Bunny's career-defining Code S run came to a brutal end in the semifinals, as #1 Protoss Trap smashed him 4-0 in one of the fastest best-of-seven series in GSL history. Trap's late-game skills didn't come into play at all—instead, he sealed his passage to the grand finals with his precise micro in a barrage of early-game attacks.
The first game on Blackburn felt like the only instance where Bunny was allowed to play a bit of StarCraft II, opening with fast Widow Mine drops off of one base. Trap defended against the drops handily, and then dealt crippling damage through an Immortal-Stalker counterattack from his proxy-Robotics Facility. Feeling no need to drag the game out much longer, Trap ended the game quickly with a follow-up attack from an overwhelming ground army.
The following three games were even more one-sided, with Bunny seemingly drawing dead in terms of his build orders. His attempt to go for a greedy triple-CC build on Oxide was dissected by Trap's 4-Gate Blink Stalkers, with Sentries able to bisect the Terran main and natural with Force Fields. We never even got to see what Bunny was up to in game three on Lightshade, as he spent most of his brief time alive trying to defend against a proxy Void Ray-Battery all-in. Trap later said he was trepidatious of using such a build after his proxy Tempest-Battery strategy failed against Maru in the previous season's semifinals, but this time around, he strolled to a fast victory.
Bunny brought out the triple-CC build one more time on 2000 Atmospheres, and yet again, Trap opted to go for 4-Gate Blink Stalkers. While Bunny had been able to get a tiny bit of advance scouting done on Oxide, he was caught almost completely off-guard this time around (even making Turrets in fear of Dark Templars), and was thus beaten even more thoroughly by his opponent's Stalker micro.
Overall, the total in-game time for the series totaled around 26 minutes and 17 seconds—perhaps even the fastest GSL BO7 in history, pending further historical review. It was reminiscent of Trap's semifinal series against Maru prior to the meltdown, where he secured victory with aggressive early-game tactics paired with excellent micro. Unfortunately for Bunny, he ended up continuing the recent trend of Code S featuring a feel-good story that ends violently in the semifinals. After the experiences of PartinG, DRG, Armani, Dream, and now Bunny, fans will have to be leery of getting behind any underdogs in the final four.
After the matches, the ever-humble Trap took care to attribute his dominating victory to favorable map order and a bit of luck, sheepishly backtracking on his prior assertion that the current map pool favors Terran. Not surprisingly, Trap said that he would prefer a potential PvP match against PartinG in the grand finals, opposed to a PvZ match against Dark.
Trap is now set to return to the Code S finals for the first time since 2019, when he placed runner-up in two consecutive seasons. Not only will it be a chance to win his first Code S title, but he might also shake off his unfortunate reputation as a player who can only win "tier 2" competitions.
The Code S semifinals will continue on Thursday, Jul 22 9:30am GMT (GMT+00:00) with Dark vs PartinG.
I went to watch the full VOD, thought "huh that seems like a short VOD", realized that the hour and 23 minutes included the preroll timer + midroll ads + break, and then remembered it was a best of 7. I finally thought "oh no, this is gonna be a bloodbath".
I expected Trap to take the series 4-1 or even a sweep but I never expected it to not only be a short series but a brutal beating of Bunny. One of the most one-sided series I've ever seen.
Tbh, I don't think it's Trap's fault for demolishing Bunny. I felt that Bunny was doing greedy builds, almost enough to say a BO loss in a couple of his games. Idk why he did those builds. He had Maru for pointers in how to beat Trap. But then again, Bunny ain't Maru and given that he lost a sweep at the recent ST vs Trap, I kinda knew that this is going to happen (Trap winning the series).
I hope PartinG vs Dark gives us a better series than this though.
On July 20 2021 11:10 Terra1 wrote: I expected Trap to take the series 4-1 or even a sweep but I never expected it to not only be a short series but a brutal beating of Bunny. One of the most one-sided series I've ever seen.
Tbh, I don't think it's Trap's fault for demolishing Bunny. I felt that Bunny was doing greedy builds, almost enough to say a BO loss in a couple of his games. Idk why he did those builds. He had Maru for pointers in how to beat Trap. But then again, Bunny ain't Maru and given that he lost a sweep at the recent ST vs Trap, I kinda knew that this is going to happen (Trap winning the series).
I hope PartinG vs Dark gives us a better series than this though.
I think the analysis that Bunny expected Trap to go for Stargate most/all games makes a lot of sense. Trap changed his style up with going moderately to very aggressive all four games and it really caught Bunny off guard.
