StarCraft II fans got to see what it looks like when the famed 'GSL-style preparation' is applied to a high-level ZvZ series, with Rogue defeating Dark 4-1 in a strategically wild semifinals.
Dark struck first by pulling out an unusual ZvZ version of Nydus-Swarm Host in game one, which was enough to fluster Rogue (who was going for a Mutalisk based strategy) in the mid-game and set up a killing blow with Hydra-Roach.
Unfortunately for Dark, game one would be the only time he outsmarted Rogue in the series. Rogue's pool-first gamble in game two worked perfectly, easily countering a greedy, economy-based opener from Dark. Game three saw Rogue surprise Dark yet again, but this time with fast Lurkers off just two bases. Rogue patiently used his Lurkers to accrue a big enough advantage to finish Dark off later in the game.
Down 1-2, Dark decided it was his turn to gamble on an early pool. However, Rogue opened with an almost perfect counter, getting a slightly later pool but faster expansion. In a game between closely-matched pros, this advantage inevitably snowballed into a win for Rogue later on.
The final match of the night ended up being the closest to 'standard' ZvZ, with neither player going for any radical moves to start. As Roach vs Roach battles erupted across the map, it started to appear as if Dark was building a lead off better trades. However, the arrival of Rogue's Lurkers on the battlefield swung the momentum back in his favor, allowing him to seize better positions and eventually force Dark into submission.
With his victory, Rogue reaches his first ever GSL Code S grand finals. The finals is now guaranteed to be an all-Jin Air affair, with the winner of Maru or Trap advancing to face Rogue. Maru and Trap will play in the second semifinal match on Saturday, Sep 21 4:30am GMT (GMT+00:00).
On September 19 2019 04:07 BisuDagger wrote: If trap wins the we get a new GSL winner. Which also means we are closer to having all-GSL winner round of eights in the future.
If Rogue wins he too would also be a first time winner as well here's to hoping that Trap can beat Maru I would prefer to see Rogue play against Trap.
On September 19 2019 04:07 BisuDagger wrote: If trap wins the we get a new GSL winner. Which also means we are closer to having all-GSL winner round of eights in the future.
If Rogue wins he too would also be a first time winner as well here's to hoping that Trap can beat Maru I would prefer to see Rogue play against Trap.
Let's rephrase that: If Trap wins against Maru we have a guaranteed new GSL victor because both Rogue and Trap don't have it (edit> I rephrased the post you're reacting to)
On September 19 2019 04:22 Zephyp wrote: Rogue won so many Premier tournaments, I keep forgetting he never won a GSL. Go Log!
Matter of fact, this is the first time he ever made it past ro8. Sky is the limit for him now.
And probably Maru ;o
Question: Who are the practice partners for vMaru games? And I mean it, no other Terran ever shown such style, so who can emulate it? I believe both ROgue and Trap know MAru well enough, but still
this was one of those matches where all the people who don't pay attention to race matchups were calling it an obvious dark victory and all the people who do pay attention were feeling rogue, lol, gg
On September 19 2019 04:07 BisuDagger wrote: If trap wins the we get a new GSL winner. Which also means we are closer to having all-GSL winner round of eights in the future.
If Rogue wins he too would also be a first time winner as well here's to hoping that Trap can beat Maru I would prefer to see Rogue play against Trap.
On September 19 2019 04:07 BisuDagger wrote: If trap wins the we get a new GSL winner. Which also means we are closer to having all-GSL winner round of eights in the future.
If Rogue wins he too would also be a first time winner as well here's to hoping that Trap can beat Maru I would prefer to see Rogue play against Trap.
Let's rephrase that: If Trap wins against Maru we have a guaranteed new GSL victor because both Rogue and Trap don't have it (edit> I rephrased the post you're reacting to)
On September 19 2019 04:22 Zephyp wrote: Rogue won so many Premier tournaments, I keep forgetting he never won a GSL. Go Log!
