After becoming the first ever ex-military player to reach the Code S playoffs, DongRaeGu's miracle run continued in the quarterfinals as he won a shocking sweep over INnoVation to advance to the final four. INnoVation seemed to think he could overpower DongRaeGu in standard games, but it was instead the veteran Zerg DRG who out-macroed the machine Terran in impressive fashion. With his victory, DRG avenged his GSL quarterfinals defeat to INnoVation from nearly six years ago, which had been his last Code S playoff appearance before he began his military service.
With convincing victories over TY and INnoVation in successive weeks, there's no questioning that DongRaeGu is championship caliber in ZvT. But how about Zerg vs Zerg? That's the match-up DRG will have to prove himself in next as he faces Rogue in the semifinals. The Jin Air Zerg ace took a sweep of his own against Dream in the second quarterfinal match, in even more one-sided fashion than DRG. Dream, the second player to shed his military-service rust and reach the quarterfinals, was completely outmatched by a reinvigorated Rogue. Although Rogue has been notoriously inconsistent in the past, seeing Dark, Maru, and INnoVation already fall out of title contention seems to have put an extra spring in his step. While there's still plenty of StarCraft left to be played, Rogue looks to be in good position to win his second career Code S title.
The Code S RO8 will conclude on Saturday, Aug 01 4:00am GMT (GMT+00:00) with the remaining two quarterfinal matches: PartinG vs TY and Trap vs Stats.
Quarterfinal #1: DongRaeGu 3 - 0 INnoVation
Game one on Ever Dream started off feeling very familiar to the WoL games of DongRaeGu's prime, as Muta-Ling-Bane faced off against the classic combination of Marine-Medivac-Tank. While INnoVation has toppled many an opponent win his endless waves of bio, DongRaeGu proved to be no ordinary foe. Hydralisks never entered the battlefield, but there was still a Hydra-like quality to DRG's play as he would sacrifice one expansion only to have another one already regenerating at another location. All the while, his Zergling and Baneling runbys kept INnoVation in check, preventing his economy from getting out of control. Combined with some of the sick Muta-Ling-Ban engagements DRG was always famous for, we ended up with a shocking result: DRG straight-up overpowered INnoVation. Once DRG had broken the core of the Terran army a few times and seized control of the map, it was a simple task for him to finish the game with Ultralisks.
INnoVation decided to switch from bio to mech on Pillars of Gold, going for his favored Battlecruiser-into-mech opener. As far as predictable BC openers go, this one went reasonably well, with Hellions and BC's combining to scorch a few of DRG's Drones early on. While this gave INnoVation the breathing room to go up to four bases without fearing instant death, DongRaeGu was still in position to play whatever anti-mech macro game he wanted. He decided the right composition was mass Corruptor-Ravager, which he used deftly to take out INnoVation's fourth base when the mech army was out of position. DRG continued to use his Corruptor-Ravager to whittle away at the Terran army with calculated attacks, and kept INnoVation fearfully curled up in a defensive position. When INnoVation finally had enough Cyclone-Tank-Hellion that he felt comfortable moving out on the map, DongRaeGu surprised him with a nasty tech transition to mass-Mutas. This turned out to be the deathblow, as INnoVation took an irrecoverable amount of SCV and army damage as he scrambled to produce anti-air defenses.
INnoVation decided to give mech another shot on Deathaura, this time opening with blue-flame Hellions. While DongRaeGu held off the initial Hellions well, an off-tempo Medivac drop allowed the Hellions to slip by the defending queens and roast a ton of Drones in the Zerg main. This appeared to set INnOVation up to execute a deadly mech timing attack with Cyclones, Mines, Hellabts and Thors, which would certainly crush DongRaeGu's paltry force of Muta-Ling-Bane. Yet, facing a 30 supply deficit, DongRaeGu managed to pull off all the right moves to take an unlikely victory. His ling-bane managed to blow up the supporting units almost instantly, letting his Mutalisks spread out and fight the Thors. Then, his remaining troops headed instantly toward INnOVation's base, picking off three unguarded Thors for free as they were rallied to the front line. Having broken INnoVation's critical mass of Thors in an instant, DRG continued to press the assault straight into Terran territory, looking to fight Thors as they came fresh off the factory line. Things played out perfect for DRG, as INnoVation never managed to reassemble any critical mass of mech units, and the continued flood of Muta-Ling was able to seal the 3-0 sweep.
