In a shameless ploy to cash in on the hype of an upcoming, highly-anticipated movie, we've decided to preview the GSL Super Tournament by finding the superhero (and villain) equivalents for the sixteen participating progamers. Given that we do 239489 'normal' previews each year, we hope you don't hurt us too much for this departure from your normal programming.
Spoiler alert: May include plot spoilers for superhero comics and movies released to this point.
Who else in StarCraft II deserves to be compared to a universe-level threat other than Maru? Just as the mad titan humbled the earth's mightiest heroes in his search for the infinity stones, Maru has outclassed the GSL's best players on his way to four straight Code S championships. It hasn't been entirely smooth sailing, with both escaping some close brushes with death: Thanos survived getting a magical axe lodged in his chest, while Maru barely edged out a 4-3 victory against TY to win his third Code S finals.
The major difference between the two is that when Maru finishes collecting six GSL championships, the number of Terran balance whiners definitely won't be cut in half.
We hope Polt won't begrudge us making this comparison for a tournament. Stats, often called 'The Shield of Aiur,' is an apt comparison to another notable shield-bearer. Much like Captain, the conversation around Stats is often reduced to being all about his signature weapon, but in truth, both have way more to offer than impenetrable defense. For instance, Stats might be the most well-rounded player in all stages of the game, as capable of winning with an all-in as he can in a late-game slog. Similarly, Captain America is much more than just a guy with a cool shield—he also wields the power of experimental drugs, patriotism, and impenetrable plot armor (let's be honest, Stats is way cooler than Cap).
Prediction: Having grown tired of hearing people complain about how he only shows up for major crossover events, Maru snaps Stats' neck in record time to open the tournament.
Like Magneto, GuMiho uses his mastery over metal to protect his hated and endangered people. Both have proven to be quite creative at wielding their powers—Magneto once drew the iron out of a guard's bloodstream to escape a plastic prison, while GuMiho has experimented and won with basically every variation of mech Terran possible.
GuMiho is also cynical like Magneto—he believes that the Protoss and Zerg will never stop fearing the Terrans and their superior powers, and scoffs at fools like Professor Kim who think there can be harmony between the races.
Dark and Doctor Doom have egos that are so massive it's surprising they haven't collapsed into all-consuming black holes. However, we can't begrudge them for being so ridiculously arrogant because they've earned it by being total bad-asses. For instance, Doctor Doom once destroyed thousands of alternate universes and merged them into a single reality where he ruled as the God Emperor. Not to be outdone in terms of sheer evil, Dark went undefeated against foreigners for five years and more than thirty matches.
This unique combination of power and hubris make Doctor Doom and Dark some of the most compelling villains in their respective scenes, with fans finding it extremely satisfying to watch them get their comeuppance in the end. That much, alas, seems inevitable for both of them.
Prediction: After tearing apart wave upon wave of Darkbots with his mind, GuMiho finally arrives to confront Dark in his inner sanctum. Dark says "by the way, did you know my powers also include being a goddamn sorcerer on top of being a super-genius?" before banishing GuMiho to a fiery hell dimension.
The 'Marvel Villain' is a tired if necessary trope of the superhero movie. With so many colorful heroes lighting up the screen, it's hard to find the space to give the villains depth and meaningful characterization. Often, all they get is a few scenes to establish that they're a SUPER SERIOUS THREAT before the heroes prevail at the end. In the case of Ronan the Accuser, we got a scene of him beating the tar of out the muscle-bound Drax, and some generic exposition about how he's a genocidal space-maniac. As for Hurricane, we got to see a Super Tournament qualifier bracket where he beatdown TY twice, and I imagine Tastosis will supply us with some generic exposition about him being a dangerous player.
No, I'm not making Rogue a southern belle who absorbs other people's life force through touch, even if he shares the name. Instead, I see Rogue as more like the Incredible Hulk: a being possessing incalculable might, capable of overpowering any other hero or villain in existence.
The problem with a character whose strength scales to literally infinity is that people end up asking "wait, why isn't he maximum strong, ALL the time?" For the Hulk, the answer is "because plot." As for Rogue, we still don't know why the IEM and WCS World Champion can't get past the quarterfinals of Code S, or how he managed to get eliminated in the RO32 immediately after winning BlizzCon. Perhaps, now that the World War Serral arc has wrapped up, we'll see full-power Rogue written back into the GSL story-line.
Prediction: The Rogue kicks Hurricane through the roof of FreecUP studio, and sends him flying fifty miles west into the Yellow Sea.
Deadpool is often called the 'Merc with a mouth,' which is a perfect way to describe PartinG. The streamer/progamer is known just as much for his love of money as he is for his general obscenity. Both Deadpool and PartinG are fan favorites despite their relatively low power levels, simply because they dare to be irreverent and edgy in an industry full of stodgy, stereotype characters. Of course, they're not everyone's cup of tea, as their juvenile humor can become grating over time. Also, elitist fans won't hesitate to tell you that the old Deadpool/PartinG were better, back when they were complex characters and not sell-out caricatures of themselves. To which, they'd both probably say, "f*** off."
Thor: Ragnarok's Hela was a barely-known character before the movie's release, but she was quickly built up as a dangerous villain who put the heroes in real peril. This was achieved by showing her beat or straight-up murder a looooot of characters. Along those lines, StarCraft: RagnaroK has racked up a number of notable kills in recent months. At IEM Katowice, he took out INnoVation, GuMiho, Solar, and Dear, while he defeated Trap, Leenock, and Bunny in the latest round of GSL qualifiers. Do we really think he has a chance to taken down the heroes when the Super Tournament reaches it climax? Hell no. But he can certainly make things entertaining.
Prediction: RagnaroK almost instantly defeats PartinG by flinging a sword through his neck, but PartinG's detached head still manages to gasp "subscribe to Twitch.TV/PartinGTheBigBoy" before blacking out.
The other option was comparing every player to a different flavor of Mountain Dew (Mountain Dew is sponsoring the Super Tournament as well), but AfreecaTV's comic book style teaser gave us the direction we needed
On April 17 2019 17:48 Waxangel wrote: The other option was comparing every player to a different flavor of Mountain Dew (Mountain Dew is sponsoring the Super Tournament as well), but AfreecaTV's comic book style teaser gave us the direction we needed
Then there is always the obvious options of comparing players to different kinds of celery
On April 17 2019 17:44 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote: Maru 3 - 0 Stats
No way. Maru just won Code S, he's not gonna be practicing hard for something like super tournament. Stats on the other hand is the kind of player who shows up for every event he's in.
I wrote that elsewhere. soO won IEM. Failed in the next RO16. Innovation won WESG. FAiled in the next RO16. Maru just won Code S and is in the RO16 of GSL ST
Stats not qualifying for GSL but showing strong performances at IEM. I think he is training a lot and well. He's been one of the few ones who defeated Maru and I think Maru is not that motivated. Stats probably observed that Maru plays very defensive to get into late game, so Stats won't make the same mistakes like Classic to always try to proxie him. If he goes, like Artosis always says, for Colossus, then it may be work... 3-1 Stats
RagnaroK almost instantly defeats PartinG by flinging a sword through his neck, but PartinG's detached head still manages to gasp "subscribe to Twitch.TV/PartinGTheBigBoy" before blacking out.
Thanks Wax, Im laughing at work!
Definately i'm going with stats here, only to see the debacle in forums afterwards.
so Stats won't make the same mistakes like Classic to always try to proxie him. If he goes, like Artosis always says, for Colossus, then it may be work... 3-1 Stats
my problem with Artosis strategy is that... well besides going colos vs Maru gives flashbacks of 2015 to korean tosses, the fact that they avoid it in general kinda tells the story of what happens in ladder. Air transition viking, liberator is a hard counter imho
so Stats won't make the same mistakes like Classic to always try to proxie him. If he goes, like Artosis always says, for Colossus, then it may be work... 3-1 Stats
my problem with Artosis strategy is that... well besides going colos vs Maru gives flashbacks of 2015 to korean tosses, the fact that they avoid it in general kinda tells the story of what happens in ladder. Air transition viking, liberator is a hard counter imho
Well whatever he may play, I think he'll come up with something... Is Terran really so hard to play against as a Protoss in late-game or is Maru just a beast? I mean I don't play myself but Classic is whining a lot about Protoss, while for Super Tournament, basically no Terrans qualified... so what's true now?
On April 17 2019 19:56 Kimb3r wrote: Stats not qualifying for GSL but showing strong performances at IEM. I think he is training a lot and well. He's been one of the few ones who defeated Maru and I think Maru is not that motivated. Stats probably observed that Maru plays very defensive to get into late game, so Stats won't make the same mistakes like Classic to always try to proxie him. If he goes, like Artosis always says, for Colossus, then it may be work... 3-1 Stats
Those colossi that are usually turned off by the raven Maru builds for that purpose? I don't know kev (but maybe Stats will snipe it)
On April 17 2019 19:56 Kimb3r wrote: Stats not qualifying for GSL but showing strong performances at IEM. I think he is training a lot and well. He's been one of the few ones who defeated Maru and I think Maru is not that motivated. Stats probably observed that Maru plays very defensive to get into late game, so Stats won't make the same mistakes like Classic to always try to proxie him. If he goes, like Artosis always says, for Colossus, then it may be work... 3-1 Stats
Those colossi that are usually turned off by the raven Maru builds for that purpose? I don't know kev (but maybe Stats will snipe it)
but the raven only works in 2 base timing situations, when you hit with a low colo count
On a more serious note, if Classic had done this build twice, I think he could have scared Maru to a level where he could then go for the greediest build possbile. But that's just if and when
so Stats won't make the same mistakes like Classic to always try to proxie him. If he goes, like Artosis always says, for Colossus, then it may be work... 3-1 Stats
my problem with Artosis strategy is that... well besides going colos vs Maru gives flashbacks of 2015 to korean tosses, the fact that they avoid it in general kinda tells the story of what happens in ladder. Air transition viking, liberator is a hard counter imho
Yeah, remembering Maru's classic plays vs colossi was pretty much my first thought too. Like... if Maru gets the chance to tech up to marauders, and he manages to make 3+ of them, colossi have already been hard countered.
