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Serral defeats Elazer to win GSL vs The World 2019

Forum Index > SC2 General
274 CommentsPost a Reply
1 2 3 4 5 12 13 14 Next All
TL.net ESPORTS
Profile Joined July 2011
4 Posts
August 19 2019 04:29 GMT
#1


GSL vs. The World 2019

Serral defeated Elazer 4-2 in the grand finals of GSL vs. The World 2019, winning his second consecutive title at the annual competition. Serral's victory capped off what was possibly the most successful tournament for non-Korean players in pro-StarCraft II history—in a tournament that began with eight Korean and eight non-Korean pros, three out of four semi-finalists ended up being 'foreigners.'

Serral's championship run saw him allay doubts about his form after he finished top four at ASUS ROG Summer and runner-up at WCS Summer—'poor' results for a player who won 8 out of his 17 major tournaments since 2018. GSL vs. The World played out as a point-by-point addressing of Serral's supposed weaknesses. A tough series against TIME at ASUS ROG was made up for by a comprehensive 3-1 victory over TY in the Ro16. In the following rounds, victories over top Korean Protoss players in Trap and Classic covered for his loss to Stats at ASUS ROG. Finally, his finals opponent Elazer served as stand-in for Reynor, whose ZvZ ability cost Serral the WCS Summer title.

It wasn't Serral's fault that he couldn't avenge his losses to Reynor and Stats directly, as they were the ones unable to earn the rematch. Reynor was swept by SpeCial in the Ro16—an unexpected result given Reynor's undefeated record against the Mexican Terran in WCS Circuit competition. Slightly less surprising was Stats' quarterfinal loss to Neeb, whose PvP prowess had been well-established (despite some recent woes).

Elazer's run to the finals was redemptive as well, but on a much longer timeline. After breaking out in 2017 by winning WCS Valencia and placing top eight at the Global Finals, Elazer suffered a 2018 slump that saw him miss out on BlizzCon entirely. At GSL vs. The World, things finally started go Elazer's way again. After beginning the tournament with an immense, 3-2 upset against GSL champion Dark, Elazer continued his roll with victories over TIME and Neeb in the proceeding rounds.

Despite defeating Dark earlier in the tournament, Elazer's EU ZvZ did not avail him against Serral in the finals. The first three games were a Nydus bonanza, resulting in a 2-1 lead for Serral. Game four then delivered the highlight game of the finals, with both players gearing up for a late-game macro-fest on Acropolis. Though Elazer impressed by keeping upwith Serral's constantly movements and multi-tasking for over twenty minutes, he was eventually worn down by Serral's more efficient use of the Hydra-Lurker-Viper composition. Elazer recovered a point after deflecting an early speedling build from Serral in game five, but Serral finished the series out in another macro-game in game six.



Measuring the gap

Two weeks ago, ASUS ROG Summer left the Korean-Foreigner gap looking as wide as ever with six out of eight quarterfinal spots taken up by Koreans. GSL vs. The World delivered a diametrically opposite result, with three foreigners reaching the semifinals despite Korea fielding a considerably stronger side (Dark, Maru, and Classic had been absent from ASUS ROG). In another strange twist, GSL vs. World runner-up Elazer didn't participate at ASUS ROG Summer as he had failed to even qualify.

Taking those two contrasting tournaments into consideration, it might be best to refrain from making any grand statements about the state of Koreans vs Foreigners. All we seem to have learned is that there's a considerable amount of variance from tournament to tournament and from match to match—but that's something we should have known already from 9 years of competitive StarCraft 2. However, there is one thing we can expect to stay constant: Serral in the championship picture.

Team match fiesta

With foreigners outperforming expectations in the main tournament, it wasn't surprising when they impressed in the ~$8,000 team showmatch as well. In a format that forced Korea vs foreigner in every single match, the foreigners acquitted themselves nicely by going 3-5. SpeCial took out Classic (after losing 2-3 to him in the main tournament), Serral defeated soO, while HeRoMaRinE closed out the series by defeating Trap (another revenge match from the main tournament).

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TL+ Member
imCHIEN
Profile Joined January 2016
14 Posts
August 19 2019 04:46 GMT
#2
Serral bonjwa. This guy is actually SC2's Flash
Mahanaim
Profile Joined December 2012
Korea (South)1002 Posts
August 19 2019 05:00 GMT
#3
Well played. Here's hoping for another GSL vs. the World in 2020.
Celebrating Starcraft since... a long time ago.
HeroSandro
Profile Joined July 2019
527 Posts
August 19 2019 05:23 GMT
#4
Fun tournament. GG Serral!
Jealous
Profile Blog Joined December 2011
10144 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-08-19 05:29:25
August 19 2019 05:28 GMT
#5
On August 19 2019 13:46 imCHIEN wrote:
Serral bonjwa. This guy is actually SC2's Flash

Both continued to succeed after Blizzard killed the respective Korean scene, so that part is true.

PS: Flash was never bonjwa.
"The right to vote is only the oar of the slaveship, I wanna be free." -- бум бум сучка!
UtherTruthBringer
Profile Joined June 2019
43 Posts
August 19 2019 05:29 GMT
#6
Could not design a more boring human being

User was warned for this post
Laarsi
Profile Joined August 2019
2 Posts
August 19 2019 05:32 GMT
#7
I was kinda rooting for Elazer, because it would've been an awesome run for him, but as a Finn, I want to see Serral win everything. I'm starting to feel like sc2 will not have tournaments like this in a few years, so as a fan since 2011, it's been an honor to watch (almost) every tournament that has been organized since then. The players were so wholesome too during the time between games.
Serimek
Profile Joined August 2011
France2274 Posts
August 19 2019 05:35 GMT
#8
On August 19 2019 14:29 UtherTruthBringer wrote:
Could not design a more boring human being


Being alone in your room in front of your screen is not something that should allow you to think that you're allowed to say such things. It's a disgusting statement.

User was warned for this post
SC2 is the best game to watch and was the best to play before I grew old and slow...
alosteros
Profile Joined July 2019
3 Posts
August 19 2019 05:36 GMT
#9
Serral is great but the balance is broken. I don't think terran or protoss have any chance to win zerg in the late game in theory.
So PLZ, FIX YOUR SHIT GAME ALRIGHT? This is not the game what everybody wants.

User was warned for this post
Johny1
Profile Joined February 2019
Poland39 Posts
August 19 2019 05:46 GMT
#10
Serral bonjwa
Anc13nt
Profile Blog Joined October 2017
1557 Posts
August 19 2019 05:47 GMT
#11
Elazer played pretty well against Serral. I kind of wish he took more risks against Serral but he held his own really well in the late game, which I never would have expected.

Grats Serral.
pzlama333
Profile Joined April 2013
United States277 Posts
August 19 2019 05:48 GMT
#12
Congratulate to Serral. But I really feel like the late game against Zerg is not fun and excited to watch.
Ej_
Profile Blog Joined January 2013
47656 Posts
August 19 2019 06:10 GMT
#13
On August 19 2019 14:28 Jealous wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 19 2019 13:46 imCHIEN wrote:
Serral bonjwa. This guy is actually SC2's Flash

Both continued to succeed after Blizzard killed the respective Korean scene, so that part is true.

PS: Flash was never bonjwa.

The devilish Blizzard that forced progamers to sell games so the Proleague would be cancelled and KeSPA left SC2 :[
"Technically the dictionary has zero authority on the meaning or words" - Rodya
RealityTheGreat
Profile Joined January 2018
China564 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-08-19 06:18:06
August 19 2019 06:17 GMT
#14
Congratulations for infestors.

User was temp banned for this post.
Betrayed, forgotten, abandoned.
True_Spike
Profile Joined July 2004
Poland3422 Posts
August 19 2019 06:17 GMT
#15
On August 19 2019 14:28 Jealous wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 19 2019 13:46 imCHIEN wrote:
Serral bonjwa. This guy is actually SC2's Flash

Both continued to succeed after Blizzard killed the respective Korean scene, so that part is true.

PS: Flash was never bonjwa.


Of course he was.

Boxer, Nada, iloveoov, Saviour and Flash are the 5 bonjwas of BW.
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33371 Posts
August 19 2019 06:27 GMT
#16
On August 19 2019 15:17 True_Spike wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 19 2019 14:28 Jealous wrote:
On August 19 2019 13:46 imCHIEN wrote:
Serral bonjwa. This guy is actually SC2's Flash

Both continued to succeed after Blizzard killed the respective Korean scene, so that part is true.

PS: Flash was never bonjwa.


Of course he was.

Boxer, Nada, iloveoov, Saviour and Flash are the 5 bonjwas of BW.


stop having this argument in this thread right now, or you're both banned
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
Shuffleblade
Profile Joined February 2012
Sweden1903 Posts
August 19 2019 07:02 GMT
#17
Wow what happened in these comments, we have BW disagreement and tons of balance tears.

Where are the cheer, it was a great even and lots of really good games. GG to Serral he really earned it, he had the hardest path of all the semifinalists but did it anyway.

Kinda weid the team match segment is written as if the foreigners won, they lost. If you take away the score and read the text you would think they won
Maru, Bomber, TY, Dear, Classic, DeParture and Rogue!
Dave4
Profile Joined August 2018
494 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-08-19 07:08:14
August 19 2019 07:03 GMT
#18
By now Serral must have allayed all questions about his skill to even the most ardent critics... But there is one power that he has never been able to outrank.

Congratulations again to the best player in the world.

Also, I find the balance whine so intolerable. Guy has won 8 premiers in 18 months and many other semis/seconds. Anyone suggesting this is balance related is crazy.
FFW_Rude
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
France10201 Posts
August 19 2019 07:22 GMT
#19
On August 19 2019 13:46 imCHIEN wrote:
Serral bonjwa. This guy is actually SC2's Flash


Triggered !! I mean ...

On August 19 2019 14:28 Jealous wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 19 2019 13:46 imCHIEN wrote:
Serral bonjwa. This guy is actually SC2's Flash

Both continued to succeed after Blizzard killed the respective Korean scene, so that part is true.

PS: Flash was never bonjwa.


WAIT WHAT ? ! TRIGGERED² !
#1 KT Rolster fanboy. KT BEST KT ! Hail to KT playoffs Zergs ! Unofficial french translator for SlayerS_`Boxer` biography "Crazy as me".
Rusty253
Profile Joined July 2019
7 Posts
August 19 2019 08:18 GMT
#20
Serral is really somethin i must say. He looked so badass just chillin waiting to fight in gsl vs the world. I wish we coulda saw him vs maru.
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