The calendar may have flipped over to 2025 and the world may be changing around us, but there's still one constant we can count on: Serral winning StarCraft II tournaments. The Finnish Phenom claimed the first major championship of the year, brushing off a brief ZvP scare to win Master's Coliseum 8. Despite losing to both MaxPax and herO in other competitions during the lead-up to the playoffs—and despite being sent to the losers' bracket by MaxPax in MC8 itself—Serral pulled through to beat both top PvZ players when it mattered most in the final rounds.
The victory gave Serral a three-peat in Master's Coliseum, which joins HomeStory Cup and the WCS Circuit as major tournament series where Serral has won three consecutive championships.
When Master's Coliseum began with the round-of-16 group stage in December, it looked like Serral and Clem were headed for another collision at the peak of the competitive StarCraft II scene. However, when Clem suffered a stunning group stage elimination (losing a map score tiebreaker to Zoun and Spirit), the forecast changed to another dominant championship run for Serral.
But the StarCraft II scene isn't always as predictable as it might feel at times. In between rounds of MC8, Serral suffered two consecutive losses to fellow competitors MaxPax and herO in other events—the first time he had lost consecutive PvZ's in over a year. As it turned out, those losses weren't just flukes, as Serral conceded a 2-3 loss to MaxPax in the upper bracket of the MC8 playoffs.
However, Serral wouldn't be the most dominant player of the last six years if he didn't know a thing or two about overcoming setbacks. After winning a ZvZ duel against Reynor in the lower bracket (with Reynor seeing if he could cash in on PvZ by off-racing two games), Serral went into the final day of the tournament needing to win two rematches against the two best Protoss players in the world in order to take the championship.
Hopes that Protoss might finally end its 2+ year championship drought in Liquipedia-premier tournaments were quickly dimmed, as Serral made winning adjustments to his play. In his earlier losses, Serral's adherence to a fast Hive/Lurker strategy allowed his opponents to pull ahead in the mid-game, taking advantage of his passiveness to build up strong economies. Then, they were able to finish him off before he could put together the expensive, late-game armies that we've seen him pilot to perfection so many times in the past.
Serral's adjustment was to take back the initiative, utilizing a variety of strategies that put Protoss on the back foot. Against MaxPax in the lower-bracket finals (VOD), that included a Roach-Ravager-Queen all-in, fast Swarm Hosts to abuse the terrain on El Dorado, and a mass Ling-Hydra-Roach flood on Lair tech. Combined with a 50-minute late-game victory, Serral was able to take a convincing 4-1 victory.
With only a brief rest, Serral moved on to the grand finals for a best-of-nine clash against herO. Serral mixed up his strategies once more in the opening game on Neon Violet Square, taking a mid-game lead with surprise Mutalisks and marching to victory. It was herO's turn to try and surprise Serral in game two on Abyssal Reef, utilizing the defense-friendly map to rush to Carriers. While herO got away with this initial gamble, he couldn't capitalize on his tech advantage in time. Serral calmly put together his Corruptor-Viper-Infestor core, and picked apart herO's army with precise army control.
Game three took the series to Frostline, where we finally saw some conventional play as Serral's mass Hydra-Bane took on herO's mass ground army. herO looked like he might be on the verge of breaking Serral after some clever army maneuvering, but his quick trigger on forward Blinks cost him dearly as he impaled himself on a number of well-placed Lurkers. herO couldn't recover from the Stalker massacre, and he found himself facing a 0-3 deficit.
herO was not one to go down without a fight, and he clawed back a point on El Dorado thanks to Glaive-Adepts warped in from a hidden warpgate. He went right back to the well of timing-attacks in the next game on Ultralove, and forced another GG out of Serral with an unexpected Chargelot strike.
However, herO couldn't completely change the momentum, as Serral extended his lead back to two maps on Whispers of Gold. Unlike in some of his losses in the previous couple of weeks, Serral kept all the initiative while going for a relatively fast Hive, and overwhelmed herO with floods of Hydra-Lurker. Facing defeat, herO reverted to what had worked for him so far in the series, and staved off elimination for one more map with another early Glaive-Adept attack.
There was one last bullet left in the chamber for herO, as he went for a two-Robo Colossus-Stalker attack on Amygdala. However, Serral narrowly dodged his opponent's best shot, pulling off a tight defense and snowballing to the championship-clinching victory.
Thanks to BASILISK and RotterdaM, we got an extended post-finals interview with Serral that went over his strategies and thoughts on balance at the moment. As usual, Serral kept things diplomatic, but mentioned that ZvP was "annoying" and "reasonably Protoss favored." While we haven't heard from MaxPax or herO about their opinions, one imagines that after Master's Coliseum 8, they must be thinking that Protoss vs Serral, at least, remains rather lopsided.
GG and nice writeup. I enjoyed following this tournament.
My favorite quote in the interview is at 19:22. Rotterdam asks what motivates Serral to keep practicing in the current time of uncertainty. Serral says:
"I do usually want to win, and not lose. Preventing those losses is what motivates me."
Although it sounds trite on its face, I actually think this captures something. Serral will play out whatever it takes to gain even a slightly higher chance of winning. Game 1 against MaxPax in the lower bracket final is the best showcase of this. I do not think any other Zerg could have or even would have tried to play it out in so painstaking and patient a fashion.
On January 23 2025 13:38 Antithesis wrote: GG and nice writeup. I enjoyed following this tournament.
My favorite quote in the interview is at 19:22. Rotterdam asks what motivates Serral to keep practicing in the current time of uncertainty. Serral says:
"I do usually want to win, and not lose. Preventing those losses is what motivates me."
Although it sounds trite on its face, I actually think this captures something. Serral will play out whatever it takes to gain even a slightly higher chance of winning. Game 1 against MaxPax in the lower bracket final is the best showcase of this. I do not think any other Zerg could have or even would have tried to play it out in so painstaking and patient a fashion.
There's not a more consistent motivator for winning than preventing losses.
On January 23 2025 14:38 FataLe wrote: I really liked the Serral Astrea game where Serral got 360'd and still managed to win!
That's because the matchup is reasonably protoss favored. Serral outskills at the end of the day though to make up for the imbalance.
make up for the imbalance? really? thats laughable, zerg has been winning majority of the tournaments serral lost 2-3 series and now all up sudden serral is making up for the imbalance?
On January 23 2025 14:38 FataLe wrote: I really liked the Serral Astrea game where Serral got 360'd and still managed to win!
That's because the matchup is reasonably protoss favored. Serral outskills at the end of the day though to make up for the imbalance.
make up for the imbalance? really? thats laughable, zerg has been winning majority of the tournaments serral lost 2-3 series and now all up sudden serral is making up for the imbalance?
Serral is winning the majority of the tournaments, not Zerg. Zerg is actually doing pretty poorly right now. Doesn't necessarily has to be because of imbalance, more like because of retirement and slumping, but still. And while I would still wait for any judgement, it is actually pretty possible that Protoss is more favored against Zerg than we think and it is just Serral making up the difference.
On January 23 2025 14:38 FataLe wrote: I really liked the Serral Astrea game where Serral got 360'd and still managed to win!
That's because the matchup is reasonably protoss favored. Serral outskills at the end of the day though to make up for the imbalance.
make up for the imbalance? really? thats laughable, zerg has been winning majority of the tournaments serral lost 2-3 series and now all up sudden serral is making up for the imbalance?
hey man, im just saying what the GOAT believes, he said himself you have to win in the midgame vs protoss, and even that isn't really the answer. Protoss is reasonably favored and he thinks the only reason he beat maxpax is because maxpax made mistakes. Are you saying Serral is biased because I believe he knows more about the ins-and-outs of the matchup than anyone. if he says its protoss favored, i trust him.
On January 23 2025 14:38 FataLe wrote: I really liked the Serral Astrea game where Serral got 360'd and still managed to win!
That's because the matchup is reasonably protoss favored. Serral outskills at the end of the day though to make up for the imbalance.
make up for the imbalance? really? thats laughable, zerg has been winning majority of the tournaments serral lost 2-3 series and now all up sudden serral is making up for the imbalance?
hey man, im just saying what the GOAT believes, he said himself you have to win in the midgame vs protoss, and even that isn't really the answer. Protoss is reasonably favored and he thinks the only reason he beat maxpax is because maxpax made mistakes. Are you saying Serral is biased because I believe he knows more about the ins-and-outs of the matchup than anyone. if he says its protoss favored, i trust him.
