EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Vw6mS.png)
GSL Team League Recap: Uneventful, Unexciting, Uninteresting
This week, GomTV held their first team league for Starcraft 2, the GSL Team League (GSTL). Eight of the top SC2 teams in Korea battled it out over 4 days for $8,700 and bragging rights as the best team in Korea. No one knew what was going to happen, but most were expecting some very exciting games. However, they were greatly disappointed.
On the whole, the GSTL was a massive failure. The games simply were not exciting at all. Only one player used a Mothership, but that was in the worst game of the tournament, ST_Squirtle vs. IMMvp. That game lasted what seemed like an hour and was filled with some of the most boring units in the game, like High Templar, Dark Templar, Warp Prisms, Hellions, Siege Tanks, and Thors. Some of the strategies weren't very interesting either. Nexus on 16? *yawn* Double expanding in TvP? *snore* Using a hallucinated Phoenix as a spotter to warp Dark Templar into the Terran's main base? *zzzzzz* Neither player even went down their full tech tree.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/RO4kL.png)
Some of the boring action during the league's least exciting game
Part of why the games were so awful had something to do with the players. Often in team leagues you get to see unknown players do surprisingly well and beat some of the top players. This was not the case in the GSTL, however. Well-established and successful players such as IMSeed, ST_Ace, TSL_aLive, SlayerS_Jjob, ZeNEXHyeJoon, ST_Squirtle, and IMYongHwa all performed as well as expected. To no one's surprise, they defeated many of the lesser players like SlayerS_BoxeR, oGsTOP, IMMvp, and MarineKingPrime.WE.
One exciting aspect of team leagues is the potential for all-kills or reverse all-kills and long, exciting series. Shockingly, there was only one all-kill, and it was by one of the most accomplished players in Korea, ST_Squirtle. SlayerS_Jjob couldn't even pull off the reverse all-kill vs. ZeNEX, which was pretty pathetic. Only two series went the full number of games, including the final. However, the final between Startale and Incredible Miracle was a long boring, back and forth 9 game series that disappointed the fans.
This was the first time GomTV has used the new maps in a tournament. Simply put, it was a disaster. The games on the new maps were just plain awful. The largeness of the new maps made for long, boring, drawn out games. They were far less enjoyable than the quick 8 minute games on fan and player favorite maps like Steppes of War.
Lastly, the taunting of the other team, in-game dancing of units, and the arrogant interviews were all just downright disrespectful. It was truly a sad sight to see Starcraft 2 devolve into such unentertaining antics.
It looks like GomTV will have to go back to the drawing board for their next team league as this one didn't cut it. Many fans were outraged that their $5 spent on the premium ticket was not worth it all. GomTV hopes to make the upcoming GSL even worse so that the fans will forget about this disaster.
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Wrote this quickly, so forgive any mistakes or if it's not as good as it could be.
Also, holy shit was the GSTL awesome. Especially the finals, and especially game 8 of the finals. I hate to break out of satire mode, but I had to say that.
Also, holy shit was the GSTL awesome. Especially the finals, and especially game 8 of the finals. I hate to break out of satire mode, but I had to say that.
+ Show Spoiler [Infested Archon archive] +
