Last fall, we changed the league name from ASL to SSL, but we felt once again that the name ‘ASL’, which we have been with for a long time, is deeply entrenched in the hearts of our fans.
Many people still called us ASL, and we also realized that ASL is not just a league name, but a precious symbol containing the tradition and memories of the past 9 years.
After much deliberation, we decided to change the league name back to ASL.
We decided that it was more important to preserve the history and identity of the league, and we would like to create more moments with our fans under the name ASL in the future.
ASL will start again with Season 19.
ASL will continue to develop further together with our fans and streamers.
If you're thinking scandal stuff like Effort, then afaik, no. He just stopped streaming and said he needed rest or to do some personal stuff etc. like he usually did after every ASL. Just this time the break has been much longer than usual. Normally he would come back 1 month before the ASL qualifiers.
By the way I haven't followed the scene that much lately but apparently Kal has returned to SC after like what...? since Kespa? He's streaming since February and obviously, joined a SC university.
On March 03 2025 00:18 TMNT wrote: By the way I haven't followed the scene that much lately but apparently Kal has returned to SC after like what...? since Kespa? He's streaming since February and obviously, joined a SC university.
On March 03 2025 00:14 TMNT wrote: If you're thinking scandal stuff like Effort, then afaik, no. He just stopped streaming and said he needed rest or to do some personal stuff etc. like he usually did after every ASL. Just this time the break has been much longer than usual. Normally he would come back 1 month before the ASL qualifiers.
Oh.. well, ok then. Hope everything's okay with him.
On March 03 2025 00:18 TMNT wrote: By the way I haven't followed the scene that much lately but apparently Kal has returned to SC after like what...? since Kespa? He's streaming since February and obviously, joined a SC university.
On March 03 2025 00:18 TMNT wrote: By the way I haven't followed the scene that much lately but apparently Kal has returned to SC after like what...? since Kespa? He's streaming since February and obviously, joined a SC university.
kal has definitely streamed since kespa but never committed fully to it. i'd say he popped up for a bit around the time remastered came out.
also bisu is active, just not streaming. artosis has been casting his recent ladder games on his youtube channel lately.
ArtosisCasts are reminiscent of Day9 dailies for me: daily Starcraft content with a healthy mix of scene updates, strategy discussion, and comedy.
I hope he does secondary "casts" of SSL games, if he's allowed, to do deeper dives into strategy / metagame for this season. He's so good at that. The only thing he might be better at is playing through SKRAAAAAAAAA on stream.
No FlaSh really sucks. I don't know what's going on, if he really has wrist issues that need surgery. Maybe he's going to retire? I just don't get why you would practice many months just to not play on main stage...
On March 03 2025 00:18 TMNT wrote: By the way I haven't followed the scene that much lately but apparently Kal has returned to SC after like what...? since Kespa? He's streaming since February and obviously, joined a SC university.
On March 05 2025 02:49 outscar wrote: No FlaSh really sucks. I don't know what's going on, if he really has wrist issues that need surgery. Maybe he's going to retire? I just don't get why you would practice many months just to not play on main stage...
in flashes shoes theres a lot to be considered, i mean, tbh if he is qualifies and fucking sucks completly during the tour his image and aura of invencibility insta fades, not only that but, if u really wanna win a tour like ssl u have to prepare, invest time to practice/study, review vods, and who knows what else flash does during practice.. imagine all that shit + pain... not worth the effort imo.
Mb it is -EV to play the tour and actually +EV to just stream, make content during the event, just play daily proleagues and not over stress his arm... and if i was korean i would totally prefer watching ssl tru flashs stream (cause of his analysis) than a regular caster.
also my boi is already a rich mofo so, no need for that prize money.
On March 03 2025 00:18 TMNT wrote: By the way I haven't followed the scene that much lately but apparently Kal has returned to SC after like what...? since Kespa? He's streaming since February and obviously, joined a SC university.
So awesome, Kal was my fav protoss during the kespa era. How is he doing so far?
Not very well. He's basically just a 2300-2400 mmr player. Can't even beat Leta. He does learn and play modern style though. Made 5 6 Shuttle every game vs Terran just like Best but the execution and map awareness nowhere near.
On March 05 2025 20:50 Chosi wrote: So there is no crazy / experimental map in the pool this time, or am I missing something?
Players don't want any of that stuff anymore. And they have all the leverage. I think from now on we will only get various flavours of bog-standard maps.
On March 03 2025 00:18 TMNT wrote: By the way I haven't followed the scene that much lately but apparently Kal has returned to SC after like what...? since Kespa? He's streaming since February and obviously, joined a SC university.
So awesome, Kal was my fav protoss during the kespa era. How is he doing so far?