And when Maru says TvZ is Zerg favored you also trust him?
On January 23 2025 14:38 FataLe wrote: I really liked the Serral Astrea game where Serral got 360'd and still managed to win!
That's because the matchup is reasonably protoss favored. Serral outskills at the end of the day though to make up for the imbalance.
make up for the imbalance? really? thats laughable, zerg has been winning majority of the tournaments serral lost 2-3 series and now all up sudden serral is making up for the imbalance?
hey man, im just saying what the GOAT believes, he said himself you have to win in the midgame vs protoss, and even that isn't really the answer. Protoss is reasonably favored and he thinks the only reason he beat maxpax is because maxpax made mistakes. Are you saying Serral is biased because I believe he knows more about the ins-and-outs of the matchup than anyone. if he says its protoss favored, i trust him.
And when Maru says TvZ is Zerg favored you also trust him?
maru never said that and no i wouldnt trust him cuz hes not the goat.
On January 23 2025 14:38 FataLe wrote: I really liked the Serral Astrea game where Serral got 360'd and still managed to win!
That's because the matchup is reasonably protoss favored. Serral outskills at the end of the day though to make up for the imbalance.
make up for the imbalance? really? thats laughable, zerg has been winning majority of the tournaments serral lost 2-3 series and now all up sudden serral is making up for the imbalance?
hey man, im just saying what the GOAT believes, he said himself you have to win in the midgame vs protoss, and even that isn't really the answer. Protoss is reasonably favored and he thinks the only reason he beat maxpax is because maxpax made mistakes. Are you saying Serral is biased because I believe he knows more about the ins-and-outs of the matchup than anyone. if he says its protoss favored, i trust him.
And when Maru says TvZ is Zerg favored you also trust him?
maru never said that and no i wouldnt trust him cuz hes not the goat.
Right now he didn't but after IEM Katowice he said that Infestors are OP and suggested that Zerg should get nerfed
On January 23 2025 14:38 FataLe wrote: I really liked the Serral Astrea game where Serral got 360'd and still managed to win!
That's because the matchup is reasonably protoss favored. Serral outskills at the end of the day though to make up for the imbalance.
make up for the imbalance? really? thats laughable, zerg has been winning majority of the tournaments serral lost 2-3 series and now all up sudden serral is making up for the imbalance?
hey man, im just saying what the GOAT believes, he said himself you have to win in the midgame vs protoss, and even that isn't really the answer. Protoss is reasonably favored and he thinks the only reason he beat maxpax is because maxpax made mistakes. Are you saying Serral is biased because I believe he knows more about the ins-and-outs of the matchup than anyone. if he says its protoss favored, i trust him.
And when Maru says TvZ is Zerg favored you also trust him?
maru never said that and no i wouldnt trust him cuz hes not the goat.
Right now he didn't but after IEM Katowice he said that Infestors are OP and suggested that Zerg should get nerfed
I mean, kind of an Omega Gigachad move since burrowed infestors in that state basically only made a difference in one of the games he played, and he got them nerfed.
On January 23 2025 14:38 FataLe wrote: I really liked the Serral Astrea game where Serral got 360'd and still managed to win!
That's because the matchup is reasonably protoss favored. Serral outskills at the end of the day though to make up for the imbalance.
Getting 360'd was Serral being out skilled in terms of positioning, for a series of moments, inside a single game, not because Protoss is favoured. It's very difficult to get 360'd by a Protoss due to how slow their army movement is. Which is why you'll only see single flank, behind the lines warp-ins or wrap arounds. But almost never a full surround. I can't say I follow your thought process here.
On January 23 2025 14:38 FataLe wrote: I really liked the Serral Astrea game where Serral got 360'd and still managed to win!
That's because the matchup is reasonably protoss favored. Serral outskills at the end of the day though to make up for the imbalance.
Getting 360'd was Serral being out skilled in terms of positioning, for a series of moments, inside a single game, not because Protoss is favoured. It's very difficult to get 360'd by a Protoss due to how slow their army movement is. Which is why you'll only see single flank, behind the lines warp-ins or wrap arounds. But almost never a full surround. I can't say I follow your thought process here.
yeah it doesn't quite work like that. you cant pinpoint a single moment because balance effects the entire game and likely made Astrea even able to get in that position possible in the first place. When Serral says something is imbalanced you dont question it, you accept he knows more about the matchup than you, which he does.
On January 23 2025 14:38 FataLe wrote: I really liked the Serral Astrea game where Serral got 360'd and still managed to win!
That's because the matchup is reasonably protoss favored. Serral outskills at the end of the day though to make up for the imbalance.
Getting 360'd was Serral being out skilled in terms of positioning, for a series of moments, inside a single game, not because Protoss is favoured. It's very difficult to get 360'd by a Protoss due to how slow their army movement is. Which is why you'll only see single flank, behind the lines warp-ins or wrap arounds. But almost never a full surround. I can't say I follow your thought process here.
yeah it doesn't quite work like that. you cant pinpoint a single moment because balance effects the entire game and likely made Astrea even able to get in that position possible in the first place. When Serral says something is imbalanced you dont question it, you accept he knows more about the matchup than you, which he does.
I'm sorry, but I don't think you can blame balance for Serral being out positioned there, in a series he went 4-0 in. I take your point about balance affecting everything, but I don't think that imbalance allowed Astrea to 360 Serral. Astrea is a clever player and catches superior players out all the time. I think you're removing personal agency when you say that, due to imbalance alone, Astrea was able to out position Serral for a series of moments, in a single game. Follow your logic to it's conclusion, does this mean that anyone below Serral's level that plays Protoss (So, everyone) can't EVER have a superior moment in a game, OR that Serral can't EVER make a mistake against such an opponent, for a single moment, in a game? Serral is good, but nobody is THAT good. To your final point, even if Serral believes the match-up to be imbalanced (which has it's own problems, such as appeal to authority fallacy as well as potential bias implications), even if true, that wouldn't invalidate my point, nor prove yours. Sorry mate, I'm not convinced. I don't see it that way at all.
On January 23 2025 14:38 FataLe wrote: I really liked the Serral Astrea game where Serral got 360'd and still managed to win!
That's because the matchup is reasonably protoss favored. Serral outskills at the end of the day though to make up for the imbalance.
Getting 360'd was Serral being out skilled in terms of positioning, for a series of moments, inside a single game, not because Protoss is favoured. It's very difficult to get 360'd by a Protoss due to how slow their army movement is. Which is why you'll only see single flank, behind the lines warp-ins or wrap arounds. But almost never a full surround. I can't say I follow your thought process here.
yeah it doesn't quite work like that. you cant pinpoint a single moment because balance effects the entire game and likely made Astrea even able to get in that position possible in the first place. When Serral says something is imbalanced you dont question it, you accept he knows more about the matchup than you, which he does.
I'm sorry, but I don't think you can blame balance for Serral being out positioned there, in a series he went 4-0 in. I take your point about balance affecting everything, but I don't think that imbalance allowed Astrea to 360 Serral. Astrea is a clever player and catches superior players out all the time. I think you're removing personal agency when you say that, due to imbalance alone, Astrea was able to out position Serral for a series of moments, in a single game. Follow your logic to it's conclusion, does this mean that anyone below Serral's level that plays Protoss (So, everyone) can't EVER have a superior moment in a game, OR that Serral can't EVER make a mistake against such an opponent, for a single moment, in a game? Serral is good, but nobody is THAT good. To your final point, even if Serral believes the match-up to be imbalanced (which has it's own problems, such as appeal to authority fallacy as well as potential bias implications), even if true, that wouldn't invalidate my point, nor prove yours. Sorry mate, I'm not convinced. I don't see it that way at all.
Serral being out of position is whats balanced or imbalanced? what are you even talking about man? Are you purposefully misinterpreting what I'm trying to say? My point is that PvZ being reasonably protoss favored allowed for this situation to be possible in the first place. No i'm not sying balance is why serral was out of position. I don't know if I can really make my point any more clear. Either way, i am not good enough to personally state on balance, as I make plenty of my own mistakes when I play, and I'm guessing you do too so we should probably refer to the experts on this, aka the Serrals, Clems, and Maxpax's of the world. If any of them dispute serrals claims and say pvz is zerg favored be sure to let me know, or really any pro at all because I haven't heard it. It's odd to me when random people on the forums claim to have a better understanding of balance than the people who play this game for a living.
On January 23 2025 14:38 FataLe wrote: I really liked the Serral Astrea game where Serral got 360'd and still managed to win!
That's because the matchup is reasonably protoss favored. Serral outskills at the end of the day though to make up for the imbalance.
Getting 360'd was Serral being out skilled in terms of positioning, for a series of moments, inside a single game, not because Protoss is favoured. It's very difficult to get 360'd by a Protoss due to how slow their army movement is. Which is why you'll only see single flank, behind the lines warp-ins or wrap arounds. But almost never a full surround. I can't say I follow your thought process here.
yeah it doesn't quite work like that. you cant pinpoint a single moment because balance effects the entire game and likely made Astrea even able to get in that position possible in the first place. When Serral says something is imbalanced you dont question it, you accept he knows more about the matchup than you, which he does.
I'm sorry, but I don't think you can blame balance for Serral being out positioned there, in a series he went 4-0 in. I take your point about balance affecting everything, but I don't think that imbalance allowed Astrea to 360 Serral. Astrea is a clever player and catches superior players out all the time. I think you're removing personal agency when you say that, due to imbalance alone, Astrea was able to out position Serral for a series of moments, in a single game. Follow your logic to it's conclusion, does this mean that anyone below Serral's level that plays Protoss (So, everyone) can't EVER have a superior moment in a game, OR that Serral can't EVER make a mistake against such an opponent, for a single moment, in a game? Serral is good, but nobody is THAT good. To your final point, even if Serral believes the match-up to be imbalanced (which has it's own problems, such as appeal to authority fallacy as well as potential bias implications), even if true, that wouldn't invalidate my point, nor prove yours. Sorry mate, I'm not convinced. I don't see it that way at all.
Serral being out of position is whats balanced or imbalanced? what are you even talking about man? Are you purposefully misinterpreting what I'm trying to say? My point is that PvZ being reasonably protoss favored allowed for this situation to be possible in the first place. No i'm not sying balance is why serral was out of position. I don't know if I can really make my point any more clear. Either way, i am not good enough to personally state on balance, as I make plenty of my own mistakes when I play, and I'm guessing you do too so we should probably refer to the experts on this, aka the Serrals, Clems, and Maxpax's of the world. If any of them dispute serrals claims and say pvz is zerg favored be sure to let me know, or really any pro at all because I haven't heard it. It's odd to me when random people on the forums claim to have a better understanding of balance than the people who play this game for a living.
What I'm seeing is your argument basically amounts to you robbing every Protoss of any personal agency whatsoever this patch and you justify your position using bias and fallacy. When Serral goes 4-0 in a series it's because it's skill (fair enough), but when that opponent has a single cool moment (which that player is actually known for against better players, mind you*) in the series, you think it's due to imbalance. Sorry Astrea, that really cool out maneuvering you did there actually meant nothing because Cicada watched an interview of Reynor and Serral saying that Protoss is favoured in the matchup so anything you do doesn't actually count this patch and genuine mistakes aren't possible as a Z this patch either, despite the community having a meltdown over this very patch due to the pro's on the balance team's bias' and politcal sway (again, appeal to authority fallacy). I'll say it again, even if the match-up IS imbalanced, that doesn't prove your point, nor does it invalidate mine. There's no point trying to point to them to help you here. Ultimately though, I'm just wondering how you actually think, in a series that Serral absolutely dominated, that one of the only cool moments the Protoss managed to actually pull off is because the match up is Protoss favoured and Serral doesn't make mistakes and cannot, even for a single moment, be outplayed by a Protoss this patch. Alright mate, well good luck with that.
EPT
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