The reign of Maru continued in the Global StarCraft II League as the Jin Air Terran crushed Zest 4-0 in the Code S Season 2 finals to win his second consecutive Code S championship of the year. The four-game sweep took just under 33 minutes of in-game time to complete, with Maru dominating Zest in both mind-games and execution. Maru's victory made him only the second player ever to win back-to-back Code S tournaments, with Nestea last achieving the feat in 2011.
After dominating championship runs at WESG and Code S Season 1, Maru entered Code S Season 2 as the heavy favorite to win the championship. His toughest challenge came in the quarterfinals, where he defeated teammate Rogue—defending BlizzCon champion and the other stand-out player of the year—in a tense, five game series. Besides that match, Maru was largely untroubled during his Code S run, affirming his status as the current best player in the world.
Zest, entered the finals as an underdog with a puncher's chance, having shown strong, all-around abilities in macro and all-ins during a 4-3 semifinal victory against TY. However, Zest was unable to impose his game plan on Maru, and was left playing catch-up in all four games. The tournament marked a meaningful return to form for Zest after his 2017 slump, but also revealed the distance between Maru and the rest of the GSL Code S contenders.
GSL Code S will continue with Season 3 on July 4th.
On June 23 2018 19:51 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote: Zest was unable to impose his game plan on Maru, and was left playing catch-up in all four games.
That was the most impressive part... Only the 4th game was close and it is even a bigger testament to Marus skill, that he came back in this game and defeated Zest, because in this game Maru had to play the catch-up game. oO
Maru just monster moded him. It was ridiculous. There was no point in Games 1-3 where Maru wasn't in complete control and mindfucking the shit out of him
I said it in the Classic VS Maru thread and I will say it again. Maru always was going to dominate his opponent. I did think Zest was going to win a game or two, and this series was pretty brutal. But how could one ever doubt Maru??
Well, getting spoiled *is* pretty annoying, even when you 'deserve' it because you weren't careful enough.
I don't get all those saying the finals were the worst, I thought they were funny as hell. We finished the finals in less game-time than a short-ish game of League. Starcraft is just brutal
On June 23 2018 20:32 VvvV1251 wrote: Seriously, i fucking had an urgent thing with work today, just came back to watch the final, and the first thing i see in TL is the fucking spoiler.
On June 23 2018 20:55 Psychobabas wrote: Terrible finals. Zest played so bad it's hard to understand how can a GSL player can perform that bad...
Playing bad I think is the wrong way to describe today's games. Maru's choices simply battered Zest senseless before he could even muster up a mid-game plan. Like, he got rammed so fast and so hard he didn't even have time to "play" badly, so to speak; he was killed off before he could "play" at all.
Well I guess maru vs zest went exactly how you would expect if you just look at each player's form in 2018.
Also, people are talking about how bad the finals was, but I'm sitting here wondering, is this the first time that the finals has been played in the regular studio instead of some sort of arena/auditorium/park/whatever? Trying really hard to not kneejerk react and go all "dead game," but was the projected attendance for the finals really that bad or was there some other reason?
On June 23 2018 21:12 Haikus wrote: Well I guess maru vs zest went exactly how you would expect if you just look at each player's form in 2018.
Also, people are talking about how bad the finals was, but I'm sitting here wondering, is this the first time that the finals has been played in the regular studio instead of some sort of arena/auditorium/park/whatever? Trying really hard to not kneejerk react and go all "dead game," but was the projected attendance for the finals really that bad or was there some other reason?
Has been like that for several seasons. I think the last one outdoors was 2016.
On June 23 2018 21:12 Haikus wrote: Well I guess maru vs zest went exactly how you would expect if you just look at each player's form in 2018.
Also, people are talking about how bad the finals was, but I'm sitting here wondering, is this the first time that the finals has been played in the regular studio instead of some sort of arena/auditorium/park/whatever? Trying really hard to not kneejerk react and go all "dead game," but was the projected attendance for the finals really that bad or was there some other reason?
Has been like that for several seasons. I think the last one outdoors was 2016.
Correct, the ByuN one. Worth noting there were many studio finals before that too (all the 2015 ones for example).
On June 23 2018 21:36 Terrorbladder wrote: I don't watch any SC2 and even I think this is a bit ridiculous. How is the crowd even supposed to get their money's worth?
The studio was packed, excitement was high. If you came 30 minutes early, all that was left was standing room, and that was so crowded I was pressed against my fellow viewers.
Also, I think the choice of disruptors was completely wrong. A couple phoenix would have been better to hold against the liberators.
To demonstrate how much ahead of all others Maru is at the moment they should leave the 2nd Place empty in the next PowerRanking. Finals went as expected, as a Maru fan im okay with that, but still it´s a bit sad that the series was as one sided as it was supposed to be (judging the form of the players in 2018 and Marus reign at the moment). The Sc2 scene, in korea as well as outside, was arguably never dominated by one player respectively in each zone like it is at the moment. Maru in Korea, Serral outside of it, even though one could argue that Neebs reign was evenly dominant as Serrals at the moment, but when i see Serrals games i feel way more hopeless for his opponent than with Neebs games last year.
On June 23 2018 22:29 JackONeill wrote: I was amazed that Zest got to the finals with how bad he's been playing. Not surprised in the least that Maru rolled all over him.
"Take the best player in the world ATM and match him against a guy that's been KR mid tier after early LOTV"
i actually got together with a couple of friends to watch the finals together. we bought drinks and snacks... but the series was over before we finished the first six pack :/
On June 23 2018 20:32 VvvV1251 wrote: Seriously, i fucking had an urgent thing with work today, just came back to watch the final, and the first thing i see in TL is the fucking spoiler.
If I'm not watching a tournament live from the start, I avoid Teamliquid, Twitch, Discord, Twitter, and Reddit, and just watch the next day using the spoiler-free links of SC2links.
On June 23 2018 21:12 Haikus wrote: Well I guess maru vs zest went exactly how you would expect if you just look at each player's form in 2018.
Also, people are talking about how bad the finals was, but I'm sitting here wondering, is this the first time that the finals has been played in the regular studio instead of some sort of arena/auditorium/park/whatever? Trying really hard to not kneejerk react and go all "dead game," but was the projected attendance for the finals really that bad or was there some other reason?
Has been like that for several seasons. I think the last one outdoors was 2016.
Correct, the ByuN one. Worth noting there were many studio finals before that too (all the 2015 ones for example).
The Stats vs soO final in 2017 was in an auditorium. But since then it's all been studio
I love the GSL but the finals were particularly bad. It felt like Zest went on tilt early in game 1 and collapsed without even really putting up much of a fight.
Actually, the playoffs only had 2 decent series (Maru Rogue and TY GuMiho) which is particularly disappointing since you at least expect amazing semis and to go with the meh finals. (Zest TY is in the running for the worst 7 game series of all time)
Yeah, this might actually be the worst finals ever. I was thinking NesTea vs Inca was worse, but then I really thought about it and changed my mind. At least Nestea vs Inca was really funny and people expected Nestea to totally roll Inca.
This one was just plain disappointing. Maru and Zest are in the top 10 of my personal GOAT list and probably most others and I'd say they're almost right next to each other even (with Maru now pulling ahead even further). Not to mention they have extensive back and forth head-to-head history. So for Zest to not even take a single game is just a letdown.
Sad for Zest I was really rooting for him, but I think Zest will use this as motivation to continue training hard and come back stronger next season and Blizzcon.
Finals were a bit lackluster but I suppose that was coming after Tastetosis kept pitching the "greatest season ever" at us. Thought things would be different after such a razor-edge game 1 on Darkness Sanctuary of all maps, but it wasn't to be. Maru was just too good, too clean. Hoping that they don't nerf T but they probably will.
Maru is my favourite athlete of all sports (I am also hardcore fan of mma and league of legends). Since his iem finals vs life I instantly got balls deep in to sc2. Both maru and life were my favorites I hope blizzard will remove ban from life, and we will get life vs maru once more. I stopped following sc2 in 2016 and only tuned on blizzcon and casters was hyping byun micro after seeing his few games I was like "Really? Have anyone seen maru micro" And now he is not just best micro player. Now i think in this time his macro is just on another level. All-in call at last game was just insane, it looked like where is no way he can pull it off but he did. I think these gsl finals was amazing. Its like jon jones vs everyone. Sc2 started getting boring without no true dominance, I started to think is not only about skill but luck since no one was able to keep good gaming shape for few seasons.
I'm not really surprised here based on Maru's dominant performance over Classic. Zest had a good run, but I feel like he's still a below Classic, Stats, sOs in overall skill right now.
Either way GSL Season 2 was an amazing tournament to watch, Ro16 was just stacked with excellent groups. Maru v Rogue was the finals we should have had.
Maru is in amazing form right now and I see him solidly in the top 5 GOAT with this win.
