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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
EPT
