After a month and a half of intense gaming we have whittled the competition to 8 of it's finest players. The upsets in the Ro16 have shown us that $5000 is enough incentive for players to take their game to levels thought unreachable and create fantastic games in the process. The players who are left answered the challenge and upped their game to the next level and have moved on as a result. The players now have the luxury of a Bo5 to weave their art onto our screens and that's going to result in some of the best games all tournament. Some of the Razer TSL staff have taken the time to give their opinion on the upcoming matches and how they see these games turning out.
But before we continue, a huge thank you to our sponsor Razer for their support. I know we've been saying it a lot, but these guys are bringing life into our beloved game through the TSL and even though BroodWar is in its twilight years, it's still pulling in the viewers. Thanks to their support, foreign gaming is being broadcast to new audiences and I for one have never been so excited about a foreign tournament. I'm finding myself more interested in the results and games of the Razer TSL than the OSL or MSL - a first for myself and many others! Also a shoutout to the Razer TSL casters, tech crew and graphics team - you guys are making this superb! Now let's take a look at our upcoming games.
MYM.White_Ra vs Retired_Draco
FrozenArbiter Fun Fact!
Historically White-Ra has never beaten draco in an official game/series (1-7 in individual games)
PvP is a brutal matchup where the victor is generally the player with the cleaner mechanics than the other. However, as with any mirror matchup, when you have two evenly matched Protoss brawling it out for $5000 it simply comes down to the player who is better prepared. At this stage in the tournament, both White-Ra and Draco are heavy favorites to win - pending the result of this tough encounter.
There is no doubt in my mind that White-Ra will be practicing as hard as he can for this series - both for the cash and to avenge his fallen comrade Strelok. Draco on the other hand has such immense talent that he can coast from game to game with minimal time investment. Should Draco practice substantially for this series (unlikely) he should be able to clean out White-Ra 3-1; but given his reluctance to practice i see White-Ra taking it in 5 in an extremely close match. As much as I feel White-Ra is the favorite, I just can't bring myself to vote against Draco, a player who always manages to pull out great results - even when he says he's not practicing. Hence I'm calling Draco taking this in 4.
- Plexa
As a graphics staff member, I'm too lazy to take sides. However I feel obligated to mention that anyone featured on such a banner has not had the best TSL tournament. Incontrol, ToT)XiaoZi(, ToT)Cloud(, ToT)Mondragon(... Just saying... Also the only two players remaining drawn by Sigrun are Dreiven and Draco for a little more gfx superstition
- pachi
Draco looked incredibly impressive against Strelok, and the games were very one-sided, but on the other hand, Draco's macro looked circumspect on more than one occasion. White-ra in comparison looked solid throughout his games, and in fact, looked very close to being unstoppable in his games.
Furthermore, I think White-ra is probably very well practised on the two older maps (Blue Storm and Zodiac) so I can't see him dropping a game there either. Because of this, I thik Draco might win one of the first two matches, but I think White-ra will take the series 3-1.
- Daigomi
RoX.BRAT_OK vs MYM.Dreiven
FrozenArbiter Fun Fact!
BRAT_OK went a staggering 62-29 against Protoss in the TSL Ladder
Statistics tell us that this is Brat's best match-up, and I don't think this is Dreiven's best. Because of this, I'm voting 3-1 for Brat. In contrast with Chill, I believe Wuthering favours Terran in the TvP matchup, so I expect Brat to take that match. In the second game I think a fast Tank push onto the natural will be very difficult to stop by Dreiven, so I think Brat will go 2-0 up before losing his first game.
Othello is a very open map, and while there are cliffs that make harassing very difficult, I think a Protoss with good troop movement can always flank a Terran force successfully. Because of that, I'm voting for Dreiven to take the third game. Finally, Zodiac seems to offer both players a good chance, but I think Brat can take it with a strong macro oriented game.
- Daigomi
Following on from his victory over Mondragon, Dreiven faces the Army Terran BRAT_OK. With his confidence riding high after a landmark victory, Dreiven should be able to handle this match without too much difficulty. BRAT_OK has been impressive thus far in the TSL, but the defining factor in this series is going to be how a player copes under pressure. Being an ex-military man I'm sure BRAT_OK can handle it sufficiently, but Dreiven takes that to the next level. The pressure and difficulty of his last round shows that he has nerves of steel which is going to be an extremely valuable asset in this tournament.
Breaking this series down map by map, Dreiven should be able to win 3-1. Wuthering is a great map for Dreiven to start off on. A common theme in his play is that he needs some time to warm up and Wuthering gives him a safe macro map to progress into an easy midgame giving plenty of time for him to warm up. On top of that Terran's haven't figured out how to play Wuthering against Protoss yet which definitely works in Dreiven's favor. Blue Storm is a good map for BRAT_OK. Blue Storm gives around 50% winrate for Terran against Protoss and combine that with Dreiven's "Blue Storm Phobia" and you get a win for BRAT_OK. Despite things getting to 1-1, everything goes downhill for BRAT_OK, Othello and Zodiac are great maps for Dreiven. He should be able to edge out BRAT_OK on Othello, while the 7-2 stats in favor of Protoss on Zodiac speak for themselves. Even if BRAT manages to take Othello, Dreiven has Wuthering to fall back on in the final set. Thus i arrive at the conclusion that Dreiven should be taking this 3-1.
- Plexa
MYM.DinOt vs Excello.IefNaij
FrozenArbiter Fun Fact!
According to the GosuGamers database, DinOt has career stats of 10-3 against Protoss
After a number of impressive and entertaining games from DinOt this series looks more promising than if you had shown me this 2 months ago. DinOt is on a roll - taking down Idra in the qualifiers 2-0 and generating some very entertaining games against Rondo in the Ro16. On the other hand we have the great Canadian Protoss IefNaij. JF has been constantly impressive for a long time now - even participating in TL's own Liquibition where he cleaned up Ret 4-0. The strength of his play is really quite formidable. However, he did claim to feel really nervous once he was 0-1 down against Cloud in his Ro16 match. His nerves may become his greatest weakness in the tournament - and we may see an upset here.
DinOt gets full advantage out of the map pool here, Othello is reportedly a great Zerg map, and it's not hard to see why. The myriad of opportunities and styles Zerg can adapt to against Protoss on this map is staggering. This gives DinOt a full pallet to work with against JF - who is reduced to reactionary based play. DinOt should take this set and then be very happy with Blue Storm coming up second. Blue Storm has a 10-6 record in favor of Zerg which equates to a 62% winrate - and indeed results from Korea coincide with these numbers. Zergs definitely have an easy time here and thus JF will be hard pressed to keep up with DinOt and i expect DinOt to go up 2-0. With Wuthering as the third set things look better for JF, but I don't know if it will be enough.
Wuthering is still being worked out amongst the Zerg and Mondragon seemed to have the right idea (until he stopped expanding) so we could see DinOt come out with a nice strategy against JF. But the biggest factor working against JF here is that if he is down 0-2, his nerves might kick in and send him packing 0-3. Here's hoping that doesn't happen, but its a very real possibility. Zodiac should be a easy game for JF to take. If it comes to the final set, i think JF will be able to take it - seeing as he will be a position of power after taking Zodiac. I don't know if DinOt can handle the pressure of the 5th set, especially if he's coming off two consecutive losses and JF might just be able to comeback and win 3-2. However, as it stands I'm fairly confident in DinOt taking this 3-0 with a possibility of JF coming back to win 3-2.
- Plexa
This is the most difficult game for me to call. Iefnaij is a clear favourite for the tournament, while Dinot is a relative unknown, but Dinot's two games on Othello were amazingly played. His troop movements were perfect, he never slipped up with his macro, and he was effective with his pressure. Because of this, I'm going to take a risk and say Dinot will win both his games on Othello.
This leaves us with three remaining games, of which I will say Iefnaij will win only two, and Dinot will take the win on Blue Storm. Blue Storm is very comfortable for a mobile Zerg, and I believe Dinot will make it count by taking that game from Iefnaij.
I feel that this bet is a very risky bet on my side, but from what I've seen of Dinot, I think he can take this match.
- Daigomi
ToT)GOsia( vs Excello.NonY
FrozenArbiter Fun Fact!
Nony just beat Gosia 3-0 in MYM KOTH a couple of weeks ago.
3-0 Nony. Gosia, while winning his previous two games, looked very inconsistent. Nony on the other hand just powered his way over Ret. Gosia himself said that he didn't play well against Kr, and that he would have to practise hard to improve on those games, but I just don't think he can improve fast enough.
I think this will be a very straightforward macro-based game for Nony, and I can't see what Gosia can do to stop him. Perhaps the most interesting game will be on Blue Storm, where we'll have to see how the players cope with the layout of the map. The longer the game goes on on Blue Storm, the bigger I feel Gosia's chances will be, but if Nony can pull of two attacks like those he did against Ret, I can't see Gosia expanding past his mineral only.
- Daigomi
GOsia stated that he believes that he is the worst player in the Ro8 - and to some extent he may be right. His company in the Ro8 are formidable to say the least. I beleive it is this attitude that will lead GOsia to the upset victory over NonY. NonY is one of the strongest pillars of the foreign community and one of the best players in the tournament - but if this tournament has taught us nothing else it is that anything can happen on the day. As much as I love and respect NonY as a player and an asset to foreign Starcraft, GOsia's spirit, playstyle and persona have converted me into a believer.
Blue Storm and Othello are two great maps for GOsia to open up on. Blue Storm favors his macro intensive ztyle - and he has the option of using the "Mondragon" build which achieved phenomenal success on the ladder. NonY seems to like this map though, which means that he's prepared for this encounter. This set will be one of the most epic of the tournament in my opinion because both players are suited to this map. I am going to say that GOsia will take this set, but it will be close. Othello should fall into a similar category - it's a great map for Zerg as they have a plethora of options but it's also a decent map for Protoss if they can stick around long enough. But i will say that GOsia's chances are the best on this map and hence i think he'll be going 2-0 up.
GOsia then runs into Wuthering - and i really think that NonY will take this set. Not because of the imbalance, but because GOsia looked somewhat shaky against Kr on this map. NonY is significantly better than Kr in all areas of his play and thus should be able to take GOsia here. NonY should also be happy with Zodiac as Protoss have a 75% winrate over Zerg. GOsia may simply try a hydra break here or a similar cheesy build - but ultimately i think NonY will level off 2-2. And then we come to Blue Storm once again. I beleive that this game will be brilliant, both players will be giving it there all and the result will be amazing. From his interview, GOsia seems to know how to get the most out his body and mind while playing starcraft - and that, i think, is going to work in his favor here. I think GOsia will upset NonY 3-2.
- Plexa
Although we disagree on the results and outcomes of these matches one thing we can all agree on is that this weekend is going to be intense. We have 4 great series lined up this weekend and it'd be a shame if you missed it These games are going to be the buzz of the community for weeks to come so make sure you get to see them live! Just as a small reminder Draco/White-Ra and BRAT_OK/Dreiven will be played Saturday, May 17 16:30 EST / 22:30 CET and IefNaij/DinOt and GOsia/NonY will be palyed on Sunday, May 18 16:30 EST / 22:30 CET so make sure you cancel your BBQs (or work youself around them) and tune in for another great week of the Razer TSL!
And we are back! After a few month hiatus, the Weekly Stats Report is back, bringing you the newest stats from the proleague every week.
In the team standings we have the defending champions rocking it up at the top of the log again, but not as convincingly as they did last season. In the first eight matches, Lecaf has already dropped two, losing against both STX and MBC in straight sets.
SKT has continued their climb to the top, taking important games from a still mediocre eSTRO team and a strong OGN squad. In contrast CJ Entus has dropped into the bottom third after losing against both Samsung and STX.
Finally, in the bottom half, ACE is trying hard to move eSTRO into the last spot, having already won as many games this season as they did in the entire previous season. Perhaps with the likes of a strong DaezanG, backed up with Boxer's genius, and Oversky's aggression, ACE finally has a chance this season to move out of their regular 12th position.
The map statistics are showing an unfortunate season for Zerg so far, perhaps reflected in our very own TSL season so far. Zerg is barely breathing with a winning rate of only 38%. Protoss is showing a similar win ratio to last season, leading the map statistics, mostly thanks to a repeat performance on a largely unaltered Katrina SE, while Terran seems to be doing well on all the maps, only falling slightly short on Andromeda.
In the 1v1 rankings, our current OSL champion Flash is showing dominating form, going 9-1 in his first ten games, with a fairly even spread of games. The only player able to take a game from Flash so far this season is Canata, who took an unexpected game in the opening match of the season.
A surprise player at the top of the list is Sea.Pure, the young WeMade FOX Protoss. After an unimpressive first proleague, Pure has opened his second proleague season with five straight wins, taking games from opponents of every race. Another young one in the top five is the MBCGame HERO Terran RuBy. While RuBy has been played fairly often by MBC, his recent form in the proleague might earn him a permanent spot in the line-up.
Finally, in the 2v2 rankings, we see some well known teams showing form again, with TT and Jihyun dominating at second place, and Saint and Light showing a strong performance in fourth place. The racial spread for the 2v2 teams are fairly equal so far, with the Protoss teams taking three of the top five positions, while the Terran teams take the mid positions.
Of the top five teams, only the team of Tester and hyvaa have been able to show consistent form on Hunters, going 5-2 there. TT and Jihyun has been the most impressive on Hanibal, winning four of their first five games.
I hope you've all enjoyed this update! They will start appearing regularly from now on, so watch out for them! See you next week.
With the awesomeness of TSL bearing down on us it’s easy to forget the most prestigious Starcraft Tournament in the world is still going on. Last Friday saw the opening to what we veterans are referring to as “the real OSL”. No more silly ODT brackets and stacked schedules – we’re into the real deal now. So what did happen on Friday? The 16 combatants of the OSL lined-up and were drafted like sheep into four distinct groups with more than surprising results.
Let’s recap what went down and dish out some awards (which sadly have collected a fair amount of dust…) then preview what’s in store this week for the OSL. Don’t forget about the Razer TSL Ro8 starting this weekend – there’s bound to be some more epic clashes in these Bo5 series. Don't forget about the Razer TSL Contest where you can win some top quality gear from the good folks at Razer simply for picking the winner of the tournament! Easy as that! Be sure to check out all the latest Razer TSL information at the Razer TSL website - http://razertsl.teamliquid.net/
But without further chatter, let’s look at the picks:
And now for the coveted Mensrea group selection awards! The Studliest Choice Award – JulyZerg. What’s the best way to get back at some prick who just chose you as his free win? You draft his brother into the same group as him. That’s right, for the first time on TV we’re going to see Luxury go up against Yellow[arnc]. A battle for their parents love, pride, and the title ‘number one twin’ – the implications are enormous. Bisu comes in a respectable second place here for picking his GomTV S3 Final opponent Mind. Bisu has a habit of picking superior players [read: jaedong] far too early on in the tournament and getting eliminated, so this is probably act of stupidity rather than manliness as there is little chance of Bisu walking away the victor.
The Group of Death – Group B. When you slap three of the strongest PvP players together into a single group, who also happen to have killer PvT your bound to end up with an insane group. To put the icing on the cake, you have NaDa making his triumphant return against the three best PvT right now. This group is wall to wall talent and will be closer than Fakesteve to Sea at a fan meet. Even if you hate PvP (which you might do by the end of the month if you watch the Razer TSL) you simply can’t overlook this stellar lineup.
The Guilliver Award to the player surrounded by lilliputian giants – Luxury. What do you expect to happen when you stick a 60%+ ZvZ monster into the first Zerg only group ever in an OSL? Rape is what you get. Ironically the only player that could possibly touch this monster is his brother.
The My Race Suxor Award - Terran. Gone are the days where Terran’s entered the OSL with 8 players to zergs 5 and protosses 3. Now they have been culled back to four of the pillars of the Terran legacy. But no matter where you look they are surrounded by vT giants making their advancement fairly difficult; it’s going to be an interesting starleague for them!
The Return of the King Award – NaDa. He’s been looking shaky lately, but as the only player who advanced into both Starleauges I’m starting to believe that the Genius will be gracing the winners podium once again. He’s got a long journey to go, and making it out of the toughest group in the tournament it but the first hurdle.
The “I belong in this Starleague” Award – Jaedong. Jaedong getting eliminated in the Ro8 is one thing, but the number 1 player at the moment not even making the OSL is simply incomprehensible. BackHo must be a soulless shell of a former human being after Jaedong was through with him at team headquarters. It’s sad to know that we won’t get to see the pinnacle of the Swarm do battle – Flash, Mind, Stork, Bisu, Luxury are all there just missing one…
The “I don’t belong in this Starleague” Award – BackHo. GTFO. Players like you deserve to retire and work in some third tier pizza joint in the Seoul slums. The mere fact you have deprived me of Jaedong is enough to warrant your death.
To close off the group selections the seeds got to pick their starting maps; Flash chose Hwarangdo, Stork chose Troy, Luxury chose Othello and Bisu was left with Andromeda. And hence the schedule you see in the calendar was produced. This leaves one question left – will the Winner’s Curse live on this season? With Flash in top form this looks unlikely – but we said that about Oov after EVER 2004. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
There’s two sets of games this week – OSL Playday 1 Wednesday 19:30 KST
So first up we have the reigning champion against a former champion. Flash's form has simply been impeccable of late, with a single loss to Mind being the only chink in his otherwise glorious armor. GGPlay is no Knightsword these days and will ultimately succumb to the monster that is Flash. The map also works against GGPlay as Terran have proven very strong here against Zerg - if GGPlay wants a decent shot at winning his best bet lies in the magical 5 pool.
These two just can't separate themselves. They just got out of an ODT group together and then Best decides that he wants NaDa back in his group. And well I can't say i blame him - their last encounter was a dominating performance by Best on Hwarangdo which set the trend for future PvT's in the ODT. Troy is a map with strong Protoss tendencies and Best has shown that he knows how to exploit this map to it's full potential (see BeSt vs Sea). NaDa has his hands full here - if somehow he can survive the inevitable Dark Templar use then he just needs to stop BeSt from getting a dominant Carrier fleet going.. a tall order actually. BeSt is the strong favorite here.
Group C is simply a training ground for the ZvZ titan Luxury. The only person he should be afraid of is the beastly Jaedong, and now that the Jaedong factor is eliminated he basically has a free walk in his group. That walk starts with JulyZerg. No doubt he will be wanted to exact revenge against him for placing his brother in the same group as him. But no doubt July will come prepared. There is no better team for him to be on (in terms of history). Soul's proud Zerg lineage were some of the most dominant Zergs in history - and now July is trying to carry on that legacy. I have every faith that he will... just not against Luxury The smart man places his money on Luxury in this match, the baboon places his on July. I, sadly, am the latter
The final match this evening will be the anticlimactic rape of an underage boy by an old grandpa. A disgusting thought really so turn your children away for this strictly R18 showing and cover your eyes because it will be bloody.
This should be a great game to kick of the festivities for the night. Rock is a well known PvT only monster while Sea is known for being the little monster. Nevertheless, Sea is hungry for OSL success having made the last god knows how many without passing the Ro8. I think MBC have realised this too and decreased his Proleague commitment. While the map favors Rock's style, I still have to pick Sea as the favorite here; he's got everything to take him to the next level of this game and im sure that this time he'll go all the way and make it big. That starts on Friday with Rock - so he better watch out!
What the hell was Stork thinking? He chose his teammate as his first choice which begs the question 'why?'. Stork is still the best PvP in the world right now, and there's not a protoss right now that can beat him in my opinion (except for perhaps Best). Jangbi is certainly not known for his PvP, notably after his loss to Kal. But that series was surprisingly close for two players with sub-50% winrates in the matchup. That being said i don't think Jangbi can go the distance and im rather confident Stork is going to take the victory.
I don't know how Rumble keeps qualifying for Starleagues. His ODT performance for one was rather impressive, I certainly was not expecting him to perform at the level he did. However, seeing as he has done squat in the real league he's quickly becoming the new Mumyung. Yarnc on the other hand is such a variable player; one moment he on the top of his game the next he is playing sloppy B-Level Zerg. I'm hoping he brings his A game on Friday as i don't want him to suffer the embarrassment of losing to Rumble. Yarnc is the favorite, but ZvZ is so random - so Rumble just might sneak through.
And this is the match we've been waiting for - a rematch of the GomTV S3 MSL Finals. Bisu had some huge balls to pick Mind as his first opponent - especially seeing as he has been so strong lately. However, Bisu is no pushover himself. I'm excited about this match for a number of reasons, but most notably because Mind always brings his brilliant TvP timing to the forefront went he plays top tier Protosses and thats always brilliant to watch. Bisu on the other hand is really playing PvT like Pusan/Best do (heavy arbiter/dark templar) which generally doesn't yield the best results but sure as hell makes for entertaining games. This is one match you simply do not want to miss. Mind is the favorite here, but it could just as easily goto Bisu.
So there you have it! This weeks set of OSL matches and a brief preview of each group. Don't forget to check out the Razer TSL Contest and cast your vote to be in to win great Razer gear! TSL also airs on Saturday/Sunday so be sure to check out the star-studded lineups dubbed "Protoss vs the world".
From the Razer Sponsorship Announcement In addition, Razer will be more than a silent partner. They will be taking an active interest in the tournament by hosting their own TSL page with a "Guess the TSL Champion" contest.
And now it's time. Think you know the ins and outs of the Razer TSL? Did you vote Dreiven over Mondragon? Did you predict White-rA demolishing IdrA? Prove it.
Head on over to http://www2.razerzone.com/contest/tsl/ and cast your ballot as to who this season's winner will be. No registration necessary, just fill out your contact info and vote!
Those who correctly pick the winner will be entered into a draw for one of three Razer Destructor Gaming Mats. Since I play using a sheet of scrap paper on my desk, this represents a significant upgrade.+ Show Spoiler +
I voted BRAT. Gooooo Terran!
The mat is made with a "proprietary gunmetal coating" which is just a fancy way of saying awesome. You can check it out at the RazerZone site as well as the rest of their gaming products.
The contest ends on May 17th, just before the next broadcast, so go vote now!
The Razer TSL Ro8 begins this Saturday. On Saturday 5/17, there will be two Bo5's broadcast. On Sunday 5/18, there will be two Bo5's broadcast. All will be streamed live with video and English casting.
TeamLiquid StarLeague Round of 8 Day 1 Saturday, May 17 - 16:30 EST / 22:30 CET
Please support the TSL by watching the cast through the Razer TSL website. If the Razer TSL website embedded stream is not working for you, first check that you have the newest version of Windows Media Player here.
Please support the TSL by watching the cast through the Razer TSL website. If the Razer TSL website embedded stream is not working for you, first check that you have the newest version of Windows Media Player here.
If there are technical issues or problems that you'd like us to be aware about, please post in the feedback thread.
Two months ago, TeamLiquid had an ambition of bringing the Korean StarLeague experience to the rest of the world. The various members of our staff brought a unique blend of talent and motivation which has created a buzz unlike anything that has come before. The only thing missing was a company who was willing to sponsor a vision rather than look at data. A company that was willing to support an unproven product based on reputation, not revenue streams. A company that understood "community".
Until now. We at TeamLiquid are delighted to announce that our baby has a name, and that name is the Razer TSL. After extensive negotiations we have come to an agreement in which Razer will not only sponsor the entire prize pool of the TSL, but also the substantial cost of streaming the games live to you, the fans. We are delighted to be working with them, and hope that the upcoming league surpasses all expectations.
In an industry notoriously lacking in willing sponsors, Razer has been at the forefront of supporting eSports in all it's manifestations. They are currently supporting twenty-one teams, the top WCIII progamers, as well as numerous LAN events. The Razer TSL, however, represents a step into uncharted territory. We are thankful for their trust, and will do our best to prove that TL is a worthy investment.
In the coming days, TL will be launching a new page dedicated completely to the Razer TSL. In addition, Razer will be more than a silent partner. They will be taking an active interest in the tournament, hosting their own TSL page with a "Guess the TSL Champion" contest.
For more information on Razer and how they support eSports, check out their eSports page at:
There is a good mix of players who competed to get out of this group. There were representatives from each of the three races. Some veteran and accomplished players were back for more action and they were joined by some newer blood, looking for a first shot at glory. With such a blend of players, anyone had a reasonable shot at getting out of this group.
Though the game appears to begin fairly standard, Lucifer decided to add a pair of gateways as a proxy not too far from Nada’s main. The gateways begin warping out in the field as Lucifer techs directly to templar archives within his main.
Nada manages to get a turret near his ramp just as the first pair of dark templar arrives. But dragoons lay waste to the detector allowing the templar to be sneaky and take out a couple tanks before they can pull back into the relative safety of the main while Nada’s expansion attempt seems hopeless as reinforcements arrive.
Dark templar soon pour into the base and remove the remaining tanks in quick fashion. The rest of the game is a formality as Nada does not have enough combat units left to defend against the invasion.
This was not a particularly impressive game by either player. As Goodfriend was taking down Shark’s second expansion, the Zerg forces decide it’s a good time to launch an assault on the Terran natural, where they run into two bunkers and change, which is enough of a defense to make them turn back.
As Goodfriend runs parts of his army around, looking to squish rising expansions, Shark pushes eight lurkers along with the mutalisks he didn’t clumsily lose into the Terran natural, just before the arrival of science vessels. Lurkers press forward into the main, scattering about and proving themselves to be more than Goodfriend can handle.
Zerglings rush in, buildings lift off… and we all know how it generally goes from there.
Lucifer keeps Shark from getting into his base with any sort of offensive. Shark goes on to show the audience how hydralisks lose to a bunch of cannons and psionic storms. Lucifer just lets Shark overextend in his attacks. He then inches forward and destroys the next Zerg legion as Shark runs into a bunch more storms.
Nada as the Yellow Terran and Goodfriend as the Red Terran.
An early metal scuffle leads back toward Nada’s expansion, where he is able to fend off the attackers. Goodfriend makes use of mines to remove defending enemy siege tanks, but after several attempts is not able to deal enough damage to push in.
Nada gets several dropships out before Goodfriend even has an operational starport. The air mobility helps him defend an expansion with few losses to his own armada. Soon with five to none dropship superiority, Nada has complete command of the battlefield. He takes hold of his lead and runs with it to victory.
Nada kept up pressure on Shark throughout the game and keeping the harassment off of himself. And when it came time for the Terran hero to defend, he did so successfully, putting Shark further to the disadvantage.
The Coliseum is where the heroes rise and everyone else turns to dust. It is only appropriate that one of the greatest heroes of Brood War emerged victorious from this battle in a convincing win.
Advancing from this group are both the youngest and oldest players. Both the least and most experienced. None of the games were particularly exciting, the players who brought better game walked away with the win in each case. Whether you enjoy seeing the greats of the game continue to do well or you enjoy seeing potential champions on their rise to glory, the results from this group deliver for future excitement in this season’s MSL.
FrozenArbiter Fun Fact!
Plexa
These games are going to be the buzz of the community for weeks to come so make sure you get to see them live! Just as a small reminder Draco/White-Ra and BRAT_OK/Dreiven will be played Saturday, May 17 16:30 EST / 22:30 CET and IefNaij/DinOt and GOsia/NonY will be palyed on Sunday, May 18 16:30 EST / 22:30 CET so make sure you cancel your BBQs (or work youself around them) and tune in for another great week of the Razer TSL!
The smart man places his money on Luxury in this match, the baboon places his on July. I, sadly, am the latter 
so turn your children away for this strictly R18 showing and cover your eyes because it will be bloody.
Plexa
Those who correctly pick the winner will be entered into a draw for one of three Razer Destructor Gaming Mats. Since I play using a sheet of scrap paper on my desk, this represents a significant upgrade.
Manifesto7 
Retired_Draco vs. 
MYM.White-Ra
RoX.BRAT_OK vs. 
MYM.DinOt vs. 
Excello.IefNaij 
Excello.NonY vs. 
Two months ago, TeamLiquid had an ambition of bringing the Korean StarLeague experience to the rest of the world. The various members of our staff brought a unique blend of talent and motivation which has created a buzz unlike anything that has come before. The only thing missing was a company who was willing to sponsor a vision rather than look at data. A company that was willing to support an unproven product based on reputation, not revenue streams. A company that understood "community".