With a flock of Sziky's mutalisks descending on Michael's base to signal the end, the first TeamLiquid Legacy Starleague has concluded. A Zerg civil war in the finals, a fitting end to a tournament that saw itself dominated by the alien race throughout, from the qualifiers right up until the very end.

A journey we began over four months ago has finished the first leg of its journey, a path during which it has already surpassed our wildest expectations. From the qualifiers to the main tournament, we saw a Brood War community that rallied in support of its game. We saw Live Report threads full of passion and a resolve to enjoy BW actions. We saw stars such as Liquid`Drone shake off the rust and join the fray, putting themselves in the middle of the battle for supremacy.

Now it is time for us to celebrate and congratulate our champion, Sziky, who earned the right to call himself the finest Brood War player in the foreign community. We'll look at his games and remember the best moments of the tournament, and soon we begin getting ready for the next round.

TLS Season 2 is not far, which will bring us one step closer to the year end grand finals. This is the beginning of our legacy.









Game 1

In the first game on Neo Jade, Skzlime spawned at the top left position, and eOnzErG spawned at the top right. Starting things off quickly, eOnzErG opened with a nine pool in order to develop early aggression in the game. Skzlime responded to the eOnzErG's early zerglings with a bunker built in his base, and forced the Zerg attack back home. Skzlime followed this up with a second barracks and an academy, from which he built up a small marine and firebat force, and then set off with this force in order to attack eOnzErG's base. In anticipation, eOnzErG built three sunken colonies at his natural for defense, a move which bought him enough time to finish his spire, take a third base, and get mutalisks out onto the map.

With his initial mutalisk group, eOnzErG moved to the Terran base in order to perform some harassment. Despite some reckless muta control on his part, eOnzErG managed to take out a significant number of Skzlime's marines. eOnzErG followed the air harassment with a ground force of lurkers and zerglings, which which he destroyed Skzlime's natural.

Finding himself in such an advantageous position, eOnzErG felt confident enough to sacrifice his mutalisks and scourge in order to take out a lone science vessel. In response, Skzlime performed a drop onto the Zerg's third base. However, with the arrival of guardians at the Terran base, the drop came to naught, and Skzlime typed out of the first game of the series.

Game 2

In the second game on Neo Electric Circuit, Skzlime, down 1–0 in the series, spawned at the top right position, while eOnzErG spawned at the bottom right. In comparison to his aggressive opening in the first game, eOnzErG opted for a twelve hatchery style with a quick third base in this game. For his part, Skzlime opened with a standard one-barracks expansion build.

Despite getting his SCV scout into eOnzErG's base, Skzlime failed to discover the Zerg's lurker tech and focused his defensive efforts towards repelling a mutalisk-based attack. He built a bio force with tank and limited vessel support and set off to attack eOnzErG's base. This force predictably walked straight into a large number of lurkers, which led to a majority of Skzlime's bio force evaporating into blood sprites. Despite this setback, Skzlime performed a simultaneous drop onto the mineral-only Zerg expansion, and managed to kill every worker at that location. In addition, the drop and forced eOnzErG to cancel his +1 carapace upgrade. Taking the economic loss of the drop in stride, eOnzErG began a slow, methodological push of lurkers into Skzlime's natural, enabled by defilers with dark swarm. In an attempt to break the attention of the Zerg siege, Skzlime initiated a drop into the main, which was eventually repelled.

The pace of the game shifted briefly in Skzlime's favor, as he was able to push the Zerg back and begin an attack of his own against the Zerg natural. Skzlime was able to take out the natural, but, by this point in the game, the Zerg production was already centered around the expansions at the bottom left position. With ultralisks out on the map, eOnzErG finally macroed up enough of a force and Skzlime typed out of the second game of the series.

Game 3

Down 0–2, Skzlime found himself in a do-or-die situation entering the third game on Neo Ground Zero. He spawned at the top right position of the map, while eOnzErG spawned at the top left. Both players opened with standard builds, with Skzlime going for a one-barracks expansion into two barracks academy and eOnzErG going for a twelve hatchery expansion into two hatchery mutalisks. Skzlime was prepared for the mutalisks, as he built a large amount of missile turret protection and enough marines with medic support to hold off against the fliers. Poor mutalisk control on eOnzErG's part resulted in a number of unequal mutalisk for marine trades.

Beginning a comedy of errors, eOnzErG placed the hydralisk den at his main base in such a position that it blocked his gas mining significantly. Not to be outdone, unfortunate (or fortunate, as the case ended up being) factory placement on Skzlime's part lead to the creation of an endlessly spinning tank. With this act, the unattainable was now unknown for Skzlime.




Game 4

With the series now at 1–2, hopes for a comeback were now in the minds of faithful Skzlime supporters. On New Sniper Ridge, the players spawned at cross positions, with Skzlime at the bottom left corner and eOnzErG at the top right corner of the map. Once again, eOnzErG opened with a twelve-hatch expansion into two-hatchery mutalisks, and Skzlime opened with a one-barracks expansion.

