by Wax

Maru’s hunt for a ninth Code S championship was eclipsed by Dark’s quest to end his lengthy title drought, as the Talon Esports Zerg prevailed 4-2 in the Code S Season 2 finals.

The victory ended a two-year dry spell for Dark, who had won his last championship at DreamHack Valencia 2022. In a fitting coincidence, Dark reclaimed championship status against the very same opponent he had defeated for that DreamHack trophy.

Although Dark had spent the past two years as a perennial title contender, he had failed to get over the finish line, being held to runner-up finishes in the GSL Super Tournament, Code S, and an EPT Season Finals. The lack of trophies wasn’t the only reason Dark was the clear underdog headed into the Season 2 finals—Maru had also won their most recent head-to-heads at DreamHack Dallas (1-3) and IEM Katowice (0-2). However, the overall head-to-head record between the two players was closer to 50/50, and Dark demonstrated precisely why he had been one of Maru’s greatest historical rivals by seizing the Code S championship with a convincing 4-2 victory.

RO16, RO8 Results
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RO16

RO8

The series began with Dark giving Maru a stark reminder that he was facing one of the most unpredictable and aggressive Zergs to ever play StarCraft II, winning the first map with a Queen-drop and Zergling all-in.

That energy carried over into game two, where Dark looked to test Maru’s defenses once more with a fast Roach strike. However, Maru wouldn’t be caught off guard for a second time, and used Banshees to riposte the attack. From there, it looked like Maru would easily snowball to victory off of his early-game advantage, but instead, the crisis inspired a championship-caliber comeback from Dark. After narrowly holding out against waves of infantry, Dark exploited a brief window of Terran weakness to launch a devastating counterattack that finally brought him back to even footing. From there, he unlocked Maru’s famed defense with Nydus tactics to take a 2-0 lead.

While he still had two map points left to take, Dark revealed in his post-match interview that he had already become emotional at that point, thinking that he was on pace to win the championship. Maru harshly interrupted that reverie in game three, smashing him with a 2/2 infantry timing to remind him he was only halfway to his destination.

Dark reacted to the loss with a locked-in performance in game four. After being stretched thin by Maru’s heavy commitment to multi-prong Medivac harassment, Dark went with the classic Day9 stratagem of “just f***ing kill them” and ransacked Maru’s underdefended expansions to go up 3-1.

Maru managed to stave off defeat for one more game, getting away with a greedy fast upgrade strategy and overpowering Dark with 3/3 Marines. However, Dark snuffed out any chance of a comeback with a dominant performance in game six, using his iconic Nydus Worms to pick Maru apart and extract the final GG.

The victory gave Dark his third Code S championship, tying him with fellow GSL greats Nestea, Mvp, and INnoVation. Dark’s win also marked an entirely different kind of GSL milestone, as he became the first father to win Code S. In an emotional post-match interview, Dark talked about how his wife and newborn daughter inspired his championship run. “It’s been around 89 days since my daughter was born. Honestly, even if I’m trying to focus on practice, even if I spend all my free time on practice, I don’t have that much time. It’s been hard on my wife to take care of our baby, and seeing that, I really felt I had to win the championship…”

For the third straight year, AfreecaTV/SOOP provided no additional information about whether or not the GSL would continue into 2025, or if GSL Season 3 would be held after the Esports World Cup (AfreecaTV/SOOP previously announced it would consider plans for Code S Season 3 following the conclusion of the EWC).

“Even though the GSL has become smaller, it hasn’t become smaller to me. It’s still a league that means a lot to me.” said Dark, echoing the sentiment held by fans watching at home, and the fans from around the world who came to attend what might be the last day of the GSL. “It might be the last GSL, and I’m touched that I can leave it with a championship.”

Match Recaps

Semifinal #1: Dark [3 – 1] Cure

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Game 1 – Site Delta (Dark win): Cure started the series by betting that Dark would not go all-in, playing a greedy build with 3 fast Command Centers and double Engineering Bays. Unfortunately for Cure, he paid the price for gambling as Dark was going for a committed Roach-Ravager-Zergling all-in off of 40 Drones. Cure belatedly tried to erect Bunkers after seeing Dark move out, but he had far too few troops to defend and had to GG at around the 7:20 mark.

Game 2 – Oceanborn (Dark win): Cure started with 2-Barracks Reapers, while Dark went for a gasless 3-Hatch opener. Upon scouting Dark’s late gas, Cure went up to 6 Reapers to try and punish him, but Dark’s Queens and slowlings defended without much trouble.

Even worse for Cure, Dark managed to slip a Zergling into his main to see his follow-up: 3 Command Centers and double Engineering Bays (again!). Seeing that Cure was playing greedily once more, Dark went for another Roach-Ravager-Zergling all-in. Even with a sloppy supply block delaying his all-in, Dark still had more than enough troops to overpower Cure and force a second GG.

