• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 05:25
CEST 11:25
KST 18:25
  • 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
Serral wins EWC 202529Tournament Spotlight: FEL Cracow 20259Power Rank - Esports World Cup 202580RSL Season 1 - Final Week9[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall15
Community News
[BSL 2025] H2 - Team Wars, Weeklies & SB Ladder6EWC 2025 - Replay Pack4Google Play ASL (Season 20) Announced38BSL Team Wars - Bonyth, Dewalt, Hawk & Sziky teams10Weekly Cups (July 14-20): Final Check-up0
StarCraft 2
General
The GOAT ranking of GOAT rankings Serral wins EWC 2025 EWC 2025 - Replay Pack #1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time Greatest Players of All Time: 2025 Update
Tourneys
Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) TaeJa vs Creator Bo7 SC Evo Showmatch Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $10,000 live event Esports World Cup 2025
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 484 Magnetic Pull Mutation #239 Bad Weather Mutation # 483 Kill Bot Wars Mutation # 482 Wheel of Misfortune
Brood War
General
Brood War web app to calculate unit interactions [BSL 2025] H2 - Team Wars, Weeklies & SB Ladder Flash Announces (and Retracts) Hiatus From ASL BW General Discussion Google Play ASL (Season 20) Announced
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL] Non-Korean Championship - Final weekend [BSL20] Non-Korean Championship 4x BSL + 4x China CSL Xiamen International Invitational
Strategy
Does 1 second matter in StarCraft? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Beyond All Reason Nintendo Switch Thread Total Annihilation Server - TAForever [MMORPG] Tree of Savior (Successor of Ragnarok)
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine UK Politics Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread
Fan Clubs
INnoVation Fan Club SKT1 Classic Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Korean Music Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NBA General Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Gtx660 graphics card replacement Installation of Windows 10 suck at "just a moment" Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
TeamLiquid Team Shirt On Sale The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Ping To Win? Pings And Their…
TrAiDoS
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Socialism Anyone?
GreenHorizons
Eight Anniversary as a TL…
Mizenhauer
Flash @ Namkraft Laddernet …
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 686 users

Code S Finals Preview: TY vs Maru (Season 3)

Forum Index > SC2 General
26 CommentsPost a Reply
1 2 Next All

Code S Finals Preview: TY vs Maru (Season 3)

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
October 31st, 2020 08:50 GMT

2020 GSL Code S Season 3 - Finals Preview

by Orlok and Wax

[image loading]

More info: GSL Code S Season 3 on Liquipedia


Grand Finals: TY vs Maru

Start time: Sunday, Nov 01 5:50am GMT (GMT+00:00)

When you watch esports, it's hard to tell what part of the story you're at. Is a championship run the start of a great legacy that will reverberate throughout history? Or is it just a single lucky strike, where astronomical odds somehow went in a lucky team or individual's favor? Sometimes, a bitter, closely-fought loss becomes the impetus for a competitor to become stronger—it's the moment that stokes their competitive fire and pushes them to new heights. Or, sometimes, it's just another loss among thousands, barely registering in an ocean of bitterness.

However, amid all this uncertainty, there are some rare events that feel inevitable. These are the broad, preordained, repeating patterns of history, around which the smaller details are merely filled in. A Korean player winning IEM Katowice. A new PvZ all-in that's unbeatable for two months. Terran falling into the gulch of agony and despair... ...and being dragged out of it on the backs of a few elite players. No matter how lop-sided balance may seem to appear, no matter how low their form may dip, the eventual resurgence of star Terran players is a phenomenon that's as natural as the seasons and the tides.

This time around, it's TY and Maru.

*****

Looking at TY and Maru's careers side by side, the parallels and contrasts are striking. Both players started as prodigies who made their broadcast debuts when they were just thirteen years of age—TY in 2007, Maru in 2010—and that innate talent has led both players to have tremendously successful careers. The main difference, however, was that Maru realized his potential much earlier than TY, becoming the youngest ever player to walk the OnGameNet Starleague royal road in 2013. In contrast, TY languished for years as a symbol of semi-squandered potential, stuck in the ranks of 'good but not great' players.

In 2017, TY made up for nearly a decade of lost time, winning back-to-back jackpots at the super-major tournaments of IEM Katowice and WESG—even defeating Maru in the finals of the latter competition—and then went on to place top four at BlizzCon. After a long journey that spanned through all three expansions of StarCraft II, it seemed like their careers had finally evened out.

But the book had not yet closed on Maru. 2018 would be the beginning of an improbable late-career prime, eight years after his debut (many a career has begun and ended in that time). In perhaps the most dominant stretch of form ever seen in StarCraft II, Maru won four consecutive GSL Code S Tournaments over the course of sixteen months, cementing himself as the greatest GSL player of all time, if not simply THE greatest, full-stop.

