Serral, #1 Zerg vs MaxPax, #1 Protoss! StarCraft 2

[@LDSG_A_Team]

That first game was absolutely peak Starcraft!

[@lazaruslong697]

So Serral finally did it. He managed to get zerg nerfed so hard that even he can't win himself. Good job man. 🤣

[@SilverforceX]

He just beat Hero in a major finals, taking home huge $$

[@displacedicon7643]

​@@SilverforceXonline major, and he did also beat Maxpax and Reynor leading up to the finals. Looks like it took about a month for Serral to evolve a counter to the current balance meta. Just hope the other top Zerg can also evolve otherwise they will be purified...

[@ethans5198]

@@SilverforceX who ousted clem on that tournament?

[@DrLife121]

​@@ethans5198 he fell out in the group stage via Zoun and Spirit

[@ethans5198]

@ Thank you for your answer, that is a surprise.

[@Pleasers]

Balance council finally achieved the goal of making Zerg late game so bad that Serral just quits early unless he has a massive lead

[@lefthanded0440]

And Zerg isn’t the perfect race where one fungal ruins your all out win

[@kindenigma4119]

@@lefthanded0440 it doesnt because its been nerfed you troglodyte

[@BlockheadJiujitsu]

*Terran council 😉

[@inmanis2924]

@lefthanded0440 ik you’re starting this in bad faith, but if zerg was perfect and had ezgg one button spellcasters, why was only serral and occasionally dark finding success? if zerg is now getting dumpstered after their spellcasters were nerfed, doesn’t that mean they’re actually super weak and have trash units?

[@erikwilks3387]

@@BlockheadJiujitsu you're absolute right it is the Terran Council

[@phongminh2588]

Balance "prevent turtling". Protoss: thanks council, it's time to turtle.

[@HaploBartow]

Game 1 was amazing. Truly an unstoppable force (Serral) vs an immovable object (MaxPax).

[@justinlindner313]

Hello Lowko! Watching from Montana, u.s.a. and have been a fan for years now. I must say, I love the professional casts you do, and always have, this one was just truly fun to watch. Was enthralled from start to finish. Wonderful game, and video. Well done bud!

[@itsnotjustlucas2151]

Lowko be like: Serral VS THE #1 PROTOSS IN THE WORLD ------> HerO!!!! Also Lowko 1 week later: Serrrrrrraaalll VS THE #1 PROTOSS IN THE WORLD --------> MAXPAX!!!!!

[@Tillallare1]

Technically they both are. Hero in offline tournaments and Maxpax in online ones

[@YoungbloodEric]

He actually doesnt lie, he uses "Rank 1 Protoss" and #1 Protoss in the world, which are technically different. MaxPax has a higher ranking than Hero most weeks, but he does not play offline tournaments so he cannot be declared the "#1 Protoss" without tournament results. So hero is technically the #1 pro protoss, while maxpax out ranks him on ladder i believe. Its a subtle difference but Lowko does differentiate between them

[@Tillallare1]

@@YoungbloodEric that’s what I said…

[@allhailderpfestor4839]

Its crazy how Serral gets crushed here but on later series that Winter casted today he crushed Maxpax. He is clearly adapting

[@draco89123]

Makes me think he just taps out to juice the Protoss numbers. Aligulac number boosting. Sentiment number boosting.Serral probably just fooling around. That's why it's important to look at the numbers when money is on the line.

[@hivecasts]

is it just me or does anyone else love it when Lowko puts emphasis on "absolute banger" like at 0:59?

[@zaphirdk]

The term "banger" has been reintroduced into my vocabulary by Lowko, after being forgotten for a couple of decades.

[@HitoSarg]

Please provide commentary for the Her0 vs MaxPax game from the same tournament. I really want to know what the hell happened.

[@MrBoBrilO]

What

[@kennethctm]

Maxpax's avatar being just a zealot is so real

[@Mikivericks]

Thanks for the video, Lowko. Top rank of each race against each other? This is going to be fantastic! ❤

[@danieltafoya9841]

Giving Zerg and upgrade to expand their supply limit in the late game would be cool. Adding anywhere between 5-20 supply. Or giving hatches the ability to instantly create a round of zerglings in the late game, even give those zerglings like a timer instead of health.

