The GSL is back! Again! With both IEM and WESG done and in the books, there will be no more mid-tournament breaks for GSL Code S as it heads to its grand finale. The aforementioned tournaments may have crowned their own world champions, but only in the GSL can a player earn the title of Korean champion—an honor unlike any other in StarCraft.
.1
Semifinal #1: soO vs Stats
The first semifinal features two combatants carrying on from where we last saw them in the RO8, silently soldiering on in spite of the hardships and long-odds pitted against them.
Of the two, soO escaped the RO8 in more impressive fashion, but little can be inferred from his performance. soO cleanly slew Scarlett 3-0 using a combination of his masterful early game aggression as well as his mid-game prowess, but given his historically good ZvZ it was an expected result. soO hasn’t played in any other tournaments matches afterward, leaving us with a 1-2 defeat to Harstem at IEM as his last ZvP result.
Stats, on the other hand, had a much harder quarterfinal. While he ultimately bested Classic, their series went down to the wire, and both players looked capable of clinching a semifinal spot. Stats eventually came out on top in what many would consider an upset, perhaps signalling a reversal of fortune after a rough start to 2018.
Unlike soO, Stats has participated in a handful of online tournament games in the interim. He started his OlimoLeague February Finals run promisingly by defeating newly crowned IEM world champion Rogue, but his subsequent best-of-five loss to RagnaroK cast doubt once more on his form (as did a later loss to Impact in Ballistix Brawl).
And thus, two players square off, their respective skills in the match-up doubted for much of the new season, almost fated to meet. But if fate brought them together here, who will it now allow to fall?
Stats has done well to get this far, but it seems more likely that he will be the one to taste defeat. While his series preparation for the GSL this season has been good, his PvZ and overall form just seems too hit or miss (what a testament to Stats' general consistency that he made it the GSL RO4 despite playing some of his least consistent StarCraft ever). soO's record may show he's been struggling in ZvP lately, but his record also shows that there's no hardship he can't overcome in the semifinals.
One complicating factor might be the recent balance patch and removal of hatchery-stage overlord drops. Zerg's potent early-game threats of nydus all-ins and speedling/overlord drop tactics have been a key part of their recent success against Protoss—how will soO fare with one of those options curtailed?
Prediction:
soO 4 – 1 Stats
.2
Semifinal #2: Dark vs Maru
While soO and Stats have stayed mostly quiet over the past week, the same cannot be said of the other two combatants. After making strong runs through WESG 2018 (naming conventions be damned) where they crushed the rest of the field, Dark and Maru squared off in a grand finals that went down to the wire.
Until a few weeks ago, it seemed like Dark would be the favorite going into any match against Terran. He expertly bested nearly every single Terran he went against in 2018, including big names such as TY, INnoVation and ByuN. While Dark has suffered from some inconsistencies in his other match-ups—most notably against Protoss—his ZvT has been something he could always rely on.
Maru, however, has recently been turning heads and dropping jaws with his meta-changing play. There's been much debate about which race is favored in the ZvT late game throughout LotV, but recent trends seemed to indicate that Zerg had the upper-hand. Maru, with a little help from Blizzard and its raven patch, has decided to grab the bull by the horns. He's gone toe-to-toe with Zergs in the late game with an unusual raven-banshee-ghost composition, and has largely come out on top.
He first displayed his new style in spectacular fashion against Solar at IEM, making the Zerg slump in disbelief and resignation at the end of their series. While he would fall to Rogue in the next series, our collective imaginations were piqued. Maru did not disappoint those who wanted to see more, as he went on a Zerg extermination spree at WESG which culminated in a titanic battle against Dark.
While WESG proved Maru's late-game TvZ to be quiet powerful, it's still inconclusive as to how it matches up against Dark. Maru was starved out by an an extremely disciplined Dark, who seemed to perfectly understand the strengths and weaknesses of Maru's composition. Yet, that was only possible when Dark took an early-game lead with a roach-ravager attack. Late-game may have been the center of attention, but the series was effectively decided in the early game. Maru's used consecutive proxy-barracks rushes to close out the series, while Dark also made it a point to keep his early game strategies as unpredictable. Dark is a master at preparation, and he has plenty of valuable games to to study. Maybe this time, armed with a few different builds and tweaked overlord scout patterns, he'll be able to take his revenge.
I hope that soO vs. Stats goes a bit longer than 4-1 so they can show many good games to their fans, though if it went that fast I wouldn’t be too surprised.
Man, these are awesome semis both in story and expected gameplay.
Finalist alumni on one side, two guys who've never been in one on the other.
Maru is on the verge of likely being the only person to win all the Korean starleagues. Despite Dark's cockiness he's got a growing cloud of doubt surrounding him and desperately needs to win something big again. soO is being soO.
I suppose Stats is the least interesting, but being a triple starleague winner would be okay too I guess.
On March 20 2018 15:29 pvsnp wrote: soO and Maru plz, so the finals aren't a shitshow
Dark winning GSL would be cool too but ugh ZvZ
Decent chance it'll be a shitshow if it's Maru and soO. If Maru's TvZ is good enough to beat Dark in a bo7 twice in one week (it is) he'll demolish soO.
On March 20 2018 15:29 pvsnp wrote: soO and Maru plz, so the finals aren't a shitshow
Dark winning GSL would be cool too but ugh ZvZ
Decent chance it'll be a shitshow if it's Maru and soO. If Maru's TvZ is good enough to beat Dark in a bo7 twice in one week (it is) he'll demolish soO.
Stats vs Dark/Maru is where it's at.
You underestimate the Kong force. Alongside electromagnetic, gravitational, weak, and strong, it is a Fundamental Force of the universe:
The only real question is who faces (and defeats) soO in the finals.
On March 20 2018 15:56 hexhaven wrote: Loving Stats vs Dark in the finals. Best Protoss of LotV vs the best Zerg of LotV.
Best zerg LoL LoL LoL While Rogue won 430k and two championships in couple months, Dark become 2nd in WESG when he only won vs Classic from top players. Yeah bro. And he lost 3:0 to Elazer at Blizzcon? Right.
2 Kongs in the semi final, who will take the crown? personally cheering for Maru but it would be great if one of them could leave the spell behind and win the tournament
soO vs Dark is the only ZvZ i could watch and maybe enjoy. both are strong Kongs, and it could an occasion for soO to let the mantle of King Kong to Dark, who know.
On March 20 2018 15:56 hexhaven wrote: Loving Stats vs Dark in the finals. Best Protoss of LotV vs the best Zerg of LotV.
Best zerg LoL LoL LoL While Rogue won 430k and two championships in couple months, Dark become 2nd in WESG when he only won vs Classic from top players. Yeah bro. And he lost 3:0 to Elazer at Blizzcon? Right.
And Rogue was busy washing dishes in 2016 while Dark was trying his best to save Zerg from being a dead race.
On March 20 2018 17:22 Mun_Su wrote: soO vs Dark is the only ZvZ i could watch and maybe enjoy. both are strong Kongs, and it could an occasion for soO to let the mantle of King Kong to Dark, who know.
at 3-3 they get a tie twice in a row and then coin will decide. It will stay hanging in the air
On March 20 2018 17:22 Mun_Su wrote: soO vs Dark is the only ZvZ i could watch and maybe enjoy. both are strong Kongs, and it could an occasion for soO to let the mantle of King Kong to Dark, who know.
at 3-3 they get a tie twice in a row and then coin will decide. It will stay hanging in the air
Then the universe will start to be ripped apart and both kongs have to jump into the space time rift to save the universe.
Yah lets try to be a bit more honest in the main post lol. Thanks to "patch raven" - he's going to toe to toe with late game Zerg? Wait I mean proxy 2 rax??
He won 1 game vs Dark that a raven was built lol - and he lost to Rogue.
The foreigner "Zerg extermination" was largely won with 2-1-1 - over 50% rofl.
soO vs Dark is the obvious final here. On paper Maru vs Dark is 50/50, but Dark will be more motivated to win this time. It wouldn't suprise me if Maru slacks of a bit after becoming the highest earner in sc2.
when soo made it to the quarter finals we all knew what was coming all that matter now is who gets the gift of their first GSL title maru or Dark !!!! probable maru cause ravens still broken
On March 21 2018 00:39 Carminedust wrote: when soo made it to the quarter finals we all knew what was coming all that matter now is who gets the gift of their first GSL title maru or Dark !!!! probable maru cause ravens still broken
Dark has the answer to ravens, in WeSG he won 2/3 games with ravens in. Maru crushed him with standard marine tank plays and proxy rax's.
On March 21 2018 00:39 Carminedust wrote: when soo made it to the quarter finals we all knew what was coming all that matter now is who gets the gift of their first GSL title maru or Dark !!!! probable maru cause ravens still broken
Dark has the answer to ravens, in WeSG he won 2/3 games with ravens in. Maru crushed him with standard marine tank plays and proxy rax's.
Yeah right. Those games were won before the first raven was out. Unless your defense is that ravens are fine because they aren't broken enough to win unwinnable games.
Is this the newest variation of 'kill them before they get there'?
