[Polls/Live] TL Arena V

       11:00PM PST, Saturday 30th Jan.
       2:00AM EST, Sunday 31st Jan.
       8:00AM CET, Sunday 31st Jan.
       4:00PM KST, Sunday 31st Jan.
       6:00PM AEST, Sunday 31st Jan.

You seem to be playing more often recently - is there a reason for this increased activity? -deL

I hadn't played in a long time, and i came back to play in TSL. Then the Aus SOO event was on, and QLD (Queensland, the state Peter lives in here -deL) weren't doing so well, so i had to help out my fellow Queenslanders! Beyond that i don't intend to become active again, maybe just play a game here and there for fun. -Leg

Do you expect it to continue or are you still playing just off the excitement of the TSL? -deL

Probably die off. Pending sc2. -Leg

How do you predict you will do in this event? How many wins will you get? -deL

I expect a perfect record up until they take my shuttles away from me. I have no idea, its the luck of the draw which disadvantage i get taken away early, and vs which race i then come up against.
Later matches will probably be very challenging. -Leg

Are there any handicaps that stand out for you as being very difficult or interesting? -deL

Each individually seems fine, theres always other builds that you can do to overcome the disadvantage. But with the compounding of handicaps, thats when it becomes tough. For example, no zealots and no carriers isn't so bad. But no zealots and double upgrade buildings (or no goon range)? Now that becomes tough. -Leg

Are there any D to C players you are really hoping sign up so that you can play against them? Who and why? -deL

Not really. Maybe those who didn't play in TSL or other events, as it might get them more involved in the sc community. I'm happy playing anyone, regardless of skill. -Leg

Who would you really like to see participate in TL-Arena after you? -deL

Lim Yo Hwan. -Leg

Pholon is the mastermind behind the TL Arena idea, and has played a large part in all TL Arena events to date.

This is the 5th (hopefully) successful TeamLiquid Arena that you are going to be a part of - what were your expectations for TL Arena and how have they been fulfilled? -deL

When Leperkahn (shoutout!) and I first started out we were kind of tentative about approaching one of these top-notch players and not fucking up. I owe massive thanks to Shauni for putting up with us, I owe him a lot. Although some things went wrong, we got a huge amount of positive feedback. From there on I just saw what else I could do – I don’t have many expectations. -Pholon

What are the future plans for TL Arena - continuation of the series or will you move on to other ideas? Any sneak peeks for us? -deL

After that first one it was pretty easy sailing and we actually have people lining up now. It's amazing how many great players are participating. So as far as future plans go I just want to keep improving and going. I do have some ambitious ideas, but we’ll see. -Pholon

What do you know about Legionnaire? How will he fare in comparison to the previous players? -deL

I’m still letting the fact that Leg is gonna be on sink in. His era was before my time (unfortunately) but I am aware of what he did and I’m really really excited he’ll be playing. As for how he’ll do I feel some handicaps are a bit timid so he should get pretty far. I hope he’ll get taken down in game 6 or 7 though :D -Pholon

[AU][T] Sotanath will be the first player to face Legionnaire in this event.

Some people might recognise your name from being one of the players to face NaDa in Sydney - how did you get so lucky? Will this experience help you? -deL

Turning up does wonders for your chances; all the capable Sydney players had holiday/work commitments so I got a lucky break. The experience was great but only furthers the intimidation factor of playing an ex-progamer like Leg. -Sotanath

How confident are you on Tau Cross, and do you have any special builds planned or any handicaps that you would especially find useful? -deL

I’m going to have to go into the archives and find a better/cheesier way to play this map because my past record against D+/C- tosses has been pretty miserable. I’m really hoping for “For Aiur” as that could be both crippling and humorous. -Sotanath

You're playing arguably the gretest and most well-known Australian player - are you a bit star struck or is he just another opponent? -deL

I’m really looking forward to it but will treat him like any other protoss and hope for the best. -Sotanath

How many beers will you buy Del when he gets back to Sydney after you got into this event? -deL

