• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 08:52
CEST 14:52
KST 21:52
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play1Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview8
Community News
[TLMC] Summer 2026 Ladder Map Rotation05.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start)75ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo31Weekly Cups (June 8-14): Clem and Solar double, PTR tested0RSL: S6 Finals played at BlizzCon 202611
StarCraft 2
General
Daily SC2 Player Grid - feedback wanted Is the larve respawn broken? 5.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start) The Death of Cheese: From a Professional Cheeser Mizenhauer's Douyu Cup Preview
Tourneys
Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28) Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event INu's Battles#17 <BO.9> Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 531 Experimental Artillery Mutation # 530 One For All Mutation # 529 Opportunities Unleashed
Brood War
General
ASL 22 Proposed Map Pool Quality of life changes in BW that you will like ? Farewell Beloved Starcraft (Youtube Videos) BW General Discussion vespene.gg — BW replays in browser
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Grand Finals The Casual Games of the Week Thread [BSL22] GosuLeague Casts - Tue & Thu 22:00 CEST
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies Why doesn't anyone use restoration?
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Beyond All Reason ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI Canadian Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club! The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Listen To The Coaches!
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 8390 users

Serral wins ESL Masters Spring/Dallas 2024 - Page 5

Forum Index > SC2 General
97 CommentsPost a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 All
Bennito_bh
Profile Joined June 2022
15 Posts
June 08 2024 02:41 GMT
#81
Even Serral doesn't want to play Maru lategame, if game 2 of IEM grand finals is any indication of that.


Don't get me wrong cause I agree with most of the sentiment in your post, but I don't think this conclusion is warranted. Just because Serral killed Maru early does not imply he's scared of his opponent's late-game. All we can really conclude from the results is that Serral saw a kill timing, went for it, and was successful on multiple occasions.
Bennito_bh
Profile Joined June 2022
15 Posts
June 08 2024 02:48 GMT
#82

ESL just wanted to dunk on Miz.

It's pretty pathetic for an organisation backed by blood money a petrostate and more blood money an air force to go out of their way to trash one person's subjective opinion so publicly.

Apollo should apologise. An apollogy, if you will.



I don't think Apollo is specifically to blame. I just wanted to make a pun...


The fact that this comment hasn't resulted in a ban just goes to show how trash TLnet's moderation has become. But go ahead and ban me instead for calling you out - I won't be missing anything.

User was temp banned for this post.
Perceivere
Profile Joined February 2024
131 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-06-08 06:30:01
June 08 2024 03:26 GMT
#83
On June 08 2024 11:41 Bennito_bh wrote:
Show nested quote +
Even Serral doesn't want to play Maru lategame, if game 2 of IEM grand finals is any indication of that.


Don't get me wrong cause I agree with most of the sentiment in your post, but I don't think this conclusion is warranted. Just because Serral killed Maru early does not imply he's scared of his opponent's late-game. All we can really conclude from the results is that Serral saw a kill timing, went for it, and was successful on multiple occasions.

I didn't mean that he's scared. I meant that he doesn't want to have to work like a possessed demon for 20-30 minutes trying to win a terran-favored lategame. Maru just turtles up, mules, scans, and pewpews with his ghosts, while Serral multitasks like his brain is on fire trying to control 6-7 different control groups attacking and defending, while macroing and re-spreading creep. It looks extremely taxing for a zerg to do what Serral does at his nutty APM, even if he pulls it off. People watch and think how impressive it is, while I'm wondering to myself, "what kind of stamina does a player need to do this insane shit game after game?"
Perceivere
Profile Joined February 2024
131 Posts
June 08 2024 03:48 GMT
#84
On June 07 2024 19:31 Ciaus237 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 07 2024 17:55 Harris1st wrote:
On June 07 2024 17:23 Drahkn wrote:
Serral has 2 issues for GOAT, he plays Zerg , and he only dominated when the PRO scene was dead


Meaning a GOAT can never be a Zerg and never be anyone playing from 2016 onwards? Got it! Seems reasonable and fair


There is a nontrivial minority of Starcraft fans who would only ever allow a Terran to be their GOAT candidate. Having been around since late WoL, it feels like the "Terran is the true skill race" crowd have thinned a bit / got quieter, but certainly haven't gone away.

I think this has mostly to do with the fact that Terran is the most micro-intensive race. When you see excellent terran micro, the crowd goes oooh and aaah. It's a crowd-pleasing race, and it gives the impression that terran is most skilled.

What the crowd doesn't see is that the impressive things zergs do aren't nearly as visually flashy while still just as impressive. Except for Clem, I haven't seen a Terran who multitasks like Serral or Reynor, bouncing from screen to screen like a pinball. Their FPVs are nauseating.
Salazarz
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
Korea (South)2591 Posts
June 08 2024 04:09 GMT
#85
On June 07 2024 17:55 Harris1st wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 07 2024 17:23 Drahkn wrote:
Serral has 2 issues for GOAT, he plays Zerg , and he only dominated when the PRO scene was dead


Meaning a GOAT can never be a Zerg and never be anyone playing from 2016 onwards? Got it! Seems reasonable and fair


I don't know about the Zerg part, but I don't see anything particularly controversial about your second statement tbh. That's the difference between being a 'greatest of all time' and 'best of the rest', and it is a significant difference. That is of course if you agree that overall level of competition declined after 2016.
Perceivere
Profile Joined February 2024
131 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-06-08 04:53:52
June 08 2024 04:50 GMT
#86
On June 08 2024 13:09 Salazarz wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 07 2024 17:55 Harris1st wrote:
On June 07 2024 17:23 Drahkn wrote:
Serral has 2 issues for GOAT, he plays Zerg , and he only dominated when the PRO scene was dead


Meaning a GOAT can never be a Zerg and never be anyone playing from 2016 onwards? Got it! Seems reasonable and fair


I don't know about the Zerg part, but I don't see anything particularly controversial about your second statement tbh. That's the difference between being a 'greatest of all time' and 'best of the rest', and it is a significant difference. That is of course if you agree that overall level of competition declined after 2016.

After 2016, as in the era where Serral exists, Reynor who won IEM and Gamers8 exists, and Clem who had a DH win and several regional wins at the expense of the best player exists...is somehow weaker than an era that was bloated with a bunch of Code A players, Code B players, and western players who weren't even on par with Snute, except Neeb and maybe Scarlett.

Please. Slightly weaker in Korea, sure. For the entire world, it got much more competitive. It's not like any of those Code A players would ever get a chance to qualify for the globals to threaten Serral's reign, anyway. Even a large chunk of current Code S players today either routinely fail to qualify for globals, or would only be fodder for the top players.

Only the money has significantly changed, which didn't really dip until 2021, and it only largely affected the motivation of players who are around the peripheral of the top10, who wouldn't threaten Serral regardless of money. The top players continued to practice hard and improve, because winning the world championship is still very lucrative, and prestigious—hello, Oliveira. Lately, the scene had also received a large injection of money from a certain controversial source.
Locutos
Profile Joined January 2017
Brazil273 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-06-09 19:26:07
June 09 2024 19:25 GMT
#87
On June 08 2024 13:50 Perceivere wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 08 2024 13:09 Salazarz wrote:
On June 07 2024 17:55 Harris1st wrote:
On June 07 2024 17:23 Drahkn wrote:
Serral has 2 issues for GOAT, he plays Zerg , and he only dominated when the PRO scene was dead


Meaning a GOAT can never be a Zerg and never be anyone playing from 2016 onwards? Got it! Seems reasonable and fair


I don't know about the Zerg part, but I don't see anything particularly controversial about your second statement tbh. That's the difference between being a 'greatest of all time' and 'best of the rest', and it is a significant difference. That is of course if you agree that overall level of competition declined after 2016.

After 2016, as in the era where Serral exists, Reynor who won IEM and Gamers8 exists, and Clem who had a DH win and several regional wins at the expense of the best player exists...is somehow weaker than an era that was bloated with a bunch of Code A players, Code B players, and western players who weren't even on par with Snute, except Neeb and maybe Scarlett.