[@kosmosXcannon]

Reminds me of the Terran supply depot from the sky ability

[@zabbulator707]

Ive thought about something similar for a while. It doesnt even have to be an actual supply increase, the upgrade could instead make drones cost less supply (like in coop). This would fit zergs identity very well as the race thats supposed to have superior economy at all times. It would have to be a quite expensive hive upgrade ofc, like 1000/1000 maybe. Theyll never implement that but it would be really cool and the perfect way to make zerg lategame armies stronger in the most zerg way possible - having more units.

[@tchunzulltsai5926]

That would be a huge change but a good direction IMO. A proposal I have in mind could be to introduce a tier 3 research increasing the larva generation speed and larva cap from hatcheries. This would effectively free up several supply from the queens and make zerg slightly less APM demanding in the late game. And you would still need superior economy to capitalize on that. This could also make Zerg more approachable for lower-level players like us, who only have two sloppy hands.

[@PeterSeifert-zn5up]

I think this would just lead to more turteling by protoss/terran Baneling and lategame Buff would be nice though

[@zabbulator707]

@PeterSeifert-zn5up I believe we would see less terran/protoss turtling against zerg if terran/protoss lategame would stop being favored. Any zerg lategame buff, be it along the lines of the above ideas or just something simpler like making broodlords great again (theyre a *siege* unit, their whole purpose is to break turtling players) would help a lot here.

[@robertnicholson2522]

"step-mothership" lawl. Lowko humor so good.

[@Yamez226]

What if Mutas had a greater spire transformation, as a late game anti-ground/air option? Make them muta-te into a valid tier 3 unit for Zerg's late game.

[@zerashkderp6920]

I remember when mutalisks mutated

[@bloodydove5718]

@@zerashkderp6920 lol I was just thinking this

[@schippes24]

Basicly what mutas do in sc1 is morf into either broodlords or corruptors

[@Nachozik]

​@@schippes24well, apparently, in company guards can attack air from a not bad distance and deal some good damage. Just let them be slightly faster than tempests, and there will be a play against toss. Or let mutas evolve to vipers, so after mutalisk harass you could evolve them one by one into some good unit. Also let new viper attack and deal some damage, like they did to high templars. I'd like to see that kind of changes

[@schippes24]

@@Nachozik cant make those changes, zerg aint braindead enough to get Autoattack on vipers so they can F2 A-move easier 🤣

[@0blivioniox864]

Archons+Air ... Unquestionably a F2+A army. Try to explain what zerg has to do to counter it, and you'll gain understanding of why Serral taps out early. Fuk it man, my hands hurt just thinking about it.

[@Nachozik]

There is nothing we can do. Just try to not to let it happen.

[@0blivioniox864]

@@Nachozik so try to end every single "vs P" game early I guess.

[@Nachozik]

@@0blivioniox864 I know your pain, I'm a zerg too. It is just shameful, that all we have to do, is to TRY to end game asap, or end up like serral in these series

[@TheNextLevelUp1]

Let’s see a 1v1v1 FFA with seral, max pax and Clem.

[@schippes24]

I think the balance council pushed zerg far enough into a "all lategame units are niche at best" corner to allow the bugfix on the broodlords to go live again. Let's be real, it's a disgrace that people decided that it's fair to leave a unit bugged even tho we have a bugfix ready

[@Theak47forall]

What a series. Both these guys are just insane. I compare my own peasant skills to this and it's depressing 🤣🤣

[@votecthulhu9378]

one of the best games I have seen in a LONG time

[@MilkMan9295]

41:47 simply breathtaking

[@ShyuzTV]

Honestly thought it was going to be Serral vs Clem

[@reeddragon5250]

I think it's not the Zerg who is OP, but Serral Himself even with underpowered Zerg right now, he manage to pull the move like that

[@schippes24]

Yeah and since his opponents balance the game they balance it around him and not the race.

[@DrOstentorious]

MaxPax: *kills 3 zerglings* Serral: gg

[@HeavyMetalGamingHD]

Oh boi. This is insanely high level gameplay.

[@dmustakasjr]

that huge 1st map win for Serral was so key.

[@ambion19]

Feel like sending even one dropperlord of roaches to defend the nydus as it goes up might work? The worm head is just too fragile on its own, it's a bit pathetic to see all the panic resolved by 2 zealots and a stalker

[@Tsaigos]

Is Serral losing a lot more because he's making more mistakes? Or is he losing because there's nothing else he can do?

[@ChristianSandviknes]

I'd argue that the state of ZvP is at least a lot of the reason; though I don't know exactly how proficient Serral is compared to before he went to the army

[@kosmosXcannon]

Is Serral doing the same with Terran or is it just Protoss?

[@ChristianSandviknes]

@ Seems to be doing better, except against Clem - but this isn't based on statistics, just my feeling from watching some games

[@inmanis2924]

his ranking has taken a nosedive specifically in ZvP post patch, as has every top rank zerg’s. meanwhile protess players have all started increasing (see aligulac) protess is busted

[@prolamer7]

it is because zerg are accustomed to just bully tos, well they cant do that anymore and they furrious

[@MrBlink666]

He said : "I'am getting nerd chills"

[@SSteelux]

They fought twice in the masters coliseum. Crazy games too

[@Leskitsafrenic]

I feel like the dividing line with Zerg players is between those who do and don't have high competency with spellcasters. A little oversimplification, but it seems to be frequent enough to be a thing. Until this patch, at least. Now it's even harder.

[@ambion19]

Watching the little oracle get so many revelations on so many lurkers in game 3 was crazy. The whole concept of Protoss detectors were that you would never be sure if they were there or not, hard to find but worthwhile to identify and target down, especially skill-rewarding if you managed to focus that tiny thing in the midst of a big battle. Now protoss has effectively gained the terran scan for free on top of that, making that whole observer gameplay interactions redundant. There's no wasted efficiency with the oracle because even if there's nothing to go detecting, excess energy can still be used on the always useful stasis traps. If revelation didn't do detection it would still be useful for tracking armies for that matter I like the energy overcharge in concept, but I'm starting to think it should apply exclusively to sentries

[@AdmiralBison]

Max Pax and Clem seem to be Serral's current rivals on the level Raynor use to be. Let's see if they have what it takes to go the distance.

[@paladinoateista9173]

LOWKO i finished your 10 hour video, now i want more 🙋

[@pandalover900]

Lowko referencing a video of someone who's not in the cultural zeitgeist of anyone younger than the millennium is peak "old man energy". Thanks for that dood.

[@agran4137]

Hello, Mr. Logo (subtitles have replaced you again) I have a humble question could we get more of the Player's POVs - its genuinely interesting seeing how fast they play in certain situation.

[@azzzo3802]

This gonna be fire

[@Granas1988]

Top Protoss are winning Bo5s against Top Zerg? What year is it? Next we get a premier tournament win from a Protoss?

[@schippes24]

Well with tournaments being 80% protoss it has to happen some day

[@Granas1988]

@@schippes24 The last premiuer tournament win was DH SC2 Masters 2022 Atlanta Nov 18 - 20. So yea EVENTUALLY we might have a win.

[@user-SID22]

I don't understand why zerg don't use spellcasters as before. The 1st game Serral has mass viper infestor and he just smashed Max. The he didn't do any or just one and of course max would kill him. Zergs became lazy lately with spell casting. Just because mothership is not abductable is poor exuse for not making infestors or vipers.

[@madrooski9982]

Yeah serral is the only Zerg that effectively uses spellcasters. I saw a Reynor best of 3 against maxpax and he only ever had one viper no investors and got smoked after A-moving his army into archon tempest

[@briancunningham7839]

Exactly what I was thinking. In game one he had 7 infestors in a cluster, when they died he instantly remade them. They clearly had utility. Para bombs on the mothership helped too, but there wasn't a single spell in the latter games. I get they're expensive units, but against the protoss late game deathball with just lurkers and corruptors you're going to to get outmaneuvered by defensive archons without the spells to help zone and chase

[@schippes24]

My guess is because unlike ghosts and high templars, zerg casters cant fight / recycled into fighting units. Both casters are made for basicly one spell each (parasitic and fungal, neuro rarely works nowadays) since mothership cant be yoinked anymore.

[@zaphirdk]

I don't actually think there is any history between Denmark and Finland. Denmark has mostly dealt with the closer neighbors (Sweden, Norway, England and the northern parts of Germany). Finland has mostly been a "too far away, and too cold to bother with it - and besides, it's full of fins", where as the other areas/countries have had riches ready for plunder.

[@SeanDaSuzy]

I think the main issue here is that Zerg has been nerfed to the ground pretty much on every unit composition. Zerg late game was too strong, but it got nerfed. Zerg early game was too strong, so they nerfed the queens and the bannelings. Basically, zerg doesn't have a really good window anymore to actually use their race to their strength. And all of that is without accounting for the worst cost efficiency units in the game. And if you go even further, zerg has the slowest tier 3 unit rush of all the races, yet their tier 3 units are the worst in the game. It's just plain unfair. Either make it come way faster, or make it stronger. But it can't be slow and bad.

[@Leeroy49]

Serral at least looks like a human being. For MaxPax we don't have any evidence for that. Could be anyone or anything (AI, Alien,... who knows). GGs.

[@robert-asdf]

mandatory military service? anyone know what specifically in the military he does? i don't know where to start and don't feel like researching it.

[@leoheriban5809]

A new unit for zerg would be absolutely massive.

[@schippes24]

How about we give zerg one actual good tier3 unit. Tell me one tier3 toss unit that throws your game 90% of the time you tec for it. Terrans at least have Cattlebruisers that kinda fall into that category since they're so hard to pull off

[@moondough1279]

Put a beard on Serral in the thumbnail, and he will say "Then shall die as one of them!" *Queue bridge of Khazad Dum*

[@BukovTervicz]

Hey look, a Zv* on the current patch. I wonder who wins 🙄

[@TOAONI]

holy the first game!!!!

[@5x385]

take a shot every time lowko says multi-player balance patch, two if it's prefaced with "new"

[@hirzo6287]

41:45 perfection

[@zabbulator707]

Removing infested terrans which used to be the only good lategame anti-air option for zerg was a mistake

[@tytar1037]

To be fair, they were too good. Agree they should have been adjusted instead of removed

[@dargordagaroth1451]

Meanwhile terran is getting a new unit every balance patch. The cyclone has fulfuilled 3 different functions if I count right

[@zabbulator707]

@@tytar1037 Exactly, they had so many variables to adjust them. DPS, energy cost, throw range (which was reduced right before they got removed), walk speed, duration, attack range, HP, egg duration before they spawn... I'd even say they were probably one of the easiest units to balance because of this. No other unit has so many possible angles for adjustment. But nah, lets give the "Infestor" a storm-here indicator instead 🙄

[@jeremyduke4938]

🛡️ SPOILER SHIELD 🛡️

[@ErugoPurakushiOne]

1:09:14 the perfect storms OMG

[@i9erek]

Broodlords seems to be the best performing against toss.

[@tacochaos5127]

So weird that we see this lineup and already know MaxPax wins

[@Stormwovles]

it feels like Zerg need to get favorable trades to win, but Zerg units aren't good at that, they die super easy, in some cases this makes sense like Zerglings, cheap but effective, easy to replace. but then we get to units like the Broodlords or Mutas which like a batch of Ghosts or Archons instantly delete them respectively. To win as Zerg you seem to have to play out of your mind, and even then its not a solid win, its a slog.

[@deceptive1217]

Mother ship recall is to op.

[@Burneth_]

With current zerg being the way it is, will be hilarious if he somehow manages another nerf for zerg xD

[@jvz001]

what a game!