While 4-0 is quick and brutal, It's good to have a dominant player in any game/sport -> pushes scene forward and most fans like dominant players once a while similar thing with serral and western scene. Maru's teammate Rogue was probably closest to take him down, so dont hurt to practise with him I guess What points out is extremely agressive playstyle many of high caliber players prefer now. Nobody likes to sit back anymore which is great
On June 24 2018 03:17 BonitiilloO wrote: please i would like to get some help, i need the link for the best games of the series, i dont want to watch the whole thing. thanks
On June 24 2018 03:17 BonitiilloO wrote: please i would like to get some help, i need the link for the best games of the series, i dont want to watch the whole thing. thanks
It will take you 33 mins to watch the whole 4 games. It won't be long mate. Frankly, nothing to learn. Just know Zest got rekt and forgot how to play PvT. There I save you 33 minutes.
Honestly there's not much of a point in being a fan of anyone in Korea that isn't on Jin Air, the teamhouse environment gives them such an advantage in preparation-based tournaments it isn't funny.
On June 24 2018 04:15 Solar424 wrote: Honestly there's not much of a point in being a fan of anyone in Korea that isn't on Jin Air, the teamhouse environment gives them such an advantage in preparation-based tournaments it isn't funny.
Agreed, Trap, sOs, Cure and Creator are so dominant at the moment, the advantage they have is just ludicrous.
On June 24 2018 03:08 ShadowReaver wrote:
Maru is in amazing form right now and I see him solidly in the top 5 GOAT with this win.
I think I underestimated how well Maru played in his road to the finals, beating Rogue and then Classic, whereas Zest had to take TY all the way to game 7 to get a win (and TY's game 7 all-in wasn't particularly strong anyway IMO).
I guess I figured since Zest had just defeated a great terran he would put up a strong fight against Maru, but after beating Rogue and then Classic, I should have known Maru wasnt going to let anyone stop him from taking home the trophy.
Zest on the other hand probably thought he would just give it his best, having almost lost to TY anyway.
On June 23 2018 20:32 VvvV1251 wrote: Seriously, i fucking had an urgent thing with work today, just came back to watch the final, and the first thing i see in TL is the fucking spoiler.
Terran winning its 4th consecutive GSL Finals, with 3 different players.. Where's the nerf blizzard ?? *sarcasm*
Can't help but think about the amount of terran whine we'd get if Zerg or Toss were to win 2 consecutive GSL today.
Anyway, congratz to Maru, especially for the back-to-back. Impressive.. and flawless. Nothing really to say about his domination, he's just above the rest..
Wow that was crazy. Zest actually played really well. Maru just played PERFECTLY. I can't believe it was a 4-0. How on earth did he win the last game? Seems like there must have been a way Zest could have played to win that in the final minute. Maybe he was a little too aggressive with his zealots?
Now everyone is like “Maru God”, “Maru bonjwa” blabla.... I want to remember how he won his last 3 finals.
The WESG against Dark was exploiting the raven late game use when it was clearly imba.
The GSL S1 2018 was a win against a Stats that was clearly nervous as in a normal Stats day. with his solid defense, if it had gone in Maru’s favor it would have been a 4-3. The GSL S1 finals remembered me a lot the Inno-Stats 4-0 finals of the IEM of last year whereas the type of games in the TY-Stats finals of Katowice 2017, was what I would have expected of a Stats at his level.
The GSL S2 2018 against a Zest that played horrible (I don’t think Zest understands yet how he manage to win against TY)
All in all, even if the results say the opposite I don’t think Maru is clearly better than TY, Rogue or Serral. Notice the 2 games that passed the 10-15min Rogue won (a Bo5 is not enough to discriminate among two evenly matched players) or the finals of the WESG against TY where TY won him 4-3. I like Maru’s style and probably he is now top3/5 but the "luck/situational component" of his wins should not be forgotten.
On June 24 2018 06:25 Snarosc wrote: Terran winning its 4th consecutive GSL Finals, with 3 different players.. Where's the nerf blizzard ?? *sarcasm*
Can't help but think about the amount of terran whine we'd get if Zerg or Toss were to win 2 consecutive GSL today.
Anyway, congratz to Maru, especially for the back-to-back. Impressive.. and flawless. Nothing really to say about his domination, he's just above the rest..
I dont think that there was any whine when Rogue won 2 consecutive World Championships or Zerg and SSL 2016, passive whining is the worst.
Rofl Vincenzo, sure you win two GSL in a row ( and only one close bo5) without being number 1 ...