TY was the player who came closest to breaking Maru's streak, taking him to game seven of the grand finals as Maru looked to take Code S title number three. The whole series was memorable—certainly ranking among the most entertaining Code S finals ever played—but it was capped off by an intense, nail-biting ending sequence in game seven. Maru decided to bet everything on a two-base all-in, and by the difference of just a handful of units, was able to barely cash in.

When we look at careers as a whole, it was obvious that Maru had taken an insurmountable lead over TY. But there's still an undeniable vibe of "whatever you can do, I can do..." in what TY has achieved so far in 2020. TY has willed himself to his own late-career revival, a second peak that's come thirteen years after he debuted (at this point, TY has spent over half his life as a progamer). He won the first Code S title of his career in 2020's Season 1, reached the semifinals in Season 2, and has returned again to the grand finals in Season 3. As if to intentionally increase the degree of difficulty, TY has done this while holding the position of the GSL's main color commentator (although, given his many deep runs, one might say substitute commentator Curious has actually taken the first chair).

While Maru and TY are not traditionally connected as rivals—their high stakes battles are few and far in between—it's apt that they meet again at this particular point in time. TY is looking for a victory that would put a capstone on the second apex of his career. As for Maru, a Code S title here would win him the hallowed G5L trophy that eluded even the vaunted MVP, and usher in the third golden age of his career. Or maybe it would be his fourth? Fifth? In any case, it would reaffirm him as StarCraft II's most timeless player, and the game's most inevitable force.

Head-to-head and predictions

TYvsMaru
Head-to-head
(maps)

28 wins–27 wins
Head-to-head
(BO3+ series)
7 wins–6 wins
TvT form
(maps)*
26 wins - 11 losses23 wins - 6 losses
TvT form
(win-rate)*
70.27%79.31%


All records via Aligulac.com
*After 4.12.0/Widow Mine patch (2020-06-09)


Maru has played a plethora of Terran vs Terran matches over the past couple of weeks, mostly in the online major of King of Battles where he took down INnoVation, Clem, and Cure to win the championship. Looking at those matches, alongside his Code S RO16 match against ByuN, you come away with one very important thing to watch out for in the Code S finals: mass Ravens.

It's no huge revelation that Ravens are really good in Terran vs Terran, but Maru's preference for Ravens seems to be taking things to a new extreme. He's been very eager to shorten the mid-game fighting between Marine-Tank-Medivac-Viking and get into situations where he can just play Marine-Tank with Raven support. Those Ravens end up being the ultimate siege-breaker for Maru, who uses them to lockdown tanks and largely nullify the enormous defenders advantage that normally exist in TvT.

From a limited sample of games, it's hard to definitively conclude that this is the 'right' way to play TvT—even if Maru did end up winning King of Battles. He had to eke out some close wins (the score lines somewhat flatter Maru), where players like Clem made the more 'conventional' composition of Marine-Tank-Viking-Liberator seem plenty strong in the late-game (TY has played less TvT's than Maru in the recent past, but he did show a preference for that more conventional style). Still, even if Maru hasn't been as hyper-dominant in the late-game as he was in 2018, his confidence alone is an important connection point back to his old peak.

TY and Maru two actually did play one, late-game, air-based TvT back in their 2018 Code S finals clash, where we saw mass Ravens standoff against each other for a while. Maru ended up getting the win, as he made a more effective transition to Battlecruisers. Two years removed, I don't think it portends much for this particular finals. However, there is one detail I'm intrigued by: TY made a solitary Ghost in that game. While the Ghost came out too late to make a difference back then, I'm curious to see if TY will pick up where he left off and stalk Maru's Raven flock with Ghosts in Medivacs.



But maybe I'm getting too ahead of myself. That late game battle was just one game out of seven, with the other six being decided in the earlier stages of the game. The Code S finals are notorious for being underwhelming, with games often decided by who won the rock paper scissors-esque duel of preparing strategies on a given map. While 2018's game seven was very exciting and very close, it was also ultimately a game in the 'can he defend against this timing attack or not' archetype. While Maru was the one testing TY back in 2018, the tables will probably be turned in 2020.

The key to 2020 TY's Code S success has been in how heavily he's leaned into the tournament's preparation-heavy style. TY's approach to BO5+ series has been to try and find ways to get early game advantages (if not end the game straight-up), which he's been remarkably successful at. He's been a great macro player when he's needed to be, but more often than not, he's looked to manufacture an 'easy' win for himself instead. His philosophy seems to be "why out-multitask my opponent for fifteen minutes when one Hellion drop will do the trick?"

