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GOAT Addendum: Maru and the perception of Code S - Page 5

Forum Index > SC2 General
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goldensail
Profile Joined May 2022
132 Posts
May 14 2024 07:51 GMT
#81
On May 14 2024 16:26 Poopi wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 14 2024 11:24 tigera6 wrote:
I am a Maru fanboy and I do not buy the jetlag excuse or audience, its not like Maru struggled and got stomped out of the tournament or something. He lost to a player who performed better, except for the time he choked to Oliveira, but still have a deep run at those tournament. Yes, you can say he hasnt won an international event outside of Asia, but that doesnt mean he has a performance issue, hes still EASILY the most accomplished Terran during these last couple years.
I believe the issue has always been within Maru and his choice of opening, he either die or get massively behind in those important first couple minutes of the game, and he need to FIX it himself.

He didn’t choke vs Oliveira.
Nor did herO and Reynor. The problem was not the pressure that Maru was feeling, the problem was that Oliveira was riding his momentum so high that nobody could beat him that day.

It has nothing to do with choking (which is basically failing to perform as expected under pressure), Maru played decently well, it was not a catastrophic performance per se.

Similarly, Serral didn’t choke vs RagnaroK that tournament, his ZvZ practice was just subpar.

Maru won like 9 games out of 10 in practice game vs Oliveira prior to Katowice. That’s sweet, but if Oliveira maintains his best form for 4 games he can win a bo7.
There was no player capable of stopping Oliveira that day.


I have a different opinion - while Oliveira was playing like he has never played before (he was down 0-2 to Reynor and somehow turned it around to reverse sweep 3:2), I actually did think Maru was playing badly that day. His micro and multi-tasking was not on point, and he made many questionable choices. Anyone can have a bad day, and that was perhaps Maru's worst day. As fate would have it, he collided with Oliveira on the latter's best day. Weeks later he beat Oliveira 4:0 in PiG Fest. I love Maru, and he usually looks as cool as a cucumber after a win/loss, but I sometimes wonder if there's an unseen fragility beneath that calm.
Poopi
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
France12792 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-05-14 08:06:27
May 14 2024 08:05 GMT
#82
On May 14 2024 16:51 goldensail wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 14 2024 16:26 Poopi wrote:
On May 14 2024 11:24 tigera6 wrote:
I am a Maru fanboy and I do not buy the jetlag excuse or audience, its not like Maru struggled and got stomped out of the tournament or something. He lost to a player who performed better, except for the time he choked to Oliveira, but still have a deep run at those tournament. Yes, you can say he hasnt won an international event outside of Asia, but that doesnt mean he has a performance issue, hes still EASILY the most accomplished Terran during these last couple years.
I believe the issue has always been within Maru and his choice of opening, he either die or get massively behind in those important first couple minutes of the game, and he need to FIX it himself.

He didn’t choke vs Oliveira.
Nor did herO and Reynor. The problem was not the pressure that Maru was feeling, the problem was that Oliveira was riding his momentum so high that nobody could beat him that day.

It has nothing to do with choking (which is basically failing to perform as expected under pressure), Maru played decently well, it was not a catastrophic performance per se.

Similarly, Serral didn’t choke vs RagnaroK that tournament, his ZvZ practice was just subpar.

Maru won like 9 games out of 10 in practice game vs Oliveira prior to Katowice. That’s sweet, but if Oliveira maintains his best form for 4 games he can win a bo7.
There was no player capable of stopping Oliveira that day.


I have a different opinion - while Oliveira was playing like he has never played before (he was down 0-2 to Reynor and somehow turned it around to reverse sweep 3:2), I actually did think Maru was playing badly that day. His micro and multi-tasking was not on point, and he made many questionable choices. Anyone can have a bad day, and that was perhaps Maru's worst day. As fate would have it, he collided with Oliveira on the latter's best day. Weeks later he beat Oliveira 4:0 in PiG Fest. I love Maru, and he usually looks as cool as a cucumber after a win/loss, but I sometimes wonder if there's an unseen fragility beneath that calm.

