Imo there are 2 people currently in running for being the goat of sc2: let’s start with maru, the undisputed #1 terran in the world for, I don’t know, the last 5 years? One of the only terrans to go toe-to-toe with the top 4 zergs in macro games, the only one finding success with lategame turtle styles vs zerg, which is pretty much unheard of at the level he’s playing at, singlehandedly getting ravens and proxies nerfed, and winning multiple gsl’s during some of terran’s weakest periods, not to mention being a prodigy since he was 15.
The second case I see is for serral, coming into form after rogue’s 2017 blizzcon win which seemed itself to break zerg lategame, serral left him in the dust in 2018 being undefeated for the entire year and a few months into 2019 as well. Some may comment that he’s only able to win so much because he’s a foreigner, to which I would point to you his blizzcon win that year in which he thoroughly embarrassed rogue and dark, the 2 best kr zergs in mirror series. If that doesn’t prove he’s better than koreans, what will? Others might say he’s a patch zerg, to which I would say he’s the opposite in that he is THE reason that got zerg nerfed as much as it did, from tunneling claws in zvz, to broodlord leash, to hydra bane, to massing queens for early defense, to his insanely consistent creep spread that would leave scarlett jealous. Possibly the only zerg nerf I consider him not responsible for was lurkers, which would go towards reynor. And if he was a patchzerg, how would that explain him winning premiers 4 years later after the onslaught of zerg nerfs that put players like solar, the third best zerg in kr, on suicide watch or turned ragnarok into the joker?
You could also make a case for rogue, definitely is not lacking in achievements, as many gsl wins as maru, a blizzcon, and more international titles than you’d think. He often makes his opponent look a league below him, but he’s got consistency or motivation issues, or a gambling problem on maplestory or something. During his highs he is unmatched in lategame and in a prep tournament like gsl many players consider him the scariest to go up against, which iirc originates from his days as a sniper in team leagues. However that’s a little ironic given some of his most questionable losses have been to the likes of scarlett, fantasy, and leenock in gsl, even losing to hurricane in ST and dropping a game vs noregret in qualifiers.
Other players that I guess you could consider the goat would be innovation and life, inno I think suffered some motivation issues during the end of his career but was a mechanical machine during his prime and was one of the only players to take series off serral in 2019 and pushed him to the brink in 2018. As for life, like maru he was a prodigy winning gsl at 15 years old, who knows where he’d be today if he was still allowed to play.
So that’s it, had some thoughts on goat I wanted to get out, lemme know if I got anything wrong or I’m missing anyone.
