As a Dark fan, it feels like this should be a time for celebration. The 2019 season of WCS Korea just concluded, and it may very well have been the best one of Dark's career. He finally won that bedeviling Code S title, a focal point for criticism in an otherwise dazzling career. He reached the top four in two Code S tournaments, and managed to finish in the semis of IEM Katowice as well. He wrapped up the 2019 GSL season with one of the most impressive tournament runs in recent memory, defeating defeating Maru, Stats, soO, and TY with a combined 13-2 map score to win Super Tournament 2.
All this has earned Dark the #1 seed from WCS Korea headed into the Global Finals, the second time he's won this honor. We often emphasize how it's the players with momentum who do well at BlizzCon, not necessarily the ones with the best resume on the year—Dark seems to have both angles covered. On top of everything, the Zerg faction seems to be as strong as ever, with top players readily admitting that balance is on their side. Indeed, Dark and his fans should be filled with optimism.
And maybe that IS how most Dark fans feel. But for me, a pall has hung over this entire year, dampening any sense of anticipation or excitement. Even the Code S championship had some of its sense of fulfillment ever-so-slightly diminished. The problem is, all of the expectations for Dark were re-calibrated in 2018, when one Joona Sotala became the best player in StarCraft II.
*****
When Dark met Serral in the quarterfinals of IEM Katowice 2017, they produced one of my favorite series of all time. If TL.net's best games lists are for thrilling blockbusters (and occasional comedy), then this series was an art-house movie about bleakness and futility, etched onto film with acid and blood. For the up-and-coming prodigy from Finland, his mere greatness was simply not enough to contend against Dark's godliness. Dark's 3-0 sweep was the perfect encapsulation of the cruelty and hopelessness of being a foreigner in StarCraft II, and was win number 29 in what would become a 34 match undefeated streak against foreigners.
Future events have only served to make this match all the more meaningful. It's not that it was a galvanizing event—Serral didn't think much of it when I asked him about it. But it feels like an important historical marker, the low point before everything changed forever. Or, from Dark's point of view, it was the high point before the fall.
Dark has never defeated Serral since IEM Katowice 2017. In fact, he's actually been Serral's most high-profile victim since his awakening and ascent to StarCraft II legend in 2018. Twice, Dark was offered up his typical, brash comments before Serral crushed him on the way to historic championships. "I don't know why [other Koreans] lose to foreigners" he said, before losing 1-3 to Serral at GSL vs. The World. "I want to avenge my loss in GSL vs. the World ... I think Serral is the weakest player among [Rogue, Serral, and Maru] so that’s why I want to play Serral." he said, being swept 3-0 by Serral in the quarterfinals of BlizzCon 2018. Dark's head is figuratively mounted to Serral's wall, almost a separate trophy in itself (presumably with the numbers "34-1" engraved on a plaque beneath it).
The reason Serral intrudes so rudely upon Dark's story is because he's why I couldn't be 100% satisfied when Dark finally won Code S. In the past, much of Code S' significance came from the fact that winning the championship made you the de facto best player in the world. And while Code S might still boast the overall most competitive roster and rigorous format of any premiere tournament, Serral's success against Korean players has been so great that it's managed to dull some of its luster. In short: what's the point of winning Code S if it doesn't make you the undisputed, absolute best in the world?
Alright, the money is pretty important, too (just ask INnoVation). But the symbolic value of a championship isn't entirely lost upon progamers (just ask Serral or Neeb). After all, who chases trophies just for the sake of winning trophies?—it's also about earning what they represent. When a young Dark said he wanted to win 10 individual championships back in 2015, the implication wasn't that he liked the decorative value of silverware—it was that he wanted to become the greatest player of all time.
After BlizzCon 2018, Dark's tone on Serral changed considerably. "I'll work harder next year to grow as a player and get better results, and try to take on Serral as the challenger."he wrote on his fan community board. After winning the Super Tournament 2 last week, his reaction was staid, staying diplomatic about his chances of beating Serral in a Global Finals rematch.
Such comments suggest that Dark has never really been so much arrogant as he was simply speaking his mind. Digging up Dark's interview after his very first Proleague win in 2014, I came across this amusingly telling quote:
Q.Why were you so confident you'd win today? Originally I had confidence against Terran. But in practice I ended up losing quite a bit. I was a bit anxious versing Terrans but since my opponent was Dream I was able to relax a bit.