With his first five marines, Skzlime moved out and killed a zergling just outside of eOnzErG's natural. Unbeknown to him, this initial attack could have done a significant amount of early game damage because eOnzErG severely lacked for zergling defense at that point. However, With his mutalisks out on the map, eOnzErG was able to establish a third base and moved against Skzlime's natural.

Skzlime was very prepared, once again, for the mutalisks, and he had a large number of well-positioned missile turrets in his base to defend. Compounding this for eOnzErG was his misplaced rally point which led to a number of unnecessary drone kills when his workers were inadvertently sent out on a move command directly to Skzlime's waiting marine force. At the same time, Skzlime dealt a good amount of damage against the mutalisk stack outside of his natural. Skzlime followed this up with a very advantageous engagement against eOnzErG's combined mutalisk and lurker force on the ridge just outside of his natural. With good positioning, he was able to get an effective concave against the burrowed lurkers, and because eOnzErG sent his mutalisks straight to the middle of that concave, he was also able to get deal good damage against them as well in the process.

While eOnzErG was busy denying the Terran third base at the nine o'clock position, Skzlime moved out with his force, now supplemented with science vessels, against the Zerg third at the three o'clock position. At the same time, eOnzErG successfully morphed a number of guardians outside of Skzlime's natural expansion, and a base race situation unfolded for the two players. eOnzErG's guardians were caught out in the open by a group of marines, and Skzlime proceeded to move against eOnzErG's main base. With the loss of his force at Skzlime's natural, eOnzErG typed out of the game, bringing the series to a tie.

Game 5
Fighting Spirit

Entering game five, both players were now one game away from either victory or defeat in the third place match of the Legacy Starleague. Having been one game away from elimination in game three, Skzlime had come back and brought the series back in two consecutive games. The deciding match between the two players was then played on Fighting Spirit. Skzlime spawned at the bottom right corner, and eOnzErG opened at the top right corner of the map. eOnzErG opened with a twelve-hatchery expansion into three-hatch mutalisk build, and Skzlime opened with his standard one-barracks expansion build.

With a strong mutalisk count, eOnzErG had the run of the map and established a base at the top left corner. In response to the threat of the mutalisks, Skzlime built a large number of missile turrets for defense. A moment's inattention on eOnzErG's part led to the loss of a number of his mutalisks after they flew directly into a line of missile turrets. Slowly but surely, Skzlime built up a large force, and sought to move out with his first science vessel. A scourge snipe put those plans on hold.

eOnzErG began to tech to guardians. Anticipating this move, Skzlime began producing wraith out of two starports, with cloak researched for those units. His wraiths made very short work out of the morphing guardians outside of his natural, putting eOnzErG at a significant economic disadvantage in the game, despite the establishment of a secret base at the bottom left position. That secret base was scouted by an SCV, and Skzlime moved to neutralize that base after taking out the nydus canal, which eliminated any possibility for reinforcement.

At this point in the game, Skzlime was at a 50 supply lead. As Skzlime began to move against the top left corner expansions, eOnzErG began to build ultralisks as a last-ditch effort to win the game. After being slowly bled out of the game, the loss of the last of his units and the disruption of his distance mining from the center minerals proved to be too much to overcome, and eOnzErG conceded defeat. Skzlime completed the reversal, having come back from a significant deficit in the series, and was the eventual victor of the third place match of the TLS.




Game 1

The first game of the grand finals of the TeamLiquid Legacy Starleague took place on Neo Bloody Ridge, with Michael starting at the bottom left corner of the map, and Sziky starting out at the top right corner of the map. Michael opened with a twelve-hatch expansion build versus Sziky's twelve pool expansion play.

With his initial zerglings, Sziky performed a runby which bypassed Michael's defenses and achieved a number of worker kills. With his opponent now in the economic lead, Michael was forced to go all-in with a zergling counterattack that ended up failing because of Sziky's advantageous sunken positioning and impeccable zergling micro. With the failure of the attack came Michael's exit from the game, bringing him down 0–1 in the series.

Game 2

The second game of the grand finals took place on Neo Jade. The players spawned at cross positions on the map, with Michael at the top right corner of the map and Sziky at the bottom left corner of the map. Michael opened with an overgas versus Sziky's overpool opening.

The highlight of this game was undoubtedly Michael's attempt at a extremely unorthodox strategy which relied on overlords physically covering a drone block on his ramp, preventing his opponent from manual targeting those units, while at the same time further bugging out his opponent's pathing and attack priority AI with zerglings just behind the block.

Executed properly, the strategy could have stood to gain Michael the upper hand in the engagement. Unfortunately for him, the strategy failed in its execution, and with severely less zergling numbers, Michael conceded defeat almost immediately after the failure of the block. The series was now at a quick 0–2 disadvantage for Michael.

