The first Super Tournament of 2019 kicked off with a slew of upsets, beginning with Code S champion Maru suffering a 2-3, first-round elimination at the hands Stats. Some may contend it was not much of a surprise at all, considering Maru's consistently poor performances in the so-called 'weekender' events. Despite his loss, Maru still delivered one of the most thrilling series of the year to StarCraft II fans by bringing out an unusual mech TvP style. Game four on Year Zero stood out as an instant game of the year candidate, with Stats playing brilliantly to adapt to Maru's new style on the fly.
Mech starred again as GuMiho eked out a close 3-2 win against Dark. The sloppy-yet-entertaining match featured an unusual game five, where Dark seemed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat before plunging right back into its maw.
Dark wasn't the only Korean Zerg to have a bad day, as Rogue gave up a 1-3 loss to Hurricane and his incisive timing attacks. Finally, PartinG closed out a winless day for Zerg (and perfect day for Protoss) by coming back from an 0-2 deficit to eliminate RagnaroK in a characteristically cheesy series, even deploying a 2019 version of the 'Soul Train' in game five.
The RO16 will resume with its remaining matches on Friday, Apr 19 8:00am GMT (GMT+00:00).
what a great series between Maru and Stats, really came down to the wire, especially game 4 was fantastic, also this super tournament is Stats for the taking
I can't help but think that Maru's mech style was developed to kill Classic but he didn't need it to counter the proxy gates and saved it for today. 4 days feel short to reinvent terran strategy.
Maru earned so much respect from me during today's games. The IQ and strategic depth of knowledge he showed by going mech today is out of this world. It's great to see a top tier player show he can master multiple play styles.
On April 19 2019 07:45 BisuDagger wrote: Maru earned so much respect from me during today's games. The IQ and strategic depth of knowledge he showed by going mech today is out of this world. It's great to see a top tier player show he can master multiple play styles.
Maru's mech TvP builds might(and I underline, might) be a product of teamhouse environment; I'm more inclined to think Maru is the one who has the skill needed to carry the build out while not necessarily being its inventor. Still impressive and potentially revolutionary.
After sOs dismantled Maru at BlizzCon, I remember a korean user post reporting(in the Live thread) sOs would have said that he knew precisely counter Maru's TvP proxy builds as they were in fact largely part of their collaboration. Maru's mech build could have the same origin.
On April 19 2019 06:43 les wrote: I can't help but think that Maru's mech style was developed to kill Classic but he didn't need it to counter the proxy gates and saved it for today. 4 days feel short to reinvent terran strategy.
Not just that, but it seems Maru might feel it's not viable to do against aggressive openings considering he switched back to normal play against Stat's proxy gate in game 5.
I've said this so many times, Stats's adaptability is completely absurd. Every time you see a player break out a new style against him in a Bo5 or Bo7 (or sometimes even in a Bo3), you can see him changing the way he plays against it suuuper quickly. I only started noticing this back in 2016, against Dark in the SSL finals that he lost (he immediately won cross finals afterwards I think, against Dark, against the same bane drop ling bane midgame).
I don't always like the way Stats plays, but I am such an absolute fan when he shows this adaptability, it's by far my favorite aspect about him as a player. Much respect and really such a fan of it
On April 19 2019 06:43 les wrote: I can't help but think that Maru's mech style was developed to kill Classic but he didn't need it to counter the proxy gates and saved it for today. 4 days feel short to reinvent terran strategy.
i disagree. I think that maru realized that his normal aggressive tactics in his TvP wouldnt hinder the greatest defensive protoss player in the world ( the guy dubbed "shield of aiur" ) so he whipped out this new style to try to muscle past him. You saw Maru try to do his normal TvP shenanigans in g1 but it bounced off of stats. Maru's mech style then worked in 2/3 games to be honest, until stats seemed to have adapted to it.
Stats vs Maru was a bonkers series. Game 4 has to be game of the year. It's one of those super long mined out games, but also one where people were often not maxed and had no bank, unlike ZvTs where it's just people on 5k+ minerals and gas. Just a brilliant slugfest with some great play on both sides.
Game 4 of Maru vs Stats was GotY for me, worth staying up very late. Mech vs Disruptor is one of the most entertaining matchups for the audience, I dream that it is the new TvP meta. I made my dog bark in the middle of the night with my shouting on some of the most sick novas from Stats.
>these 17 are absolute liquibet gods Tasteless: Not even Hurricane's mom thought he would advance vs Rogue
Stats vs Maru would have had a good chance at being the final had they been on opposite sides of the bracket. The two showed by far the highest level of play in this event so far.
Stats will probably roll Gumiho and PartinG in his next matches.
soO vs Classic is in a similar spot in the lower bracket. Whoever wins will probably play Stats in the final.
Sounds like it was very entertaining to watch, too. Hopefully that might change some people's minds about whether mech is "healthy" for the game or not... and hopefully Blizzard might take it more seriously and try to make it more viable. That would make me so happy. It didn't seem viable in TvP when I was playing on and off last year, but instead weaker than in HotS. Then they reverted/nerfed the Cyclone and it became even weaker.
Glad to see that mech TvZ still works despite the nerf to the Thor's armor and such, too!
On April 19 2019 23:17 swarminfestor wrote: I will still watch Gumiho's match tomorrow, and probably give up watching the entire tournaments if he doesn't advance.
same, but if the final is stats - classic I ll watch it
EPT
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