Q. Do you really mean to say that you think Dream is a weak player? Yes, exactly. I watched him in the preliminaries [GSL] so that's how i know.
Indeed, there might have been a time early in Dark's career when he wasn't getting interviewed because he wasn't winning matches, but I imagine he would have been brutally frank about his skill-level if anyone had asked back then. When he felt that he was the best player in StarCraft II, he spoke honestly as one might from that position. And now that it's ceased to be the case, he's admitted as much. After Super Tournament 2, he also spoke matter-of-factly about his priorities: ZvZ, Serral, BlizzCon.
While I'm wary about assuming what's going on inside progamers heads, I think all of this suggests Dark feels as many of his fans feel (or at least as I do). Winning Code S is fantastic. Winning Super Tournament is pretty good, too. But ever since 2018, the path to complete validation was always going to go through Serral. Already, he's missed a chance to atone at WESG. In 2019, the last opportunity to earn that validation will be at BlizzCon.
*****
The 2016 WCS Global Finals already feels like ancient history. 2016 saw Dark continue his growth after a breakout 2015 when he won Proleague rookie-of-the-year, achieving individual success by winning SSL Season 1 and placing runner-up in season 2 (lest one has forgotten the standing of the old StarCraft 2 Starleague, the champion won exactly as much prize money and WCS Korea points as the Code S champion).
Dark headed into the Global Finals as Korea's #1 seed in 2016 as well, having been the best all-around player that year. Alas, Dark turned out to be the antagonist in ByuN's underdog saga—the ultimate story of the right man, in the right place, at the right time, with the right strategy—losing 2-4 in the finals.
I remember vainly thinking at the time 'Dark should have won,' soon followed by 'these chances just don't get gifted to you. It may never come again.' Still, in November of 2016, if I had to pick any player to maintain the consistent excellence required to return to the BlizzCon finals, I would have picked Dark. He was potentially the most complete, all-around excellent Zerg player I had ever seen, and he seemed sure to be able to navigate any meta, patch, or map pool and rise to the top.
Unfortunately, these expectations have only half borne out. He was, indeed, consistently excellent enough to return to the Global Finals in every following year. But his actual results have been nothing to be proud of, at least by the standards of someone aspiring to be the best in the world. In 2017, he was ousted in the group stage by Elazer, a young, break-out star of the WCS Circuit. In 2018 he lost to Serral, who was making a historic run for all of foreigner-kind.
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. After suffering a shock defeat to Elazer in GSL vs. The World, Dark said he had practiced like crazy. It didn't avail against him Rogue in Code S Season 3, but he still has some time to spare before the Global Finals. Unusual as it may seem, the #1 seed from Korea enters the tournament as the underdog. I hope that this time, he can exit the tournament the hero.
Dark has been doing well, but for some reason I can't imagine him in the Blizzcon finals. Maybe that does have to do with his constant losses against Serral, even though losing in a mirror matchup doesn't necessarily have the same impact as losing in a non-mirror one. I'll be glad to be proven wrong though.
On October 12 2019 12:22 Mahanaim wrote: Dark has been doing well, but for some reason I can't imagine him in the Blizzcon finals. I'll be glad to be proven wrong though.
ZvZ is his only weakness, this article feels overly negative about Dark but that will probably be the most important matchup for winning Blizzcon...
Nice article; I was looking forward to the return of the Road to Blizzcon series. It's a shame that there are no WCS Signature series videos for this year though.
I'm hoping for either Dark or Stats to take the Blizzcon title.
Based on form though I think Serral has like a 1/3 chance of winning, Dark has like 1/6, Rogue, Maru, Stats are around 1/10 and then the rest have lower chances.
Can't say I'm a Dark fan (because KT is best KT) but at this point he feels to me like the last warrior of the bygone golden age of Korean Starcraft 2, the only one who's got both the skills and the guts to dominate and rekt nerds. I used to laugh at Dark's arrogance whenever he lost to a foreigner in the recent years yet now I really hope to see more of it because we may never get the chance to see another one just like him, especially with the great '92 generation retiring soon. Maru's got the skills but not the guts and PartinG the guts but not the skills.