GSL S2 lower bracket was just weaker than upper bracket, and the only opponent to his size was Rogue.
And about the bo5 against Rogue you can say the same thing for Rogue vs Maru at Katowice, standard games were won by Maru, and the cheesy one by Rogue. They are in the same house so mindgame etc...
On June 24 2018 07:27 Vincenzo wrote: Now everyone is like “Maru God”, “Maru bonjwa” blabla.... I want to remember how he won his last 3 finals.
The WESG against Dark was exploiting the raven late game use when it was clearly imba.
The GSL S1 2018 was a win against a Stats that was clearly nervous as in a normal Stats day. with his solid defense, if it had gone in Maru’s favor it would have been a 4-3. The GSL S1 finals remembered me a lot the Inno-Stats 4-0 finals of the IEM of last year whereas the type of games in the TY-Stats finals of Katowice 2017, was what I would have expected of a Stats at his level.
The GSL S2 2018 against a Zest that played horrible (I don’t think Zest understands yet how he manage to win against TY)
All in all, even if the results say the opposite I don’t think Maru is clearly better than TY, Rogue or Serral. Notice the 2 games that passed the 10-15min Rogue won (a Bo5 is not enough to discriminate among two evenly matched players) or the finals of the WESG against TY where TY won him 4-3. I like Maru’s style and probably he is now top3/5 but the "luck/situational component" of his wins should not be forgotten.
Let's revisit how the Maru thing happened.
He beat probably the 2nd best player in Korea ATM and the best Zerg. Then he beat the best PvT player in Korea ATM and probably the best Protoss in Korea. Saying Maru was lucky is just bad. (I would use much stronger word but lately the moderation is strong)
Maru won against the best to prove he's good. Deal with it. This isn't some bracket luck, he got to play the best players of their race. Sure, we can talk about "but he didn't meet Terran" but that's mostly TY's fault, isn't it? (as if he's better than Maru he should have advanced)
Balance whining from salty morons after every single GSL finals (no matter who wins or how they won) is as predictable as it is pathetic. Fortunately, the balance team went explicitly out of its way to dismiss said morons:
"While Maru has shown some strong victories recently, a single player’s performance isn’t always indicative of long term balance."
I dont know why and how you would whine on T anyway, 3/16 T are in for Blizzcon so far.
Maru is just above everything, only Rogue ( and his cheeky builds ) prevented him from a complete domination this year - i assume he would have won vs Classic in IEM Katowice finals even thought he lost to him in GSL ST -.
On June 24 2018 07:27 Vincenzo wrote: Now everyone is like “Maru God”, “Maru bonjwa” blabla.... I want to remember how he won his last 3 finals.
The WESG against Dark was exploiting the raven late game use when it was clearly imba.
The GSL S1 2018 was a win against a Stats that was clearly nervous as in a normal Stats day. with his solid defense, if it had gone in Maru’s favor it would have been a 4-3. The GSL S1 finals remembered me a lot the Inno-Stats 4-0 finals of the IEM of last year whereas the type of games in the TY-Stats finals of Katowice 2017, was what I would have expected of a Stats at his level.
The GSL S2 2018 against a Zest that played horrible (I don’t think Zest understands yet how he manage to win against TY)
All in all, even if the results say the opposite I don’t think Maru is clearly better than TY, Rogue or Serral. Notice the 2 games that passed the 10-15min Rogue won (a Bo5 is not enough to discriminate among two evenly matched players) or the finals of the WESG against TY where TY won him 4-3. I like Maru’s style and probably he is now top3/5 but the "luck/situational component" of his wins should not be forgotten.
see a doctor if you think that serral > maru rofl.
On June 24 2018 07:27 Vincenzo wrote: The WESG against Dark was exploiting the raven late game use when it was clearly imba.
TvZ win rates were in Zerg's favor and that comp was only godly if the Terran player had an economy that Terran players are not supposed to be able to have. (5+ bases)
On June 24 2018 07:27 Vincenzo wrote: All in all, even if the results say the opposite I don’t think Maru is clearly better than TY, Rogue or Serral.
Go rewatch their WESG series. Maru spanked Serral. The last time I saw a TvZ that one sided between supposedly good players was ByuN vs. viOLet in the Group Stage of the 2016 WCS Global Finals.
On June 24 2018 07:27 Vincenzo wrote: The WESG against Dark was exploiting the raven late game use when it was clearly imba.
