It will be a foreigner-filled final four at IEM Katowice, with Reynor, HeroMarine, Serral, and Rogue fighting through day one of the playoffs to earn spots in the final day of the tournament.
The surprise of the day was clearly HeroMarine, whose previous best finish at a world championship-tier event had been top 12 at last year's IEM Katowice. This time, he blew past his own personal record by reaching the semifinals. Big Gabe needed two, hard-fought victories against Zoun and Solar to get there, but he was able to clutch out victories in the end. His third game against Solar on Hardwire was particularly notable, with its frantic basetrade ending making it one of the candidates for most entertaining game of the tournament (VOD). With IEM Katowice 2022 producing an unusual number of exceptional matches, it will be hard to pick just one such game. It turned out to be a good day for HeroMarine in more ways than one, as his signature Series profile video also debuted at IEM.
Interestingly enough, HeroMarine was relatively pleased by his semifinal opponent: the reigning IEM Katowice champion Reynor. While HeroMarine has terribly one-sided records against some of the other title contenders, he's historically been able to take Reynor to close matches and has won a number of BO5 series against him. As for Reynor, he survived a very close call against Dark to reach the semifinal round. The series between the two ZvZ greats delivered back-to-back thrillers on Hardwire and Berlingrad (VOD), with Dark using his mastery over Lurkers and Vipers to earn two impossible comebacks against an impatient Reynor. Fortunately for Reynor, he adapted to Dark's defensive style in game five and beat him at his own game.
After going 10-0 in the group stage, Serral was faced with the considerable challenge of facing Maru in the quarterfinals. The Team NV Terran had come into IEM as one of the top title favorites, and had also defeated Serral months prior in the online King of Battles 2 finals. However, Serral had the upper hand in their first major live match, taking a convincing 3-1 victory. As it turned out, late-game Maru is still virtually invincible—Serral's sole loss came to Maru's clinical Ghost-mech play on Hardwire (VOD). But with a Baneling bust on Blackburn, and overwhelming mid-game Ling-Bane play on Pride of Altaris and Berlingrad, Serral was able to win the dream match and move onto the semifinals.
Rogue ended up being the only player to hold up Korea's pride in the tournament, though he earned that status by default due to coming out of an all-Korean quadrant of the bracket. The two-time IEM World Champion's run wasn't entirely convincing, as he was heavily pressured by two Terran underdogs in Ryung and Bunny. Yet, he was still able to eke wins out in the end—a testament to his much-renowned ability to perform under pressure. Rogue's best performance probably came on Blackburn against Bunny, where he overcame a poor start and eventually picked his opponent apart with Lurkers (VOD).
Other players who authored noteworthy matches included Dream, who earned the distinction of actually outplaying Maru and beating him in a late-game TvT (VOD), and Zoun, who fully leveraged the might of Disruptors to come from behind against HeroMarine (VOD).
IEM Katowice will conclude with the semifinals and grand finals on Sunday, Feb 27 9:45am GMT (GMT+00:00).
Reynor is now tied at 4-4 (W-L) series overall vs. Dark, very impressive. Was quite a surprise to see HeroMarine advance indeed, but Solar is very beatable; predicting for Reynor to 3-1 or 3-0 him, though.
Also that game 2 of Serral vs. Maru was one for the ages. Rogue is now Korea's only hope.
Not to discredit the three Europeans, but I wonder if the flight from Korea to Katowice, Poland may have affected the Korean players even slightly as well. I know for sure when traditional sports of traveling from East Coast to West Coast (moreso than from West to East) it can have a toll on the athletes.
On February 27 2022 12:22 tommey.liang wrote: Reynor is now tied at 4-4 (W-L) series overall vs. Dark, very impressive. Was quite a surprise to see HeroMarine advance indeed, but Solar is very beatable; predicting for Reynor to 3-1 or 3-0 him, though.
Also that game 2 of Serral vs. Maru was one for the ages. Rogue is now Korea's only hope.
Not to discredit the three Europeans, but I wonder if the flight from Korea to Katowice, Poland may have affected the Korean players even slightly as well. I know for sure when traditional sports of traveling from East Coast to West Coast (moreso than from West to East) it can have a toll on the athletes.
no, this time there is no excuse no server issues no sleeping problems because of late hours ore what so ever the koreans did not arrive 1 day before the tournament start but more like 1 week to avoid any possible jetlag problems
On February 27 2022 12:22 tommey.liang wrote: Reynor is now tied at 4-4 (W-L) series overall vs. Dark, very impressive. Was quite a surprise to see HeroMarine advance indeed, but Solar is very beatable; predicting for Reynor to 3-1 or 3-0 him, though.
Also that game 2 of Serral vs. Maru was one for the ages. Rogue is now Korea's only hope.
Not to discredit the three Europeans, but I wonder if the flight from Korea to Katowice, Poland may have affected the Korean players even slightly as well. I know for sure when traditional sports of traveling from East Coast to West Coast (moreso than from West to East) it can have a toll on the athletes.
Aside from TIME and Cyan all the Asian players arrive a few days before group stage so they got plenty of rest.
funny how even now the korean elitists try to find excuses. i rooted for maru against serral but i can admit that serral just was the better player. sure, maru could have been more crisp on berlingrad and i dont understand not vetoeing altaris, but i cant imagine maru taking this bo5 with serral beeing so 100% on point.
On February 27 2022 17:16 DarkGamer wrote: funny how even now the korean elitists try to find excuses. i rooted for maru against serral but i can admit that serral just was the better player. sure, maru could have been more crisp on berlingrad and i dont understand not vetoeing altaris, but i cant imagine maru taking this bo5 with serral beeing so 100% on point.
I mean there's only 2 possibilities that caused this upset:
1. Matchfixing 2. Maru was simply tired and his wrists hurt. Zerg is infinitely easier to play than Terran, hence why a lot of the "top" foreigners are Zerg, and Maru came all the way from Korea. Jetlag affects everyone differently. It seems to affect Maru more which is why he performed so well when traveling to China or playing online. I can guarantee you that Maru wins an easy 3-0 if Serral had to go to Korea
On February 27 2022 12:22 tommey.liang wrote: Reynor is now tied at 4-4 (W-L) series overall vs. Dark, very impressive. Was quite a surprise to see HeroMarine advance indeed, but Solar is very beatable; predicting for Reynor to 3-1 or 3-0 him, though.
Also that game 2 of Serral vs. Maru was one for the ages. Rogue is now Korea's only hope.
Not to discredit the three Europeans, but I wonder if the flight from Korea to Katowice, Poland may have affected the Korean players even slightly as well. I know for sure when traditional sports of traveling from East Coast to West Coast (moreso than from West to East) it can have a toll on the athletes.
Aside from TIME and Cyan all the Asian players arrive a few days before group stage so they got plenty of rest.
It takes one day of full rest per timezone when traveling east to west. A few days aren't enough on top of the Koreans practicing and Maru needing to worry about being in the group of death and "others" having the luxury of no jetlag or being in a stacked group
On February 27 2022 17:16 DarkGamer wrote: funny how even now the korean elitists try to find excuses. i rooted for maru against serral but i can admit that serral just was the better player. sure, maru could have been more crisp on berlingrad and i dont understand not vetoeing altaris, but i cant imagine maru taking this bo5 with serral beeing so 100% on point.
Well we all seen the top 4 zergs are unbeatable in important tournaments, Maru was the last hope but as I said it would have taken a miracle on the current map pool
just to clarify , since mid 2018 when serral become the best until now serral was/is the favorite to win vs maru (despite what many, even casters say)
serral vs maru matches all time 8 vs 4 serral maru map score all time 18 vs 14
historical score/score vs opposing race/form/form vs opposing race/score vs each other. in all category serral is ahead
serral is also a higher favorite to win vs any protoss and now you maybe thinking, ok but at least vs the top korean zergs maru has a higher chance of winning but no even in that category serral has the higher % chance (alligulacc.com)
and for the statistic and alligulac denier just check the bookmakers , they dont give money away for free the bookmakers should be the ultimate proof and they always think serral is the favorite to win no matter if the game is online ore live no matter if it is in korea ore europe no matter if it is a bo1 ore bo7 you always did get the worse betting odds if you bet on serral instead of maru in this tournament it was serral 1.7 vs maru 2.0 odds (if you bet 1$ on serral you win 70cent if you bet 1$ on maru u did win 1$)
Yesterday was honestly the best day of SC2 I've seen in many years. It's so great to see everyone back and playing offline, and the players really did not disappoint!
On February 27 2022 17:16 DarkGamer wrote: funny how even now the korean elitists try to find excuses. i rooted for maru against serral but i can admit that serral just was the better player. sure, maru could have been more crisp on berlingrad and i dont understand not vetoeing altaris, but i cant imagine maru taking this bo5 with serral beeing so 100% on point.
I mean there's only 2 possibilities that caused this upset:
1. Matchfixing 2. Maru was simply tired and his wrists hurt. Zerg is infinitely easier to play than Terran, hence why a lot of the "top" foreigners are Zerg, and Maru came all the way from Korea. Jetlag affects everyone differently. It seems to affect Maru more which is why he performed so well when traveling to China or playing online. I can guarantee you that Maru wins an easy 3-0 if Serral had to go to Korea
On February 27 2022 12:22 tommey.liang wrote: Reynor is now tied at 4-4 (W-L) series overall vs. Dark, very impressive. Was quite a surprise to see HeroMarine advance indeed, but Solar is very beatable; predicting for Reynor to 3-1 or 3-0 him, though.
Also that game 2 of Serral vs. Maru was one for the ages. Rogue is now Korea's only hope.
Not to discredit the three Europeans, but I wonder if the flight from Korea to Katowice, Poland may have affected the Korean players even slightly as well. I know for sure when traditional sports of traveling from East Coast to West Coast (moreso than from West to East) it can have a toll on the athletes.
Aside from TIME and Cyan all the Asian players arrive a few days before group stage so they got plenty of rest.
It takes one day of full rest per timezone when traveling east to west. A few days aren't enough on top of the Koreans practicing and Maru needing to worry about being in the group of death and "others" having the luxury of no jetlag or being in a stacked group
So you are saying Maru is a bad pro-gamer, either because he is matchfixer-scum or because he only can win when literally everything is perfect for him? Damn, you don't need to insult him that hard, the kid just lost a big tournament against a clear better player, give him some slack
On February 27 2022 17:16 DarkGamer wrote: funny how even now the korean elitists try to find excuses. i rooted for maru against serral but i can admit that serral just was the better player. sure, maru could have been more crisp on berlingrad and i dont understand not vetoeing altaris, but i cant imagine maru taking this bo5 with serral beeing so 100% on point.
And Maru did a clown build with that double Racks Reapers as well, I mean the best chance he got was to bring things into lategame. As a Maru fan, I think the largest issue I got with him is how he does those unbelievable bad opening at times, get countered and then straight up lost. And yeah, the decision to veto something else other than Pride was also a huge question mark.
On February 27 2022 17:16 DarkGamer wrote: funny how even now the korean elitists try to find excuses. i rooted for maru against serral but i can admit that serral just was the better player. sure, maru could have been more crisp on berlingrad and i dont understand not vetoeing altaris, but i cant imagine maru taking this bo5 with serral beeing so 100% on point.
And Maru did a clown build with that double Racks Reapers as well, I mean the best chance he got was to bring things into lategame. As a Maru fan, I think the largest issue I got with him is how he does those unbelievable bad opening at times, get countered and then straight up lost. And yeah, the decision to veto something else other than Pride was also a huge question mark.
what is a clown build? it seems u dont understand the strategy-aspect of sc2. i dont want to insult you, but we can a) believe that maru understands the game well or b) u understand the game better then maru. i vote vor a)
On February 27 2022 17:16 DarkGamer wrote: funny how even now the korean elitists try to find excuses. i rooted for maru against serral but i can admit that serral just was the better player. sure, maru could have been more crisp on berlingrad and i dont understand not vetoeing altaris, but i cant imagine maru taking this bo5 with serral beeing so 100% on point.
And Maru did a clown build with that double Racks Reapers as well, I mean the best chance he got was to bring things into lategame. As a Maru fan, I think the largest issue I got with him is how he does those unbelievable bad opening at times, get countered and then straight up lost. And yeah, the decision to veto something else other than Pride was also a huge question mark.
what is a clown build? it seems u dont understand the strategy-aspect of sc2. i dont want to insult you, but we can a) believe that maru understands the game well or b) u understand the game better then maru. i vote vor a)
To me, and most of us who understand the game, the best way Maru could win in TvZ in drag thing out and use his lategame prowess to take the game over. While early game pressure build is good, double reapers is just not working against top Zerg, they are just BAD build. Remember how Maru did something similar against Dark in Last Chance, and Dark just made some Roach, walk over and kill him straight up? Like how you expect that to works against Serral? Just because Maru understand the game better than all of us fans, doesnt mean ALL of his decision are always correct. He took an unnecessary risk and Serral made it look silly.
On February 27 2022 17:16 DarkGamer wrote: funny how even now the korean elitists try to find excuses. i rooted for maru against serral but i can admit that serral just was the better player. sure, maru could have been more crisp on berlingrad and i dont understand not vetoeing altaris, but i cant imagine maru taking this bo5 with serral beeing so 100% on point.
I mean there's only 2 possibilities that caused this upset:
1. Matchfixing 2. Maru was simply tired and his wrists hurt. Zerg is infinitely easier to play than Terran, hence why a lot of the "top" foreigners are Zerg, and Maru came all the way from Korea. Jetlag affects everyone differently. It seems to affect Maru more which is why he performed so well when traveling to China or playing online. I can guarantee you that Maru wins an easy 3-0 if Serral had to go to Korea
On February 27 2022 12:22 tommey.liang wrote: Reynor is now tied at 4-4 (W-L) series overall vs. Dark, very impressive. Was quite a surprise to see HeroMarine advance indeed, but Solar is very beatable; predicting for Reynor to 3-1 or 3-0 him, though.
Also that game 2 of Serral vs. Maru was one for the ages. Rogue is now Korea's only hope.
Not to discredit the three Europeans, but I wonder if the flight from Korea to Katowice, Poland may have affected the Korean players even slightly as well. I know for sure when traditional sports of traveling from East Coast to West Coast (moreso than from West to East) it can have a toll on the athletes.
Aside from TIME and Cyan all the Asian players arrive a few days before group stage so they got plenty of rest.
It takes one day of full rest per timezone when traveling east to west. A few days aren't enough on top of the Koreans practicing and Maru needing to worry about being in the group of death and "others" having the luxury of no jetlag or being in a stacked group
So what about when serral went to Korea and won gsl vs the world..twice? Was he not tired due to jet-lag and won anyway because there’s no excuses? In the words of Michael Jordan “if I step on the court, I’m ready to play no excuses” so stop making them for maru. U sound stupid
On February 27 2022 17:16 DarkGamer wrote: funny how even now the korean elitists try to find excuses. i rooted for maru against serral but i can admit that serral just was the better player. sure, maru could have been more crisp on berlingrad and i dont understand not vetoeing altaris, but i cant imagine maru taking this bo5 with serral beeing so 100% on point.
I mean there's only 2 possibilities that caused this upset:
1. Matchfixing 2. Maru was simply tired and his wrists hurt. Zerg is infinitely easier to play than Terran, hence why a lot of the "top" foreigners are Zerg, and Maru came all the way from Korea. Jetlag affects everyone differently. It seems to affect Maru more which is why he performed so well when traveling to China or playing online. I can guarantee you that Maru wins an easy 3-0 if Serral had to go to Korea
On February 27 2022 12:22 tommey.liang wrote: Reynor is now tied at 4-4 (W-L) series overall vs. Dark, very impressive. Was quite a surprise to see HeroMarine advance indeed, but Solar is very beatable; predicting for Reynor to 3-1 or 3-0 him, though.
Also that game 2 of Serral vs. Maru was one for the ages. Rogue is now Korea's only hope.
Not to discredit the three Europeans, but I wonder if the flight from Korea to Katowice, Poland may have affected the Korean players even slightly as well. I know for sure when traditional sports of traveling from East Coast to West Coast (moreso than from West to East) it can have a toll on the athletes.
Aside from TIME and Cyan all the Asian players arrive a few days before group stage so they got plenty of rest.
It takes one day of full rest per timezone when traveling east to west. A few days aren't enough on top of the Koreans practicing and Maru needing to worry about being in the group of death and "others" having the luxury of no jetlag or being in a stacked group
Hahahaha sweet tears of Korean Elitist taste so good
ESL/Blizz: - funnels $ from korean regions to foreigners (previous region lock + recent ESL prize pool changes that went only to eu tournaments) - hosts intl tournaments surrounded by EU fans on EU soil in EU timezone - surprised when korean sc2 starts to drop off.
That being said, congrats to Serral, any tournament he wins is definitely not a fluke. On a separate note we need to do something about game design at the highest level, if I have to watch another zvz I'm going to lose it. I didn't realize in the last 10 years how important balance updates were not just for balance but also to keep the game interesting.
On March 01 2022 10:35 Drahkn wrote: Good to see Protoss perform so well, I guess twitch chat was right all along xD
I mean honest question about this, are there tons of people that like would rather protoss just get deleted? I've always felt that one of the coolest parts of SC was that there were **3** races with distinct play styles that they tried to balance.
On March 01 2022 07:59 luxon wrote: ESL/Blizz: - funnels $ from korean regions to foreigners (previous region lock + recent ESL prize pool changes that went only to eu tournaments) - hosts intl tournaments surrounded by EU fans on EU soil in EU timezone - surprised when korean sc2 starts to drop off.
That being said, congrats to Serral, any tournament he wins is definitely not a fluke. On a separate note we need to do something about game design at the highest level, if I have to watch another zvz I'm going to lose it. I didn't realize in the last 10 years how important balance updates were not just for balance but also to keep the game interesting.
1)The ESL has nothing to do with the GSL and thus isn't responsible for their prizepool either. And I don't think prizepool affects how good the top korean players play or would you say that if GSL would award twice as much money Maru and Rogue would play even better? 2)You have to host an international offline event somewhere. IEM Kattowice is the most prestigious event ESL has in store, while also being a big tournament in the past for SC2. Where else would they host it? Korea? Where ESL has no standing at all and the show would probably need to be hosted in korean? 3)No one was surprised, it was just a big milestone. Might happen more in the future. Korea still has the most high end players per country, but the GSL as a whole isn't really much more competitive than EU tbh.
I would agree on the balance-patch though. Not that the balance is much out of order, but you need to shake up the game. New maps alone can't do that forever.
On March 01 2022 07:59 luxon wrote: ESL/Blizz: - funnels $ from korean regions to foreigners (previous region lock + recent ESL prize pool changes that went only to eu tournaments) - hosts intl tournaments surrounded by EU fans on EU soil in EU timezone - surprised when korean sc2 starts to drop off.
That being said, congrats to Serral, any tournament he wins is definitely not a fluke. On a separate note we need to do something about game design at the highest level, if I have to watch another zvz I'm going to lose it. I didn't realize in the last 10 years how important balance updates were not just for balance but also to keep the game interesting.
1)The ESL has nothing to do with the GSL and thus isn't responsible for their prizepool either. And I don't think prizepool affects how good the top korean players play or would you say that if GSL would award twice as much money Maru and Rogue would play even better?
Except ESL consider the GSL as part of the EPT, so they dont have to host another tournament for the KR regions. And while the prizepool has some effect on player performance, it might not be that obvious. However, players normally would prepare more and practice more build before big tournament. But that was beside the point, as part of the prize pool from IEM should belong to KR players because its a Global Events. There was no right for ESL to re-distribute it into all the other regional competition BUT Korea. I brought this up at the time that the prize pool should be boosted for the Global Final, not the Regional EPT tournament.
On March 01 2022 07:59 luxon wrote: ESL/Blizz: - funnels $ from korean regions to foreigners (previous region lock + recent ESL prize pool changes that went only to eu tournaments) - hosts intl tournaments surrounded by EU fans on EU soil in EU timezone - surprised when korean sc2 starts to drop off.
That being said, congrats to Serral, any tournament he wins is definitely not a fluke. On a separate note we need to do something about game design at the highest level, if I have to watch another zvz I'm going to lose it. I didn't realize in the last 10 years how important balance updates were not just for balance but also to keep the game interesting.
1)The ESL has nothing to do with the GSL and thus isn't responsible for their prizepool either. And I don't think prizepool affects how good the top korean players play or would you say that if GSL would award twice as much money Maru and Rogue would play even better?
Except ESL consider the GSL as part of the EPT, so they dont have to host another tournament for the KR regions. And while the prizepool has some effect on player performance, it might not be that obvious. However, players normally would prepare more and practice more build before big tournament. But that was beside the point, as part of the prize pool from IEM should belong to KR players because its a Global Events. There was no right for ESL to re-distribute it into all the other regional competition BUT Korea. I brought this up at the time that the prize pool should be boosted for the Global Final, not the Regional EPT tournament.
So you are saying the Koreans didn't prepare or practice for the single biggest tournament of the year?
Like it was said before, ESL only does everything but Korea, which is organized by Afreeca? or some other Korean organisation. The money from the pools does not come from ESL but from Blizzard. Korea gets its fair share of that cake IMO.
On February 27 2022 17:16 DarkGamer wrote: funny how even now the korean elitists try to find excuses. i rooted for maru against serral but i can admit that serral just was the better player. sure, maru could have been more crisp on berlingrad and i dont understand not vetoeing altaris, but i cant imagine maru taking this bo5 with serral beeing so 100% on point.
Bro... it's been Zergcraft for years now. Rouge was the only one to tell the truth. It's been shit since the Raven nerf...
On February 27 2022 17:16 DarkGamer wrote: funny how even now the korean elitists try to find excuses. i rooted for maru against serral but i can admit that serral just was the better player. sure, maru could have been more crisp on berlingrad and i dont understand not vetoeing altaris, but i cant imagine maru taking this bo5 with serral beeing so 100% on point.
And Maru did a clown build with that double Racks Reapers as well, I mean the best chance he got was to bring things into lategame. As a Maru fan, I think the largest issue I got with him is how he does those unbelievable bad opening at times, get countered and then straight up lost. And yeah, the decision to veto something else other than Pride was also a huge question mark.
They arnt bad openings. The game just doesnt HAVE any real pressure openings Terran can do anymore. The guy trying to FIND something that can actually put pressure on a zerg.
On February 27 2022 17:16 DarkGamer wrote: funny how even now the korean elitists try to find excuses. i rooted for maru against serral but i can admit that serral just was the better player. sure, maru could have been more crisp on berlingrad and i dont understand not vetoeing altaris, but i cant imagine maru taking this bo5 with serral beeing so 100% on point.
Hes really not. The matchup has been fucked since they took away Terran late game splash...
The early game is nonexistent, mid game is Zerg favored. Just a move banes, babe run bysl.
On March 01 2022 07:59 luxon wrote: ESL/Blizz: - funnels $ from korean regions to foreigners (previous region lock + recent ESL prize pool changes that went only to eu tournaments) - hosts intl tournaments surrounded by EU fans on EU soil in EU timezone - surprised when korean sc2 starts to drop off.
That being said, congrats to Serral, any tournament he wins is definitely not a fluke. On a separate note we need to do something about game design at the highest level, if I have to watch another zvz I'm going to lose it. I didn't realize in the last 10 years how important balance updates were not just for balance but also to keep the game interesting.
1)The ESL has nothing to do with the GSL and thus isn't responsible for their prizepool either. And I don't think prizepool affects how good the top korean players play or would you say that if GSL would award twice as much money Maru and Rogue would play even better?
Except ESL consider the GSL as part of the EPT, so they dont have to host another tournament for the KR regions. And while the prizepool has some effect on player performance, it might not be that obvious. However, players normally would prepare more and practice more build before big tournament. But that was beside the point, as part of the prize pool from IEM should belong to KR players because its a Global Events. There was no right for ESL to re-distribute it into all the other regional competition BUT Korea. I brought this up at the time that the prize pool should be boosted for the Global Final, not the Regional EPT tournament.
So you're saying Maru, Rogue and all the other koreans didn't bother to properly prepare for a tournament that they had a high chance of winning and that awards 170K for the winner, which is like the equivalent of 8-9 GSL wins, because GSL doesn't award them enough money? Why did the EU players bother to prepare then, even though the EU region doesn't pay out as much money as GSL? As mentioned before: ESL manages the EPT, but they don't have anything to with GSL. I assume the money they re-shuffled was given out by Blizzard to them, so why would ESL re-shuffle it towards another tournament organizer? Korea gets to do its own thing and with GSL and Super Tournament they actually award a lot of money to a relatively small player base. Koreans are doing exceptionally well financially. If there is a mindset of "for 30K I train accordingly, for 20K I won't", than they have an attitude problem (which I strongly believe they don't).
On March 01 2022 07:59 luxon wrote: ESL/Blizz: - funnels $ from korean regions to foreigners (previous region lock + recent ESL prize pool changes that went only to eu tournaments) - hosts intl tournaments surrounded by EU fans on EU soil in EU timezone - surprised when korean sc2 starts to drop off.
That being said, congrats to Serral, any tournament he wins is definitely not a fluke. On a separate note we need to do something about game design at the highest level, if I have to watch another zvz I'm going to lose it. I didn't realize in the last 10 years how important balance updates were not just for balance but also to keep the game interesting.
1)The ESL has nothing to do with the GSL and thus isn't responsible for their prizepool either. And I don't think prizepool affects how good the top korean players play or would you say that if GSL would award twice as much money Maru and Rogue would play even better?
Except ESL consider the GSL as part of the EPT, so they dont have to host another tournament for the KR regions. And while the prizepool has some effect on player performance, it might not be that obvious. However, players normally would prepare more and practice more build before big tournament. But that was beside the point, as part of the prize pool from IEM should belong to KR players because its a Global Events. There was no right for ESL to re-distribute it into all the other regional competition BUT Korea. I brought this up at the time that the prize pool should be boosted for the Global Final, not the Regional EPT tournament.
So you're saying Maru, Rogue and all the other koreans didn't bother to properly prepare for a tournament that they had a high chance of winning and that awards 170K for the winner, which is like the equivalent of 8-9 GSL wins, because GSL doesn't award them enough money? Why did the EU players bother to prepare then, even though the EU region doesn't pay out as much money as GSL? As mentioned before: ESL manages the EPT, but they don't have anything to with GSL. I assume the money they re-shuffled was given out by Blizzard to them, so why would ESL re-shuffle it towards another tournament organizer? Korea gets to do its own thing and with GSL and Super Tournament they actually award a lot of money to a relatively small player base. Koreans are doing exceptionally well financially. If there is a mindset of "for 30K I train accordingly, for 20K I won't", than they have an attitude problem (which I strongly believe they don't).
I never said the KR players did not prepare for IEM, nor made any excuse about them losing to Serral and Reynor. I do know that players have different level of preparation for different level of tournament, if you think they have the same preparation for code S and Super Tournament, then you are sorely mistaken. But IEM should be where they show their best build and preparation level, so there is no excuse there. As for the prize, I did say that the best way for ESL give back the prize pool in the fairest way was through the GLOBAL FINAL, where everyone is capable of playing and winning. Not sure where you saw me said they should increase the prize for GSL only, read again, buddy. The fact that KR making more prize money through GSL than EU players through ESL is IRRELEVANT, because like you said, they have NOTHING to do with each other.
On February 27 2022 17:16 DarkGamer wrote: funny how even now the korean elitists try to find excuses. i rooted for maru against serral but i can admit that serral just was the better player. sure, maru could have been more crisp on berlingrad and i dont understand not vetoeing altaris, but i cant imagine maru taking this bo5 with serral beeing so 100% on point.
And Maru did a clown build with that double Racks Reapers as well, I mean the best chance he got was to bring things into lategame. As a Maru fan, I think the largest issue I got with him is how he does those unbelievable bad opening at times, get countered and then straight up lost. And yeah, the decision to veto something else other than Pride was also a huge question mark.
They arnt bad openings. The game just doesnt HAVE any real pressure openings Terran can do anymore. The guy trying to FIND something that can actually put pressure on a zerg.
I could name a couple pressure build from Terran that doesnt involve double rack Reapers, like 2-1-1, 3 Racks, 2 base pressure. Like HM win several games in IEM just through purely 2 base push and he executed it pretty flawlessly. So dont tell me Terran doesnt have anything else. Maru did the same thing against Dark in Last Chance, and Dark just made a couple Roach to defend, then walk across the map and choked him off instantly.
On February 27 2022 17:16 DarkGamer wrote: funny how even now the korean elitists try to find excuses. i rooted for maru against serral but i can admit that serral just was the better player. sure, maru could have been more crisp on berlingrad and i dont understand not vetoeing altaris, but i cant imagine maru taking this bo5 with serral beeing so 100% on point.
And Maru did a clown build with that double Racks Reapers as well, I mean the best chance he got was to bring things into lategame. As a Maru fan, I think the largest issue I got with him is how he does those unbelievable bad opening at times, get countered and then straight up lost. And yeah, the decision to veto something else other than Pride was also a huge question mark.
They arnt bad openings. The game just doesnt HAVE any real pressure openings Terran can do anymore. The guy trying to FIND something that can actually put pressure on a zerg.
I could name a couple pressure build from Terran that doesnt involve double rack Reapers, like 2-1-1, 3 Racks, 2 base pressure. Like HM win several games in IEM just through purely 2 base push and he executed it pretty flawlessly. So dont tell me Terran doesnt have anything else. Maru did the same thing against Dark in Last Chance, and Dark just made a couple Roach to defend, then walk across the map and choked him off instantly.
Not all gambles pay off, I’m unsure if that’s even a good gamble to make granted.
Even more questionable, to me is not vetoing Pride of Altaris. If you’re going to not veto a terrible map for your race in the matchup, then you should have a prepped build in store.
Instead Maru tried to play a straight macro game in probably the worst map in the pool to play a straight macro game, against Serral of all people.
These are just bad choices, reminiscent of last year against Reynor. Can’t remember exactly what it was off-hand, but in one of the best maps in the pool for that Maru defensive style, he threw in something wonky and got punished.
There’s being unpredictable and there’s not playing a series to your strengths by choice. In these world championship tournies his set planning has been consistently lacking.
In other tournaments, and in sets in Katowice both this and last year when Maru’s actually got to play his particular game there’s been plenty of times where even the best Zergs fall apart trying to break him.
On March 01 2022 07:59 luxon wrote: ESL/Blizz: - funnels $ from korean regions to foreigners (previous region lock + recent ESL prize pool changes that went only to eu tournaments) - hosts intl tournaments surrounded by EU fans on EU soil in EU timezone - surprised when korean sc2 starts to drop off.
That being said, congrats to Serral, any tournament he wins is definitely not a fluke. On a separate note we need to do something about game design at the highest level, if I have to watch another zvz I'm going to lose it. I didn't realize in the last 10 years how important balance updates were not just for balance but also to keep the game interesting.
1)The ESL has nothing to do with the GSL and thus isn't responsible for their prizepool either. And I don't think prizepool affects how good the top korean players play or would you say that if GSL would award twice as much money Maru and Rogue would play even better?
Except ESL consider the GSL as part of the EPT, so they dont have to host another tournament for the KR regions. And while the prizepool has some effect on player performance, it might not be that obvious. However, players normally would prepare more and practice more build before big tournament. But that was beside the point, as part of the prize pool from IEM should belong to KR players because its a Global Events. There was no right for ESL to re-distribute it into all the other regional competition BUT Korea. I brought this up at the time that the prize pool should be boosted for the Global Final, not the Regional EPT tournament.
So you're saying Maru, Rogue and all the other koreans didn't bother to properly prepare for a tournament that they had a high chance of winning and that awards 170K for the winner, which is like the equivalent of 8-9 GSL wins, because GSL doesn't award them enough money? Why did the EU players bother to prepare then, even though the EU region doesn't pay out as much money as GSL? As mentioned before: ESL manages the EPT, but they don't have anything to with GSL. I assume the money they re-shuffled was given out by Blizzard to them, so why would ESL re-shuffle it towards another tournament organizer? Korea gets to do its own thing and with GSL and Super Tournament they actually award a lot of money to a relatively small player base. Koreans are doing exceptionally well financially. If there is a mindset of "for 30K I train accordingly, for 20K I won't", than they have an attitude problem (which I strongly believe they don't).
I never said the KR players did not prepare for IEM, nor made any excuse about them losing to Serral and Reynor. I do know that players have different level of preparation for different level of tournament, if you think they have the same preparation for code S and Super Tournament, then you are sorely mistaken. But IEM should be where they show their best build and preparation level, so there is no excuse there. As for the prize, I did say that the best way for ESL give back the prize pool in the fairest way was through the GLOBAL FINAL, where everyone is capable of playing and winning. Not sure where you saw me said they should increase the prize for GSL only, read again, buddy. The fact that KR making more prize money through GSL than EU players through ESL is IRRELEVANT, because like you said, they have NOTHING to do with each other.
You mentioned they didn't prepare as much and somehow linked it to the prizepool...if the prizepool doesn't have anything to do with it, maybe just don't mention it?
Help me out...how exactly did ESL refunnel money away from the koreans? I vaguely remember something like that, but nothing specific. Did they cancel a global event or something? But even then it is totally understandable that ESL funnels money into their own circuit and not the global finals. ESL has to care that the international scene is alive, because the EU region specifically is probably where they make their money. So EU being more alive is much more important for the ESL than Korea.
On March 01 2022 07:59 luxon wrote: ESL/Blizz: - funnels $ from korean regions to foreigners (previous region lock + recent ESL prize pool changes that went only to eu tournaments) - hosts intl tournaments surrounded by EU fans on EU soil in EU timezone - surprised when korean sc2 starts to drop off.
That being said, congrats to Serral, any tournament he wins is definitely not a fluke. On a separate note we need to do something about game design at the highest level, if I have to watch another zvz I'm going to lose it. I didn't realize in the last 10 years how important balance updates were not just for balance but also to keep the game interesting.
1)The ESL has nothing to do with the GSL and thus isn't responsible for their prizepool either. And I don't think prizepool affects how good the top korean players play or would you say that if GSL would award twice as much money Maru and Rogue would play even better?
Except ESL consider the GSL as part of the EPT, so they dont have to host another tournament for the KR regions. And while the prizepool has some effect on player performance, it might not be that obvious. However, players normally would prepare more and practice more build before big tournament. But that was beside the point, as part of the prize pool from IEM should belong to KR players because its a Global Events. There was no right for ESL to re-distribute it into all the other regional competition BUT Korea. I brought this up at the time that the prize pool should be boosted for the Global Final, not the Regional EPT tournament.
So you're saying Maru, Rogue and all the other koreans didn't bother to properly prepare for a tournament that they had a high chance of winning and that awards 170K for the winner, which is like the equivalent of 8-9 GSL wins, because GSL doesn't award them enough money? Why did the EU players bother to prepare then, even though the EU region doesn't pay out as much money as GSL? As mentioned before: ESL manages the EPT, but they don't have anything to with GSL. I assume the money they re-shuffled was given out by Blizzard to them, so why would ESL re-shuffle it towards another tournament organizer? Korea gets to do its own thing and with GSL and Super Tournament they actually award a lot of money to a relatively small player base. Koreans are doing exceptionally well financially. If there is a mindset of "for 30K I train accordingly, for 20K I won't", than they have an attitude problem (which I strongly believe they don't).
I never said the KR players did not prepare for IEM, nor made any excuse about them losing to Serral and Reynor. I do know that players have different level of preparation for different level of tournament, if you think they have the same preparation for code S and Super Tournament, then you are sorely mistaken. But IEM should be where they show their best build and preparation level, so there is no excuse there. As for the prize, I did say that the best way for ESL give back the prize pool in the fairest way was through the GLOBAL FINAL, where everyone is capable of playing and winning. Not sure where you saw me said they should increase the prize for GSL only, read again, buddy. The fact that KR making more prize money through GSL than EU players through ESL is IRRELEVANT, because like you said, they have NOTHING to do with each other.
You mentioned they didn't prepare as much and somehow linked it to the prizepool...if the prizepool doesn't have anything to do with it, maybe just don't mention it?
Help me out...how exactly did ESL refunnel money away from the koreans? I vaguely remember something like that, but nothing specific. Did they cancel a global event or something? But even then it is totally understandable that ESL funnels money into their own circuit and not the global finals. ESL has to care that the international scene is alive, because the EU region specifically is probably where they make their money. So EU being more alive is much more important for the ESL than Korea.
I used Code S and Super Tournament as the example, not IEM. IEM should be the biggest tournament of the year, so even if the preparation is depending on the prizepool, it still means they should give their best on IEM. The prizepool we are talking about is from IEM World Championship last year, where they cut it from 500k to 250k due to it being online. So in the 250k that they cut off, ESL re-distributed MOST of that into regional tournament where KR are not able to compete in. Like I said, global Finals is also run by ESL, not GSL, as part of the EPT. And I find your point is quite hard to understand to be honest. So you think ESL boosting the prize pool of non-KR region for ONE year would really change the vitality or livelihood of the whole scene? Maybe they realized that didnt work and now they switching the entire EPT format in the coming season, I dont know how the new format will be better for the region, but we will see. But I think its more helpful if ESL can push Blizzard to get some new game balance coming out to keep it dynamic.
On March 01 2022 07:59 luxon wrote: ESL/Blizz: - funnels $ from korean regions to foreigners (previous region lock + recent ESL prize pool changes that went only to eu tournaments) - hosts intl tournaments surrounded by EU fans on EU soil in EU timezone - surprised when korean sc2 starts to drop off.
That being said, congrats to Serral, any tournament he wins is definitely not a fluke. On a separate note we need to do something about game design at the highest level, if I have to watch another zvz I'm going to lose it. I didn't realize in the last 10 years how important balance updates were not just for balance but also to keep the game interesting.
1)The ESL has nothing to do with the GSL and thus isn't responsible for their prizepool either. And I don't think prizepool affects how good the top korean players play or would you say that if GSL would award twice as much money Maru and Rogue would play even better?
Except ESL consider the GSL as part of the EPT, so they dont have to host another tournament for the KR regions. And while the prizepool has some effect on player performance, it might not be that obvious. However, players normally would prepare more and practice more build before big tournament. But that was beside the point, as part of the prize pool from IEM should belong to KR players because its a Global Events. There was no right for ESL to re-distribute it into all the other regional competition BUT Korea. I brought this up at the time that the prize pool should be boosted for the Global Final, not the Regional EPT tournament.
So you're saying Maru, Rogue and all the other koreans didn't bother to properly prepare for a tournament that they had a high chance of winning and that awards 170K for the winner, which is like the equivalent of 8-9 GSL wins, because GSL doesn't award them enough money? Why did the EU players bother to prepare then, even though the EU region doesn't pay out as much money as GSL? As mentioned before: ESL manages the EPT, but they don't have anything to with GSL. I assume the money they re-shuffled was given out by Blizzard to them, so why would ESL re-shuffle it towards another tournament organizer? Korea gets to do its own thing and with GSL and Super Tournament they actually award a lot of money to a relatively small player base. Koreans are doing exceptionally well financially. If there is a mindset of "for 30K I train accordingly, for 20K I won't", than they have an attitude problem (which I strongly believe they don't).
I never said the KR players did not prepare for IEM, nor made any excuse about them losing to Serral and Reynor. I do know that players have different level of preparation for different level of tournament, if you think they have the same preparation for code S and Super Tournament, then you are sorely mistaken. But IEM should be where they show their best build and preparation level, so there is no excuse there. As for the prize, I did say that the best way for ESL give back the prize pool in the fairest way was through the GLOBAL FINAL, where everyone is capable of playing and winning. Not sure where you saw me said they should increase the prize for GSL only, read again, buddy. The fact that KR making more prize money through GSL than EU players through ESL is IRRELEVANT, because like you said, they have NOTHING to do with each other.
You mentioned they didn't prepare as much and somehow linked it to the prizepool...if the prizepool doesn't have anything to do with it, maybe just don't mention it?
Help me out...how exactly did ESL refunnel money away from the koreans? I vaguely remember something like that, but nothing specific. Did they cancel a global event or something? But even then it is totally understandable that ESL funnels money into their own circuit and not the global finals. ESL has to care that the international scene is alive, because the EU region specifically is probably where they make their money. So EU being more alive is much more important for the ESL than Korea.
I used Code S and Super Tournament as the example, not IEM. IEM should be the biggest tournament of the year, so even if the preparation is depending on the prizepool, it still means they should give their best on IEM. The prizepool we are talking about is from IEM World Championship last year, where they cut it from 500k to 250k due to it being online. So in the 250k that they cut off, ESL re-distributed MOST of that into regional tournament where KR are not able to compete in. Like I said, global Finals is also run by ESL, not GSL, as part of the EPT. And I find your point is quite hard to understand to be honest. So you think ESL boosting the prize pool of non-KR region for ONE year would really change the vitality or livelihood of the whole scene? Maybe they realized that didnt work and now they switching the entire EPT format in the coming season, I dont know how the new format will be better for the region, but we will see. But I think its more helpful if ESL can push Blizzard to get some new game balance coming out to keep it dynamic.
I don't know about the inner workings of ESL, but maybe Blizzard pushed them to not sit on 250K for a whole year? Seems reasonable to me, that if you sponsor something, you want that money spent, not idling around (especially with the whole negative interests in Europe). So ESL had to put that money into something and they decided to boost their main region (EU) with it. Which is fine, because as I said, that is where they get their money from (or rather their viewers). As I said, ESL doesn't care about GSL and doesn't have to, either.
On March 01 2022 07:59 luxon wrote: ESL/Blizz: - funnels $ from korean regions to foreigners (previous region lock + recent ESL prize pool changes that went only to eu tournaments) - hosts intl tournaments surrounded by EU fans on EU soil in EU timezone - surprised when korean sc2 starts to drop off.
That being said, congrats to Serral, any tournament he wins is definitely not a fluke. On a separate note we need to do something about game design at the highest level, if I have to watch another zvz I'm going to lose it. I didn't realize in the last 10 years how important balance updates were not just for balance but also to keep the game interesting.
1)The ESL has nothing to do with the GSL and thus isn't responsible for their prizepool either. And I don't think prizepool affects how good the top korean players play or would you say that if GSL would award twice as much money Maru and Rogue would play even better?
Except ESL consider the GSL as part of the EPT, so they dont have to host another tournament for the KR regions. And while the prizepool has some effect on player performance, it might not be that obvious. However, players normally would prepare more and practice more build before big tournament. But that was beside the point, as part of the prize pool from IEM should belong to KR players because its a Global Events. There was no right for ESL to re-distribute it into all the other regional competition BUT Korea. I brought this up at the time that the prize pool should be boosted for the Global Final, not the Regional EPT tournament.
So you're saying Maru, Rogue and all the other koreans didn't bother to properly prepare for a tournament that they had a high chance of winning and that awards 170K for the winner, which is like the equivalent of 8-9 GSL wins, because GSL doesn't award them enough money? Why did the EU players bother to prepare then, even though the EU region doesn't pay out as much money as GSL? As mentioned before: ESL manages the EPT, but they don't have anything to with GSL. I assume the money they re-shuffled was given out by Blizzard to them, so why would ESL re-shuffle it towards another tournament organizer? Korea gets to do its own thing and with GSL and Super Tournament they actually award a lot of money to a relatively small player base. Koreans are doing exceptionally well financially. If there is a mindset of "for 30K I train accordingly, for 20K I won't", than they have an attitude problem (which I strongly believe they don't).
I never said the KR players did not prepare for IEM, nor made any excuse about them losing to Serral and Reynor. I do know that players have different level of preparation for different level of tournament, if you think they have the same preparation for code S and Super Tournament, then you are sorely mistaken. But IEM should be where they show their best build and preparation level, so there is no excuse there. As for the prize, I did say that the best way for ESL give back the prize pool in the fairest way was through the GLOBAL FINAL, where everyone is capable of playing and winning. Not sure where you saw me said they should increase the prize for GSL only, read again, buddy. The fact that KR making more prize money through GSL than EU players through ESL is IRRELEVANT, because like you said, they have NOTHING to do with each other.
You mentioned they didn't prepare as much and somehow linked it to the prizepool...if the prizepool doesn't have anything to do with it, maybe just don't mention it?
Help me out...how exactly did ESL refunnel money away from the koreans? I vaguely remember something like that, but nothing specific. Did they cancel a global event or something? But even then it is totally understandable that ESL funnels money into their own circuit and not the global finals. ESL has to care that the international scene is alive, because the EU region specifically is probably where they make their money. So EU being more alive is much more important for the ESL than Korea.
I used Code S and Super Tournament as the example, not IEM. IEM should be the biggest tournament of the year, so even if the preparation is depending on the prizepool, it still means they should give their best on IEM. The prizepool we are talking about is from IEM World Championship last year, where they cut it from 500k to 250k due to it being online. So in the 250k that they cut off, ESL re-distributed MOST of that into regional tournament where KR are not able to compete in. Like I said, global Finals is also run by ESL, not GSL, as part of the EPT. And I find your point is quite hard to understand to be honest. So you think ESL boosting the prize pool of non-KR region for ONE year would really change the vitality or livelihood of the whole scene? Maybe they realized that didnt work and now they switching the entire EPT format in the coming season, I dont know how the new format will be better for the region, but we will see. But I think its more helpful if ESL can push Blizzard to get some new game balance coming out to keep it dynamic.
I'm not a 100% on this but pretty sure they made the "season finals" out of that money in which Koreans played as well and had more seats than anybody else.
ESL can't push Blizz to do anything. They are happy Blizz is still funding the prize pools. And there won't be any balance patches since nobody is working on SC2 anymore. Either we live with it or we leave. I for one am happy that we will have another year of awesome Starcrafts ahead
ENCE's crown jewel Joona. The team should really keep very good care on him. All that yesteryears turmoil within ENCE's CS:GO team - people burnouting, coming and going, and all - one guy watched it all aside, being like the mainstay, fulcrum, and the root for the whole team; Serral the Daddy. Egos may clash, aim may falter, crosshair can be too much right, and lack of utility may ruin a run.
That was never case with Serral. The Definition and the paramount of Esports professionalism. The goal was always there, clear, and openly declared. Serral should just buy his fair share of ENCE, in long run it would do only good for the franchise. He can provide some kind of stability... Lol.
Way he casually declared what is in his mind, and then just delivering:
I've been waiting that recap like a next guy, but as someone in other (dedicated thread for "missing recap") thread pointed out I don't feel urgency to personally DEMAND it. Actually, I've been contemplating could there be any possibilities to write it by myself, the conclusion being clear: NO WAY!
Mainly for two reasons:
1. I'm hopelessly biased Serral-fanboi 2. My overall skills in English language aren't sufficient for the task
But also,
3. for severely lacking understanding of and at minimal level of SC2 tactics, 4. and generally very limited knowledge on the scene as a whole,
effectively prevent me to write such text that, I, such as next guy, his cat, GF, and Aunt would expect from this site, particularly when it seems not to be any kind problem to generously feature a rate C tournaments with their own threads, both before and after the World Championship Finals 2022. As some one poignantly observed, when the tournament "deserved" a separate thread for every single day and phase of it, one would expect that there would be also some kind of conclusion among those tournament relevant threads.
Sadly this one is the closest to "a recap" we have currently.
I don't know. It should not be too hard to just list few facts:
- Map/Match score - Opponents and their level - Long time rivalry with Reynor - Breaking of milestone of Million Dollars of career winnings - Fact that the tournament was first offline Premier tournament since Xel'naga knows when - Other minor intangibles such as widespread pre-tournament coverage on Serral at TL.Net SC2 news site
Harvoin jos koskaan on missään urheilulajissa nähty keneltäkään yksilöurheilijalta yhtä suurta päättäväisyyttä ja määrätietoisuutta ennen lajin suurinta arvoturnausta. Harvoin jos koskaan urheilijan julkiset ulostulot ennen turnausta ovat olleet yhtä kylmän viileän toteavia kuin suomalaisen StarCraft II pelaajan, Joona "Serral" Sotalan lausunnot ennen Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2022 turnausta. Tapa millä hän teki mitä sanoi ja mihin tähtäsi on äärimmäisen poikkeuksellista E-urheilussa, mutta myös urheilun saralla yleisemminkin.
Kenellekään SC2:ta seuraavalle ei ole enää ollut vuosiin epäselvää että Serral on yksi pelin suurimmista, taitavimmista, ja myös tasaisemmista pelaajista koskaan. Hän on myös se pelaaja, suuri pioneeri jonka harteilla lepää paljolti eurooppalaisen StarCraftin nousu ja läpimurto liki läpipääsemätöntä Korealaista hegemoniaa vastaan. Blizzcon-voitto vuodelta 2018 sinetöi Serralin paikan pelin pantheonissa ikiajoiksi. Tapa jolla hän dominoi tuona vuotena skeneä ei todennäköisesti koskaan tule toistumaan.
Serral osoitti jälleen kerran mikä on ero online ja offline -turnausten välillä, mitä tarkoittaa kun oikeasti mitellään mies miestä vastaan hengittäen samaa ilmaa samassa huoneessa. Pari vuotta koko peliä seuraava maailma on unelmoinut korona-rajoitusten purusta, samalla kun lajin suurimmat arvoturnaukset on pidetty etänä, internetin välityksellä. Online-turnausten arvo on kyseenalaistettu monesta syystä ja monella suulla, ei vähiten epätasapuolisten viiveiden ja vuorokaudenaikojen johdosta. Katowice 2022 vapautti meidät kaikki tästä spekulaatiosta. On täysin selvää kuka on nyt kukkulan kuningas.
Viimeiset online-koronavuodet Serral on suoriutunut kokonaisuudessaan mallikkaasti ottaen turnausvoittoja ja sijoittuen keskimäärin muutenkin hyvin, tosin joukkoon mahtuu myös muutama totaalinen huti - kuten hän itsekin on myöntänyt -, silti pysyen visusti maailman terävimmässä kärjessä. Tätä taustaa vastaan Serralin nyt saavuttama Maailmanmestaruus ei ole suuri yllätys. Pienenä yllätyksenä sen sijaan voidaan pitää sitä, että hän kykeni parantamaan kaikilla niillä osa-alueilla, joissa hänen suurimmat heikkoutensa ovat viime vuosina olleet, erityisesti ZvZ ja ZvZ a'la Reynor - hallitseva maailmanmestari Zerg ja Serralin pitkäaikainen Nemesis (ja hyvä ystävä).
Koskaan aikaisemmin ei olla nähty psykologisesti yhtä valmista, ehyttä, ja määrätietoista Joonaa kuin mitä nähtiin finaalissa Reynoria vastaan, tämä kaikki sen jälkeen kun hän oli piessyt pudotuspeleissä suvereenisti käytännössä pahimmat mahdolliset vastustajansa koko pelissä: Maru (Terran) 3-1, Rogue (Zerg) 3-0. Alkusarjassa (kartat 10-0) kaatui lisäksi Dark (Zerg) 2-0 ja useampi muu kansainvälinen huippunimi. Itse finaalissa Reynoria vastaan Serral kykeni kasaamaan itsensä, kirimään ja voittamaan tappioasemasta, eikä vähiten hänelle tilanne huomioiden äärimmäisen epätyypillisen drone-rush-juustoilun avustuksella.
Kun Serral meni noutamaan hyvin ansaittua pokaaliaan, oli koko tapahtumasarja ikäänkuin käsikirjoitettu aikapäiviä sitten. Aivan kuin maailmanjärjestys olisi palannut niille urille, joissa sen olisi pitänyt kulkea ilman pandemiaa ja päättymättömältä tuntuvaa online-tuonelaa. Serral tuli ja haki mikä Serralille kuului.
Riippumatta mitä sitten tapahtuu, ainakin hetken Serral on kiistämätön mestari, maailman paras Starcraft II -pelaaja. GG.
EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/EPT/Katowice2022/ro12bracket_2.png)
Reynor, 
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FMnJGlFWQAE2lB8?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)
![[image loading]](https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_287,w_5568,h_3132/w_1200,h_675,ar_1.7777777777777777,dpr_1,c_fill/q_auto:eco,f_auto,fl_lossy/39-5211095bdef96e53ab6)