While TY has certainly awed us with the sheer variety of build orders and mind-games he's deployed, it's hard to say he's given us entertaining games in the traditional sense. TY's games have been must-see StarCraft in a much darker sense, where you can't help but stare in horror as he breaks yet another player's mental. For better or for worse, this finals might end up being an endless succession of the 2018 final's game seven.

This should be a close series, but I think TY will have the slight edge. Here's how I'm looking at it: Maru has been in great form over the last month and half, but he's still nowhere near as dominant as he was in 2018. On the other hand, even though TY may have been a better macro/weekender tournament player in the past, he's become a far better GSL-style player than he ever was. Given that a weaker version of TY just narrowly lost to the best version of Maru in seven games back in 2018, I'm picking present day TY to get his revenge in the rematch.

Prediction: TY 4 - 3 Maru



Credits and acknowledgements

Writers: Orlok and Wax
Images: AfreecaTV
Records and Statistics: Aligulac.com and Liquipedia

Facebook Twitter Reddit
TL+ Member
Golgotha
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Korea (South)8418 Posts
October 31 2020 09:28 GMT
#2
two former SC child prodigies facing off against each other after all these years. it's gonna be good
Poopi
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
France12879 Posts
October 31 2020 09:36 GMT
#3
I'm so stressed out for Maru. Hope his injury doesn't prevent him from beating TY...
WriterMaru
swarminfestor
Profile Joined September 2017
Malaysia2449 Posts
October 31 2020 09:46 GMT
#4
Hope to see a new style of playing coming from this match.
Rogue & Maru fan boy. ^^
DevilDriver
Profile Blog Joined December 2011
Germany77 Posts
October 31 2020 10:26 GMT
#5
Nice article, this getting me hyped up for the match :D I would not be surprised to see one player dominating over the other, but I think chances are actually not too bad that we get a really epic and close final with these two. And right after we have Flash vs Soma!!
sneakyfox
Profile Joined January 2017
8216 Posts
October 31 2020 10:35 GMT
#6
I have no idea how this is going to go, but it should be a close one. Hopefully another great finals between those two. I do hope the bloody Ravens don't ruin our TvTs too much.
"I saw what sneakyfox wrote on TL.net and it made me furious" - PartinG
RHoudini
Profile Joined October 2009
Belgium3627 Posts
October 31 2020 11:06 GMT
#7
Looking forward to this battle. Any outcome is possible.
Lee Jae Dong fighting!
col_jung
Profile Joined October 2017
139 Posts
October 31 2020 13:23 GMT
#8
Big fan of both Maru and TY. But hoping TY will finally get his revenge...
DSTARI Nedved
Profile Joined October 2020
4 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-10-31 13:31:04
October 31 2020 13:27 GMT
#9
I don't comment often but what an amazing insightful article full of TVT knowledge. We play Direct Strike on a high level for years and its interesting to see correlations between shifting meta in direct strike which more or less is sensitive in the same way for balance as DS battles are engagements in the real game with same unit stats. Banshee into Raven Tank Ranged Liberator and mech endgame armies are a huge part of Direct Strike, I am very eager to see how this TVT pans out.

Oh and I like and respect TY a lot, but its gotta be The Prince #G5L

*As for Maru, a Code S title here would win him the hallowed G5L trophy that eluded even the vaunted MVP, and usher in the third golden age of his career.*

Maru surpassing MVP would be a fitting historic moment in SC2, in line with Serral winning Blizzcon.

Maru will be the GOAT of GSL if he wins, so my bet is on the little terran talisman.
Zeronova
Profile Joined September 2020
54 Posts
October 31 2020 13:39 GMT
#10
The win rates favor Maru but watching TY and Maru favors TY. Not to mention the possible injury factor. I agree it’s a close win for TY. But also don’t really care because it’s a TvT finals.
neptunusfisk
Profile Blog Joined July 2012
2286 Posts
October 31 2020 14:00 GMT
#11
Sickest TvT player getting revenge or sickest player getting his G5L? So exciting.. TY 4-3 is my prediction
maru G5L pls
neptunusfisk
Profile Blog Joined July 2012
2286 Posts
October 31 2020 14:07 GMT
#12
Btw last sentence should be "best version of maru"!
maru G5L pls
Russano
Profile Joined November 2010
United States425 Posts
October 31 2020 14:29 GMT
#13
TY 4-3. I'm hoping for a recreation of their previous finals which was in the top 3 all time GSL finals. TY has only dropped a single game this entire tounrament, and his play has been absolutely pristine. Plus the G5L is cursed, so I'm gonna have to go with TY, although Maru taking it would not even be remotely surprising.
Argonauta
Profile Joined July 2016
Spain4948 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-10-31 17:03:16
October 31 2020 16:37 GMT
#14
boy this is a Maru win with a 4-2 score.

Edit: I know that Maru hasnt shown his 2018 form but I think that its manly because he knows his physical limitations (shoulder) and plays smart and slow. However in a finals? I think Maru will try to push himself to the limit and supersaiyan Maru is 10 fold times better than any version we have seen of TY.
Rogue | Maru | Scarlett | Trap
TL+ Member
tennisl
Profile Joined March 2018
United Kingdom44 Posts
October 31 2020 17:16 GMT
#15
Maru will beat TY tomorrow. He is better late game player, better mechanics and micro. TY however can win couple of maps with his weird builds and cheese.
Riner1212
Profile Joined November 2012
United States337 Posts
October 31 2020 17:38 GMT
#16
maru 4-2
Sjow "pretty ez life as protoss"
Fango
Profile Joined July 2016
United Kingdom8987 Posts
October 31 2020 18:40 GMT
#17
On October 31 2020 17:50 TL.net ESPORTS wrote:
Given that a weaker version of TY just narrowly lost to the best version of Maru in seven games back in 2018

I don't think the best version of Maru is one that's too scared to play a macro game. If I remember right Maru went down 0-2 in that series by his proxies getting shut down, and then went 4-1 from then on with a mix of standard, lategame, and cheesy play and 2-base games.
Zest, sOs, PartinG, Dark, and Maru are the real champs. ROOT_herO is overrated. Snute, Serral, and Scarlett are the foreigner GOATs
Edpayasugo
Profile Joined April 2013
United Kingdom2215 Posts
October 31 2020 19:05 GMT
#18
Hype!

But too difficult to call
FlaSh MMA INnoVation FanTaSy MKP TY Ryung | soO Dark Rogue | HuK PartinG Stork State
GuybrushThreepwood
Profile Joined May 2020
16 Posts
October 31 2020 21:30 GMT
#19
To me, TY clearly had the mental edge in 2018 s3, something which Maru overcame, unlikely though it was.

This series, they seem to me about as evenly matched as I can remember two players being at the outset. It's reasonable to predict that TY will take it if Maru is occasionally in pain, despite Maru's recent upswing and recent advantage in TvT. Still, this is a coinflip.
Jealous
Profile Blog Joined December 2011
10151 Posts
November 01 2020 00:36 GMT
#20
This was a really great write-up, thank you.
"The right to vote is only the oar of the slaveship, I wanna be free." -- бум бум сучка!
1 2 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 35m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Nina 265
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 34266
ggaemo 1934
Killer 678
Jaedong 579
firebathero 397
actioN 287
hero 265
BeSt 144
ToSsGirL 104
TY 86
[ Show more ]
Dewaltoss 75
ZerO 73
Mind 72
sorry 46
sSak 39
Sharp 36
Hm[arnc] 35
Backho 34
Free 26
soO 16
Sacsri 16
yabsab 11
Barracks 11
Bale 9
IntoTheRainbow 8
ajuk12(nOOB) 7
GuemChi 0
Dota 2
XaKoH 359
BananaSlamJamma278
XcaliburYe227
ODPixel129
League of Legends
JimRising 487
Counter-Strike
olofmeister2052
shoxiejesuss649
allub230
Other Games
summit1g7691
singsing1150
ceh9932
Happy276
crisheroes275
Fuzer 240
rGuardiaN37
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1123
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 55
lovetv 7
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• davetesta186
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 1
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Stunt674
Upcoming Events
The PondCast
35m
Online Event
6h 35m
Wayne vs ArT
Strange vs Nicoract
Shameless vs GgMaChine
YoungYakov vs MilkiCow
OSC
8h 35m
ByuN vs TriGGeR
SHIN vs Krystianer
ShoWTimE vs Spirit
MaNa vs TBD
SKillous vs TBD
Korean StarCraft League
1d 17h
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
2 days
Mihu vs QiaoGege
Zhanhun vs Dewalt
Fengzi vs TBD
Online Event
2 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
3 days
Bonyth vs TBD
OSC
4 days
[ Show More ]
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL 20 Non-Korean Championship
FEL Cracow 2025
Underdog Cup #2

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
CC Div. A S7
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025

Upcoming

BSL 21 Qualifiers
ASL Season 20: Qualifier #1
ASL Season 20: Qualifier #2
ASL Season 20
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
BSL Season 21
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
SEL Season 2 Championship
WardiTV Summer 2025
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
HCC Europe
Roobet Cup 2025
Yuqilin POB S2
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
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 © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.