On March 21 2018 00:39 Carminedust wrote: when soo made it to the quarter finals we all knew what was coming all that matter now is who gets the gift of their first GSL title maru or Dark !!!! probable maru cause ravens still broken
Dark has the answer to ravens, in WeSG he won 2/3 games with ravens in. Maru crushed him with standard marine tank plays and proxy rax's.
Yeah right. Those games were won before the first raven was out. Unless your defense is that ravens are fine because they aren't broken enough to win unwinnable games.
Is this the newest variation of 'kill them before they get there'?
Killing them before they get there is a viable strategy? The same way Rogue's response to skytoss last year was doing hydra allins when only couple carriers were out.
The fact is, the games where Maru tried to mass raven he died. So the idea that Maru only beat him because raven OP is nonsense. I'm not saying mass raven isn't ridiculously powerful, I'm just saying that Dark has answer if Maru wants to try.
And even though Dark was in winning positions anyway in those games, he still had a good response to the ravens with fungal and parasitic bomb. Something Solar and Serral weren't doing as much. Solar would literally leave infestors behind and attack with 10 stacked broods.
On March 21 2018 02:10 BigRedDog wrote: Would love to see soO win a GSL (for once)
Who doesn't? Honestly its soO whos keeping me watching sc2. But let's be realistic hes not favoured to win this gsl. Since 2017 gsl s2 he lost 2 times vs Rogue, 3 times vs Dark and even against Losira at IEM Qualifiers. So he has to find again his previously invincible ZvZ form....
If he faces Maru that will be also tough. Dark is a better ZvT-er compared to soO and Maru will have Rogue as practice partner and thats a tremendous advantage. One thing would help soO, that there will be plenty of fresh and recent maru vods to analize and against Dark he must show his absolute best,he can't hold anything back.
On top of that it's unwise to count Stats out because he can always deliver and win. People say Stats is in a bad form, but imho its a 50-50%.
The only real question is who faces (and defeats) soO in the finals.
You realize your Kong force doesn't align with conformal field theory, right? The module structure over that field would break down spacetime itself.
The Kong battle we're going to almost surely see in the finals is risking to break spacetime indeed: - If soO looses, the Kong force will reach maximum level and destroy everything . - If soO wins, then Dark will become the King Kong, and that means that soO is second in the Kong race, with makes him automatically Super Saiyan King Kong, and spacetime collapses in the paroxism of paradoxes.
I guess only Maru can save the universe. Another typical day for him.
Im so damn conflicted. Stats is my favourite player but I want soO to win and make it to the finals. But if soO makes it to the finals, I don't know if I can handle it if he comes second again, in which case I want Stats to win... Its gonna be hard to watch tonight
Explain me where in the world another PvZ in finals ( it's almost a meme ) and a ZvZ are better than a TvZ Maru vs soO
Personally, I could see soO potentially upsetting Dark and winning a GSL. After the shape Maru was in for this past WESG in his final vs Dark, if he takes down Dark again in the semifinals, I think a Mammoth would have an easier time escaping a tar pit than soO escaping the night without another 2nd.
People just need to be reminded how Stats approaches games before a really important starleague match of the same matchup. In 2017 S1, 3 days before GSL finals, Stats played Solar in SSL and basically donated two games by playing absurdly. Of course in the finals he used a completely different build and showed the stasis trick for the first time and dominated soO. Not saying he's the heavy favorite, but Stats' online performance is often deceiving. It's just mind boggling how TL writer falls for it every single time.
Although I feel bad for Soo and was rooting for him to win the whole thing, this semifinals might be the kick in the pants he needs to win next seasons GSL
On March 25 2018 00:09 Jihadi_Chant wrote: so is maru go to blizzcon after winning wesg and qualified into finals of gsl?
Not guaranteed unless he wins GSL, but to have 4200 points already is very convincing. Last year the threshold to make blizzcon was around 5000 I think.
On March 25 2018 00:09 Jihadi_Chant wrote: so is maru go to blizzcon after winning wesg and qualified into finals of gsl?
Not 100% in, but it seems incredibly likely he'll be at Blizzcon. He's #1 in standings by almost 1k points compared to #2 (Classic) with many opportunities still to come. Also, since he's a GSL finalist he's getting a seed into the upcoming Super Tournament for even more points.
On March 25 2018 00:09 Jihadi_Chant wrote: so is maru go to blizzcon after winning wesg and qualified into finals of gsl?
Not 100% in, but it seems incredibly likely he'll be at Blizzcon. He's #1 in standings by almost 1k points compared to #2 (Classic) with many opportunities still to come. Also, since he's a GSL finalist he's getting a seed into the upcoming Super Tournament for even more points.
Worth to mention that you need to advance at least 1 round to claim the points from an invite.