EPT
UPDATE: you can follow the tournament as it progresses here
You ask, we deliver - that's always been our motto here at Team Liquid, and we're back this May to keep a promise. A little over a month ago, the first ever Team Liquid SC2 Invitational was played off on the European server, with WhiteRa emerging as Champion and TheLittleOne securing second place. With some of the most exciting SC2 games to date, the tournament was awesome to watch, and as we step into the second leg of our Beta TLIs, we're hoping that the US Edition will be nothing short of spectacular as well.
Here's when and how it's going to go down!
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/funkie/summaryinfo.png)
Saturday, May 08 6:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/funkie/participants.png)
Yeah, you can stop gawking now.
It's full of stars, right? Well, TL sat down with one of the brightest to see what he has to say about Saturday. Below, Brood talks to our resident TSL Champion about SC2, the TLI, and what his goals are for the tournament.
Nony Talks
By Brood
TL: How are you feeling about the upcoming TLI?
NonY: I think it will be fun. I don't feel very competitive about it because I have limited practice time.
TL: Do you feel like you have a strong sense of the strengths, weaknesses or game style of the gamers in this tournament?
NonY: I don't know much about the SC2 styles of these players. I have not been watching all the SC2 events going on.
TL: In BW, you were renowned for your clean builds and efficient execution. How much of that description applies to your play style now, in SC2beta?
NonY: When I'm well rested, I think my execution is among the best in the world right now. Unfortunately, it's been rare for me to be well rested lately. I think I have cleaner builds than other people but I still hesitate to call them clean. There was just way too much knowledge and experience behind my builds in BW and I'm not anywhere near that point in SC2.
TL: Which map or maps do you feel the most comfortable on?
NonY: I like Metalopolis and Lost Temple but I think that might be common, especially among BW players. They don't have backdoors and they have many expansions.
TL: Is there a match-up that you feel is stronger than the others for you right now?
NonY: I feel good about PvZ. From the start of SC2 I have been thinking "I don't want to be awesome at PvZ and bad at PvT like I was in BW" because I'd rather have balanced matchups. But I can't help it. I love killing Zerg. PvP is probably my weakest right now just because I'm having trouble coming up with solid builds on many maps. Against good players, I have yet to overcome the rock-paper-scissors dynamic like I did in BW PvP. But of course I feel that's entirely my fault, not some flaw in the game.
TL: Where do you feel you fall in regards to the rankings of American players before this tournament? How dependant would your personal rankings be on race?
NonY: I think I rank pretty well. Not as well as I did in BW but I am getting there. I don't think about race at all -- only how well they are playing.
Of course, Nony wont be getting a PvZ straight off. He'll start the day by facing qxc in a TvP. How do we know? The bracket, of course. Courtesy of random.org, we bring you the battle lines.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/funkie/bracket_sc2_league.png)
Look at that bracket and tell us you're not expecting great games. We certainly are!
From big names like Nony, Artosis, Tasteless and Day[9] to Team EG representing en masse in the form of Incontrol, Inka, Machine, Lzgamer and Louder, this TLI is littered with well known Starcraft: Broodwar personalities. We've got a few WCG US winners and even a TSL champion thrown in here, and if these guys don't give us some games to remember, no one will. What's more, all of these players know each other very well, and the matches that unfold are sure to display this in style.
The rest of the pack includes TL favourites like Orb, a Protoss who is know for his great manner and awesome sentry usage and Cauthonluck, a player who, apart from being famous for his 11Port build against Idra in MLG, is regarded as one of the best Terrans on US at the moment.
Speaking of Idra, the top American Zerg declined our invitation to play in this TLI and will be sitting this one out. Of course, this doesn't mean that there will a shortage of the swarm in the tournament. Among other Zergs, Slush, an old school BW player is back after a lengthy RTS hiatus in which he played Counter-Strike. Along with PainUser, Attero, Huk and qxc, he fills out the rest of the bracket, and completes the sixteen who will battle it out this weekend!
The Liquipedia team has been hard at work and compiled some information on all the players involved in this tournament. To brush up on your player knowledge checkout the foreign players page.
With a healthy dose of Terran, Protoss, Zerg and Random, we think this bracket is going to give us some great Starcraft, and we hope you'll join us this weekend as this event is casted live by TL's own Chill. Be there, or risk welling up with envy as you hear over and over just how fantastic it was to see this go down. See you Saturday, TL!
UPDATE!:
djWheat and Chill will be casting this event on wheat's ustream. Day9 will be joining them between games to give insight in the event that he is eliminated.
This post was made by the Team Liquid Starcraft 2 Coverage Team. For more of TL's coverage, please visit the Team Liquid Starcraft 2 Beta Page.
