The Ro24 of the TLS continues this weekend with the next two groups fighting it out to earn their spots in the Ro16 and the TLS proper. Only two players can advance, and with the stellar line-up anything could happen. Will the Protoss and Terran heroes be able to stave off the swarm invasion as was achieved reasonably well last weekend, or will the Zerg numbers crush through to infest the Ro16 with some ZvZ action. Join Sayle and Kiante on Saturday, Feb 16 8:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for the cast of Groups C and D!









The first match of group A pit Pro7ect and EnjoYmE in a slugfest on Neo Ground Zero. EnjoYmE spawned at the top left position, while Pro7ect spawned in the top right. Pro7ect opened with a fast command center build. EnjoYmE opted to open with an early dragoon pressure build that did not require active scouting in the early game.

The first major engagement of the match saw EnjoYmE gain good position against Pro7ect's forces, but his good position could not make up for his lack of material strength. As a consequence he was unable to clean up Pro7ect's siege tank line. Shortly after this, Pro7ect re-established his main army and used it to disrupt EnjoYmE's transfer of drones to his bottom left fourth base.

A second close engagement between the two forces occurred later in the game. Once again, EnjoYmE was left with simply not enough to take out a tank line and newly-constructed vulture reinforcements and was thus prevented in his attempt at destroying Pro7ect's forces.

As a result of the favorable position he was able to gain at the conclusion of these engagements, Pro7ect was able to destroy EnjoYmE's various bases scattered across the map, and caused his opponent to concede defeat.



The second match of group A consisted of a short game between Drone and TechnicS on Neo Ground Zero. Drone, playing Protoss, spawned at the top left corner of the map. TechnicS spawned on the bottom left corner. TechnicS opened with a 12 Hatch build, while Drone went for a cannon rush against TechnicS' third base set up at the bottom right spawn natural expansion. Unfortunately, poor timing on Drone's part allowed TechnicS to cancel the building hatchery, making the investment of a number of cannons and a pylon a substantial mineral sink for Drone in the early game.

With his original plans disrupted by the cannon rush, TechnicS established his third base at the mineral-only expansion instead with the intent to build mutas. Spotting the incoming mutalisks, Drone made the decision to morph dark archons for maelstrom before getting high templar for storm. This decision proved fatal, as, in addition to the mutas, TechnicS built a strong force of hydralisks that was able to bust Drone's defenses. In the face of this attack, Drone was forced to type out of the game.



Pro7ect and TechnicS met in the winners' match of group A. TechnicS spawned at the top left corner of New Sniper Ridge, and Pro7ect spawned at the bottom left position of the map. The early game proceeded in relatively quiet fashion, with both players opting for standard play. Pro7ect's early game strategy revolved around a 1 rax expand and +1 timing attack, while TechnicS relied on a 12 hatch 12 pool build with some harass with zerglings in order to gain map control.

A mistimed hatchery expansion on the part of TechnicS lead to a number of drones being forced to turn around by their AI after gathering minerals at the still developing base. They ran to their death, dealt to them by Pro7ect's army in the middle of the field. In addition to this good fortune, Pro7ect caught TechnicS' lurkers out of position and without support just outside of the Zerg's main base. The good luck ended there, however, as he committed to an attack which largely led to the destruction of his primary force.

After holding off Pro7ect's attack by the skin of his teeth, TechnicS built guardians and defilers, and attacked with them and lurkers under dark swarm. TechnicS was able to establish a crippling position in Pro7ect's natural expansion, severely disrupting mining at that location. With this significant economic pressure, the loss of map control as well as the loss of a number of science vessels to scourge, Pro7ect was compelled to concede defeat.



The loser's match between EnjoYmE and Drone carried with it the danger of elimination from the TeamLiquid Legacy Starleague. EnjoYmE spawned at the top left position of New Sniper Ridge, while Drone, playing Zerg, spawned at the top right position.

EnjoYmE opened with a forge expand +1 timing against Drone's three hatch style. The Protoss timing attack was held off by Drone, but EnjoYmE was able to distrupt Drone's mining for a time. While Drone was able to harass a small amount with a group of Mutalisks, EnjoYmE built up a formidible force of zealots, archons, and dragoons, and attacked with them. This attack did a significant amount of damage, owing to a lack of lurker production, on the part of Drone, in favor of sunken colonies instead for defense.

With his newly-found map control and the initiative in the game, EnjoYmE attacked Drone's isolated third and fourth bases, forcing Drone to concede defeat and and accept elimination from the tournament.



In the final match of group A, Pro7ect faced EnjoYmE in a battle of elimination from the tournament on Fighting Spirit. EnjoYmE spawned at the bottom right position of the map, and Pro7ect spawned at the bottom left position.

EnjoYmE began with early aggression, as he proxied a gateway in the middle of the map and attacked with zealots. After this attack was dealt with, EnjoYmE transitioned to a dragoon-heavy composition after dropping a Gateway and Cybernetics Core in his main base. These dragoons were able to disrupt Pro7ect even further, as they succeeded in taking out a bunker after a period of inattentiveness on the part of Pro7ect.

Pro7ect turned the tide against EnjoYmE in the mid-game period. He was able to hold off EnjoYmE's dark templar harass, and followed that defense with landing a number of crucial EMP hits against arbiters before engaging his opponent in the middle of the map. These sound engagements on the part of Pro7ect allowed him to gain a material advantage, and he slowly forced the victory against EnjoYmE in a battle of attrition.



Unfortunately, INF3cted was unable to play his matches in this group because of a time zone error on his part. As a result, walkover victories were awarded to his opponents in the group.



In the first match of the group, Bakuryu faced off against TTF on Neo Ground Zero. The players spawned on cross positions, with the top right corner occupied by Bakuryu and the bottom left corner occupied by TTF.

Bakuryu opened with a 12 hatch build, while TTF opted for an expansion with the goal of achieving Vultures with speed off two factories before Bakuryu could build Mutalisks. Unfortunately for him, Bakuryu already had mutas out by the time his vulture attack was ready. Bakuryu's mutalisks granted him a significant amount of map control. However, TTF was able to raid Bakuryu's bottom right expansion with vultures. His attack caught Bakuryu out of position and killed a number of drones. TTF was unable to capitalize after this attack, and Bakuryu gained a permanent advantage after catching TTF's army out in the open and destroying it completely with a large contingent of hydras attacking simultaneously from two sides. This advantage won Bakuryu the game, after a period of attrition.



The winners' match of group B pit G5 against Bakuryu on New Sniper Ridge. G5 spawned at the top right corner of the map, while Bakuryu spawned at the bottom left corner. G5 opened with a forge expand, while Bakuryu developed 3 hatcheries before gas. Bakuryu established a hydra-heavy force and was able to take out G5's attempt at setting up a quick third base. He followed up this base denial with a lurker contain on the right just outside of G5's base. In response to the contain, G5 focused on a storm drop harass that was able to kill a few drones. Additionally, G5 attempted to break out of the contain on the ridge, but was unable to dislodge Bakuryu from his position. The loss of his forces and the overall poor position he found himself in led G5 to concede defeat.



The final match of the weekend was the loser's match between G5 and TTF on Fighting Spirit. TTF spawned at the top right position, and G5 spawned at the top left. The match between the two ended in short and dramatic fashion, after G5's 2 gate robo play and TTF's tank marine push lead to a base trade scenario. Unfortunately for him, TTF had neglected to develop detection capability, and G5's switch to emergency dark templar caused TTF to leave the game in short order, eliminating him from the tournament.




In this group dRaW has a practice dream, only facing Zergs. dRaW has faced a ton of Zergs in the qualifiers, displaying some amazing PvZ. Winning against opponents like vOddy, OctZerg, SouthPark, Jim, and Ace with a total score of 9-4. Napoleon has not played many Protoss, only going 1-0 vs )Messer( and Wallace, and losing to dewalt 1-2. With Napoleon having to practice his Terran vs Zerg against the other two opponents in the group dRaW should win game one without having too much trouble. Practicing his offrace will prove to be too much.

The next game is a ZvZ between SouthPark and Jim, also known as gym-bag. SouthPark qualified in the third qualifier by reaching the final. He has not faced a lot of Zergs in the TLS yet, only playing against bioboy and ZZZero winning both matches without dropping a single map. He has however played a ton of Zergs in other tournaments, playing against Modesty in the SBWI Nation Wars going 2-0, and he also beat Sziky in Gambit's Cup 3 last year. Jim on the other hand has not played that much ZvZ, defeated by eOnzErG and by Julia in the SBWI Nation Wars. SouthPark should prevail with his greater experience, plus being a Zerg from Poland always helps.

dRaW faces off against SouthPark on New Sniper Ridge, a rematch from both the second and the third qualifier. SouthPark got knocked out as early as in the round of 128 by dRaW and they faced each other again the next weekend, this time in the final. dRaW is 3-0 against SouthPark already in the TLS. dRaW has shown some great PvZ while SouthPark has a record of 35.29% in ZvP listed on TLPD, he did however defeat dewalt 2-0. dRaW should take this.

