This series in a nutshell: Game 1: Serral: "Hey, I've prepared this roach-ravager into ling-bane into viper into ultras timing attack for you. Let's see how you defend." Maru: "O.O" Game 2: Maru: "Ok, you've got me there, but now I'm going to have my ghosts ready for that." Serral: "Riiiight...I knew you'd adapt to that, so I adapted to your adaptation, skipped vipers and got my ultras 1 min earlier...your ghosts aren't ready yet." Game 3: Maru: "Ok, ok, got me again. I'm gonna throw a cyclone-liberator curveball at you, derail your plans, and make an unexpected 3-base push on a map you're expecting me to go turtle." Serral: "Nice! Too bad I've totally tricked you with my scouting pattern and now I know everything you're doing." Game 4: Maru: "Damn, that didn't work either. I'm just gonna cut all the corners, no scouting at all, just hope you're not rushing any lings and make a big push." Serral: "Your bet actually worked...it's an even game now. Here's a nydus worm for you" Maru: "Oh crap. Wait...there's nothing inside it." Serral: "I know...check your front door. P.S.: your factory is contaminated." Maru: "O.O"
Keep in mind that the Military he is from is not something to joke about, these guys are professionals! If he is in their command he must do it as everybody else on his rank. So kudos to Serral that he can keep both up running on 100%
mili-service for someone like serral is absolutely ridiculess and wastefull... but brain is nothing people "in charge" has; if only they had the tiniest amount off their absurd wealth made into some form off intelligence it would all be saved ;)
He cares about winning only, apparently he's really good at terran too but only plays zerg because he knows it is the strongest race because of how it works. The biggest flex would be switching race and still dominating everyone, that would make him the greatest PC competitor of all time in any game.
@@theacehd1742this is such a dumb comment. if Zerg being op is the reason Serral’s winning everything, why isn’t every pro gamer a Zerg? And why does every Zerg other than Serral lose relatively frequently? Maru’s playing these games for the sake of winning, too; if Zerg truly was the best race, there wouldn’t be any pro gamers that weren’t Zerg.
It is mostly the missing Widowmines, that Zerg can atack without much fear. Serral's scouting was great. Maru's Scouting was pathetic for this level of play. Without Widowmines there is no surprise anymore, that can ruin a Zerg/Protoss Plan out of nowhere.
@ichbinschuscht3611 he's not even faster he's just... better Scarest part of him is that his apm is usually similar or lower than other top zergs but he just makes more use out of them.
Legend says that Serral will leave humanity for a century to allow us time and room to become better players. Then after hundreds years he shall return to judge us worthy of Starcraft.
So apparently he's in some kind of special military unit for world-class athletes. So he's still practicing but now he has the added structure and discipline of a trained military mind and body. He may never lose another tournament.
Something just seems wrong here, ngl. Like meta shifts towards Terran, Terran seems to not even be able to kill a single one of Serral's units, Serral just has a million queens, zerglings, etc, and they win ego fights pushing into tanks (which normally seem to obliterate units). Like you're not telling me there was just a 4-0 knock out and that Maru's just suddenly a noob. I'm not starcraft 2 player but I'm also no longer going to be watching - this is passing into uncanny valley territory.
I think the thing that makes serral so strong is the near perfect scouting and then the near perfect response based on that information. He builds JUST enough units to defend, no waste. All those little things just add up.
@@thorwaldjohanson2526 I think the thing that makes Serral AND blizzard so suspicious is that this is a slapdown that seems uncanny, improbably and borderline impossible - the fights feel wrong, Serrals unit counts feel wrong, Serrals setups feel wrong. It's funny people realize NFL is rigged but not E Sports
@@rhythimrt9970no way you’re accusing Serral of hacking. that is wild man. next level cope and delusion; there are literal hundreds of thousands of people watching these matches, and hundreds of expert players carefully examining every single minute detail… and you think nobody would’ve noticed?? Also he does literally just as well at in-person events, but judging by another one of your comments, you seem to think Blizzard has rigged the tournaments in a game they don’t care for whatsoever lol If you’re looking for a reason why Serral seems to have an absurd number of units and such that isn’t drowned in delusion and cope, it’s because Serral plays with almost zero inefficiency. He not only plays flawlessly, but near perfectly; everything he does is actively the best thing he can do and not only without flaw.
@@ZerglingLover Actually there is a way. Ever heard of organized religion? Millions of experts examining every minute detail and still deriving the wrong conclusion
Serral is a beast. It feels like he is at max army almost three minutes earlier than everyone else and still manages to be immediately at max army even if you manage to wipe half of his army.
This was very exciting. The man is in mandatory military service, barely plays, comes back and completely slaps the best (next best?) player on the planet.
All the other players, regardless of race, struggle a lot to find the breaches in Maru's turtle armor. Yet Serral manages to always find those breaches and exploit them. THAT is next level scouting, and the best example was in game 3. Serral just knew everything Maru was doing or planning to do.
He is part of the "Athlete/sports company" as the first eSports athlete in Finnish military history. The company allows top athletes to practice and compete during the military service.
After winning the previous match in an interview they asked how Serral feels about match against Maru, and Serral said basically, that he hopes Maru can put up a real fight against him this time. If I remember correctly Serral beat Maru in similar way in Katowice.
Yeah, it was another easy 4-0. I was expecting Maru to take at least a single map this time. Serral may not be affected by Zerg being nerfed to the ground right now, but he still can't train properly while doing his mandatory military service, and military is harsh regardless of the country.
Isn't it stressful to imagine Serral calling some braindead fanatic worshipping the government SIR? It's like imagining some kind of beautiful super model singer to be sucking Trump's dick or something.
So from the finnish conscription systetm, you eiher serve 6, 9 or 12 months depending on the branch and task that has been assigned to you. Though you do get weekends and evenings off quite often, so there is personal time as well
This is correct. And I would also like to add that Serral is attending the "urheilukoulu" branch, meant for a smallish group of pro-athletes, and he will have more leeway as it comes for practice time / off days for tournaments (than what we normal grunts had). And Serral has also stated (to the military magazine "Ruotuväki" for example), that he has rented an office wherefrom he can practice (there are some off hours during the evenings), but that he would be heading to Pornainen for the weekends. Also, from what I have heard (but this is pure hearsay, but makes sense) Serral is going to serve for a total of 6 months.
@@leinis80 Yep, Oliveira gave an interview yesterday on some Chinese stream and there he said he practices with Serral in weekends and sometimes on Fridays if Serral has some time off then. Also said no European (pro) Terran wants to practice with Serral.
@@dawnstar81 thx for the good, but also somewhat perplexing info! Why would european pro terrans not want to practice against serral? I get that Serral would probably win around 9 out of 10 matches (unless against Clem) and loosing is not fun. But still, if you want to improve, rather than boost your ego, then shouldnt you want to go against the best?
@ 4:16 I can't believe this; I come to Lowko for the hard-hitting details on Finnish military service, and he keeps showing off some game about robots and roaches or something!
im new to star craft played my first game this last month and seeing the early control on the drones vs the reaper was insane thats so hard to do and he made it look like a cake walk
I hope you keep playing SC2! It is an amazing game! When I was in my teens I used to feel like the ultimate test of how efficient we are when we think of things to do is determined by our skill in Starcraft😭😂 I love the game. Thanks Lowko! And thank you Serral!
@@TheRoelbrijs @TheRoelbrijs Don't read the comment section that is designed for people to COMMENT ON THE VIDEO AFTER BEING WATCHED if you don't want to get spoiled. Watch the video first like a >normal human being< and then go to the comment section. After doing so, you might think that magic is also real, jfc. Edit : Its like reading the 20 last pages of a book and then complaining you spoiled yourself and the author is at fault. Start with the beginning.
damn it is impressive how Serral makes even someone as good as Maru look bad. The calculated approach he has is far less funny then dark, but it feels like what darks style ultimately would evolve into controlled chaos were you pop a Nydus just to mess with your opponent for that second to snipe a tank and follow it up with an infestation just to crush the moral. damn
don't worry, I'm sure that serral will find a way to still win matches with drones costing 8 supply! (I imagine, he will do a lot of extractor tricks) But maybe if they really wish to avoid serral wining, my recomendation is: eliminate the larva, only let him play with the initial drones!
@@marcelbenner993 they're fool of sht. Once the widow mine was nerfed of course Serral was going to win. That was the intention all along. The balance team (aka Europe & Scarlett) love him and they've ruined the game to get him to undisputed GOAT status. Not that he doesn't deserve it...but anyone who doesn't think the 5-3 opening eco advantage Zerg is afforded at this level, isn't broken, is a moron.
@@marcelbenner993the most impactful change to Zerg has been the baneling nerf, but there’s also the brood lord changes and a map pool that strongly favors Terran.
No, Artosis lives in his own world of illusions and does not care about anything else whatsoever. He is just looking for proving his korean worshipping mindset to be correct. He has had it since he was a little kid and he will keep it until he dies. It's kinda what he is all about.
Holy! the last game was so one-sided, the tank that defended the nydus worm was critically needed to defend the front lines but was fooled to go and defend against the nydus with no army inside of it (almost became useless). Also the contamination on the factory on top of that! What a masterpiece of a game. (and look at the end there were two overseers! if the contamination ends there would most likely be another! )
Its those little things, that Serral does better than anyone else. Like the scene here, i wondered why Lowko didnt mention that in the cast: 3:05 We often see evochamberblocks to keep units out of the mineralline, but to trap them in the mineralline? Thats rare and it basically made Marus early game falling flat on its face. 2 out of 4 reapers gone, the 2 left are too few to put on pressure. A big early game invest rendered useless.
Maru: The best terran in a terran meta, suddenly cant play worth sh*t, making mistakes left and right that are uncharacteristic. Man, this seems more rigged then the superbowl
It's so funny having had weeks of talk about terrans being favoured by the maps and by the balance changes (things which are likely true), and then Serral just popping up and showing Blizzard that if they want him to stop winning they're gonna need to do a lot more nerfing
Just as an FYI, after basic training you do eventually get time to yourself. It can go from several hours to weekend, but they're not just chained down to the camp. Obviously having the entire week to practice > couple of hours is a death sentence to most professional players....but I guess Serral really is just built absolutely differently.
Something just seems wrong here, ngl. Like meta shifts towards Terran, Terran seems to not even be able to kill a single one of Serral's units, Serral just has a million queens, zerglings, etc, and they win ego fights pushing into tanks (which normally seem to obliterate units). Like you're not telling me there was just a 4-0 knock out and that Maru's just suddenly a noob. I'm not starcraft 2 player but I'm also no longer going to be watching - this is passing into uncanny valley territory.
@@rhythimrt9970 It might be a bit of a Serral complex for Maru right now. In the last 2 premier tournaments Serral played, he faced Maru in both finals. Won both 4-0, with only ONE map in Katowice even being close. Serral's scouting is always close to perfection, and he always seems to know where the breaches in Maru's turtle armor are...breaches that all the other players (regardless of race) seem to struggle so much to find.
@@rhythimrt9970 I don't think balance is the issue here, or at least not to the extent that you portray. The number 2 and 3 best Zerg players in the world, Reynor and Dark, were eliminated by Terran players, Reynor by Oliveira (3-1) and Dark by Maru (3-1). Furthermore, Serral was almost eliminated by Oliveira in the semi. Had Oliveira not messed up the split map scenario on Oceanborn (which looked unlosable to me) he would have advanced to the final with a comfortable 3-1 score. Serral is simply a truly exceptional player, a cut above all others imo, and it seems that he has completed figured out Maru's style. I understand that it's frustrating to always see the same player wins every tournaments but if the game were to be balanced around Serral there is a good possibility that no other Zerg player would even have a chance to compete at the pro level, which would be devastating for the game.
Serral went to the military and got better. I guess learning how humans fight wars transfers well in how zerg win wars. Been watching a lot of your videos of zerg struggling but Serral makes it look easy.
We honestly dont know how the military service in Finnland looks like. In Germany, after the first week, we could already go home on weekends and unless there was some exercise, you basically had your day off after 16:00 or so. Plenty of time to potentially get a number of games in, though in dont think that Serral even played before his service that many games anymore. He dosent need too, he needs to keep his skills sharp, but i am sure most of the time he is thinking about new builds or how to counter builds. And guess what, if the military is giving you anything, than its time to think while marching or having guard duty :p
Is it even a question at this point on who the GOAT really is? A lot of people still insist on Maru due to all his GSL wins but than again, Serral never participated in any of those GSLs, only some GSL vs the world events in which he was pretty dominant in.
Dang Lowko, you were talkin about difficulties sleeping during intl travel... well I was there at the event and can tell ya how GOATed Serral is. MARU secured his final seed Saturday evening and had the rest of the day and night to relax, whereas Serral, the next day Sunday, shortly before his match with Maru defeated Olivera in a Bo5. Had about 45 mins to relax during the showmatch and then played his Bo7 with Maru the same day..... Dudes a beast.
I Love the Classic Intros wehre Lowko introduce us to the game and give some back story Wihle you can watch that the Minerals "plopp" from the workers hand when they Reached the CC´s Hatches Nexai somewhat satisfying (yes in my mind they do like little ploop sounds) ☺
Anyone catch Serral's build order at the very beginning? On that map I go for a hatch at the gold base before even an overlord, wonder if the pros think it's valuable or if the gold isn't worth enough to switch up the build order.
Something just seems wrong here, ngl. Like meta shifts towards Terran, Terran seems to not even be able to kill a single one of Serral's units, Serral just has a million queens, zerglings, etc, and they win ego fights pushing into tanks (which normally seem to obliterate units). Like you're not telling me there was just a 4-0 knock out and that Maru's just suddenly a noob. I'm not starcraft 2 player but I'm also no longer going to be watching - this is passing into uncanny valley territory.
for some reason I've started saying "my name is lowko" along with lowko at the start of these videos and im afraid this is going to start happening in other areas of my life.
No guys, it is a misstranslation. Maru never said: "Next time I'll face Serral I let my little sister play. She'll give Serral a better fight than I do."
Finnish military service is split into 3 main lengths, 165, 255 or 347 days depending on if you seek to do the minimum as B class, or get trained into a specific job with 255 as A class, or non-military service with 347 days.
Serral: Guys i need to go and beat the number 1 its only going to be 4 games i'll be quick Military: okay go ahead, we go for a coffe break while u do it
31:50 I think I've seen that in the SC2 campaign once Edit: 11:2110:549:188:28 The games getting shorter and shorter against one of the strongest player from SK is just crazy
The semi-finals of this tournament felt more like the 'real' finals to me. The series of Serral vs Oliveira was INSANE and a really close call for Serral
Can someone clip Lowko saying "Its hard to balance Zerg, Serral might just come back and dominate..."(From past videos) With "Another clean win from Serral!" 🤣
I can't deny it: When Lowko started to point out how Maru seemed to be intimidated by Serral and how Serral always seemed unaffected by playing offline, I had to think of John Wick (mashing together some of the dialogue here): "Serral is a man of focus, commitment, sheer will. They call him "Baba Yaga." He is the one you sent to kill the fucking Boogeyman. "
I mean, Dude beats everyone without much problem, then he meets Serral and gets destroyed everytime. Can't even take a game most of the time. I would be surprised if he wasn't getting in his head.
He had zerglins everywhere. in game number 1 Serral managed to spot Maru’s medivac drop attempt because he had placed a single zerglin at the perfect stop.
Serral's absolute command of timing, build orders, and map geography is simply unparalleled. Others may have specific strengths that outclass him in one or two aspects, but the man just sees the code lol. Getting this kind of victory while doing his military service??? Dude.
Ive heard Broodwar pro gamers talk about how Falsh is so dominant because hes considered to be smarter then the other players leading to faster/better in game decision making. I really feel that it may be the same case with Serral. Even after all the nerfs if your just better at reading the game, scouting, and strategy your going to keeo winning.
How so? I see people repeat this over and over but it makes no sense. Terran spellcasters are weak compared to Zerg. Ravens aren't even played. BCs and Thors can be trivially shut down. Terrans can't switch strategies at the drop of a hat, if you imagine they have more than one that is even viable. Maybe in mid-level games where Zerg can't handle the myriad of option they have but at the top all I EVER see is Zerg winning. And usually pretty trivially.
@@freedomisntfree7851 The ghost is basically a spellcaster and an attack unit, by far the most powerful unit in the game. Lategame they have infinite scans, sensory tower and if you manage to kill workers they can just call down mules until they get back on track. All thier units can fly and heal with the medivac/repairs, even thier buildings, and they have so many more units that can attack both air and ground which is a huge advantage. I play terran, im terrible at the game lol, but they are far more userfriendly than zerg, hell, even I can make use of mines. Zerg has some crazy units as well, like the viper and lurker, but they are both hard countered by ghosts. I would like to see the ghost nerfed and other units buffed to increase play variety.
@BergmanJ yeah I get Terran is more user friendly but Zerg is higher ceiling. I don't see how the ghost can be considered op when stacked against a viper or corrupter. Nukes are nearly non-existent, emp is useful but doesn't shut down or straight up kill models like neural, blinding cloud or the yank. All Zerg objects heal and queens can do so as well plus they're super cheap(mostly because Zerg can expand economy much faster and isn't dependent on a mechanic like mules) and can be replaced much easier because of larva flexibility. Zerg have overseers which stack up pretty well against scans(because they are temporary and limited based on energy and mean less mules). So you have snipe which is a channel and the ghost can be interrupted. I guess if you are coming from a PoV of the game as a whole at all levels, I see your point but at the top, Zerg is just so much more forgiving than Terran.... And we haven't even gotten into the retarded transforming mechanic. If I have to watch one more tank die to biles while hurdy durdy switching modes.... 😄
@@freedomisntfree7851 butt mah ghost!!! They say it every time when its literally Terran's only hope against modern day zerg...because if the timing attack gets scouted and defeneded its over. Zerg just bane nukes and wins the eco war of attrition anyways.
@@freedomisntfree7851 its not a higher ceiling in difficulty than Terran its literally easier to play AND has superior units for this type of game where speed is king. Clem had to almost have his arm amputated after winning the greatest TVZ tourney run I've ever seen. He beat serral, solar, and dark and only dropped 2 games. That's why they nerfed the widowmine...so Serral could win again.
From the finish lakes into Germany and USA. All the tournaments he came across. Home Story Cups, tons of WCS and ESLs. Dreamhack and IEMs. Shout Joona Sotala’s name The overmind of the hive swarm knows the game Son of Finland and THE GOAT. (Sabaton, Soldier of 3 armies)
epic best-of-7 right around new years 2 or 3 years back it was right around the time maru introduced the now-ubiquitous strategy of building excess orbitals for effectively limitless the scans, mules, and replacements CCs
@@freedomisntfree7851 Maru is not the best in the world, he is nowhere even close to Serral as proven multiple times in multiple major tournaments like this one. And Serral can't even train properly right now while he is also playing with a race that has been nerfed to the ground because of him.
I think the main issue here we saw vs Clem is the lack of medivac play. All the games where Terran gets ahead they are constantly abusing the medivac drops and killing off kings for essentially free and I didn’t see any of that in these games.
according to oliveira, european terrans dont wanna practice vs serral, and korean terrans have too much ping to practice, so serral's only terran practice partner is oliveira.
This series in a nutshell:
Game 1:
Serral: "Hey, I've prepared this roach-ravager into ling-bane into viper into ultras timing attack for you. Let's see how you defend."
Maru: "O.O"
Game 2:
Maru: "Ok, you've got me there, but now I'm going to have my ghosts ready for that."
Serral: "Riiiight...I knew you'd adapt to that, so I adapted to your adaptation, skipped vipers and got my ultras 1 min earlier...your ghosts aren't ready yet."
Game 3:
Maru: "Ok, ok, got me again. I'm gonna throw a cyclone-liberator curveball at you, derail your plans, and make an unexpected 3-base push on a map you're expecting me to go turtle."
Serral: "Nice! Too bad I've totally tricked you with my scouting pattern and now I know everything you're doing."
Game 4:
Maru: "Damn, that didn't work either. I'm just gonna cut all the corners, no scouting at all, just hope you're not rushing any lings and make a big push."
Serral: "Your bet actually worked...it's an even game now. Here's a nydus worm for you"
Maru: "Oh crap. Wait...there's nothing inside it."
Serral: "I know...check your front door. P.S.: your factory is contaminated."
Maru: "O.O"
thats not a 'timing attack' thats just an attack
At this point I'm convinced that Serral didn't go to the military service to learn; he went there to teach.
lmao
As I predicted!
Serral: *Comes off the military base. Shows up to a tournament. Dominates the tournament. Refuses to elaborate. Leaves.*
He faced Maru in the finals of his last 2 premier tournaments. He won 8-0 on aggregate.
Serral 🗿: I must go my hive needs me
Military:🤨
Already mind controlled with infestor.
Serral is essentially Andrew Wiggin from Ender's Game if he decided to switch teams.
@@SSpirite you mean serral mind controled his military boss? then he is a ghost, like kerrigan, maybe that is why he is so good with zerg.
Keep in mind that the Military he is from is not something to joke about, these guys are professionals! If he is in their command he must do it as everybody else on his rank. So kudos to Serral that he can keep both up running on 100%
mili-service for someone like serral is absolutely ridiculess and wastefull...
but brain is nothing people "in charge" has; if only they had the tiniest amount off their absurd wealth made into some form off intelligence it would all be saved ;)
Maru checks under his bed for Serrals at night.
hahahahahahh, Dude.. 10/10 :)
I guess Maru isnt the only one, watching for Serrals
If we hadn't seen Serral in person I would have my doubts that he is a human.
I still doubt it.
He is zerg
He is the swarm.
You can tell he indeed can by the fact that this video is a best of 7 that is 40 minutes long.
I just commented that, means an average of ten minutes per game, which means Maru doesn't take any maps.
Serral is a monster. Military service or not, he's just on another level. Love to see it
He cares about winning only, apparently he's really good at terran too but only plays zerg because he knows it is the strongest race because of how it works. The biggest flex would be switching race and still dominating everyone, that would make him the greatest PC competitor of all time in any game.
It's just nuts watching absolutely dominate while most zergs have been struggling. His game is so flawless
@@theacehd1742this is such a dumb comment. if Zerg being op is the reason Serral’s winning everything, why isn’t every pro gamer a Zerg? And why does every Zerg other than Serral lose relatively frequently? Maru’s playing these games for the sake of winning, too; if Zerg truly was the best race, there wouldn’t be any pro gamers that weren’t Zerg.
@@Cwm02 his games are boring to watch, camp,camp, camp, camp then win. Its just dogshit.
@@theacehd1742 Aint no way in hell He gonna switch race and dominate. He wins so much because zerg is so freaking easy
Other zergs must be pissed off thinking another nerf is coming
Just because Serral is faster 🥲
😂😂😂😂😂
It is mostly the missing Widowmines, that Zerg can atack without much fear. Serral's scouting was great. Maru's Scouting was pathetic for this level of play. Without Widowmines there is no surprise anymore, that can ruin a Zerg/Protoss Plan out of nowhere.
@ichbinschuscht3611 he's not even faster he's just... better
Scarest part of him is that his apm is usually similar or lower than other top zergs but he just makes more use out of them.
Can someone elaborate what the Zerg Nerfs were?
Legend says that Serral will leave humanity for a century to allow us time and room to become better players. Then after hundreds years he shall return to judge us worthy of Starcraft.
Dude, Serral is an ancient xel-naga, there is no strong one for him :)
My 8 month old daughter laughed when you did you intro, she thought it was really funny. So thank you for that.
I also laugh like a baby when lowko goes into his high voice
mine too, i guess thats universal-8-year-old-girl-laughter-maker
It's too late now you have to sing it to her as a lullaby every night.
My tummy vomits everytime I hear it.
bro dont fucking encourage himm
You know serral is on a different planet when he makes maru look like an average at best player. Sheesh that was a total smackdown.
So apparently he's in some kind of special military unit for world-class athletes. So he's still practicing but now he has the added structure and discipline of a trained military mind and body. He may never lose another tournament.
You should definetly cast the serral vs Olivera and Reynor vs Olivera series. They are not that one-sided and insanely good!
Dark played well too on day 3 1st match
It's coming!
Serral came, Serral saw, Serral conquered
Serral can came anytime he wants 🥵🥵, im ready
For some reason this has a "Translate to English" under it. It should probably be "Translate to Latin".
Good. I missed Serral games.
WTF, 3 minutes in and he is already being insane.
Serral is the magnus carlson of starcraft. When he plays at his peak it makes the next best player look they are normal mortals when they are gods
Something just seems wrong here, ngl. Like meta shifts towards Terran, Terran seems to not even be able to kill a single one of Serral's units, Serral just has a million queens, zerglings, etc, and they win ego fights pushing into tanks (which normally seem to obliterate units). Like you're not telling me there was just a 4-0 knock out and that Maru's just suddenly a noob.
I'm not starcraft 2 player but I'm also no longer going to be watching - this is passing into uncanny valley territory.
I think the thing that makes serral so strong is the near perfect scouting and then the near perfect response based on that information. He builds JUST enough units to defend, no waste. All those little things just add up.
@@thorwaldjohanson2526 I think the thing that makes Serral AND blizzard so suspicious is that this is a slapdown that seems uncanny, improbably and borderline impossible - the fights feel wrong, Serrals unit counts feel wrong, Serrals setups feel wrong.
It's funny people realize NFL is rigged but not E Sports
@@rhythimrt9970no way you’re accusing Serral of hacking. that is wild man. next level cope and delusion; there are literal hundreds of thousands of people watching these matches, and hundreds of expert players carefully examining every single minute detail… and you think nobody would’ve noticed??
Also he does literally just as well at in-person events, but judging by another one of your comments, you seem to think Blizzard has rigged the tournaments in a game they don’t care for whatsoever lol
If you’re looking for a reason why Serral seems to have an absurd number of units and such that isn’t drowned in delusion and cope, it’s because Serral plays with almost zero inefficiency. He not only plays flawlessly, but near perfectly; everything he does is actively the best thing he can do and not only without flaw.
@@ZerglingLover
Actually there is a way.
Ever heard of organized religion?
Millions of experts examining every minute detail and still deriving the wrong conclusion
Sound strategy by Serral to just be tactically perfect.
It’s a bold strategy we’ll see if it pays off for him
😂 Made me laugh
Those emotions at the end, a mark of someone who puts it all on their shoulders and a play to win attitude. This was awesome to watch!!
Serral is a beast. It feels like he is at max army almost three minutes earlier than everyone else and still manages to be immediately at max army even if you manage to wipe half of his army.
The timing attacks Serral does and the prep work he does to do it is so cool
25:23 "I'm a juicy overlord, come kill me!" had me laughing for a full minute! I think Lowko should incorporate that strat more often.
This was very exciting. The man is in mandatory military service, barely plays, comes back and completely slaps the best (next best?) player on the planet.
All the other players, regardless of race, struggle a lot to find the breaches in Maru's turtle armor. Yet Serral manages to always find those breaches and exploit them. THAT is next level scouting, and the best example was in game 3. Serral just knew everything Maru was doing or planning to do.
He is part of the "Athlete/sports company" as the first eSports athlete in Finnish military history.
The company allows top athletes to practice and compete during the military service.
After winning the previous match in an interview they asked how Serral feels about match against Maru, and Serral said basically, that he hopes Maru can put up a real fight against him this time. If I remember correctly Serral beat Maru in similar way in Katowice.
Yeah, it was another easy 4-0.
I was expecting Maru to take at least a single map this time. Serral may not be affected by Zerg being nerfed to the ground right now, but he still can't train properly while doing his mandatory military service, and military is harsh regardless of the country.
Private Serral: request a temporary leave SIR
Military officer: and why is that
Private Serral: it’s time for me to be GOAT SIR
Isn't it stressful to imagine Serral calling some braindead fanatic worshipping the government SIR? It's like imagining some kind of beautiful super model singer to be sucking Trump's dick or something.
So from the finnish conscription systetm, you eiher serve 6, 9 or 12 months depending on the branch and task that has been assigned to you. Though you do get weekends and evenings off quite often, so there is personal time as well
This is correct. And I would also like to add that Serral is attending the "urheilukoulu" branch, meant for a smallish group of pro-athletes, and he will have more leeway as it comes for practice time / off days for tournaments (than what we normal grunts had). And Serral has also stated (to the military magazine "Ruotuväki" for example), that he has rented an office wherefrom he can practice (there are some off hours during the evenings), but that he would be heading to Pornainen for the weekends. Also, from what I have heard (but this is pure hearsay, but makes sense) Serral is going to serve for a total of 6 months.
@@leinis80 Yep, Oliveira gave an interview yesterday on some Chinese stream and there he said he practices with Serral in weekends and sometimes on Fridays if Serral has some time off then. Also said no European (pro) Terran wants to practice with Serral.
@@dawnstar81 thx for the good, but also somewhat perplexing info! Why would european pro terrans not want to practice against serral? I get that Serral would probably win around 9 out of 10 matches (unless against Clem) and loosing is not fun. But still, if you want to improve, rather than boost your ego, then shouldnt you want to go against the best?
@ 4:16 I can't believe this; I come to Lowko for the hard-hitting details on Finnish military service, and he keeps showing off some game about robots and roaches or something!
im new to star craft played my first game this last month and seeing the early control on the drones vs the reaper was insane thats so hard to do and he made it look like a cake walk
I hope you keep playing SC2! It is an amazing game! When I was in my teens I used to feel like the ultimate test of how efficient we are when we think of things to do is determined by our skill in Starcraft😭😂 I love the game. Thanks Lowko! And thank you Serral!
Serral talking to himself is the most critical inner voice I’ve ever heard.
Was there in dallas... it was so neat to see irl!!. Serral was super humble to meet after the match.. Was shaking hands and signing autographs
SPOILERS !!! 😢
Oh crap lol like u didn't know already
Edited no spoiler
@@TheRoelbrijs @TheRoelbrijs Don't read the comment section that is designed for people to COMMENT ON THE VIDEO AFTER BEING WATCHED if you don't want to get spoiled. Watch the video first like a >normal human being< and then go to the comment section. After doing so, you might think that magic is also real, jfc.
Edit : Its like reading the 20 last pages of a book and then complaining you spoiled yourself and the author is at fault. Start with the beginning.
@@BloodyStars.0Yeah but we're in an era where ppl just want to comment or like before the vid even started.
damn it is impressive how Serral makes even someone as good as Maru look bad. The calculated approach he has is far less funny then dark, but it feels like what darks style ultimately would evolve into controlled chaos were you pop a Nydus just to mess with your opponent for that second to snipe a tank and follow it up with an infestation just to crush the moral. damn
Lowko: "And Serral goes back to DRONING?"
Serral: "This isn't even my final composition!"
To combat zerg's (Serral's) dominance at the tournament level, the next balance patch will make all drones cost 8 supply.
And they will remove the Infestor and Queens, then maybe Maru has a chance to take a map from Serral.
don't worry, I'm sure that serral will find a way to still win matches with drones costing 8 supply! (I imagine, he will do a lot of extractor tricks) But maybe if they really wish to avoid serral wining, my recomendation is: eliminate the larva, only let him play with the initial drones!
Zerg has been struggling in the recent map pool and balance patch, but nobody told the Finnisher
Do you know why exactly? How was Zerg nerfed?
@@marcelbenner993 they're fool of sht. Once the widow mine was nerfed of course Serral was going to win. That was the intention all along. The balance team (aka Europe & Scarlett) love him and they've ruined the game to get him to undisputed GOAT status. Not that he doesn't deserve it...but anyone who doesn't think the 5-3 opening eco advantage Zerg is afforded at this level, isn't broken, is a moron.
Baneling was needed, lost damage to light and hp @@marcelbenner993
@@marcelbenner993the most impactful change to Zerg has been the baneling nerf, but there’s also the brood lord changes and a map pool that strongly favors Terran.
@@alexw4482
Thanks for coming back!
Baneling nerf was the patch before this one, right?
And what was nerfed about Broods?
5:50 "you can't really compare Serral to Rogue" Artosis on SUICIDE watch
No, Artosis lives in his own world of illusions and does not care about anything else whatsoever. He is just looking for proving his korean worshipping mindset to be correct. He has had it since he was a little kid and he will keep it until he dies. It's kinda what he is all about.
Holy! the last game was so one-sided, the tank that defended the nydus worm was critically needed to defend the front lines but was fooled to go and defend against the nydus with no army inside of it (almost became useless). Also the contamination on the factory on top of that! What a masterpiece of a game. (and look at the end there were two overseers! if the contamination ends there would most likely be another! )
Its those little things, that Serral does better than anyone else. Like the scene here, i wondered why Lowko didnt mention that in the cast: 3:05
We often see evochamberblocks to keep units out of the mineralline, but to trap them in the mineralline? Thats rare and it basically made Marus early game falling flat on its face. 2 out of 4 reapers gone, the 2 left are too few to put on pressure. A big early game invest rendered useless.
@@Daniel-rd6st Its amazing how high of a ceiling Serral's knowledge and skill for the game
Absolutely awesome to see these juggernauts battle. Serral fan boy for life!!! Great casting lowko thank you
Maru: The best terran in a terran meta, suddenly cant play worth sh*t, making mistakes left and right that are uncharacteristic.
Man, this seems more rigged then the superbowl
Looking at the run time for the video, I thought this was going to be just a single game. Leave it to Serral to win a best of 7 in 41 minutes.
wow, what a clean set of games by the winner of the series, to avoid spoilers.
Thank god you uploaded it, I was waiting for the replay and really wanted to watch it with your commentary.
I have already watched it with the commentary from the event, and now I'm watching again for Lowko's reactions, analysis, and jokes.
It's so funny having had weeks of talk about terrans being favoured by the maps and by the balance changes (things which are likely true), and then Serral just popping up and showing Blizzard that if they want him to stop winning they're gonna need to do a lot more nerfing
Serral in the military has been working on his mindset. Now hes unstoppable
Just as an FYI, after basic training you do eventually get time to yourself.
It can go from several hours to weekend, but they're not just chained down to the camp. Obviously having the entire week to practice > couple of hours is a death sentence to most professional players....but I guess Serral really is just built absolutely differently.
Serral once again proving that he is him
How does Serral keep making Zerg look op, while the rest of us feel Zerg is too weak.
Because he is 2 levels above everyone else? Obviously...
4-0 in 41min :(
I genuinely felt pain for Maru when I watched it live.
He had it comming tho xD
Something just seems wrong here, ngl. Like meta shifts towards Terran, Terran seems to not even be able to kill a single one of Serral's units, Serral just has a million queens, zerglings, etc, and they win ego fights pushing into tanks (which normally seem to obliterate units). Like you're not telling me there was just a 4-0 knock out and that Maru's just suddenly a noob.
I'm not starcraft 2 player but I'm also no longer going to be watching - this is passing into uncanny valley territory.
@@rhythimrt9970 It might be a bit of a Serral complex for Maru right now. In the last 2 premier tournaments Serral played, he faced Maru in both finals. Won both 4-0, with only ONE map in Katowice even being close. Serral's scouting is always close to perfection, and he always seems to know where the breaches in Maru's turtle armor are...breaches that all the other players (regardless of race) seem to struggle so much to find.
@@rhythimrt9970 I don't think balance is the issue here, or at least not to the extent that you portray. The number 2 and 3 best Zerg players in the world, Reynor and Dark, were eliminated by Terran players, Reynor by Oliveira (3-1) and Dark by Maru (3-1). Furthermore, Serral was almost eliminated by Oliveira in the semi. Had Oliveira not messed up the split map scenario on Oceanborn (which looked unlosable to me) he would have advanced to the final with a comfortable 3-1 score.
Serral is simply a truly exceptional player, a cut above all others imo, and it seems that he has completed figured out Maru's style.
I understand that it's frustrating to always see the same player wins every tournaments but if the game were to be balanced around Serral there is a good possibility that no other Zerg player would even have a chance to compete at the pro level, which would be devastating for the game.
Maru is predictable player, his play is perfect but predictable... so bang... he is dead. I so miss SOS that guy had real talent for innovative play.
Serral went to the military and got better. I guess learning how humans fight wars transfers well in how zerg win wars. Been watching a lot of your videos of zerg struggling but Serral makes it look easy.
We honestly dont know how the military service in Finnland looks like. In Germany, after the first week, we could already go home on weekends and unless there was some exercise, you basically had your day off after 16:00 or so. Plenty of time to potentially get a number of games in, though in dont think that Serral even played before his service that many games anymore. He dosent need too, he needs to keep his skills sharp, but i am sure most of the time he is thinking about new builds or how to counter builds. And guess what, if the military is giving you anything, than its time to think while marching or having guard duty :p
The Return of the King 🦾
Is it even a question at this point on who the GOAT really is? A lot of people still insist on Maru due to all his GSL wins but than again, Serral never participated in any of those GSLs, only some GSL vs the world events in which he was pretty dominant in.
Dang Lowko, you were talkin about difficulties sleeping during intl travel... well I was there at the event and can tell ya how GOATed Serral is. MARU secured his final seed Saturday evening and had the rest of the day and night to relax, whereas Serral, the next day Sunday, shortly before his match with Maru defeated Olivera in a Bo5. Had about 45 mins to relax during the showmatch and then played his Bo7 with Maru the same day..... Dudes a beast.
I Love the Classic Intros wehre Lowko introduce us to the game and give some back story Wihle you can watch that the Minerals "plopp" from the workers hand when they Reached the CC´s Hatches Nexai somewhat satisfying (yes in my mind they do like little ploop sounds) ☺
Anyone catch Serral's build order at the very beginning? On that map I go for a hatch at the gold base before even an overlord, wonder if the pros think it's valuable or if the gold isn't worth enough to switch up the build order.
Mistake that Maru’s made in this game is facing Serral
Something just seems wrong here, ngl. Like meta shifts towards Terran, Terran seems to not even be able to kill a single one of Serral's units, Serral just has a million queens, zerglings, etc, and they win ego fights pushing into tanks (which normally seem to obliterate units). Like you're not telling me there was just a 4-0 knock out and that Maru's just suddenly a noob.
I'm not starcraft 2 player but I'm also no longer going to be watching - this is passing into uncanny valley territory.
Zerg has been looking a bit week lately, then this guys steps in and just randomly demolishes a top 3 terran
This was insane. Apparently his military service isn't hindering his performance.
for some reason I've started saying "my name is lowko" along with lowko at the start of these videos and im afraid this is going to start happening in other areas of my life.
Thanks
Wow this was dominant. I liked the mind games analysis between these 2 Lowko. Good luck with the ear surgery!
Game 2:
The roach spawn timing in game two, so insane.
I was surprised Maru didnt react to the broken rocks.
Game 3:
That overlord scout so funny.
he did react to the broken rocks he build a CC infront of the broken rocks..
No guys, it is a misstranslation.
Maru never said: "Next time I'll face Serral I let my little sister play. She'll give Serral a better fight than I do."
Finnish military service is split into 3 main lengths, 165, 255 or 347 days depending on if you seek to do the minimum as B class, or get trained into a specific job with 255 as A class, or non-military service with 347 days.
Serral: Guys i need to go and beat the number 1 its only going to be 4 games i'll be quick
Military: okay go ahead, we go for a coffe break while u do it
Serral felt unstoppable. And it's against Maru. One of the best players in the world. Probably top 1 or 2 terran. Truly amazing
what is his position in the army?? DRONE PILOT?? :D
I was crying for 2-3 minutes with this... Thank you!
Maru heard it was Serral and just wanted that runner up money as soon as possible.
I play Protoss so I usually never watch matches without Protoss playing but I heard this Serral guy is pretty good, so here I am.
31:50 I think I've seen that in the SC2 campaign once
Edit:
11:21 10:54 9:18 8:28
The games getting shorter and shorter against one of the strongest player from SK is just crazy
That contamination on the factory was just a downright insult.
The semi-finals of this tournament felt more like the 'real' finals to me. The series of Serral vs Oliveira was INSANE and a really close call for Serral
Why do i love Serral so much? He alone can make Zerg gets more nerfs... Happy Protoss noises here
Love to classic intro. Great stuff as always Lowko
Nothing warms my heart more than seeing The Swarm feasting on some terrans
Can someone clip Lowko saying "Its hard to balance Zerg, Serral might just come back and dominate..."(From past videos) With "Another clean win from Serral!"
🤣
I can't deny it: When Lowko started to point out how Maru seemed to be intimidated by Serral and how Serral always seemed unaffected by playing offline, I had to think of John Wick (mashing together some of the dialogue here):
"Serral is a man of focus, commitment, sheer will. They call him "Baba Yaga." He is the one you sent to kill the fucking Boogeyman. "
I mean, Dude beats everyone without much problem, then he meets Serral and gets destroyed everytime. Can't even take a game most of the time. I would be surprised if he wasn't getting in his head.
The one you sent to kill the Maruman.
12:40 is it normal for zerg to be supply blocked for 50 seconds at the start of the game??
What a feint with that Nydus.
That was honestly painful to watch. Serral is a machine
I don't understand why maru kept doing marines vs roaches all along
When can we get a tournament where we can see SC1 and SC2 races from the EVO Mod?
dude that 3rd game hahahahah serral plays like he has full vision of the map
He had zerglins everywhere. in game number 1 Serral managed to spot Maru’s medivac drop attempt because he had placed a single zerglin at the perfect stop.
Serral's absolute command of timing, build orders, and map geography is simply unparalleled. Others may have specific strengths that outclass him in one or two aspects, but the man just sees the code lol. Getting this kind of victory while doing his military service??? Dude.
I love it so much when you do the thing. You're the best to ever spit your shit on the mic.
Ive heard Broodwar pro gamers talk about how Falsh is so dominant because hes considered to be smarter then the other players leading to faster/better in game decision making. I really feel that it may be the same case with Serral. Even after all the nerfs if your just better at reading the game, scouting, and strategy your going to keeo winning.
Truly the goat, he knows Terran endgame is OP and adjusted accordingly.
How so? I see people repeat this over and over but it makes no sense. Terran spellcasters are weak compared to Zerg. Ravens aren't even played. BCs and Thors can be trivially shut down. Terrans can't switch strategies at the drop of a hat, if you imagine they have more than one that is even viable. Maybe in mid-level games where Zerg can't handle the myriad of option they have but at the top all I EVER see is Zerg winning. And usually pretty trivially.
@@freedomisntfree7851 The ghost is basically a spellcaster and an attack unit, by far the most powerful unit in the game. Lategame they have infinite scans, sensory tower and if you manage to kill workers they can just call down mules until they get back on track. All thier units can fly and heal with the medivac/repairs, even thier buildings, and they have so many more units that can attack both air and ground which is a huge advantage. I play terran, im terrible at the game lol, but they are far more userfriendly than zerg, hell, even I can make use of mines. Zerg has some crazy units as well, like the viper and lurker, but they are both hard countered by ghosts. I would like to see the ghost nerfed and other units buffed to increase play variety.
@BergmanJ yeah I get Terran is more user friendly but Zerg is higher ceiling. I don't see how the ghost can be considered op when stacked against a viper or corrupter. Nukes are nearly non-existent, emp is useful but doesn't shut down or straight up kill models like neural, blinding cloud or the yank. All Zerg objects heal and queens can do so as well plus they're super cheap(mostly because Zerg can expand economy much faster and isn't dependent on a mechanic like mules) and can be replaced much easier because of larva flexibility. Zerg have overseers which stack up pretty well against scans(because they are temporary and limited based on energy and mean less mules). So you have snipe which is a channel and the ghost can be interrupted. I guess if you are coming from a PoV of the game as a whole at all levels, I see your point but at the top, Zerg is just so much more forgiving than Terran.... And we haven't even gotten into the retarded transforming mechanic. If I have to watch one more tank die to biles while hurdy durdy switching modes.... 😄
@@freedomisntfree7851 butt mah ghost!!! They say it every time when its literally Terran's only hope against modern day zerg...because if the timing attack gets scouted and defeneded its over. Zerg just bane nukes and wins the eco war of attrition anyways.
@@freedomisntfree7851 its not a higher ceiling in difficulty than Terran its literally easier to play AND has superior units for this type of game where speed is king. Clem had to almost have his arm amputated after winning the greatest TVZ tourney run I've ever seen. He beat serral, solar, and dark and only dropped 2 games. That's why they nerfed the widowmine...so Serral could win again.
Finland mandatory service is either 6, 9 or 12 months depending on which company you get assigned to.
At this point I'm convinced that Serral doesn't make mistakes, he forces his opponents to do so. On purpose.
I thought serral would show up slightly rusty and instead he waltzed in with a scalpel and cut Maru to ribbons.
@lowko. What are the 3 symbols top right at beginning of the video?
Any Suggestions how we can nerve Serral instead of Zerg?
From the finish lakes into Germany and USA.
All the tournaments he came across.
Home Story Cups, tons of WCS and ESLs. Dreamhack and IEMs.
Shout Joona Sotala’s name
The overmind of the hive swarm knows the game
Son of Finland and THE GOAT.
(Sabaton, Soldier of 3 armies)
I've literally never seen Maru beat Serral. Ever.
epic best-of-7 right around new years 2 or 3 years back
it was right around the time maru introduced the now-ubiquitous strategy of building excess orbitals for effectively limitless the scans, mules, and replacements CCs
He beat serral in the group stages of masters colliseum iirc. Then he got annihilated in the finals by, you guessed it, serral!
Yeah tout Maru as possibly best in the world then proceed to watch him do nothing right for 40 minutes. Rinse and repeat.
@@freedomisntfree7851 Maru is not the best in the world, he is nowhere even close to Serral as proven multiple times in multiple major tournaments like this one. And Serral can't even train properly right now while he is also playing with a race that has been nerfed to the ground because of him.
Found it: LowkoTV Dec 25th 2021
Disgusting how good serral is. Still the GOAT
Lowko is the only caster sounding like a program who does not annoy me because he actually is a program.
Did you see Serral had 203/200 supply in game 2 at minute 9:20 😅
Only saw him do that tbh and never thought about this with zerg
Thanks to the brilliant video game “Control”, i understood the Finnish profanity Lowko says at 58:55. “perkele” - shout out ahti 😂
For real: good luck on the ear operation. Surgery is never a joke. Prayin' for ya, bro.
I think the main issue here we saw vs Clem is the lack of medivac play. All the games where Terran gets ahead they are constantly abusing the medivac drops and killing off kings for essentially free and I didn’t see any of that in these games.
Serral vs Maru? check
41 intense minutes in a bo7? check
Hello everyone my name is lowko? heckin check!
How does his ass taste?
Maru first of his name
House Vitality
Words: Serral is coming
I just wanna see what goes on in that man's mind on an average day....
It's gotta be wild
according to oliveira, european terrans dont wanna practice vs serral, and korean terrans have too much ping to practice, so serral's only terran practice partner is oliveira.