The award show themed HomeStory Cup 25 concluded with GuMiho taking home the grand prize, as he narrowly bested ShoWTimE 4-3 in an exhilarating finale. After going down 1-3 to start the series, GuMiho rallied back with three straight victories to win his first offline title since returning from military service in 2021. Even though the field at HSC 25 was weaker than previous events due to absence of both Serral and Reynor, earning the title of "champion" still seemed extra meaningful for GuMiho after he had been held to two runner-up finishes in 2023.
The tournament began with a largely surprise-free RO24 group stage, with MaNa's elimination of Ryung being the biggest upset. GuMiho advanced in first place from his group as expected, but an 0-2 loss to SKillous was a reminder that even with the Zerg power duo missing, the European competition could still be quite hazardous.
However, GuMiho upped his game and looked a cut above the field in the first two rounds of the playoffs, taking down Elazer (3-1) and Clem (3-1) in the RO8 and semifinals. While Clem had been pegged as the initial favorite to win the tournament, his long-standing vulnerability in TvT was exposed once more as GuMiho took a convincing victory.
That set up GuMiho to face ShoWTimE in the finals, with Die Mauer coming in with victories against SKillous (3-2) and HeroMarine (3-1) in the previous rounds. The Towel Terran went down 1-3 in the first half of the series, as ShoWTimE repeatedly overpowered him with his mass Gateway units + Robotics style. HomeStory Cup was on the verge of crowning its first German champion when ShoWTimE took a firm lead in game five, but GuMiho plunged the game into chaos with one of his trademark basetrades. After several minutes of scrappy, low-econ fighting, GuMiho finally stole an all-time great comeback victory thanks to the might of Marauder-Medivac (Watch VOD (@ 9 hours, 2 minutes)).
GuMiho's hard-earned victory in game five completely changed the momentum of the series. He proceeded to take series-tying map point with a two-base Tank push in Ghost River, forcing a winner-take-all showdown on Amphion. Having acclimated to ShoWTimE's Gateway unit-heavy style throughout the course of the series, GuMiho curbed his aggressive tendencies to play around upgraded Liberators in the late-game. Unfortunately for ShoWTimE, he was unable to make his own adjustment and get Tempests in time, and was eventually worn down by GuMiho's higher value army.
game 5 game of the year. sad throw by showtime, maxpax does that style on that map too vs clem and it never works, gateway units are so so bad against mass liberators. i went to sleep thinking showtime had won it all, poor tobi
Think the mineral lines on Amphion need to be half rocks half minerals, to at least offer a bit more offensive potential.
Seems like way too many games T gets 2-3 tanks to defend the natural as well as the 3rd and 4th from one location. (Map stats are heavily skewed in T's favor as well.)
Not really sure if there is as bad of an offender for multiple matchups as Amphion, but it does stand out. Could really do with some v2 map updates.. but yeah probably never going to happen.
Interesting games though, still can't really buy into any P that isn't Maxpax or Hero. (Creator and Classic still a ways off)
On June 24 2024 23:47 Agh wrote: Think the mineral lines on Amphion need to be half rocks half minerals, to at least offer a bit more offensive potential.
Seems like way too many games T gets 2-3 tanks to defend the natural as well as the 3rd and 4th from one location. (Map stats are heavily skewed in T's favor as well.)
Not really sure if there is as bad of an offender for multiple matchups as Amphion, but it does stand out. Could really do with some v2 map updates.. but yeah probably never going to happen.
Interesting games though, still can't really buy into any P that isn't Maxpax or Hero. (Creator and Classic still a ways off)
Im not sure why blame it on maps when the problem was obvious: ShowTime dominated first with his mass gateway style and Gumiho adapted well, more denfesive and amining to thel ategame. Mass gateway comps are good when the Terran is active on the map. Against a defensive style, Stats/Classic Carrier style may work better.
On June 24 2024 20:19 luxon wrote: game 5 game of the year. sad throw by showtime, maxpax does that style on that map too vs clem and it never works, gateway units are so so bad against mass liberators. i went to sleep thinking showtime had won it all, poor tobi
It’s a common throw / losing scenario for these PVT games. Protoss should immediately switch to tempest once they see more libs/ range upgrade. But so many Protoss are so stubborn and double down on the heavy gateway style which hardly ever works.
