Of all of his matches from that night, Maru showed the most dominance over MC. This is despite the fact that MC is, on paper, a higher caliber player than Squirtle or oZ. Maru's victory over MC was not a sign that MC has gotten worse; rather it was a sign of how well Maru played against MC's style rather then as if he was playing against any old Protoss. MC is such a potent player because of his tendencies to force the game into his court. He uses aggression to scout and punish you, and is always aware of the mental state of the game (not being afraid to cheese or rush to three bases depending on what mental state he thinks you’re in). Watching Maru play was the first time I’ve seen someone take this mental aspect of play over MC, Maru played him like no one else so far has been capable.In game one Maru went for an inefficient 1 rax FE. He built the CC in base and even added a bunker to the top of his ramp. I talked about this idea in an earlier write up: at the pro level, it can be okay to trade inefficiencies for the strength of the mind game. With this inefficient opener from Maru, MC was forced into a robo build rather than a gateway timing (something that he loves to do). Maru’s unusual variation of the standard three rax follow up allowed his first push to hit with a little more punch. This variation of the opener is only so affective because of the recent trend to delay splash damage in the form of colossus and Templar from Protoss.In an attempt to more clearly state what I loved about Maru’s play this game:1. The opening is a huge mind game win over protoss, almost forcing them to make a robo2. It allows for a nice timing to smash into protoss before any of their splash damage is out3. It manages to allow for map control while still teching and expanding like crazy4. Maru gets a fast third base, upgrades, medivacs, and ghosts. In other words, it's very effective against the new protoss delayed colossus style.Quick notes on the build: it appears that Maru either got his third gas later than he wanted or his e-bay earlier than he wanted, as he quickly started +1 and then cancelled it when he realized he wouldn’t have enough for two medivacs as soon as the starport was done. Also, while at the beginning I stressed how good this opener is against MC, by building the CC and bunker on the low ground, it is also a very strong opener for terran in general.One last thing: Maru is seriously gosu at killing observers. He should change his name to observer scanner or something, he’s amazing spotting the little things, it’d be nice if an interviewer could ask him about how on earth he spots them so easily.Game Two: A Bad BuildJust a super quick note on game two: the three rax all in is really bad. I haven’t seen that work in forever. Seriously. People should stop doing it. It’s the build I have my terran friends do in order to get to platinum league wherein it stops working.