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Dark wins DreamHack Masters: Valencia 2022

Forum Index > SC2 General
32 CommentsPost a Reply
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Dark wins DreamHack Masters: Valencia 2022

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
July 7th, 2022 01:12 GMT

Dark Wins DreamHack Valencia 2022

by Wax

The first major international competition of the 2022/23 pro tour came to a thrilling conclusion, as Dark barely scraped by Maru to win a seven-game finals at DreamHack Valencia. The victory broke a 10-month title drought for Dark (last winning Code S Season 2 in August of 2021), where his tournament results fell out of alignment with his reputation as a perennial title contender. Dark's final two matches at DreamHack Valencia cleanly dispelled any worries about his form: a 3-2 victory against #1 Aligulac-rated PvZ player in herO in the semifinals, followed by a 4-3 victory against #1 TvZ player Maru in the grand finals.

[image loading]

DreamHack StarCraft II Masters 2022: Valencia

Dark and Maru had to endure a grueling day of playoff matches before arriving in the grand finals. Even more than equal latency and the presence of a crowd, the twelve hours between the first and last match may have been the biggest difference between online and offline competition.

Dark looked more ready for the late night match, jumping ahead to a 3-1 lead in the series. Particularly striking was his clinical dismantling of Maru's infamous turtle-style in game four, especially since Maru had reminded fans of its potency by using it to defeat Reynor earlier in the day (Maru's marathon games against Reynor was part of the reason the day was so long). However, going on the offensive allowed Maru to fight his way back into the series, and a couple of fierce mid-game pushes evened the score at 3-3.

The effects of the new map pool had been felt through all three days of the tournament, but it was nowhere more apparent than at the very end. With Stargazers—the most unorthodox map in the new pool—selected for game seven, Maru decided to fall back on his trusty proxy 2-Barracks Bunker rush. However, Dark already had a solution in mind: give up his natural expansion and take his 'backdoor' expansion instead. Is this actually a positive value proposition for the Zerg? That's a question we'll see plenty of SC2 pros and YouTubers try to answer in the coming week. But at least on July 3rd, it was a wild success, as Dark was able to dominate Maru in the ensuing macro game and clinch the championship.

A cocky young Dark once said winning ten major championships was his goal—with his eighth title in hand, he's closing in on making that dream a reality. He returns to Korea as the new favorite to win Code S—such a victory would give him his first back-to-back tournament titles since he won both the GSL Super Tournament and Blizzcon back in 2019.

Reynor plays Protoss and other notable happenings

Reynor beats Solar with Protoss: We already knew of Reynor's Protoss prowess through his ESL Open Cup performances, where he defeated players like HeroMarine, ShoWTimE, and Elazer over the last few weeks. Thus, it wasn't really too surprising that he managed to 2-0 Solar in the group stages of DreamHack Valencia.

What was actually impressive was Reynor's audacity to pick Protoss in a major tournament. It's one thing to off-race for fun in $200 weeklies—it's another thing entirely to take the risk in one of the biggest events of the year.

One has to wonder how Reynor will deploy his formidable PvZ going forward. While it seems highly unlikely he'd try to test himself against ZvP monsters like Serral, it could be a useful tool to reduce variance against weaker Zergs who might have tried to cheese him out in a ZvZ.

Top players drop out: It has to be noted that several strong players could not participate at DreamHack: Valencia.

Rogue and Trap were unable to travel overseas due to Korean government restrictions regarding men who haven't finished their military service. While the two 28-year-olds had been aided by KeSPA in receiving a travel exemption for the IEM World Championship in Katowice, it seems that such support was not available (or not requested) for a satellite event like DH: Valencia.

Serral also bowed out, though for unspecified reasons. The Finnish Phenom had failed to earn a direct seed after suffering a shocking upset at the hands of HeroMarine in the European regional, and would have had to start in the open bracket had he decided to attend.

China's TIME had to decline his invitation as well, though it's unclear if this was due to visa issues or complications due to COVID-related restrictions in China. Code S player Ryung also had his name on the initial sign-up list but ended up declining to compete.

It's impossible to know how the tournament would have played out if all the title contenders could have competed. While none of Trap, Rogue, or Serral have been in great form in recent weeks, one still has to respect their capacity to get hot for a single event (as they've done in the past). Also, when you consider how they would have affected the groups and brackets, the tournament would 100% have played out very differently.

Of course, this doesn't invalidate Dark's victory or put an asterisk next to it. After all, the above circumstances were entirely outside of his control. When it came to the one thing within his power—defeating every single opponent the tournament put against him—he succeeded every time.

Creator continues his roll: Prior to this tournament, some fans were still trying to figure out what to make of Creator's runner-up finish in Season 1 of Code S. Was this truly a new Creator, or was it just a miracle run for the long-suffering Protoss?

Well, now that DreamHack Valencia has concluded, the answer is only slightly clearer. Creator's top four finish was a very nice result, but he also lucked out by having a relatively easy path compared to the other semifinalists. His most difficult opponents were the NA big three of Neeb, Scarlett, and Astrea, so the impact of Creator's accomplishment hinges largely on one's view of NA StarCraft.

Perhaps the most important takeaway for Creator was that he stayed relatively calm under pressure. Sure, he had some big emotional outbursts when he was winning matches, but what mattered was that he kept it together at key moments where he might have lost.

His RO8 match against Neeb went all the way to game five, where he was pushed to the brink of elimination by the American Protoss. But instead of suffering another tragic collapse, Creator kept his composure and won a stunning comeback victory by drawing Neeb's army into a cul-de-sac and executing a textbook surround maneuver.

Even if Creator is not yet a true title contender, it's great to see him play to the best of his ability.



Writer: Wax
Photos: DreamHack
Statistics: Aligulac.com and Liquipedia


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TL+ Member
QOGQOG
Profile Joined July 2019
834 Posts
July 07 2022 02:13 GMT
#2
Creator did look quite solid, though I feel like the confidence he should have gained will not be enough to make it through the Ro10 in GSL unfortunately.

I was really impressed by Maru bringing things back—after the first few games it looked like it was going to be a complete stomp. But Dark is Dark and Zerg is Zerg.
Seeker *
Profile Blog Joined April 2005
Where dat snitch at?37017 Posts
July 07 2022 02:41 GMT
#3
Thx for the article, Wax. And thanks for being the translator at the event!
ModeratorPeople ask me, "Seeker, what are you seeking?" My answer? "Sleep, damn it! Always sleep!"
TL+ Member
Husyelt
Profile Blog Joined May 2020
United States830 Posts
July 07 2022 03:09 GMT
#4
Am I nuts to think Neeb could have won the finals had he beaten Creator? Congrats to Dark, the B07 was legendary, excellent strategist, beating out the unbeatable herO and late game Maru TvZ with real time strategy.
You're getting cynical and that won't do I'd throw the rose tint back on the exploded view
RKC
Profile Joined June 2012
2848 Posts
Last Edited: 2022-07-07 05:36:58
July 07 2022 05:36 GMT
#5
Zerg winning another title - is this even breaking news that deserves a headline article? Oh wait, it's still quite achievement, since half of the Horsemen (Serral and Rogue) were not even playing...

Half-jokes aside, congrats Dark! Didn't catch most of the games, but I'm sure it was a fun watch based on TL chatter. Dark's games are always a joy to behold, and herO's resurgence keeps the Protoss hype dream alive. From the live thread, I'm guessing that Maru-Reynor series isn't a recommended watch?
gg no re thx
QOGQOG
Profile Joined July 2019
834 Posts
Last Edited: 2022-07-07 06:21:28
July 07 2022 06:18 GMT
#6
On July 07 2022 14:36 RKC wrote:
From the live thread, I'm guessing that Maru-Reynor series isn't a recommended watch?

It's mostly Reynor failing to deal with Maru turtling over and over. Not the most compelling, though there were some moments. The finals had a lot more of players actually adapting to each other.

On July 07 2022 12:09 Husyelt wrote:
Am I nuts to think Neeb could have won the finals had he beaten Creator?

Yes.
Big-t
Profile Joined January 2011
Austria1350 Posts
July 07 2022 07:55 GMT
#7
Very good matches! My highlight: Maru vs Reynor, sometimes a little bit of turtle mech is all I need :D
monchi | IdrA | Flash
Hydro033
Profile Joined July 2012
United States136 Posts
July 07 2022 17:24 GMT
#8
On July 07 2022 12:09 Husyelt wrote:
Am I nuts to think Neeb could have won the finals had he beaten Creator? Congrats to Dark, the B07 was legendary, excellent strategist, beating out the unbeatable herO and late game Maru TvZ with real time strategy.


Maybe if Reynor won. I'd think Neeb has a much better short vs Reynor than Maru.
#Wet4Ret
aringadingding
Profile Joined September 2010
474 Posts
July 07 2022 18:19 GMT
#9
wait... a zerg won? Now i have seen everything...
jk, sort of, but it is what it is.
shindiginit
Profile Joined November 2021
21 Posts
July 07 2022 18:31 GMT
#10
If anyone could link to the Reynor Solar series that would be amazing. I've spent the better half of my day searching for it on twitch and youtube!
Hoshizake
Profile Joined December 2010
United States26 Posts
July 07 2022 19:23 GMT
#11
So, you have no problem instantly churning out an article for dark but you can't be bothered to write a article when serral won the world championship? I think I know the issue here
まだまだだね。
QOGQOG
Profile Joined July 2019
834 Posts
July 07 2022 19:28 GMT
#12
On July 08 2022 04:23 Hoshizake wrote:
So, you have no problem instantly churning out an article for dark but you can't be bothered to write a article when serral won the world championship? I think I know the issue here

That Serral is incredibly boring?
JJH777
Profile Joined January 2011
United States4400 Posts
July 07 2022 19:45 GMT
#13
On July 08 2022 04:23 Hoshizake wrote:
So, you have no problem instantly churning out an article for dark but you can't be bothered to write a article when serral won the world championship? I think I know the issue here


Maybe you should have written it? You know these articles are basically all volunteer work right? They should write about whatever
or whoever they choose to. Katowice was also harder to write about because the Zerg dominance was so ridiculous any article wouldn't have been able to ignore it.
ZombieGrub
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
United States695 Posts
Last Edited: 2022-07-07 20:10:45
July 07 2022 20:07 GMT
#14
On July 08 2022 04:23 Hoshizake wrote:
So, you have no problem instantly churning out an article for dark but you can't be bothered to write a article when serral won the world championship? I think I know the issue here


After seeing TL as one of the worst spots for accusing content creators of being "non-Korean biased" I must admit I was confused upon seeing this "TL is Korean biased" insinuation. That's what I assume it is, right?

Thank you Wax for doing the write-up.
Commentator"Defeat is the acceptance of my own laziness." - SlayerS_'Boxer'
TossHeroes
Profile Joined February 2022
281 Posts
July 07 2022 20:14 GMT
#15
On July 08 2022 04:23 Hoshizake wrote:
So, you have no problem instantly churning out an article for dark but you can't be bothered to write a article when serral won the world championship? I think I know the issue here


Goat Serral doesn’t need an article
Durnuu
Profile Joined September 2013
13320 Posts
July 07 2022 20:51 GMT
#16
On July 08 2022 04:45 JJH777 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 08 2022 04:23 Hoshizake wrote:
So, you have no problem instantly churning out an article for dark but you can't be bothered to write a article when serral won the world championship? I think I know the issue here


Maybe you should have written it? You know these articles are basically all volunteer work right? They should write about whatever
or whoever they choose to. Katowice was also harder to write about because the Zerg dominance was so ridiculous any article wouldn't have been able to ignore it.

Also, writing an article about the biggest tournament of the year isn't quite the same amount of work as one dreamhack, I would assume.
BUNNYYYYYYYYY https://i.imgur.com/BiCF577.png
daKenji
Profile Joined July 2018
2 Posts
July 07 2022 21:04 GMT
#17
Good read.
Thanks for explaining why Serral didnt participate.
Him not qualifying for such a big event is quite unexpected.
Moonerz
Profile Joined March 2014
United States444 Posts
July 07 2022 22:38 GMT
#18
I actually thought this was a pretty hype event overall. Great to be back on "lan" and with a crowd. Kr dominating the top 4 gives us good storylines going into the next big international tourney.

Serral didnt even play in this tournament so idk why people are bringing him up in this thread. Especially if its not "lets see how dominant kr are vs foreigners with serral hopefully attending the next tourney".
Pandain
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States12989 Posts
July 08 2022 00:38 GMT
#19
Don't worry guys I will be writing the IEM Katowice write up and publishing it a day before next Katowice
pandorasheep
Profile Joined February 2022
73 Posts
July 08 2022 01:48 GMT
#20
Very great tournament. The ONLY non-Korean contenders for being the GOAT are Reynor and Stephano. Everyone else were/are patch Zergs or need to rely on jetlag to win. Or the Koreans/other top EU/NA players just didn't take the tournament seriously. Not sure why people unjustly can even make claims that European patch Zergs that rely on their opponent being jetlagged get touted as GOAT and called Korean Killers and nonsense like that. There's a very good reason why some players were able to make it to DH Valencia and some were not able to attend. Those that couldn't make it are simply very bad and overhyped players with no real achievements aside from winning against jetlagged Koreans who would beat them any other day.
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