[TLS] Qualifiers: A Dark Swarm

January 17th, 2013 09:03 GMT

Qualifiers #1 and #2 Recap
Find out what you missed last weekend!
By: TheEmulator

Battle Report
NeMu v. Yellowsmile
By: nbaker

Winners Interviews
Interviews with [sc1f]eOnZerG, LRM)trutaCz, LRM)TechnicS & LRM)Bakuryu
By: BisuDagger

Sitting Down with Sayle
We talk to one of our casters to get his thoughts on the TLS thus far!
By: Epoxide

Turn on Reading Mode

"It's our turn." That's what we said after we witnessed Sonic single-handedly "ressurect" a "dead game". A "dead game" they say. You've seen that phrase tossed around a lot in the past year. You heard it when MBC shut down. You heard it when Proleague switched over to Starcraft 2. You've heard it at every turn, as you witnessed the Korean pro scene diminish.

It "died" they say.

But now ask yourself: What makes a game "alive"? Is it the glitz and glamour of a lit up stage on gwangalli beach? Is it throngs of cheering fans? Perhaps. For a lot of us, and for a long time, those images validated our love of a video game. But, dear Brood War fan, it is the love itself, the love we sought validation for, that animates this game. It's the love of the game that transforms a passtime into a spectator sport. It's the reason you get a giant "banana grin" every time you witness an impeccably controlled force decimate an army several times its worth. It's the tension that causes your heartrate to flutter when you watch an unpredictable Scarab dance without rhyme or reason over a worker line.

It's the passion that breathes life into a scene and helps it thrive.

We said "It's our turn." But we meant a lot more than simply carrying a torch. It's our turn to shine. It's our turn to set the stage. The TLS aims to point the spotlight at a scene that has always been there. It's an impassioned scene that, quite simply, loves a game.

It's our turn. It's your turn. Wear your enthusiasm on your sleeve. The TLS is a celebration of BW that has just begun and doesn't plan on stopping any time soon. If you missed the magnificent opening weekend, never fear. We've got a recap of all the happenings below, battle reports, and interviews with many of those involved.

Strap yourselves in boys. We're in for the long haul.

Points Standings

Rank	Player	Points
1	dRaW	106
1	TerrOr	106
3	Julia	65
4	vOddy	62
5	NeMu	52
5	LancerX	52
7	DividedHeir	41
7	EnjoYmE	41
7	TTF	41
10	Jumper	32
10	Powert	32
12	Dienmax	22
12	KenZy	22

By: TheEmulator

After all the hype and anticipation regarding the announcement of our Teamliquid Legacy Starleague, we are finally underway with the conclusion of qualifiers #1 and #2 last weekend. While watching some of top amateur Brood War players duke it out for a chance to qualify in this great event, it was evident that Brood War is still strong, and far from being dead.

Qualifier #1

The first qualifier was nothing short of perfect. Many of the top foreign players that we all know and love had another chance to prove their skill in Brood War, just like in the TSL's of old. During this first qualifier there were definitely a few standouts, which is to be expected in any open qualifier. These standouts, who inevitably made the top four were none other than eOnzErG, TechnicS, Bakuryu, and TerrOr. In the end we saw eOnzErG take out TechnicS 2-0 in the final round, but with both of them ending up in the top 2 they will automatically qualify into the Teamliquid Legacy Starleague.

This first qualifier had some very notable sign-ups. We saw many of the most recognizable names in our community, from notable TL community members, to retired foreign Brood War pros, and even some of our own TL staff. However, with so many great sign-ups, you can always expect some shocking eliminations. First off, Jonoman92, the Protoss player from the Unites States ended up falling short in his round of 32 match. Coming off his 3rd place finish in the Torenhire Starleague, we expected him to make it a round or two further than he did. Another top Protoss coming from Canada, known as dRaW, also was eliminated much earlier than we would have hoped. Being one of the top ladder players on Iccup, and the winner of many online tournaments, his elimination in the round of 8 was not expected to say the least. The popular German Protoss player, iNfeRnaL, also did not make it past the round of 64, which was probably the most unexpected elimination in the event.

Semi-Final

The semi-finals had some really interesting games, and even though both series ended in 2-0 victories, the games were very close and exciting.

The first series was between Bakuryu and TechnicS. TechnicS is a Zerg player all the way from Bulgaria, and Bakuryu, also a Zerg player, is from Germany. TehcnicS was on fire today, as he ended up taking the series with a 2-0 victory, and in amazing style I might add. Both games were very standard ZvZ's, with both players opting for 1 base Mutalisk builds, and some light Zergling pressure throughout. It ended up being a really awesome series, and really showcased the skill these players both possess. With that win TechnicS advanced to the final series, and Bakuryu was eliminated, although the top four finish gave him some substantial points.

Next up we saw TerrOr vs eOnzErG. TerrOr is a Terran player from Peru, while eOnzErG is another Zerg playing from Spain. Much like the last series, we saw a 2-0 victory from the Spanish Zerg, eOnzErG. This series ended up being a complete blunder for TerrOr, especially in game 1 where he went for some weird 1 base fast Valkyrie strategy that did not work in the least. In game 2 TerrOr decided to play a more standard style of Terran, going for the fast expand, and transitioning into Marine-Medic-Tank. eOnzErG played nearly flawless this game, going with fast Lurkers, and containing TerrOr on 2 base for quite some time. In the end, eOnzErG took half of the map and eventually overwhelmed TerrOr with his constant production and tech advantages.