This is where Napoleon gets to shine, showing of his TvZ. Both players has not had a lot of recent results, Napoleon beat Pike 2-0 and Jim beat Ramms 2-1. Napoleon will squeeze out a win. The last game will be between SouthPark and Napoleon. SouthPark has not faced a top name Terran in over half a year. Napoleon is feeling strong lately, and the rest of staff looks like they agree with me. Napoleon advances with dRaW to the round of 16.






In group D trutaCz picked to face the fellow Polish Zerg; ZZZero. trutaCz looks really scary, winning the first qualifier he participated in. 2-0'ing NeMu, 2-1 against dRaW; in my opinion the best series of the tournament so far and 2-0 vs Bakuryu in the final of qualifier #2. ZZZero played both SouthPark and Julia in qualifier #3 going 1-2 and 2-1 respectively. Showing that he can ZvZ against top names. trutaCz has the upper hand and should win, even though it's unlikely don't be surprised if ZZZero pulls out a win.


The next match-up is andreyy vs NeMu. A racepicker against a random player. andreyy plays Terran as his main race and I'm assuming that's what he will pick not knowing what race his opponent will spawn as, taking his chances on his TvT instead of off-racing Protoss. andreyy came out of nowhere in qualifier #4 and managed to qualify by ending up in the final. andreyy has played against all races with decent success, he beat Terror 1-0, but remember that it was with his Protoss. NeMu has played in a lot of the qualifiers, ending up in third with a total of 138 points. He has only faced two terrans, Lumix and Ramms, going 1-0 and 0-2. andreyy's play never really impressed me and the unpredictability of NeMu's random will be too much. NeMu should be able to win against andreyy.


trutaCz will go on to face NeMu where trutaCz will win without any big trouble as trutaCz's overall play is super solid. andreyy vs ZZZero should prove to be a good match, with both players being quite close in skill level. Thus it's hard to predict who will win it, until I saw that andreyy won vs Sziky once in 2011. Clearly if you can take a game of off Sziky you're amazing, andreyy wins. The last game of the group will be a rematch between andreyy and NeMu on Fighting Spirit. NeMu should take it once more.


I have to play the safe card again and say that trutaCz will proceed to the round of 16, and any of the other three in the group can advance with him.

Player	Staff Picks
dRaW (9)
	HawaiianPig, 2Pacalypse-, Jonvvv, Kiante, Falling, Sayle, Epoxide, itsjustatank, Torenhire
Napoleon (8)
	HawaiianPig, 2Pacalypse-, Jonvvv, Kiante, Sayle, Epoxide, nbaker, itsjustatank
SouthPark (3)
	Falling, nbaker, Torenhire
Jim[BG] (0)

Nine out of Ten TLS Staff members agree, dRaW is the Protoss for you! But seriously, this week's groups have some clear favourites. The favourite for Group C is undeniably the "Great Canadian Hope" dRaW. He stole our hearts in the qualifiers with his incredibly entertaining shuttle play and we've all put our ESPORTS dollars on him... Well, except for nbaker. But what does he know?

The next clear favourite in this group is Napoleon. If history class taught us anything, he's a force to be reckoned with. More accurately, his consistent performance in the Qualifiers earned him most of our votes. The rest of us skipped class to watch South Park.

Finally, we have Jim "gymbag" RaynoR. Let's get real for a minute. We love our gym bags. They carry our blood sweat and tears. But at the end of the day, you stick that thing in a closet because it freakin reeks. I'm sorry gymbag. I love you man, but I just had to go with the obvious favourites in this group.

Player	Staff Picks
trutaCz (10)
	HawaiianPig, 2Pacalypse-, Jonvvv, Kiante, Falling, Sayle, Epoxide, nbaker, itsjustatank, Torenhire
Andreyy (5)
	Jonvvv, Falling, nbaker, itsjustatank, Torenhire
ZZZero (4)
	HawaiianPig, 2Pacalypse-, Kiante, Sayle
NeMu (1)
	Epoxide

She wants trutaCz the D. Say that out loud 10 times fast. If you know how to correctly pronounce his name you just might notice why every single staff member picked him to advance to the Round of 16. It's either that or the fact that he is far and away the strongest member of this group. Aside from him, the rest of this group is entirely unclear. While the staff picks are split between Andreyy and ZZZero, NeMu is no slouch either. We just like rrepeattingg letterss. Theey're haarder for SSSayle to prounounce. The slim leader out of the bottom three is our favourite interviewee and the guy who wants to sleep with your sister: Andreyy. The latter just might be the reason why he isn't pictured on TLPD.

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That's all for now! Join us on Saturday, Feb 16 8:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for the cast of Groups C and D! And as always a big thanks to our sponsors: