With the Qualifiers behind us, the Round of 24 is ready to begin. Join Sayle on Saturday, Jun 01 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for the cast of Groups A and B!

Those of you who tuned in last week will already have seen the group selection for the coming round, as well as having been treated to a surprise showmatch between Technics and NeMu, jocund and filled with banter as it was. For those of you who didn’t have a chance to catch the group selection live, you can peruse the groups at your leisure below.

That friendly series between Technics and NeMu serves as punctuation to the halcyon days of our Qualifiers. The time for fecund matches between friends hopping around their off-races has come and gone. Every player now finds themselves just two losses from elimination.

As easy as it is to focus on the story of how someone came to win a particular tournament, the majority of the narrative of any contest is told by the players eliminated on their way to the finals. Heroes who managed to make it this far, only to fall with the world watching. Reading down through the list of those who’ve made it this far, it’s clear that there’ll be some broken-hearted fans out there over the coming few weeks.

The group stage of the TLS Season 2 has begun.







The groups are in and once again TLS2 Round of 24 promises some great games and great players. Through sheer luck, all the groups have been divided with an even spread of the three races despite the randomized nature of the draw and an influx of Protoss qualifiers.

This Ro24 will have twice as many more Protoss players competing compared to last season, all of whom are fan favourites and have a good shot at advancing. While the number of Terran players did not change as drastically as the Protoss, two new names that were not in the first TLS look to take a stab at the first place prize. After some inactivity, Bizzy qualified for the Ro24 in a last minute situation by winning the last qualifier with no prior points similar to Pro7ect from the first TLS. Marwin will be another player to look out for in the groups, with his great play contributing to a big part of iFU being in the finals for Gambit Cup and having taken down AlfiO easily in the first qualifier. The Zerg infestation appears to have died down in the qualifiers this time with only three qualifying compared to the eleven last TLS. That doesn’t make their representation any less threatening as there are still many familiar, strong names in the Ro24 and three more awaiting further down the tournament.

D means death. While the other groups are no laughing matter, groups C and D contain some ridiculously strong players and fan favourites and the thought of only two advancing from each group will be exciting to watch. Group D in particular will be the highlight of the Ro24 as shots have already been fired between AlfiO, NeMu and TechniCs. With dOTY being an equally powerful player, the results of Group D are completely up in the air.

C… also means death? It sure does if you look in a TLS2 dictionary. If any of these players were placed in any other groups, they would easily be the favourites to come out of it. But to put them all into the same one? It’s the making of some epic games that will leave you with both tears of joy and sadness as one advances and one falls.
With that said, the other groups in the Ro24 will be equally, if not even more exciting with the possibilities of upsets and great spread of races. Here’s to some exciting games and Terran domination!*

*totally not biased at all.







The first game of the first semifinal match took place between the two Protoss players, WandS and EnjoYmE, on Neo Jade. After a fairly passive early game where both players established a base at their respective naturals, EnjoYmE took an aggressive stance against WandS’ developing third base at the same time that WandS initiated drop play against his opponent. Both of these plays ended up doing economic damage to both players, and they sought to stabilize in the later minutes of the game. WandS was able to keep up the pressure on EnjoYmE with continued drops, and he ended the game with one last attack from his ground forces. The second game took place on Neo Bloody Ridge, where EnjoYmE attempted to expand early and get quick templar, but he was punished by the sheer number of units that WandS was able to produce off one base. WandS moved on to the finals.

The second semifinal match took place between Mazur and LancerX. In the first game, which took place on Neo Jade, Mazur was able to defend LancerX’s early attacks and went on the attack in his own right in the mid game with a bit of reaver harassment. LancerX was able to snipe Mazur’s third base, and, with the economic advantage, was able to win the first game. In the second game, which took place on Match Point, Mazur was able to get the better of the initial engagement in the center, and LancerX stuck close to a shield battery just outside of his natural to defend. Behind this, Mazur took a third base and rapidly began to take an economic advantage over his opponent. Forced to attack, LancerX was caught in a very disadvantageous position, with Mazur’s units in a concave against his units, and the match went to a deciding third game. That third deciding game was very much a highlight of the Teamliquid Legacy Starleague. The game, which took place on Fighting Spirit, went to a desperate mined-out late game position which featured carriers and dark archon on the field of play. At the very end of it, LancerX moved on to the finals.



The first game of the finals of the third qualifier of the Teamliquid Legacy Starleague took place between the two Protoss players, WandS and LancerX, on Neo Jade. In that game, LancerX went core first and, with the extra dragoons, was able to contain WandS in his base while establishing a base of his own at his natural. In response, WandS attempted some drop play, which got denied. He also attempted a break out up the ramp and into his opponent’s forces which ended up working at the cost of a large number of unit losses on his end. Forced onto the offensive, WandS was able to turn the game around with excellent reaver play that eliminated LancerX’s economic advantage and won him the game.

The second game, which took place on Match Point, was over quickly as LancerX’s rush to dark templar did enough damage to make WandS’ drop play not as effective. LancerX won the game with a final attack on WandS’ base and the matched moved to a third game.

The final game of the series took place on Fighting Spirit. Similar to the previous game, LancerX rushed for dark templar, however WandS was prepared with observers and the two dark templars died without inflicting any significant damage. Unable to attack the natural that LancerX set up behind the dark templar attack, WandS was going to attack with dark templar of his own with a drop into LancerX’s main. However, when that was thwarted, he opted to turn them into a dark archon instead. He used that dark archon to defend against high templar drops with feedback. Despite having feedback, LancerX simply had too much of an economic lead by the end of the game for WandS to defend, and he won the series and a spot in the Teamliquid Legacy Starleague.





The first game of the first semifinal match which took place between the Zerg player Cosy and the Protoss player WandS was played on Neo Jade. Despite having enough early zerglings to do significant damage against his Protoss opponent, Cosy declined to attack and instead set up a third base in preparation for a longer game. WandS built up corsair for light harass, and then sent a force of zealots past the not-tight wall at Cosy’s natural. This move allowed him to snipe the spire and disrupt mining significantly. WandS set up a third base and continued to bring the pressure to Cosy. However, Cosy’s advantage in bases allowed him to win the game in conjunction with the appearance of ultralisks at the very end. The second game between Cosy and WandS took place on Match Point. Despite having a less-than-standard wall configuration outside of his natural, WandS was able to defend against the early zerglings. As the mid game developed, WandS established a strong force of dragoons, zealots, and high templar, and attacked straight into the Zerg player’s forces. Despite the lurkers, WandS was able to take the victory and the match went to a deciding third game. That third game took place on Fighting Spirit, where the game was largely quiet until the mid game when Cosy’s mutalisks and scourge met up against WandS’ +1 corsair in the center of the map. The two players continued to fight for air dominance while, at the same time, establishing bases across the map. In the late game, Cosy, despite having taken most of the bases on the map, was beginning to get mined out and a significant number of his drones were caught by WandS’ archon-heavy force at the one o’clock position, forcing the Zerg player to type out of the game. WandS moved on to the finals.

The second semifinal match took place between the Zerg player Liquid`Drone and the Terran player Bizzy. In the first game, which took place on Fighting Spirit, Drone brought back a build from the past and rushed to defilers against his Terran opponent. Despite there being lurkers under swarm in his natural, Bizzy was able to defend the attack with a large number of firebats. As Bizzy moved out to attack, it was revealed that Drone had continued with the high tech and built ultralisks at the very end. These ultralisks were not able to stave off defeat, and Drone went into the second game down one in the series.

In the second game, which took place on Match Point, Drone continued the unorthodoxy with an early burrow research in order to delay the Terran natural expansion and to be sneaky with hidden zerglings. Despite a less-than-optimal reveal of burrowed zerglings, Drone was able to keep the pressure up against Bizzy. With the arrival of queens onto the map, Drone was able to create an infested command center. Having been allowed to run amok in this game, Drone took the victory and sent the series to a third game. In the third and deciding game of this semifinal series, which took place on Fighting Spirit, Drone was able to establish four bases but his forces were spread out across the map, allowing Bizzy to attack straight into the natural and win the game. Bizzy moved on to the finals.



The finals of the final qualifier of the Teamliquid Legacy Starleague took place between the Protoss player WandS and the Terran player Bizzy. In the first game, which took place on Neo Jade, Bizzy went for an eight barracks bunker rush build against WandS that the Protoss player was unable to defend effectively. WandS attempted to double proxy robotics for some serious counterattack shenanigans, but, when it was scouted by the Terran player, he left the game. The second game took place on Match Point, and Bizzy’s fake double play allowed him to get a number of probe kills with vultures in the Protoss main. As the game developed into the mid game, Bizzy’s hold on the center was contested by WandS’ corsairs with disruption web. WandS was able to dislodge his opponent from the center, but Bizzy was able to secure the economic and supply advantage throughout, allowing him to win the game, the final qualifier, and a spot in the Teamliquid Legacy Starleague.