Not very well. He's basically just a 2300-2400 mmr player. Can't even beat Leta. He does learn and play modern style though. Made 5 6 Shuttle every game vs Terran just like Best but the execution and map awareness nowhere near.
I have seen Kal's blizzard ID on ladder since early 2023. I dont think he can get into shape to compete anymore. He should be capable of getting top 10 ladder minimum if he wants to be capable of even competing for qualifier semi finals. Never seen that ID get over rank 80-100
On March 05 2025 20:50 Chosi wrote: So there is no crazy / experimental map in the pool this time, or am I missing something?
Players don't want any of that stuff anymore. And they have all the leverage. I think from now on we will only get various flavours of bog-standard maps.
Don't get me wrong, I am with the players on this one it seems. Thanks for the rationale.
On March 05 2025 20:50 Chosi wrote: So there is no crazy / experimental map in the pool this time, or am I missing something?
Players don't want any of that stuff anymore. And they have all the leverage. I think from now on we will only get various flavours of bog-standard maps.
Don't get me wrong, I am with the players on this one it seems. Thanks for the rationale.
Meh.. 1 semi-standard and 1 crazy out of 7 would add a good and reasonable amount of spice, methinks. But whatever, it is what it is.
On March 05 2025 20:50 Chosi wrote: So there is no crazy / experimental map in the pool this time, or am I missing something?
Players don't want any of that stuff anymore. And they have all the leverage. I think from now on we will only get various flavours of bog-standard maps.
Don't get me wrong, I am with the players on this one it seems. Thanks for the rationale.
Meh.. 1 semi-standard and 1 crazy out of 7 would add a good and reasonable amount of spice, methinks. But whatever, it is what it is.
even on other leagues like race battle and ultimate battle, they've been getting banned every. SINGLE. time.
On March 05 2025 20:50 Chosi wrote: So there is no crazy / experimental map in the pool this time, or am I missing something?
Players don't want any of that stuff anymore. And they have all the leverage. I think from now on we will only get various flavours of bog-standard maps.
Don't get me wrong, I am with the players on this one it seems. Thanks for the rationale.
Meh.. 1 semi-standard and 1 crazy out of 7 would add a good and reasonable amount of spice, methinks. But whatever, it is what it is.
even on other leagues like race battle and ultimate battle, they've been getting banned every. SINGLE. time.
kinda sucks as a fan but WCYD
They played on Monty Hall and 76 though, what gives? Was playing on Monty Hall for that long the final straw? Or is Death Valley just considered exceptionally bad?
On March 03 2025 00:18 TMNT wrote: By the way I haven't followed the scene that much lately but apparently Kal has returned to SC after like what...? since Kespa? He's streaming since February and obviously, joined a SC university.
So awesome, Kal was my fav protoss during the kespa era. How is he doing so far?
Not very well. He's basically just a 2300-2400 mmr player. Can't even beat Leta. He does learn and play modern style though. Made 5 6 Shuttle every game vs Terran just like Best but the execution and map awareness nowhere near.
I have seen Kal's blizzard ID on ladder since early 2023. I dont think he can get into shape to compete anymore. He should be capable of getting top 10 ladder minimum if he wants to be capable of even competing for qualifier semi finals. Never seen that ID get over rank 80-100
Has he said he wants to try to be competitive again? Or is he just streaming/playing for fun? But he is definitely on the older side of ex-kespa pros now (I think same age as JD and Light?), so if he's still that out of shape there's probably no hope for him to train up and compete again :\
On March 05 2025 20:50 Chosi wrote: So there is no crazy / experimental map in the pool this time, or am I missing something?
Players don't want any of that stuff anymore. And they have all the leverage. I think from now on we will only get various flavours of bog-standard maps.
Don't get me wrong, I am with the players on this one it seems. Thanks for the rationale.
Meh.. 1 semi-standard and 1 crazy out of 7 would add a good and reasonable amount of spice, methinks. But whatever, it is what it is.
even on other leagues like race battle and ultimate battle, they've been getting banned every. SINGLE. time.
kinda sucks as a fan but WCYD
They played on Monty Hall and 76 though, what gives? Was playing on Monty Hall for that long the final straw? Or is Death Valley just considered exceptionally bad?
I was a death valley hater, I now like the 1.0 version. I think the map was not ready for competition as quickly as the standard new maps. My prediction is that death valley will be played about 10 times this season, compared to Monty Hall and 76 that got played 6 and 7 times.
On March 07 2025 01:06 RJBTVYOUTUBE wrote: saw some deathvalley games between pros on ladder. matches were cheese gambles and onesided.
