StarCraft 2: Serral ROACH RUSHES Maru?! (Best-of-3)

In this video, I cast a best-of-3 series of StarCraft 2 between Serral, the Finnish Zerg phenom, and Maru, the Korean Terran legend. This series was played during the Masters Coliseum 6, a prestigious tournament featuring the best players from around the world.
In this series Serral surprises Maru with an early Roach rush strategy after Maru's failed attack. Will Serral’s gamble pay off or will Maru’s micro skills and multitasking save the day?
Support my work: / lowkotv
Lowko Merch: lowko.shop
My KZbin channels: / lowkotv / morelowko / lowkoclips
Twitch livestream: / lowkotv
Live most days 2-8 PM CET / CEST
The hardware I use: lowko.tv/setup
Be part of the Discord community: / discord
StarCraft 2 is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment.
Kijkwijzer (Dutch viewer guide): 6, violence, fear
#StarCraft2 #SC2 #RTS
--
/ lowkotv
/ lowkotv
/ lowkotv
/ lowkotv
lowko.tv

[@jokerledger5400]

Man that fight over that mineral base was so good, inch by freaking inch.

[@SopaDeLengua]

Seriously one o on f the best moments of StarCraft I’ve ever seen. Maru really knows how to hold on!

[@nocodenoblunder6672]

Why no vikings in that game I am wondering?

[@hunterrandolph3769]

Serral is UNDENIABLE. His greatness will forever be remembered. Great casting lowko you da best boo!

[@supamanmz]

Serral is just loooking so extremely strong now!

[@danc6167]

Boomer Lowko @26:56 "It's not the units that will kill you; it's the economy"

[@matejsvec4451]

:D Grandpa level advice, love it :D

[@DrLife121]

Serral really earning that 95% series win rate against Terran over the last 8 months

[@darfboony824]

​@@hungpo454clem just knows how to deal with serral since they play many times before.

[@werb---]

The music at 42:41 when he mutates the Roaches into Ravagers. So menacing lol

[@RedInside_live]

I just love it when Serral smashes koreean players..

[@Shushishtok]

Oof, what an incredible first game. I think Maru is just so done after losing the first game. He definitely lost focus in the second one. They both played really well!

[@ZC.Andrew]

Yeah it looks like he just mentally gave up. Game One was definitely insane.

[@bruteLulu]

Serral is just something else

[@i_am_ergo]

Despite the bullshit that is lategame terran, the man prevails. What a game.

[@wyburp7970]

I usually hate watching late game tvz, but man serral made it so interesting.

[@Zamiroh]

I don't know why, but I rewatch serral games multiple times with multiple casters. I do like watching a few others (hero, max, Raynor etc), but usually just once them once.

[@darfboony824]

Which caster do u like best?

[@Zamiroh]

@darfboony824 so hard to choose a best, as each have their unique flairs! However, it probably would be close between lowko and winter. I do watch beo, pig, steadfast and rotten as well.

[@benjamineidam]

Know that feel exactly! Serral is just painting art while all others are playing a videogame it feels like sometimes.

[@darfboony824]

@@Zamiroh hahaha same, i cant choose which one is my fav, but i know i dont like winter. Lol

[@Zamiroh]

@darfboony824 yeah winter is unique! I appreciate his sarcasm as I relate, but I could see it easily not resonating with everyone!

[@santiagoarena1605]

You know the video is great when its a best of three and you are in minute +30 and is still game 1. DAAAMN

[@JackSparrow-gn1zn]

Such a weird feeling seeing Maru getting so destroyed in game2 lol

[@polca4love]

I guess playing against Serral has Maru's mind in shambles, because he does not look like the 2nd or 3rd best player in the world when facing the finn.

[@kennethschlueter9338]

It feels like they could make a couple more tiers after grandmaster. In ascending order: -The master's master (players like Maru and Dark) -Serral

[@PeffHus]

i think you mean game twooooooo

[@tungnse]

Maru, Dark, Reynor, hero, clem - tier 1 Serral - tier 0

[@gabriel.hongkong]

Everyone, even some of the best of all time, makes mistakes. And unfortunately those mistakes get exploited to the nth degree.

[@gunkanjima3408]

Game 2 build order works due to getting a total of 4 queens by the time 3 reapers get out oppose to lings.

[@natecw4164]

I dunno man, I'd love a co-cast from Lowko and his cat. Just throw him a bunch of catnip and enjoy the madness 😂

[@ROHIRIMSK]

Yeah but also record cat as well :D

[@taoofjester4113]

Lowko on catnip could be the best thing ever

[@matts5248]

That first game was soooo good. Thanks Lowko.

[@SebastianBlix]

Serral is the ONLY player in SC2 that can make MARU of all people look Diamond. Legend.

[@SebastianBlix]

It’s like Maru has mastered SSJ2 while Serral already has SSJ3 in his pocket.

[@ZerglingLover]

@@SebastianBlixssj?

[@DanStaal]

@@ZerglingLoverSuper Sayjin. DBZ.

[@kimjhin3362]

How Serral can be this good? He is looking like literally undisputed Zerg champion now.

[@eXileris]

the Eric special done with Serral is insane. If only he would try some of those overlord creep/queen drop

[@Owlr4ider]

He did actually do that in a few games, lowko even cast 1 of them, maybe even more than 1.

[@brettstrickland3434]

@lowkotv There is no down side to mules mining out mineral fields faster. You get the same amount of minerals, you just get them faster and you don't have to defend that mineral line for as long. Mining faster is only a positive with no negative. Please stop saying it's a bad thing to mine out a base faster. Love your videos, keep it up!

[@skepabbas9400]

That’s what I was thinking, but I didn’t want to question the grandmaster lowko

[@warnaoh]

"Please stop saying it's a bad thing to mine out a base faster. " Damn that made you emotional xD

[@Komatik_]

The real downside to mules in those lategame situations is that they destroy a part of the minerals due to having lifetime to mine but not complete their last return trip.

[@brettstrickland3434]

@@Komatik_ good point, I didn't think about that. So yes there is one minor down side. I think if you asked most the pro gamers though if they could choose between getting 3,000 minerals in 10 minutes or 3,200 in 14 minutes (fake made up numbers to illustrate the point) they'd still go with the mules. Especially in hectic end game scenarios. That with the fact that mining out a base faster means you don't have to protect it as long, especially the end game minerals farthest from your vulnerable production centers, gives the mules the win in my book.

[@shogun0420]

Great game and commentary as always! Don't get though why so many people keep saying that a disadvantage of the mule is that you empty the mineral fields faster. That's only an advantage, economically speaking. As long as you spend your minerals well, more minerals earlier is always better (plus it allows you to push for more edge bases faster). There's literally no disadvantage to the mule 😍 (aside from running out of scans at inconvenient times)

[@stephanlefebvre7499]

It forces you to expand, which is risky all else equal. In a split map scenario, you getting more minerals in the mid game where you have limited tech, while your opponent gets more in the late game can spell disaster. On the whole, mules are great. These are second order drawbacks. The first order effect is as you say. But I do understand the logic to some (second order) disadvantages of the mules.

[@yemen242]

he use double contaminate on the factory to prevent the siege tank to ever coming out lol

[@Howdy762]

i love these serral games!!!

[@terryivanov9009]

That is why Serral is #1

[@JH-ue2oq]

I'd love to hear little Milo meow into the Mic Lowko! That would blend the two greatest things on earth a Starcraft 2 cast AND cats

[@archapmangcmg]

Lowko "Today, I've got for you something special." No Special. Baited! :P

[@Frondo22]

Sometimes I’ll rewatch that Serral vs. Ragnarok series to remind myself that Serral is indeed a human

[@Sotman.]

watch clem beat him 80 precent of the time lol

[@ZC.Andrew]

Or Clem. Or Reynor. Or Solar. The man is indeed human.... just a really, really OP human.

[@anthonylaine6111]

Ses incroyable comment serral connais le jeux par cœur !!! Ils savez très bien que Maru n avez plus beaucoup de ressources c'est pour cela qu'il a masser son armée a ses portes dans la fin de la première partie ❤❤❤❤

[@lasio16]

5:54 did u see what is going on behind minerals down there? There is some good party going on

[@Earsex4life]

Great casting, enjoyable videos. Thanks.🎉

[@BardKeepseasy]

Lowko intro: vocal cords saving edition

[@minecraftomat123]

Never been as early on a new youtube vid, damn. Lowko I would just like to say I love your vids, even though I can barely play this game. Your cast is just really entertaining and I love your humor. Greetings from Germany

[@vape_monkey]

the side quest narrative continues

[@Chameleon569]

Ah just going on lunch break, perfect timing Lowko thanks!!

[@polca4love]

Zerling backstabs happen in almost every match, specially against terran, since they don't have automatic defenses. To add to this, completely upgraded zerlings would trash unprotected expansions faster than the cost equivalent of marines and zealots could ever hope.

[@GameOgreDonkey]

Yeah, not sure what he was talking about. Serral does it every single game. Cannons don't even work well either for protoss. 10 lings with 5 banelings behind and bye-bye any workers/far out expansions if your opponent isn't paying attention for 2 seconds.

[@polca4love]

@@GameOgreDonkey To be fair the only Starcraft i have watched dor some time is what Lowko post on YT, and in those you will always see zerlings and banes run by. Maybe is not the norm for the majority of matches Lowko watch or play.

[@ZAWARUD00]

26:26 Serral is overmaxxed

[@justinliebenberg2321]

serral needs his own balance patch at this point

[@NeoStorm123]

He has had multiple already

[@IcariumGaming]

​@@NeoStorm123I know you are exaggerating but they can't nerf zerg enough that doesn't completely impact their viability for the vast news who play it. Serral really is quite a ways better than the second best zerg.

[@aliveinside9613]

They’re gonna make an anti-Zerg extension mod to throw in the lobby any time when it’s a series with Serral

[@HaploBartow]

@@IcariumGaming he's actually not exaggerating

[@FernasRPG]

Dude, Serral went over 200 supply

[@tmjp0924]

lowko over here re-writing the calendar to a more modernized starcraft centered one.. today's matches come from the fifth of Maru XD @31:25

[@Nyahgis]

Serral was at 204 supply somehow? (26:15)

[@TrixterTheFemboy]

Maybe he cancelled four buildings after reaching 200 supply or something?

[@Nyahgis]

@@TrixterTheFemboy maybe he had to to morph in extra broods?

[@wraithryder]

you can see in the top left that he started 10 spine crawlers, went to about 196 supply, then cancelled 8 of them to go back to 2 spines instead getting back 8 drones. a few seconds later he starts another 7 spines. Cancelling the Spines is similar to the extractor trick to get more units out over supply but in this case i think Serral was just indecisive about how many spines he wanted

[@illiakuznietsov4162]

42:50 I still cant wrap my mind around it. How do they produce units that fast? Like he morphed ravagers in a single moment. Thats even faster than just a rapid fire. Like I understand he has 1200 apm and all, but still...

[@yannickv.4027]

Ahah my thought too :)

[@gunkanjima3408]

If I’m not mistaken isn’t that a shift + morph button? I can’t remember

[@illiakuznietsov4162]

@@gunkanjima3408 That's the problem. It's not!

[@ObeliskM]

Looks like no one except his own race can beat Serral.

[@Spartsou]

I love Maru! *Let's do this!* 15:36 Lowko: Getting rid of these Roaches and replacing them with [Zerg] Siege Tanks, definitely something that the Zerg Player will like. Me: Serral wishes he could make Siege tanks, lol

[@kw8295]

Serral is the GOAT!

[@MrZiva82]

can't wait too see what will terran use once ghosts are nerfed to the ground in the late game...

[@lucentcloud6388]

the first game took 3/4 of the entire video

[@thomaschang7996]

Woo #1 v #2 w Lowko intro

[@enriquegarciacota3914]

Glad that you enjoyed your holidays in my home country

[@andrewpan5014]

Hey! He did it! He’s lowko and he’s got a professional match of StarCraft 2 for us!

[@Shardarki]

The best of the best facing off again! Augh, I love it so much.

[@brandonotto3031]

When is the patch out?

[@davidandrewburrows1015]

All hail the Terran Empire!

[@robinspanier7017]

Its 1 am in the morning and i wanted to sleep.. i guess sleep can wait.

[@flaccidactyl804]

I feel like contamination is extremely under utilized. I'm surprised their aren't more timing attacks where using contamination to block reinforcements is an element.

[@Davefitz04]

You should tell people more often that you stream. I’ll come watch! :)

[@ThousandYearWinter]

You mean autonomous AI S.E.R.R.A.L.? Starcraft Evaluator- Risk Reward Acceptance Loss

[@zegreatpumpkinani9161]

where was the enthusiasm in your signature intro?!

[@mrgolftennisviolin]

Bring back the mic meows!!!

[@amirjameioskooei1997]

Finally, you started a video properly after a long time 😊

[@hurricane1nox]

game 1 is the best game ive ever seen

[@MrMali22]

Nerdgasm over Serral all you want tell the other people to get over it lol

[@ryanhefner2011]

Ever late game ZvT fight: BLINDING CLOUD GOES OUT AMAZING FUNGAL Then, the Terran army auto-loses. It's not even fun to watch it happen every game.

[@benjamineidam]

Serral!!!!!

[@yamilabugattas3895]

How many arms/eyes does Serral have? I refuse to believe it's just two.

[@murk4545]

Man zerg late game looks so impossible to play as a mid MMR player

[@alexanderwhite298]

Lowko i think you should watch giantgrantgames play the most recent junker mod and teach him how to charge ramps properly. I felt embarrassed for him.

[@573lange2]

how maru landed the comand to let the mules return the minerals

[@danteprokrustes4795]

Lowko dont you know that no one plays roaches in 2023 ? Batlle net forums said so

[@IcariumGaming]

I heard tournaments are going to dedicate 20% of their prize pool to Serral for not playing ;)

[@michaelharder3055]

The factories will be producing to Thors as opposed to when something else produces Thors? I'm not familiar with the concept Captain Obvious ;)

[@MasterMMM703]

What happened to nydus worms?

[@WisperArt]

When is the new patch coming?

[@navins11]

Lowko, why did you stop calling it the Erik opener?

[@smotbutterman1127]

Is this a repeat cast?

[@ericjohnbriones7615]

nice game

[@philippelegarrec2835]

Max larva on a hatch/lair/hive is 19

[@SD-jf7nb]

I think it's actually 20, but one dies after a bit if you don't use it, taking you back to 19, although I have it in my head that it's 18 - 1, so 17 per hatch.

[@normanharrison8215]

27:04 40:30

[@giancarlocorlazzoli5527]

What does the extractor trick accomplish?

[@LowkoTV]

It allows you to go above the supply cap

[@Shushishtok]

To expand on it, say you have 14/14 supply. If you tried to make a drone at that point, you wouldn't be able to, since you're supply blocked. However, if you take one of your drones and tell it to make an Extractor, it morphs into the Extractor (essentially killing the drone), which moves you to 13/14 supply. Then you can make a drone. Then, you cancel the Extractor, getting the drone back. Since SC2 only checks supply at the time of issuing an order to make a unit, you will now have 15/14 supply. Worth mentioning that since cancels only refunds 75% of the building's cost, you lose about 6 minerals, which is abysmal and totally worth it for the quicker drone production.

[@abcdeeer]

speaking of fawning over serral, you can see it when you compare dark and serral both making 6 overlords at once to become droppers. serral gets praise/optimistic outlook 90% of the time while dark gets questioned/pessimistic outlook or believing its a mistake more than he does praise. in the end its prolly right to go in those directions as one plays near perfect and the other is a mad man lol

[@Jerrysaurus]

Why not bring back "Eric opener" instead of hatch trick? Gamer lore is why we have leroyjenkins

[@RoCdota]

Wonder who wins..

[@JabbaDeBob]

love watching your casts man but but please don not zoom in and out so much - we just wanna see everything

[@megiemaster]

How did serral have 204/200???

[@michaelharder3055]

You are saying that Maru wants to fight Zerg but that it will be hard off creep without Queens and Sporecrawlers. WHAT THE F DOES THAT MEAN?

[@jeremyduke4938]

Not a spoiler alert, serral wins.

[@allenlea4654]

Like to block spoilers. 😁💪👍

[@WordSonFoRealz]

Been watching sc2 on youtube for maybe a year now. My two big questions im curious about are why terran dont build at least 1 raven in tvz to clear creep and why do people play protos?

[@braydenswinhart]

Simple answer is there’s no time for it. Between pumping out medivacs and transitioning to either Vikings or Liberators there’s no spot to fit it in. Plus although it’s at the cost of a mule a scan isn’t that expensive, and mules are great for money now but make you use up your resources quicker and if you don’t have the infrastructure for it you’ll just be hoarding unused recourses and be inefficient in your macro. Simple answer 2: electric boogaloo, it’s not that bad to be a Protoss, it’s just most top Terran and Zerg players look really strong against them while lower tier players it’s more even. Data is a little skewed. The other answer is they’ve spent years perfecting their strategies and unit control in Protoss that if they switch they’ll never be as good (with exceptions because some TOP tier player can play 1 or both off races with great ability). Protoss has been up and down since launch and they are either broken or as you see now. With the infrequent balance patches Protoss gets hurt the most as they require fresh meta that balance changes bring.

[@WordSonFoRealz]

@@braydenswinhart i used to see it more with banshee opens. 2 banshees and a raven would clear creap. If you sent it out with 4 marines to catch overseers and creep tumors on thrle edge of the creep i think it pays for itdelf after only a couple scans. (I think 4 marines 1 shot a creep tumor) Protos is tacky and i hate them. I met a protos once. Didnt care for them.

[@braydenswinhart]

@@WordSonFoRealz the banshee raven opener was popular when roach play was bigger and we saw a lot of roach all-ins. Banshees are a great response to them and raven with anti-armor missile and auto turrets were a great support. If the game went to the mid game then they could become a small creep clearing hit squad. With roaches falling out of favor and instead only 12 or so being produced for defense, the whole reason for making 2 banshees and a raven diminishes. Now we only see 1 banshee for worker harass. The only armored unit available early-mid for Zerg is roach so anti armor missile isn’t effective until late game and with infestors one neural anti armor destroys late game Terran. Auto turret is nice but good zergs don’t lose mineral lines to it so that and the detector trait aren’t enough justify sacrificing a lot of gas and a lot of time with a tech lab on the starport. And yes Protoss is the worst designed race, and anyone who plays that knowing that is stinky because they rely on the fact it can be absolutely broken with a few small balance changes. If you play Protoss because cool aliens then no longer stinky to me.

[@WordSonFoRealz]

@@braydenswinhart there is a lot of roach/ravager rushes going around. I usually see banshees in 3s. The single banshee scout/harras seems kinda rare. Even if you dont keep the raven into the late game for its spells, the early game detection seems worth it. A protos with 6 fingers killed my father

[@janmurco1170]

Sorry for stupid question but at 26:21 204/200 supply, how?

[@obliviouslich1722]

You morph a drone into a building, use the larva to make a unit, then cancel the building. Is the essence of the 15 drone hatchery that Lowko is talking. Instead of creating an Overlord when 15 drones, you create a hatchery, then morph one drone into a extractor, produce a drone, then cancel the extractor.

[@573lange2]

but why 25 min into the game? @@obliviouslich1722

[@luckycandy101]

Woah, another TvZ where Zerg just crushes the late game. I think we need more Ghost nerfs.

[@gardianx5293]

That's serral for you. He's an insane player. Serral's control, macro, etc, is just absolutely bonkers. Byun mighta got the reaper nerfed, but serral gets the entire race nerfed when he's at his peak.

[@polca4love]

​@@gardianx5293 And as everyone knows, Maru is a crap player. Who's that? No one knows.

[@gardianx5293]

@@polca4love never said that. Maru is a fantastic player but he was making mistakes this time around. It wasn’t his best showing by a long shot.

[@ObeliskM]

Serral didn't play perfectly too. Yet he won decisively.

[@gardianx5293]

@@ObeliskM he played better than maru this time. More on point with his movements, less delays on unit production/etc. It wasn’t that maru played badly, serral just played better

[@thomaschevrierlaliberte5884]

As anyone heard of the new Darksoul planned for 2024? I heard the final boss' final form is actually Serral.

[@redautomatadj-knot2666]

Hi I'm new here, I just wondering, Did Maru ever won Against Serral recently or not

[@MrZiva82]

once only i believe

[@SaltpeterTaffy]

AAH, cursed intro! It has the right words, but the wrong intonation!

[@rahmansyahardhi984]

Nerf baneling

[@veloryantrag3239]

At this point, despite being a zerg, I started waiting for someone to beat Serral in TvZ. At least for the time being.

[@ObeliskM]

Even Maru and Oliveira couldn't, so probably nobody can. Neither can protoss. ZvZ is Serral only weakness.

[@dfsdsfsdfsadfdsfa223]

@@ObeliskM clem just beat him today

[@slimguyneedsfood]

😊😊😊

[@Daniel-rd6st]

Spoiler I wonder, i think i have watched most Serral vs. Maru series and cant recall Serral ever losing a series, at least not in a tourament. Has Maru ever won a series against Serral?

[@user-fl2co1oh3i]

wesg2017, 200000$ game

[@Daniel-rd6st]

Oh okay, thats a few years back 🙂@@user-fl2co1oh3i

[@hunterrandolph3769]

@@user-fl2co1oh3ithat was also the first head to head match for Maru against serial I think

[@zes7215]

no such thing as rank x or 1 or not, cepuxuax, any perfx any nmw

[@TheDenzel2112]

Zerg OP

[@alexpep7892]

Maru has been given the Worf Effect treatment by Lowko these days. Maru is always talked up as this great SC2 player so when the other player beats him, the winning player looks really strong. Except Maru rarely wins anymore on Lowko casts. It makes me sad, because Maru is my favorite competitive SC2 player.

[@LowkoTV]

There are only a handful of Maru replays available. I cast what I can.

[@Owlr4ider]

Maru rarely wins any more? What? He just won 2 GSLs pretty recently... His 5th and 6th overall, more than anyone else ever did.