90 minutes of the nerdiest SC2 talk with Serral

Serral can talk about StarCraft 2 all day long. I asked him for this thoughts on his games against Maru's Terran in the Grand Finals of the IEM Katowice $500,000 Tournament
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[@alicrastd3095]

You forgot to congratulate him for his rank roulette championship.

[@andrewduan5123]

That’s where the real money is

[@wedgeantilles8575]

And this was a championship that he had to fight MUCH harder for than IEM. In IEM he destroyed his opponents, rank roulette was a nail biter!

[@PiGstarcraft]

THAT WAS THE FIRST THING I DID www.twitch.tv/videos/2078423955?t=0h3m27s

[@alicrastd3095]

Dang the things you miss being a youtuber. I stand corrected and thx for the video link.❤ 12:25 on there if anyones curious.

[@usr45129]

​@@PiGstarcraft Hahahahahah😂

[@ThaBeatConductor]

I love Serral's confidence. "What do you reckon, was there anything special or did you just train really hard for this tournament, man?" "Well, I think I've been pretty good for a long time already" Fukkin legend.

[@alanclw6024]

Stop sniffing from the jar you are keeping his ballsweat in

[@nikokiko47]

@@alanclw6024 are you Maru in disguise?

[@JPrescottQ]

no@@alanclw6024

[@onxiaftw]

guy aint wrong...

[@felipevasconcello8164]

serral is just so literal, he's confident and humble at the same time, he just says the truth

[@davedavy5406]

Serral talks about SC2 like Magnus Carlsen talks about chess. The commentators come up with all this analysis, and Magnus would just say something like "Yeah, well I thought this would be good for white here"

[@1990rable]

haha true

[@dan1294xx]

I thought exactly the same. it's just natural for him

[@florin.lupascu]

PiG, who is the biggest Maru fan, with this is trying to help Maru find and learn how Serral is constantly beating him...

[@Pleasantries]

this is sooo awesome please talk with more pros when it's possible!!!

[@PiGstarcraft]

Ty so much mate, definitely will try to do more of these around big events

[@hurricane1nox]

yea this was one of the best videos ive ever watched in the entirety of youtube thanks@@PiGstarcraft

[@2nerC9]

Serral talks like an evil genius sometimes 😂

[@loudigity0]

Sometimes? Literally all the time

[@OnigoroshiZero]

Wait... He isn't?

[@clay1521]

I love more technical talks like this!

[@eldenbling2615]

"see I just do the correct thing in each instance" (taking notes) got it, just always do the correct thing, thanks Serral lol

[@ChannelMiner]

I lost 73 ladder games while listening to this, I am now in copper 73. 10/10 video would watch again.

[@hunterbauer4320]

more of this type of content please!! Build order breakdown series?? Loved seeing the part where you went back to discuss the various other roach attacks he has done versus maru and the differences. Best sc2 content in a long time.

[@scroogietw6878]

This is so crazy cool! Thanks for Pig and Serral for taking the time to explain all this!

[@auag6284]

Took me a while to realize “pills” was “builds” 💀

[@betlogboy3]

same bro, same.

[@PiGstarcraft]

LOL

[@Mikolaj_Kapusta]

Haha same! I was like "so this is Serral's secret?! Lot of pills?"

[@kiomio10]

ai cän tiich juu the finnish wei of spiking english if juu want

[@gergelyhalasz9754]

Oh, I didn't even realize that. If you have english as your second language your brain complements the words you don't understand based on the context. So you understand what they say to you even though you don't understand a lot of word in it.

[@kjwong4730]

Serral is crazy

[@Not0bito]

"Marowder" Never saying it any different now lol

[@B1gLupu]

Moootas!

[@tyrellwreleck4226]

Serral has mastered timing. When you look at Radhuset, serral drones to 80 very fast (6:30). After that, he makes lings and banes and automatically positioned them to where Maru will drop marines. Notice that Serral provoke Maru into attacking by taking more bases which enables Serral into making decent trades which helps him utilize his resources compared to Reynor and Scarlett who keeps stacking minerals and gas unnecessarily. When Serral successfully defended his bases, he knows that he is so far ahead because Maru is basically running out of resources to mine. If you look the worker counts, Maru has 90 scvs and Serral has 80+ but Serral still mines heavier. Serral started contesting the 10 o'clock when he knows Maru is starving having to mine on to base. This is the most intuitive gameplay we have ever seen. This masterpiece will adapt by pro players in the future.

[@Faux.Player]

I miss the infested Terran but I agree it was a bit too powerful. What if they brought it back but made them more like zerglings. Here is an example they could try. Infested Swarm: • Description: The Infestor activates an ability that continuously spawns a stream of small infested creatures (similar to Zerglings) at a designated location. These infested units emit an area of effect aura that slows and damages nearby enemy units. The ability drains energy over time while active. • Effect: Upon activation, the Infested Swarm ability continuously consumes energy while spawning Infested Swarm units at the specified location. These units behave similarly to Zerglings but emit an aura around them that slows down enemy units and deals damage over time to those within the aura’s radius. • Activated Ability: Infested Swarm is an activated ability that drains energy over time while active. The player can toggle it on or off as needed during engagements. • Area of Effect Aura: • Slowing Effect: Enemy units within the aura’s radius experience reduced movement speed, making it harder for them to maneuver. • Damaging Effect: Enemy units within the aura’s radius take continuous damage over time, gradually wearing them down. • Strategic Use: Infested Swarm with the area of effect aura and activated ability could be strategically deployed to control key choke points, disrupt enemy formations, or defend against incoming attacks. It could also be used offensively to support friendly units during engagements or to harass enemy forces. • Balancing Considerations: The radius, duration, slowing effect, and damage of the aura would need to be carefully balanced to ensure it provides meaningful impact without being too overpowering. Additionally, the energy cost, drain rate, and cooldown of the ability would need to be adjusted to prevent excessive energy usage and ensure strategic management of resources.

[@mytoOSRS]

any1 else play stormgate and realize how good sc2 is

[@ParallaxEffect]

'I had a decent number of pills' ..... wait WHAT? :P

[@teddanville6996]

He got game 1 and game 3 basically with superior strategy.

[@wedgeantilles8575]

This. A lot of people whine about "Zerg too strong" - but Maru was extremly greedy (to the point of: being stupid) in Game 1 + 3 - and got punished for it. That is not an indicator that Zerg is too strong. What do people hope? That Terran can play as greedy as they want and still be fine? "I build 4 CCs, only SCVs and my first combat unit at minute 5, 10 seconds later I got overwhelmed, Zerg IMBA"??? Like Serral said: Why do you play 3 CC against a 2 base opening. That some people still whine about balance when Serral obviously outclassed him strategy-wise is just insane and shows that these people have 0 idea what they are talking about.

[@teddanville6996]

@@wedgeantilles8575actually you could say Maru was being stupid, or that Serral being too good got into Maru’s head, and Maru felt the need to pivot, to gamble to get great advantages so he can level the playing feel with Serral. Maru playing standard? He probably still lose to Serral so why not try some greed right? Honestly it’s a beat down from Serral. I have watched Clem vs Serral for years now and as soon as i saw Serral 3-0 Clem, i instantly know that he won IEM for sure because he was simply playing too well.

[@wedgeantilles8575]

@@teddanville6996 Yeah, that is a fair point. You probably need to be very greedy. And if you know that playing normal will loose the game, taking big risks is not stupid but the only thing you can do to have a chance of winning. Good point!

[@gweny1239]

Looks like you're the one having 0 idea about the game .... Maru was everything but greedy .... In a metagame where terran play a fast 3rd CC around 2.30 80% of the game, Maru played Hellion + Banshee and a 4.10 3rd CC in game 1. Which is considered the safest terran macro opener. Maru confirmed the 3rd of the zerg, you can't just sit on 2 bases when as zerg you can just pop 15 drones at the time .... Probleme is more it's pretty hard to scout the overseer + queens which counter the banshee play. Early push roach have been free win for more like 10 years because it's counter pretty well the standard macro play terran@@wedgeantilles8575

[@alexcoady420]

This is a fantastic thing to go over games with the players that played them. especially tournament matches. Could have a dope series. Raynor, clem, showtime, etc. Thanks for the great content you handsome devil.

[@ambarkulkarni2772]

Serral sounds a lot like Kimi from F1

[@pahis1248]

nope

[@Faux.Player]

Two part question Part 1 Wouldn’t having the vipers on a second control group by themselves be a good thing? That way they can use their abilities then move to the back or back to the base to consume? Part two After getting micro buffs for the high Templar and the raven what do you think about adding one of these two potential micro enhancements to the Viper's consume: 1. Implementing an autocast feature that targets any building within range as long as it is orange or higher health, prioritizing empty extractors for consumption, depleting them down to 151 health before moving on to the building with the highest percentage of maximum health. This would utilize many buildings regeneration vs consuming a few down to red. Autocast will only activate if the Viper has less than 150 energy. 2. Introducing the option to cast the consume ability from the mini-map or any building within sight of a spot on the map, following the same prioritization rules as described above. This allows players to queue up multiple consumes from the mini map. This would still require some micro and timing because the player would have to ensure the Viper has sufficient time to feed before calling them back to the front lines (travel time and 14 sec per cast with a 1 sec cool down, this would still take around a minute to get the bonus 150 consume energy). This approach aligns better with the concept of directing the Viper to consume entire bases rather than targeting individual extractors or the hatchery. From a lore perspective, it's illogical for a Viper not to consume nearby buildings if it requires energy. By enabling either of these enhancements, players can maintain a more consistent spellcasting rhythm within current balance parameters, albeit with slightly reduced micro-management. Watching high-level players utilize the consume ability reveals the challenge of targeting specific buildings within limited timeframes, making these improvements valuable. There would still be counter play with this, it could potentially leave the vipers vulnerable to pick offs as they are running back and forth between the base and the army. A full energy viper would be a juicy target for the new high templars feed back spam, and even though spreading the consume damage out would lessen the effect this would weaken the bases more especially if important tech, defensive, or upgrading buildings are accidentally targeted.

[@noobo56]

Incredible video thanks pig! Love the detailed questions and analysis, you’re so good at bringing out his thought process. Glad he spent so much time with you as well, thanks to our favorite mammal

[@HappyTwoBe]

Finally watching this. So much good info. Love hearing Serral speak about his experiences playing the game.

[@stonecoldscubasteveo4827]

Byun got reapers nerfed, now Serral got infestors nerfed lol.

[@attractivegd9531]

they got buffed on previous patch

[@Nil-js4bf]

Love hearing a pro's perspective of the games. Thanks PiG! 32:00 That was an oddity I noticed during the stream. Maru actually had more workers than Serral while defending Serral's attacks.

[@MrLemonbrick]

Raven's are so clunky , a part from seeing invisible units they don't have that good clear abilities like say investors or templars. The anti armor missile just is not as useful or as good. i think late game terran needs more specific ghosts, (they are the answer to everything, probably need a nerf ), better BC's (they are comical) and Ravens with abilities that are worth the micro , like vipers, so terrans can fell like its worth to include them

[@jonegeland5036]

Cant believe how open he is about his pill usage.

[@toaster4k]

You are right, its impossible to find a nerdiest video. I enjoyed it very much

[@HappyTwoBe]

31:57 "I'm never surprised." Words of the GOAT

[@Faux.Player]

Here is another idea that would be fun and much better than the air armor spell. Creep Infestation: • Description: The Infestor spreads a special creep-like substance at a target location, which does not provide vision but grants healing effects and increased movement speed to friendly units standing on it. It does not block building construction. • Effect: Upon casting, the Infestor creates a patch of Creep Infestation at the designated location. This substance does not grant vision like regular creep, but friendly units standing on it benefit from increased health regeneration and movement speed. The healing effect is similar to that of a Queen’s Transfusion ability, providing passive healing over time without an initial health boost. • Duration: The Creep Infestation lasts for 30 seconds. • Strategic Use: Creep Infestation can be strategically placed to support friendly units during engagements, allowing them to sustain longer in battles and maneuver more effectively across the battlefield. It can also aid in defensive or offensive maneuvers by providing a tactical advantage to the controlling player. • Balancing Considerations: The healing rate and movement speed bonus provided by Creep Infestation are balanced to ensure they provide a meaningful advantage without being overpowering. The duration of the effect and the energy cost of the ability are adjusted to prevent excessive spamming. Introducing Creep Infestation as an ability for the Infestor adds a unique supportive aspect to its gameplay, allowing players to manipulate the battlefield and provide strategic advantages to their army without necessarily revealing their intentions through vision. Additionally, its non-blocking nature ensures that it does not interfere with building construction.

[@thepowers100]

Hey! Got recommended this video and couldn’t help myself from watching the whole thing! Serral is a BEAST

[@cmm3338]

here is the thing about starcraft... if you are playing at your best... you are not thinking much. Just doing.

[@shellminator]

Serral is the greatest SC2 player ever for me.. excelent macro and micro, the gold mix of cheese, timings and long macro games.. Excellent tactics and planning and the best execution.. Also the best Z in defending early agression like two barracks etc. Longest longevity on top as well and finally a very big winning % vs the best players like Maru etc ! This guy is a fucking genius

[@ML-rs7we]

Serral simply robs an empty house... lol

[@nickmcnickable]

Serrals sub average micro, but he's tabbing back home and macroing like a god and microing like a god

[@wedgeantilles8575]

57:00 - Does Serral believe in God? Serral IS god. The god of Starcraft at least ;)

[@nikokiko47]

Pig actually said Maru at first

[@Moeron86]

😅 I thought serral was saying he was using pills. Especially after he said something about hiding it lol and for just a moment I thought "I want some of those so i can compete!!!"😅😅😅 then I remembered I just suck and he's the goat

[@QuisIan]

however, serral was busted by clem in EWC last night :$, merciless 5:0

[@Justbleed434]

56:40 longest pause for the hardest question Serral had to answer (or perhaps yet to answer)

[@alec5151]

Serral is so good it's nuts

[@АндрейШмидт-б3е]

Imagine serral will kill this SCV that building 3d CC. And its never done

[@spidzcats]

I’m really curious on who he thinks he can’t beat using standard play:)

[@venusasaboy]

I think Clem would be the only terran he wouldn't be 100% confident against but even then he's probably 60:40 favoured. He's just like 90:10 against everyone else lmao.

[@beerasaurus]

The goat

[@Athanasia8818]

On the hands hovering over the keyboard vs planting it on the desk. I recommend checking out Grubbys (WC3 world champ) explanation on why wrist issues often occur due to hovering.

[@dustincintron1682]

I'm assuming he answered "How did you beat Maru?" by saying "by playing Zerg" and then you guys spent the remaining 89 minutes and 30 seconds just hanging out.

[@HaploBartow]

Maru's shoulder injury?! Come on, next you'll be hearing about a bad knee stealing the glory of SC2 pros... smh

[@hectatusbreakfastus6106]

I will take all this new knowledge back to the gold league

[@joeydennis7834]

"Do you think you could have won 5-0 instead of 4-0? Was that maybe a mistake?"

[@Yenyeri]

this build is in salt? 9:43

[@JTHundley]

@37:19 "I really love that you're building jewel spellcasters..." wtf is a jewel spellcaster?!

[@HaploBartow]

I had the same question. Maybe a reference to a UMS game type?

[@venusasaboy]

dual. infestor and viper

[@JTHundley]

@@venusasaboy he clearly said jewel, listen to it again.

[@ibfreely8952]

​@@JTHundleyare you being deliberately obtuse

[@JTHundley]

@@ibfreely8952 stop jewelposting.

[@enriquegarciacota3914]

Ohhh nice I love this. Especially appreciate the breakdown of the control groups on that radhuset station game

[@erictred4529]

What a great video. Pig delivers again! Easy Thumbs up! What a chad serral is!

[@threee1298]

Nice! Great interview

[@joeydennis7834]

He just always has multiple transitions planned at each stage depending on how things go and he branches out and plays each variation to perfection

[@nlb234]

so funny to see pig glazing small details and serral just saying "ohhhhh thats just a mistake" 😆

[@stefanfrank7426]

If you make videos that are this long, please add chapters or whatever theyre called

[@admireinspire]

Amazing video idea pig ❤ I didn't know how bad I wanted to see this!

[@mignonne_]

What is serral saying

[@ThusISpake]

Seeeeeeeeeeerral 🐐

[@SliPsHoTiFc]

Probably the coolest video on this channel

[@CashMoneyMoore]

Very fun detailed conversation

[@loudigity0]

I know its true injuries no doubt it just sounds funny to me lolol

[@riquizcasts]

love this!

[@hurricane1nox]

been pretty good for a while lol

[@Magjes]

Thanks, have a good day.

[@njdarda]

the goat

[@yopeace505]

Two legends!😊

[@Not0bito]

Question. Is it legal to use a mouse like the Corsair Scimitar in tournament play in SC2? I have been using an "mmo mouse" for a very long time but, it helps me utilize hotkeys substantially.

[@hugunr]

No pros that I know of use mmo mice for rts. Keyboard hotkeys are faster and more accurate for the most part, and there's no real shortage on a keyboard. Mouse hotkeys are both smaller and using your precision hand. I believe it's legal, just not optimal.

[@Not0bito]

@@hugunr That makes sense. I'm also sure there's some use cases where it could be optimal or viable. In my case, I can use the keys on the mouse MUCH better than I can with the keyboard when pertaining to specific hotkey input but, as I said, I have been using an MMO mouse for a long time. Probably since the first Razer Naga released.

[@JPrescottQ]

Yes it is legit. I think Vibe used to, and maybe still does, use an MMO style mouse in RTS. The reason most dont use an MMO mouse is because of the weight. MMO mice are extremely heavy in comparison to many of the lightweight wireless mice available. The speed and session length that your average SC2 pro plays at would make it very taxing, and I imagine the weight might make your micro less precise. Many SC2 pros develop wrist or shoulder issues as it is, so a heavier mouse wouldn't be doing them any favors.

[@Not0bito]

@@JPrescottQ This is another very valid point and I appreciate the response. I am so used to the weight of an MMO mouse that it doesn't seem heavy to me but, I took a break from my scimitar and used a Death Adder v2 pro or something like that and I remember initially not liking it because it was too light for me

[@antthehckyplayer]

Legal: yes. Good: maybe(?!)

[@kingsgambit7098]

How do you get these replays? I would rather watch them myself or from their point of view. Call it a habit from playing chess for 15 years. We just prefer to do our own analysis. That infestor positioning/control is what we refer to as an immortal game. It would be a shame not to be able to have a library of personal favorites.

[@PiGstarcraft]

esl always puts a link on their twitter after the tournament ends twitter.com/ESLSC2/status/1756772151032516725

[@kingsgambit7098]

@@PiGstarcraft Thank you!

[@loudigity0]

Both got almost identical Money and gas at 18:35 ish crazyness

[@effoffutube]

The only competitor to never leave his homefield advantage.

[@ValDominator]

do you believe in God?

[@zes3813]

no such thing sa overx or nerdx or etc or not, talx etc doesn tmatter, some game s k, doesnt matte,r no nerx etc nmw

[@Hisu0]

PiG, you might want to choose a different thumbnail next time. The way you make Serral look on this one is uh... kinda suggestive)

[@erikm9768]

Dude please dont put such spoilers in the title :( no point for me to watch the series now

[@ibfreely8952]

Bro the tournament was a long time ago, if you're gonna watch it it's to see the games, not the result.

[@FloridaManYT]

He sounds like a robot

[@petercoderch589]

It's pure imbalance. The 2 biggest RTS games, are SC2 and WC3, have absolutely terrible balance.

[@sc2youtube744]

I find serral extremely boring to watch but there's no denying he's the goat.

[@rat2244]

Serral is a great player, but there is no doubt he benefits from playing the most OP race. Just look at which race has won the most tournaments over the last 5 or 6 years. Spoiler alert: its zerg

[@OnigoroshiZero]

Actually, this only proves that Serral is the best. Look at more of the overall statistics not only the wins (which prove Serral is the GOAT), and see how many Terrans are in the top spots compared to both Zerg and Protoss. You can also try and take a look at lower ranks. Terran is broken, Zerg is good but extremely hard, Protoss sucks. The only reason Terrans can't take the big tournaments, is because their race is so broken, that they mostly sucks as players, and they can't compare with the best players.

[@rat2244]

@@OnigoroshiZero I wanted to see if you pulled this out of your ass and unsurprisingly you did :) zerg has way more wins in premier and OVERALL tournaments, which is hilarious cause they also have the smallest playerbase too. The balance council has a bunch of whiny zerg players that cant look at stats and facts and instead probably believe idiotic comments such as yours haha. There is a reason why Maru is the true GOAT since they know his technical play is far superior to Serral since he plays a broken race Protoss is def weak though. Lets pretend to nerf zerg again while buffing them at the same time shall we?

[@Jez4prez1]

@@OnigoroshiZero bro before serral it was rogue doing it, before rogue it was life etc. Zerg has been dominating for a long time u noob. It's obv been zerg, then terran, then toss.

[@coulombs465]

Step 1: play Zerg Step 2: Profit

[@teeee8534]

its just zerg is so overpowered, its long overdue to get nerfed, burrowed infestor can cast spell, vipers can abduct anything from far range, top it all, the varieties of attack method from zerg is so wide, roach rushes, banelings , muta sneak attack, too much of it but the balance team chose to not see it and ignored, serral abused this and get away with it

[@kathorsees]

dude, I'm sorry, but you're just very misinformed. infestors can't cast spells while burrowed. you just saw a whole video of Serral constantly having to pop up his infestors to cast fungal and didn't notice? vipers get countered by vikings, ghosts, high templar, but any anti-air will kill them if you don't babysit them on a different control group. you're dead wrong on the most basic stuff, and you don't even realize it. if Z is so overpowered and has been for long, why aren't any of the pros switching to Z? reynor is the only one who switches in pro tournaments occasionally, and he switches from Z to P. try playing Z for a while and see for yourself!

[@teeee8534]

@@kathorsees there is no cooldown when he unborrowed and cast fungal, this is seriously op and need to be nerfed, you zergs demanded ghost to be nerfed and you get the nerf, how about this?simply in iem katowice maru was caught off guard twice from burrowed infestor and turn the game entirely

[@kathorsees]

@@teeee8534 You clearly haven't watched the video you're commenting under, let alone the whole finals between Maru and Serral. Unburrow + fungal happened at least 7 or 8 times in just the game 2 (Radhuset station), and Maru had good winning chances all the way to the end. Just watch game 2 and count how many times Maru catches and kills the infestor for free VS how many times the fungal lands, but Serral has no units to use that VS how many times the fungal lands and Serral can actually use it. You also don't know how the units you're talking about work. There IS a delay on unburrowing. It's 0.36-0.71 seconds now, and they're increasing it to 0.56-0.71 in the next patch, so nerfing the infestors even more. Just listen to PiG, Winter or any other commentator - Serral is the only one who's precise and good enough to actually land those fungals. Maybe also Dark on a good day. It takes crazy skill and lots of attempts to make it work, and even then it's not guaranteed to win you the fight.

[@teeee8534]

@@kathorsees still nothing that minimal time frame, if its burrowed the vision should be nil, just for hiding purpose, and not allowed to move around, so if you zergs complained about ghost op, and you get the nerf, so what about zergs nerf ?this shouldnt happened, two of the insane terrans clem and maru, whose playing style are so different from each other, cannot touch serral..this is something wrong..the highest rate to win serral is to use his own race..isnt it ironic ?

[@kathorsees]

@@teeee8534 Z got nerfed hard last patch: banes get reduced HP and damage, also nerfs for infestors, lurkers, brood lords... It far outweighs the ghost nerf, which mostly affected TvP anyway bc EMP is more important in TvP. Clem recently won against Serral and picked up a huge tournament (ESL Masters Winter 2023). So when he's at the top of his game, he can beat Serral. But no one is at the top of their game every day. Serral has a 69.8 % winrate against T. Against Z, it's literally the same: 68.4%. Compare it to his winrate against P: 73.4 %.

[@JayDDeeee]

He plays zerg - saved you 90 mins

[@OnigoroshiZero]

Terran is broken, and this is the reason Terrans suck, they never learn to play at this level because their race automatically gives them free wins vs similar or lower level opponents. But you can cry more about Zerg because Serral will keep dominating.

[@JayDDeeee]

@@OnigoroshiZero lol cry more.