TvZ win rates were in Zerg's favor and that comp was only godly if the Terran player had an economy that Terran players are not supposed to be able to have. (5+ bases)
On June 24 2018 07:27 Vincenzo wrote: All in all, even if the results say the opposite I don’t think Maru is clearly better than TY, Rogue or Serral.
Go rewatch their WESG series. Maru spanked Serral. The last time I saw a TvZ that one sided between supposedly good players was ByuN vs. viOLet in the Group Stage of the 2016 WCS Global Finals.
I don't know why you'd expect good play from viOLet.
On June 24 2018 03:17 BonitiilloO wrote: please i would like to get some help, i need the link for the best games of the series, i dont want to watch the whole thing. thanks
Maru is on a professional team. That's really the difference. And now there's only one of those. I'm feeling quite sad that Jin Air players are just gonna win every time.
If you are a Zest Fan, you would say this is the worse finals Ever.
Now I, being a Maru and Trap Fan; The games they had against Zest in the past is memorable to me:
That Maru vs Zest game in ProLeague where Maru tore down a tower to divide Zest's army in a deciding game. That was a really heart-stopping since Zest was the Best player in the world in that time, he was really scary.
Trap getting a really fun to watch run in IEM Katowice beating Flash, FanTaSy and Dark only to get a beating from Zest in the finals.
Which brings me to a very amusing - but really sad for Zest - observation:
The last every ProLeague match was in 2016 with a BO7 JinAir GreenWings vs KT where JAG was up 3-0 and KT counting Zest to get their name of the board.
It was Trap vs Zest. And Zest tried to cannon rush Trap (whom I've seen really good at pulling probes for defense). That felt like Zest was styling Trap. And he Lost it so badly.
KT Lost to JAG 0-4 in the playoffs finals with a failed cannon rush. The last ProLeague match in it's history. Zest went into deep slump after that.
Now fast forward today. After about 2 years, we see Zest finally overcoming his slump. Gets into GSL finals and he hits a JAG player.
Loses 3 maps, and finds himself in a 0-3 score. And what does he do!? Proxy build.
BUT this time, the rush did well, it paid-off. Maru was 1 base while Zest was getting a third. HOWEVER he still loses.
Two very important finals. Two 0-4 sweeps. Two failed cheese.
Very fun and exciting finals to watch as a Maru fan. After seeing him fail so many times in individual leagues (though he was dominating in ProLeague). He's finally doing it.
But for Zest. Seeing this kind of defeat makes feel very sad for Zest.
1983 New York Islanders 4-0 Defeat of Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers 1995 New Jersey Devils 4-0 Defeat the Detroit Red Wings 1995 NBA Houston Rockets 4-0 Over Orlando and the unstoppable Shaquille O'Neal 1990 World Series Cincinnati Reds 4-0 Over the Greatest Steroid Team Ever, The Oakland A's
My favorite part about the finals was reading the live report threads for game four where everyone was like "Oh good, Zest finally won a game. Now we've got a finals on our hands!"
Honestly, Maru was just far too good. Zest didn't make any immediately obvious mistakes in his micro, and his macro was on point. Maru just outplayed him.
It's actually terrifying to see someone play that well. I've not seen anything like it since the days of MVP.
Holy crap. I'm a zerg and this was so hype. The games were one sided as hell. If Maru can win one more GSL then he'll be unarguably the greatest SC2 player of all time. I've never been more excited for a GSL in my life!
Personally, I'm curious whether Maru slumps after this. After he won GSL S1, he went through a brief slump (Super Tournament, then S2 Ro32 and Ro16 were not super impressive) but quickly reasserted himself as the best player. Now that he's won GSL S2 and equaled Nestea, will he go through a longer slump?
Maru openly admitted that he was feeling tired and overworked when Gyuri asked him about the burden of representing Korea (in the Asian Games) on top of playing in GSL. He's kept his focus and discipline through two consecutive seasons of GSL. That kind of prolonged training can't be easy. Would it really be a shock if he took a well-deserved break? But what would happen to his form?
On June 24 2018 17:43 pvsnp wrote: Personally, I'm curious whether Maru slumps after this. After he won GSL S1, he went through a brief slump (Super Tournament, then S2 Ro32 and Ro16 were not super impressive) but quickly reasserted himself as the best player. Now that he's won GSL S2 and equaled Nestea, will he go through a longer slump?
Maru openly admitted that he was feeling tired and overworked when Gyuri asked him about the burden of representing Korea (in the Asian Games) on top of playing in GSL. He's kept his focus and discipline through two consecutive seasons of GSL. That kind of prolonged training can't be easy. Would it really be a shock if he took a well-deserved break? But what would happen to his form?
