Thursday, May 21 9:30am GMT (GMT+00:00) by Zealously
If there ever was another Terran player whose foremost goal in life was to beat every Protoss opponent into submission brutally and uncaringly, that player has long since been overthrown. Brief reigns of terror, short bursts of dominance by individual players in a match-up otherwise often considered supremely difficult – Mvp's underhanded and tactically brilliant proxy rax plays, Innovation's SCV pulls or Taeja's flawless reactive play chief among these – are now forced to give way to the prowess of one player, cute and terrifying in equal measure.
Maru enters his second consecutive SSL quarterfinals as a favorite against every Protoss player in the world save one arch-enemy, favored against the cheesy and the greedy alike. This year, Maru has put up a string of performances for the gallery that makes him seem nearly invincible in the match-up, flaunting an abusive and entirely effective hyper-aggressive style. In the way Maru plays, he feels no need to adhere to the laws of common sense in the match-up and no pressure to play like other Terrans do. While others have to defend, Maru simply keeps attacking. It's a playstyle balancing on the knife's edge, a russian roulette-esque risktaking that depends on his opponent not calling his bluff, on his Protoss foes not striking when his focus is elsewhere.
It sounds risky and volatile, but not so. Maru pours on pressure in heaps, enough that no more than a handful Protoss players can even think to move out, even fewer capable of attacking without taking potentially game-ending damage. Once Maru is on your throat, he never lets go. Most recently displayed in a Proleague game against Myungsik which made the game look borderline imbalanced, this style is most reminiscent of a psychopath's utterly cold and utterly calculating behavior. Marauders snipe innumerable colossi while mines ravage mineral lines and Maru keeps playing that symphony of aggression, largely unhindered. Myungsik was prepared for that onslaught, did admirably in pushing it back with minimal losses, but lacked the aggressive prowess and the tactical acumen needed to initiate the counter-offensive. The endless waves of aggression eventually toppled even Myungsik, his stumbling attempts at establishing a dominant phoenix/colossus army thwarted by a complete lack of interest in how TvP should, logically, be played.
In this, herO might be Maru's equal. While the Terran is most notable for attacks that pull apart and an outward show of disinterest, herO is his opposite. Content to strike on one front with pushes made unstoppable by the force of unit control, herO's trade mark stalker control might have won him as many games as colossus snipes have for Maru. With success in both international and domestic tournaments, herO is not bound to one kind of tournament format and often seems more than happy to win in either. Cheerful demeanor sets him apart from the much less outgoing Maru, but calling herO a nicer player or a less menacing one in identical situations would be vastly understating things.
Against any Terran player, not excluding Maru, expecting herO to go on the offensive is more than reasonable, but you shouldn't be bound by the perception that aggression is all herO is comfortable doing. Maru is a known quantity and almost as predictable as Flash, which makes him an ideal target for tailored builds. The difficulty of Maru's resilience and hyper-aggression remains even then, eliminating a vast majority of greedy builds from consideration. If you doubt Maru's ability to see through economic deception, consider the almost prescient ability he displayed in seeing through Stats' deception in this game:
With his tricky options all but taken away, herO is left with only a few options, all of them demanding varying degrees of standard play. Maru has shown that he responds too well to most kinds of trickery to be caught off-guard and forced into awkward reactions. Relying too much on gimmicky play and knife's edge-pushes and the risk of gambling away his chances become too great. Play too safely, and Maru is allowed free reign in both aggression and greed. Finding the balance between the two will be key.
Overall thoughts and prediction
There are only a handful of players in the world that currently exhibit the level of play both herO and Maru have displayed recently. One an SSL champion, the other the most recent KeSPA Cup champion, both would be reasonable picks to walk away with the trophy had the brackets played out differently. But like I said, there is only one Protoss in the world I would favor against Maru, and that Protoss isn't herO. Even so, herO has beaten Maru in the past – and did so in their most recent meeting – with neither playing far from their normal levels, so it's fair to say that herO does, at least, stand a fighting chance provided he does not suffer an early loss to something unscouted.
You know, such as a proxy in your base.
Maru 3-1 herO
Prodigies: Take Three
by Zealously
Last season, I cautioned against underestimating Dream and predicted Life to beat him into the ground. Dream proved that I was right to be wary of his short bursts of brilliance, but still surprised almost everyone by playing one of the best TvZ series of all time and eliminating Life from the tournament.
Since that time, remarkably little has changed. Life has remained his (extraordinarily, given his history) consistent self, adding one trophy to his shelf and another semifinals finish to the box in which he keeps his old cheques. Dream lost the finals to Maru in slapdown fashion, ensuring that any ascension to the Terran throne would be long delayed. In the months after that, he has made little noise. A few group advancements, a convincing 3-1 victory against Stats and three Proleague games, two of which were losses.
It's undeniable that Dream remains a threat in all three match-ups, but I'm tempted to put him down as merely another streaky player in a veritable field of such characters. His win against Life last season was nothing short of incredible, his loss against Maru nothing short of embarrassing. Given that he has played and lost against Life (in much less noble fashion) since then, there is nothing to indicate that he stands far above the field. It is entirely possible that preparation is his forte – and for a Terran player coached by iloveoov that would certainly make sense – but it is equally possible that he reached a peak against Life that he will have to wait long to reciprocate.
But since we're on the topic of reciprocating, let's for a moment consider Life's most recent series against Bbyong. Two consecutive losses to builds that are strong enough to beat any Zerg if caught unaware. At a glance, hardly significant. Until you consider the fact that Life has lost in an identical fashion to Bbyong in three separate meetings. Twice Bbyong has shut Life down completely through hellbat/banshee pushes in Proleague. Arguing that Bbyong is superior to Life would demand incredible mental gymnastics, but the Mad Tinker doubtlessly sees a weakness in Life's play that other players have refused to exploit to the fullest. Life is stubborn to the extent that you'd think he practises with Flash even if they weren't teammates, and Dream would be a fool not to at least test the waters with one such push in this match.
Overall thoughts and prediction
Compared to the enigma that was last season, where Dream was an unknown quantity whose most famous quality was his ability to hit high peaks, this match seems more clear-cut. It can play out in two ways, depending on who first recognizes the weaknesses of the opponent: either Life does to Dream what he did in KeSPA Cup, tearing him apart in the trademark variant of ZvT he has used for months, or Dream recognizes Life's weakness to everything hellbats and picks off one or several wins before Life regains his footing.
If that happens, the match is Dream's to lose. Fortunately for Life, Dream isn't Bbyong, and no other KeSPA Terran has shown that willingness.
On May 21 2015 06:59 IntoTheheart wrote: Nice write-up. I didn't realize that Dream was a student of iloveoov. Guess the KT vs. SKT rivalry may be a thing in SC2. :D
It's not going to be a rivalry if SKT can't win Proleague after buying everyone and Zest, Stats and Life continue to beat the scrubs that remain at every turn
Life said he fears Dream and his game against Keen was very weak. I am not that confident in him here tbh :/ Obviously i hope for an easy 3:0/3:1 like you though
And regardless, the fact that neither Liquipedia nor the TL sidebar had the information available indicates that most people -- at least the ones that frequent TL for this kind of information -- had no idea. Advertisement for this tournament could be so much better than it has been so far, being forced to listen for dates and times during broadcasts for an entirely different league and browsing through websites in an entirely foreign language isn't really sufficient.
probably 3 of the 4 best players in the world atm in these quarters. Dream is the one on the outside looking in for me but he's definitely no slouch. these feel like they should be the semis. Sorry lower half of the bracket but you're kind of meh compared to this although byul has been playing well lately and none of the other players are bad or anything. Head herO + Life, heart Maru + Dream
Maru simply keeps attacking. It's a playstyle balancing on the knife's edge, a russian roulette-esque risktaking that depends on his opponent not calling his bluff, on his Protoss foes not striking when his focus is elsewhere.
On May 21 2015 06:59 IntoTheheart wrote: Nice write-up. I didn't realize that Dream was a student of iloveoov. Guess the KT vs. SKT rivalry may be a thing in SC2. :D
On May 21 2015 10:48 Shellshock wrote: probably 3 of the 4 best players in the world atm in these quarters. Dream is the one on the outside looking in for me but he's definitely no slouch. these feel like they should be the semis. Sorry lower half of the bracket but you're kind of meh compared to this although byul has been playing well lately and none of the other players are bad or anything. Head herO + Life, heart Maru + Dream
It's pretty much the best four players in the world currently. Dream got more points in Korea than parting did
This might be the best day of Starcraft 2 for a while with such top level players together in Bo5. Gogo Maru and Life, show us how good you are and meet in a Titan Clash in Ro4!
On May 21 2015 16:15 re-nato wrote: Bbyong raped Life last week in GSL so i don't know if Life's ZvT is good enough atm. Anyway, Im cheering for Maru and Life to advance.
Well, Dream and Bbyong couldn't be much different in terms of playstyle though. Dream executes whatever he does really well, but so far I haven't seen much variation in his play. That's definitely an advantage for Life compared to his games against Bbyong.
nice games today! Just one thing: Can we please stop calling Life "best player of the world", when he can't beat dream (quite good, but at best a top3 terran atm) in a macro game and even losing on a zerg favoured map in a straight up game. So TL can we please stop calling him the best? thx :D
On May 21 2015 21:53 helius788 wrote: nice games today! Just one thing: Can we please stop calling Life "best player of the world", when he can't beat dream (quite good, but at best a top3 terran atm) in a macro game and even losing on a zerg favoured map in a straight up game. So TL can we please stop calling him the best? thx :D
On May 21 2015 21:53 helius788 wrote: nice games today! Just one thing: Can we please stop calling Life "best player of the world", when he can't beat dream (quite good, but at best a top3 terran atm) in a macro game and even losing on a zerg favoured map in a straight up game. So TL can we please stop calling him the best? thx :D
He won last GSL and made Kespa cup semis (trashing Dream in ro8). He also won last foreign tournament he played in over the recent SSL winner and curently the best Terran in the world (Maru). Oh and he beat both PartinG and herO on his way to the GSL trophy. If you have a winning record vs every other player in top 4 and are 1-2 in series, and 8-8 in maps vs arguably the best TvZ player in the world (and top 3 Terran) (Dream), are you not the best player in the world? The only person who atm matches Life in consistency vs top players and could be argued to be the best is herO.
On May 21 2015 21:53 helius788 wrote: nice games today! Just one thing: Can we please stop calling Life "best player of the world", when he can't beat dream (quite good, but at best a top3 terran atm) in a macro game and even losing on a zerg favoured map in a straight up game. So TL can we please stop calling him the best? thx :D
On May 21 2015 21:53 helius788 wrote: nice games today! Just one thing: Can we please stop calling Life "best player of the world", when he can't beat dream (quite good, but at best a top3 terran atm) in a macro game and even losing on a zerg favoured map in a straight up game. So TL can we please stop calling him the best? thx :D
Dream is top1 TvZ atm lol
In bio-based macro games, you have to add. In all-ins I wouldn't trust him as much and his mech is never used *shrug*.
On May 21 2015 21:53 helius788 wrote: nice games today! Just one thing: Can we please stop calling Life "best player of the world", when he can't beat dream (quite good, but at best a top3 terran atm) in a macro game and even losing on a zerg favoured map in a straight up game. So TL can we please stop calling him the best? thx :D
Dream is top1 TvZ atm lol
In bio-based macro games, you have to add. In all-ins I wouldn't trust him as much and his mech is never used *shrug*.
Fair enough, but why all-in or mech when you can Dream your opponent to death?^^
On May 21 2015 21:53 helius788 wrote: nice games today! Just one thing: Can we please stop calling Life "best player of the world", when he can't beat dream (quite good, but at best a top3 terran atm) in a macro game and even losing on a zerg favoured map in a straight up game. So TL can we please stop calling him the best? thx :D
Dream is top1 TvZ atm lol
In bio-based macro games, you have to add. In all-ins I wouldn't trust him as much and his mech is never used *shrug*.
Fair enough, but why all-in or mech when you can Dream your opponent to death?^^
I dunno. Dream's style is pretty greedy, I feel like he doesn't get all-inned enough. I remember the last Code S where he went down 0-2 to Solar because of nydus play. So it's not only performing all-ins, it's also defending them. That, and the pathetic proxy reaper attempt Dream made during KeSPA Cup T_T.
On May 21 2015 21:53 helius788 wrote: nice games today! Just one thing: Can we please stop calling Life "best player of the world", when he can't beat dream (quite good, but at best a top3 terran atm) in a macro game and even losing on a zerg favoured map in a straight up game. So TL can we please stop calling him the best? thx :D
On May 21 2015 21:53 helius788 wrote: nice games today! Just one thing: Can we please stop calling Life "best player of the world", when he can't beat dream (quite good, but at best a top3 terran atm) in a macro game and even losing on a zerg favoured map in a straight up game. So TL can we please stop calling him the best? thx :D
No
Life is only 9th on TLPD elo brah. he sux
What tournament did Rain win to get 4th is what I wanna know.
On May 21 2015 21:53 helius788 wrote: nice games today! Just one thing: Can we please stop calling Life "best player of the world", when he can't beat dream (quite good, but at best a top3 terran atm) in a macro game and even losing on a zerg favoured map in a straight up game. So TL can we please stop calling him the best? thx :D
No
Life is only 9th on TLPD elo brah. he sux
What tournament did Rain win to get 4th is what I wanna know.
looks like ASL S4 Prime League and winning his Code S group
On May 21 2015 07:11 Alucen-Will- wrote: Dream 3-2 Life HerO 3-2 Maru
I'm betting permanently against the TL writers these days, anything less would be wrong.
Also I've given up on trying to get the real herO TLPD. I'm convinced Olli is behind these shenanigans.
Sick Prediction dude. U should work for TL as a prediction king.
Thanks, I just bet against the TL predictions! It works almost every time!
What happens if you join TL writers though...
Than the TL predictions would be much better, of course.
You realize we spend less than 1% of the time thinking about the predictions? Like they are literally completely unimportant in the grand scheme, the effort is put into writing the actual article. Predictions could go and I doubt many writers would care
On May 21 2015 21:53 helius788 wrote: nice games today! Just one thing: Can we please stop calling Life "best player of the world", when he can't beat dream (quite good, but at best a top3 terran atm) in a macro game and even losing on a zerg favoured map in a straight up game. So TL can we please stop calling him the best? thx :D
Whoelse? Maru? Dropped out today as well. herO? Maybe the closest, but Life has still been more successful lately.Everyone else is not even close to their achievements. Life is still on the top, simply because he gets the really good results more consistently than everyone else.
On May 21 2015 07:11 Alucen-Will- wrote: Dream 3-2 Life HerO 3-2 Maru
I'm betting permanently against the TL writers these days, anything less would be wrong.
Also I've given up on trying to get the real herO TLPD. I'm convinced Olli is behind these shenanigans.
Sick Prediction dude. U should work for TL as a prediction king.
Thanks, I just bet against the TL predictions! It works almost every time!
What happens if you join TL writers though...
Than the TL predictions would be much better, of course.
You realize we spend less than 1% of the time thinking about the predictions? Like they are literally completely unimportant in the grand scheme, the effort is put into writing the actual article. Predictions could go and I doubt many writers would care
On May 21 2015 07:11 Alucen-Will- wrote: Dream 3-2 Life HerO 3-2 Maru
I'm betting permanently against the TL writers these days, anything less would be wrong.
Also I've given up on trying to get the real herO TLPD. I'm convinced Olli is behind these shenanigans.
Sick Prediction dude. U should work for TL as a prediction king.
Thanks, I just bet against the TL predictions! It works almost every time!
What happens if you join TL writers though...
Than the TL predictions would be much better, of course.
You realize we spend less than 1% of the time thinking about the predictions? Like they are literally completely unimportant in the grand scheme, the effort is put into writing the actual article. Predictions could go and I doubt many writers would care
If that is true, then maybe they should go indeed
It has always been the case, it's simply tradition to keep them, and it gives readers something to discuss other than the narrative itself (which has always been the primary focus).
On May 21 2015 07:11 Alucen-Will- wrote: Dream 3-2 Life HerO 3-2 Maru
I'm betting permanently against the TL writers these days, anything less would be wrong.
Also I've given up on trying to get the real herO TLPD. I'm convinced Olli is behind these shenanigans.
Sick Prediction dude. U should work for TL as a prediction king.
Thanks, I just bet against the TL predictions! It works almost every time!
What happens if you join TL writers though...
Than the TL predictions would be much better, of course.
You realize we spend less than 1% of the time thinking about the predictions? Like they are literally completely unimportant in the grand scheme, the effort is put into writing the actual article. Predictions could go and I doubt many writers would care
I know, and do know I'm just having a bit of fun nagging the writers. I don't actually have disdain for their predictions.
Obviously the important part of any preview/review of any piece of content is the writing, not the more speculative subjective values we create to provide context in meaning
Life's games have been meh as of late, especially vs Protoss. I get that Zerg is having some difficulty against P lately but I thought Life would show how to beat the odds. Well, he still does win against P but not in the way I hoped for.
Same goes for his ZvT. He played really well against Innovation in Bo3 last month but since then it looks like he went back to his former self, relying on all-in-ish, clutch plays. And his muta control leaves a lot to be desired.
Nevertheless I don't take issue calling him the best at the moment, going by the results.