Please. Slightly weaker in Korea, sure. For the entire world, it got much more competitive. It's not like any of those Code A players would ever get a chance to qualify for the globals to threaten Serral's reign, anyway. Even a large chunk of current Code S players today either routinely fail to qualify for globals, or would only be fodder for the top players.

Only the money has significantly changed, which didn't really dip until 2021, and it only largely affected the motivation of players who are around the peripheral of the top10, who wouldn't threaten Serral regardless of money. The top players continued to practice hard and improve, because winning the world championship is still very lucrative, and prestigious—hello, Oliveira. Lately, the scene had also received a large injection of money from a certain controversial source.


Exatly. Does anyone think that the Maru of 2015 plays better than the Maru nowadays?

I think people mess a little bit with the causality of things.

If other top players had had the same success (aka skill) as Maru, they would have continued playing. If they left, its because it got harder for them. Who kept on, kept on because they were either - hopeful to win or actually winning, like Maru, Rogue, sOs etc.

The creme de la creme stayed. Because they were that good. And a very few talented prodigys appeared in the scene, in a championship contender level.

Back in 2014, 15, people who entered in the fray when SCII came up started realizing that, even if they practiced a lot, they wouldnt thrive. So eventually the Code A, and low Code S semi and full professionals started leaving.

The strongest remained. And by that, i mean the true strongest OF STARCRAFT II. Not the ones who had spent 5 or 10+ years playing another game (like BW or WC 3). Which means, those who where young enough, like Serral, Maru or even HeroMarine to truly grow up inside the game.

Maru is the strongest korean SCII player, so far, who has lived. Anyone who would have been his equal or better simply wouldnt have had reason to leave.

And Serral is better than Maru. Has been since 2018, with ample data to show for it.
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland27041 Posts
June 09 2024 20:45 GMT
#88
On June 10 2024 04:25 Locutos wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 08 2024 13:50 Perceivere wrote:
On June 08 2024 13:09 Salazarz wrote:
On June 07 2024 17:55 Harris1st wrote:
On June 07 2024 17:23 Drahkn wrote:
Serral has 2 issues for GOAT, he plays Zerg , and he only dominated when the PRO scene was dead


Meaning a GOAT can never be a Zerg and never be anyone playing from 2016 onwards? Got it! Seems reasonable and fair


I don't know about the Zerg part, but I don't see anything particularly controversial about your second statement tbh. That's the difference between being a 'greatest of all time' and 'best of the rest', and it is a significant difference. That is of course if you agree that overall level of competition declined after 2016.

After 2016, as in the era where Serral exists, Reynor who won IEM and Gamers8 exists, and Clem who had a DH win and several regional wins at the expense of the best player exists...is somehow weaker than an era that was bloated with a bunch of Code A players, Code B players, and western players who weren't even on par with Snute, except Neeb and maybe Scarlett.

Please. Slightly weaker in Korea, sure. For the entire world, it got much more competitive. It's not like any of those Code A players would ever get a chance to qualify for the globals to threaten Serral's reign, anyway. Even a large chunk of current Code S players today either routinely fail to qualify for globals, or would only be fodder for the top players.

Only the money has significantly changed, which didn't really dip until 2021, and it only largely affected the motivation of players who are around the peripheral of the top10, who wouldn't threaten Serral regardless of money. The top players continued to practice hard and improve, because winning the world championship is still very lucrative, and prestigious—hello, Oliveira. Lately, the scene had also received a large injection of money from a certain controversial source.


Exatly. Does anyone think that the Maru of 2015 plays better than the Maru nowadays?

I think people mess a little bit with the causality of things.

If other top players had had the same success (aka skill) as Maru, they would have continued playing. If they left, its because it got harder for them. Who kept on, kept on because they were either - hopeful to win or actually winning, like Maru, Rogue, sOs etc.

The creme de la creme stayed. Because they were that good. And a very few talented prodigys appeared in the scene, in a championship contender level.

Back in 2014, 15, people who entered in the fray when SCII came up started realizing that, even if they practiced a lot, they wouldnt thrive. So eventually the Code A, and low Code S semi and full professionals started leaving.

The strongest remained. And by that, i mean the true strongest OF STARCRAFT II. Not the ones who had spent 5 or 10+ years playing another game (like BW or WC 3). Which means, those who where young enough, like Serral, Maru or even HeroMarine to truly grow up inside the game.

Maru is the strongest korean SCII player, so far, who has lived. Anyone who would have been his equal or better simply wouldnt have had reason to leave.

And Serral is better than Maru. Has been since 2018, with ample data to show for it.

Good point in that we’re seeing pure SC2 players bursting through these days. Well, by ‘these days’ I mean years ago.

IIRC you even have scenarios where parents absolutely loved SC1 and got their kids going in their formative years of SC2, Clem being one
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
Lexender
Profile Joined September 2013
Mexico2658 Posts
June 09 2024 22:26 GMT
#89
On June 10 2024 04:25 Locutos wrote:
If other top players had had the same success (aka skill) as Maru, they would have continued playing. If they left, its because it got harder for them. Who kept on, kept on because they were either - hopeful to win or actually winning, like Maru, Rogue, sOs etc.

The creme de la creme stayed. Because they were that good. And a very few talented prodigys appeared in the scene, in a championship contender level.

Back in 2014, 15, people who entered in the fray when SCII came up started realizing that, even if they practiced a lot, they wouldnt thrive. So eventually the Code A, and low Code S semi and full professionals started leaving.

The strongest remained. And by that, i mean the true strongest OF STARCRAFT II. Not the ones who had spent 5 or 10+ years playing another game (like BW or WC 3). Which means, those who where young enough, like Serral, Maru or even HeroMarine to truly grow up inside the game.

Maru is the strongest korean SCII player, so far, who has lived. Anyone who would have been his equal or better simply wouldnt have had reason to leave.


I disagree, while you arent wrong I think you undervalue the importance of 2 factors:

1.- The importance of new blood: If you look at the history of GSL 2010-2015 you can see what we now know where the top players of the time to be Royal Roaders, that is players that won the first GSL they qualified for, hell the undisputable king of WoL Mvp was defeated by one in his last GSL finals. Sure those who are left are the best but when was the last time we had new talent capable of beating them? Only a few in the EU scene in Clem and Reynor (who are hardy new players btw, the have been semi-pro/pro level for a few years now they are just old enought to compete now).

2.- Money truly matters, I do think a lot of retired pros like Inno or Zest would have stayed if they thought there was enough money in the scene to live off but thats just not the case anymore.
MJG
Profile Joined May 2018
United Kingdom1451 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-06-10 13:04:25
June 10 2024 06:42 GMT
#90
On June 07 2024 17:55 Harris1st wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 07 2024 17:23 Drahkn wrote:
Serral has 2 issues for GOAT, he plays Zerg , and he only dominated when the PRO scene was dead

Meaning a GOAT can never be a Zerg and never be anyone playing from 2016 onwards? Got it! Seems reasonable and fair

You're being sarcastic, but that's how I view it.

Proleague collapsing means that I view subsequent tournaments as being of ever diminishing importance. There was a time when GSL winners being knocked down into Code A in the following season happened regularly enough that the difficulty of simply staying in Code S could not be overstated, but now there's neither enough players nor enough funding for Code A to exist. Iron sharpens iron, but much less so when the competitive pool becomes so shallow, and that's enough for me to draw a very distinct line in the sand.

As for Zerg, we had two versions of the game where a general overview of Starcraft 2 strategy would tell us that Zerg is the race that benefits most from being able to take faster expansions, from having larger maps, from having more open maps, and from the game being less "deathbally". Legacy of the Void was specifically designed so that we need to take faster expansions, so that the maps are generally larger, so that the maps are generally more open, and so that the game is significantly less "deathbally". Zerg has gone on to win more money than any other race in Legacy of the Void. This is going to read as balance whine, but I don't think it's a balance issue. No amount of tweaking unit stats is going to make a significant difference to core design flaws that result from Blizzard's decision to move to a 12 worker start and fewer minerals per base...



EDIT:

I really commend Miz for going out of his way to ignore things that are outside of the players' control in his analysis. It's the proper way of doing things if you're going to make such a statistics-heavy analysis of the situation. My view of things contains a lot more "feeling" and so becomes much more subjective (in what is already a very subjective space), but I don't "feel" that anyone only prominent in this era can ever be the GOAT because LotV is far too flawed...
puking up frothing vitriolic sarcastic spittle
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland27041 Posts
June 10 2024 07:06 GMT
#91
On June 10 2024 15:42 MJG wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 07 2024 17:55 Harris1st wrote:
On June 07 2024 17:23 Drahkn wrote:
Serral has 2 issues for GOAT, he plays Zerg , and he only dominated when the PRO scene was dead

Meaning a GOAT can never be a Zerg and never be anyone playing from 2016 onwards? Got it! Seems reasonable and fair

You're being sarcastic, but that's how I view it.

Proleague collapsing means that the competitive value of subsequent tournaments is of ever diminishing importance. There was a time when GSL winners being knocked down into Code A in the following season happened regularly enough that the difficulty of simply staying in Code S could not be overstated, but now there's neither enough players nor funding for Code A to exist. It's enough for me to draw a very distinct line in the sand.

As for Zerg, we had two versions of the game where a general overview of Starcraft 2 strategy would tell us that Zerg is the race that benefits most from being able to take faster expansions, from having larger maps, from having more open maps, and from the game being less "deathbally". Legacy of the Void made it so that we need to take faster expansions, the maps are generally larger, the maps are generally more open, and the game is significantly less "deathbally". Zerg has gone on to win more money than any other race in Legacy of the Void. I can't imagine why...


To a degree, although I think it’s somewhat overstated.

Outside of perhaps early WoL, where things very much were in flux, Code S has generally had a (relatively) stable cadre of names at the business end of the tournament.

You had more qualification mishaps, group exits by big tournament favourites for sure, but I think the decline at the other end, of ‘eyeballing it, how many do you think can realistically challenge for the title this season?’ was something of a noticeably slower decline.

Not that I dispute the overall observation of the gradual loss of depth, but it became easier to perpetually remain in Code S at a quicker rate than it did actually winning one.
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
Salazarz
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
Korea (South)2591 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-06-10 08:17:19
June 10 2024 08:15 GMT
#92
On June 10 2024 04:25 Locutos wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 08 2024 13:50 Perceivere wrote:
On June 08 2024 13:09 Salazarz wrote:
On June 07 2024 17:55 Harris1st wrote:
On June 07 2024 17:23 Drahkn wrote:
Serral has 2 issues for GOAT, he plays Zerg , and he only dominated when the PRO scene was dead


Meaning a GOAT can never be a Zerg and never be anyone playing from 2016 onwards? Got it! Seems reasonable and fair


I don't know about the Zerg part, but I don't see anything particularly controversial about your second statement tbh. That's the difference between being a 'greatest of all time' and 'best of the rest', and it is a significant difference. That is of course if you agree that overall level of competition declined after 2016.

After 2016, as in the era where Serral exists, Reynor who won IEM and Gamers8 exists, and Clem who had a DH win and several regional wins at the expense of the best player exists...is somehow weaker than an era that was bloated with a bunch of Code A players, Code B players, and western players who weren't even on par with Snute, except Neeb and maybe Scarlett.

Please. Slightly weaker in Korea, sure. For the entire world, it got much more competitive. It's not like any of those Code A players would ever get a chance to qualify for the globals to threaten Serral's reign, anyway. Even a large chunk of current Code S players today either routinely fail to qualify for globals, or would only be fodder for the top players.

Only the money has significantly changed, which didn't really dip until 2021, and it only largely affected the motivation of players who are around the peripheral of the top10, who wouldn't threaten Serral regardless of money. The top players continued to practice hard and improve, because winning the world championship is still very lucrative, and prestigious—hello, Oliveira. Lately, the scene had also received a large injection of money from a certain controversial source.