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.
Aww yeah. This series of articles is always a fun read.
I hope every single one of them characterizes the player in terms of Serral or their Serral storyline. The cherry on top would of course be Serral unceremoniously losing in the Ro16.
On October 12 2019 13:54 ZigguratOfUr wrote: I hope every single one of them characterizes the player in terms of Serral or their Serral storyline. The cherry on top would of course be Serral unceremoniously losing in the Ro16.
Dark has never defeated Serral since IEM Katowice 2017. In fact, he's actually been Serral's most high-profile victim since his awakening and ascent to StarCraft II legend in 2018.
Or how about Stats? After all, Serral defeated Stats in the finals of the first two tournaments he won against Korean competition in 2018-GSL vs. the World and BlizzCon.
He was potentially the most complete, all-around excellent Zerg player I had ever seen, and he seemed sure to be able to navigate any meta, patch, or map pool and rise to the top.
Funny, I suppose soO or Life never played the game. Guess their generational talent don't measure up because they didn't have the luxury of an 8 armor ultralisk to which they could rush to off three bases every ZvT. (one could justifiably argue they weren't that great in the lategame, but again, 8 armor ultralisk). Not to mention the fact that Dark had only been the best Zerg in Korea for one year (aka one major patch, one meta). Before that he was firmly behind soO, ByuL, Solar and even Rogue, who despite having never advanced past the quarterfinals of Code S or SSL, was definitely a better player than Dark, even with his pair of KeSPA Cup runner up finishes.
On October 12 2019 13:54 ZigguratOfUr wrote: Aww yeah. This series of articles is always a fun read.
I hope every single one of them characterizes the player in terms of Serral or their Serral storyline. The cherry on top would of course be Serral unceremoniously losing in the Ro16.
I have to say I like the total subverting of expectations so that would be quite funny!
Dark has never defeated Serral since IEM Katowice 2017. In fact, he's actually been Serral's most high-profile victim since his awakening and ascent to StarCraft II legend in 2018.
Or how about Stats? After all, Serral defeated Stats in the finals of the first two tournaments he won against Korean competition in 2018-GSL vs. the World and BlizzCon.
He was potentially the most complete, all-around excellent Zerg player I had ever seen, and he seemed sure to be able to navigate any meta, patch, or map pool and rise to the top.
Funny, I suppose soO or Life never played the game. Guess their generational talent don't measure up because they didn't have the luxury of an 8 armor ultralisk to which they could rush to off three bases every ZvT. (one could justifiably argue they weren't that great in the lategame, but again, 8 armor ultralisk). Not to mention the fact that Dark had only been the best Zerg in Korea for one year (aka one major patch, one meta). Before that he was firmly behind soO, ByuL, Solar and even Rogue, who despite having never advanced past the quarterfinals of Code S or SSL, was definitely a better player than Dark, even with his pair of KeSPA Cup runner up finishes.
Good point about stats. I was thinking more from the POV of who got the more "LOL DUNKED" responses from the community at large, which Dark really invited upon himself with his comments. Weirdly enough, it's always felt like the Stats rivalry was more low-key, despite the stakes.
I dunno that I'd call soO 'complete,' even if he was a fantastic player with his comparativrly lopsided skillset. Life I can agree on; maybe it's a matter of subjective taste there.
I'm not sure I really follow the main line of this article. All players have matchups that they are better at than others, and most championship runs involve at least some bracket luck - that just comes with the format. Players are never up against every single top player of every race.
I feel like the article takes too much away from Dark's accomplishments this year. For me he's clearly in pole position to be POTY at this point.
On October 12 2019 18:06 sneakyfox wrote: I'm not sure I really follow the main line of this article. All players have matchups that they are better at than others, and most championship runs involve at least some bracket luck - that just comes with the format. Players are never up against every single top player of every race.
I feel like the article takes too much away from Dark's accomplishments this year. For me he's clearly in pole position to be POTY at this point.
"Clearly" in pole position? Let me doubt it. He's a strong contender.
On October 12 2019 18:06 sneakyfox wrote: I'm not sure I really follow the main line of this article. All players have matchups that they are better at than others, and most championship runs involve at least some bracket luck - that just comes with the format. Players are never up against every single top player of every race.