[@WoA596]

Maxpax on top form here. What a beast.

[@TheScalysnake]

Yea nothing but top tier content.

[@NikksTV]

Hero is the best protos player. Doesn't matter about how good he is offline. It's like being the player in a sport but not playing the professional league

[@help1ng316]

Nerf roaches and stalkers, buff ghosts to 1 supply only, CANNOT believe non-terran is still being played.

[@lukaspinedajara6929]

who is rank 1 protoss, Hero or Maxpax

[@WilliamBunch-z9s]

Probious Maximus

[@prolamer7]

Finally after all those years protos is actually better than zerg.... FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!

[@xellotecky]

did blizz finally kill their last franchise?

[@smerhawk]

Why does no one run corruptor/brood lord?

[@madrooski9982]

Serral sometimes does and wins against maxpax, it’s just a little slow and hard to tech to but it is the best

[@wedgeantilles8575]

Brood lord are incredible slow. Like: Way too slow. Toss can just be on one side of the map - then uses the mothership to recall to the other side. Takes down two bases of Zerg, then uses a Nexus on the other side of the map to recall there. Takes another 2 bases of Zerg. Toss has so much more speed, that there is nothing you can do as a Zerg, as long as the Toss keeps "abusing" his speed advantage. On most maps, Zerg gets completly outplayed with corruptor/brood lord because Toss never has to engage in an actual fight but can just constantly take out your outside bases. And if you try to get into a base race - good luck doing that with Broodlords. Broodlords are - according to almost every Zerg (Lambo, Reynor...) just a very bad unit.

[@AlekCrawford-personal]

I think zerg late game have no choice but going ultralisk or broodlord, since waves of high zerg count is just obsolete on late game, and making play with these 2 units would be the direction zerg have to go

[@schippes24]

If only those two werent crushed by skytoss. Ultras get melted by immortals and broods outranged by tempest. And if toss positions himself wrong . Personally toss has too many possibilities for my taste right now. All those buffs from the past years add up and now that we finally see a toss player not making gold league mistakes (like moving the zealot in the wall-off) it shows. Personally i think it'd be enough to just put the bugfix that we actually have for broodlords live. I mean.. why do we have a bugfix for a situation in the game and dont put it live?! Because terrans and toss feel like it's too strong then.

[@AlekCrawford-personal]

​@@schippes24 I seriously don't understand the broodlord balance just being thrown down the bin, nonetheless ultralisk and broodlord is still part of zerg army toolset and often underused, the question becomes is it worth it adapting our gameplay around these unit crucial for the long term patch? I guess this is inevitable if the patch stays long term unchanged

[@schippes24]

@ i think leaving a unit bugged on purpose is just cowardly from toss+terran^^

[@marus3953]

I find it funny that Serral is playing to win and not for our enjoyment. If that was true Serral or other professional players should be choosing the meta units.

[@Rorimac67]

Hmm, I really wonder what would be the to go play against that pesky SkyToss with 1 trillion storm and Archons on the ground. You loose on ground and you loose in the air.

[@craigduncan3435]

Life is still the goat idgaF!

[@adreaver]

Is this the first game of the year for 2025?

[@raidensama1511]

Lowko != loco

[@ilyab4792]

whys he tapping so soon?

[@1123nando]

I am confused, can we say that now SC2 is perfectly balanced?

[@ItsPandatory]

Slightly zerg favored now, how many of the zerg wins are Serral?

[@VasilSch]

Серал реально психанул

[@talonblade336]

It just feels like Zerg has to juggle way too much in order to just survive against Protoss :/

[@andrewmackemzie4565]

BRENDA!!

[@pamunkmurdha4466]

🔥🔥🔥

[@Falorik]

I feel like one of the biggest downsides of Zerg is that is has no real hardcounters to Protoss/Terran compositions. You always need to mix things up, you always need to be thinking ahead, you always need to react but you should never overreact. Plus Zerg should be an offensive swarm race, but at the same time, you are always on the defensive and lack the supply to really swarm your enemy. You always play from behind and most Zerg units cost so much supply it is impossible to play a real two front game, even though the ressources would be there. Just imagine Zerg had 250 supply instead of 200, that would solve Zergs most problems.