Game 3 – Alcyone (Cure win): Cure played a more conventional Hellion-Banshee opener this time around, looking to follow up with a committed 8-Barracks all-in off of three bases. Cure actually got to go through with his plan this time, as Dark switched to a macro-oriented strategy of going up to Hive off of Roach-Ravager-Bane.

It looked like Dark was headed toward a sweep after stalling Cure’s first big attack with a good defensive engagement, but he wasn’t able to push the Terran forces back entirely. The parade of Terran troops continued to march in, and eventually forced Dark to sacrifice two of his five bases as he waited for his Ultralisk tech to come online.

While Dark managed to squeeze out some Ultralisks supported by a handful of Vipers and Infestors, it was too little, too late. Dark’s economy was too damaged, Cure had a huge standing army with plenty of reinforcements coming, and it was all over for the Zerg at the 12:35 mark.

Game 4 – Amphion (Dark win): Cure went for another Hellion-Banshee 3-base opener, while Dark played a similar strategy as the previous game by going Roach-Ravager into Hive (skipping Banelings this time). Both players expanded along their ‘normal’ routes initially, but Dark soon mined through his left side mineral path to give him more options in expanding later.

As in game three, Cure looked to go for a big 3-base attack, but his setup was even better as his Banshees and Marine drops inflicted moderate Drone damage against Dark’s porous defense. However, Cure wasn’t quite urgent enough in moving out with his main force, and he gave Dark just enough time to get upgraded Lurkers out on defense.

Cure still had a massive army with a good Marauder-to-Marine ratio, and he attempted to brute force his way through the Dark’s defensive line of Lurkers and Hydralisks. However, Dark’s multi-layered Lurker defense ended up being just thorny enough to repel the Terran troops and prevent them from firing upon key expansions.

Once Dark fully stabilized on defense, Cure belatedly tried to take a fourth base and add Ghosts to his composition. However, Dark wasn’t about to let him catch up, and used his Lurkers to severely delay him from mining from his fourth base. Then, just as Cure finally secured his fourth, Dark changed his target to the Terran main with Nydus Worms and Lurker drops.

Cure scrambled to defend his main, but that just set the fatal dominoes in motion. Dark started to attack from all directions, further discombobulating Cure and dividing his attention. Soon, there were too many fires to put out at once, and Cure decided to go for a desperation basetrade with his standing army.

Cure’s high Ghost count actually made this a somewhat threatening force, but Dark’s quick targeting of Orbital Command Centers took away most of its upset potential. Cure had no way of assaulting bases defended by Spores and Lurkers, leaving him with no choice but to concede defeat.

Semifinal #2: Maru 3 – 1 Creator

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Game 1 – Site Delta (Maru win): Both players opened with fairly passive play, with Creator opening Twilight into 3 bases while Maru played defensively and went for fast double upgrades.

Creator made the first aggressive move, eschewing upgrades and tech to go for a committed Stalker + Chargelot attack off of three bases. Unfortunately for Creator, Maru’s Cyclones picked off the Warp Prism he tried to sneak into the Terran main, leaving a frontal attack as his only option. Maru’s army was more than strong enough to hold off such one dimensional aggression, and it wasn’t long until he stabilized and forced Creator to belatedly play catch-up.

Creator managed to survive for a while, getting out enough Colossus and Disruptors to stop Maru’s 2/2 timing. However, Maru still had a massive lead and wasn’t in any hurry to end the game, and simply expanded freely while adding Ghosts to his army. Maru came back for another go at it once he had 3/3, and this time he overpowered Creator’s forces to take the game.

Game 2 – Alcyone (Creator win): Maru opened by proxying a single Barracks out on the map, setting up some Reaper-Bunker harassment at Creator’s natural. While it definitely occupied a lot of Creator’s attention early on, it was more annoying than damaging in the end.

Maru’s follow-up was a 2-base Marine-Tank push, but Creator successfully held at his third base. Maru tried to turn the push into a big infantry drop into Creator’s main, but Creator again chased Maru away without taking much damage. Creator ended up with a commanding lead, easily going up to five bases while Maru took a third base and looked to find a way to come back from behind.

Maru didn’t have any intention of dragging things out, as he went all-in once he maxed out—even bringing SCV’s along. Creator handled the initial attack well, stalling at home with Disruptors and Colossus while gutting Maru’s economy with backdoor Zealot warp-ins. Creator then made things overly complicated by committing to a full-on basetrade when he probably didn’t have to, but he eventually came out on top due to his superior expansion count.

Game 3 – Oceanborn (Maru win): Maru opened with a 3-Barracks variant of a macro opener, while Creator pulled out the good ol’ 4-Gate Blink-Stalkers. Maru’s sacrifice Reaper scout managed to uncover Creator’s plans in time for him to prepare, and he put down enough Bunkers to survive the Stalkers without taking any serious damage. The game ended up evening out after the early exchanges, with Creator building up a big Gateway unit + Disruptor/Colossus army while Maru went for the typical infantry + Viking/Ghost support composition.

The mid-game skirmishing yielded no significant advantage to either side, and both players looked to even higher tech options. Creator added both High and Dark Templars to his army, hitting Maru at his expansions while establishing himself on five bases. Meanwhile, Maru looked to gear up for range-upgraded Liberator production.

A subsequent clash between the two main armies resulted in similar casualties on both sides, but for Maru it freed up the supply to add Liberators to his army. Creator, despite having added a Starport earlier, hadn’t teched up beyond that and was caught flat-footed by the aerial assault. Rather than belatedly try to go up to Tempests, he tried to outmaneuver Maru with his ground-bound force. However, Maru was easily able to reposition and cut off all of Creator’s attempts to flank or backdoor, while also taking out a number of Creator’s key bases in the meanwhile. In the end, Maru cornered Creator and forced him into a head-on engagement, which ended in a brutal defeat for the Protoss army.

Game 4 – Amphion (Maru win): Creator opened Twilight for the fourth straight time in the series, this time going back to a 3-base macro opener. As for Maru, he opted to delay his third base to go for a 1/1/1-style attack, hitting hard and fast with Marines, two cloaked Banshees, and a single Tank. While this force didn’t inflict much direct Probe damage, it traded extremely well against Creator’s defending units and significantly delayed his three base economy from coming online.

From his superior position, Maru simply waited for a few minutes as he assembled another powerful army—this time with 2 Ravens as the centerpieces—and closed out the series.

Grand Finals: Dark 4 – 2 Maru

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Game 1 – Ghost River (Dark win): Maru began with a Hellion-Banshee into 3 CC opener, whereas Dark got aggressive off the bat with a big Queen-Drop + Zergling all-in. As Dark attempted to drop his Queens directly in Maru’s natural, multiple factors broke in his favor: his dropperlords went undetected until the very last second, Maru’s Banshees were slightly out of position, and most crucially, his ground-bound Zerglings were able to flood in through a wall-gap that had been left open for Hellions. The combined Queen-Zergling army completely overwhelmed Maru’s defenses and forced the GG at around 6:33.

Game 2 – Goldenaura (Dark win): Dark looked to be aggressive again in game two, albeit through a less drastic Roach poke with Drones behind it. However, this time everything went Maru’s way, as his decision to keep his first two Banshees at home allowed him to stop the attack with ease.

Maru used his economic advantage to hit a strong 1/1 Marine-Tank timing, which destroyed Dark’s fourth base to put the Zerg even further behind. Dark teched up to Hive, assembled a Hydra-Roach-Viper army, and tried to take his fourth again, but it seemed like a last-gasp effort against the incoming second wave of Terran attackers with 2/2. However, against all odds, Dark managed to pull off an extremely tight hold on defense, allowing him to stabilize on four bases.

The situation remained grim for Dark as he had merely survived, while Maru had free reign to expand and tech up behind his offensives. However, Maru became overconfident with his lead, and he threw multiple waves of Marines at Darks in aimless attacks. Dark had stabilized to the point where these were just straight up donations from Maru, and it even allowed him to retake the supply lead after trailing for several minutes.

Dark made an astute read of the situation and consolidated his forces for a counterattack during the brief window where he had the supply advantage (Maru had around 40% more mineral income at the time). This desperate attack was hugely successful, cutting through the Terran defense and dealing enough economic damage to bring the game back to roughly even footing.

Despite having blown a huge lead, the situation didn’t appear all that bad for Maru as he was still in a good position to hunker down and play his trademark defensive style. However, Dark expertly cracked the turtle’s shell before it could fully harden through a series of Nydus maneuvers. First, Dark lured Maru’s troops out of position with a Nydus into the main, after which he took down a couple of under-defended expansions with his ground army. Then, Dark hit Maru with the reverse maneuver, using his ground army as a diversion to create cover for a Nydus into the main. Dark devastated Maru’s main with a swarm of Lurkers, and he quickly snowballed that damage into a victory.

Game 3 – Oceanborn (Maru win): Maru opened with 2 Barracks Reapers, while Dark predicted such a move and delayed his third Hatchery timing appropriately. Maru followed up his Reapers with his usual 3 Command Centers, which Dark confirmed with an Overlord scout.

Similar to the previous game, Dark decided to test his opponent with a quick attack. This time, Dark made just enough Ravagers to bile his way through the wall at the Terran natural, with a throng of Zerglings waiting to flood in through the breach. However, Maru was again ready with a pair of Banshees on defense, which helped him hold off the attack without taking any significant damage. Afterward, Maru added a cheeky third Banshee and used the trio to put Dark further behind.

Just as in game two, Dark tried his best to play catch-up after his poor early game, this time going for a Roach-Ravager-Infestor composition. And, just as in game two, he was helpless to stop Maru’s 1/1 push from destroying his fourth base. However, there would be no twist ending this time around, as Maru made sure not to mess up his follow-up 2/2 push and finished Dark off.

Game 4 – Site Delta (Dark win): Game four brought us the first ‘normal’ build up between the two finalists, with both players macroing up after some light 2-Rax Reaper harassment from Maru. Banshees were once again Maru’s initial tech choice, and he found a decent number of Drone kills against Dark’s poor defense. However, Dark paid the favor back by exposing Maru’s own lapses, exploiting a lowered depot to execute a Zergling runby that evened the game up.

The two players continued to macro up from there, with Maru establishing his fourth base and taking a long-term view, while Dark maxed out on Ling-Bane while working his way up to Ultralisks. Maru tried to inhibit Dark’s progress with multiple groups of Marines and Medivacs, but Dark’s defensive multi-tasking was up to the task of keeping them at bay.

Things seemed to be headed toward a late-game slog, but the situation changed abruptly with Dark’s first major attack. As Dark’s Chitinous Plating upgrade neared completion, he found himself needing to discard some of his Ling-Bane to free up supply. Noticing that Maru had a significant portion of his army out on the map for harassment, Dark sent a good half of his Ling-Bane swarm toward Maru’s third and natural where they encountered shockingly few defenders. Maru scrambled to try and defend, but Dark inflicted massive SCV damage before any of the Terran forces could return home.

Intentional or not, this opportunistic attack actually ended up deciding the game as Maru could never stabilize after the initial attack. Dark just kept flooding in more Ling-Bane into Maru’s bases, and eventually he forced the GG without even having to use his freshly hatched Ultralisks.

Game 5 – Alcyone (Maru win): Maru opened with a half-proxy version of 2-Barracks Reapers, building one Barracks at his wall and another out on the map. Dark’s clairvoyant Drone scout managed to find this proxy Barracks—not in time to stop it from completing, but still giving Dark valuable advance notice. The game looked like it was going straight downhill for Maru after he lost one of his first two Reapers to slow Zerglings, but he somehow managed to micro his way to four Drone kills and keep the game in a reasonable state.

After four games of playing Hellion-Banshee to warn Dark off of attempting any early-game attacks, Maru finally cashed in on this mind game. He greedily teched straight toward Medivacs and Stim with fast double-upgrades, which went unpunished against Dark’s macro opener. The sudden appearance of 1/1 Marines forced Dark to keep producing Roach-Ravager off of Lair tech in order to defend, but even then Dark couldn’t stop Maru from picking off an evolution chamber and widening the upgrade gap.

When Maru moved out for his 2/2 timing, Dark was only on 0/1/0 upgrades. Maru looked like he had Dark dead to rights, but thanks to an amazing flanking engagement, Dark barely managed to survive the onslaught. However, there wasn’t much Dark could do with the brief respite he had earned, as his Hive tech was severely delayed. With few options available to him, he decided to make an all-or-nothing bet on Swarm Hosts and Nydus Worms.

Unfortunately, this long shot gamble did not pay off for Dark. Just as a Nydus Worm completed next to Maru’s natural, a 3/3 infantry army came knocking at Dark’s doorstep. Dark was forced to use his first wave of Locusts to defend, and against 3/3 Marines, defeat was the only possible outcome.

Game 6 – Amphion (Dark win): Maru opened with a 1 Rax Reaper expansion, and similarly to the previous game, he went straight up to Stim and Medivacs with fast upgrades (though not quite as greedily). Initially, it seemed like Dark had failed to call Maru’s bluff, as he went up to four bases off of Roach-Ravager. However, Dark soon bared his teeth and revealed he did indeed have an offensive strategy in mind: mass Roach-Ravager with Nydus Worms.

Unfortunately for Maru, he completely disregarded the possibility of such a strategy as huge swathes of his main were left covered in the fog of war. Dark had all the room in the world to plant his first Nydus, out of which poured Roaches, Ravagers, and Queens.

Just as Maru reacted to the Nydus in his main, a second Nydus popped up near his third base. Dark played the two-directional attack beautifully, yanking Maru’s troops back and forth between bases while gaining an advantage each time. Maru could only withstand a few rounds of this deadly game of whack-a-mole and GG’d out at the 8:22 mark.

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• Source: https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/628114-dark-wins-code-s-season-2-2024