Then again, Bunny seems to be in an odd place skill wise: I feel like almost every major tournament he's in he does great one round and then just implodes the next. Not sure if it's an issue with planning or a mental thing.
Bunny never had a chance. But that Void Ray proxy build really needs to die. It's one of the stupidest all ins this game has ever seen. Trap never needed it either to beat Bunny. I don't think any Protoss does.
On July 20 2021 12:10 Vindicare605 wrote: Bunny never had a chance. But that Void Ray proxy build really needs to die. It's one of the stupidest all ins this game has ever seen. Trap never needed it either to beat Bunny. I don't think any Protoss does.
As a fan and player of Toss, I agree. I only lost a game using this build once in practice and every time I do this in ladder, it's difficult to stop unless you scout it prepare. I remember Maru encountered a similar time a few years ago when he fought Has.
Maybe it's time for Blizzard to revert the VR back to its original state (before this buff happened) and change the batteries maybe? Like only place 1-2 batteries in a specific area perhaps? Though I still can't help but blame it on Bunny for doing greedy builds.
On July 20 2021 11:10 Terra1 wrote: I expected Trap to take the series 4-1 or even a sweep but I never expected it to not only be a short series but a brutal beating of Bunny. One of the most one-sided series I've ever seen.
He had Maru for pointers in how to beat Trap.
That's what I find puzzling. When Trap almost beat Maru in the semis of GSL Season 1 2021, he played a very similar style - aggressive and cheesy. Maru of course, managed to stabilise and eventually reverse swept Trap, but I would have thought that Bunny would at the very least expected something similar, and scout/change his playstyle more.
While I always thought Trap would beat Bunny (because he is simply a better player), but I didn't think it was going to be so one-sided. I think Bunny just misread and didn't prep enough for Trap's aggressive playstyle. That made it infinitely worse.
On July 20 2021 13:55 tigera6 wrote: At this point in the GSL, people are hoping for Maru to beat Trap, then Rogue to beat Maru, and Rogue dropped out before the Ro.4 or something.
Naa, I m hopeing for Trap to finally win a GSL, he s long overdue to get that W
On July 20 2021 12:10 Vindicare605 wrote: Bunny never had a chance. But that Void Ray proxy build really needs to die. It's one of the stupidest all ins this game has ever seen. Trap never needed it either to beat Bunny. I don't think any Protoss does.
As a fan and player of Toss, I agree. I only lost a game using this build once in practice and every time I do this in ladder, it's difficult to stop unless you scout it prepare. I remember Maru encountered a similar time a few years ago when he fought Has.
Maybe it's time for Blizzard to revert the VR back to its original state (before this buff happened) and change the batteries maybe? Like only place 1-2 batteries in a specific area perhaps? Though I still can't help but blame it on Bunny for doing greedy builds.
I have a better idea. Reduce the shields on the Void Ray and increase its health to compensate. That will make the batteries less useful but won't hurt the Void Ray as a combat unit in actual big fights in the late game.
The build will still be viable but it will be a lot more risky as the replenishable health of the Void Ray will be reduced and thus the effectiveness of the proxy shield batteries will be as well.
I think that's a more elegant solution than simply reverting the Void Ray to being worthless again.
Overall, the total in-game time for the series totaled around 26 minutes and 17 seconds—perhaps even the fastest GSL BO7 in history, pending further historical review.
The research has been made, Jinro-MC was somewhere around 24minutes and 24 minutes 30 seconds baring a miscalculation (which is entirely possible knowing me). Dunno if there are any quicker one.
Overall, the total in-game time for the series totaled around 26 minutes and 17 seconds—perhaps even the fastest GSL BO7 in history, pending further historical review.
The research has been made, Jinro-MC was somewhere around 24minutes and 24 minutes 30 seconds baring a miscalculation (which is entirely possible knowing me). Dunno if there are any quicker one.
Jinro vs MC 2010 GSL S3 semis
G1: game clock stops at 6:18 G2: clock stops at 12:04 G3: clock stops at 8:54 G4: game over at 12:36
Totals 39 minutes 52 seconds Blizzard time, divided by 1.4 to adjust for the game speed is ~ 28 minutes 29 seconds total time played.
Overall, the total in-game time for the series totaled around 26 minutes and 17 seconds—perhaps even the fastest GSL BO7 in history, pending further historical review.