On June 24 2024 23:47 Agh wrote: Think the mineral lines on Amphion need to be half rocks half minerals, to at least offer a bit more offensive potential.
Seems like way too many games T gets 2-3 tanks to defend the natural as well as the 3rd and 4th from one location. (Map stats are heavily skewed in T's favor as well.)
Not really sure if there is as bad of an offender for multiple matchups as Amphion, but it does stand out. Could really do with some v2 map updates.. but yeah probably never going to happen.
Interesting games though, still can't really buy into any P that isn't Maxpax or Hero. (Creator and Classic still a ways off)
Im not sure why blame it on maps when the problem was obvious: ShowTime dominated first with his mass gateway style and Gumiho adapted well, more denfesive and amining to thel ategame. Mass gateway comps are good when the Terran is active on the map. Against a defensive style, Stats/Classic Carrier style may work better.
?? I'll just assume an esl issue. I referenced a singular map not maps, and completely independent of the players/results.
But for further spoon-feeding: Amphion is the only map that is >60% for both matchups which is insane. You'd probably have to go all the way back to something like Delta Quadrant to find a map where one race was that favored.
Felt like a forgone conclusion that this one would be either Gumiho or Clem, but I'm really surprised and impressed Showtime made it so close. Gonna have to catch the VOD of the grand finals for sure
On June 24 2024 23:47 Agh wrote: Think the mineral lines on Amphion need to be half rocks half minerals, to at least offer a bit more offensive potential.
Seems like way too many games T gets 2-3 tanks to defend the natural as well as the 3rd and 4th from one location. (Map stats are heavily skewed in T's favor as well.)
Not really sure if there is as bad of an offender for multiple matchups as Amphion, but it does stand out. Could really do with some v2 map updates.. but yeah probably never going to happen.
Interesting games though, still can't really buy into any P that isn't Maxpax or Hero. (Creator and Classic still a ways off)
Im not sure why blame it on maps when the problem was obvious: ShowTime dominated first with his mass gateway style and Gumiho adapted well, more denfesive and amining to thel ategame. Mass gateway comps are good when the Terran is active on the map. Against a defensive style, Stats/Classic Carrier style may work better.
?? I'll just assume an esl issue. I referenced a singular map not maps, and completely independent of the players/results.
But for further spoon-feeding: Amphion is the only map that is >60% for both matchups which is insane. You'd probably have to go all the way back to something like Delta Quadrant to find a map where one race was that favored.
Oof, I must say I can’t recall a map in proper rotation that’s that skewed in 2 matchups to one race’s favour for quite some time.
Assuming those numbers are right, which I shall unless someone will stick up some deep dive to challenge it
The Terran Master RaceTM will proclaim a map as basically unplayable if it’s skewed 53/47 against them in one matchup, so 60/40 in two against Protoss is pretty wild.
That said I mean it felt Showtime had a few options he could have taken in that game to seize the day and didn’t take any of them. Step up his gas income and either build an uber army with Stargate tech, or keep sharking with gate/disruptor but make it more chaotic and cost-effective with some invisible men.
On the flipside if he had done that we’d have got a less thrilling game so there is that
On June 26 2024 00:08 Telephone wrote: Wow, GuMiho's first GSL-equivalent win since 2017!
Almost seven years to the day he won Code S, as well. It's a great win for a player who has been inconstant since returning from military, but has shown that he has what it takes to be a top tier player time and time again.
Everyone wants to give Byun all the credit for getting the reaper nerfed - but reapers were actually nerfed after Guimho won the GSL with some reaper builds. His execution didn't look as tight as Byun, but where was Byun? Not winning the GSL finals. So who REALLY got the reaper nerfed?
That finals was so damn good, high level Starcraft just scratches an itch like nothing else can.
I applaud studios that are trying to do their own RTS but let's face it, Starcraft is like the Mount Everest of this genre, and series like these really demonstrate that to me.
I know he lost but Showtime really showed off his chops, taking a player like Gumiho to the wire is no small feat.
EPT
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