Something worth keeping an eye on, at least.
I think I mentioned it before, but my feeling this season of GSL was that he took the foot off the accelerator during the group stages. Basically, I thought he was pacing himself so that he could be recharged enough to kick back into beast mode during the playoffs. I'd look to see him do something similar this season. It feels like he's gotten smart about managing himself so he doesn't suddenly crash from overworking. But we'll see.
Edit: Of course, this almost saw him lose some games against players that shouldn't have been able to best him, like Zanster. It's a dangerous thing to do, but his general level of play has been good enough for him to get away with it so far. I think he's got another season in him.
Congratulations Maru! He really is the best player in the world now; his lategame might lose to the titan that is called Rogue, but he is able to mix in cheese and timing builds into a best of series to take it as a whole.
On the other hand, I really wish Zest would keep this up, it's great to see him being in a better shape than the previous year and a half.
On June 24 2018 20:36 BonitiilloO wrote: i saw the games but for some reason i didnt find them good, Zest just played like a Master vs Pro gamer match or so.
The reason you didn't find them good is because they weren't.
On June 24 2018 17:43 pvsnp wrote: Personally, I'm curious whether Maru slumps after this. After he won GSL S1, he went through a brief slump (Super Tournament, then S2 Ro32 and Ro16 were not super impressive) but quickly reasserted himself as the best player. Now that he's won GSL S2 and equaled Nestea, will he go through a longer slump?
Maru openly admitted that he was feeling tired and overworked when Gyuri asked him about the burden of representing Korea (in the Asian Games) on top of playing in GSL. He's kept his focus and discipline through two consecutive seasons of GSL. That kind of prolonged training can't be easy. Would it really be a shock if he took a well-deserved break? But what would happen to his form?
Something worth keeping an eye on, at least.
I think I mentioned it before, but my feeling this season of GSL was that he took the foot off the accelerator during the group stages. Basically, I thought he was pacing himself so that he could be recharged enough to kick back into beast mode during the playoffs. I'd look to see him do something similar this season. It feels like he's gotten smart about managing himself so he doesn't suddenly crash from overworking. But we'll see.
Edit: Of course, this almost saw him lose some games against players that shouldn't have been able to best him, like Zanster. It's a dangerous thing to do, but his general level of play has been good enough for him to get away with it so far. I think he's got another season in him.
Well he never actually games to Zanster. He went 4-0 in the ro32, and 4-1 in the ro16 (losing one game to Patience). While he didn't look quite as solid in groups as in the playoffs, he really didn't need to be. He played well enough to beat everyone he needed to.
As far as playing in the Asian games goes, he should be able to slack of and still win the event. The competition is weaker than NA ladder
On June 24 2018 17:43 pvsnp wrote: Personally, I'm curious whether Maru slumps after this. After he won GSL S1, he went through a brief slump (Super Tournament, then S2 Ro32 and Ro16 were not super impressive) but quickly reasserted himself as the best player. Now that he's won GSL S2 and equaled Nestea, will he go through a longer slump?
Maru openly admitted that he was feeling tired and overworked when Gyuri asked him about the burden of representing Korea (in the Asian Games) on top of playing in GSL. He's kept his focus and discipline through two consecutive seasons of GSL. That kind of prolonged training can't be easy. Would it really be a shock if he took a well-deserved break? But what would happen to his form?
Something worth keeping an eye on, at least.
I think I mentioned it before, but my feeling this season of GSL was that he took the foot off the accelerator during the group stages. Basically, I thought he was pacing himself so that he could be recharged enough to kick back into beast mode during the playoffs. I'd look to see him do something similar this season. It feels like he's gotten smart about managing himself so he doesn't suddenly crash from overworking. But we'll see.
Edit: Of course, this almost saw him lose some games against players that shouldn't have been able to best him, like Zanster. It's a dangerous thing to do, but his general level of play has been good enough for him to get away with it so far. I think he's got another season in him.
Well he never actually games to Zanster. He went 4-0 in the ro32, and 4-1 in the ro16 (losing one game to Patience). While he didn't look quite as solid in groups as in the playoffs, he really didn't need to be. He played well enough to beat everyone he needed to.
As far as playing in the Asian games goes, he should be able to slack of and still win the event. The competition is weaker than NA ladder
That's exactly why I was saying we should keep an eye on him. How hard is Maru going to practice for GSL now that he's just won two in a row? The Asian Games are are walk in the park and Maru was already complaining about his workload, so I wouldn't be surprised if he took a break for Season 3.
Imo the only reason Maru stepped it up in the Ro8 was because he knew it would take everything he had to beat Rogue. After that he was in the semis and a little more effort would get him the trophy, so he buckled down and kept going. Now he's won, he can finally rest. Will he?
On June 24 2018 17:43 pvsnp wrote: Personally, I'm curious whether Maru slumps after this. After he won GSL S1, he went through a brief slump (Super Tournament, then S2 Ro32 and Ro16 were not super impressive) but quickly reasserted himself as the best player. Now that he's won GSL S2 and equaled Nestea, will he go through a longer slump?
Maru openly admitted that he was feeling tired and overworked when Gyuri asked him about the burden of representing Korea (in the Asian Games) on top of playing in GSL. He's kept his focus and discipline through two consecutive seasons of GSL. That kind of prolonged training can't be easy. Would it really be a shock if he took a well-deserved break? But what would happen to his form?
Something worth keeping an eye on, at least.
I think I mentioned it before, but my feeling this season of GSL was that he took the foot off the accelerator during the group stages. Basically, I thought he was pacing himself so that he could be recharged enough to kick back into beast mode during the playoffs. I'd look to see him do something similar this season. It feels like he's gotten smart about managing himself so he doesn't suddenly crash from overworking. But we'll see.
Edit: Of course, this almost saw him lose some games against players that shouldn't have been able to best him, like Zanster. It's a dangerous thing to do, but his general level of play has been good enough for him to get away with it so far. I think he's got another season in him.
Well he never actually games to Zanster. He went 4-0 in the ro32, and 4-1 in the ro16 (losing one game to Patience). While he didn't look quite as solid in groups as in the playoffs, he really didn't need to be. He played well enough to beat everyone he needed to.
As far as playing in the Asian games goes, he should be able to slack of and still win the event. The competition is weaker than NA ladder
That's exactly why I was saying we should keep an eye on him. How hard is Maru going to practice for GSL now that he's just won two in a row? The Asian Games are are walk in the park and Maru was already complaining about his workload, so I wouldn't be surprised if he took a break for Season 3.
Imo the only reason Maru stepped it up in the Ro8 was because he knew it would take everything he had to beat Rogue. After that he was in the semis and a little more effort would get him the trophy, so he buckled down and kept going. Now he's won, he can finally rest. Will he?
Yeah, I guess I just meant that it seemed like Maru used to have a tendency to peak and then crash, but I think he's found a place where he can rest "just enough" until it's time to go full throttle again. Like, I get the sense that he's found a balance where he doesn't fully burn out. I think he probably has energy management strategies that are more sustainable.
But I guess we'll find out soon-ish! As a Maru fan who was wondering where his spark had gone for a while, I'm pretty excited about his form these days. Looking forward to seeing how next season goes.
On June 24 2018 07:27 Vincenzo wrote: Now everyone is like “Maru God”, “Maru bonjwa” blabla.... I want to remember how he won his last 3 finals.
The WESG against Dark was exploiting the raven late game use when it was clearly imba.
The GSL S1 2018 was a win against a Stats that was clearly nervous as in a normal Stats day. with his solid defense, if it had gone in Maru’s favor it would have been a 4-3. The GSL S1 finals remembered me a lot the Inno-Stats 4-0 finals of the IEM of last year whereas the type of games in the TY-Stats finals of Katowice 2017, was what I would have expected of a Stats at his level.
The GSL S2 2018 against a Zest that played horrible (I don’t think Zest understands yet how he manage to win against TY)
All in all, even if the results say the opposite I don’t think Maru is clearly better than TY, Rogue or Serral. Notice the 2 games that passed the 10-15min Rogue won (a Bo5 is not enough to discriminate among two evenly matched players) or the finals of the WESG against TY where TY won him 4-3. I like Maru’s style and probably he is now top3/5 but the "luck/situational component" of his wins should not be forgotten.
There are some valid points here individually, but it falls apart overall.
Rogue could definitely beat Maru in a BO7—those two are close. And since Maru has skirted major TvT tests so far, I'd be very intrigued by seeing him face TY. Serral, though... I'm not buying that one, esp after the beatdown at WESG.
Here's my big problem with your argument: the format of StarCraft tournaments means it's almost impossible for the champ to have to face the #1 match-up player of all three races on their way to the title. You can basically pick apart any champion's run the way you nitpicked Maru. However, in reality, Maru actually had an incredibly impressive run when you think about the usual GSL championship path. He didn't just play "very good" players 2/3 of the vs T matchups, he beat the undisputed #1 players in ZvT (Rogue) and ZvP (Classic), which is incredibly rare. Zest getting crushed in the finals isn't Zest being weak—it's the natural capstone in a historically good run.
Also, when everyone mysteriously falls apart against you across multiple finals, then maybe it's not just a 'mystery' and something you're doing right.
On June 24 2018 07:27 Vincenzo wrote: Now everyone is like “Maru God”, “Maru bonjwa” blabla.... I want to remember how he won his last 3 finals.
The WESG against Dark was exploiting the raven late game use when it was clearly imba.
The GSL S1 2018 was a win against a Stats that was clearly nervous as in a normal Stats day. with his solid defense, if it had gone in Maru’s favor it would have been a 4-3. The GSL S1 finals remembered me a lot the Inno-Stats 4-0 finals of the IEM of last year whereas the type of games in the TY-Stats finals of Katowice 2017, was what I would have expected of a Stats at his level.
The GSL S2 2018 against a Zest that played horrible (I don’t think Zest understands yet how he manage to win against TY)
All in all, even if the results say the opposite I don’t think Maru is clearly better than TY, Rogue or Serral. Notice the 2 games that passed the 10-15min Rogue won (a Bo5 is not enough to discriminate among two evenly matched players) or the finals of the WESG against TY where TY won him 4-3. I like Maru’s style and probably he is now top3/5 but the "luck/situational component" of his wins should not be forgotten.
There are some valid points here individually, but it falls apart overall.
Rogue could definitely beat Maru in a BO7—those two are close. And since Maru has skirted major TvT tests so far, I'd be very intrigued by seeing him face TY. Serral, though... I'm not buying that one, esp after the beatdown at WESG.
Here's my big problem with your argument: the format of StarCraft tournaments means it's almost impossible for the champ to have to face the #1 match-up player of all three races on their way to the title. You can basically pick apart any champion's run the way you nitpicked Maru. However, in reality, Maru actually had an incredibly impressive run when you think about the usual GSL championship path. He didn't just play "very good" players 2/3 of the vs T matchups, he beat the undisputed #1 players in ZvT (Rogue) and ZvP (Classic), which is incredibly rare. Zest getting crushed in the finals isn't Zest being weak—it's the natural capstone in a historically good run.
Also, when everyone mysteriously falls apart against you across multiple finals, then maybe it's not just a 'mystery' and something you're doing right.
just watched the vods. I think that was the most one sided finals Ive ever seen, and to think that It was against a players of zest's caliber to. I don't think Ive ever seen any terran seem as dominant in tvp as maru seems, the gap between him and everyone else is unreal.
On June 23 2018 19:51 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote: Zest was unable to impose his game plan on Maru, and was left playing catch-up in all four games.
That was the most impressive part... Only the 4th game was close and it is even a bigger testament to Marus skill, that he came back in this game and defeated Zest, because in this game Maru had to play the catch-up game. oO
In my view it was even that in Game 4 Maru decided to not at all play the catch-up game. Killer instinct!
On June 24 2018 07:27 Vincenzo wrote: The WESG against Dark was exploiting the raven late game use when it was clearly imba.
I have no clue why people ever argued this. Dark won 3/4 games that went long in that series.
Out of the four games Maru won, only one were ravens even featured. He won two with proxy rax, one with classic marine pressure, and won weird battlemech game (admittedly he made ravens here, but this game was so bizarre I'm not sure what you can make of it).
Now you could make an argument for their GSL match, because Maru did actually win some games with ravens there. But attributing the WeSG series to ravens only make sense if you didn't actually watch the games.
finally got to watch all the games. holy crap that was FAST! and haters still hating???? maybe instead of being so delusional the haters should watch the games. loooool wow. first three games were badly one sided. even in game 4 when zest threw everything he had at maru and it looked like maru was against the ropes, maru said NOPE.COM and fucking counter attacked and WON
as artosis said, maru was speed running the gsl finals. ggwp. looks like soo will never win a gsl with maru in the way
EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/GSL/2018/maruchampions2.jpg)
Maru continued in the Global StarCraft II League as the Jin Air Terran crushed 
similar thing with serral and western scene. Maru's teammate Rogue was probably closest to take him down, so dont hurt to practise with him I guess 
What points out is extremely agressive playstyle many of high caliber players prefer now. Nobody likes to sit back anymore which is great
