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Serral wins IEM Katowice 2024 - Page 3

Forum Index > SC2 General
89 CommentsPost a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next All
Poopi
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
France12949 Posts
February 15 2024 17:33 GMT
#41
On February 16 2024 01:38 Glorfindelio wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 16 2024 01:26 Durnuu wrote:
I think we should do a study on the IQ of the average Serral fan vs people that are more skeptical, because the amount of people that got baited by Yoshi has me flabbergasted.


People are so thirsty to discredit and disrespect the man (forgive me, aren't there three separate forum topics attempting to do so?) that I chalk it up to reaping what you sow.

Nobody disrespects Serral actually
WriterMaru
Yoshi Kirishima
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States10374 Posts
February 15 2024 17:50 GMT
#42
On February 16 2024 02:08 LostUsername100 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 16 2024 01:26 Durnuu wrote:
I think we should do a study on the IQ of the average Serral fan vs people that are more skeptical, because the amount of people that got baited by Yoshi has me flabbergasted.


To be fair, for the longest time it was impossible to tell if the korean fans were trolling.

It's been 6 years and the cope is still going strong.


Tbf, the GSL is a really hard tournament cus it gives so much prep time. You really want to save your best builds for GSL if you want to win that ~$4k (actually it's quite big cus with patreon it's like $8k!!). If Serral qualified, all KRs would prepare so hard for him, he will have a really hard time trying to win
Mid-master streaming MECH ONLY + commentary www.twitch.tv/yoshikirishima +++ "If all-in fails, all-in again."
Mizenhauer
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
United States1939 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-02-15 17:59:38
February 15 2024 17:59 GMT
#43
Few articles have aged better than the one we did after he won Blizzcon
┗|∵|┓Second Place in LB 28, Third Place in LB 29 and Destined to Be a Kong
Antithesis
Profile Joined August 2010
Germany1250 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-02-15 18:19:36
February 15 2024 18:15 GMT
#44
On February 16 2024 02:59 Mizenhauer wrote:
Few articles have aged better than the one we did after he won Blizzcon

Great article indeed, and history is really coming full circle with the second comment back then on Serral's 2018 being this:

On November 08 2018 20:08 jy_9876543210 wrote:
The only thing missing for this year is a BO7 of Serral vs Maru.
Mutation complete.
UnLarva
Profile Joined March 2019
458 Posts
February 15 2024 18:41 GMT
#45
There is that only Katowice 2022 recap of tl.net that exists as far as I know. I had to write myself because.... of reasons. It's in Finnish.

https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/587041-iem-katowice-2022-final-four-players-set-for-sunday?page=3#56

But luckily 100 weeks of traumatic waiting is now finally over. Added here for... reasons, and for convenience. Freedom!
Part-time Serralogist
Kitai
Profile Joined June 2012
United States881 Posts
February 15 2024 20:05 GMT
#46
Serral was truly the GOAT (greatest of all tournament) here.
"You know, I don't care if soO got 100 second places in a row. Anyone who doesn't think that he's going to win blizzcon watching this series is a fool" - Artosis, Blizzcon 2014 soO vs TaeJa
Pandain
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States12989 Posts
February 15 2024 20:26 GMT
#47
As someone who thinks Serral is probably the GOAT now, it still surprises me that it seems like the entire community has reached that consensus as well after IEM Katowice. Mostly because Maru still made a consecutive world finals (!!!) and in doing so smashed pretty much everyone but Serral. And a lot of the same arguments against Serral (playing in diminished competitive scene to at least some extent) are obviously at their most potent in 2024.

I suppose its because of just how dominant he was and the fact he 4-0'd his GOAT rival in the finals. The narrative that comes from that is just so strong.
LemonyTang
Profile Joined March 2011
United Kingdom436 Posts
February 15 2024 20:45 GMT
#48
Frankly it's undisputable that Serral is the greatest player of StarCraft 2 we have ever seen.

Personally for me the most significant will always be Mvp. Without him I never would have fallen in love with this game or spent so much time and money supporting it and the organisations involved in it. His place in the pantheon of SC2 greats will never be eroded.

But the way Serral has entirely defined international competition over the last six+ years goes beyond anything else this game, or almost any other game or sport, has seen. The comparisons to Magnus Carlsen are apt, and not just because they're both from Scandinavia!
Mvp #1
JJH777
Profile Joined January 2011
United States4418 Posts
February 15 2024 20:53 GMT
#49
On February 16 2024 05:26 Pandain wrote:
As someone who thinks Serral is probably the GOAT now, it still surprises me that it seems like the entire community has reached that consensus as well after IEM Katowice. Mostly because Maru still made a consecutive world finals (!!!) and in doing so smashed pretty much everyone but Serral. And a lot of the same arguments against Serral (playing in diminished competitive scene to at least some extent) are obviously at their most potent in 2024.

I suppose its because of just how dominant he was and the fact he 4-0'd his GOAT rival in the finals. The narrative that comes from that is just so strong.


Aside from his dominance in this tournament the biggest thing for me is the fact that even if you remove Serral and Maru from the scene this Kato probably ends in a TvT finals. In a Maru-less world Dark could upset that but I don't give him a high percent win chance vs Clem and he's only 50-50 vs Byun and Cure as well. If Solar beat Clem and Reynor was in the top 4 as well I don't think this event would have made Serral the goat because he would still have the balance asterisk most of his other wins have. For the first time since like early 2017 it seems Zerg might actually not be the strongest race and yet Serral looks more dominant than ever.

Still hope Maru takes back the crown at the world cup though.
Nakajin
Profile Blog Joined September 2014
Canada8990 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-02-15 21:54:22
February 15 2024 21:54 GMT
#50
Great read, congrats to Serral, undisputed goat! (until Miz say otherwise )
Writerhttp://i.imgur.com/9p6ufcB.jpg
RPR_Tempest
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Australia7799 Posts
February 15 2024 22:59 GMT
#51
On February 15 2024 18:22 TL.net ESPORTS wrote:
Even though IEM Katowice lost its official "world championship" status in 2024 (that title being passed onto the Esports World Cup), its profound legacy and $500,000 prize pool surely imparted it with the prestige of a world championship. Thus, the victory gave Serral his third world championship-tier title overall—

Well, no. That's not really how that works. If it isn't the World Championship, it isn't the World Championship. You don't get to arbitrarily call it "World Championship tier", it either is or it isn't. This was just another premier.
Soundwave, Zerg player from Canberra, Australia. @SoundwaveSC
Poopi
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
France12949 Posts
February 15 2024 23:40 GMT
#52
On February 16 2024 07:59 RPR_Tempest wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 15 2024 18:22 TL.net ESPORTS wrote:
Even though IEM Katowice lost its official "world championship" status in 2024 (that title being passed onto the Esports World Cup), its profound legacy and $500,000 prize pool surely imparted it with the prestige of a world championship. Thus, the victory gave Serral his third world championship-tier title overall—

Well, no. That's not really how that works. If it isn't the World Championship, it isn't the World Championship. You don't get to arbitrarily call it "World Championship tier", it either is or it isn't. This was just another premier.

BlizzCon was the official WC before but IEM Katowice was a WC as well. Not that it matters much either way
WriterMaru
RPR_Tempest
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Australia7799 Posts
February 15 2024 23:59 GMT
#53
On February 16 2024 08:40 Poopi wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 16 2024 07:59 RPR_Tempest wrote:
On February 15 2024 18:22 TL.net ESPORTS wrote:
Even though IEM Katowice lost its official "world championship" status in 2024 (that title being passed onto the Esports World Cup), its profound legacy and $500,000 prize pool surely imparted it with the prestige of a world championship. Thus, the victory gave Serral his third world championship-tier title overall—

Well, no. That's not really how that works. If it isn't the World Championship, it isn't the World Championship. You don't get to arbitrarily call it "World Championship tier", it either is or it isn't. This was just another premier.

BlizzCon was the official WC before but IEM Katowice was a WC as well. Not that it matters much either way

I just never ever considered Katowice to be a World Championship while Blizzcon was going on and laughed it off whenever people tried to claim it was.
Soundwave, Zerg player from Canberra, Australia. @SoundwaveSC
Locutos
Profile Joined January 2017
Brazil273 Posts
February 16 2024 00:06 GMT
#54
On February 16 2024 02:59 Mizenhauer wrote:
Few articles have aged better than the one we did after he won Blizzcon


Indeed.
dysenterymd
Profile Joined January 2019
1250 Posts
February 16 2024 00:22 GMT
#55
On February 16 2024 07:59 RPR_Tempest wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 15 2024 18:22 TL.net ESPORTS wrote:
Even though IEM Katowice lost its official "world championship" status in 2024 (that title being passed onto the Esports World Cup), its profound legacy and $500,000 prize pool surely imparted it with the prestige of a world championship. Thus, the victory gave Serral his third world championship-tier title overall—

Well, no. That's not really how that works. If it isn't the World Championship, it isn't the World Championship. You don't get to arbitrarily call it "World Championship tier", it either is or it isn't. This was just another premier.

It isn't the world championship but it's as prestigious as a world championship. Every top player (except Maxpax) wanted to play Katowice, almost all qualified, and there was a prize pool commensurate with a world championship.

I agree that there can only be one world champion at a time and that Oliveira is still world champ, but IEM Katowice is worth just as much as a world championship (and was worth as much as a Blizzcon when Blizzcon was world championship.)
Serral | Inno | sOs | soO | Has | Classic
dbv25
Profile Joined February 2024
2 Posts
February 16 2024 01:00 GMT
#56
On February 16 2024 07:59 RPR_Tempest wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 15 2024 18:22 TL.net ESPORTS wrote:
Even though IEM Katowice lost its official "world championship" status in 2024 (that title being passed onto the Esports World Cup), its profound legacy and $500,000 prize pool surely imparted it with the prestige of a world championship. Thus, the victory gave Serral his third world championship-tier title overall—

Well, no. That's not really how that works. If it isn't the World Championship, it isn't the World Championship. You don't get to arbitrarily call it "World Championship tier", it either is or it isn't. This was just another premier.


Thank god we didn’t make you in charge of whether it works like that or not
dbv25
Profile Joined February 2024
2 Posts
February 16 2024 01:01 GMT
#57
On February 16 2024 09:22 dysenterymd wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 16 2024 07:59 RPR_Tempest wrote:
On February 15 2024 18:22 TL.net ESPORTS wrote:
Even though IEM Katowice lost its official "world championship" status in 2024 (that title being passed onto the Esports World Cup), its profound legacy and $500,000 prize pool surely imparted it with the prestige of a world championship. Thus, the victory gave Serral his third world championship-tier title overall—

Well, no. That's not really how that works. If it isn't the World Championship, it isn't the World Championship. You don't get to arbitrarily call it "World Championship tier", it either is or it isn't. This was just another premier.

It isn't the world championship but it's as prestigious as a world championship. Every top player (except Maxpax) wanted to play Katowice, almost all qualified, and there was a prize pool commensurate with a world championship.

I agree that there can only be one world champion at a time and that Oliveira is still world champ, but IEM Katowice is worth just as much as a world championship (and was worth as much as a Blizzcon when Blizzcon was world championship.)



Olivera is still the world champ? What? That makes absolutely no sense.

You do realise there can be more than one world championship tournament per year, right?
UnLarva
Profile Joined March 2019
458 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-02-16 01:22:57
February 16 2024 01:16 GMT
#58
In a future we may don't have anything World Championship worthy at all, even if tournament's relative prestige would increase within a season (higher proportion to absolute best participate, insane prize pools, quadruple elimination bracket after double all vs all round robin). Such scenario would need SC2 to become some kind of fetish for some super rich dude, and much lower amount of active players, tho.

Multiple WCs per year is indeed possible, GSL code S was once handled as such and held high in terms of prestige.
Part-time Serralogist
Balnazza
Profile Joined January 2018
Germany1298 Posts
February 16 2024 01:31 GMT
#59
On February 16 2024 10:16 UnLarva wrote:
In a future we may don't have anything World Championship worthy at all, even if tournament's relative prestige would increase within a season (higher proportion to absolute best participate, insane prize pools, quadruple elimination bracket after double all vs all round robin). Such scenario would need SC2 to become some kind of fetish for some super rich dude, and much lower amount of active players, tho.

Multiple WCs per year is indeed possible, GSL code S was once handled as such and held high in terms of prestige.


It just feels a bit odd, like we don't have a word for these kind of tournaments. IEM being a "World Championship" (or Global Championship) is basically just a relict from the start, when IEM was an actual circuit with finals at the end. I think they don't even call it IEM World Championship anymore? It is "just" IEM Katowice.
Clearly though, there is a difference between Katowice and lets say ESL Winter. So calling Katowice "just another Premier" doesn't sound particular correct either.

In the end, it comes down to preference. For me, THE World Championship is the Circuit-Finisher (be it BlizzCon, Katowice or soon the EWC). Katowice, Gamers8, WESG and what not are...uff, idk. Grand Slam Tournaments? Majors? Pseudo-WCs? Doesn't exactly roll of the tongue, does it?
"Wenn die Zauberin runter geht, dann macht sie die Beine breit" - Khaldor, trying to cast WC3 German-only
UnLarva
Profile Joined March 2019
458 Posts
February 16 2024 01:43 GMT
#60
On February 16 2024 10:31 Balnazza wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 16 2024 10:16 UnLarva wrote:
In a future we may don't have anything World Championship worthy at all, even if tournament's relative prestige would increase within a season (higher proportion to absolute best participate, insane prize pools, quadruple elimination bracket after double all vs all round robin). Such scenario would need SC2 to become some kind of fetish for some super rich dude, and much lower amount of active players, tho.

Multiple WCs per year is indeed possible, GSL code S was once handled as such and held high in terms of prestige.


It just feels a bit odd, like we don't have a word for these kind of tournaments. IEM being a "World Championship" (or Global Championship) is basically just a relict from the start, when IEM was an actual circuit with finals at the end. I think they don't even call it IEM World Championship anymore? It is "just" IEM Katowice.
Clearly though, there is a difference between Katowice and lets say ESL Winter. So calling Katowice "just another Premier" doesn't sound particular correct either.

In the end, it comes down to preference. For me, THE World Championship is the Circuit-Finisher (be it BlizzCon, Katowice or soon the EWC). Katowice, Gamers8, WESG and what not are...uff, idk. Grand Slam Tournaments? Majors? Pseudo-WCs? Doesn't exactly roll of the tongue, does it?


Yep. Biggest problem to me is that the status of the WC was removed in a middle of season rather illegitimately.

Like a shopping pay-to-win WC-skin microtransaction of probably multiple millions. Of course you cannot buy prestige of IEM Katowise that way unless you really buy it. But in that case you cannot just drop in a middle of Arabian desert and still call it Katowise. But even then it is hard to imagine why that hyper rich SC2 fetishistic Saudi-Prince couldn't just rename some site as "Katowice"...

Just writing in hopes there really would happen some kind of flip in Elon Musk's head. Rate of his spending is such high that expenses of few extra decades of high level SC2 would just disappear to a balance sheets.
Part-time Serralogist
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