I feel like the article takes too much away from Dark's accomplishments this year. For me he's clearly in pole position to be POTY at this point.
I think right now, Dark does have best results this year but Serral has looked like the stronger player. So far, no one dominated super hard this year unlike in 2018 but if Dark wins this Blizzcon, I'd say this is one of the best runs in SC2 history.
So Dark's year is meaningless because he lost one close series to Serral in march, despite the fact that he got more points than Serral in a more competitive circuit? What a stupid article.
I remember when the point of these was to get people excited for every player going into Blizzcon, rather than being all about fan-boying over one player.
I sense some hesitation on this article, because I'm Dark fan too and I do hesitate despite he finally got Code S and made an excellent Super Tournament 2. Of course my reasons could be a bit different, but Dark used to be an absolute monster and he got the best hyper late game before Maru's revival last year. But my point is that Dark was in a perfect shape when Starcraft 2 was more competitive (at least in Korea) than now. Gotta say the same for TY, but this is another story. So Dark has the best statistics from all Koreans this year and he is like far ahead than anyone but I'm still uncertain: Is he really the best and is he really ready for the Grand Finals trophy? He's more with the potential of a semi-finalist than having a faith that he will take it all. Good luck for this incredible guy!
I do largely agree with the article and about Dark situation comming into Blizzcon, he should be the favorite to win it all, but yet I don't see it, it dosen't feel like it's his time.
Dark is the #1 player right now. I don't think either Rogue or Serral are capable of matching his run at super tournament (3-1 Maru, 3-1 Stats, 3-0 soO, 4-0 TY).
That being said, this blizzcon will entirely come down to ZvZ. And in that department both Serral and Rogue have the upper hand. His unfathomably strong TvZ will be irrelevent.
On October 12 2019 22:47 Nakajin wrote: I do largely agree with the article and about Dark situation comming into Blizzcon, he should be the favorite to win it all, but yet I don't see it, it dosen't feel like it's his time.
Probably because his weakest match-up is ZvZ and deep down everyone thinks the top 4 of Blizzcon will be 4 Zergs.
On October 12 2019 22:47 Nakajin wrote: I do largely agree with the article and about Dark situation comming into Blizzcon, he should be the favorite to win it all, but yet I don't see it, it dosen't feel like it's his time.
Probably because his weakest match-up is ZvZ and deep down everyone thinks the top 4 of Blizzcon will be 4 Zergs.
On October 12 2019 22:47 Nakajin wrote: I do largely agree with the article and about Dark situation comming into Blizzcon, he should be the favorite to win it all, but yet I don't see it, it dosen't feel like it's his time.
Probably because his weakest match-up is ZvZ and deep down everyone thinks the top 4 of Blizzcon will be 4 Zergs.
Nice article, that title is a really good representation of Dark haha
I think the fact that he lost pretty one-sidedly against Rogue makes people kind of disregard him against the likes of Serral in BlizzCon, even when his other matchups are so good
On October 12 2019 22:47 Nakajin wrote: I do largely agree with the article and about Dark situation comming into Blizzcon, he should be the favorite to win it all, but yet I don't see it, it dosen't feel like it's his time.
Probably because his weakest match-up is ZvZ and deep down everyone thinks the top 4 of Blizzcon will be 4 Zergs.
Nah it will be three zergs and a toss
Just call him Stats.
That does seem like the case on paper, but Blizzcon never seems to go the way we expect. Though, that BO5 group stage....
On October 12 2019 22:47 Nakajin wrote: I do largely agree with the article and about Dark situation comming into Blizzcon, he should be the favorite to win it all, but yet I don't see it, it dosen't feel like it's his time.
Probably because his weakest match-up is ZvZ and deep down everyone thinks the top 4 of Blizzcon will be 4 Zergs.
Nah it will be three zergs and a toss
Just call him Stats.
That does seem like the case on paper, but Blizzcon never seems to go the way we expect. Though, that BO5 group stage....
Well the first thing I'd expect to happen is Blizzard announcing the Blizzcon groups before we know the full lineup for HSC XX. But at this rate maybe not.