Exatly. Does anyone think that the Maru of 2015 plays better than the Maru nowadays?

I think people mess a little bit with the causality of things.

If other top players had had the same success (aka skill) as Maru, they would have continued playing. If they left, its because it got harder for them. Who kept on, kept on because they were either - hopeful to win or actually winning, like Maru, Rogue, sOs etc.

The creme de la creme stayed. Because they were that good. And a very few talented prodigys appeared in the scene, in a championship contender level.

Back in 2014, 15, people who entered in the fray when SCII came up started realizing that, even if they practiced a lot, they wouldnt thrive. So eventually the Code A, and low Code S semi and full professionals started leaving.

The strongest remained. And by that, i mean the true strongest OF STARCRAFT II. Not the ones who had spent 5 or 10+ years playing another game (like BW or WC 3). Which means, those who where young enough, like Serral, Maru or even HeroMarine to truly grow up inside the game.

Maru is the strongest korean SCII player, so far, who has lived. Anyone who would have been his equal or better simply wouldnt have had reason to leave.

And Serral is better than Maru. Has been since 2018, with ample data to show for it.


Maru won his first pro match in 2010. In 2015, he was a well-respected player but nobody in their right mind would call him the best, or anything close to that. He only really started to shine around 2018, incidentally, that's also the year when Serral started to win stuff, too. Serral himself had been on various teams for over 5 years by then. Rogue came to SC2 in 2012 yet his first notable achievements didn't happen until 2017.

Are you telling me those super talented, elite, goat-level players simply took so long to learn how to play? That doesn't seem like the most likely explanation to me, considering both in BW and SC2 the championship caliber players typically started winning tournaments within 1-2 years of winning their first pro matches. I can't even think of a single pro who took 5 years to get their first big trophy that would then go on to 'dominate' the game. It's the same in pretty much every other video game, too. The dudes who don't have it in them to win big after a couple years don't become an all-conquering maverick half a decade later; the best they get is a brief moment in the spotlight when everything falls into place for that one big tournament.

But apparently the dudes who won their first tourneys after basically every big name before them retired or went part-time and all the infrastructure that produced said big names bit the dust are the best to have ever touched this game? Ehhhhhh.
Harris1st
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Germany7267 Posts
June 10 2024 08:17 GMT
#93
SC2 now goes into its 15th year and a lot happened. For me the first 5 years were interesting because it was volatile and everchanging meta with a lot of players. But the game and the meta got more stable with LoTv (with exceptions ofc *swarm hosts*) and the game has reached its final form more or less. True there are less players and it's a pity. But the game itself got better and for me so did the remaining players.
Go Serral! GG EZ for Ence. Flashbang dance FTW
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland27041 Posts
June 10 2024 08:45 GMT
#94
On June 10 2024 17:15 Salazarz wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 10 2024 04:25 Locutos wrote:
On June 08 2024 13:50 Perceivere wrote:
On June 08 2024 13:09 Salazarz wrote:
On June 07 2024 17:55 Harris1st wrote:
On June 07 2024 17:23 Drahkn wrote:
Serral has 2 issues for GOAT, he plays Zerg , and he only dominated when the PRO scene was dead


Meaning a GOAT can never be a Zerg and never be anyone playing from 2016 onwards? Got it! Seems reasonable and fair


I don't know about the Zerg part, but I don't see anything particularly controversial about your second statement tbh. That's the difference between being a 'greatest of all time' and 'best of the rest', and it is a significant difference. That is of course if you agree that overall level of competition declined after 2016.

After 2016, as in the era where Serral exists, Reynor who won IEM and Gamers8 exists, and Clem who had a DH win and several regional wins at the expense of the best player exists...is somehow weaker than an era that was bloated with a bunch of Code A players, Code B players, and western players who weren't even on par with Snute, except Neeb and maybe Scarlett.

Please. Slightly weaker in Korea, sure. For the entire world, it got much more competitive. It's not like any of those Code A players would ever get a chance to qualify for the globals to threaten Serral's reign, anyway. Even a large chunk of current Code S players today either routinely fail to qualify for globals, or would only be fodder for the top players.

Only the money has significantly changed, which didn't really dip until 2021, and it only largely affected the motivation of players who are around the peripheral of the top10, who wouldn't threaten Serral regardless of money. The top players continued to practice hard and improve, because winning the world championship is still very lucrative, and prestigious—hello, Oliveira. Lately, the scene had also received a large injection of money from a certain controversial source.


Exatly. Does anyone think that the Maru of 2015 plays better than the Maru nowadays?

I think people mess a little bit with the causality of things.

If other top players had had the same success (aka skill) as Maru, they would have continued playing. If they left, its because it got harder for them. Who kept on, kept on because they were either - hopeful to win or actually winning, like Maru, Rogue, sOs etc.

The creme de la creme stayed. Because they were that good. And a very few talented prodigys appeared in the scene, in a championship contender level.

Back in 2014, 15, people who entered in the fray when SCII came up started realizing that, even if they practiced a lot, they wouldnt thrive. So eventually the Code A, and low Code S semi and full professionals started leaving.

The strongest remained. And by that, i mean the true strongest OF STARCRAFT II. Not the ones who had spent 5 or 10+ years playing another game (like BW or WC 3). Which means, those who where young enough, like Serral, Maru or even HeroMarine to truly grow up inside the game.

Maru is the strongest korean SCII player, so far, who has lived. Anyone who would have been his equal or better simply wouldnt have had reason to leave.

And Serral is better than Maru. Has been since 2018, with ample data to show for it.


Maru won his first pro match in 2010. In 2015, he was a well-respected player but nobody in their right mind would call him the best, or anything close to that. He only really started to shine around 2018, incidentally, that's also the year when Serral started to win stuff, too. Serral himself had been on various teams for over 5 years by then. Rogue came to SC2 in 2012 yet his first notable achievements didn't happen until 2017.

Are you telling me those super talented, elite, goat-level players simply took so long to learn how to play? That doesn't seem like the most likely explanation to me, considering both in BW and SC2 the championship caliber players typically started winning tournaments within 1-2 years of winning their first pro matches. I can't even think of a single pro who took 5 years to get their first big trophy that would then go on to 'dominate' the game. It's the same in pretty much every other video game, too. The dudes who don't have it in them to win big after a couple years don't become an all-conquering maverick half a decade later; the best they get is a brief moment in the spotlight when everything falls into place for that one big tournament.

But apparently the dudes who won their first tourneys after basically every big name before them retired or went part-time and all the infrastructure that produced said big names bit the dust are the best to have ever touched this game? Ehhhhhh.

Serral had obviously played a lot of the game, very talented and was picked up orgs, I don’t think he was actually a full time progamer for quite a while and as soon as he was he was posting pretty good results off the bat. It’s not like he was some jobbing pro for years prior to ‘ascending’

SC2 in general hasn’t really had its dominant players throughout, it was generally pretty cutthroat, the odd sensational stretch but generally one would be among a cadre of the elite and unable to massively gap the rest.

That’s definitely changed, for a variety of reasons and I think Serral and Maru would comfortably be nestled in that cohort if things had gone differently.

As it’s they’re pretty damn dominant now, but one can only beat what’s in front of you at the end of the day.

Part of the reason they are so ahead is they’ve kept their motivation and levels up. Whereas a player like Innovation who very much fits your exploding out of the gates to championship level couldn’t keep it up.

I don’t know other eSports scenes well enough, although I think there are a million examples in various regular sports of dominant players who hit their level from an early age and never let go, late bloomers and incredible talents who burned out before they were 25

Just a pity really that these are all hypotheticals in a gradually declining pro scene, rather than the likes of Serral going toe to toe with the cream of the Kespa crop of this age rather than those who’ve stuck around for a decade. Woulda been fun
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
AlexGano
Profile Joined February 2021
28 Posts
June 11 2024 03:18 GMT
#95
If people sees "all time" as so important, then we should kick mvp out of the top 10 list
Husyelt
Profile Blog Joined May 2020
United States838 Posts
June 11 2024 03:28 GMT
#96
On June 11 2024 12:18 AlexGano wrote:
If people sees "all time" as so important, then we should kick mvp out of the top 10 list

Jesse, what the eff are you talking about meme MVP is clearly in the top 10, behind Serral, Serral with a mustache, and Emperor of Finland, and Maru, Rogue, Innovation
You're getting cynical and that won't do I'd throw the rose tint back on the exploded view
MJG
Profile Joined May 2018
United Kingdom1451 Posts
June 11 2024 06:10 GMT
#97
On June 11 2024 12:18 AlexGano wrote:
If people sees "all time" as so important, then we should kick mvp out of the top 10 list

???

What Mvp achieved in a scene that was thriving is more impressive to me than anything anyone will achieve in a scene that is dying.
puking up frothing vitriolic sarcastic spittle
ejozl
Profile Joined October 2010
Denmark3505 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-06-11 16:32:07
June 11 2024 16:31 GMT
#98
On June 11 2024 15:10 MJG wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 11 2024 12:18 AlexGano wrote:
If people sees "all time" as so important, then we should kick mvp out of the top 10 list

???

What Mvp achieved in a scene that was thriving is more impressive to me than anything anyone will achieve in a scene that is dying.

They're both impressive. I don't believe that MVP if he had his golden years back that he would be able to make a dent in the current scene, but then I also don't think that Serral could dominate at all in the way that he does now, if he was playing back in the beginning. They're simply two different skill sets, it's strategy, understanding and innovation vs. execution and perfecting.
SC2 Archon needs "Terrible, terrible damage" as one of it's quotes.
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Maestros of the Game
12:30
Offline Playoffs
herO vs ClassicLIVE!
Maru vs Serral
WardiTV1101
RotterdaM1025
ComeBackTV 967
Ryung 841
IntoTheiNu 442
TaKeTV 378
SteadfastSC219
IndyStarCraft 114
SHIN 54
BRAT_OK 52
EnkiAlexander 51
CosmosSc2 24
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 1025
Ryung 841
SteadfastSC 219
Rex 117
IndyStarCraft 107
SHIN 54
BRAT_OK 36
CosmosSc2 14
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 45775
Horang2 1641
Jaedong 1459
Leta 761
EffOrt 750
ggaemo 483
BeSt 464
Mong 98
Sharp 95
Movie 61
[ Show more ]
Mind 60
Aegong 59
Hyun 56
sorry 40
sSak 37
Hm[arnc] 32
JYJ 17
Sacsri 16
GoRush 14
Pusan 10
Icarus 6
Dota 2
XcaliburYe240
syndereN198
LuMiX1
Counter-Strike
kennyS1762
pashabiceps1073
kRYSTAL_89
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor264
Other Games
singsing2156
B2W.Neo1507
Lowko578
XaKoH 358
crisheroes328
byalli296
Pyrionflax295
Hui .207
DeMusliM205
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream8898
StarCraft: Brood War
lovetv 16
UltimateBattle 6
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Michael_bg 4
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos3485
Upcoming Events
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
1h 8m
Bonyth vs TerrOr
eOnzErG vs Dewalt
XuanXuan vs TBD
Douyu Cup 2020
16h 8m
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
1d 1h
Mihu vs TBD
Online Event
1d 2h
RSL Revival
1d 13h
WardiTV Weekly
1d 22h
RSL Revival
2 days
RSL Revival
3 days
Bombastic Starleague
3 days
Kung Fu Cup
3 days
[ Show More ]
OSC
4 days
CrankTV Team League
4 days
Bombastic Starleague
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
The PondCast
5 days
HomeStory Cup
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
HomeStory Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL Season 21: Qualifier 1
WardiTV Spring 2026
Heroes Pulsing #2

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
YSL S3
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSL Season 21: Qualifier 2
SCTL 2026 Spring
Douyu Cup 2026
Maestros of the Game 2
Murky Cup 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026

Upcoming

CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
BCC 2026
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E1
Heroes Pulsing #3
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.