Sigh, I feel like the pros don't even try anymore. I'm not saying a map like death valley isn't bad I just don't feel like anyone is giving an unconventional map a fair shake first. In today's day and age, an unconventional map gets released, then played for a handful of games on ladder until everyone blocks it from their pool. In ASL you can veto the map forever because the map pool is larger than the sets. Strategies need some time to develop and most maps these days don't ever get closed to a state of being "figured out". If there are no solid strategies yet, cheese/allins/gambles are favoured. While I understand that it might not be fun for many of the pros, from my perspective as a spectator, I see the benefits of the Kespa days in this regard, that forced many more games on any given map because they couldn't be vetoed forever and stakes were a lot higher so people had to practice them. This way we at least saw how maps would play out once they were figured out and some of them indeed turned out to be trash but not every map.
machine translation of why they changed their name back
Hello fans who love ASL.
Last fall, we changed the league name from ASL to SSL, but we felt once again that the name ‘ASL’, which we have been with for a long time, is deeply entrenched in the hearts of our fans.
Many people still called us ASL, and we also realized that ASL is not just a league name, but a precious symbol containing the tradition and memories of the past 9 years.
After much deliberation, we decided to change the league name back to ASL.
We decided that it was more important to preserve the history and identity of the league, and we would like to create more moments with our fans under the name ASL in the future.
ASL will start again with Season 19.
ASL will continue to develop further together with our fans and streamers.
Last fall, we changed the league name from ASL to SSL, but we felt once again that the name ‘ASL’, which we have been with for a long time, is deeply entrenched in the hearts of our fans.
Many people still called us ASL, and we also realized that ASL is not just a league name, but a precious symbol containing the tradition and memories of the past 9 years.
After much deliberation, we decided to change the league name back to ASL.
We decided that it was more important to preserve the history and identity of the league, and we would like to create more moments with our fans under the name ASL in the future.
ASL will start again with Season 19.
ASL will continue to develop further together with our fans and streamers.
We ask for your continued interest and support.
Thank you.
I quite like that. Hopefully they bin off the uncanny valley horror of that AI theme song while they're at it.
Definitely I feel in two minds about the maps situation. It wasn't fun seeing half-baked strategies, cheeses, or auto-losses from a player who just doesn't get the map enough. A world in which they were really grinding to figure these maps out would be a more interesting one, potentially. But that's not the time we're living in and I'd prefer better games, given the option.
On March 05 2025 20:50 Chosi wrote: So there is no crazy / experimental map in the pool this time, or am I missing something?
Players don't want any of that stuff anymore. And they have all the leverage. I think from now on we will only get various flavours of bog-standard maps.
Don't get me wrong, I am with the players on this one it seems. Thanks for the rationale.
Meh.. 1 semi-standard and 1 crazy out of 7 would add a good and reasonable amount of spice, methinks. But whatever, it is what it is.
even on other leagues like race battle and ultimate battle, they've been getting banned every. SINGLE. time.
kinda sucks as a fan but WCYD
They played on Monty Hall and 76 though, what gives? Was playing on Monty Hall for that long the final straw? Or is Death Valley just considered exceptionally bad?
I was a death valley hater, I now like the 1.0 version. I think the map was not ready for competition as quickly as the standard new maps. My prediction is that death valley will be played about 10 times this season, compared to Monty Hall and 76 that got played 6 and 7 times.
It will be played maximum of 3 times. If even that.
On March 07 2025 01:06 RJBTVYOUTUBE wrote: saw some deathvalley games between pros on ladder. matches were cheese gambles and onesided.
Sigh, I feel like the pros don't even try anymore. I'm not saying a map like death valley isn't bad I just don't feel like anyone is giving an unconventional map a fair shake first. In today's day and age, an unconventional map gets released, then played for a handful of games on ladder until everyone blocks it from their pool. In ASL you can veto the map forever because the map pool is larger than the sets. Strategies need some time to develop and most maps these days don't ever get closed to a state of being "figured out". If there are no solid strategies yet, cheese/allins/gambles are favoured. While I understand that it might not be fun for many of the pros, from my perspective as a spectator, I see the benefits of the Kespa days in this regard, that forced many more games on any given map because they couldn't be vetoed forever and stakes were a lot higher so people had to practice them. This way we at least saw how maps would play out once they were figured out and some of them indeed turned out to be trash but not every map.
Last fall, we changed the league name from ASL to SSL, but we felt once again that the name ‘ASL’, which we have been with for a long time, is deeply entrenched in the hearts of our fans.
Many people still called us ASL, and we also realized that ASL is not just a league name, but a precious symbol containing the tradition and memories of the past 9 years.
After much deliberation, we decided to change the league name back to ASL.
We decided that it was more important to preserve the history and identity of the league, and we would like to create more moments with our fans under the name ASL in the future.