The Finals

The long awaited finals finally came, and it was as epic as we expected from arguably two of the best players signed up in the event. For the finals we saw TechnicS, the Zerg player from Bulgaria facing off against eOnzErG, the monster Zerg from Spain. For the finals TechnicS decided to play Protoss instead of playing out another mirror-match.

In game 1 on Neo Jade TechnicS decided to follow the standard, opening with a Forge Fast Expand, while eOnzErG opened up with a fast expand himself going for the 12 Hatchery build. TechnicS decided to skip the usual fast stargate, and opted for a 4 Gateway setup, and fast Zealot speed from his Citadel. On the other hand our Zerg went for a massive Hydralisk bust off of his fast 3 base expansion start, which TechnicS did not see coming. He frantically tried to set up his defenses, but it was too late. With a overwhelming force of Hydra's, eOnzErG was able to knock down TechnicS front door and finish the game.

Game 2 on Electric Circuit started in the same way as the first game. Both players opted for the fast expansion, and TechnicS tried to go for the same Gateway timing attack with Speelots;however, eOnzErG must have known this was coming because he was able to get out a sufficient amount of Sunken Colonies in defense, and even timed his Mutalisk's perfectly in order to deny this attack. TechnicS tried to follow up this failed attack with Stargate tech, and a normal transition into the usual Protoss late game army, but eOnzErG was too far ahead already, and ended the game with his overwhelming economic advantage by constantly throwing mass armies of Hydralisk's at TechnicS base.

With this 2-0 victory, eOnzErG is the champion of the first qualifier in the Teamliquid Legacy Starleague. Both players have earned their spot in the main tournament, and it was well deserved.

Qualifier #2

Last Sunday we held qualifier #2 for the Teamliquid Legacy Starleague. Even though everything went smoothly on Saturday, and we saw some great games throughout, qualifier #2 was noticeably run much better on all areas. But most of all, the games were even better, which is what we are all here for. In the end there can only be one winner, but let us give you a short list of some of the standouts this time around. In the top 4 we had dRaW, trutaCz, Bakuryu, and Julia. It was a pleasure to see Bakuryu in the top 4 again, as he was so close to qualifying the first time. This time around he and trutaCz met in the finals where trutaCz took the series 2-0, and both are now qualified for the main event.

We had some notable eliminations this time as well. Again, we saw iNfeRnaL get eliminated in the first round, which was a unexpected shock to everyone watching the bracket. We also saw Metal[x] outed in the 2nd round; although,we didn't see him as a contender to qualify, we expected him to do well, and with recent successes in the Torenhire Starleague his confidence must have been fairly high going in to

Semi-Finals

This qualifiers semi-finals took a complete turn from the last one. While there were two 2-0 finishes last time, this time there were two 2-1 finishes. It made for really exciting games, because everyone was unsure until the last minute who would move on.

The first series was between the German Zerg, Bakuryu, and the Polish Zerg player, Julia. Bakuryu was so close to making the top two the first day, and this time around he was successful as he took out Julia in a great ZvZ series, going 2-1 overall. Games 1 and 3 were standard ZvZ games, and nothing too special occured. Game 2 is where it got interesting. We witnessed both players go for Mutalisks, and saw some of the best Muta micro in a long time. Things changed though when Julia completely forgot about the idle Mutalisk's sitting in base, and Bakuryu took that moment to annihilate them all with a pack of Scourge's. This inevitably sent the game into a huge macro ZvZ with some intense Muta vs Muta battles. Game 3 we saw some great ling aggression early on from Bakuryu, and eventually he broke Julia down taking this close series, and advancing to the finals.

Next up we saw dRaW, the Canadian Protoss, and trutaCz, another Zerg playing from the ever growing scene in Poland. This series was interesting because it was dRaW's second chance to qualify as he just missed out the day before on making the round of 4. And today he really played his best Brood War, but unfortunately for him trutaCz was able to edge him out going 2-1 in the series by also playing his best Brood war. These games were all huge late game macro based wars. You could tell how bad these two wanted to win, and it was quite refreshing to see the same determination in foreign Brood War that we have seen through many years of Korean starleagues. With this win trutaCz advanced to the final match, although it was really close, and either of these players have the ability to win.

The Finals

For the finals we got to see another ZvZ from Bakuryu, against his Polish rival, trutaCz. Like the the first qualifier, these were definitely the most deserving players to make it to the finals, as they both played nearly flawless throughout each round. The hype was huge before the finals, and everyone was waiting in anticipation.

In game 1 on Neo Jade we saw both player's opt for fairly fast expansions, and transitioning into a mass Zergling aggression style. This Zergling aggression ended up doing nothing to either player, and they both ended up switching to Mutalisk's. While Bakuryu was able to get his Mutalisks's out faster, trutaCz was able to do substantial damage with his Zergling's, and delievering the final blow when his own Mutalisk's popped at the final battle. With that trutaCz was able to take game one from Bakuryu.

Game 2 on Electric Circuit was one of the best ZvZ matches in a while. It started like game 1, with both players going for a Zergling focused aggression build, and transitioning into Lair tech later on. Bakuryu made the switch to Hydralisks in the late game, and trutaCz went the Hive route supported by Muta-Ling. The major battle's in the late game were played perfectly by trutaCz, especially the one where he landed a Plague on Bakuryu's entire Hydralisk force, cleaning them up after with his own army consisting of Mutalisks, Zerglings, Defilers, and Devourers. After this big advantage he went for a slow push with a pack of Guardians to end the game, which was one of the most epic sights in a ZvZ ever.

With this 2-0 Victory, trutaCz is the champion of the second qualifier in the Teamliquid Legacy Starleague. Both of these players have earned their spot in the main tournament, and will continue to show is some great games.

By: nbaker

This game was played in the Round of 32 of the second qualifier between Bulgaria's NeMu and USA's Yellowsmile.

The players spawned vertically on Neo Electric Circiuit, NeMu as the purple Terran in the bottom right and Yellowsmile as the green Zerg at the top right. Yellowsmile opened standard, twelve hatching and following up with a third hatchery at his protected mineral expansion. NeMu exerted some pressure in the early game, opting to build two barracks prior to his second command center.

NeMu's build was not designed around a bunker rush like some two rax openings; rather, he used the extra marines to guarantee his safety as he expanded, as well as to ensure that he had a larger marine force when he eventually moved out.

Yellowsmile scouted NeMu’s opening and responded by postponing his second gas expansion in favor of sunken colonies. He threw down a hydralisk den in lieu of a spire, figuring lurkers would keep him safer against infantry attacks. The hit he would take to mobility would be a non-issue, since he had already delayed his third gas. NeMu moved out and attacked, but was repelled by the sunken colonies and morphing lurkers.

Terran can afford to be more aggressive with their marines when playing against lurker builds, because they don't need them to defend against mutalisk harassment.

Yellowsmile pushed back with his lurker force, rolling down the map as NeMu repaired to his natural. Yellowsmile was quick to make the most of his map control while he had it, expanding to the top left main and getting to work on the back entrance to NeMu’s base.

Normally, a Terran player will delay the lurker-march to their base by forcing them to repeatedly burrow and unburrow, but NeMu's aggression at Yellowsmile's natural cost him most of his army, allowing the Zerg to move uncontested to NeMu's side of the map.

NeMu was, of course, savvy to the backdoor threat Yellowsmile’s lurkers posed and prepared by erecting bunkers along the tight corridor of the back entrance. This slowed Yellowsmile’s advance sufficiently to get siege tanks and marines into position, quashing the attack before it could do any damage.

Since NeMu knew that Yellowsmile was going lurkers, he was able to defend in time, but Yellowsmile still succeeded in opening up another lane of attack that NeMu would have to keep an eye on for the rest of the game.

Yellowsmile followed up with a big lurker and zergling drop into NeMu’s main, but NeMu, whose forces were already pulled back from defending the backstab, was able to clear the Zerg from his main with virtually no damage to his production or tech buildings.

Yellowsmile's drop time turned out to be inopportune; NeMu hardly had to move to defend against the lurkers and zerglings landing in his base.

Yellowsmile quickly reasserted his contain on NeMu’s natural, but NeMu had already prepared a pair of dropships, which he used to attack Yellowsmile’s third base. With the bulk of his army burrowed on the other side of the map, Yellowsmile had no choice but to abandon his third gas and hope his fourth, at the nine o’clock, would remain unscouted.

With his defilers out, Yellowsmile decided it would be best to attack before his handicapped economy set him too far behind. He made a two-pronged effort at NeMu’s backdoor and his natural.

NeMu made a pair of dropships as soon as his two starports completed, knowing that there would be no scourge on the map to intercept them. Yellowsmile was caught off guard, working under the assumption he had NeMu trapped in his natural.

Critically, NeMu was able to hold off with siege tanks and the new units he had produced, freeing the medic and marine force he had used to take down Yellowsmile’s third to counter into the Zerg’s main.

Terran can defend cost effectively compared to Protoss and Zerg, so this pseudo base trade scenario greatly favored NeMu.

Yellowsmile was forced to abandon his attack on NeMu and pull everything back, but, by the time they got there, the infantry force already had free reign over Yellowsmile’s base. NeMu was able to dance his forces away from the constantly unburrowing and reburrowing lurkers, killing one or two off each time they tried to gain ground.

NeMu could force the lurkers to unburrow by running away and attacking Yellowsmile's tech buildings. When they did, he stimmed forward, focused a lurker down, and repeated.

With his main shredded and his army whittled down to almost nothing, Yellowsmile had little left but his nine o’clock expansion and a prayer. When NeMu found the base and attacked it, Yellowsmile abandoned both and gg’ed out.

After their hard fought battles through the open brackets, we sat down with the two winners of the TLS Qualifiers #1 and #2. With a field deceivingly full of Protoss competitors, these top Zergs have shown us that the elite among us live for the swarm. Read on to find out what was going through their heads during their speedy rise through the ranks and into the TLS proper.

[sc1f]eOnZerG

+ Show Spoiler +

First, congrats on going all the way to the finals and only suffering 1 loss! How does it feel to be the champion?

It felt really good. I remember feeling extremely happy after winning my first major tournament against strong opponents during the Defiler Tour #9. But this is really different. It didn't really sink in on the day of the TLS. I just went to bed, watched the cast and fell asleep afterwards. But the day after it hit me. I won something really important. I can't be more happy.

DraW managed to steal a game from you in a Bo3 match, do you feel you like he was a strong opponent?

Honestly, I was scared of Protoss, as I've said before... Especially if you're up against DraW. He is very strong. But I know I had my chances and key timings to win games. In my series against DraW I felt that my loss was a result of my mistakes rather than DraW's decisions. Of course, he won on a really zerg favored map, so he is amazing

In the round of 4 you met Terror and opened with a 9 pool. Did you anticipate the 8rax your opponent opened with?

Yeah I meet TerrOr often in tours and leagues. I have experience playing against him. I knew it is hard to defend a 9 pool on Neo Jade, so I knew that even if he didn't go 8rax my 9pool would still be good.

Your opponent then went for a firebat, valkyrie, dropship build, but you shut everything down quite easily. Is this a strategy you have ever seen on the ladder?

I was prepared because I practice a lot on fish and I've probably seen every strat and timing there is. And after a good practice session, I learn how to stop most of them. The build is also a popular strat on iCCup.

Viewers and casters were accusing you of being a cheesy player by nature. It seems as though you proved everyone wrong with some very strong play against Terror in game 2, has your play improved greatly?

If the people download the newyear replaypack and watch my stream on fish, they will see I'm good at macro as well as micro. So nothing to add :p

Your opponent did a MM timing push into your natural and it was denied by a very perfect drone pull. What was going through your head at this time?

I faced this timing often on fish. But in this game, I missed the timing of my sunks. At that point, I knew I had to stop it not matter what, and because I have an extra expansion on electric circuit, it didn't matter if I lost some drones. The fact that I didn't lose drones was perfect and lucky on my part.

Terror later attempted to elevator his units out of his main to avoid your lurker contain. Did you expect this move or was it luck that your lurkers managed to walk past his army?

I really don't remember that moment during the game well. I remember I lost an Overlord in his base and saw something strange, but I just moved units and found his army. So maybe lucky maybe instinct. idk

Were you surprised when Terror chose to defend with science vessels instead of tanks?

Not really, after I stopped his first attack I knew I won. So it didn't matter what he did.

Finally, your crushed your opponent's final attempt with guardians and dark swarm. Were you that far ahead or did guardians seem like a good strategy choice?

I had the mutas so why not Guardians? I also think that was a perfect way to finish the game

So you advanced to the finals and faced (Z)

TechnicS who chose to play you with protoss. What do you think of his choice to change races?

Maybe he felt he had nothing to loss and did not want show his ZvZ strats. Or maybe he still thought that I was the zerg that he played on the "yakarta" iCCup id that he defeated. Hard to say.

In game one he defended your 9 pool with a forge fast expand. However, it seemed like you did a good job preventing him from scouting. Did you know your hydra bust would be so successful?

Yeah I also have more plans in the case he can stop the hydra push.

In game 2 your opponent opened with forge fast expand again but then went for a 4 gate speedlot timing. It was quite fortunate your mutas spawned in time. Did you anticipate this strategy based on your first game?

It's a strat that is good for everything. It just needs a lot of focus.

Your initial hydra bust failed due to defensive reavers, but your overall advantage looked good. Did you anticipate a victory at this time?

I anticipated the victory after I saw the zealots.

In the final game the viewers also learned some interesting facts from the casters. Elegant discovered the word "snafoo" was a great word, do you agree with him?

No lol

Elegant also told Sayle he was a player of the Starcraft board game. Is this a game that you have played or plan to master in the future?

Not really lol

Are there any final words you'd like to say?

Thanks to TL, Razer and twitchtv. Thanks to defiler.ru and all the great people that wish me luck thanks for all the support. I want do much better so cheer for me plz

LRM)trutaCz

+ Show Spoiler +

LRM)trutaCz, you finished first in the day 2 qualifiers after quite an exciting Ro4 and finals. How are you feeling?

Hello. I'm quite suprised that i managed to win first qualifier in which i participated.

In the Ro4 you met dRaW. After your long matches, how do you feel about your opponent?

I feel confident against any protoss, dRaW played pretty good games and his shuttle harassment was amazing.

In game 1 you chose a 9 pool opening. Is this a new trend in ZvP?

I like to play 9pool no speed, because it's really good opening against any kind of early protoss agression, like 2gate build or 1gate build, and sometimes it's free win if protoss decides to open with nexus 1st.

You went for a hydra bust and kept up constant pressure on your opponent’s expo. Were you aware that draw could not make several cannons because his High Templar was blocking his probe from building cannons?

Nope i weren't but i'm kinda disappointed i didn't manage to win the game with this hydra bust.

In the end you went for a sandwich attack against the protoss army and it was crushed. What goes through your mind one game down?

Humm, that attack was a complete fail i wasn't prepared for it. I just told myself, "Wait.. I'm too good in this matchup, can't lose it"

In game 2 you attempted an early ling runby but it was blocked with a probe wall off. If you watch the replay a single probe started dancing in place with vespene gas. It appeared the protoss race was taunting you. How did it feel knowing draw deflected your attempt to bust his natural in game 1 and 2?

Actually, I dunno if it was lucky or dRaW has so perfect multitasking, because he moved his probes to defend this runby really fast. I wasn't mad or smth after it failed because it wasn't any kind of all in.

It appears you were clever and understood that draw defense of his natural is good because you went for doom drops instead. Is this a play that works often on Neo Electric Circuit?

Well, I never tried this play on Neo Electric Circuit. I just realized that i'm behind, and I have to do something to win this game.

You finished him off with a second drop attack at two locations. It was very impressive. Did you sense victory as you flew your army in for the kill?

Yep, I saw that game was turning in a win for me.

During that game the psi disrupter neutral building at your main was being attacked. Were you aware that the psi disrupter actually takes burn damage when it’s life is low enough?

Nope, I was hugely surprised that neutral buildings of this kind can burn o.O

Your opponent showed resilience by engaging you in the middle of the map. These attacks in the middle lasted over ten minutes but you continued to show macro. How did you find the energy to keep fighting?

Hmm it's not so hard for zerg to fight in this kind of situation. The Zerg players just has to simultaneously attack and make army, it favours zerg, because he makes army faster

Game 3 was a tournament favorite on Sunday. You chose to open with mutalisk aggression. Is this a build good for Fighting Spirit?

I choosed to open with mutalisk, because i was sure he's going to start with zealot +1 timing attack and no cors/or late cors.

You constantly denied your opponent’s fourth base but his harassment kept him in the game. Were you getting frustrated?

Yes, i was frustrated because for a long time i couldnt perfectly deny his drops.

dRaW held defense with reavers at the 5’oclock main, but you made a brilliant decision to engage with guardians. Is this a scenario you have run into before?

Of course if i see protoss player has no air army, i decide to make few guards in a late game, it's absolutely standard.

The game ran for 40 minutes but seemed like you always had the upper hand. Is it difficult to play against such a scrappy opponent?

In fact, it's always hard to face a protoss with good multitasking, which is one of dRaW advantages and can tip the scales of victory.

The finals was a ZvZ against Bakuryu. Is this an opponent you have face before?

I played Bakuryu many, many times. Can't even count our games.

Both of you went 12 pool but you sniped 2 drones. Is this what led to your victory?

That was crucial, because he went for additional drone in the beginning.

Game 1 was quick but game 2 developed into an exciting game. During which, there was a discussion on whether it is better to scout your opponent first or to have a build order advantage. How do you feel about this?

It depends on your opponent skill (micro, decision making, multitasking) I don't think so i can clearly answer on this question, but if i think... I will say it's better to scout your opponent first because then you adopt to his build order and prepare for late decisions.

You chose 12 pool play again, did you feel safe against your opponents build orders?

12pool is in fact the most universal build in ZvZ and it's safe with good micro managament, so yes i felt so.

The game was at a standoff for a while and you built an air army while Bakuryu went hydralisk. Did you believe that guardians would be able to win?

I played a ton of late ZvZ games, many of them were vs Bakuryu so in this kind of situation i didn't have many options to win this game, and guardians seems to be perfect counter against hydra.

In the end you landed a prefect plague that hit the bulk of his army. The engagement happened at the perfect location to move in your army. How did you come up with this strategy?

I had to plague his army, otherwise i would lost the game.

You’ve won in first place and get to choose what group to play in. Is there anyone you would like to have in your group at this time?

I don't know yet. I'm going to think about it soon.

There is no doubt you have gained many fans today with phenomenal games. Do you have any final words on your first place finish?

Thank you TeamLiquid, the sponsors: Razer and Twitch TV. You guys made a hilarious gesture to BW fans, the number of viewers is incredibly high, Sayle and Elegant are awesome, everything is cool. Shout Outs to NetWars.pl community, all TL users and all BroodWar fans.

Qualified Players

LRM)TechnicS

+ Show Spoiler +

First, congrats on going undefeated all the way to the finals! How are you feeling?

Thanks, BisuDagger! It feels good since now I will have more time for my master thesis. But at the same time I feel disappointed that I won't be able to practice my offraces into the next qualifiers TT.TT

In the round of 4 you had to perform a team kill against Bakuryu, how did that make you feel going into the match?

We've played a lot with Baku zvz and me offracing against him so it felt rather normal.

During game 1 against Bakuryu you went for an overpool on Neo Jade, is that a build you chose based on your spawn position or just a general safe build against the threat of a 9 pool which Bakuryu happened to go for?

In the first seconds of the game I decided I will surely go for 9pool. But after that I forgot about that and made an overlord and in the miliseconds after that I was like '-_-ah crap' but then I thought "well I guess i will go for an ovepool then".

Later in game 1 you started to research carapace and then canceled, what was the reasoning behind this?

I thought that I was already ahead muta wise and wanted to end the game quicker.

Your macro was at one point 150 more then Bakuryu, a total of 350, that was a clear advantage in your muta battles. However a couple scourge hits seemed to even things out. Was there a misclick that caused you to soak up those scourge hits?

Generally it should help, but I did indeed missclick twice 'o' instead of 'p' for patrol in crucial times and I received a lot of damage which in the end cost me the battle Tt.Tt

Let's talk about game 2 now. You outsmarted your opponent by hiding lings and flanking your opponent once his lings ran into your natural. How did you come up with that strategy?

In game 2 i did not forget to 9pool this time and that seemed to work somewhat well xD Although I don't think I did too much of outsmarting in that game. It was just that I scouted him first and I thought I might be able to trap his lings. It generally is kind of hard since they are small units but it worked somewhat well.

At the end of the game Bakuryu covered his base with spores. You risked running in lings to take down his spore so you could harrass with your mutas. Did you think this was an all or nothing situation? Your opponent was droning hard behind his simcity and was close to taking a strong advantage.

In my eyes, that spore was almost sure to go down so it was more like of an 'all or almost all' situation for me so I went for it. xD

In the finals you met iFU.eOnzErG. To the pleasure of many you chose to play protoss. Care to tell us the reasoning behind your decision since first place gets to choose what group the play in?

I did understand right before the games that first spot gets to choose what they group to play in. I had already protoss picked in the pregame window and decided to stay with it nevertheless. Thinking of it... I really might get a group of death in the next stage which would obv feel rather uncomfortable, but it has some positive sides too so I guess I won' be all that bad?

The reason I chose to play pvz is rather simple. It's obv nice if viewers actually prefered pvz over zvz finals and had more fun, but it was not about them. Also I don't think that my PvZ is better than my ZvZ so it's not about that too. It was simply because I wanted to win him with my P too. I have done it before, I can do it now and I'm thinking of doing it oftenly in such situations in the future. I guess at some point i will move onto TvZing him? In situations that seem to be more like a freeroll to certain extent that is.

In both games you went for forge expand into zealot speed. Sayle hinted that playing protoss may have limited the number of build orders to chose from, is this true?

No. It's just that I played rather poor and purposeless overall compared to what I can/have played in PvZ.

During game 1 you did not get to scout eOn's build order. Did you predict he would go hyrdas?

Even if I didn't/couldn't predict it I still had enough time to build a lot of cannons. It was the overboldness of mine approaching the situation that cost me the game. (and ofc many more stuff I missplayed before the hydra bust)

In the second game you did a timing attack with 4 gate zealot speed. Mutas popped at the same time that you met his base, were the mutas unexpected?

They seemed kinda fast, but since I screwed up some stuff beforehand it felt a rather normal timing for them.

In the end you made a desperate drop with double reaver, but a sunken killed one of the reavers. Do you think you could have defended the hydra bust if you had kept both your reavers or was the game lost by then?

Well I thought the 2 reebos would kill that sunken and left them unsupervised for a second which didn't work well obv. But then again, it's the overall play that put me in such situation. Ofc if the reebos were at the natural of mine, the hydra bust wouldn't have done so well if at all.

In the final game, the viewers also learned some interesting facts from the casters. Elegant discovered the word "snafoo" was a great word, do you agree with him?

Wut? XD What does it mean? I'm all for inventing new words though so I agree with the idea the discovery implies xD

Elegant also told Sayle he was a player of the Starcraft board game. Is this a game that you have played or plan to master in the future?

I haven't played nor even seen the Starcraft board game but I guess it's fun? xD

Are there any final words you'd like to say?

Yeah, it's a story of how pleasantly I was surprised by the overall attention the first TLS qualifiers got. When I finished playing Q1, as usual I opened TL and glanced on the right see to see what is ON currently. I saw that the TLS cast was going but so was the SBWI Nation Wars. So I was like "Oh, no! Poor hacklebeast (very entertaining bw caster) will have slightly less viewers because of the TLS!" (usually 300-400).

So I go with the mouse and hover over the event and see like 110 so I'm thinking "Yeah, it's lower than usual and the other ~200 are now watching the TLS for sure". So I go and hover over the TLS cast and see 2-something (thinking it's 200 and that I outsmarted the world) and before clicking to tune in im like "YEAH I TOTALLY FIGURED THAT OUT". Then I proceed to click and see it's actually 2000 :O Later on the number grew to 3500 and for the Q2 it reached 4000 at some point! I was so pleasantly surprised :D!

I really hope most of the people had a great time with the first qualifiers and I hope they will continue to do so with the TLS in future!

LRM)Bakuryu

+ Show Spoiler +

LRM)Bakuryu, you made it through the qualifier! How are you feeling right now?

I'm happy that I managed to advance. ^^ Luck was on my side. :D

In the Ro4 and finals you were faced with ZvZ, how are you feeling now about your ability versus Zerg?

Before the Ro4 of this qualifier, in all ZvZ of both qualifiers i got extremly unlucky with builds and positions, but i guess scouting luck was on my side in ro4.
Currently, I think my ZvZ is pretty bad.

Your Ro4 opponent was Julia, were you confident you would win?

I haven't played Julia in a long while, so I wasnt quite sure how I should play it. Because of my current ZvZ condition, I was not confident in winning.

In game 1 you chose overpool on Neo Jade. This tournament has shown consistently that players who go overpool win against 9 pool (even with speed) on Neo Jade, is this why you chose that strategy?

In qualifier 1, I went 9 pool on jade and went into enemy's overpool twice. I changed it up and played overpool on Jade in qualifier 2. (but not vs Trutacz)

Your ling control was great in game 1 but in game 2 you lost many lings to an early attack at a choke point. Was this due to nerves?

Yes it was due to nerves. ^^
It was the first time I scouted an enemy zerg with my overlord first in the TLS qualifiers (after 6 ZvZs).

Julia opened with a gas steal but luckily scouting in the correct direction, had you encountered this before?

Yeah I had played against some drone scouting zergs in ZvZ, so I didnt expect him to gas steal. I wanted to go 3 hatches anyway on Electric for this qualifier.

You chose to take 3 hatches instead of gas during game 2, was this inspired from progamer by.Great?

It was one of the logical reactions to the gas steal. Also, by.great's build is mainhatch, ling speed (drone taken off gas) then 3rd hatch at natural (which I used in 2nd game against trutacz)

How excited were you to be in a ZvZ that reaches hive tech? Did you practice late game ZvZ in preparation?

I very often go hive, so I think I'm quite okay with it. I'm still unsure in some situations, but I can only learn it if I do it more often.

Game 2 lasted a really long time but most of your army was lost early on to a well placed plague, did you believe in a comeback at this time? Many would say you had Fantasy’s gg timing.

The game is only over when you give up on yourself and type gg. Unless you really have 0% chance of coming back, you can still win.

I had similar ZvZ Hive games where I managed to turn it around with different attacks or tech units. So, it didn't hurt to try. Especially when it is such an important match.

3 years ago, I played a ZvP on Colloseum 2.0 in an iCCup tour (First game of a bo3). After some bad engagements, I was stuck on about 4 bad saturated bases, with around 100 supply, being contained by a 200/200 protoss army with 3 bases. I tried to move out 1-2 times, but I was really heavily contained. But, I didnt give up. The protoss player didn't kill me. He went afk for about 5 minutes!

I didn't realize it at first, I was just trying to come back and was wondering why he didn't attack or expand. When he came back, the game went on for another 15ish minutes, where I just barely won.

After that he raged hard. He didn't want to waste more time with me because I didn't leave when he was thought I should leave and gave me the walkover for the rest of the bo3.

I'm sorry if people are mad because of it, I just tried to take my chances to win.

Game 3 went really well for you as you opened with overpool again and punished Julia for going hatch first. You must have been excited after you sniped several drones in your initial attack, did you see victory at this time?

That build order was commentated wrong. I tried to correct them in the stream chat but they didn't read it... I played 12 pool 11 gas 11 hatch vs his drone scout into FE.
I only sniped 1 drone in the first attack, then lost too many lings in a bad attack. It felt even afterwards, while I could prepare a counter which killed a nice amount of drones.
I knew I would win when I held his ling attack the moment my 3 pairs of scourge killed his ovies.

You entered the finals against another zerg Trutacz who played long games against draw, did you see this as an advantage?

I had no idea how long their games were and I was also playing for a long time + warming up before the tournament. I was just happy that I managed to qualify and didn't care what would happen in the final match. I still tried to win the final, but it gets harder after 5 hours of playing.

Your second game went into hive play again. What was your decision to forgo air and try hydralisks instead?

After losing the 1st game because of bad micro/decision, I wanted to win with great's build in 2nd game. But, I didnt attack when I should have, which placed me in a bad spot. I forgot to take my 2nd gas early enough, so I had a surplus of minerals which had to be used someway. I couldn't expand because he had more mutas, so I just went Hydras. I wasnt sure what exactly I should go for, so I tried to go 2 things at once and got gas starved.

trutaCz landed a massive plague on your army, where does your mind go at this point?

Regardless of the final result, you advance into the group stages of tournament bracket. Who would you like in your bracket?

It's hard to tell because of not knowing the maps and players I would face. It doesnt really matter who I have to play, I try to practice enough so I can win vs anybody.

Watching your games was quite the treat, do you have any final words for your Brood War fans?

Thank you all for watching and cheering for me. I try to play better in my next games....

Thanks to Sayle and Elegant for being good casters.

And thank you for the interview^^

:bakuryu2:

We also took a moment to chat with one of our beloved casters of "Saylegant" the Posh Toss casting duo. Epoxide sat down with Sayle to pick his brain on his thoughts on the TLS so far and to truly understand the depths of his dRaW fanboyism.

Epoxide: Tell us a little about yourself. There are probably some first-time Brood War watchers eager to know who is casting.

Sayle: Well, I'm a B- protoss with less APM than Bakuryu. I used to cast a ton of foreign BW tournaments but I'm probably best known for my unofficial cast of SPL.

Epoxide: Many have been surprised by the fact that you are not caucasian. Where are you initially from?

Sayle: I'm ethnic Chinese, but I was born in England and have lived in several countries. I went to high school in the US, which explains my accent. I'm not Canadian.

Epoxide: You have been on a long break from casting. Are you only coming back for TLS or are you planning to continue? If so how much content will you be producing?

Sayle: Honestly, I'm not too sure. Before TLS, I thought I'd just occasionally dabble in some of Sonic's tours when I felt like it but not do too much regular casting. That's obviously changed with TLS and I've also decided to do some streaming of ladder games as well since I think it will help improve my obs'ing skills for the casts. There is also a very cool project being discussed behind the scenes right now that I may be involved in so the future could hold a lot more BW for me : )

Epoxide: You make me so curious : (

You casted some StarCraft 2 during Hybrid Proleague, is this something you will continue or are you sticking with Brood War?

Sayle: That was a bit of an experiment for me, and I don't think I'll do any more SC2 casting. I can't quite feel the same level of excitement as I do with BW games and that negatively affects the casting. More importantly, my SC2 game knowledge isn't great, and I really feel like casters need to be highly knowledgeable about their games.

Epoxide: Most of us know that you are a fan of dRaW. When will he win a qualifier?

Sayle: He's already a winner in my heart. Actually I hope he never wins one and just keeps getting to semifinals to give us great games. He'll still get into the tournament with points anyway : P

Epoxide: In game 3 between dRaW and trutaCz, you said that having the first protoss to qualify was like sending your kid to first day of school. I think you would make a great dad, HawaiianPig thinks otherwise. What do you think?

Sayle: omg why does HPig think I won't be a great dad? I'm totally gonna be a better dad than him. Actually the wife of one of my colleagues recently got pregnant, which freaked me out and made me feel old. Fortunately it won't be a problem for me because forever alone T_T

Epoxide: Haha. Later on in that game dRaW dropped a High Templar but never stormed around 20 stacked drones. You yelled at it, "STUPID HIGH TEMPLAR".

Sayle: That HT was HPig's child. See? Terrible father.

Epoxide: Hahaha.

Who are some of your other favorite players? Who do you think will win the remaining qualifiers?

Sayle: I'm a fan of Bakuryu and he already made it. I think Jumper would give hilarious interviews but is unlikely to win a qualifier (sorry Jumper), although he may qualify on points. The Russian guys are also hilarious and have a really dedicated scene so I'm rooting for players like Largo, Plumbum and Defi. I'm friends with lots of players on the scene so picking a few is hard ^^;

Of the remaining players, dRaW and Pike both stand out as being very capable of winning a qualifier, which is interesting because there's a bit of a rivalry developing between them in the TLS threads. There are plenty of other good players of course, but it's harder to say who could win, especially with players like G5 and iNfernaL showing some surprisingly impressive form again.

PS. Every time you don't buy Razer, Sayle kicks a puppy.

That about wraps it up for this week's coverage of the TLS. Be sure to tune in this Saturday and Sunday at 20:00 GMT (+00:00) for another exhilarating cast. If you missed last week's cast, you can catch the VODs for Qualifier #1 and Qualifier #2.

Players. It's your time to shine! Registration is open for Qualifiers #3 and #4

Check out the results and standings thread for more information. Also, be sure to give Liquipedia some love and head on over there not only to stay up to date on the TLS but to help contribute in any way you can!

And as always a big thanks to our sponsors:

TwitchTV is the world’s largest video game entertainment and chat community. TwitchTV features the top gaming personalities, players, tournaments and commentary, in addition to the most active and interesting discussions around video games. TwitchTV provides publishers and advertisers a platform to create long term engagement and commitment from gamers.

Learn more at www.twitch.tv

Razer has been a pioneering supporter of e-Sports since its conception. It is in our blood and we are driven to further the culture of professional gaming in all that we do. We work hand in hand with our pros to forge weaponry for the players who stake their livelihood on podium placements. Our gear is designed to perform flawlessly in high-stress tournament conditions where winning is everything and mistakes cost championships. Those who compete with our equipment will attest – We live by our words: For Gamers. By Gamers.

For more information, please visit www.razerzone.com

Writers: TheEmulator, nbaker, BisuDagger, Epoxide, ArvickHero
Graphics: HawaiianPig
Editors: SirJolt, Torenhire

thezanursic

5478 Posts

January 17 2013 09:46 GMT

Draw and Terror will likely get really far again especially with so many of the good zergs gone.

I think we will finally see a couple of Ts and Ps qualify.

Frankon

3054 Posts

January 17 2013 09:46 GMT

Nice read. Love Sayle " Im not canadian" ;D
Still remember that epic casting of hybrid Proleague by Sayle and Orb.

I need to finally watch the vods for tournament 1 and 2. Sadly the cast was on the same time as SBW NW (and Poland was playing) so i tuned in to that.

Some offtopic (BW and SC2 comparison BEWARE)
+ Show Spoiler [you have been warn] +

+ Show Spoiler [sc2 below] +

People are saying that SC2 needs to be more like BW. After seeing 4 zergs out of 4 players qualified i can say that sc2 is almost there....
Now time to run for cover.

TheEmulator

28076 Posts

January 17 2013 09:47 GMT

On January 17 2013 18:46 thezanursic wrote:
Draw and Terror will likely get really far again especially with so many of the good zergs gone.

I think we will finally see a couple of Ts and Ps qualify.

Yeah, while dRaW didn't qualify yet, he is leading in points, and still has more chances as well.

KristofferAG

Norway25712 Posts

January 17 2013 09:47 GMT

Wow.

This is an amazing writeup!

Anomarad

Canada565 Posts

January 17 2013 09:51 GMT

Hm, I feel like the #3 and #4 qualifiers signups should have their own thread, not a thread called "[TLS] Qualifiers 1 & 2" people might miss it

Love the writeup though :D

Glioburd

France1911 Posts

January 17 2013 09:53 GMT

Excellent writeup as usual

KenZy too hot ! Please stop play SC2 until TLS is over.

dRaW

Canada5744 Posts

January 17 2013 09:58 GMT

The big problem is we are going to have so many PvPs with all these zergs advancing. I am really surprised that these guys didn't bm me, because if I beat them I would definitely not be so kind. + Show Spoiler +

Also, can the tournament organizers please keep lag issues gamers away from my side of the bracket? I have gotten Voddy 2/2 times now and we conflict quite heavily. T_T (skype group loves to hear my rage though)

And to Sayle, Jumper will definitely win the qualifier he just likes to make dramatic entrances so it will be the last one.

corumjhaelen

France6884 Posts

January 17 2013 10:26 GMT

I'm not Canadian.

Liiiiiiiiiiies.
Great write up, LRM) zergs fighting !

Hyde

Australia14568 Posts

January 17 2013 10:26 GMT

#10

On January 17 2013 18:58 dRaW wrote:

Show nested quote +

And to Sayle, Jumper will definitely win the qualifier he just likes to make dramatic entrances so it will be the last one.

It pays to win the qualifier as early as possible, as the last qualifier currently won't have an advantage like the 5 before him.
(btw I'm rooting for you ^^, get in asap)

Great coverage, really enjoyed the read. Sayle's interview gave me a good laugh.
Good luck to all those who enter in #3 and #4, especially my Protoss brethren.

wow wow wow, did anyone else notice the 'turn on reading mode' :O

]343[

United States10328 Posts

January 17 2013 10:39 GMT

#11

<3 BW
<3 TLS and all the BW staff
<3 Sayle

Shock710

Australia6097 Posts

January 17 2013 10:50 GMT

#12

awesome more qualifiers :D, tho T_T even later in aus now 4am T_T

Promethelax

Canada7089 Posts

January 17 2013 10:59 GMT

#13

Err....guys,this is bw, we have sunken colonies, not spine crawlers.

Edit: I wrote the wrong thing too. I'm an idiot.

Tufas

Austria2259 Posts

January 17 2013 11:27 GMT

#14

Thanks for the recap, I did not have time to watch any of them

Caihead

Canada8550 Posts

January 17 2013 11:29 GMT

#15

Great work HawaiianPig <3

traceurling

United States1240 Posts

January 17 2013 11:36 GMT

#16

" eOnzErG must have known this was coming because he was able to get out a sufficient amount of Spine Crawlers in defense "
Please tell me you wrote Spine Crawlers on purpose and not as a Freudian slip or something

fabiano

Brazil4644 Posts

January 17 2013 12:15 GMT

#17

Lol Sayle

Fantastic work TLS crew, like always the BW TL staff makes yet another wonderful job

Seriously, the quality and professionalism of the coverage and events are mind-blowing!

Thanks Razer and Twitch for being AWESOME and sponsoring this. Next time I need computer peripherals I'm buying Razer!