Well that makes it the 2nd event in which I’ve got to play a progamer all thanks to Del so I’ll be sure to shout him a middy. -Sotanath

[CA][P] Grobyc is a Protoss reserve player and maker of the map Efreet

Your map is leading in the polls - can you give the public more reason to keep supporting it for use in the event? -deL

I'm glad to see that ^^. The poll was up before I updated it and made some changes to increase balance and playability, so I'm hoping it will become even more popular now. Please keep voting! -Grobyc

What kind of play or strategies did you expect to be utilised when you designed the map? Can you give players on it any tips? -deL

Initially, when I designed it I had intended on a focus around standard play, but with opportunities to take risks and maintain an economic lead over your opponent. This can be noticed by destructible buildings and by having multiple choices for a third expansion for example. Since Leg will have handicaps, I can see him trying to take risks here to keep a lead, so keep that in mind. -Grobyc

If you get the chance to play, do you have any special tactics planned and what handicap would you want? -deL

Cheesing has never been my thing, so I plan on playing rather straight up regardless, but I will definitely try to capitalize on his handicaps. I think it would be fun to see how he improvises with No Overlay, Power Outage, and/or for Auir!. -Grobyc

[NZ][Z] stroggos may face Leg on Outsider

You're the only New Zealand player to sign up despite the convenient time and fellow Oceanic player - what is the state of SC in NZ at the moment? -deL

Well, i havn't actually been in the starcraft community for as long as most of the other players. So it would be hard for me to compare the nz starcraft community to what it used to be like. We have a strong but small community, as New Zealand has a starcraft website: starcraft.co.nz. And in my city Christchurch we have starcraft RL meetups, where we watch dissapointing msl finals and cheese each other on bgh. -stroggos

Are you a Legionnaire fan for the Oceania area he represents or an anti-fan because he is Australian? -deL

Legionnaire ftw. Even though hes an Australian, and Australians are dirty criminals like the Terrans, legionnaire is representing something that is unique, not many progamers come out of a southern hemisphere country. Also he can lift the weights. -stroggos

If you play, do you have any ideas on how you will approach your game? Any handicap that you would like to play against? -deL

I'm pretty much praying for no zealots or give vision. protoss with no zealots is just fail against zerg, unless of course he does something gay like mass DT's or mass cannons on outsider then push out. i have some build orders prepared for that. Give vision is great as well, i could take shortcuts on my build orders, know when to do a ling runby..stuff like that. -stroggos

Realistically, how far do you think the 'hero' will get in terms of games won? -deL

I think he will win most of his games, I actually don't think the handicaps will matter too much when he can still outmicro everyone. Everyone who has a game against him really needs to take advantage of the handicap to beat him. and leg needs to prepare for how someone could take advantage of his penalty. -stroggos

It seemed from your application that you are a Leg fan - can you elaborate? -deL

No. Barely know the dude as i'm a fairly new player in the scene. Started playing after the Razer-TSL so I don't know that much about players before that time. Though hes a Protoss player the only race I have respect for. Terrans and Zergs are just to fucking imbalanced ^^. -Ziph

If you get the chance to play, do you have any builds or strategies planned out? What handicap would you most like to be up against? -deL

If i get the chance to play? Didn't I get picked already. Anyway I hope that by the time I have to play he has -no Obs- which i think is the hardest handicap for PvP. What the fuck are you gonna do against DT's without observers. and if I survive any kind of gay cheese I'm pretty sure I could win. -Ziph

What can viewers expect from your game - will you try to put on a show, try to be competitive, or just try to stay alive? -deL

Well i'm a super standard player kinda like Idra, this doesn't mean i won't cheese or anything though. It all depends on what handicaps he gets. Of course i'm going to to be competitive and try to win. I don't really know how good he really is, never seen him play but think it would be a fairly decent game atleast. -Ziph

[GB][Z] LinXe is the highest ranked competitor to be taking on Leg

As the highest ranked player for the 'fodder' you are under some pressure to finish it - do you think Leg will go all the way if you lose? -deL

Looking at the competitors, Legionnaire has got to go against quite a difficult group of people with a lot of C- players to attempt to beat. If he were to beat me he would then face the 2 lowest ranked opponents so I suspect he might come out 8-0 in that scenario. That said I fully intend to swarm my way to victory ^^ -LinXe

Leg will have 6 handicaps by the time he reaches you - what would be your ideal set of handicaps and do you have any particular strategies planned? -deL

Power Outage, For Auir, No Zealots, No Goon Range, Give Vision, Double Tech.

This would be, at a brief glance, 6 handicaps that I think would be insurmountable. Having any two of those as handicaps would be great (for me!)
I don’t have any strategies prepared as I suspect it would be better to improve it based on the handicaps. I have however been constantly practicing my 5pool for the last 3 years on the offchance I would face Legionnaire in a SC Community event so that’s a consideration. -LinXe


If the infamous Europe-Australia latency is present who do you think it will favour? How do you expect to perform with some lag? -deL

Never actually heard that Euro-Australia was renowned for lag, hopefully there will be none as I personally find lag extremely frustrating, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. I don’t think lag would favor anyone, and lag or no lag I will be trying my hardest to win! -LinXe

Terran (3)

1m1s)narcotics [D] @ TL Submission
infinity21 [C-] @ Eye of the Storm
Sotanath [C-] @ Tau Cross

Zerg (3)

stroggos [C-] @ Outsider
Mystlord [C-] @ Judgment Day
LinXe [C] @ Match Point

Protoss (2)

TSL-kOre [D+] @ Heartbreak Ridge
mG.Ziph [C-] @ Fighting Spirit

Terran (2)

#1 Brontosaurex [D+]
#2 OakHill [C-]

Zerg (2)

#1 Undeadhunter [D]
#2 peanutter [C-]

Protoss (2)

#1 mG.Grobyc [C]
#2 TSL.XsebT [C-]

DMZ
From Liquipedia: A 2v2 map, DMZ was quickly retired from competition because SCV-rushing the other team's Zerg player was nearly impossible to counter.
The corridors are covers with Disruption Webs. This is definitely something else.
+ Show Spoiler [image] +
River of Flames
Pretty old map that was last used in 2003. Swastika-shaped, ridiculously far natural and 4 island expansion. Very plain overall.
+ Show Spoiler [image] +
Battle Royal
Notorious ZvZ map with 37 games played in that match-up. Has quite a few gimmicky neutral Assimilators and buildings around.
+ Show Spoiler [image] +
Efreet
Desert map made by Grobyc. Topic here: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=110944
+ Show Spoiler [image] +

No Minimap
by Pholon

The hero must cover up their minimap with a post-it note or similar.

Kill Initial Probe
by RoSe.

The hero starts the game with 3 probes after killing the fourth as the game starts.

No Forge Upgrades
by Pholon

No ground weapons, ground armour or plasma shield upgrades.

No Overlay
by iCCup.deL

Cover up the overlay on the screen that shows minerals, vespene gas and supply count.

Power Outage
by Nao

As soon as a pylon finishes warping, get a probe to start attacking it.

For Aiur!
by pyrogenix

Everytime a probe warps in a building, dreams of the homeland force it to charge the enemy - sacrificing itself.

The Thunder from Down Under
by iCCup.deL

High Templar are the only templar allowed to be made, and they may not be warped into archons.

From TL's own Liquidpedia
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Pholon/TLArena/Overview

The TeamLiquid Arena event (or TL-Arena for short) was based on a minigame found in the Gold Saucer, a casino slash entertainment park in the game Final Fantasy 7. Said minigame, called the Arena, would require you to pick one of your characters and fight off 8 monsters. After every victory a slot machine would determine a handicap for the player (e.g. broken weapon, no magic etc). These handicaps would stack, making your character weaker and weaker as he progresses. It required you to defeat all the monsters to win the game.

TeamLiquid Arena invites a prominent player from the StarCraft scene and pitches this player versus several players of a much lower level. After every win, a handicap, picked randomly from a predetermined pool, is assigned to this player and stacks with any previously begotten handicaps. The events are broadcasted and commented live.