Matter of fact, this is the first time he ever made it past ro8. Sky is the limit for him now.
And probably Maru ;o
Question: Who are the practice partners for vMaru games? And I mean it, no other Terran ever shown such style, so who can emulate it? I believe both ROgue and Trap know MAru well enough, but still
Yeah watching that Maru’s POV of his series against RagnaroK I think even TY doesn’t get to this level of multitasking (or at least taking worse trades / macroing worse behind it).
Rogue can beat Maru with all sort of builds though, but he is probably vulnerable in standard games.
On September 19 2019 04:07 BisuDagger wrote: If trap wins the we get a new GSL winner. Which also means we are closer to having all-GSL winner round of eights in the future.
If Rogue wins he too would also be a first time winner as well here's to hoping that Trap can beat Maru I would prefer to see Rogue play against Trap.
Let's rephrase that: If Trap wins against Maru we have a guaranteed new GSL victor because both Rogue and Trap don't have it (edit> I rephrased the post you're reacting to)
On September 19 2019 04:22 Zephyp wrote: Rogue won so many Premier tournaments, I keep forgetting he never won a GSL. Go Log!
Matter of fact, this is the first time he ever made it past ro8. Sky is the limit for him now.
And probably Maru ;o
Question: Who are the practice partners for vMaru games? And I mean it, no other Terran ever shown such style, so who can emulate it? I believe both ROgue and Trap know MAru well enough, but still
The downside (or upside?) is that all we have left to witness is teamkill shenanigans where Rogue, Trap, and Maru try to throw out their weird builds to out-mindgame each other.
On September 19 2019 06:13 argonautdice wrote: The downside (or upside?) is that all we have left to witness is teamkill shenanigans where Rogue, Trap, and Maru try to throw out their weird builds to out-mindgame each other.
don't understand how this is a downside, it's a valid way to play starcraft against a known opponent and a valid skill
it's usually 900x more interesting than watching a player roll over someone with significantly worse macro
On September 19 2019 04:07 BisuDagger wrote: If trap wins the we get a new GSL winner. Which also means we are closer to having all-GSL winner round of eights in the future.
The future is never a guarantee. We have another Ro4 match and Finals ahead of us, and you're worried about the Ro8 in the 1st season 2020?
On September 19 2019 04:07 BisuDagger wrote: If trap wins the we get a new GSL winner. Which also means we are closer to having all-GSL winner round of eights in the future.
Last season we had 7/8 player who had played for the title of world champion at some point.
On September 19 2019 04:07 BisuDagger wrote: If trap wins the we get a new GSL winner. Which also means we are closer to having all-GSL winner round of eights in the future.
If Rogue wins he too would also be a first time winner as well here's to hoping that Trap can beat Maru I would prefer to see Rogue play against Trap.
Let's rephrase that: If Trap wins against Maru we have a guaranteed new GSL victor because both Rogue and Trap don't have it (edit> I rephrased the post you're reacting to)
On September 19 2019 04:28 Ej_ wrote:
On September 19 2019 04:22 Zephyp wrote: Rogue won so many Premier tournaments, I keep forgetting he never won a GSL. Go Log!
Matter of fact, this is the first time he ever made it past ro8. Sky is the limit for him now.
And probably Maru ;o
Question: Who are the practice partners for vMaru games? And I mean it, no other Terran ever shown such style, so who can emulate it? I believe both ROgue and Trap know MAru well enough, but still
Yeah watching that Maru’s POV of his series against RagnaroK I think even TY doesn’t get to this level of multitasking (or at least taking worse trades / macroing worse behind it).
Rogue can beat Maru with all sort of builds though, but he is probably vulnerable in standard games.
Trap has a good shot if he listens to sOs.
Pretty sure Maru said that teammates don't help each other practice for teamkills, and that they just solo ladder.
On September 19 2019 04:07 BisuDagger wrote: If trap wins the we get a new GSL winner. Which also means we are closer to having all-GSL winner round of eights in the future.