ASL will start again with Season 19.
ASL will continue to develop further together with our fans and streamers.
We ask for your continued interest and support.
Thank you.
Damn, that's something I didn't expect. I like it!
On March 07 2025 17:51 GTR wrote: machine translation of why they changed their name back
Hello fans who love ASL.
Last fall, we changed the league name from ASL to SSL, but we felt once again that the name ‘ASL’, which we have been with for a long time, is deeply entrenched in the hearts of our fans.
Many people still called us ASL, and we also realized that ASL is not just a league name, but a precious symbol containing the tradition and memories of the past 9 years.
After much deliberation, we decided to change the league name back to ASL.
We decided that it was more important to preserve the history and identity of the league, and we would like to create more moments with our fans under the name ASL in the future.
ASL will start again with Season 19.
ASL will continue to develop further together with our fans and streamers.
We ask for your continued interest and support.
Thank you.
I quite like that. Hopefully they bin off the uncanny valley horror of that AI theme song while they're at it.
Definitely I feel in two minds about the maps situation. It wasn't fun seeing half-baked strategies, cheeses, or auto-losses from a player who just doesn't get the map enough. A world in which they were really grinding to figure these maps out would be a more interesting one, potentially. But that's not the time we're living in and I'd prefer better games, given the option.
Yeah, that's a fair take given the circumstances. I still feel frustrated at times because I think about what could be and needed to voice it.
On March 07 2025 01:06 RJBTVYOUTUBE wrote: saw some deathvalley games between pros on ladder. matches were cheese gambles and onesided.
Sigh, I feel like the pros don't even try anymore. I'm not saying a map like death valley isn't bad I just don't feel like anyone is giving an unconventional map a fair shake first. In today's day and age, an unconventional map gets released, then played for a handful of games on ladder until everyone blocks it from their pool. In ASL you can veto the map forever because the map pool is larger than the sets. Strategies need some time to develop and most maps these days don't ever get closed to a state of being "figured out". If there are no solid strategies yet, cheese/allins/gambles are favoured. While I understand that it might not be fun for many of the pros, from my perspective as a spectator, I see the benefits of the Kespa days in this regard, that forced many more games on any given map because they couldn't be vetoed forever and stakes were a lot higher so people had to practice them. This way we at least saw how maps would play out once they were figured out and some of them indeed turned out to be trash but not every map.
This is my issue with how ASL is set up too. The fact that they axed Death Valley from the rotation in proleague after only like a week was really disappointing.
Death Valley would be perfectly fine if you could travel between the two halves of the map through the ramp in the middle, which is now just a ramp onto a close highground overlookong the top right section.
On March 08 2025 14:31 End1ess wrote: (10) pretty much JD advanced. JD gets the super star treatment. the rest of the bracket not just 1 tier but TWO tied below him.
Because he is a superstar
Mini vs mstzmstz right now on Flash stream... who is this terran ?
some of the other groups seemed unfairly over stacked in comparison. no wonder we never see some people qualify, and always see some others qualify with such groups.
On March 08 2025 22:06 HOLYBATS wrote: Tomorrow is the Sea vs horang2 day. I hope MC, soO and kal qualifies.
lmao not this again. Maybe Sea won't play this season? Didn't see him today. Dude got his title (Ro16) last season. Give somebody else a chance.
Since BTS already got 1 spot via ACS, there will only be 11 groups tomorrow I think. If they seed properly and no upset occurs, these players should go through: Light, Hero, JYJ, TY, Stork, Shine, Mong, Shuttle. The remaining 3 spots depend on group luck. No way Kal can qualify. He is not even favorite against the amateurs. SoO if he gets only ZvZ. MC only if they give him a piss poor group.
On March 08 2025 22:06 HOLYBATS wrote: Tomorrow is the Sea vs horang2 day. I hope MC, soO and kal qualifies.
lmao not this again. Maybe Sea won't play this season? Didn't see him today. Dude got his title (Ro16) last season. Give somebody else a chance.
Since BTS already got 1 spot via ACS, there will only be 11 groups tomorrow I think. If they seed properly and no upset occurs, these players should go through: Light, Hero, JYJ, TY, Stork, Shine, Mong, Shuttle. The remaining 3 spots depend on group luck. No way Kal can qualify. He is not even favorite against the amateurs. SoO if he gets only ZvZ. MC only if they give him a piss poor group.
Today had a ladies tournament so some players didn't show up for qualifiers. Sea cuz he owns YB, and Scan cuz he coaches for YB the most.
Agree with you on Light, herO, JyJ, Ty, Stork, Shine, Mong and Shuttle. Remaining three most likely: Killer, Sacsri, Ruin, ZeloT, Beast, Ample, Motive, Scan, Hiya, Hyun, ggaemo, Paralyze, Noel/1127, Rich(didn't play today, might not tomorrow), 815, Calm, Horang2, Sea, ddasik, soso(looked strong today), nOOB(lost to yerim2). I consider Soo and KaL to be lesser players than all of the above in their current shape.
Motive vs hiya & hero vs paralyze Group 1: Hiya vs HerO - Hero won.
Sad group. I wanted to see either Motive or Paralyze go in but HerO is gatekeeper today.
grouo 2: Beast vs Stork, at the cost of ZeloT. - Stork won.
Group 3: Killer vs Ggaemo. - Killer won.
Grouo 4: Ample vs YSC at the cost of Spire and Yoon. Go Ample!
Group 5: Leta vs Shuttle
Group 6: first double upset. Skey over Free. Movie over Mong. Skey vs Movie final which I personally give to Skey. Also BCM beat 815 in this group.
Group 7: Ty beat Artuser. now vs kop in semi. Soo lost to scene in quarter who then lost to Hyun in semi. Likely TY vs Hyun finals which is TY favored.
Group 8: Sacsri over Bishop, Light over Promise, Sacsri vs Light finals. Light favored but Sacsri can win.
group 9: Scan vs Yerim2 top side. Shine lost to Hammer on bottom side. Could be Scan's group to take!
Group 10: nOOB vs ddasik top side. also has Tyson on top side and JyJ on bottom side.
Group 11: Calm Terror top side. Horang2 bottom side.
On March 09 2025 14:08 RJBTVYOUTUBE wrote: group results but in spoilers + Show Spoiler +
Motive vs hiya & hero vs paralyze Group 1: Hiya vs HerO - Hero won.
Sad group. I wanted to see either Motive or Paralyze go in but HerO is gatekeeper today.
grouo 2: Beast vs Stork, at the cost of ZeloT. - Stork won.
Group 3: Killer vs Ggaemo. - Killer won.
Grouo 4: Ample vs YSC at the cost of Spire and Yoon. Go Ample!
Group 5: Leta vs Shuttle
Group 6: first double upset. Skey over Free. Movie over Mong. Skey vs Movie final which I personally give to Skey. Also BCM beat 815 in this group.
Group 7: Ty beat Artuser. now vs kop in semi. Soo lost to scene in quarter who then lost to Hyun in semi. Likely TY vs Hyun finals which is TY favored.
Group 8: Sacsri over Bishop, Light over Promise, Sacsri vs Light finals. Light favored but Sacsri can win.
group 9: Scan vs Yerim2 top side. Shine lost to Hammer on bottom side. Could be Scan's group to take!
Group 10: nOOB vs ddasik top side. also has Tyson on top side and JyJ on bottom side.
Group 11: Calm Terror top side. Horang2 bottom side.
On March 09 2025 21:09 iRkSupperman wrote: JyJ was always subpar in TvP relative to his other matchups. Still strong performance by Tyson.
his pvt is actually pretty damn strong. JyJ got recognition for beating SnOw 2-0 in KSL2 qualifiers. His PvT is still considered strong these days. Put JyJ vs Tyson in 10 3/2 sets and JyJ will win 7 or 8 of them.
On March 09 2025 21:09 iRkSupperman wrote: JyJ was always subpar in TvP relative to his other matchups. Still strong performance by Tyson.
his pvt is actually pretty damn strong. JyJ got recognition for beating SnOw 2-0 in KSL2 qualifiers. His PvT is still considered strong these days. Put JyJ vs Tyson in 10 3/2 sets and JyJ will win 7 or 8 of them.
In KSL 2? in 2018? lol at thinking this is somehow relevant today
On March 09 2025 21:09 iRkSupperman wrote: JyJ was always subpar in TvP relative to his other matchups. Still strong performance by Tyson.
his pvt is actually pretty damn strong. JyJ got recognition for beating SnOw 2-0 in KSL2 qualifiers. His PvT is still considered strong these days. Put JyJ vs Tyson in 10 3/2 sets and JyJ will win 7 or 8 of them.
In KSL 2? in 2018? lol at thinking this is somehow relevant today
It is almost as if you didn't read the rest of my post. Nice.
On March 09 2025 21:50 HOLYBATS wrote: Tyson had good games lately on kcm and proleagues. And jyj was strugling against top tier p. I remember he was eliminated by mini a couple of times.
JyJ last played KCM on march 6 and back on November 28, both instances were vs Zerg, which he both lost. Last few paid games vs toss he went: vs Tyson win vs Free win vs Shuttle win vs Rain(3x) loss loss loss vs Tyson win vs Mini(4x) Loss Loss Loss Loss vs Motive(3x) win win win vs Free (2x) win win vs Mini (2x) win win vs Best Loss vs Snow(2x) Win Loss
Tyson's recent paid games vs terran: vs Shinee loss vs Barracks win vs Flash loss vs Barracks(2x) win loss vs Ssak win <-- KCM vs FLash(3x) win loss win vs Barracks Loss vs Royal(5x) win loss loss loss loss vs JyJ Loss vs Mong Win
No JyJ, TY and Motive. And who the hell is Skey lol, he took out free and Movie without dropping. Calm squeezes himself by defeating Horang2 - poor guy, always victim at the very end, no Sea at least this time lol. Cool to see Scan.
On March 09 2025 22:23 outscar wrote: No JyJ, TY and Motive. And who the hell is Skey lol, he took out free and Movie without dropping. Calm squeezes himself by defeating Horang2 - poor guy, always victim at the very end, no Sea at least this time lol. Cool to see Scan.
Skey been around for a while but couldn't break through. He used to go by Superguy[white]
Skey is not ASL level at all but got lucky because Movie somehow took out Mong (would be interesting if we can see the games) who was clear favorite in that group. Free and Movie are both washed and only doing coaching these days. They just participated because everyone else did. In fact I believe if Free puts some hours in he would beat Skey.
Horang2 is an interesting case. He's still got decent ASL points, thanks to the earlier seasons, that justifies him as a top seed in day 2 and I believe they always used that "loophole" to make a popular streamer group of Horang2, Calm and Sea for some drama. And since he's still in decent shape compared to the other two, they use him to clear one part of the bracket and let him throw the final so Sea or Calm can enter.
On March 10 2025 00:58 TMNT wrote: Skey is not ASL level at all but got lucky because Movie somehow took out Mong (would be interesting if we can see the games) who was clear favorite in that group. Free and Movie are both washed and only doing coaching these days. They just participated because everyone else did. In fact I believe if Free puts some hours in he would beat Skey.
Horang2 is an interesting case. He's still got decent ASL points, thanks to the earlier seasons, that justifies him as a top seed in day 2 and I believe they always used that "loophole" to make a popular streamer group of Horang2, Calm and Sea for some drama. And since he's still in decent shape compared to the other two, they use him to clear one part of the bracket and let him throw the final so Sea or Calm can enter.
While Free does a lot of coaching, it is inaccurate to say he only does coaching these days. Free still plays quite a good number of serious games. Skey is in the same tier of activity as Free, and has shown moments of brilliance so to speak. He has the same no mind game straight forward style free has. Free is just really not able to play the modern style which is much more mind game focused and exact timing attack centric. He is a very straight forward and predictable player. Movie is the bigger surprise because he is legitimately washed up and has absolutely no business taking down Mong. Mong has been playing a lot and looked to be in great form.
Thanks for the Groups! Excited to see how Speed performs this time around. The newcomers all seem to have very hard groups. Only Skey has a slight chance by getting past JD and Stork imho.
lmao they have Eclipse at the map for game 1 and 2 again. Winners and losers matches will be on Death Valley, Metropolis or Polestar (which means it will be on Metropolis or Polestar then). Decider will be on Dominator, Deja Vu or Radeon.
I wonder how 910 decided to have group B like that. It's the first time we see 3 players of the same race in one group? Well I guess whichever group they put Speed in will end up the group of death anyway. Poor Hyun lol.
Grouo A is good for Scan. Historically he is way up on Calm. Shuttle will be difficult and Mini I expect to walk out without much trouble. predict: Mini Scan.
Group B is a worst case scenario for Hyun. RoyaL, Speed Rush are equally strongnin TvT, but they ate all best at TvZ. Hyun is out of luck. Predict: RoyaL Speed.
Group C Is Group for Best and Barracks. But BTS can surprise in TvZ and best either Mind or Barracks. Predict: Best Barracks.
Group D Light but he got tough competition in Killer and Tyson being very active and in their best form currently. Bisu has only been laddering for 3 months now and might be out of shape vs top pros. predict: Light Tyson
Group E Queen and Jaedong. Skey is worst at TvZ and Stork is semi-inactive.
Group F Hero will get out. Ssak is in his best form ever currently and I fully expect him to get out.
On March 12 2025 19:57 TMNT wrote: I wonder how 910 decided to have group B like that. It's the first time we see 3 players of the same race in one group? Well I guess whichever group they put Speed in will end up the group of death anyway. Poor Hyun lol.
It's not the first time with 3 players of the same group. This statement/question made me curious so I looked it up and we had a triple T group in ASL 9 as well as 1, and a triple P group in ASL 5 as well as 3 (2 triple groups!).
On March 12 2025 20:35 maybe wrote: Scan might have a chance.. nice
How does he usually fare against Shuttle? It will be a tough group for him regardless, playing vs Mini first.
On March 12 2025 19:57 TMNT wrote: I wonder how 910 decided to have group B like that. It's the first time we see 3 players of the same race in one group? Well I guess whichever group they put Speed in will end up the group of death anyway. Poor Hyun lol.
It's not the first time with 3 players of the same group. This statement/question made me curious so I looked it up and we had a triple T group in ASL 9 as well as 1, and a triple P group in ASL 5 as well as 3 (2 triple groups!).
On March 12 2025 20:35 maybe wrote: Scan might have a chance.. nice
How does he usually fare against Shuttle? It will be a tough group for him regardless, playing vs Mini first.
There is practically no match history between Scan and Shuttle. Shuttle has to avoid brute force engages that cost him more than it would gain him. He tends to feel a need to attack when maxed, even if the terran army is in a very good sieged position. Shuttle also often fails to read small "tells" correctly or fails to make the correct conclusion based on what he sees. If shuttle can avoid such situations and also avoids losing track of his own units, which he often does and which often costs him said units, then shuttle should win. Overall shuttle does make better strategic concept choices than Scan, but Scan does know how to take advantage of all of Shuttles weaknesses, if shuttle displays them.
another topic. I think they should only include the last 8 ASL seasons for the point tier system. Older than 8 seasons is not very relevant anymore in the present day "power rankings". Also about that. I got to make a new tierlist thread.
If Shuttle plays like he did in qualifier game 2 vs Royal I doubt Scan will have much of a chance tbh. Dude patiently casted like 100 storms in that game. Devastating. Weird that he can play like that but most of the times he can't help himself but A moving the entire army in Terrans position.
Group A: Mini, Shuttle, Calm, Scan Mini always has wildly variable results. I think his PvZ and PvP are more consistent than his PvT. Last time, Scan lost to Mini because Scan expected Mini to build more than 40 probes. I've been watching ASL for 5-6 years. I've only ever seen Mini build more than 45 probes in PvT in ONE game. Scan has the best shot of taking a game off Mini. If he can beat Mini, he can beat Shuttle. But I think Calm might be a little too difficult for him.
Guess: Mini & Calm advance.
Group B: Rush, Royal, Speed, Hyun Rush and Royal have really different playstyles, and when one is doing really well the other flounders. I see Royal as the more creative player, and Rush as the more solid player. Since this map pool is more on the standard side, I think Rush will do well. Speed came out of nowhere and he's really good. Hyun only has to practice one matchup.
Guess: Rush and Speed advance.
Group C: Best, Mind, Barracks, BTS I see Best as a super consistent gatekeeper to the higher levels of the tournaments he's in. I don't think Barracks or BTS have the chops to cut him down. Mind does, though. I've become a really big fan of Mind. He's my second-favorite Terran to watch. I think Barracks could take down Mind on a good day. I don't really know anything about BTS.
Guess: Best and Mind advance.
Group D: Light, Bisu, Killer, Tyson Light is like the Terran version of Best. He doesn't lose in the early rounds but his predictable style makes him vulnerable to the top guys in the late stages. Bisu is my favorite Protoss player. He's strongly favored against Killer and Tyson, but without looking at stats I think he tends to lose to Light. This is just because Bisu likes to play a 200/200 macro push to trade at like 11:00 minutes, and Light is really strong against that sort of play. Last season, Bisu mixed in a proxy robo build and saw success...
Guess: Light and Bisu advance.
Group E: Queen, JD, Stork, Skey Queen is my favorite zerg to watch. He's creative, and has the mechanics to back it up. JD and Stork are similar levels, but since Stork doesn't like to build more than 2 bases in any of his matchups, he's pretty deadly in PvZ, but goes 2-base carrier in 80+% of his games against T. I think JD is better v T than Stork is, but I think JD is worse v P than Storks is v Z.
Guess: Queen and Stork advance.
Group F: Hero, Action, Ssak, Tulbo I have a deep resentment against Hero because he always knocks out Bisu. He's a lot less unstoppable against T. Ssak could beat him on a good day. Action is a gatekeeper like Best and Light. I don't know anything about Tulbo.
On March 13 2025 00:41 TMNT wrote: If Shuttle plays like he did in qualifier game 2 vs Royal I doubt Scan will have much of a chance tbh. Dude patiently casted like 100 storms in that game. Devastating. Weird that he can play like that but most of the times he can't help himself but A moving the entire army in Terrans position.
He's just another one. Bisu and Rain are my personal top2 who a-click, lose & retry again.
Watch Movie vs Skey game1 in the qualifiers day2 if you haven't. Even when its Movie, it hurts.
Sad I won't be getting to see Bisu, Jaedong, and Stork, as I'll only be in Korea for the first 3 groups, but I'll at least get to see Scan and plenty of other great pros.
On March 13 2025 13:04 Emnjay808 wrote: Is there a fantasy league or something of the sort for ASL? I remember something of the sort i think, on TL? maybe that was only for dota
On March 13 2025 19:35 Zografa wrote: isnt this the best possible group for JD lol... he has ZvZ vs Zero, ZvP vs Stork and ZvT vs the weakest TvZ player?
yup. definitely a good group for Jaedong. Queen is about as good at ZvZ as Jaedong is these days but they are both clear favoritws.
Oh s! here we go again! ;-) A) Mini is nowdays really questionable online, but then ASL happens and he simply delivers. So he is my first pick to go and then I would guess... From those remaining three, I would pick Shuttle. He is very active recently and got into solid shape. B) Rush seems to be really solid TvT form and motivated to possibly take down RoyaL (as he mostly did until ASL finals happened). Speed is really active and in amazing form, so he is my second pick to go. C) Mind is sure pick for me, he will be ready. And next.. Barracks in his current form. Knowing Best and his play for many years, I simply cannot ever bet on him, especially in bo1 against zerg. D) Light and Bisu, no drama expected. E) Queen is in fantastic form and JD plays recently a lot and really good so I would pick those two. But Stork can also surprice since he is Stork. Skey will be collecting some experiences to possibly return next time. F) Hero is super high tier player and will deliver again, Action is returning to reasonable form but at this point I would suspect sSak to be the second one. Tulbo's is becomming really solid player, but that group still seems a bit above his level. GL HF!
They're moving back to the freecup studio from the vita500 coliseum in previous seasons. Gonna get cramped there so for those heading to Seoul for ASL, best reserve tickets in advance, especially for matches involving popular pros.
This is a bit worrying, seeing that ASL once moved to the coliseum because crowd sizes during ASL can get big back then. Then again the vita500 coliseum had days wherein the large hall was barely 1/3rd full during recent SSL/ASL tournaments, so I guess the move is justified.
They're moving back to the freecup studio from the vita500 coliseum in previous seasons. Gonna get cramped there so for those heading to Seoul for ASL, best reserve tickets in advance, especially for matches involving popular pros.
This is a bit worrying, seeing that ASL once moved to the coliseum because crowd sizes during ASL can get big back then. Then again the vita500 coliseum had days wherein the large hall was barely 1/3rd full during recent SSL/ASL tournaments, so I guess the move is justified.
Seing that big place being maybe about 1/3 full felt honestly really sad. I think it is a good decision. I always liked the vibe of freecup, will make better atmosphere for the games.
They're moving back to the freecup studio from the vita500 coliseum in previous seasons. Gonna get cramped there so for those heading to Seoul for ASL, best reserve tickets in advance, especially for matches involving popular pros.
This is a bit worrying, seeing that ASL once moved to the coliseum because crowd sizes during ASL can get big back then. Then again the vita500 coliseum had days wherein the large hall was barely 1/3rd full during recent SSL/ASL tournaments, so I guess the move is justified.
I was in the crowd when I was in Korea last year for two of the Ro24 groups (Snow's group and Rain/Barracks's group) and it was pretty empty, like 1/4th capacity probably. It was easy to get tickets up close, but I can see why they might move it for Ro24. All we can really hope for is to give them a reason to have bigger venues by going IRL 😁
On March 18 2025 01:52 M3t4PhYzX wrote: Do we know the potential possible map picks for winners, losers and decider games for round of 24 groups?
Eclipse is the first map. Winners/Losers I believe will be 1 map selected by the players out of Death Valley, Pole Star, and Metropolis... (don't confirm me on that) with each player getting 1 veto (so likely just Pole Star), then the final map will be Dominator, Deja Vu, Radeon, again, 1 veto each. I THINK this is how it'll go.
On March 18 2025 01:52 M3t4PhYzX wrote: Do we know the potential possible map picks for winners, losers and decider games for round of 24 groups?
Eclipse is the first map. Winners/Losers I believe will be 1 map selected by the players out of Death Valley, Pole Star, and Metropolis... (don't confirm me on that) with each player getting 1 veto (so likely just Pole Star), then the final map will be Dominator, Deja Vu, Radeon, again, 1 veto each. I THINK this is how it'll go.
Jesus Christ Group A is popular. Sold out in seconds, so I won't be able to say hi to Scan that day unless there's standing room, which I don't know if there will be at FreecUP Studio. At least I got Group B and Group C.
EPT
SOOP/StarCraft League/2025/SPRING
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