Dark is probably the best player in the world right now in terms of raw skill but Zerg being overpowered right now actually actively hurts his chances of winning this event because of ZvZ. In my opinion if Infestor/Broodlord was nerfed right now he would be by far the best Zerg in the world.
On October 13 2019 02:59 JJH777 wrote: Dark is probably the best player in the world right now in terms of raw skill but Zerg being overpowered right now actually actively hurts his chances of winning this event because of ZvZ. In my opinion if Infestor/Broodlord was nerfed right now he would be by far the best Zerg in the world.
yeah Dark seems to be least reliant on broodlord infestor of all zerg
On October 13 2019 02:59 JJH777 wrote: Dark is probably the best player in the world right now in terms of raw skill but Zerg being overpowered right now actually actively hurts his chances of winning this event because of ZvZ. In my opinion if Infestor/Broodlord was nerfed right now he would be by far the best Zerg in the world.
Just like last year, right? Only abusing Broodlords and Infestors Serral can hope to outshine Dark. Open your eyes, please.
On October 13 2019 02:59 JJH777 wrote: Dark is probably the best player in the world right now in terms of raw skill but Zerg being overpowered right now actually actively hurts his chances of winning this event because of ZvZ. In my opinion if Infestor/Broodlord was nerfed right now he would be by far the best Zerg in the world.
Just like last year, right? Only abusing Broodlords and Infestors Serral can hope to outshine Dark. Open your eyes, please.
Dark's ZvT and ZvP eclipse Serral's, but I think Serral is the far better ZvZ player
Dark's head is figuratively mounted to Serral's wall, almost a separate trophy in itself (presumably with the numbers "34-1" engraved on a plaque beneath it).
Hahaha! That made LOL so hard I nearly choked on my sandwich.
What I'd personally really like to see is Dark getting beat by Neeb.
On October 13 2019 02:59 JJH777 wrote: Dark is probably the best player in the world right now in terms of raw skill but Zerg being overpowered right now actually actively hurts his chances of winning this event because of ZvZ. In my opinion if Infestor/Broodlord was nerfed right now he would be by far the best Zerg in the world.
Just like last year, right? Only abusing Broodlords and Infestors Serral can hope to outshine Dark. Open your eyes, please.
Dark's ZvT and ZvP eclipse Serral's, but I think Serral is the far better ZvZ player
After what Serral demonstrated at GSL vs TheWorld it's a little bit hard to say honestly. He just outplayed Trap Classic and TY most of these games was pretty close to masterclasses. They all 3 played well but they all 3 looked pretty helpless in most of the games. And same in the last HSC when he lost only to Stats in groop stages and 3 games against TY in the final but all the others games was just demonstrations of strenghs by Serral no one really made him sweat at all. And in WCS he was close to a perfect score playing all 3 matchups. He look so almost untuchable only Stats in godmode managed to beat him and it was very close.
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.
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.
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.
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 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
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 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You can't be serious with this one. Do you really have the mindset that because Serral lost to INno that any other zerg would?
"no real answer to terran's nukespam" where the hell is this coming from? The only game at WeSG that even went to the lategame Serral won. Dark even 3-0'd INno in the WeSG Korea qualifiers, and also won his last 8 series against INno. While INno has lost almost every high profile TvZ this year outside of vs Serral.
As for GSL vs the World, imagine thinking Dark wouldn't beat TIME and Neeb....
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.
You can't be serious with this one. Do you really have the mindset that because Serral lost to INno that any other zerg would?
"no real answer to terran's nukespam" where the hell is this coming from? The only game at WeSG that even went to the lategame Serral won. Dark even 3-0'd INno in the WeSG Korea qualifiers, and also won his last 8 series against INno. While INno has lost almost every high profile TvZ this year outside of vs Serral.
As for GSL vs the World, imagine thinking Dark wouldn't beat TIME and Neeb....
Serral's has 58.62% (62.69% overall) ZvT win rate against Koreans offline from beginning of this year while Dark has 71.1% ZvT winrate (68.80% overall) in same period. Serral did have tougher Korean opponents but 12% difference is very significant. Rogue has 67.65% vs-Korean offline winrate this year too and 66.67% in ZvT (although he only played 27 ZvT games). Serral is still the favourite to win and his odds of doing so are probably close to as good as in 2018. However, I would say the Korean playing field this year is a lot more level so there are more competitors that will give him a run for his money.
