Serral vinder DreamHack Masters Fall Finals (2021)

Finishing with a 14-1 overall map record, the championship run was one of Serral’s most dominant yet, only dropping a single map to Zoun i gruppespillet (resultatet af en mislykket Roach-Ravager-Queen-all-in). Consensus #1 Protoss-spiller Trap stod for seks af disse sejre, hvor Serral vandt 2-0 i gruppespillet forud for den store finale. Indholdet i spillet i finalerne var lige så ensidigt som resultatlinjen, hvor Trap ty til stadig mere desperate strategier, efterhånden som serien fortsatte. Desværre var der ingen Chargelot all-in, Tempest rush eller noget andet kneb, der kunne dæmpe Serral til sidst.

A frequent victim during Serral’s 2018-2020 terrorregime, Trap havde faktisk fået overtaget i 2021 ved at tage to store sejre i kvartfinalen i Næste sæson 1 og den store finale i DHM sidste chance. However, with such an overwhelming beatdown in DHM Fall, Serral seemed to signal that things would be going back to normal. It was a sentiment that even Trap himself shared as he praised Serral’s “flawless” play after his group stage loss.

Despite Serral’s monstrous performance, there were still a few holes to poke in his run as the playoff bracket allowed him to dodge some key challenges. There was no revenge match against Clem— der for nylig knuste Serral 4-2 i DHM Europe Finals (inklusive en et-points fordel for Serral) — da franskmanden faldt til afsked in the quarterfinals. Nor were there any elite Zergs in Serral’s path, as mørk blev elimineret af Trap i kvartfinalen, mens Reynor og Rogue ikke helt kvalificerede sig til DHM. I stedet trampede Serral over Bunny og HeroMarine i slutspillet - to Terrans var han stærkt favoriseret imod.

One can’t say Serral is “back” due to this victory, since he never really went away. His progamer peers have consistently named him as a top title contender during his ten-month title drought, and treated him with the same deference as the ‘old’ Serral. And yet, we know from StarCraft II history that there’s a huge difference between being a title contender and actually lifting the trophy. In that sense, it’s good to see the old king get back to his winning ways.

Andre tanker og noter

Game of the tournament – Dark vs TIME (VOD): En af de igangværende arv fra Scarlett’s legendary match against Bomber på Red Bull Battlegrounds er at minde os om, hvor sjældent det er for nedgravede Banelings at afgøre et spil. Pro Terrans er simpelthen for forsigtige og klar til at falde for så åbenlyse tricks i normale scenarier. Nej, det skal du styrke a chaotic situation and break the Terran’s focus for such tactics to work. And that’s exactly what Dark did against TIME in the group stages.

Playing from behind, Dark’s relentless Muta-Ling-Bane counterattacks slowly eroded at TIME’s concentration (and Orbital Command energy) until he could finally be lured into a fatal trap. Dark even put some extra flair on it, detonating a few Banelings first, and then detonating the rest when TIME walked back over the same trap. This game would have been the best of the tournament even without the burrowed Banelings, but the rarely successful technique takes it to another level.

sOs’ final match: sOs’s spil i gruppespillet virkede ret tvivlsomt på det tidspunkt, da han blev elimineret efter tre katastrofale forsøg in-base proxy Gate-strategier mod HeroMarine. Så, et par dage senere, lærte vi det sOs var gået på pension, og hans kampe mod HeroMarine havde været hans sidste.

Det får dig helt sikkert til at genoverveje tingene. Oprindeligt føltes det bestemt som om sOs havde tabt til HeroMarine, fordi han gik efter endnu et dårligt gamble, en påmindelse om, at hans engang så snedige all-ins var blevet gradvist mere hit-or-miss, som årene gik. Men ved at vide, hvad vi ved nu, forekommer det mere respektfuldt for den gamle legende at gå med en venligere fortolkning. Han gik simpelthen ud og gjorde det, han elskede: at gøre tingene mærkelige.

Terrans viser sig, men Clem kæmper igen: I det hele taget havde Terran-fraktionen et stærkt show ved sæsonfinalerne, hvor fire ud af fem repræsentanter nåede slutspillet.

Admittedly, this Season Finals had one of the weaker player pools, opening up playoff spots that would otherwise have ‘belonged’ to the likes of Reynor or Rogue. However, you can’t take away credit from HeroMarine, TIMEog Bunny for actually stepping up and seizing those spots, taking down all the Zergs and Protosses who had eyed them as well. Serral running a buzzsaw through them in the playoffs doesn’t discredit them, since he did that to alle sammen.

Among the three, Bunny was the one I was watching most closely. He’s improved considerably throughout 2021, and he’s starting to knock on the door of major tournament finals. Alas, both of his semifinal appearances have ended brutally thus far, as he was swept by Serral in DHM, and by Trap in Code S before that. Given the quality of Bunny’s play in other matches—especially against Dark in Code S—it seemed like he wasn’t able to play to 100% of his ability against Serral. Big game nerves have definitely been an issue for players who aren’t used to playing in high-stakes matches, and it can take some time for them to overcome that problem. However, if Bunny does find a way to play his best in such scenarios, and draws an opponent who’s just a lidt less oppressive than Serral, a grand finals appearance isn’t out of his grasp.

While DHM Fall was good for Terran on the whole, it was a disaster if you’re only focused on the championship picture. Clem’s TvT/TvP struggles in international events continued, this time losing to afsked 1-3 in the quarterfinals. It was encouraging to see Clem take the early game build order advantage in most of the games, something that’s been a point of criticism in the past (somewhat unfairly). However, he just wasn’t able to finish PartinG off in macro games, with the PvT savant able to stall the games out and win in the end. As in the case of Bunny, Terrans fans will be hoping that Clem’s growth hasn’t stopped, but he’s just temporarily stalled before making the next leap.

-af voks