The research has been made, Jinro-MC was somewhere around 24minutes and 24 minutes 30 seconds baring a miscalculation (which is entirely possible knowing me). Dunno if there are any quicker one.
Jinro vs MC 2010 GSL S3 semis
G1: game clock stops at 6:18 G2: clock stops at 12:04 G3: clock stops at 8:54 G4: game over at 12:36
Totals 39 minutes 52 seconds Blizzard time, divided by 1.4 to adjust for the game speed is ~ 28 minutes 29 seconds total time played.
I just checked at what time the games started and ended on Youtube, however I 100% trust you more than me for things like this. Bunny maybe making GSL history then!
Overall, the total in-game time for the series totaled around 26 minutes and 17 seconds—perhaps even the fastest GSL BO7 in history, pending further historical review.
The research has been made, Jinro-MC was somewhere around 24minutes and 24 minutes 30 seconds baring a miscalculation (which is entirely possible knowing me). Dunno if there are any quicker one.
Jinro vs MC 2010 GSL S3 semis
G1: game clock stops at 6:18 G2: clock stops at 12:04 G3: clock stops at 8:54 G4: game over at 12:36
Totals 39 minutes 52 seconds Blizzard time, divided by 1.4 to adjust for the game speed is ~ 28 minutes 29 seconds total time played.
I just checked at what time the games started and ended on Youtube, however I 100% trust you more than me for things like this. Bunny maybe making GSL history then!
When you get to see gameplay the timer is never at 0, they're always at least a few seconds in already. That's why I took the time at which the in-game clock stopped as opposed to the time of the VOD.
On July 20 2021 12:10 Vindicare605 wrote: Bunny never had a chance. But that Void Ray proxy build really needs to die. It's one of the stupidest all ins this game has ever seen. Trap never needed it either to beat Bunny. I don't think any Protoss does.
As a fan and player of Toss, I agree. I only lost a game using this build once in practice and every time I do this in ladder, it's difficult to stop unless you scout it prepare. I remember Maru encountered a similar time a few years ago when he fought Has.
Maybe it's time for Blizzard to revert the VR back to its original state (before this buff happened) and change the batteries maybe? Like only place 1-2 batteries in a specific area perhaps? Though I still can't help but blame it on Bunny for doing greedy builds.
I have a better idea. Reduce the shields on the Void Ray and increase its health to compensate. That will make the batteries less useful but won't hurt the Void Ray as a combat unit in actual big fights in the late game.
The build will still be viable but it will be a lot more risky as the replenishable health of the Void Ray will be reduced and thus the effectiveness of the proxy shield batteries will be as well.
I think that's a more elegant solution than simply reverting the Void Ray to being worthless again.
That's a great solution.
It will never happen because they'll never patch this game again. But it is good.
Our only hope is map makers making maps that difficult this strat. Maybe in TLMC #16!
On July 20 2021 12:10 Vindicare605 wrote: Bunny never had a chance. But that Void Ray proxy build really needs to die. It's one of the stupidest all ins this game has ever seen. Trap never needed it either to beat Bunny. I don't think any Protoss does.
As a fan and player of Toss, I agree. I only lost a game using this build once in practice and every time I do this in ladder, it's difficult to stop unless you scout it prepare. I remember Maru encountered a similar time a few years ago when he fought Has.
Maybe it's time for Blizzard to revert the VR back to its original state (before this buff happened) and change the batteries maybe? Like only place 1-2 batteries in a specific area perhaps? Though I still can't help but blame it on Bunny for doing greedy builds.
I have a better idea. Reduce the shields on the Void Ray and increase its health to compensate. That will make the batteries less useful but won't hurt the Void Ray as a combat unit in actual big fights in the late game.
The build will still be viable but it will be a lot more risky as the replenishable health of the Void Ray will be reduced and thus the effectiveness of the proxy shield batteries will be as well.
I think that's a more elegant solution than simply reverting the Void Ray to being worthless again.
This is a good solution.
I do not think however that a solution is required at this point. It is only fair that protoss has at least one strong rush/proxy. That was lacking for a long time and it gives protoss players multiple advantages because it also forces opponents to account for the possibility.
I have yet to see a worse protoss player beat a superior terran with it. The top terrans seem to be able to deal with it unless executed by the top protosses (and then it still wins only sometimes).
Btw. anyone else feels like trap plays like the maru of protoss? Aggressive whenever possible, edging out small advantages in every fight and all that?
EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/GSL/2021/season2/bracket4.png)