Game 3

As the series entered game three, Michael sought to gain some traction after two losses in short order against Sziky in the opening games. Neo Ground Zero was the map, and Michael spawned on it at the top left corner of the map, where he opened with a twelve pool expansion build. For his part, Sziky spawned at the bottom left corner of the map, where he opened with a twelve-hatch expansion build.

Plans to regain some traction in the series failed for Michael, as he misread Sziky's intentions and attempted to drone up in the face of what became an overwhelming zergling bust at his natural. With this loss, Michael was now one game away from elimination in the TeamLiquid Legacy Starleague.

Game 4

One game away from elimination from the grand finals of the tournament, Michael found himself in a do-or-die situation in the series entering game four. On Neo Aztec, Michael spawned at the eight o'clock position of the map, while Sziky spawned at the four o'clock position of the map. Both players opened with nine pool builds which transitioned into mutalisk play, a significant advance in the technology tree in comparison to that which was exhibited in the previous three games of the series.

Advantageous early zergling engagements allowed Sziky to bottle up Michael within his base, and allowed him to gain the economic advantage by building up more workers than his opponent. As the game transitioned over to the mutalisk and scourge battle, Sziky won the game of numbers, control, and positioning, winning him the game, the series, and the first place position in the first TeamLiquid Legacy Starleague season.





The top four had three out of four Zerg. The top eight had four out of eight Zerg. The top sixteen had eleven out of sixteen Zerg. The random and racepickers were more than the Protoss or Terran could summon. The digits are looking dull for the other two races. Who can fight the Zerg on even footing? Who can defy the numbers? Most importantly; who can beat Sziky and Michael?

skzlime

Ever since his all-kill of LRM skzlime has been in big focus. One of the only Terrans, and one of the only to have a high winrate against Zerg. Rumours had been going around, spreading like wildfire. skzlime had fallen, he was no longer the TvZ powerhouse. I had trouble believing this, but eventually it got to me. I didn't have faith in him. In the round of 16 preview I didn't think he would advance. dewalt and trutaCz would prove to be too strong; I was wrong. He had proven to me that the rumours were greatly exaggerated. Later in the quarterfinals I predicted that skzlime would 3-0 SouthPark, and rightfully so. I was convinced that skzlime never had a slump. Then the results were in. The semifinals were absolutely stacked. I believed in a miracle, of a non-Zerg-only grand final. With Michael demolishing skzlime 3-0 the dreams were shattered. The third place match against eOnzErG looked to me like skzlime wouldn't stand a chance. I had written off the hope of another race on the podium.

The third place match started out just like I had expected. eOnzErG was on another level. skzlime was flailing to catch a small sip of air. After skzlime got his tank stuck in his main in the third game on Neo Ground Zero, I felt bad for skzlime. He was about to go out in fourth without taking a single game of off either Michael or eOnzErG. Then suddenly, skzlime breaks out of natural with great micro. skzlime starts pushing out towards eOnzErG's natural. What's this sudden feeling? It felt just like skzlime in the GC final. Solid and convincing play completes the reverse sweep. skzlime takes a big breath, he has won.

Even though all seems good, lets take a look back at what could have been. Terran vs Protoss is allegedly skzlime's worst match-up. In the round of 16 skzlime initially went 0-1, losing against Ramms' Protoss. With his excellent TvZ he manages to defeat trutaCz and has to play Ramms once again. skzlime is frighteningly close to getting knocked by his TvP, and he didn't even have to play dewalt. If skzlime has to play against a good PvT'er I'm scared that he won't get to kick some Zerg butt.

The others

dRaW

Even though he is semi-retired he has still confirmed he will be in the next season. dRaW is by far most known for his incredibly good and highly entertaining PvZ. His weakness? PvT. dRaW doesn't seem to enjoy the match-up one bit. It's the reason he didn't advance from the round of 16, getting knocked out by TerrOr with two losses to him. For dRaW to be able to break through and knock out some top Zerg he needs to first either dodge or get more confident in his PvT.

Mazur

The other gosu PvZ'er is back from inactivity and an injury. With only two days of practice Mazur manages to beat Bakuryu in the semifinal showmatch. Mazur has said he will qualify for the next season and I'm really looking forward to it. With a long time to practice I have high expectations. Much like the other two, Mazur has a weak match-up. It's his PvP, he has been losing to lesser players like WandS and that certainly won't help him to get to the later rounds.

dOTY

Yet another Protoss. dOTY had an extremely poor showing considering the high expectations after ISL 3. Besides TechnicS, dOTY is the only other person that has shown he can go toe-to-toe with Sziky. Unless he improves from the last season it doesn't look that great. He has since beaten trutaCz in GC against NetWars so there is yet hope.

Honorable mentions: TerrOr, Dewalt, NeMu.




Listen up readers. There was a lot of commotion in the TLS Grand Finals LR thread. When it gets up to 20+ pages it can be hard to find all the amazing moments that pop up in there. This is why I have decided to start, "The Top 10 people, places, and things you probably missed in the LR thread."

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That's all for now! See you soon in the next season! And as always a big thanks to our sponsors: