EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/islbanner2.png)
You thought foreign Broodwar was dead and forgotten? The halls of iCCup barren and empty, with only cobwebs and tumbleweeds stirring in the winds? Think again. The AoV iCCup StarLeague has been in full swing for the past 5 weeks and as we're about to plunge headfirst into the Round of 32 - here's TeamLiquid's preview.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/islformat.png)
Sporting a $1000+ prizepool and a 60 player roster, the AoV iCCup StarLeague is the biggest foreign StarCraft:BroodWar tourney since TSL2. On the 9th of February a Ladderstage kicked off. Over 400 players stormed the last and the top 56 players advanced into the next round. They were divided into 14 groups of 4, duking it out MSL style over the past 3 weeks. The 28 players that advanced were joined by 4 invites, totalling 32 players that are now getting ready for the final haul, starting with the Round of 32.
Get out your agendas folks - here's the schedule:
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/islschedule.png)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/islbracket1.png)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/islbracket2.png)
On top of this, replay casts for Ro32, Ro16 and ro8 will all continue Sunday at 19:00 CET / 1:00 EST following the Saturday cast.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/islplayers.png)
As a lot of the more well-known names in BroodWar have made the transition to StarCraft 2, the ISL roster is full with only a handful of well-knowns, a lot of newcomers and a couple of veterans. The full player list is as follows:
+ Show Spoiler [Invites] ++ Show Spoiler [Groups 1-5] +
Ace
Scan
Ramms
Sziky
GoTunk
Jumper
() DraGon
Cute
Bakuryu
() Napoleon+ Show Spoiler [Groups 6-10] + Shauni
Fakap-_-
Dsaqwe
Southpark
Mamon
Julia
Gucci
Alfiomerda
Szajna
Bishop+ Show Spoiler [Groups 11-14] + Yayba
vAriOus
Heme
Hejek
Kazik
Time
DeSka
Michael+ Show Spoiler [Racial Distribution] + 11
5
15
1
Ace Scan Ramms Sziky GoTunk Jumper () DraGon Cute Bakuryu () Napoleon Shauni Fakap-_- Dsaqwe Southpark Mamon Julia Gucci Alfiomerda Szajna Bishop Yayba vAriOus Heme Hejek Kazik Time DeSka Michael 11 5 15 1A lot of names that you might not recognize? Here's who to look out for!
Kolll (A high)Kolll is everyone's favorite pocket-size German Zerg. Hopping onto iCCup at only 12 years old, he managed to get to a B- rank in only the first season and has since gone toe-to-toe with both Bisu and Stork. Kolll is back for ISL. He recently started streaming on TeamLiquid, drawing many eyes. If he gets back into his former shape he'll be a true contender for ISL champion.
Ramms (A high)Russia is known for being very Terrany. Notable names are Androide, Advokate and Brat_Ok and of the 9 Russians that qualified, 6 are Terrans. During his Round of 56 cast, Ramms was marked by commentators as one of the favourites to win the whole thing, as he destroyed his group 2-0. Ranked #7 outside Korea, he might be the best Terran around. Keep an eye on this guy.
Yayba (A- high)Yayba is one of the more accomplished Protoss players. Throughout the years he continuously performed well in the Polish championships and Polish WCG. He placed first in GosuGamer's Gosucup #7 and was the runner-up of 2009's SC2GGSL. In 2010's WCG world finals he defeated A2, F91 as well as White-Ra. Arguably the best Protoss in this tournament and certainly one of the most accomplished players.
Other notable names include Hungarians
Ace, the ranked #1 outside Korea with a 79% div1 winrate, and Sziky, ex-Mouz and has won 4 Defiler.ru tournaments. Bakuryu, who recently got his first fan interview. Shauni, TL's favorite Broodwar streamer, TL-Arena's first champion and the hero of iCCup Attack! #5. We can't also forget the other invites - Castro, of TSL fame, PatrOn, his fellow countryman and Game, the only remaining Random player. Still not sure who's who? Check out JoeKim's player interviews! ![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/islstyle.png)
Fair enough, Foreigners aren't as good as the top tier Korean players. However, this doesn't mean their play is any less fun. It's safe to say Foreigners have their very own style, setting them apart from the Korean scene. Apart from the copious amounts of drama already enveloping this event, Foreigners seem a lot cheesier. It's almost common to see 2 Gate PvZ, hidden expansions, 8 Rax, slowdrop and the notorious 4 Hatch ZvP. Luckily, Foreigners also excel at the more exotic and creative cheeses (good old 2 Rax Fact TvZ anyone?). With that premise, the Ro56 certainly didn't disappoint. Read on for the Top 5 Most Hilarious Games from the Round of 56.
Top 5 Most Hilarious Games from the Round of 56
by Hawaiianpig & Kiante
+ Show Spoiler [#5] +
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/bvrthin.png)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/vod.gif)
+ Show Spoiler +TvZ is known as one of the most dynamic and entertaining matchups in BroodWar, and when foreigners play it, that doesn't change.
+ Show Spoiler [#4] +
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/jvcthin.png)
+ Show Spoiler +This game starts out like Yellow vs Bisu and devolves into Idra level BM with self elimination and lots of QQ.
+ Show Spoiler [#3] +
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/sve.png)
+ Show Spoiler +This game squares off a Protoss and Zerg in mortal combat. Who hates Drones more? Watch and find out.
+ Show Spoiler [#2] +
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/hvsthin.png)
+ Show Spoiler +TvT can sometimes be boring, but when you have Ghosts locking down Battlecruisers, who cares.
+ Show Spoiler [#1] +
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/svathin.png)
+ Show Spoiler +PvP is one of the most hated on matchups in BroodWar, but in the foreigner scene, things start out crazy and just keep on getting more awesome.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/islmaps.png)
The ISL features a gigantic mappool. In the Ro56 we already saw the illustrious
Hitchhiker in action, and in the Ro32 the Best-of-Threes will kick off on Icarus. After that, it's Loser Picks on one of the following maps: Fighting Spirit, Colosseum II, HeartBreak Ridge 2.The rest of the mappool consists of:
HitchHiker, Destination, Empire of the Sun, Othello, Neo Medusa, Grandline SE, Tau Cross, Benzene, Bloody Ridge, Python, Matchpoint, Peaks of Baekdu, Aztec.For all the SC2 people tuning in, one of those names might sound familiar. "Peaks of Baekdu" has made it's comeback in SC2 under the name "
Crossfire". Peaks of Beakdu is sure to be played during the finals of this tournament. Get ready to see some new strats on a classic map or this new map in a classic game.![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/islinterview.png)
Interview with Sayle
Hi Sayle, thanks for the interview! Can we start off with a quick introduction of you as a BroodWar commentor and how you got involved with ISL?
Hi Pholon! Well, I'm currently the 'leader' of the ICCup BW TV section, which is to say I'm the only member of it ^^; I got into casting kind of randomly when ICCup needed someone to stream an A/B rank tour a few months ago, and I've been doing ICCup and various other events since then. I got into ISL thanks to LRM)Game, who is of course the organizor of the whole event. I can't remember exactly how it went, but one day he somehow ended up on Skype with me during one of the casts and he thought I did a pretty good job. Next thing I know, "hey Sayle, I'm about to run the biggest BW event since TSL2, wanna cast it?"
We know that you cast many games, including ISL, Chronicles of KasPra etc. What was your motivation to become one of the most dedicated BW commentators?
I guess a large part is that I'm one of the only ones left. I remember when Klazart, Cholera, and a ton of other commentators regularly did casts of Proleague and stuff. Nowadays, I think there's just a couple of Youtube guys like NuketheStars who still do it, but I'm probably the most active one. I love BW and the BW community, and I feel that the foreign community is a big part of that regardless of how dominant the Koreans are. I think when you boil it down, I'm just the same as any other diehard BW fan, except that I'm actively trying to do something to help instead of just complain on the forums.
You're the main caster for ISL. How do you like the organisation of the tournament? For example, how do you like the format (MST into Single Elim) and the choice of maps?
Haha, for a second I thought this would be a loaded question about some of the recent 'drama', but you were just talking about the format and stuff. I really like it so far. The ladder stage is nice and reminiscent of TSL. I think MST style groups is also a lot of fun, since it can lend to some interesting intra-group dynamics as we've already seen. Ro32 onwards is pretty standard so no complaints there. I think the biggest issue people have had so far is the map choice. There are some interesting map choices in there, not least of which is of course Hitchhiker. Since I'm not actually playing, I don't have to worry about map balance or practicing on too many maps or anything like that, so from my spectator/caster perspective, having some unusual maps in there makes for some fun games. I can see why players might have some issues with it though.
When you look back at the Ro56, were there good games? Were your expectations met? And, perhaps more interestingly, how do you feel foreigners are different from Koreans? Can you describe the foreigner style?
Hmm. I think this one depends a lot on someone's definition of a 'good game'. As a caster, any game that has exciting moments like big reaver shots or storms is great. Games with unusual strategies or just clever cheese are also very fun to watch. On the other hand, I have seen some complaints about the overall skill level being somewhat lacking, and this is somewhat valid. To be fair though, you can't really expect Korean progamer level play from these guys anyway, so all things considered, I've been very satisfied with the games so far.
As for style, I think foreigners just use a lot more strategies not seen in Proleague. Honestly, I think a lot of the time these might not be the 'optimal' strategies compared to the Korean ones, but the foreigners can get away with it due to the overall mechanics being weaker as well. This means slight deficiencies in certain strategies might not be punished as hard and similarly, certain progamer builds might not even be possible to execute properly. I don't think I can comment on an overall "foreigner style" though since really, every foreigner has their own personal style.
We’ve seen some pretty awesome games in the Ro56. What’s your favourite moment so far?
Probably the game that *spoiler alert* Joekim lost to Cute, getting him eliminated from the ISL. There are just so many awesome things about that game, not to mention the drama that ensued. I remember seeing the drop going in and thinking HONG JIN HOOOOOOO
On the other hand, *spoiler alert* Time's recent game against Casper was quite hilarious as well. Once again, it wasn't just the quality of the game, but also the whole situation that made it awesome. It was especially funny to just feel the disbelief from Casper when he got back in the channel. "What? I lost?"
We’re about to head into the Ro32. How are you looking forward to this? What do you expect from the next round? Looking at the brackets, what matches do you think people should definitely watch?
Given how many upsets we had in the group stages, I'm even more pumped for the Ro32. I'm especially excited to see how Game does in his match, and I'm sure a lot of people are eager to see how he performs as well. Given that we're going into normal Bo3 style brackets though, I think there's less room for upsets than the group stages, which were all Bo1. On the other hand, the 'lesser' players have for the most part been weeded out, so we can expect higher quality games from now on as well. I'm not too familiar with many of the players, which is why I often get match recommendations from Game, but I'd certainly like to watch Mamom vs Kolll and Shauni vs Fakap-_-, which is a rematch from the group stages. I'd also very much like to see Julia vs Sziky, Cute vs Ramms, and Game vs vAriOus due to the drama/backstory surrounding those games rather than the players themselves necessarily
Any last words/shoutouts?
Shoutout to my team rD! Check out our website at reality-defined.com! Shoutout to Game, Joekim, nOoNe, and everyone else helping to make the ISL run as smoothly as possible. Shoutout to Timestop! You gotta win the whole thing now man!
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Pholon/ISL/islpredictions.png)
Who’ll win it all?
Who do you want to win?
Who’ll cause an upset/is a dark horse/will surprise everyone?
Sayle - Head of the iCCupTV BroodWar team and main caster for ISL
I think it'll be Sziky, Ramms, or Scan. I'm rooting for Time though, simply for how hilarious it would be if he actually won the whole thing. As for a dark horse, Julia actually surprised me quite a lot when I casted his game. Not only was the level of play decent, but he actually mixed queens into his play (and not just to BM), so I'm very excited to see what he can do against Sziky.
Game - Organiser and last remaining
playerI think Sziky will win only due to his position in the brackets (will miss Ramms if Yayba beats Ramms). Otherwise, I expect and want Ramms to win this entire tournament.
The dark horse for me in this tournament is PatrOn. People are asking who he is, and even when they find out his aka seem confused. He's very good and easily has potential to surprise many people in the BW community.
iCCup.nOoNe - Counter-abuse, referee, and "iCCup's voice over reason of Game's short temper"
Scan, Dsaqwe/Dragon/Bakuryu, Dsaqwe
Shauni - Swedish Protoss hero, facing Fakap in the Ro32
I think most people agree that Sziky or Kolll are the most likely winners. I guess I want to win myself?? If not me, maybe Gotunk or Napoleon - not likely though. And i guess Deska or Yayba might upset and win
Superbig thanks to HawaiianPig, Game, Shauni, Kiante, harem, Sayle, byFd, supernovamaniac, Ares[Effort] and nOoNe for all their help and contributions!
