A TLS cast without a ZvZ?! This is madness! If for no other reason, you should tune in just for the novelty of non-zergs playing. Fortunately, there are plenty of other reasons to tune in, including the chance to see our invites dOTY, runner-up of ISL3, and Skzlime, hero of Gambit's Cup, compete for the first time in TLS.


This will be the final day of what has been an extremely exciting round of 16 group stage, as we enter the elimination bracket afterwards, beginning with the round of 8. If last week's games were any indication, you can expect to see the same kind of crazy games and upsets in this week's set of games.


Join Sayle and Elegant on Saturday, Mar 09 8:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for some epic Brood War action.






Last week we saw groups A and B play out with both invites, Sziky and Michael, advancing to the Round of 8. Joining them are the Polish Zerg SouthPark who convincingly swept his group 2-0 and the ever entertaining Bulgarian, Nemu who chat rushed his way to victory. If you want to check out how the games went last week, there's a recap video below brought to you by Stratos & Sayle!







Group C is in my opinion the strongest group. All four players are extremely solid. eOnzErG was my favourite to come second in the tournament pre-round of 24 (Sziky too strong). But just like Sziky, eOnzErG's play has been uninspiring. He barely made it out of his round of 24 group narrowly beating vOddy in the final game. It was much thanks to vOddy playing poorly after looking like he had the game. Small mistakes and not looking like the eOnzErG who won several Defiler Tours makes me very doubtful of him advancing. Just because of how strong the other three in this group are.

TerrOr was somewhat of a question mark to me before the round of 24. He had gone far in several of the qualifiers but never actually made it to the final. I had him advancing narrowly 2-1 but he ended up destroying his group and it wasn't even close. I'm still not 100% sure in his TvP and with two other Protoss in his group he might get knocked out against one of them. Overall TerrOr's record has been way too good to pass up on, I think he stands a fair chance of advancing.

It seems to me that dOTY hasn't played in forever. His last recorded game being in August last year. dOTY had an extremely good showing in ISL3, taking Sziky to a final game nine. After the final he didn't really show anything. dOTY's shape is a big question mark to me. If he ends up being the ISL 3 finalist-dOTY he will absolutely crush, if he isn't though I see him having a hard time in this group.

Oh dRaW... You have really impressed me lately. Even though you say haven't practiced you still end up advancing without losing, all the time. The game of you against trutaCz on Fighting Spirit is still playing in my head. That game was the best one I have seen in quite a while. Even though you lost you really convinced me, this is dRaW's tournament. I'm expecting dRaW to 2-0 this group, and the games will surely be amazing.

Overall this group is quite hard to predict. Any of these four can advance depending on their shape, and I actually mean it this time. Be hyped for this group.






I have been quite hard on the invites so far, only praising Sziky. skzlime is my favourite foreigner. But it hasn't been easy lately. Rumors are everywhere, "skzlime is out of shape", "he isn't the same as when he all-killed LRM". You know what? A new round of Gambit's Cup is soon upon us. skzlime sounds confident but modest in his interview and has hopefully managed to squeeze in the practice he needs because this group is really tough.

Ramms is my dark horse for the tournament. I keep thinking he won't stand a chance and get knocked out. But he keeps advancing. Unfortunately for him (maybe it's the opposite?) I don't think he will advance this time either. I believe he is severely outclassed by the other three in this group. A 0-2 is expected.

trutaCz hasn't lost a single game in the TLS since he played dRaW. He is looking extremely dangerous, just like Sziky and TechnicS I see him in the top four easily. But just like what happened last week can happen to trutaCz too. I also see him having trouble against dewalt as ZvP is his weakest matchup, a sub 50% winrate with recent losses to fold who is not exactly known for taking out players at the level of trutaCz.

I felt really bad when I had put dewalt not advancing from the round of 24. He had a terrific year in 2012 and has looked good ever since. Like a slap in the face dewalt absolutely crushes his group 2-0. The Protoss of the year sure is looking like he is going far. The rest of the players in the tournament should be really scared. With Sziky looking mortal dewalt is my current favourite to win the whole tournament.






We sat down with our two invites, Skzlime and dOTY who will show their skill for the first time to our viewers. It's no wonder that they're under a lot of pressure to prove themselves after being invited directly to the Round of 16. Read on how they cope with their pressure and how much they have prepared to play in Teamliquid Legacy Starleague.

Player	Staff Picks
dOTY (8)
	HawaiianPig, 2Pacalypse-, Jonvvv, Kiante, mustaju, Sayle, itsjustatank, nbaker
eOnzErG (7)
	Jonvvv, harem, Falling, mustaju, Sayle, itsjustatank, nbaker
dRaW (6)
	HawaiianPig, 2Pacalypse-, harem, Falling, Epoxide, Torenhire
TerrOr (3)
	Kiante, Epoxide, Torenhire

In the words of 2Pacalypse-, "Protoss powa!" Group C will be the grand entrance of our only Protoss invite dOTY, and it looks like his reputation as the ISL3 runner-up has preceded him with eight out of twelve staff members picking him to advance. eOnzErG and dRaW are close behind, giving us no clear favorite in this group of aLtErNaTiNg caps. It's interesting to see staff and fan favorite dRaW coming third in picks despite crushing through his Ro24 group while eOnzErG, who showed very shaky ZvP in the Ro24, comes second. The clear underdog in the group is TerrOr who managed only a paltry three votes. Given how accurate staff picks have been in the past, I think this can only mean one thing: TerrOr is definitely going to advance. Also, Epoxide picked TerrOr and he's a genius.

Player	Staff Picks
dewalt (8)
	2Pacalypse-, Jonvvv, harem, Falling, Epoxide, Sayle, itsjustatank, Torenhire
trutaCz (7)
	HawaiianPig, Jonvvv, harem, Epoxide, Sayle, itsjustatank, nbaker
Skzlime (6)
	HawaiianPig, 2Pacalypse-, Kiante, mustaju, Falling, nbaker
Ramms (3)
	Kiante, mustaju, Torenhire

Interestingly, group D has the same vote distribution as group C, and once again a protoss has come out on top with eight staff members backing underage Russian protoss Dewalt. Could this be the weekend of the manly race? My heart hopes it will be, but trutaCz and skzlime will probably have other ideas. Skzlime in particular might be a bit miffed that he's the lowest rated invite among TLS staff, only coming third in his group (although it is a close third). This is the man who all-killed LRM, so despite rumors that he's currently out of shape, it would be foolish to underestimate him. Our other terran in the group, Ramms, is also slightly lacking in the vote department. As I said for group C, I'm pretty sure this means he's going to advance :D

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That's all for now! Join us on Saturday, Mar 09 8:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for the cast of Groups C and D! And as always a big thanks to our sponsors: