Serral wins ESL Masters Spring/Dallas 2024

by Wax

Not even mandatory military service could come between Serral and his 26th Liquipedia-Premier tournament championship, as the Finnish Phenom mowed through the competition at DreamHack Dallas in his first competitive appearance since entering the Finnish Defence Forces Sports School. If the other competitors in Dallas had hoped Serral would show signs of rust from his military service that began in April, then they would have been sorely disappointed. Serral put up a 'typical' scoreline on his way to the championship, going 5-0 in series and 14-2 in maps—including a barely competitive 4-0 sweep against Maru in the grand finals. While Maru had proven himself to be the best player of Serral's interregnum by winning Code S Season 1 and StarsWar 11, Serral's emphatic victory made it clear beyond a doubt who still reigns atop the StarCraft II scene in 2024.



Winners Stage, Open Bracket, and Knockout Bracket Results
+ Show Spoiler [Click to reveal] +

Serral's run was not without its challenges—well, one major challenge in the form of Oliveira in the semifinals. The reigning EPT World Champion broke his lengthy slump by giving his best performance since his miracle run at IEM Katowice 2023, defeating Classic (2-1), Stats (2-1), and Reynor (3-1) on his way to the final four. That momentum carried over into his match against Serral, where he gave the eventual champion a brief but very real elimination scare. Oliveira poked holes in his practice partner's usually impervious defense with aggressive 3-base all-ins, using them to push the series all the way to a fifth and final map. Oliveira bet it all on a third, 3-base push in the deciding game, but Serral pulled off a clutch defense to survive to reach the finals.

Up until the finals, Maru had arguably gone on just as impressive a run as Serral, going undefeated in the Winners Bracket before taking out top players herO (3-2) and Dark (3-1) in the playoffs. Such a showing briefly raised hopes that the jinxed Maru-Serral clash might finally deliver the epic match fans had been hoping for since 2018. Serral, in a rare, unintentional instance of trash talk, expressed the same sentiment, saying he hoped it wouldn't be as easy as his 4-0 in the finals of IEM Katowice 2024.

However, the rematch proved to be even more one-sided than the previous clash. If Katowice had seen Maru put in at least one stellar, late-game defensive showcase on Radhuset Station, Serral denied him the opportunity at a repeat performance by being utterly ruthless and finishing the games before they could go long. In particular, Serral expertly exploited the windows right after he reached Hive Tech, and ended up extracting the championship-clinching GG's at 11:20, 10:54, 9:19, and 8:28 on the clock.

Even a player like Serral who's seen and done nearly everything in his 10+ year career can have new experience now and then, and in Dallas he concluded the tournament by hoisting not one but two trophies. After receiving the standard trophy for winning the individual event, Serral was also awarded a commemorative trophy for winning "10 international tournaments*" in the ESL/DreamHack Masters circuit.

*Stage host Chobra listed Serral's three EPT/DHM Europe Regionals as part of his tally. If Regionals are included in the count, then Oliveira has also achieved the count of ten.

Upsets, Surprises, and Other Notable Happenings

While DreamHack Dallas ended on a note of inevitability with Serral winning the finals, there were a handful of surprises and upsets to be found in the rest of the tournament.

Oliveira's strong showing was counterbalanced by a disappointing performance from DreamHack Atlanta champion Clem, who crashed out in the top 12 after losing to Stats, HeroMarine, and herO. Cure, one of the the most consistent players of the EPT 2023/24 season, also finished in the top 12 after losing to the mercurial SHIN. Indeed, the strong version of SHIN showed up to play in Dallas, who also beat Stats and Astrea on his way to the RO8. However, in the playoffs, SHIN couldn't recreate his upset over Serral from IEM Katowice 2023, and had to bow out of the tournament one step away from confirming an Esports World Cup spot.

The Open Bracket is known for being exceptionally brutal in the current EPT format, and ByuN impressed by winning six straight matches to make it all the way to the RO8 before losing to Dark (notable wins against trigger, Stats, and HeroMarine). However, the most eye-catching player from the Open Bracket was probably Rogue, who was barely two months back from Korean military service and competing in his first international event since his return. He showed glimpses of his world champion class by surviving the Open Bracket gauntlet (with two wins over Solar), but could advance no further after drawing Clem as his first opponent in the knockout bracket. Alongside Solar, the Open Bracket also claimed Ryung, SKillous, DRG, soO, Harstem, Bunny, and Cyan as its victims.

What was projected to be a fairly predictable Esports World Cup qualification race was given a last-minute twist due to Oliveira's surprise run to the top four. While Oliveira himself had already locked in an Esports World Cup seed due being the confirmed point leader from the Asia region, he earned himself a duplicate seed due to his top four finish. EPT rules dictate that Oliveira 'uses' the seed from DreamHack Dallas, while his seed from EPT Asia rolls down to the next highest point earner in the Asia region.

At the moment, that next runner-up happens to be Coffee with 790 points, but he's closely trailed by Cyan with 780 (EPT Asia standings chart). With ESL Open Cups awarding 10 points for a win and 5 points for a runner-up finish, we might see these two go all out in the remaining weeks of Open Cup play to try and secure a spot (ESL has yet to announce when the point standings will lock).

Grand Finals Match Recap:

Game One - Post-Youth (Serral win): Maru opened with 2-Barracks Reapers while taking his in-base natural, while Serral got into a normal Post-Youth 3-base setup by taking his in-base expansion and his natural. Serral opted to play Roach-Ravager-Baneling into a fast Hive, while Maru took a long-term outlook by macroing up to four bases.

However, a late-game showdown did not come to pass as Serral struck with his maxed out Roach-Ravager-Zergling-Baneling swarm once he had two Vipers with full energy. The attack was meant to burn off some supply for a transition into Ultralisks, but almost ended the game outright as it hit right before Maru was able to get fully entrenched behind a Planetary Fortress. While Maru barely survived the first wave of attackers, the follow-up Ultralisks came soon after to force the GG.

Game Two - Ghost River (Serral win): Both players altered their initial strategies in game two, with Maru opening Hellion-Banshee while Serral went for a Roach-Ravager-Infestor mid-game without Banelings. However, the two players ultimately had similar goals as in game one, with Maru looking to play a longer macro game while Serral aimed to tech quickly to Ultralisks.

While Serral had initially maxed out on Lair-tech units in the previous game, this time around he opted to stay on a more modest Roach-Ravager army and go straight into Ultralisk production and Chitinous Plating research once his Ultralisk Cavern was complete.

This resulted in Serral catching Maru totally off guard with a swarm of +2 carapace, Chitinous upgraded Ultralisks at the ten minute mark, when the Terran army consisted mostly of 1/1 Marines supported by a handful of Tanks. Maru had no chance of stopping these super-tanky Ultralisks and was forced to surrender another quick GG.

Game Three - Goldenaura (Serral win): Maru began with Cyclone-Liberator harass in the early game, dealing some marginal damage before setting himself up on three bases. Changing his approach from the previous two games, Maru decided to commit hard to an 8-Barracks all-in off of three bases. Serral also changed his gameplan, playing a more conventional Ling-Bane composition and foregoing the fast Hive of the first two games.

As is often the case, Serral's diligent scouting allowed him to sniff out Maru's aggressive intentions, and he prepared a Ling-Bane backdoor to strike just as Maru moved out. Maru got caught with his natural wall down at the absolute wrong moment (although Serral's backdoor would still have done meaningful damage regardless), and Serral's Ling-Bane ended up doing massive economic damage while also forcing Maru's army to retreat and defend.

Maru had no choice but to recommit fully to his all-in, despite having all the air taken out of it before it even started. Serral had no trouble fending off the severely hamstrung attack, and received Maru's third GG after a one-sided defensive battle.

Game Four - Crimson Court (Serral win): Maru went for yet another different opener, this time going for a greedy 3-CC-before-Factory start. As for Serral, it initially seemed like he was going back to his Roach-Ravager into fast Hive setup from game two, but he gave it a twist by staying on Lair tech and getting a Nydus Worm for a committed attack with Roach-Ravager.

With a Nydus Worm tunneling into the Terran main as a diversion, Serral sent his main army to Maru's third base for a head on assault. Rather than lift and retreat back to the natural, Maru decided to engage Serral right then and there, which ended up being a massacre as he was vastly outgunned by the near-max Roach-Ravager force. Maru belatedly tried to set up a second defensive line at his natural, but it was too late as the situation had already snowballed out of control. Serral easily plowed through this second line of defenders as well, leaving Maru no choice but to concede another 0-4 sweep.

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