[@Madosatoshist]

IMO zerg is hardest because it has to win at every aspect simultanuously to win the game. Zerg must have better macro, better micro, win air battles, win ground battles, not missing injects, better agression, better runbys, better casters, and the exact army composition that matches the Terran or Protoss army. Fail only one of these and it's GG.

[@isitha8255]

Gosh this comment section sucks People whining about balance, clowning on balance council, like geez chill

[@DrTrax-zv7ls]

I think if serral Switches to Protoss or terran He would win every game against everyone. Zerg is nerfd to dead.

[@WhitesplainTheWorld]

Finland v. Denmark... A battle between Vikings!

[@alexandershephard7263]

The zerg just feel weaker watching this.

[@Wolfgore]

Man, so tired of hearing "what could he have done there?!?!" every time a zerg is losing, with no spellcasters in their army in the lategame. Here is the answer: #1 Vipers!!!! #2 Infesters!!!! That really is the answer. Every time I see a zerg actually using their spell casters *affectively* in the late game, they win (just like we saw in game 1 here) However, when they ignore the spellcasters and focus just on combat units, they lose, and for the reasons Lowko has stated over and over. I.e. zerg combat units just aren't as versatile as protos and terran. IMO Serral needs to start make 2-3 vipers instead of just 1 and get some abductions on those tempests. Throw in some parabombs and fungals (if he can afford 3-5 infesters which he usually can cuz serral always has a bank) and boom, he wins. I get that its super hard for a ladder player to add a spellcaster control group, let alone 2 control groups, but this is freaking Serral we're talking about, we know he can do it, and when he does, he wins.

[@schippes24]

Well if it's so easy and obvious that we as casuals see it, there must be a reason he isnt doing it. And since it's about actual money for serral i think he's thought more about it. Maybe he doesnt see a timing window to invest in the spellcasters in most of his games? Zerg is the only race that cant turn his spellcasters into fighting units. Hightemplar have archon and ghosts are ghosts..

[@ambion19]

Feedback is a big problem that you have no way of responding to. Either the Protoss uses it or doesn't, and if zerg has to rely on an easy protoss mistakes for a tactic to be viable, than it's not viable

[@عليالعراقي-ع2ت3ي]

علي موحان💗💖💟💖💖💟💖💟💖💟💖💖💟💖💟💖💖💟💖💟💖💟💖💟💖💖💟💖💟💖💟💖💟💖💟💖💟💖💖💟💖💙💖💙💖💙💖💙💙

[@juztina7346]

so nice .......

[@deathezz]

nice

[@Phi1618033]

Nun udder den

[@jayyrod1]

Mac's packs lol

[@redhyina5260]

Hi lowko

[@bastianbravofajardo8844]

Protoss OP

[@dashiet3]

Max pax isn’t actually good stop fan girling over him, Protoss is just overpowered it took them making Protoss overpowered for us to even know who he is lol and the balance council sucks lol, they have effectively made the game worse, cant believe blizzard allowed this! They killed Zerg to nerf one guy when the real problem were Protoss players suck, they only win when they have a balance patch come out that ruins the game and meta

[@thomaschang7996]

Liked and commented!

[@dashiet3]

Bro stop saying brilliant play by max pax its getting annoying, he is literally winning because the game isn’t balanced! Stop trying to act like its a fare game, when anyone with eyes can see its not balanced correctly and the idiots on the council are all Protoss and terrin biased

[@jackMeought-fr8vl]

Spoiler! All 8 games are hellion timing attacks

[@TranceFields1]

Lots of talking... Let the gameplay speak for itself. Heard "Mama!!!!" And I immediately muted the game. Just.. too much.

[@alternative87dude]

1st comment shouldnt be a spoiler. Yet another vid ruined.

[@teachmehowtodoge1737]

The coward Max patch is not the no.1 offline player. Autodislike 👎 👎 👎

[@lennyvanriel1660]

My first first!