Serral zmagovalec jesenskega finala DreamHack Masters (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 v skupinskem delu (rezultat neuspešnega all-ina Roach-Ravager-Queen). Consensus #1 Protoss igralec Trap je prispeval šest od teh zmag, pri čemer je Serral zmagal z 2-0 v skupinskem delu pred velikim finalom. Vsebina finala v igri je bila prav tako enostranska kot rezultat, pri čemer se je Trap med nadaljevanjem serije zatekel k vedno bolj obupnim strategijam. Žal, ni bilo Chargelot all-in, Tempest rush ali katere koli druge zvijače, ki bi lahko Serrala na koncu zmotila.

A frequent victim during Serral’s 2018-2020 vladavina terorja, je Trap leta 2021 dejansko dobil premoč z dvema velikima zmagama v četrtfinalu Naslednja sezona 1 in veliki finale DHM zadnja priložnost. 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—ki je nedavno premagal Serrala s 4-2 v finalu DHM Europe (vključno z eno točko prednosti v zgornjem razredu za Serrala)—ko je Francoz padel na PartinG in the quarterfinals. Nor were there any elite Zergs in Serral’s path, as Temnomodra je v četrtfinalu izločil Trap, medtem ko se Reynorju in Rogueu v celoti ni uspelo kvalificirati za DHM. Namesto tega je Serral poteptal Bunnyja in HeroMarine v končnici - dva Terrana, proti katerima je imel veliko prednost.

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.

Druge misli in zapiski

Game of the tournament – Dark vs TIME (VOD): Ena od nadaljnjih zapuščin Scarlett’s legendary match against Bomber na Red Bull Battlegrounds je, da nas opomni, kako redko je, da zakopani baneli odločajo igro. Pro Terrans so preprosto preveč previdni in pripravljeni nasedati tako očitnim trikom v običajnih scenarijih. Ne, moraš moč 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 igra v skupinskem delu se je takrat zdela precej vprašljiva, saj je izpadel po treh katastrofalnih poskusih in-base proxy Gate strategije proti HeroMarine. Potem, nekaj dni kasneje, smo to izvedeli sOs se je upokojil, njegove tekme proti HeroMarinu pa so bile njegove zadnje.

Zagotovo vas prisili, da stvari ponovno razmislite. Prvotno se je vsekakor zdelo, kot da je sOs izgubil proti HeroMarineu, ker se je odločil za še eno slabo kocko, kar je bil opomnik, da so njegovi nekoč zviti all-ini z leti postajali vse bolj uspešni. Toda glede na to, kar vemo zdaj, se zdi bolj spoštljivo do stare legende, če gremo s prijaznejšo razlago. Preprosto je delal, kar je imel rad: delal je čudne stvari.

Terranci se pokažejo, Clem pa se spet trudi: Na splošno je imela frakcija Terran dober rezultat v finalu sezone, saj so štirje od petih predstavnikov dosegli končnico.

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, ČASin 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 vsi.

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 malo 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 PartinG 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.

-avtor Vosek