Banner image: petad_

Maru vs. INnoVation
Semi-Final Recap

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

VODs on Twitch

by Zealously

Though few can argue against Innovation's mechanical prowess or against his dominance over the last few months, the latest in a long line of "best player in the world" suffered his first truly one-sided defeat in a multigame series since the release of Heart of the Swarm. MaruPrime unceremoniously stomped him into the ground with three straight cheeses, closing out the series by plainly outplaying Innovation on the final map in a little over an hour in total, breaks included.



As Innovation himself once said, once someone gets inside his head, his chances of coming back into the series start looking bad. He proved this in part against Soulkey, but the StarCraft II old-timer Maru was the first player to give STX Terran a real beating – after an unfortunate first game where Maru's cloaked banshee opening dealt enough damage that Innovation was completely unprepared to fend off the follow-up 1-1-1. Although banshee openings have become increasingly popular again, especially with the recent punch in the face all hellbat-loving Terrans (Innovation being one such Terran), the specific build chosen by Maru in game 1 came into being long before KeSPA switched over to StarCraft II. One can argue that KeSPA players have all the experience they need to battle any player, but Maru certainly seemed to take advantage of both a much larger repertoire of builds in this series and much superior preparation.

Much reminiscent of an OSL final from ages past, Innovation found himself caught off-guard, thinking "he won't do it again" as he went for yet another macro-centric build on Bel'shir Vestige. Although he was right in the way that Maru didn't go for another banshee build with a 1-1-1 follow-up, it didn't prevent him from dying to Maru's next trick: a proxy starport. Dropping hellions and marines inside Innovation's base was the first stepping stone to a very confused robot, and as Innovation realized that he had been duped, two more medivacs full of units appeared and there was little the STX Terran could do but GG.

What do you think if you've just been cheesed twice in a very important best-of-seven semifinal? Well, naturally, he won't do it again, right?   Wrong. Opting for another macro build, Innovation went CC first on the OSL-exclusive map Anaconda and Maru, with no reason to doubt his build choices now, opted for a double 11/11 rax right outside Innovation's base. Now, we've all seen players like Flash and MKP hold proxy raxes with little more than nothing in terms of defense, and Innovation should be able to do the same, right? Wrong again. Everything that could have gone wrong for Innovation did, as he missed the raxes with his initial scouting SCV, an inch out of vision, the second time around. By the time he got into Maru's base and figured out what was going on, he was already dead and down 0-3.

With Innovation down 0-3 and comparisons to the triple bunker rush finals between Yellow and Boxer everywhere, there seemed to be no doubting what Maru would do next. But lo and behold, having inflicted enough damage to Innovation's mind, Maru went for the same macro-oriented build as Innovation, with a quick CC and a factory coming down soon after - decision that seemed odd at first glance considering Innovation's aptitude for macro games. However, being inside the head of your opponent has its advantages, and Maru soon began to pick at the holes in Innovation's armor, killing numerous marines in the middle of the map and gaining every small advantage possible. One crucial engagement in the center of Gwangalli Beach quickly snowballed out of control in Maru's favor, and with superior hellion numbers and marine/medivac support, he marched right up to Innovation's front door and won the series.

No one doubts Innovation's insane mechanical prowess or that he is almost unmatched in macro games in at least two of three match-ups, but what Maru truly brought to the table in last night's matches is what usually only Mvp truly brings: vastly superior preparation. There was no so-called honor in Maru's play, he played to win and he played to his own strengths as well as he could have – in three out of four games he didn't even get a second base, instead opting to both out-think and beat his opponent, still a relative newcomer compared to the veteran Maru, with superior experience. Innovation failed to adapt, barely changing up his play at all, and so HotshotBogusGG was forced to surrender the semifinal to the guy who's never before been past the Round of 16 in his three years in StarCraft II. His match against Maru will hopefully have taught Innovation that although he's an absolute beast mechanically, he is still lacking in the strategic department, and he will need more time before he can feel safe in the mirror match-up where a trio like the Prime Terrans can dig out a bunch of tricks to kill you.

With a spot at the Season Finals guaranteed for all semifinalists and the Proleague Finals coming up for Innovation, we're sure he doesn't feel too bad, but losing to both Bomber and Maru in the span of just a few weeks can't feel right for the guy who sits at the top of the StarCraft world.