On April 17 2019 19:56 Kimb3r wrote: Stats not qualifying for GSL but showing strong performances at IEM. I think he is training a lot and well. He's been one of the few ones who defeated Maru and I think Maru is not that motivated. Stats probably observed that Maru plays very defensive to get into late game, so Stats won't make the same mistakes like Classic to always try to proxie him. If he goes, like Artosis always says, for Colossus, then it may be work... 3-1 Stats
Those colossi that are usually turned off by the raven Maru builds for that purpose? I don't know kev (but maybe Stats will snipe it)
but the raven only works in 2 base timing situations, when you hit with a low colo count
Sure, why go for a longer game when you have astonishing micro and the potential to win?
On April 17 2019 19:56 Kimb3r wrote:Stats probably observed that Maru plays very defensive to get into late game, so Stats won't make the same mistakes like Classic to always try to proxie him. If he goes, like Artosis always says, for Colossus, then it may be work... 3-1 Stats
Artosis overrates colossus a lot. They're a waste of money/tech against a raven push. Lately Maru has opened raven every game and gone for a two-base push in most of them.
maru can probably beat stats, but probably not win the whole tournament. once you've achieved the pinnacle of goat you got nothing left to prove and performance suffers. looks like only SOS and rogue can possibly be a threat to maru though.
hoping soo gets another gold tho!!!
EDIT: PLEASE DO NOT MAKE SOO THE SILVER SURFER. ITS TOO OBVIOUS. make him someone like peter parker. the ordinary every day man, struggling with every day normal things like school and relationships and work, while at the same time having extraordinary power. life shits on peter parker, but he endures and perseveres
On April 17 2019 19:56 Kimb3r wrote: Stats not qualifying for GSL but showing strong performances at IEM. I think he is training a lot and well. He's been one of the few ones who defeated Maru and I think Maru is not that motivated. Stats probably observed that Maru plays very defensive to get into late game, so Stats won't make the same mistakes like Classic to always try to proxie him. If he goes, like Artosis always says, for Colossus, then it may be work... 3-1 Stats
Those colossi that are usually turned off by the raven Maru builds for that purpose? I don't know kev (but maybe Stats will snipe it)
but the raven only works in 2 base timing situations, when you hit with a low colo count
On April 17 2019 19:56 Kimb3r wrote: Stats not qualifying for GSL but showing strong performances at IEM. I think he is training a lot and well. He's been one of the few ones who defeated Maru and I think Maru is not that motivated. Stats probably observed that Maru plays very defensive to get into late game, so Stats won't make the same mistakes like Classic to always try to proxie him. If he goes, like Artosis always says, for Colossus, then it may be work... 3-1 Stats
Those colossi that are usually turned off by the raven Maru builds for that purpose? I don't know kev (but maybe Stats will snipe it)
but the raven only works in 2 base timing situations, when you hit with a low colo count
Since maru has some time to prepare, I think if maru cares enough, he should do fine against Stats. However, super tournament is really right after code S finals, so maru is most likely not as prepared, but then again he did have to prepare hard at TvP against Classic so that might give him an edge over Stats.
I was gonna comment before reading the article how I love GSL's production choices thematically, but this write up was so good there won't be any of that!
Sad that INnoVation is not qualified so we can't make the dead Robogus meme when he ends up being Iron Man
I have no idea who will win but I would want Classic to do so, 2 STs in a row would sort of make up for that lackluster finals in Code S.
I had fun reading that! Nice to mix it up, and I sense the writer also had fun mixing it up. I only disagree with gumiho and dark game, I think gumiho wins 3-2 over dark.
Maru actually has a lot to prove here. We know he’s good at GSL Code S but we’ve yet to see him succeed in a weekend style tournament. Until he wins one of these WCS no prep style events I don’t think people will be convinced he’s the best player (is he? Right now it looks that way...). But don’t point to Code S. Show us you’re capable in multiple formats. This is one reason Serral is still winning this hypothetical argument (that and BlizzCon). So show us. Can Maru win with no prep time? The SC2 fans are watching. 👀
On April 18 2019 16:09 StarcraftSquall wrote: Maru actually has a lot to prove here. We know he’s good at GSL Code S but we’ve yet to see him succeed in a weekend style tournament. Until he wins one of these WCS no prep style events I don’t think people will be convinced he’s the best player (is he? Right now it looks that way...). But don’t point to Code S. Show us you’re capable in multiple formats. This is one reason Serral is still winning this hypothetical argument (that and BlizzCon). So show us. Can Maru win with no prep time? The SC2 fans are watching. 👀
Why though? He had to go through several Korean qualification to get to some tournaments which is not as easy as people make it sound, he has some 2nd places or 3-4 place from weekender(Korean soil included). it's not like he failed epicly in every weekender he had been to. Just remember when SC2 fans demand the same from others in the opposite regard people call it unfair (e.g. Taeja never winning Code S(but at least he had some deep runs))
EPT![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/GSL/2019/st1/st1bracket.jpg)