Quarterfinal #2: Rogue 3 - 0 Dream
Rogue vs Dream ended up being just as comprehensive a victory for the Zerg player, if not even more one-sided. Game one on Pillars of Gold gave us a rather honorable macro game, with Rogue playing a complex Muta-Ling-Bane-Ravager composition against Dream's traditional bio. Rogue was able to brilliantly balance counter-attacking with his Mutas while using his Roach-Ravager-Ling on defense, and ended up both holding off the Terran attacks while also dealing severe economic damage on the other end of the map. This gave him the advantage he needed to reach hive tech comfortably, and the combination of frontal Ultralisk attacks and continued Mutalisk backdoors eventually forced the GG out of Dream.
Dream decided it was time to mech on Deathaura, going for the typical 3 Battlecruiser into mech build. Rogue's response was to play extremely corruptor-heavy to start, keeping the BC's at bay and also tearing down Dream's unfortunately placed armories. Perhaps having a solid read on Dream's style, Rogue managed to mostly forgo ground troops and transitioned from mass Corruptors directly into mass Mutas, which caught Dream off guard just as he was beginning to add Thors into his army composition. While Dream eventually chased the Mutas off with units being produced from his factories, he had already taken severe damage to both his economy and army. From there on out, Rogue simply forced Dream to play the "air or ground?" guessing game, using switches between Mutalisks and Roach-Ravager to tear Dream apart.
Game three headed over to Golden Wall, a map where Rogue had shown an affinity for two base Swarm Host builds in ZvP. As it turns out, he's confident enough to use the strategy in ZvT as well, and even against an opponent going for bio instead of mech! While it seemed like bio production off 3 bases should have held off Locusts with ease (especially when the Marines caught the Locusts mid-flight), there seemed to be a bit of surprise-factor working in Rogue's favor. By combining Nydus-launched Locusts with Speedling attacks from the ground, Rogue managed to lure Dream's troops out of position and get the damage he needed to get done with his all-in build. As with most Nydus strategies, the first break in the defense started a deadly snowball effect, with Dream losing the race to put out fires Rogue was setting everywhere. While Dream managed to stabilize eventually, by that point Rogue was already well out of the all-in phase and had a healthy advantage which he used to close out the series.
Game 3 Inno messed up by not pulling his Cyclones behind the Thors and letting them tank 20 bane hits + 3 or so hellions on creep. Then it was a runaway train catching the slow retreating Thors and by the time he caught 3 it was gg whether he killed him then or later.
On July 30 2020 18:46 Charoisaur wrote: Impressive Zergs still manage to steal series from terran players even after Banelings have been nerfed into the ground.
User was warned for this post.
Okay, they have not been nerfed in the ground but I thought Zergs would struggle way harder now.
On July 30 2020 17:53 pvsnp wrote: Something something terranpatch.
sure, let's ignore last gsl finals was a TVT series or that the winner of Supertournament 1 was a terran.
Well anyone unironically saying this is a Terran patch was ignoring, IEM, TSL5, the regular homestory cup and the stay at homestory cups, anything in EU, and the season finals. Maru beating Dark in a 4-3 finals would not be a Terran patch either that would just be business as usual when the game is even slightly balanced.
On July 30 2020 18:46 Charoisaur wrote: Impressive Zergs still manage to steal series from terran players even after Banelings have been nerfed into the ground.
User was warned for this post.
Okay, they have not been nerfed in the ground but I thought Zergs would struggle way harder now.
I understood what you meant lol. Shame on you for exaggerating. Regarding the actual nerf, I thought that was for the benefit of Protoss more then Terrans. If that's the case, then it shows here that the change wasn't a huge factor in the match up.
On July 30 2020 18:46 Charoisaur wrote: Impressive Zergs still manage to steal series from terran players even after Banelings have been nerfed into the ground.
User was warned for this post.
Okay, they have not been nerfed in the ground but I thought Zergs would struggle way harder now.
I understood what you meant lol. Shame on you for exaggerating. Regarding the actual nerf, I thought that was for the benefit of Protoss more then Terrans. If that's the case, then it shows here that the change wasn't a huge factor in the match up.
TvZ features consistent trading in a way PvZ doesn’t. A baneling nerf should have more impact there, plus Terran have more micro countermeasures against them too.
In PvZ I guess the difference has to be looked at in more of a ‘pre patch this would have wiped my army, but now because of nerfs it barely touched my army’
Just given how the match tends to flow, and how P needs to keep its tech units intact most games.
With TvZ you’re looking more at trade after trade with T being able to replenish on lower tech units, so post nerf say 5/6 slightly better trades is cumulatively impactful.
On July 30 2020 18:46 Charoisaur wrote: Impressive Zergs still manage to steal series from terran players even after Banelings have been nerfed into the ground.
User was warned for this post.
Okay, they have not been nerfed in the ground but I thought Zergs would struggle way harder now.
I understood what you meant lol. Shame on you for exaggerating. Regarding the actual nerf, I thought that was for the benefit of Protoss more then Terrans. If that's the case, then it shows here that the change wasn't a huge factor in the match up.
Usually when key units are changed it has a huge balance impact even if it's only a small change. Marauder double shot comes into mind.
On July 30 2020 18:46 Charoisaur wrote: Impressive Zergs still manage to steal series from terran players even after Banelings have been nerfed into the ground.
User was warned for this post.
"banelings nerfed into the ground" I think we read a different patchnote
On July 30 2020 18:46 Charoisaur wrote: Impressive Zergs still manage to steal series from terran players even after Banelings have been nerfed into the ground.
User was warned for this post.
Okay, they have not been nerfed in the ground but I thought Zergs would struggle way harder now.
I understood what you meant lol. Shame on you for exaggerating. Regarding the actual nerf, I thought that was for the benefit of Protoss more then Terrans. If that's the case, then it shows here that the change wasn't a huge factor in the match up.
TvZ features consistent trading in a way PvZ doesn’t. A baneling nerf should have more impact there, plus Terran have more micro countermeasures against them too.
In PvZ I guess the difference has to be looked at in more of a ‘pre patch this would have wiped my army, but now because of nerfs it barely touched my army’
Just given how the match tends to flow, and how P needs to keep its tech units intact most games.
With TvZ you’re looking more at trade after trade with T being able to replenish on lower tech units, so post nerf say 5/6 slightly better trades is cumulatively impactful.
Great explanation! That's a good way to look at it.
Wait did the baneling nerf change TvZ at all? They still do the same damage to marines/hellbats/SCVs right? The nerf only effective them vs marauders and thors, which they generally avoid detonating solely to kill anyway.
Even in ZvP if zerg gets their economy going mass baneling and attacking until you win the game seems like the way to go.
On July 30 2020 18:46 Charoisaur wrote: Impressive Zergs still manage to steal series from terran players even after Banelings have been nerfed into the ground.
User was warned for this post.
"banelings nerfed into the ground" I think we read a different patchnote
That was the point. The banelings and the queens nerfs were just a backward step of buffs because one player could click on the banelings better than anyone else and the other because of the liberators, but the liberators got nerfd in the meantime in 2016, so, yeah.
On July 30 2020 18:46 Charoisaur wrote: Impressive Zergs still manage to steal series from terran players even after Banelings have been nerfed into the ground.
User was warned for this post.
"banelings nerfed into the ground" I think we read a different patchnote
That was the point. The banelings and the queens nerfs were just a backward step of buffs because one player could click on the banelings better than anyone else and the other because of the liberators, but the liberators got nerfd in the meantime in 2016, so, yeah.
Why do people still think ByuN was the reason banelings got buffed? The buff only came into play after baneling speed finished, ByuN's abusive target firing were mostly winning games before then.
The queen range buff should just never have been a thing. It was a band aid fix to zergs struggling with liberators because the maps weren't designed with them in mind when LotV was released. No one even goes fast liberator range since 2016.
That's the problem with doing patches as soon as a game's released I guess, things seemed broken that really weren't.
On July 30 2020 18:46 Charoisaur wrote: Impressive Zergs still manage to steal series from terran players even after Banelings have been nerfed into the ground.
User was warned for this post.
Okay, they have not been nerfed in the ground but I thought Zergs would struggle way harder now.
I understood what you meant lol. Shame on you for exaggerating. Regarding the actual nerf, I thought that was for the benefit of Protoss more then Terrans. If that's the case, then it shows here that the change wasn't a huge factor in the match up.
TvZ features consistent trading in a way PvZ doesn’t. A baneling nerf should have more impact there, plus Terran have more micro countermeasures against them too.
In PvZ I guess the difference has to be looked at in more of a ‘pre patch this would have wiped my army, but now because of nerfs it barely touched my army’
Just given how the match tends to flow, and how P needs to keep its tech units intact most games.
With TvZ you’re looking more at trade after trade with T being able to replenish on lower tech units, so post nerf say 5/6 slightly better trades is cumulatively impactful.
Great explanation! That's a good way to look at it.
Thanks. I do try, well, occasionally.
That said it’s been 10 years and PvZ being a consistently decent matchup seems beyond my humble brain, or indeed most alas.
Part of me wonders if balance patches are at least part placebo too. Even a change that ultimately shouldn’t change much may change the mentality somewhat away from being defeatist.
For me the real eye-catching TvZ scalps were TY whitewashing Dark and Inno going 4-0 across their group matches.
Basically all those games were really sharp timings that caught the Zerg somewhat offguard. When we got into mano o mano macro games with ever-expanding Zergs in the first Ro8, plus a few sneaky Zerg moves things looked rather different.
Hell the changes could also over-embolden Terrans to aggressively push, only to get punished mercilessly against better players. I think we may have seen a little of that even.
Man balance patches and their consequences are complicated when I start to think.
As for it being a ‘Terran patch’, if anything they seem better equipped vs Protoss nowadays after adapting to the previous patch, and Zerg is at the very least doable if you play well.
If I’m a Protoss pro, vT is looking achievable now but vZ looks really daunting outside of a Code S prep format.
Can't we all just relax, stop whinging about balance and just enjoy the brilliant 'comeback' of DRG. The guy just returned recently from the army and has now made it ro4 in GSL. That is a pretty damn amazing feat.
I really hope PartinG can pull off his revenge against TY and then that'll give us a PvZ finals.
On July 30 2020 18:46 Charoisaur wrote: Impressive Zergs still manage to steal series from terran players even after Banelings have been nerfed into the ground.
User was warned for this post.
Okay, they have not been nerfed in the ground but I thought Zergs would struggle way harder now.
I understood what you meant lol. Shame on you for exaggerating. Regarding the actual nerf, I thought that was for the benefit of Protoss more then Terrans. If that's the case, then it shows here that the change wasn't a huge factor in the match up.
TvZ features consistent trading in a way PvZ doesn’t. A baneling nerf should have more impact there, plus Terran have more micro countermeasures against them too.
In PvZ I guess the difference has to be looked at in more of a ‘pre patch this would have wiped my army, but now because of nerfs it barely touched my army’
Just given how the match tends to flow, and how P needs to keep its tech units intact most games.
With TvZ you’re looking more at trade after trade with T being able to replenish on lower tech units, so post nerf say 5/6 slightly better trades is cumulatively impactful.
The baneling nerfs were the 5 less hp after baneling speed upgrade and less damage vs none light units right?
In TvZ the dmg change only matters against marauder, tank, thor and cyclone. In the example you point out when T goes bio the damage nerf barely matters, the hp nerf does though but how often do you think those 5 hp is the difference between a killed baneling and dead terran units? Early game when focus fire i possible due to relatively low eco and few banelings it can make a difference but as soon as the game progress to midgame its not really that impactful anymore. Maybe focus firing tanks on clumped baneling can kill more than previously in some situation but thats about it.
On July 31 2020 05:59 MoonyD wrote: Can't we all just relax, stop whinging about balance and just enjoy the brilliant 'comeback' of DRG. The guy just returned recently from the army and has now made it ro4 in GSL. That is a pretty damn amazing feat.
I really hope PartinG can pull off his revenge against TY and then that'll give us a PvZ finals.
It is truly an amazing feet by drg, no question. But not super surprising that a 6-0 result in a matchup makes people question the balance.
On July 31 2020 06:51 Kinky wrote: I'm rooting for a DRG vs PartinG finals Gogo PartinG!
I’m torn between loving those guys and it being a fantastic story and well, PvZ. But hey we had a TvT final recently and it didn’t give us amazing games.
Personally hoping Trap gets that GSL he’s been so close to in recent times but really would be happy for any of these guys to kiss the trophy (Covid permitting).
EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/GSL/2020_21/codes1/gslstudiobanner734.jpg)