If Rogue wins he too would also be a first time winner as well here's to hoping that Trap can beat Maru I would prefer to see Rogue play against Trap.
Let's rephrase that: If Trap wins against Maru we have a guaranteed new GSL victor because both Rogue and Trap don't have it (edit> I rephrased the post you're reacting to)
On September 19 2019 04:28 Ej_ wrote:
On September 19 2019 04:22 Zephyp wrote: Rogue won so many Premier tournaments, I keep forgetting he never won a GSL. Go Log!
Matter of fact, this is the first time he ever made it past ro8. Sky is the limit for him now.
And probably Maru ;o
Question: Who are the practice partners for vMaru games? And I mean it, no other Terran ever shown such style, so who can emulate it? I believe both ROgue and Trap know MAru well enough, but still
Yeah watching that Maru’s POV of his series against RagnaroK I think even TY doesn’t get to this level of multitasking (or at least taking worse trades / macroing worse behind it).
Rogue can beat Maru with all sort of builds though, but he is probably vulnerable in standard games.
Trap has a good shot if he listens to sOs.
Pretty sure Maru said that teammates don't help each other practice for teamkills, and that they just solo ladder.
Thought it was interesting how the difficult ZvZ practice situation in Korea alluded to in the quarterfinal interviews got brought up again. Rogue thanking Solar and TRUE, Solar in particular for helping him fine-tune builds. Meanwhile, Dark just generically saying he 'practiced hard.'
Obv Dark could have prepared just as well and simply not talked about it, but it's more entertaining to believe Rogue's friendships won him the match
I have the Feeling, that whoever wins Trap v Maru, is going to be the next GSL champion. I can t see the vs Zest Rogue win against Trap, Who is way better than Offline Zest. And Maru is pretty damn good vsZ.
On September 19 2019 13:25 Waxangel wrote: Thought it was interesting how the difficult ZvZ practice situation in Korea alluded to in the quarterfinal interviews got brought up again. Rogue thanking Solar and TRUE, Solar in particular for helping him fine-tune builds. Meanwhile, Dark just generically saying he 'practiced hard.'
Obv Dark could have prepared just as well and simply not talked about it, but it's more entertaining to believe Rogue's friendships won him the match
What an awesome series. I'll admit I groaned at ZvZ but the level of mind games here was so fun to watch. The casting was a step above average too. GG Rogue
On September 20 2019 01:53 TanksALot wrote: What an awesome series. I'll admit I groaned at ZvZ but the level of mind games here was so fun to watch. The casting was a step above average too. GG Rogue
LotV ZvZ is way past the groan-inducing HotS ZvZ. If there's one mirror that makes me groan these days it's PvP.
On September 20 2019 18:27 atchosvk wrote: No interest in GSL anymore, knowing that all those guys get crushed by Serral or even by top foreigners.
Just because they d get crushed in ZvZ, doesn t mean they re all trash. In all other matchups Koreans are still better overall.
Edit: I m not only looking at Dark v Elazer to Back up my EuZvZ>KrZvZ claim, but for example also at Ragnarok v Namshar from Wardis Summer Championship yesterday. They played on equal ping and Ragnarok (a top 5 Korean Zerg) got completly dismantled by Namshar (not a top 5 EU Zerg).
On September 20 2019 20:57 kajtarp wrote: Dark who was famous for his scouting barely scouted at all in game 3 and game 4 and got surprised in both games. Very disappointing performance.
So glad to see that all six games are not just merely mass roach/ravagers. The first game is definitely the best of the series with creativity in attacks and counter-attacks.
TBH I could not help but feel that Serral or even other EU zergs would have crushed both of these guys in ZvZ...Dark is clearly a step below Serral at this point I feel.
EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/GSL/2019/codes3/s3reversalbanner.jpg)
Rogue defeating ![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/GSL/2019/codes3/gslbracket4.png)