[QUOTE]On October 15 2019 12:27 Anc13nt wrote: [QUOTE]On October 15 2019 12:13 Fango wrote: [QUOTE]On October 14 2019 23:52 Xain0n wrote: [QUOTE]On October 14 2019 23:28 Fango wrote: [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.[/QUOTE] 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. [/QUOTE]
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. [/QUOTE] You can't be serious with this one. Do you really have the mindset that because Serral lost to INno that any other zerg would?
"no real answer to terran's nukespam" where the hell is this coming from? The only game at WeSG that even went to the lategame Serral won. Dark even 3-0'd INno in the WeSG Korea qualifiers, and also won his last 8 series against INno. While INno has lost almost every high profile TvZ this year outside of vs Serral.
As for GSL vs the World, imagine thinking Dark wouldn't beat TIME and Neeb....
Serral's has 58.62% (62.69% overall) ZvT win rate against Koreans offline from beginning of this year while Dark has 71.1% ZvT winrate (68.80% overall) in same period. Serral did have tougher Korean opponents but 12% difference is very significant. I think Dark would have beaten INnoVation 4-2 in WESG finals tbh, especially considering he 3-0'd him in the qualifiers.
[QUOTE/] It makes very good sense that Dark should have stronger ZvT and ZvP(to a lesser degree) for the same reason that Serral has stronger ZvZ. Its the strength of their competiton based on region lock. Imagine trying to practice for ZvT as Serral..or even ZvZ as Dark(to a lesser degree). Theres maybe 1 or 2 players Dark can go to getting good work and its not Serral level...its even worse for Serral - there is no one on Eu that can even be put in the same class as Maru or Inno when hes in form. I would honestly be curious what he does. Its like no one pointed out that region lock will slow the overall evolution of the game or something...darwin who?
Between IEM Katowice and Super Tournament I, in ZvT Dark beat Bunny and Cure and lost to Maru and Gumiho; not exactly the unstoppable juggernaut in the matchup he usually is. Inno was on point at WESG, I think he would have won but, in any of case, Dark winning wouldn't have been a foregone conclusion as you all seem to be persuaded of.
Does your mental exercise consist of removing Serral or giving Dark an autowin over him? In the first case, Dark should have defeated Classic at GSL vs the World, not an easy task; if you choose the second option, I agree he would most likely have beaten TIME(whose TvZ was on fire in August) and Neeb.
Dark being better than Serral in ZvT and ZvP because of the environment would indeed make perfect sense. However, how would you explain Serral having by far the best ZvP in the world last year when he was dominating? I understand why you guys think Dark's ZvT is superior(I am less impressed by it this year, look at the series against Keen and Fantasy for example) but I fail to see why you consider his ZvP to be better. Because he defeated Stats once?
As for koreans fielded at BlizzCon being scarier this year(for Serral, especially), I don't think so. Maru is significantly worse than last year, the same goes for Stats(even if he fares better against Serral); Zerg are stronger, Dark and Rogue are indeed scarier(but Serral should have the upper hand anyway in a mirror) while soO seems out of shape. Protoss are struggling this patch so while Trap and herO should probably be scarier now than sOs and Zest last year, their chances appear to be slim. Classic's 2019 was arguably better than his 2018 but at the moment he doesn't look scarier than he was last year. TY seemed definitely stronger in 2018.
''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. After suffering a shock defeat to Elazer in GSL vs. The World, Dark said he had practiced like crazy. It didn't avail against him Rogue in Code S Season 3, but he still has some time to spare before the Global Finals. Unusual as it may seem, the #1 seed from Korea enters the tournament as the underdog. I hope that this time, he can exit the tournament the hero.''
He would have exited the hero if he played T or P, but he won as the Terrifying monster, which is something.
As a total noob in this game and fan of Dark, I wonder what are the aspects of Dark's gameplay that make him so good at this game. It's easier to pinpoint why for players like INnovation, Maru and Serral, who have unrelenting macro, really good micro and multitasking respectively. For Dark, he just makes his opponents look pretty bad, kind of like Rogue.
On November 02 2019 18:04 Anc13nt wrote: As a total noob in this game and fan of Dark, I wonder what are the aspects of Dark's gameplay that make him so good at this game. It's easier to pinpoint why for players like INnovation, Maru and Serral, who have unrelenting macro, really good micro and multitasking respectively. For Dark, he just makes his opponents look pretty bad, kind of like Rogue.
Congrats to Dark! I think even though he had been smashing Korea during the latter half of this year, a lot pf people including myself were counting him out of winning BlizzCon due to his bad record against Serral.
I guess then the answer is to win without playing a game against him
On November 02 2019 19:49 Akio wrote: Congrats to Dark! I think even though he had been smashing Korea during the latter half of this year, a lot pf people including myself were counting him out of winning BlizzCon due to his bad record against Serral.
I guess then the answer is to win without playing a game against him
Let aside the history between Dark and Serral, from what i saw today, Serral would have had no chance vs Dark if he'd won vs Reynor in the semi.
On November 02 2019 19:49 Akio wrote: Congrats to Dark! I think even though he had been smashing Korea during the latter half of this year, a lot pf people including myself were counting him out of winning BlizzCon due to his bad record against Serral.
I guess then the answer is to win without playing a game against him
Let aside the history between Dark and Serral, from what i saw today, Serral would have had no chance vs Dark if he'd won vs Reynor in the semi.
I think a Serral vs Dark BO7 series would've been way more interesting than a Reynor vs Dark BO7 series that we ended up with. Serral usually knows how to adapt during a series. Having said that, I'm really looking forward to what Reynor will come up with next year. Possible 2020 WCS champion?
On November 02 2019 19:49 Akio wrote: Congrats to Dark! I think even though he had been smashing Korea during the latter half of this year, a lot pf people including myself were counting him out of winning BlizzCon due to his bad record against Serral.
I guess then the answer is to win without playing a game against him
Let aside the history between Dark and Serral, from what i saw today, Serral would have had no chance vs Dark if he'd won vs Reynor in the semi.
No chance, lol. It's more like that maybe Dark would have had a real shot against Serral this time, but I'm not even sure of that.
On November 02 2019 19:49 Akio wrote: Congrats to Dark! I think even though he had been smashing Korea during the latter half of this year, a lot pf people including myself were counting him out of winning BlizzCon due to his bad record against Serral.
I guess then the answer is to win without playing a game against him
Let aside the history between Dark and Serral, from what i saw today, Serral would have had no chance vs Dark if he'd won vs Reynor in the semi.
No chance, lol. It's more like that maybe Dark would have had a real shot against Serral this time, but I'm not even sure of that.
Serral couldn't get through the guy that was destroyed by Dark so we will never know!
I can't really remember or point out any mistake Dark did all way long until he grabbed the trophy, he felt untouchable. After getting so many 2nd places it's neat his efforts paid off.
On November 02 2019 18:04 Anc13nt wrote: As a total noob in this game and fan of Dark, I wonder what are the aspects of Dark's gameplay that make him so good at this game. It's easier to pinpoint why for players like INnovation, Maru and Serral, who have unrelenting macro, really good micro and multitasking respectively. For Dark, he just makes his opponents look pretty bad, kind of like Rogue.
Dark and Rogue play pretty differently but I know what you mean. Seems mostly to come down to lots of weird timings and constant aggression. His trademark baneling waddle-bys that almost never do damage, his dizzying array of mediocre win rate all ins, and random batches of ling bane pressure that never makes sense (his 55 drone ling bane against Stargate in ZvP seems to be the latest example, the random win against stats in GSL ST and loss against showtime).
It really makes the opponents hesitate to attack, since chances are good they'll end up in a dirty knife fight. And Dark is impeccable when you give him 40 drones, 3 bases, 5 queens and a bunch of ravagers hahaha. So he keeps the opponents guessing, and plays the game at his tempo. But then his late game, when in shape, is definitely one of the best (ZvZ spellcasters are probably his primary weakness), so that's also a dangerous place to be. So I think his opponents play constantly afraid but also with a timer over their heads, which forces mistakes. It doesn't feel as solid as e.g. serral, but it seems to work really well when executed well. Super esoteric style, hard to imitate or to prepare against I think
Edit: Stylistically, I think he has a bit of herO's penchant for chaos and pressure, but has a much more solid macro style to back it up
EPT
