Maru Wins Code S Season 3, Claims G5L Trophy

by Wax

The G5L trophy finally has an owner!

Maru took a dominating 4-0 victory over RagnaroK in the Code S Season 3 grand finals, becoming the first and only five-time Code S champion. Thus, the G5L trophy that had been created a decade ago in anticipation of Mvp's fifth GSL title was finally bestowed upon an equally great, if not even greater, Terran legend.

The Season 3 finals had been projected to be one of the most one-sided in GSL history, with Maru entering as a four-time champion while RagnaroK was to play in the first major finals of his career. Rankings website Aligulac gave Maru an 88.71% chance to win while over 90% of TL.net Liquibet users predicted his victory. Maru himself was quite confident in the pre-match interview, plainly saying "Honestly, I think I'll win easily."

Still, with Maru having failed in his prior three attempts to claim the G5L, there were concerns that the "G5L curse" might foil him once more. Ultimately, such concerns proved to be quite unfounded, as the match played out exactly as the odds foretold.


Maru prepared a diverse package of build orders that got him an early advantage in every single game—advantages he probably didn't even need to beat such an outmatched foe (detailed recaps below). He was able to put on about as complete a Terran vs Zerg showcase as possible in a four game span, pummeling his opponent with Marine-Tank, turtling his way to victory with Ghosts and Thors, and even winning with straight-up mech. The only thing that prevented the finals from being a comprehensive Maru experience was the lack of his signature proxy-Barracks all-in—though one suspects he had it ready for a map that ended up not being played.

In the post-match interview, RagnaroK revealed that difficulties during practice had already sapped his confidence, and he had thought "I hope just don't lose 0-4" headed into the match.

As for Maru, he briefly shed his typically reserved attitude and gave perhaps the most forceful declaration of his career, saying "I want people to think of me when they think of Terran in SC2, so I'll win five more championships."

It's unknown as to whether or not he'll have the opportunity, since AfreecaTV has not offered any information on the future of GSL past this year. This is not necessarily a reason for fans to panic, as the current season was announced as late as March of 2022. Still, an air of uncertainty will linger around the GSL as it prepares for its last event of 2022: Super Tournament 2 (held from November 28th to December 8th).

Besides Maru obtaining the G5L, the finals also marked another historic occasion—although this one took on a more somber tone. It was Artosis' final in-person broadcast of the GSL, with the iconic commentator moving to Canada after the event for both family and career reasons.

Like Maru, Artosis had been a foundational part of the GSL. Alongside his broadcast partner Tasteless, he was a commentator for the very first GSL event in 2010 where Maru debuted as a player. Just as Maru came to define Terran greatness over his storied career, the 'Tastosis' duo became the gold standard for commentary in StarCraft II—and perhaps even esports commentary as a whole.

Tastosis have requested to continue GSL casts online, and this atypical accommodation may not be out of the question considering that they are already producing a semi-official, delayed cast of AfreecaTV's ASL competition in Brood War. However, Artosis' public comments are tinged with an air of finality, seeming ready to accept that this is the end of Tastosis in the GSL.

Match Recaps

Grand Finals: Maru [4 - 0] RagnaroK

Game 1 - Moondance (Maru win): Maru opened up with a fast 2-Barracks wall at his natural for Reaper harassment, while RagnaroK started with a 16-pool build. The late Zergling speed research from RagnaroK's opener allowed Maru to inflict a bit of damage with his Reaper harassment, but he was also getting ready to put the real hurt on RagnaroK with his follow-up cloaked Banshee.

RagnaroK didn't account for the possibility of a Banshee at all, and he lost a considerable number of Drones to the airborne pest. Such a significant early disadvantage proved to be a death sentence for RagnaroK, as he was eventually overwhelmed by Maru's waves of Marines and Tanks.

Game 2 - Inside and Out (Maru win): RagnaroK opened 16-pool again, while Maru changed things up by going for a Reactor-expand into a more typical Hellion-Banshee start. Maru managed to scorch a decent number of Drones with his Hellions, but the Banshees didn't achieve much against a better prepared RagnaroK. In any case, this was all a setup for Maru's main attack: a Marine-Tank all-in off 44 SCV's with a 'fake' third base (Maru placed it on the normal location to be scouted, but didn't make any SCV's to saturate it).

Despite Droning up heavily, RagnaroK scrambled together enough Zerglings and Banelings on defense to hold off Maru's first wave of attackers. However, he didn't fight nearly as well against the second wave of attackers, and Maru put him on the ropes. Having dizzied and damaged his opponent, Maru sent in a third wave of attackers to land the knockout blow.

Game 3 - Waterfall (Maru win): Maru went for another different opener by going Barracks-expand into a fast Medivac, while RagnaroK also switched gears with a Hatch-first expansion. It was RagnaroK's turn to get aggressive this time, and he plopped down a Roach Warren and stopped Drone production at 37 to pump out a round of Roach-Ravager-Zergling for an early attack.

Maru's Marine-drop harassment gave him reasonable advance warning of Roach production, and he was already building a safety-Tank in case of such an attack. This allowed him to survive the attack while suffering acceptable SCV losses, and as the game went on, it seemed that he actually came out ahead on economy due his three Orbital Commands.

The game entered a minor lull after that, with both players securing more expansions and building up for a macro game (with RagnaroK ditching Roaches and going into a typical Line-Bane composition). Maru was content to use small groups of infantry and drops to conduct light harassment, all while setting up a half-map split. Due to his less-than-ideal start, RagnaroK wasn't really in a position to make the floods of mid-game units to hamper Maru's growth.

RagnaroK did attempt one big Ling-Bane attack before a transition to Brood Lords, but it traded terribly against Maru's Tanks, Ghosts, and Planetary Fortress. Once the Brood Lords were finally out, he lost six of them to Ghosts due to a momentary mispositioning error with his Overseers. An already difficult game became a disaster for RagnaroK, and Maru took a relatively fast victory with his Ghost-Thor style at around 18:20 on the clock.

Game 4 - Cosmic Sapphire (Maru win): Maru showed even more build variety, opening Command Center-first into double-Factory for blue flame Hellions. Meanwhile, RagnaroK went for a regular 3-base macro build. Overlord scouting didn't reveal any of Maru's key buildings, so RagnaroK made all-around preparations by getting Spore Crawlers in his bases and plenty of Queens for defense. Unfortunately for RagnaroK, his Queens were too spread out when the surprise Hellion squad arrived, and he couldn't build an emergency building wall in time either. The Hellions zoomed into all of the Zerg bases, killing 30 Drones before they could be cleaned up.

The game was essentially over after this disastrous start for RagnaroK, but it went all the way to 17:54 on the clock due to Maru's decision to play mech as a follow-up. It was probably one of the most comfortable mech games Maru had ever played, where he was able to freely take expansions without barely any pressure from the Zerg. Maru even got a chance to get fancy with speed-upgraded Banshee play, and he ultimately ended RagnaroK by flinging an assortment of mech units at him until he had no choice but to GG out.

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