variety of builds and strategies, coupled with wonderfully clean execution, he does appear to lack the flair of Zest, the absurd micro of herO or the raw insanity of sOs. And yet, right now, he's arguably better than all of them. Surely another GSL trophy would be a strong statement to make that, just perhaps, we've all underappreciated him for far too long.

Predictions

While Maru is absolutely ridiculous in TvZ and extremely strong in TvT, he has looked quite mortal in TvP. Add to this that Classic has had Maru’s number all year long, with a 8-1 record in games and 3-0 in series, this paints a rather bleak picture for the Jin Air Terran.

Classic 4 – 1 Maru

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