This season starts of with a Protoss vs. Protoss. Huh? Did I read that correctly? Yes. The round of 24 of the second season of the TeamLiquid Legacy Starleague has more Protoss than Zerg. The first game is LancerX playing against Arcneon on Neo Jade. LancerX hasn't played that many PvP's lately. He did however beat both PvP champ Mazur + Show Spoiler + and the prodigy WandS 2-1 respectively in the semifinals and final of qualifier three. He has played two PvPs in Gambit's Cup, beating AsmOdey but losing to Arcneon. Not much more can be said about Arcneon's PvP, he beat fold 1-0 and lost to PvP specialist + Show Spoiler + EnjoYmE 1-2. Arcneon is 2-1 in Gambit's Cup beating LocDog and LancerX but losing to MOB. This could go either way but I'm going to have to say LancerX will take it.

The next match-up is between Bizzy's Terran versus WhistleR also on Neo Jade. Just by looking at the names Bizzy is way more successful. However, Bizzy has been inactive recently and seems to have lost interest or motivation. WhistleR recently somewhat made a comeback. He had a beastly run in qualifier one; taking out Mazur in a ZvP, 2-0ing Cryoc, and barely losing 1-2 against Marwin. Bizzy came in late to qualifier four being in a must-win-situation as he didn't have any points prior. Bizzy completely smashed only dropping one game to Drone. In that series however he looked extremely vurnable. Even though Bizzy always got early leads Drone seemed to be able to screw things up for Bizzy. WhistleR's ZvT is so wildly inconsistent so he definitely has the chance but I believe Bizzy will prevail, especially after seeing his game against eOnzErG in the Gambit's Cup final.

Bizzy seems like the heavy favourite in this group to me, but with inactivity this might not be the case. The race for second place in the group could go to either of the other three. There's something that's telling me that LancerX will have a decent run this time.






Group B might be the weakest group in the round of 24. The group has two clear favourites in dRaW and Julia. Both Cosy and EnjoYmE feels much weaker, and dropped out of last season in the round of 24. The first game is between Cosy and EnjoYmE. It feels like Cosy has the advantage against EnjoYmE. The game could go to either player.

The second game is Julia vs. dRaW. This game will most likely decide who gets first or second in the group. Both players are quite strong in ZvP, and the match is sure to be high quality. dRaW always says he doesn't play, but always play, but never plays. dRaW is a strange guy.

Whoever wins of Cosy vs. EnjoYmE and Julia vs. dRaW doesn't really matter as Julia or dRaw will win against Cosy or EnjoYmE, except if both EnjoYmE and dRaW wins or loses. Then we might see an upset and potentially seeing dRaW out of the tournament already. If dRaW can avoid EnjoYmE all is well.

Player	Staff Picks
Bizzy (6)
	2Pacalypse-, Sayle, Epoxide, kjwcj, itsjustatank, Nagisama
LancerX (4)
	2Pacalypse-, Epoxide, kjwcj, itsjustatank
Arcneon (2)
	Sayle, Nagisama
WhistleR (0)

The two favourites for Group A were pretty predictable. You have two players who won the last two qualifiers and two players who qualified in through points. Although Bizzy may have been inactive, that did not sway the staff members’ choices in who they think will advance. Being the only Terran player in the groups this week, my vote could only go towards Bizzy. The other winner of a qualifier, LancerX, was the next clear favourite with all but two (smart) staff members picking LancerX. While Sayle watches Defiler Tour and has secret information on Arcneon, it wouldn’t be much fun if the staff only picked the two obvious players in each group to advance. So I'll just jump on Sayle's bandwagon go with my gut and also pick Arcneon!

Player	Staff Picks
dRaW (6)
	2Pacalypse-, Sayle, Epoxide, kjwcj, itsjustatank, Nagisama
Julia (5)
	2Pacalypse-, Sayle, Epoxide, kjwcj, itsjustatank
Cosy (1)
	Nagisama
EnjoYmE (0)

To be honest, I feel sorry for the players in Group B not named dRaW and Julia. TLS Staff members picked the two clear favourites so unanimously it was scary. However, to not completely jump on the bandwagon, I’ll support one of the two clear underdogs in this group and hope that Cosy will make an upset. Cosy and EnjoYmE may have fallen at this stage during TLS1, but this is TLS2, and with lots of practice and COURAGE, low probability means nothing! dRaW still has my vote because he’s Canadian o/.

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That's all for now! Join us on Saturday, Jun 01 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for the cast of Groups A and B! And as always a big thanks to our sponsors: