• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 03:53
CEST 09:53
KST 16:53
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Rough Waters10[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Siren's Call8[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Summer's End9Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2915
Community News
Weekly Cups (Sep 7-12): SHIN, ByuN, MaxPax double down1StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon98Weekly Cups (Aug 30-Sep 7): herO thrives amid growing schism10Official StarCraft website teases new content ahead of BlizzCon?179Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20)9
StarCraft 2
General
How do you feel about the StarCraft shooter announcement at BlizzCon 2026? Weekly Cups (Sep 7-12): SHIN, ByuN, MaxPax double down Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16)
Tourneys
RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 SC2 AI Tournament 2026 Fall Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament KSL Week #92
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Nexus Wars 2021 GUIDE [M] (2) Industrial Park
External Content
Mutation # 543 Enhanced Defenses The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 542 The Ascended Mutation # 541 Binary Choice
Brood War
General
BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ a Announcement on the JEDI Ringing ASL22 General Discussion Syncronization issues and can't find games [ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver
Tourneys
[ASL22] Ro16 Group D [ASL22] Ro16 Group C KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
Strategy
Replay Review Process - What do you do? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Odyssey Mineral Stack Saturation Game Theory for Starcraft
Other Games
General Games
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread EVE Corporation Diablo IV
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Post Your Watch!
Fan Clubs
MarineLorD Fan Club The Creator Fan Club The ShoWTimE Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion! Diablo Animated Series on Netflix
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Northern Ireland Global Starcraft
Blogs
[meme] I finally understa…
LUCKY_NOOB
Virtual Romance, Real-Life C…
TrAiDoS
Regacy Esports:Our Goa…
regacyesports
Dreaming of BW patches (mod…
c3rberUs
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 6633 users

Big Dark Energy - Road to BlizzCon 2019 - Page 3

Forum Index > SC2 General
80 CommentsPost a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next All
BisuDagger
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Bisutopia19384 Posts
October 13 2019 01:50 GMT
#41
Dark is player of the year imo. Especially if he wins blizzcon. Crucial ZvZ losses are the only reason why he doesn't have more golds. If he can focus strictly on that matchup then he will be the global champion.
ModeratorFormer Afreeca Starleague Caster: http://afreeca.tv/ASL2ENG2
Xain0n
Profile Joined November 2018
Italy3963 Posts
October 13 2019 02:08 GMT
#42
On October 13 2019 10:16 DomeGetta wrote:
Serral is definitely favored head to head vs dark. KR ZvZ has been behind Eu ZvZ for a while now based on Serral raising the overall level of the matchup on Eu. However, in my mind that doesnt make him a bigger favorite to win blizzcon - even in the current state of the game. Darks ZvT is the best in the world imo (3-1 Maru 4-0 TY vs Serral having much more competitive series with TY and Inno) I also like him better in matchups vs Kr Toss than Serral. In terms of overall year performance I have to give the edge to Dark who had the better year. Serral was eliminated from WESG in the finals by innovation..a player who didnt even qualify for blizzcon (due to playing in a much more competitive overall region). He also lost to Reynor twice in WCS events and soO (who is definitely this year in worse form than Dark). I see Serral/Reynor/Rogue as Darks opportunities for elimination @ blizzcon while I see Stats/Maru/Rogue/Trap/Classic/Reynor all having potential for eliminating Serral. Overall Serral is very obviously the best ZvZ player in the world right now but I think in terms of overall you would have to give Dark an edge. One Kr Terran qualifying for blizzcon and the fact that Serral is a big favorite in a head to head matchup however makes me put the odds at a coinflip between which one of them wins it.


When soO and Innovation defeated Serral in March, they were in a much better shape than they are right now; if the same Inno showed up for the rest of the year, be sure he would have qualified for Global Finals, GSL as a region has nothing to do with that.
Dark performed has been playing at quite high level for the whole year but had an outstanding performance at Super Tournament(that made him seem godlike but is he, really?)

ZvP seems to favor Zerg at the moment, Dark is performing better than usual in the matchup; in ZvT he actually seems shakier than he used to be, he looked unstoppable at ST finally beating Maru and destroying TY, but before that he barely edged out Keen, Fantasy and TY.
He may or may not be stronger than Serral in those matchups, I personally think he isn't. ZvZ is no contest, as you said.

Trap and Classic beating Serral? It's possible, of course, but it doesn't seem more likely than one of them beating Dark. Maru and Stats always made Dark sweat, they have more than a chance of eliminating him.
Dave4
Profile Joined August 2018
494 Posts
October 13 2019 03:24 GMT
#43
On October 13 2019 10:50 BisuDagger wrote:
Dark is player of the year imo. Especially if he wins blizzcon. Crucial ZvZ losses are the only reason why he doesn't have more golds. If he can focus strictly on that matchup then he will be the global champion.

I think frontrunners for player are:

1. Serral
2. Dark
3. Classic
4. Stats
5. Maru
6. Rogue

I think winner of BlizzCon has a good claim to it if it's one of the above players. Some dependence on where the above end up, e.g if Dark is 2nd and Rogue wins I'd say Dark overall. Serral probably could be player of the year with only a semi finals run imo
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33699 Posts
October 13 2019 03:33 GMT
#44
On October 13 2019 12:24 Dave4 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 13 2019 10:50 BisuDagger wrote:
Dark is player of the year imo. Especially if he wins blizzcon. Crucial ZvZ losses are the only reason why he doesn't have more golds. If he can focus strictly on that matchup then he will be the global champion.

I think frontrunners for player are:

1. Serral
2. Dark
3. Classic
4. Stats
5. Maru
6. Rogue

I think winner of BlizzCon has a good claim to it if it's one of the above players. Some dependence on where the above end up, e.g if Dark is 2nd and Rogue wins I'd say Dark overall. Serral probably could be player of the year with only a semi finals run imo


might be better to make a list of players who wouldn't win Player of the Year even if they did win BlizzCon
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
dysenterymd
Profile Joined January 2019
1250 Posts
October 13 2019 04:07 GMT
#45
Serral's been eliminated from five tournaments this year, exclusively by the future champions. By contrast, Dark has been eliminated six times, and only once by the future champion. He was eliminated by Stats in IEM (who didn't go on to win), Serral in WESG (who didn't go on to win), Classic in GSL (who didn't go on to win), Gumiho in ST 1 (who didn't go on to win), Elazer in GSL vs the world (who didn't go on to win), and finally Rogue in GSL who did go on to win. Serral's losses to Reynor could be considered less excusable, but then again, I think Reynor/Dark would be 50/50. While Serral has not been as dominant as last year, you need to be in championship form to beat him, which is not true of Dark.
Serral | Inno | sOs | soO | Has | Classic
DomeGetta
Profile Joined February 2012
480 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-10-13 06:37:27
October 13 2019 04:23 GMT
#46
On October 13 2019 13:07 dysenterymd wrote:
Serral's been eliminated from five tournaments this year, exclusively by the future champions. By contrast, Dark has been eliminated six times, and only once by the future champion. He was eliminated by Stats in IEM (who didn't go on to win), Serral in WESG (who didn't go on to win), Classic in GSL (who didn't go on to win), Gumiho in ST 1 (who didn't go on to win), Elazer in GSL vs the world (who didn't g utho on to win), and finally Rogue in GSL who did go on to win. Serral's losses to Reynor could be considered less excusable, but then again, I think Reynor/Dark would be 50/50. While Serral has not been as dominant as last year, you need to be in championship form to beat him, which is not true of Dark.


This is pretty hand wavey imo. You cant make the same arguement for WCS region as you can for Kr based tournaments. There is best case scenario 2 tournament champion contenders in WCS tournaments. GSL its about 50 percent of the field. Losing to Classic / Stats and Serral is losing to tournament champion contenders period. Whether they went on to win the tournament or not is irrelevant because presumably in these tournaments the players left are also tournament contending champions. In WCS yes very obviously if Serral didnt win Reynor was going to. The loss to Elazer is the only shocking one for Dark and as we have talked to death its his worst matchup so not that big of a surprise. If Stats beats soO in katowice your arguement is backwards etc. This is a normal part of tournaments when the field is full of contenders vs. just a couple. In contrast. Serral in tournaments w top kr entrants this year: 1 win and 3 losses (and asus rog really only a handful of top kr players entered) Dark 2 wins and 5 losses so looking a lot closer here.
Mizenhauer
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
United States1960 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-10-13 14:27:58
October 13 2019 13:23 GMT
#47
asdf
┗|∵|┓Second Place in LB 28, Third Place in LB 29 and Destined to Be a Kong
UnLarva
Profile Joined March 2019
458 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-10-13 14:21:12
October 13 2019 14:16 GMT
#48
Great article. There was some lines of the art of epic, high fantasy poetry there:

"Year after year, It's been the same story: Dark is the fire-breathing dragon in someone else's fairy tale. Even as the 2019 Global Finals beckons as the opportunity for ultimate redemption, I have to wonder whose turn it will be to plunge his sword past Dark's armored scales and into his heart, and by his blood be anointed.

If there's a chance that this year is any different, it will be because Dark is no longer the most terrifying monster in the dungeon."


Love it!

My hopes are still put to the scenario where Blizzcon Ro4 group would be containing only top Zergs, Dark naturally being one of them. That, Not because I wouldn't like see other matchups too, but because that way we all would need hear LESS imba whining afterwards about legitimacy of the title, it's worth and prestige as the race balance aspect would've then removed from the last phases of the tournament, reducing (or should I say, ascending) competition to a question of pure skill and grit between mechanically balanced, symmetric matchups.

Reynor -Dark
Serral - Rogue

A series of dragon fights in a dungeon for who is the most terrifying.

In good fantasy literature you however cannot ever know what is going to happen, and its very well possible there will be PvT Ro4 carnivals of joy and happiness when these kind of Hobbits gather around the village oak to wonder how they even managed to travel so near Isengard across all that damn creep.
Part-time Serralogist
Elentos
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
55594 Posts
October 13 2019 14:38 GMT
#49
You're absolutely crazy to think people wouldn't whine about a Zerg winning Blizzcon from an all-Zerg Ro4.
Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes.
UnLarva
Profile Joined March 2019
458 Posts
October 13 2019 14:43 GMT
#50
On October 13 2019 23:38 Elentos wrote:
You're absolutely crazy to think people wouldn't whine about a Zerg winning Blizzcon from an all-Zerg Ro4.


Yeah. I maybe crazy, but at least nobody could use imba-arguments and depict race imbalance as a deciding factor of a result of the Finals matchup.

No doubt, there will be enormous crying all around, but that gonna happen in every conceivable scenario anyway. I only hope that who ever the Blizzcon champion will be, he is not obliged to cater public opinion by downplaying his own achievement. And that kind of purity of victory can be achieved only if Finals are mirror matchup, ZvZ being currently most probable scenario for that due obvious reasons.
Part-time Serralogist
Ej_
Profile Blog Joined January 2013
47656 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-10-13 15:01:57
October 13 2019 15:01 GMT
#51
On October 13 2019 23:43 UnLarva wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 13 2019 23:38 Elentos wrote:
You're absolutely crazy to think people wouldn't whine about a Zerg winning Blizzcon from an all-Zerg Ro4.


Yeah. I maybe crazy, but at least nobody could use imba-arguments and depict race imbalance as a deciding factor of a result of the Finals matchup.

No doubt, there will be enormous crying all around, but that gonna happen in every conceivable scenario anyway. I only hope that who ever the Blizzcon champion will be, he is not obliged to cater public opinion by downplaying his own achievement. And that kind of purity of victory can be achieved only if Finals are mirror matchup, ZvZ being currently most probable scenario for that due obvious reasons.

Wait, you are saying that it's good that Zerg is OP, because then the tournament winner won't win due to imbalance?
"Technically the dictionary has zero authority on the meaning or words" - Rodya
UnLarva
Profile Joined March 2019
458 Posts
October 13 2019 15:05 GMT
#52
On October 14 2019 00:01 Ej_ wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 13 2019 23:43 UnLarva wrote:
On October 13 2019 23:38 Elentos wrote:
You're absolutely crazy to think people wouldn't whine about a Zerg winning Blizzcon from an all-Zerg Ro4.


Yeah. I maybe crazy, but at least nobody could use imba-arguments and depict race imbalance as a deciding factor of a result of the Finals matchup.

No doubt, there will be enormous crying all around, but that gonna happen in every conceivable scenario anyway. I only hope that who ever the Blizzcon champion will be, he is not obliged to cater public opinion by downplaying his own achievement. And that kind of purity of victory can be achieved only if Finals are mirror matchup, ZvZ being currently most probable scenario for that due obvious reasons.

Wait, you are saying that it's good that Zerg is OP, because then the tournament winner won't win due to imbalance?


No, its not good that any race is OP. And what comes to imbalance favoring Zerg, Serral has indicated that indirectly, and Rogue has said it openly. I just take their comments as face value.

Otherwise I think my comments above doesn't require any further explanations about their rationale.

Part-time Serralogist
terribleplayer1
Profile Joined July 2018
95 Posts
October 13 2019 20:21 GMT
#53
So far most we've had is 2 Zerg in the ro4, and 4 Zerg in the ro8 on foreigner land.

GSL vs World was 2 Zerg in ro8.

Issue is you still need to be really good as Zerg to do well in current meta, which wasnt the case with the Protoss 2 base all ins earlier in the year (7 of 8 Protoss in a ro8).
Harris1st
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Germany7402 Posts
October 14 2019 12:44 GMT
#54
I really like Dark. He always reminds me of MC Brings some personality to the table
Go Serral! GG EZ for Ence. Flashbang dance FTW
Fango
Profile Joined July 2016
United Kingdom8987 Posts
October 14 2019 14:28 GMT
#55
On October 13 2019 10:50 BisuDagger wrote:
Dark is player of the year imo. Especially if he wins blizzcon. Crucial ZvZ losses are the only reason why he doesn't have more golds. If he can focus strictly on that matchup then he will be the global champion.

He should have been player of the year in 2016 as well but TL seems to weight the blizzcon title very heavily. Although they didn't give POTY to Rogue in 2017, who by 2016/2018 standards would have won it as well.

As far as this year goes, he definitely wins WeSG, GSL vs The World, and GSL season 3 if not for his ZvZ.
Zest, sOs, PartinG, Dark, and Maru are the real champs. ROOT_herO is overrated. Snute, Serral, and Scarlett are the foreigner GOATs
Xain0n
Profile Joined November 2018
Italy3963 Posts
October 14 2019 14:52 GMT
#56
On October 14 2019 23:28 Fango wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 13 2019 10:50 BisuDagger wrote:
Dark is player of the year imo. Especially if he wins blizzcon. Crucial ZvZ losses are the only reason why he doesn't have more golds. If he can focus strictly on that matchup then he will be the global champion.

He should have been player of the year in 2016 as well but TL seems to weight the blizzcon title very heavily. Although they didn't give POTY to Rogue in 2017, who by 2016/2018 standards would have won it as well.

As far as this year goes, he definitely wins WeSG, GSL vs The World, and GSL season 3 if not for his ZvZ.


Lol, just no.
AT WESG, Zerg had no real answer to Terran's nukespam in the lategame, Inno would have won that title anyway.
Dark was eliminated in the ro16 at GSL vs the World, there is no way he "definitely" wins it.
Given Trap's PvZ, Dark would have most likely beaten him again in the finals.
Elentos
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
55594 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-10-14 16:57:35
October 14 2019 16:53 GMT
#57
On October 14 2019 23:52 Xain0n wrote:
AT WESG, Zerg had no real answer to Terran's nukespam in the lategame, Inno would have won that title anyway.

Inno just barely beat Serral, who was ill during the entirety of WESG, because the build orders ended up working out in his favor. There was only 1 late game with nukes, and Serral won that. I'm pretty confident Inno would have never reached the finals if he had to play Dark in the Ro8 (whereas I think it's still likely Serral would have made it to the finals playing Lambo and Maru). He lost to soO in Code S, then Solar, Rogue and Ragnarok at IEM. The matches vs Serral are basically his only high profile TvZ wins all year.
Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes.
fgonzo
Profile Joined September 2019
108 Posts
October 14 2019 17:13 GMT
#58
Where are those flipping cards with the players' headshots?
Xain0n
Profile Joined November 2018
Italy3963 Posts
October 14 2019 18:19 GMT
#59
On October 15 2019 01:53 Elentos wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 14 2019 23:52 Xain0n wrote:
AT WESG, Zerg had no real answer to Terran's nukespam in the lategame, Inno would have won that title anyway.

Inno just barely beat Serral, who was ill during the entirety of WESG, because the build orders ended up working out in his favor. There was only 1 late game with nukes, and Serral won that.


Don't you think it's ironic you feel the need of telling this to me? Serral should have won, we agree. If you had expressed that opinion right after WESG you would have been accused of looking for excuses.

In my opinion, Inno would have beaten Dark; if they faced in the ro8, Dark wouldn't have won the tournament anyway since he would have met Maru.

In any of case, Dark hypothetically having a godlike ZvZ wouldn't have necessarily led to a WESG title as Fango implies.
Nakajin
Profile Blog Joined September 2014
Canada8991 Posts
October 14 2019 18:26 GMT
#60
On October 15 2019 02:13 fgonzo wrote:
Where are those flipping cards with the players' headshots?


Most importantly, where's the medieval fantasy fanfic?
Writerhttp://i.imgur.com/9p6ufcB.jpg
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 3h 7m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
ProTech166
OGKoka 101
StarCraft: Brood War
Shuttle 2984
GuemChi 422
Mong 96
Soma 47
Aegong 33
NaDa 29
Noble 11
ajuk12(nOOB) 9
Britney 0
League of Legends
JimRising 559
Reynor115
Other Games
summit1g11958
ceh9577
Happy540
Mew2King208
Sick75
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick783
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH382
• LUISG 7
• Letter145
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 1
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota2255
League of Legends
• Rush1505
• Stunt431
Upcoming Events
IntoTheTV X SOOP
3h 7m
Cure vs SHIN
herO vs Solar
Percival vs Classic
ByuN vs Rogue
OSC
14h 7m
Replay Cast
16h 7m
IntoTheTV X SOOP
1d 3h
Replay Cast
1d 16h
GSL
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
GSL
3 days
Shopify Rebellion Sundays
3 days
Spirit vs Mixu
Replay Cast
3 days
[ Show More ]
Afreeca Starleague
4 days
Shine vs Rush
WardiTV Weekly
4 days
Monday Night Weeklies
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Light vs EffOrt
PiGosaur Cup
5 days
Kung Fu Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #5 - TRS
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Big Dog Cup 2026 Div 1

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
K-JUNGMAN
ASL Season 22
Super Anchor Qualifying S3
CSL 2026 AUTUMN (S22)
Acropolis #5
Calamity Invitational
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026

Upcoming

Acropolis #5 - GSA
Acropolis #5 - GSB
Acropolis #5 - GSC
SC4ALL II: Brood War
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
Copium Cup
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.