Serral vs Clem - $500,000 StarCraft 2 Tournament | IEM Katowice 2024

[@weid7070]

Serral has made one thing abundantly clear this year. There are other players who are absolutely amazing like Clem, Reynor, Dark, etc. However he is a fully realized SC2 player. No real gaps. No imprecision. A genuinely and consistently complete player. That my friends is the difference between a prodigy and a champion. Crazy that it's taken so long to get here but there you have it. Wild.

[@vladmatei1958]

Serral also rebounds quickly all the time. He just lost at the end of last year to Clem. And Reynor. But he has comebacks one can't believe it really happened

[@e7danny7m]

nobody cares

[@codenamegnetne8209]

​@@e7danny7mI care.

[@din5ixfg]

Also who hurt you ​@@e7danny7m

[@charlesiei6831]

A lot of people care about this, hence, you're a liar

[@Intensi0ns]

Ive been waiting for you to cast this game for a week. This was some of the most insane z and t control i have ever seen in a game. They both just seem inhuman. They both are almost bad for their races. You look at how serral plays and you think zerg is the most broken race in the game. You look at Clems almost unbreakable terran and it feels impossible to break its shell.

[@mojolotz]

Serral makes Infestors look pretty good. That's inhuman levels of skill no other player in the world can replicate.

[@youknownothing1242]

And then vaguely remember there's a 3rd playable race

[@jameslog3431]

@@mojolotz Serral's infestor look like they have a mind of their own. Like some Ai is controlling them, it's crazy

[@guitaripod]

Not even competitive. Serral has taken his skills to an unknown dimension. No wonder he's not streaming. Training in the shadows. Kerrigan vibes

[@thecrazygamer2853]

Lol kerrigan wishes she could lead the swarm anywhere near serrals level. I read her diary and she is taking notes from him how to lead perfectly 😂😂

[@guitaripod]

Very true, just replayed the sc campaign and ur def correct here@@thecrazygamer2853

[@terrycrews1584]

He isnt streaming because he is serving in the military.

[@logik1677]

I mean.. it’s just WOW. This is the most perfect any zerg has ever been!

[@bdog111]

This is not World of Warcraft, it is World of Starcraft. ;)

[@kw8295]

Those 4 Queens gave their lives for the swarm and it won the series. Long live the Queens! o7

[@MrSuckeragi]

Brenda and her Squad :)

[@mechaman7818]

Serral is an operating operator who operated on operations operationally. Of course he's going to opt to take the option.

[@kathorsees]

That's just how he rolls - optimally, he prefers to find the optimal strategy and then carefully optimize it all the way to optimum performance. I'd opine that Serral, IMHO, is probably the GOAT (and I don't care if people say I'm opinionated).

[@theculturedgentleman3699]

This was beautiful dude. well done!

[@ChingooOK]

operation cwal

[@redwings13400]

Serral just sets everything up for himself ahead of time so well, then seems to make the perfect decisions in every fight. Even when he takes a bad fight, he retreats his important units before it can become a disaster, which means he only loses lings and banes and is remaxed 20 seconds later. It really is less about speed and more about efficiency, you don't need quite as many clicks when every click you make is doing something useful. Clem is insane in his own right, but I have absolutely no idea what he can do better to beat Serral when he's playing this well.

[@orangepearlf40]

Unfortunately, watch his bases burn str8 to hell. Serral is the G.O.A.T. Makes zerg look IMBA and unstoppable.

[@DanielPhelps-o7e]

Serral is truly the best StarCraft player possible

[@ferjavm]

clearly not

[@anthonyboone6843]

Looks like Serral is the GOAT for a reason. Great cast.

[@ferjavm]

ehhhmmm...ok

[@kenhorn4327]

I think Serral went from standard business to adding Dark's strategy of dismantling everything in waves of chaos and now rules with supremacy.

[@FilmonGEMZ]

Couldn't agree more. He can end you early, mid or late game. If you get greedy he's happy to punish. If you go for mass ghosts he'll punish by taking the entire map and never confronting you and eventually winning. It's brilliant really, his solution to turtle terran is to simply play better in every way instead of wasting units in terrible fights and chokeholds.

[@StarFreeze1]

My two favorite players and man serral is just on that God level by himself.

[@mathildis7425]

28:52 holy shit that whole sequence was brutal to watch.

[@mammaspojke9813]

Yeah, this "serral" guy looking pretty promising, gonna keep an eye on him from now on.

[@SlayuhM]

As if you are the final boss 😂 Serral is the final boss.

[@theculturedgentleman3699]

@@SlayuhM Dark claimed Dark is the final boss. Not serral. Its actually Dark

[@DeathForSk8]

Notice in the last game how Serral used a lurker runby and later on a ling run by to take out the turrets from the naturals (and made it look like it wasn't an intentional target). He never planned to go mutas, he just wanted to clear the turrets so he can place nyduses later without Clem receiving the notification alert of turrets engaging the overlord. Serral is just constantly finding more ways to finesse little edges over the opponent

[@ArmstrongAlley]

That was the second game from Katowice where Clem tapped out with a gg THE MOMENT he gets hit with a fungal. The speed that he did that is kind of as impressive as anything else he does.

[@elbarto9356]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but serral sacrificing queens but not giving up the 3rd was decisive. Clem killed queens, delayed creep and injections, but don't kill any drone and serral still got his 3rd. Ps: Perfect casting as always winter. Edit: yeah, winter notice the same. Great minds we are haha.

[@GoddessLeilani-yu2fs]

Uhhhhh sure I'll correct you. Clem could have taken out the hatch and instead ran away with the reapers. Stupid af.

[@lurpwgn]

Haven't seen Clem lose 3 back to back in I don't know how long.. I'm a Zerg fan boy, so I like to see it. And if Clem loses a game, you know it's a good one, he's no slouch. But man, that Zerg play from Serral was so good! 100% on point at all times it felt.

[@panzfaust9812]

I think this was serral's answer for atlanta finals. Barely any ultralisks

[@cavemantero]

why make ultras when 6 banelings can destroy an entire planetary and all the scvs?

[@displacedicon7643]

​​​@@cavemanteroum.... it takes almost 20 banes to kill a planetary and that's if they aren't alone otherwise planetaries are actually really good at killing banelings. Also, 6 banes are not 3 widow mines it'd have to be extremely lucky for them to take out a whole mineral line unless there is anti micro from the Terran.

[@DonCDXX]

Serral is like the protagonist in an action movie. When you watch an action movie, you know the protagonist is going to win, it's just a matter of how.

[@cozee6681]

If you think it was close - Serral is so good he beat Clem 3:0 without adrenal glands in game 3.

[@prismaticbeetle3194]

shin is proud

[@TommyKay]

before i watch the video id like to predict clem will do marines, medivacs and widowmines

[@ezequieltellez9082]

impressive. Great Cast as always, tks a lot!!

[@henryviiifake8244]

00:11 Serral only lost to ONE Terran (Clem) in the _entirety_ of 2023?! _ONE?!_ 😭😭😭 Blud might actually be the 5th Race: Protoss, Terran, Zerg, Maru, Serral.💀

[@KingOfNebbishes]

Serral looked shaky there for a few weeks, but it appears he's worked really hard at fixing his weak spots.

[@UltramarineDad]

Serral is the only serial killer that is left untouched.

[@henriksvensson126]

Serral understands that the n1 key to victory is knowledge about your opponents. So he not only observes whats happening on the battlefield but also the opponent behaviours. He must have learned from the losses against Clem that the terran player has a heavy focus on offensive tactics which opens up holes for multiprong sneak attacks in the rear. One attack to steer and control the attention away from another blow just like a boxer setting up a rocking right with a attention catching left.

[@alltat]

Clem's weakness has definitely always been getting counterattacked from multiple angles. You can't beat his micro, but you can tax his APM to its breaking point. That's all easier said than done, though.

[@henriksvensson126]

Ye I think it requires great observant skills and also timing. Serral proved that he got both in spades.@@alltat

[@Roguedeus]

Can you imagine the future of E-Sports, talking like old folks talk about boxing matches of the past... We were here. We saw Serral set the standard, over and over and over again...

[@koolkiller35]

Serral is the magnus Carlson of sc2

[@frozencloudzzful]

Clem's micro on those reapers is so good that i doubt people under m1 can even defend against it. Like i think most people would just straight up die to it. Serral is just wow...

[@Vlad_85]

At this point I have to say the Zerg is OP. I haven’t made the statement lightly. Serral is undeniably an exceptional player, but only when he faces someone of Clem’s caliber does it become very clear that the statement is absolutely accurate and totally true.

[@forsakenfortnite5771]

Serral = GOAT

[@Anton333221]

Back here to see what changed from this to EWC.

[@rolandheinze7182]

Serral is insane

[@Saint____Mariee]

Omg I love you, you're literally so funny 😅 best thing when I fall asleep with youtube on the TV and wake up in the morning to the sound of Winter yelling at Brenda

[@DrkCarbalt]

I think it was a mistake focusing a lot on using mines when playing against Serral, I don't think it was bad to use them, but it was bad to rely on them too much. Serral at several points did have more minerals and more concentrated units, meaning he was always working to swarm Clem. Against a player that wants to swarm you with all the units he can produce and that also has more minerals only relying on micro games, I think it was one of the reason Clem was not able to win against Serral. Of course Serral is a genius but facing him with a very closed off mindset does not help either. Great Games both of players are really good.

[@MrSuckeragi]

congrats on your subs :) always fun to watch your commentary of these amazing games, Both Serral and Clem are amazing, I only really played up to Broodwar so it still blows my mind that fellow asians are no longer supreme, but happy for Serral and Clem becoming awesome, Serral in particular is my favorite because I am a zerg enthusiast since the original sc. Always felt the zerg were severely disadvantage in OG and BW, glad that zerg is in Serral's godly hands!

[@ordinaryraccoon]

Wow, insane games

[@MadeUpMonster]

Watching this without the player cams is a miss. Clems reactions to the surprise fungals was tasty 👅

[@Eddieprice9]

made my day just a little bit better

[@aijaspiritmag5275]

Serral vs Clem - $500,000 StarCraft 2 Tournament | IEM Katowice 2024 WinterStarcraft

[@Ta11en1]

i can’t sub but you always explain the match so well i love it. i get SC2 but you make it so Ez to digest as a listener pls don’t stop winter you beast

[@Phoenix-zu6on]

as someone who only views sc2 and doesnt play it, did i get this correct that a widow mine does 40 splash dmg, so enough to 1 shot probes and drones, but not SCVs? im starting to wonder if the reason terrans are always so vocal about their race being the weakest is the fact that all the (from an outside view) ridiculously op shit like ghosts and widow mines dont really work against terran, so theyre never on the recieving end of it.

[@Gredddfe]

28:00 I was so mad when I saw that on the IEM cast, because they cut to the player cam just as it happened. Let us watch the game dammit!

[@YuNherd]

i hope clem gains more strategy experience, his gun slinging is fast but not hitting at the right moment and place makes a huge difference in results

[@yugonostalgia8961]

Serral taking Clem's widow mines away: "Come back when you can actually play with the best"

[@ArmstrongAlley]

Serral clearly has been practicing on how to turn the widow mines against the Terran and I feel like that's the biggest difference between this series and Atlanta. Clem's Infestor paranoia was also not high enough.

[@JoeMustache321]

serral is a beast

[@Samuelricchio]

wow! serral is incredible. thanks for the content big Winter Dawg!