I mean it's pretty well known by players and fans (afaik) that Maru is incredibly gifted but incredibly insecure about his own abilities. That's why it's so cool to be a fan of Maru, the guy has been given outwordly capabilities for Starcraft, yet he keeps doubting himself over and over again. However, with hard work and dedication, he managed to overcome his fears and finally won 4 code S in a row (an impossible achievement back then).
That's pretty damn inspiring to me: everyone is telling you that you are gifted, because they see the potential in you, but you still have to put in the hours anyways, and learn how to overcome your weaknesses to make your strengths shine.
WriterMaru
Comedy
Profile Joined March 2016
456 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-05-14 09:18:45
May 14 2024 09:18 GMT
#83
On May 14 2024 04:00 BluemoonSC wrote:
one last note about international events/travel. IIRC Reynor was in korea for several weeks practicing and laddering for this Code-S. I don't believe that most foreign SC2 players get more than a few days to adjust and for anyone that hasn't traveled to/from China, KR, JP, SEA, etc. you don't understand how rough it is compared to NA-EU travel.


This bit literally makes no sense. Your location says socal. Travelling from LA to Germany for a tournament is almost the same thing as travelling from EU to Korea.

Difference between LA -> EU = +9
Difference between EU -> KR = +7 or +8 depending time of year.

Very comparable. Even flight times are roughly the same.

I will agree with you that travelling forward in time, so going east is more difficult, but that might just be my personal thing that going to bed a few hours earlier is a lot harder than going to bed a few hours later.
njleslu2024
Profile Joined May 2024
57 Posts
May 17 2024 18:36 GMT
#84
On May 13 2024 06:26 Poopi wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 13 2024 05:53 Drahkn wrote:
On May 12 2024 04:19 kennytennyson2 wrote:
My simple issue with Maru is that he lacks a World Championship, whether that be Blizzcon or IEM Katowice (when it was chosen to be the World Championships)



Your problem with Maru is he lacks a world championship?

Maru has came second place in the world championships or close it it several times, and he has won countless code S and been competitive in that tournament for almost if not a decade.

Serral has won the world championship and 0 code S has not even competed in one.



You cannot compare the two Maru is in a league of his own


Answer to the quote above
Maru is in a league of his own in terms of code S / longevity, but Serral is in the GOAT conversation now that he has 3 World Championships and has been the most feared foreign player since 2018 (or one of the most feared).

The problem is exactly the point of the topic: Serral won't ever participate in code S (and code S is becoming less and less prestigious / financially interesting, so only the true warriors like Reynor or the usual foreigners + some newcomers commit to participate in it, huge props to him / them for trying it out). On the other hand, Maru has no reason NOT to participate in code S, but his problem is that he is too good so he is the favorite every time he enters the tournament.
At this point, winning code S is expected and anything but 1st place is a disappointment, since he is on paper the best KR player by far nowadays.

Personal opinion as a starcraft 2 fan / follower of the scene since WoL:

I personally think Maru should keep competing in code S for the money (his legacy in the tournament is already done), and try to win the tournament in Saudi Arabia not for the "WC" prestige, but rather just because it's a lot of money.

On the other hand, someone like Reynor needs to win code S for his legacy, so it's useful for him to try to win it. As for the money, lamborghini ain't cheap so he should keep winning the big $ tournaments as well.

For Serral though, his legacy is done too like Maru, so he should just farm money in the big tournaments he is allowed to enter I guess.

Foreigners who should try Code S would be Clem and HeroMarine, Clem because it would be useful for him on the international stage, and HeroMarine because he has a real shot at winning it given his intellect at figuring other players out. His mechanics ain't as good as Clem, but they are good enough to beat any player in the world if his plan is thought out enough.

I know you won't admit serral is way much better than Maru and you would still think Maru is better than serral even if he loses 0-4 0-3 and 0-3 OVER AND OVER AGAIN, you just need to accept that, Serral keeps winning more and more tournaments where Maru also participates and Maru hasn't won ANY tournament where serral also participate, since IEM 2022, which is over 2 years :-).
You can still keep arguing Maru is better, the more you argue the more clownish you are.
BluemoonSC
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
SoCal8910 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-05-17 20:39:58
May 17 2024 20:13 GMT
#85
On May 14 2024 18:18 Comedy wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 14 2024 04:00 BluemoonSC wrote:
one last note about international events/travel. IIRC Reynor was in korea for several weeks practicing and laddering for this Code-S. I don't believe that most foreign SC2 players get more than a few days to adjust and for anyone that hasn't traveled to/from China, KR, JP, SEA, etc. you don't understand how rough it is compared to NA-EU travel.


This bit literally makes no sense. Your location says socal. Travelling from LA to Germany for a tournament is almost the same thing as travelling from EU to Korea.

Difference between LA -> EU = +9
Difference between EU -> KR = +7 or +8 depending time of year.

Very comparable. Even flight times are roughly the same.

I will agree with you that travelling forward in time, so going east is more difficult, but that might just be my personal thing that going to bed a few hours earlier is a lot harder than going to bed a few hours later.

that is not how jetlag and the human body works.

12 pm in dallas, 7pm in paris, and 2am in seoul. in the US, your circadian rhythm tells you to be awake if you're in NA from EU and asleep from seoul

12pm paris would be 7pm seoul, so around finals time, coming from Seoul your body is telling you to get ready for bed.
e: idk why i included this, anyone in EU wouldn't be running on jetlag so it's moot

it's not as straight forward as "same number of hours = equal jetlag"
LiquidDota Staff@BluemoonGG_
Expensive-Law-9830
Profile Joined April 2024
130 Posts
May 17 2024 21:10 GMT
#86
Rule number 1 in this forum: never ask today's 'GOATS' what achievement they had when Kespa team houses existed.
Acrofales
Profile Joined August 2010
Spain17975 Posts
May 17 2024 21:22 GMT
#87
On May 12 2024 10:25 Pandain wrote:
Thank you for writing this thoughtful article. It's made me reflect even more on a topic that's bugged me for like a year now, which is why exactly Maru's many GSL wins just don't quite seem as impactful as he continues to rack them up.

I now realize the answer is pretty much the opposite of a lot of what you write above. It's not that his constant wins just makes us numb to that extent, but rather GSL Code S has simply put not been the most "prestigious" or "gold standard" tournament for a while, certainly not with the prize pool deflation and honestly not since ~2019.

It used to be any player who won Code S was the best player in the world. For the most part, people would agree that at least at that point and time, you were the undisputed best player in the world. That in itself was a momentous achievement, and that's what earned you an immortal place in SC2 history.

And as a fan, if you wanted to be sure to see the highest level of play possible, you would turn into GSL Code S. And you could be pretty certain there was no tournament that was going to have a higher level of play than what you were watching at that time.

None of that is true anymore. Yes, Koreans writ large are way better than foreigners writ large. But it's undisputed that the absolute best foreigners are killers. Koreans have not won a single premier international offline event since 2022 DH Atlanta. Even right now, if you asked me for the top five players in the world, foreigners are going to be three of them (Serral, Clem, Maxpax). You honestly could even argue that Serral/Clem/Maxpax are each stronger than Maru overall (Maxpax is the more questionable one but it's more than plausible), meaning that even when Maru won the last GSL he could still only be the fourth best player in the world.

When Maru (or Solar, or whoever) wins a GSL now, it doesn't mean much beyond that they won a very difficult tournament. And maybe it means they are the best Korean at that point. That's awesome. But it no longer means they are the best in the world.

When you want to see the absolute highest level of play, it's going to be at a premier international event. And if you want to know who is really the absolute best player in the world, it's also going to be at a premier international event. GSL no longer is that tournament.


Hard disagree. In fact, the only reason Maxpax is ranked above Reynor is probably because he got crushed so hard in GSL. I agree it was sad, but clearly there's a grain of truth to the idea that GSL is a different kind of beast than weekenders. Players prep differently and being good at a weekender is a different skillset than being good at the GSL, and to some extent, those skills translate to team leagues where you also only have to focus on killing a single opponent such as pro league or the group stages of WTL. Both herO and Gumiho clearly prepared, not to play against a Zerg, but to play against Reynor. Now I obviously don't know if Reynor lost because of being unaccustomed to that kind of prep, but I think between the preparation and the live studio environment, GSL is different from most weekenders.

Consider it like other sports: tennis pros who excel in solo play don't necessarily excel in doubles, and vice versa. Running 100m sprint vs running a marathon are entirely and completely different disciplines despite both being, fundamentally, about running a specific distance as fast as possible. Maybe GSL and weekender tournaments are just as different as those kind of things, but eSports in general is just new enough that we don't know, and expect that someone who excels at preparation tournaments (marathons) to also excel at weekenders (sprints) and vice versa. GSL is definitely still the premier prep tournament.
ZeroByte13
Profile Joined March 2022
764 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-05-17 22:29:17
May 17 2024 22:28 GMT
#88
On May 18 2024 03:36 njleslu2024 wrote:
You can still keep arguing Maru is better, the more you argue the more clownish you are.
I see only one clown here and it's not Poopi.
In time you might even understand it. It will be sad - mostly for people around you - if you won't.
deacon.frost
Profile Joined February 2013
Czech Republic12129 Posts
May 18 2024 22:27 GMT
#89
On May 18 2024 06:10 Expensive-Law-9830 wrote:
Rule number 1 in this forum: never ask today's 'GOATS' what achievement they had when Kespa team houses existed.

Maru beaten Innovation in his peak form with one of the fastest BO7 ever. Just ask any Inno fan out there, they remember
I imagine France should be able to take this unless Lilbow is busy practicing for Starcraft III. | KadaverBB is my fairy ban mother.
Nasigil1
Profile Joined March 2024
96 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-05-19 11:32:59
May 19 2024 11:21 GMT
#90
No one is denying Maru's greatness in Korea. Winning more GSL will only help his case against almost everyone else in the history. It's only a problem when you are talking about the comparison to Serral. Because the entire roster of GSL, including Maru himself, has been dominated by Serral on international stage for years. If I want to be mean, I could even say GSL at this point is a group therapy session for players that can't beat Serral.

In theory, a player like Serral shouldn't even exist. A more competitive environment should logically produce better players. Imagine a European country with no NBA players defeats team USA on basketball most of the time they meet on international stage. It's not even small sample size, they play each other dozens of times every year and team USA lost 80% of the time. In this case, what's the point of talking about glorious rich history of NBA itself anymore? You can argue about small rule difference or 3 point line distance all you want, but the skill gap is obvious and hard to deny.

It doesn't make sense, but that's what we have now. You can talk about Maru's greatness in GSL all you want, but it doesn't mean much when you keep getting swept by Serral.
Nasigil1
Profile Joined March 2024
96 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-05-19 11:25:05
May 19 2024 11:23 GMT
#91
On May 19 2024 07:27 deacon.frost wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 18 2024 06:10 Expensive-Law-9830 wrote:
Rule number 1 in this forum: never ask today's 'GOATS' what achievement they had when Kespa team houses existed.

Maru beaten Innovation in his peak form with one of the fastest BO7 ever. Just ask any Inno fan out there, they remember


You are picking the wrong player to fight.

Guess what's the series record between innovation and prime Maru in 2017-2019?

Innovation 7-0 Maru in series, 14-4 in maps.
goldensail
Profile Joined May 2022
132 Posts
May 20 2024 04:51 GMT
#92
On May 19 2024 20:21 Nasigil1 wrote:
No one is denying Maru's greatness in Korea. Winning more GSL will only help his case against almost everyone else in the history. It's only a problem when you are talking about the comparison to Serral. Because the entire roster of GSL, including Maru himself, has been dominated by Serral on international stage for years. If I want to be mean, I could even say GSL at this point is a group therapy session for players that can't beat Serral.

In theory, a player like Serral shouldn't even exist. A more competitive environment should logically produce better players. Imagine a European country with no NBA players defeats team USA on basketball most of the time they meet on international stage. It's not even small sample size, they play each other dozens of times every year and team USA lost 80% of the time. In this case, what's the point of talking about glorious rich history of NBA itself anymore? You can argue about small rule difference or 3 point line distance all you want, but the skill gap is obvious and hard to deny.

It doesn't make sense, but that's what we have now. You can talk about Maru's greatness in GSL all you want, but it doesn't mean much when you keep getting swept by Serral.


I understand your logic.

My problem has been balance. When Maru uses ravens effectively, it gets nerfed. When Serral uses infestors effectively, it stays the way it is. I've talked about balance enough that I don't want to repeat myself anymore, but I've gone from being puzzled to being suspicious that there's a conscious effort to keep Zerg advantaged, whatever the motive might be. The recent patch to boost PvT while saying TvZ is fine is laughable IMO. Hell they can't even resist the urge to increase fungal range when it's more obvious than ever that it's OP!

So bottomline is you're looking at pure results, whereas I'm saying the results are skewed. I don't expect everyone to agree, but at least you guys can understand where I'm coming from. We can agree to disagree.
goldensail
Profile Joined May 2022
132 Posts
May 20 2024 05:59 GMT
#93
On May 19 2024 20:23 Nasigil1 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 19 2024 07:27 deacon.frost wrote:
On May 18 2024 06:10 Expensive-Law-9830 wrote:
Rule number 1 in this forum: never ask today's 'GOATS' what achievement they had when Kespa team houses existed.

Maru beaten Innovation in his peak form with one of the fastest BO7 ever. Just ask any Inno fan out there, they remember


You are picking the wrong player to fight.

Guess what's the series record between innovation and prime Maru in 2017-2019?

Innovation 7-0 Maru in series, 14-4 in maps.


Fun fact, Maru's TvT was considered his weakest matchup earlier on in his career, although he had pretty much always been considered one of the strongest Terrans.

"...prime Maru in 2017-2019" is misleading:
1. '17 wasn't a great year for Maru at all
2. Maru didn't play Inno in his miracle year '18
3. Maru had a slump in '19 from GSL S2 - you might remember he got knocked out in RO32 and didn't have much to show for the rest of the year

From '20 on Maru had a significant advantage over Inno.

If we rewind time to end of '17, sure, Inno would have had a strong claim to the GOAT title and Maru would not. But it would be unfair to say Maru had no achievement until that point. That statement belongs to someone else in the GOAT list.

WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland25071 Posts
May 20 2024 06:47 GMT
#94
On May 20 2024 13:51 goldensail wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 19 2024 20:21 Nasigil1 wrote:
No one is denying Maru's greatness in Korea. Winning more GSL will only help his case against almost everyone else in the history. It's only a problem when you are talking about the comparison to Serral. Because the entire roster of GSL, including Maru himself, has been dominated by Serral on international stage for years. If I want to be mean, I could even say GSL at this point is a group therapy session for players that can't beat Serral.

In theory, a player like Serral shouldn't even exist. A more competitive environment should logically produce better players. Imagine a European country with no NBA players defeats team USA on basketball most of the time they meet on international stage. It's not even small sample size, they play each other dozens of times every year and team USA lost 80% of the time. In this case, what's the point of talking about glorious rich history of NBA itself anymore? You can argue about small rule difference or 3 point line distance all you want, but the skill gap is obvious and hard to deny.

It doesn't make sense, but that's what we have now. You can talk about Maru's greatness in GSL all you want, but it doesn't mean much when you keep getting swept by Serral.


I understand your logic.

My problem has been balance. When Maru uses ravens effectively, it gets nerfed. When Serral uses infestors effectively, it stays the way it is. I've talked about balance enough that I don't want to repeat myself anymore, but I've gone from being puzzled to being suspicious that there's a conscious effort to keep Zerg advantaged, whatever the motive might be. The recent patch to boost PvT while saying TvZ is fine is laughable IMO. Hell they can't even resist the urge to increase fungal range when it's more obvious than ever that it's OP!

So bottomline is you're looking at pure results, whereas I'm saying the results are skewed. I don't expect everyone to agree, but at least you guys can understand where I'm coming from. We can agree to disagree.

Infestors got nerfed pretty quickly after Katowice after Serral showcased very potent use of the burrow/fungal combo. And Zerg in general has had pretty impactful nerfs in the recent past.

I realise the Terran martyr complex remains perpetually in vogue but can we at least be accurate about it?

Blizz’s team should absolutely be criticised for the WoL/HoTS mistakes they made in not nerfing infestors sooner at the nadir of the BL/Infestor era, but on the flipside retooling mass raven play, or reaper spam were good calls.

I mean it may have been more ‘fair’ in terms of treating Zerg and Terran more equally, but worse for the game overall and I know what I’d take in that trade.
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
Charoisaur
Profile Joined August 2014
Germany15920 Posts
May 20 2024 07:08 GMT
#95
On May 20 2024 15:47 WombaT wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 20 2024 13:51 goldensail wrote:
On May 19 2024 20:21 Nasigil1 wrote:
No one is denying Maru's greatness in Korea. Winning more GSL will only help his case against almost everyone else in the history. It's only a problem when you are talking about the comparison to Serral. Because the entire roster of GSL, including Maru himself, has been dominated by Serral on international stage for years. If I want to be mean, I could even say GSL at this point is a group therapy session for players that can't beat Serral.

In theory, a player like Serral shouldn't even exist. A more competitive environment should logically produce better players. Imagine a European country with no NBA players defeats team USA on basketball most of the time they meet on international stage. It's not even small sample size, they play each other dozens of times every year and team USA lost 80% of the time. In this case, what's the point of talking about glorious rich history of NBA itself anymore? You can argue about small rule difference or 3 point line distance all you want, but the skill gap is obvious and hard to deny.

It doesn't make sense, but that's what we have now. You can talk about Maru's greatness in GSL all you want, but it doesn't mean much when you keep getting swept by Serral.


I understand your logic.

My problem has been balance. When Maru uses ravens effectively, it gets nerfed. When Serral uses infestors effectively, it stays the way it is. I've talked about balance enough that I don't want to repeat myself anymore, but I've gone from being puzzled to being suspicious that there's a conscious effort to keep Zerg advantaged, whatever the motive might be. The recent patch to boost PvT while saying TvZ is fine is laughable IMO. Hell they can't even resist the urge to increase fungal range when it's more obvious than ever that it's OP!

So bottomline is you're looking at pure results, whereas I'm saying the results are skewed. I don't expect everyone to agree, but at least you guys can understand where I'm coming from. We can agree to disagree.

Infestors got nerfed pretty quickly after Katowice after Serral showcased very potent use of the burrow/fungal combo. And Zerg in general has had pretty impactful nerfs in the recent past.

I realise the Terran martyr complex remains perpetually in vogue but can we at least be accurate about it?

Blizz’s team should absolutely be criticised for the WoL/HoTS mistakes they made in not nerfing infestors sooner at the nadir of the BL/Infestor era, but on the flipside retooling mass raven play, or reaper spam were good calls.

I mean it may have been more ‘fair’ in terms of treating Zerg and Terran more equally, but worse for the game overall and I know what I’d take in that trade.

Infestors got nerfed and buffed at the same time and the buff is probably the more impactful one (plus 1 range vs slightly easier to see while moving burrowed)
Many of the coolest moments in sc2 happen due to worker harassment
jack_less
Profile Joined May 2022
77 Posts
May 20 2024 10:05 GMT
#96
On May 20 2024 13:51 goldensail wrote:


I understand your logic.

My problem has been balance. When Maru uses ravens effectively, it gets nerfed. When Serral uses infestors effectively, it stays the way it is. I've talked about balance enough that I don't want to repeat myself anymore, but I've gone from being puzzled to being suspicious that there's a conscious effort to keep Zerg advantaged, whatever the motive might be. The recent patch to boost PvT while saying TvZ is fine is laughable IMO. Hell they can't even resist the urge to increase fungal range when it's more obvious than ever that it's OP!



How should Dark feel then?
Everything he plays gets a default nerf. Mass broodling wave -out off game, early Ravange - nerf ...
Even Serral got special nerf, a Roach nerf for zvz and an infestor nerf.
Will maru mass raven nerf? didn't every terran take advantage of that?
same with ghost... still not changed.
Charoisaur
Profile Joined August 2014
Germany15920 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-05-20 10:39:02
May 20 2024 10:37 GMT
#97
On May 20 2024 19:05 jack_less wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 20 2024 13:51 goldensail wrote:


I understand your logic.

My problem has been balance. When Maru uses ravens effectively, it gets nerfed. When Serral uses infestors effectively, it stays the way it is. I've talked about balance enough that I don't want to repeat myself anymore, but I've gone from being puzzled to being suspicious that there's a conscious effort to keep Zerg advantaged, whatever the motive might be. The recent patch to boost PvT while saying TvZ is fine is laughable IMO. Hell they can't even resist the urge to increase fungal range when it's more obvious than ever that it's OP!



