On November 08 2018 20:08 jy_9876543210 wrote:
The only thing missing for this year is a BO7 of Serral vs Maru. There was ASL vs KSL, could there also be a GSL vs WCS?
Or let it remain a mystery...

If only someone could fly Maru to HSC, that would be so amazing, then we can have our BO7.

Greenei

Germany1754 Posts

November 08 2018 16:05 GMT

#22

Fun fact: Maru's year was more impressive than Serral's.

joshie0808

Canada1024 Posts

November 08 2018 16:07 GMT

#23

Brilliant article about a brilliant player. Very well written, and very well played Serral. Its no longer a foreign hope, but a foreign reality.

joshie0808

Canada1024 Posts

November 08 2018 16:08 GMT

#24

On November 09 2018 01:05 Greenei wrote:
Fun fact: Maru's year was more impressive than Serral's.

I think you mean disappointing.
Serral capped his year with a global finals win.
Maru capped his year by losing 0-3 to the same strategy.

Nakajin

Canada8990 Posts

November 08 2018 16:10 GMT

#25

Amazing articles, can't wait to see if Serral can keep on his dominance next year.

On November 09 2018 00:28 jarodtou wrote:

Show nested quote +

If only someone could fly Maru to HSC, that would be so amazing, then we can have our BO7.

Apparently Take invited him and he didn't want to, Maru isn't too big on travel I think.

Serimek

France2274 Posts

November 08 2018 16:58 GMT

#26

Thank you TL staff for all the well written articles you gave us lately.

About Serral, everything has been said and better said that what I can do. Next year will be awesome!

Serimek

France2274 Posts

November 08 2018 16:59 GMT

#27

On November 09 2018 01:10 Nakajin wrote:
Amazing articles, can't wait to see if Serral can keep on his dominance next year.

Show nested quote +

Apparently Take invited him and he didn't want to, Maru isn't too big on travel I think.

Imagine a Jin Air player who don't want to travel...

terribleplayer1

95 Posts

November 08 2018 17:43 GMT

#28

Serral what a god.

Locutos

Brazil273 Posts

November 08 2018 18:17 GMT

#29

On November 08 2018 23:02 TheOneAboveU wrote:
A truly remarkable story!

Show nested quote +

Indeed, HSC is next. It's going to be the first tournament (of many, probably) where Serral's ascendance won't be the primary storyline, but instead the hunt after him. He's got a big, fat target on his back now. It's going to be fun watching him defend his new status, and watching who might emerge as a challenger. We've got a great time ahead of us!

Reynor and maybe Neeb...

Vond

Sweden145 Posts

November 08 2018 18:32 GMT

#30

On November 09 2018 01:05 Greenei wrote:
Fun fact: Maru's year was more impressive than Serral's.

It would've been if he had won Blizzcon (or gotten further than Serral at least), but it was pretty even between them up until Blizzcon, but not now.

StasisField

United States1086 Posts

November 08 2018 18:38 GMT

#31

Great article! It gave me goosebumps at times. On the topic of the upcoming HSC though: don't be too surprised if Serral doesn't win it. They're playing on the new patch if I recall correctly and many of the players going have had much more time to work out builds and timings than Serral. If Serral loses at HSC, I wouldn't personally consider him "dethroned" or anything like that, considering the lack of practice on the new patch and the different atmosphere at HSC as a whole. Still, it will be exciting to see how quickly he learns to play on the new patch and see what he does with it

sM.Zik

Canada2553 Posts

November 08 2018 19:08 GMT

#32

Serral made me install SC2 again after a full year without playing a single game, and almost 3 years without playing seriously.

VanCaspel

Netherlands250 Posts

November 08 2018 19:10 GMT

#33

GREAT read, thanks to all the contributors!

Dave4

494 Posts

November 08 2018 19:13 GMT

#34

Great read, thanks team.

I definitely think the B word is in contention though. Almost a full year of perfection... 6 premier titles in 9 months, I think that is a record for sure?

In any case clearly the best foreigner by a long margin - long live Serrals reign.

Qwyn

United States2781 Posts

November 08 2018 19:34 GMT

#35

While Serral certainly isn’t a bonjwa, the GOAT, or even the most decorated player to have attended the 2018 WCS Global Finals, that doesn’t mean he isn’t incredible in his own right.

He'll do it all again next year, and then there'll be no arguing about his pedigree!

Nicely written. A good recap of the history of foreign SC2.

Kitai

United States885 Posts

November 08 2018 19:34 GMT

#36

Thanks for taking your time on this. I don't think the significance of the moment would have been captured nearly as well without the history lesson. I don't have any more expectations from Serral - he's already done the impossible and cemented an almost unbeatable legacy. He could bomb out of this next HSC and all future tournaments and I still don't think anyone could beat his one - year span of achievements. He's got nothing left to prove.

[F_]aths

Germany3947 Posts

November 08 2018 19:38 GMT

#37

I remember little of Serral when I was in Leipzig at the 2016 Dreamhack. He was 3-0-ed by Violet.

Now he is the best zerg in the world.

muppet70

Sweden72 Posts

November 08 2018 20:16 GMT

#38

Good article.
Maybe it's mostly to cover the winners and such but one thing that I do miss is the zerg strats thats been different in the EU scene for quite a while.

EU zergs were never afraid of the late game.

It was on EU that the brood lord rush showed up, albeit partly because of less agressive terrans and protoss than the top KR scene.
It took a good amount of time until the KR pro players started to go for earlier infestor/BL play.

Snute basically invented how to play swarm hosts vs korean terrans, even after he showed how very few were able to replicate it, and mostly used it effective vs protoss.

These examples are maybe awhile back now but I still find it interesting that these things happened in EU and not in KR,
and that the legacy of late game players like stephano, snute and firecake still makes some impression on the EU zerg scene.

So I'm not surprised that the next good EU zerg in serral is very good at holds, and playing longer macro games.

Or maybe I am over emphasizing different regions?

Charoisaur

Germany16086 Posts

November 08 2018 20:35 GMT

#39

But is he a Patchzerg?