[@Bastatubig]

I think they need to buff up the raven movement speed. thats no one is using ravens in pro match there to slow.

[@kobragangbit]

absolutely destroyed game 1

[@artemirrlazaris7406]

Clems mistake if any, is after the first nydus 2-3 vikings atleast to help snipe and OVERs coming into your territory... you can put them on a individual corner pathing, and don't forget to snipe the nydus network itself isn't a bad idea either.

[@whiteerdydude]

If clem didn't make any mistakes, zerg is imba. Clem and serral made mistakes. Clem's mattered more. At this level of play, zerg's mistakes tend to have fewer consequences due to the inherent advantages the race has (faster army, faster production, less tech investment, most dangerous spell casters, map vision via creep).

[@adamperry3327]

that sparkling green water bottle looks awesome on stream

[@wilshireanasurimbor3068]

Serral looks omniscient. There's just nothing that even looked challenging to him in this entire tournament.

[@Pilottoproperties]

Good commentary!! 👏

[@danielmead146]

interesting seeing serral setting his camera hotkeys at 16:03

[@TowerSavant]

Sometimes I wish Terran had some kind of flying stealth detection unit. Sometimes.

[@arthurchance7671]

One parasitic bomb from death. I think he should just build more turrets.

[@HarryTheOwlcat]

27:00 notice Clems triangle third CC floats and then fails to land. Whole base of scvs is long distance mining.

[@evelic]

I just loved those fungles at the end of game 1 and 3 when Clem is already dead and gging out; Serral was just rolling.

[@ILOVEDRAGO]

Cast more SC EVO! 😊

[@Avian2008]

Idk man, this Serral guy could be the one

[@LegionFarming]

The fungle icing on the marine cake 🌸

[@satomi8500]

Looking at Serral Zerg seems OP. But I play in master 3 since wol, with 20k games, and still i lose bad vs mines and rines.

[@SurrogateSelf01]

I only return so that Jimmy can keep his job. Keep counting buddy.

[@mateuszboczkiewicz5170]

Genuine question - why Maru and Clem almost never create any Ravens vs Serral when they almost always lose to fung growth from burrow?

[@kezhasat8578]

Они живут максимум долю секунды против Serral'а

[@seth5847]

Widow mines are so dumb what were blizzard balance team smoking back in 2015??

[@mcoko15]

Where'd the second channel go? I love the commentary but also the long sweaty hours of gaming.

[@mcoko15]

ITS BACK

[@empowered2win]

4min mark, didn't get edited out. Jimmy!

[@elgar7252]

Fungal is a very fun and balanced game mechanic. :) Truly Snipe and EMPs are the real threat to TvZ gameplay! :)

[@Dunendil]

Fungal used to be absolutely broken, but now it's balanced I would say. The problem with Zerg is their economy. A game where you have to be at least 30 percent more efficient in killing your enemy's units just to be even is by definition, imbalanced. This used to be compensated for by a better late game for Protoss and Terran, making every game a "can the non-Zerg player survive long enough to win in the endgame" situation. The massive nerfs to the best late game units over the years means that this is no longer the case. This is especially true for Protoss, there is no point in the game where Protoss units are better than Zerg. I mean Skytoss gets countered by a single spell, parasitic swarm.

[@boowoho762]

Zerg is not the Problem, Seral`s Zerg is : D

[@atarumoroboshi8230]

What is this piano and violins music in the background, starting at 48:55 ? Anyone can find it out??

[@coolstory92]

good stuff winter

[@artemirrlazaris7406]

I think its timing. He had alrady expended the energy, for larva... and a tumour, and had another queen coming up, that can inject when going out, typically in teh start your first queens are expendable over a hatchery because you are producing queens behind , and a queen wihtout energy is not as value as a hatchery up and producing larva that yo ucan heal later and will rejuvenate... SO this didn't realyl effect his larva that much, plus having that other base up asap, increase income value whihc will give you a significant advantage as soon as you start mining it.. as I stated, 2 drones per mineral patch is always better than three, so over expanding as zerg and liquidating your mining down to two per node but still carrying 60 drones lets say, you will be mining as if you had around 88 drones... over 4... its the qay teh curve works... 5 bases 12 dronse per min and always fully sat your gas if you can, to get your tech higher, more bases allows you to get more gas, and spreading out your workers is a lsight risk as a zerg, but for more effecient mining, spreading out the work is better than fully saturatyed, that third drone only minimizes a small smidgen of travel time, where two its bakc and forth with a loss of that travel tiem of twenty minerals lets say, but if that 3rd dtrone is somewhere else it cna be valued at a 40-60 mineral drone miner.. verses a filler at 20.. Every race shoudl do this, but currently because of how enxus' work, only Zerg can pull this off and trran can sort of pull it off, the thing is cost is effect for zerg to always expand in so many ways... Hatceries early game are more improtant as yoru queens are expending energy, your queens are more improtant when your macor eco is around cap and the queens energy begin to over fill .

[@JCMiniPainting]

Watched it live on stream, but I'm just here to say ALGORITHM!

[@reeseman58]

Zerg looks op lol zerglings and banes so cost effective

[@Frager30]

Hello, I have question for people that hang around rts esport Which of the upcoming rts will be like top 1 rts for esport (earnings, viewers, sponsor etc...) according to you Because sc2 is a bit old and with new upcoming rts I don't think sc2 will last much longer as top 1

[@nickknight1488]

Check out stormgate

[@arankoka]

[mules are 3.5-4 scvs in income]

[@muuanmies7372]

real finale

[@popkhorne5372]

Idk, went the same...

[@Daniel-rd6st]

The real finale was the semifinale, because Dark was Serrals biggest thread (with Reynor already eleminated in the group phase).

[@SirChristian100]

I really enjoy your style of commentating for the last weeks and always find something to smile about in your videos and press the like button

[@Bubba-ij5ot]

Every ZvT is the same. Close match until 1st fugal and then it's over.... every time... yet they never get a Raven

[@TheIvyLens]

Terran would fare better if they let the Zerg burn out here and there. Instead of trying to constantly be on the offensive

[@mojolotz]

[SPOILER] Oh my god that fungal to end game 1. Disgusting.

[@kathorsees]

Check out Serral vs Maru in the same tournament. It's fungals galore! In one game, Serral lands like 5 amazing ones - but Maru just bounces back every time.

[@dellano-]

Lore accurate Zerg = Serral

[@juan.salvarado8302]

no need for perfect micro and super hogh apm on your medivac drops when you can jusy spam nydus :s

[@PierreSkowron]

Tbh I don't get why we've just seen the same game 3 times. Not a single change.

[@dorkeboye]

Does anyone know who is this jimmy he keeps talking to?

[@deeteenw]

It's his imaginary tech support and occasional whipping boy.

[@uuvattiplots3906]

they come netf zefg like 2015

[@ironmonkey1512]

good to see widow mine spammer thoroughly beaten

[@markvon9727]

Serral: ling/bane Clem: marine/med Serral: transition to infestor/lurker Clem: transition to ghosts, loses

[@cavemantero]

I think we know why they nerfed the ghost....

[@troy3423]

@@cavemantero m8, they nerfed the infestor and double nerfed baneling as well. The ghost nerf was extremely minor. They also buffed widow mines (as if they needed it).

[@kalo8524]

In a game where Terran has dozens of viable build orders, Clem knows exactly one.

[@SlayuhM]

You are out of your mind 😂 lmao if anything you are the one who doesn't know anything.

[@curtisbrown2281]

I really need someone to be better than serral. He makes it impossible to root for him because he wins everything.

[@jun-vh7be]

1:10

[@artemirrlazaris7406]

Widow mines always target teh lead body/ to closest body, so you can do this fairly easy... and then jsut send it off away from your main cluster... I always feel liek 2.5 seconds... thats how I explain mines it always feels like you have so much wait time and cna process many thoughts of like meh, if watching its initial attack.

[@robert-asdf]

👏 very good. it's any given day with this tier. last i checked was clem 30 serral, maru 30 clem, astrea 30 clem, now serral 30 clem. clem saving his best strats for gsl or has that finished already??

[@Joh00226]

U think u are Saving strats with 150 k $ 1 place on the line? Entire gsl isent even 1/4 of the money

[@robert-asdf]

@@Joh00226 i see.. didn't know the prize amount or dates of these things.

[@Joh00226]

@@robert-asdf no worries, serral just played like he was invinceble. Never played better and probly wont play this good agien.

[@lollertoaster]

Clem must've caught cold in the Polish winter, since this was not finals - this was a massacre. Not a single game out of three it looked like Clem was ahead.

[@paulembleton1733]

Another word invented, Pividble: a position with the potential to be pivotal. How Clem feels after this match. Yep.

[@big_shrimpin]

It's interesting that just queens are enough for any type of early game harass. No need to respond to the opponent's tech choices (reaper, hellion, banshee, mine, marine, battle cruiser etc., every one is the same)

[@kathorsees]

Well, all you can build in the early game are queens or lings. So you build them every time and learn to use the limited tools you have. As Z, I find the limited early game options a bit boring. The fact you have to defend harassment every. match. without an opportunity to respond until the opponent takes their 3d is really, really boring and limiting. Also, you're kinda wrong on some of these. Queens can't kill mines in time (nothing can), so the real response is the split-second drone pull. Marine drops and mass reaper absolutely slaughter naked queens (see game 1 in this vid), you need banes and lings in multiple bases on different hotkeys (and god forbid you f2). Lings and banes suck against hellions though, so in that case you want roaches + Evo block ideally. Libs, BCs and cloaked banshees all require spores to deal with. All of these can insta-kill you, so you need to scout-scout-scout: sacrifice 1-2 overlords to see their main and natural, position lings in front of their nat and 3d and spread 4-5 ovies in a ring around your bases to see the drops and all the other flying bullshit coming. That's what I do as a shit-level diamond Z, and I still die to fucking hellions... I imagine for Serral it also means learning all the timings and tech tree choices of the opposing races, map-specific things like "this 1 map has an ideal tank nook", and tons of other stuff. So, to parry you - interesting how T and P have all these interesting tech choices and active harass tools, while all Z can do is defend with no wall-off, shitty anti-air and no siege tank on the high ground.

[@omgnonamesicanuse]

Just standard business.

[@sethstriker]

No 4K yet? Why? 4K is where all the best use. Or so I hear. :)

[@arthurchance7671]

Serral, i believe, is why Maru has been messing around with mech. He doesn't have the answer either. Balance is hard.

[@orangepearlf40]

Serral about to get Zerg nerfed straight to hell if he doesn't stop this madness.

[@TheRealXartaX]

Wth happened to your wintergaming channel, it just got nuked O.o Was watching your DRG playthrough.

[@Lordofhollows15]

Serral wins there you go, dont even have to watch

[@arthurchance7671]

My question is - what are Maru and Clem's gaps and weaknesses? Terran doesn't have the tools in the box to best Serral's full utilization of everything Zerg. I mean, he even has time during the game to populate the field with changlings to make the Terran think he has more units than he does. Shit like that means he has reached a level of mastery over the vast zerg toolbox that no other race will ever match, the tools aren't there. Maru and Clem have hit the Terran ceiling in my opinion. Simple as that. And it isn't as high as the Zerg ceiling. Cheesey bullshit is the only way to beat him.... or catch Seral in slump, on a bad day, with the flu, and severe packet loss, and a bad case of the clap.