How should Dark feel then?
Everything he plays gets a default nerf. Mass broodling wave -out off game, early Ravange - nerf ...
Even Serral got special nerf, a Roach nerf for zvz and an infestor nerf.
Will maru mass raven nerf? didn't every terran take advantage of that?
same with ghost... still not changed.

what? Do you not read patch notes? Ghosts have been nerfhammered like 4 times.
And in the two tournaments that led to Ravens getting nerfed (GSL and WESG) Maru was the only terran in the ro8 both times.
And those were straight nerfs, not a nerf compensated by a buff, like most Zerg 'nerfs'
Many of the coolest moments in sc2 happen due to worker harassment
iloveav
Profile Joined November 2008
Poland1478 Posts
May 20 2024 11:15 GMT
#98
Jet lag.
aka LRM)Cats_Paw.
MJG
Profile Joined May 2018
United Kingdom941 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-05-20 12:46:17
May 20 2024 11:58 GMT
#99
On May 18 2024 06:10 Expensive-Law-9830 wrote:
Rule number 1 in this forum: never ask today's 'GOATS' what achievement they had when Kespa team houses existed.

This has been mentioned plenty of times.

Since the Korean team league structure collapsed, the standard of competition has dropped off a cliff. Players did not dominate season after season back when the Korean team leagues existed. Several players rose up to win GSL only to drop off just as quickly. Maru's G5L was such a landmark achievement precisely because it was so difficult for someone to achieve that many GSL wins prior to Maru managing to do so, but even that happened after the Korean team league structure collapsed.

Even qualifying for GSL consistently was difficult back then. For example, look at the winners of the (Wiki)NesTea Award, given to players who manage to qualify for Code S ten times in a row. Only four players managed to do this before the Korean team league structure fell apart in 2016. Fifteen players have done so since. It's not difficult to join the dots.

Serral's achievements are impressive, but they've all come during a period where there's a lower standard of competition. People can choose to ignore this if they want - "you can only beat what's put in front of you" - but I personally think it's an important factor to consider.
"You have to play for yourself, you have to play to get better; you can't play to make other people happy, that's not gonna ever sustain you." - NonY
Antithesis
Profile Joined August 2010
Germany1154 Posts
May 20 2024 16:53 GMT
#100
On May 20 2024 13:51 goldensail wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 19 2024 20:21 Nasigil1 wrote:
No one is denying Maru's greatness in Korea. Winning more GSL will only help his case against almost everyone else in the history. It's only a problem when you are talking about the comparison to Serral. Because the entire roster of GSL, including Maru himself, has been dominated by Serral on international stage for years. If I want to be mean, I could even say GSL at this point is a group therapy session for players that can't beat Serral.

In theory, a player like Serral shouldn't even exist. A more competitive environment should logically produce better players. Imagine a European country with no NBA players defeats team USA on basketball most of the time they meet on international stage. It's not even small sample size, they play each other dozens of times every year and team USA lost 80% of the time. In this case, what's the point of talking about glorious rich history of NBA itself anymore? You can argue about small rule difference or 3 point line distance all you want, but the skill gap is obvious and hard to deny.

It doesn't make sense, but that's what we have now. You can talk about Maru's greatness in GSL all you want, but it doesn't mean much when you keep getting swept by Serral.

I've talked about balance enough that I don't want to repeat myself anymore, but I've gone from being puzzled to being suspicious that there's a conscious effort to keep Zerg advantaged, whatever the motive might be. [...] Hell they can't even resist the urge to increase fungal range when it's more obvious than ever that it's OP!

Wait, are you an actual believer in the reality of the Zerg cabal? Like, do you unironically "suspect" there is an ominous "they" with the inexplicable desire to "keep Zerg advantaged"?

This is hilarious. If so, how do you reconcile it with the fact that Serral is as much of an outlier among Zerg players as he is among the general player basis? No other currently active zerg, not Reynor, not Dark, not Solar, comes even close to Serral in terms of results. The most interesting thing that has happened to Zerg since Serral has commenced his military service is Reynor bombing out of GSL. Also, how do you reconcile it with the fact that the magical infestor, a unit you believe "it's more obvious than ever that it's OP", barely has any out-of-the-ordinary, let alone "overpowered" impact in any game not played by Serral?
Mutation complete.
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