Two weeks ago, we announced that TeamSpeak was sponsoring the TL SC2 Open Series again. The first series was a great success and produced some awesome games and provided the backbone for our TSL3 Qualifiers. You may recognize some of the past winners: Dignitas.Select, ROOT.Drewbie, Empire.Nerchio, Empire.Kas, mouz.Thorzain, Tt.White-Ra, and many others. Previous TL Open VODs can be found here.
Two weeks ago, TL Open #16 was won by HwangSin, a progamer from team MVP. Last week, the ZeNEX entered most of their team, and placed three out of the top 4 spots, with IceCream taking the final over Hack. Check out VODs and replays from that tournament here.
This week, more Koreans have registered early, you might recognize a few of them!
TeamSpeak has also provided us with an official TL TeamSpeak 3 server which has been running since November 2010. You'll see many TL users hanging out there at all hours of the day, and our staff use it as a place to play team games, watch movies, and interact with the TL community. Check it out!
TeamSpeak TL SC2 #18 Tournament Details
From now on, all TL SC2 Opens will take place on the NA server. We previous stated that we'd alternate servers, but we feel that several factors favor holding it on NA. First, we like consistency, and players wondering each week whether the server is NA or EU (and wondering what time the tournament starts) is not good for the tournament. Second, with the added interest from the Korean server, we want to allow all players an opportunity to play (EU-KR is impossible due to lag). Lastly, and probably most importantly, we receive a lot more signups when we hold the tournament on NA, possibly due to the already large number of weekly tournaments held on EU. In addition, it seems that when we hold it on EU there are a large number of players playing two tournaments or having conflicting commitments. We apologize to our EU members who want to play in a TL Open, but we hope you guys understand our decision.
This tournament will have a prize pool of $200. Players who place high in these 12 tournaments will earn points and be invited to a single day invite tournament with $1,000 in prize money.
Registration for the tournament will open Thursday, Jun 30 10:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00). Tournament begins on Saturday, Jul 02 4:15pm GMT (GMT+00:00). View details and register here.
Professional players can PM Hot_Bid for early registration. Please include Bnet NA id, code#, race, and country.
For those that haven't participated in a TL Open before, it's a great opportunity to play in a well-run event broadcast by some great commentators. If you'd like to help cast the earlier rounds of a TL Open, feel free to apply here.
This TL Open will be cast by Mr.Bitter and Liquid`TLO.
About our Sponsor
The TeamLiquid SC2 Open is proudly sponsored by TeamSpeak Systems GmbH, developers of popular TeamSpeak voice chat software for online gamers and now, with their latest TeamSpeak 3 SDK product, virtual worlds and integrated solutions. TeamSpeak enables groups of people to speak with one another over the Internet using their Windows, Mac, or Linux based computer, much like a telephone conference call. Android and iPhone support are also expected to be released in Q3 of 2011. A TeamSpeak user will typically wear a headset with an integrated microphone and connect to his guild or clan's TeamSpeak server to chat with fellow team mates, discuss strategy in real-time, or facilitate online events.
TeamSpeak 3 features include: in-game overlay for DirectX and OpenGL games, simplified permissions system with advanced user toggle, firewall friendly file transfer, BBCode enabled info panes, voice encryption toggle on a per-channel basis, global public web server list, tabbed multi-server connectivity, tabbed text chatting with logging, user avatars, friends lists, offline messaging, and a fully customizable client UI supporting skins, sound packs, and plugins. TeamSpeak is FREE to use for non-commercial entities.
If you are interested in sponsoring a TeamLiquid SC2 Open or one of our other events, please see our advertising / sponsorship page.
Wow, very disappointed they will all be NA from now on.
Edit: To clarify there are already a lot more EU weekly tournaments than NA, and I can definitely see where this move is coming from, still makes me sad though
I dont understand this at all. Why arent these opens being help on EU and NA alternatively? All the past Opens since they started again have been on the NA server. What are people from EU gonna do??
On June 29 2011 15:51 Vequeth wrote: Wow, very disappointed they will all be NA from now on.
this, as a bad casual player I was kind of looking forward to playing one of these and hoping to get raped by a big name player at some point. just seems to be made to cater towards koreans at the expense of everyone else
On June 29 2011 16:01 ValM wrote: I dont understand this at all. Why arent these opens being help on EU and NA alternatively? All the past Opens since they started again have been on the NA server. What are people from EU gonna do??
they answered the question of why pretty conclusively in the OP dude
i guess i have to look at other cups for my grand entry into the proscene /jk
the involvement of the european servers was a nice touch, but if whole korean teams want to show their strength here, then the TLopen is now bigger than before, not really in prizemoney, but in prestige!
How long until koreans figure out we're paying them $100 every week for korean replays and start offracing between themselves in top8 and doing stupid shit?
The adaptation to a fully NA TLOpen series is understandable when looking at the reasons mentioned by Hot_Bid. But I really hope it won't deter the top European players from participating or result in a weekly Korean top X. If it becomes clear these two factors are the case TL should evaluate their position. Perhaps nothing will change / needs to change after the evaluation but it's always a good thing after a change like this to look back to see if the change had the desired effect or if it needs to be tweeked.
wow, TLO and bitter gona have such a good time... I wonder if DongRaeGu will sign up? he is not in code A so playing a few games on saturday wont hurt right?
Maybe we should start calling them by the Korean Team that registers instead of by a number. Team Speak Open Zenex, Team Speak Open Prime, Team Speak Open.....
On June 29 2011 20:09 Zephirdd wrote: As long as you have a NA acc, you can enter. Also, there was a EU tournament last week.
Of course, but not everybody can afford a second account in NA. Also, imagine the costs pilling up when HoTS comes out, and then LotV. (Last week's TL Open was in NA too)
I think it's quite a bad decision to finish with the TL Opens in EU.
Well I was reading the first lines recapping about the last TL Opens like "uh ok ...ok ....ok" and then I clicked the View registered players, I was like "HOLY SHIT".
really, really sad and disappointed that the TL Open wont be held on the EU server again. the only reason i can agree to is the lag issue for koreans but do you have theese tournaments for the TL community or for some korean players so they can take all the top spots? yeah it's good to break the barrier between korea and the world but once every two weeks should be enough and i don't think this is the way to break down the barrier as this is not korean practise for the NA players, only a BO1 where they (probably) will be owned. this was also the tournament i allways really looked forward too since it was mostly only TL players, felt like playing vs friends and famous friendly players.
This seriously sucks. I've been keen to play in a TLOpen again for ages but now never will. Didn't think TL would ever just exclude all of us . Hopefully this doesn't mean times are changing
On June 29 2011 22:00 rexob wrote: really, really sad and disappointed that the TL Open wont be held on the EU server again. the only reason i can agree to is the lag issue for koreans but do you have theese tournaments for the TL community or for some korean players so they can take all the top spots? yeah it's good to break the barrier between korea and the world but once every two weeks should be enough and i don't think this is the way to break down the barrier as this is not korean practise for the NA players, only a BO1 where they (probably) will be owned. this was also the tournament i allways really looked forward too since it was mostly only TL players, felt like playing vs friends and famous friendly players.
Well you missed probably the most important point made that there's 4315465264 times more weekly or daily tournaments in EU than in NA. TL does it for the ESPORTS.
TL bending over for the koreans. this was the tourney where everyone could try to have a shot at accomplishing something in sc2, now eu players get dump so TL can get more attention from koreans, silly and sad move from "our" community sc site
On June 29 2011 22:07 mikyaJ wrote: Well you missed probably the most important point made that there's 4315465264 times more weekly or daily tournaments in EU than in NA. TL does it for the ESPORTS.
So, what happens ? There are no Europeans in TL Open, and all Americans get killed by Koreans. Seems interesting indeed.
"For eSports" - you removed Europeans from TL open, 3-5 NA players that can take on KR arent playing this kind of tournament and rest will get destroyed by Koreans like we saw in previous TL open, 7 signed and 6 were in top 8?
Seems good, but hey at least more people sign in NA than EU
So, I'm really bad and I know it, but still I was hoping to compete in a TL open in a month or so, just for funsies... Guess that's never happening now
On June 29 2011 22:58 Beastyqt wrote: "For eSports" - you removed Europeans from TL open, 3-5 NA players that can take on KR arent playing this kind of tournament and rest will get destroyed by Koreans like we saw in previous TL open, 7 signed and 6 were in top 8?
Seems good, but hey at least more people sign in NA than EU
Looking forward watching weaker version of GSL.
Exactly what I was thinking, I completly understand Hot_Bid arguments, but what's the point in the end if the koreans don't have any kind of competition......
TL turned their back to the majority of EU scene just to cater 5 koreans? TLopen used to be a good tournament to get your name to the "public knowledge" now its just a another tournament for koreans to stomp on.
I don't know why people think that TL are excluding europeans. Just because it takes places on the NA server doesn't mean european players are not allowed to participate. Their reasoning is sound, if they want a tournament that can be played from NA, EU and KOR, then it has to be on the NA server.
On June 29 2011 23:55 JustPassingBy wrote: I don't know why people think that TL are excluding europeans. Just because it takes places on the NA server doesn't mean european players are not allowed to participate. Their reasoning is sound, if they want a tournament that can be played from NA, EU and KOR, then it has to be on the NA server.
Since TLOpens aren't just for pros it is excluding most Euros. Not many people outside of pros have accounts on both EU and US. I guess they are targeting NA and pro Euros/KR now instead of everyone. I guess that's up to them, it's their cup and their reasoning is legit at least from that perspective. It's just saddening for many of us that were keen to compete.
Too bad I hate him now, or I would have been very excited. Perhaps he wanted to hide his best builds and use them in the TLOpen, everything is making sense now TT. I want to buy a NA account just to register, face MKP and ask him wtf he was thinking today.
Anyway, no problem with the NA server. Your arguments are making perfect sense, and it's very cool that now foreigners have a weekly tournament where they can compete (and steal builds from :p) with Koreans. If some non pro Euros want to play in this, I think you could find someone on TL to exchange your account with for a day (or buy a NA key if you can)
Lets not be delusional and single out the koreans. The euorpeans scene is better than the american scene but nobody eants to ban nordic, or eastern european players from tlopen. And its not like they are short on tourneys to play. Look at past tlopens where euros fuck up the schedule by playing 2 tournaments at once. At least we know the koreans show up on time and literally have nothing else to play for.
All-korean ro8 would not be suprising at all. Also, I guess the TL-staff is responsible for all these Korean signups? It's not like they all of a sudden started to browse TL regularly, I guess. ;p
Anyways, hoping for some nice games and some Europeans to join in as well!
WOW! It is great that I will be able to participate in all of them, and it is also great that there are so many huge Koreans!!! MKP, Polt! OMG!!! they own! I am really looking forward to them!
On June 30 2011 00:38 Quakie wrote: All-korean ro8 would not be suprising at all. Also, I guess the TL-staff is responsible for all these Korean signups? It's not like they all of a sudden started to browse TL regularly, I guess. ;p
Anyways, hoping for some nice games and some Europeans to join in as well!
They could be browsing TL all of a sudden because of HuK and Jinro!
On June 29 2011 20:24 TheWoodLeagueAllstar wrote: well given that koreans cant really do the eu tournaments i think its fair enough to go NA NA EU NA NA EU
That being said i hope its that split and not NA NA NA NA EU NA NA NA NA EU
A bit disappointed in the the TL Open moving exclusively to NA server from now on. If there's less interest on EU, it would've been nice with it just being once a month or something instead. But oh well.
GL to the foreigners participating this weekend, might get some awesome matches.
On June 30 2011 03:36 SolitudeSC wrote: How long does is this tournament? A week? A month? How many days will it take to get through all rounds, or do we know?
Usually, it lasts half a day from what I witnessed from previous TL Opens.
On June 29 2011 22:00 rexob wrote: really, really sad and disappointed that the TL Open wont be held on the EU server again. the only reason i can agree to is the lag issue for koreans but do you have theese tournaments for the TL community or for some korean players so they can take all the top spots? yeah it's good to break the barrier between korea and the world but once every two weeks should be enough and i don't think this is the way to break down the barrier as this is not korean practise for the NA players, only a BO1 where they (probably) will be owned. this was also the tournament i allways really looked forward too since it was mostly only TL players, felt like playing vs friends and famous friendly players.
Well you missed probably the most important point made that there's 4315465264 times more weekly or daily tournaments in EU than in NA. TL does it for the ESPORTS.
no... you missed my point. I know there is a million tournaments on the EU server in which only participate in ocasionally since i know i'm not gonna win. but i allways participated in TL opens since it was much more fun because of the people, the community participating and the chance to play vs some famous player, not because it was a simple tournament but because it was a tournament hosted by the community we all know and love and therefore equally nice people participated. you had something in common and partially fought for the same thing.
Probably gonna get some flak, but why are more or less hosting these for the koreans? I thought these opens were a good way for up and coming western players to get recognized and picked up by a team. Its bad enough a lot of these western tournaments are all based on invites...
There are a lot more tournaments in EU than in NA. And most players from EU have conflicting schedules anyway. Why cant you understand their decision? If you really dont wamt to play in NA server, then you can try to join local EU tourneys and stop QQing that TL discontinues their EU opens.
I'm happy that all these Koreans are playing, but I honestly don't understand why. If there are no other Koreans (or the couple foreigners at their level) signed up, then of course it makes sense for some Koreans who aren't in GSL and don't have much else to practice for at the moment to play. But equilibrium should be something like 3 or 4 of them... Once it's more than that, you aren't guaranteed much money, and you have to play a lot of bad players, so it's not super-efficient practice. Maybe it helps build an international fan base, but I can't imagine adding a TL Open to your resume really matters once you have some GS(T)L results to point to. I guess the $1k tournament helps a little, but still, I'm surprised.
very disappointing that its becoming NA only, i would understand favoring NA over EU as in 1/3 being played on eu and 2/3 on na or some similar ratio, but moving away completely from EU is disappointing to say the least.
i have to say i really like whats happening in the tl opens. There are only a handful of korean progamers that we can watch in code a and s, and some more in GSTL, however the currently less known players also seek exposure, and a weekly tournament hosted by the biggest community sc2 website is a great place to do so. For me, like the guy above said, prefer high level games over nerchio or whitera stomping noobs till round of 8 any day
Hah, next week they'll announce they'll host these cups on KR server as europeans aren't participating in NA very much, americans that can compete don't, others just get rolled and it's just koreans competing each other with delays.
Might be interesting, though, to see if you could host it on KR server. As they don't have many weekly small tournaments and they seem to be willing to play in them.
On July 01 2011 00:06 Longshank wrote: Will future TLOpens be used as qualification for TSL4? If so, it blows for EU players to be at a permanent disadvantage when trying to get into TSL4.
And will TSL4 favor NA players aswell? It makes little sense to favor one group in the qualifications but not in the main tournament.
you qualify for a 1000$ tournament iirc, so it's not that big of a deal
On July 01 2011 00:06 Longshank wrote: Will future TLOpens be used as qualification for TSL4? If so, it blows for EU players to be at a permanent disadvantage when trying to get into TSL4.
And will TSL4 favor NA players aswell? It makes little sense to favor one group in the qualifications but not in the main tournament.
No, if and when we have TSL4 the qualifiers will not all be held on NA.
On July 01 2011 00:06 Longshank wrote: Will future TLOpens be used as qualification for TSL4? If so, it blows for EU players to be at a permanent disadvantage when trying to get into TSL4.
And will TSL4 favor NA players aswell? It makes little sense to favor one group in the qualifications but not in the main tournament.
No, if and when we have TSL4 the qualifiers will not all be held on NA.
So that means that EU can expect the TL Open to return to EU every other week when the TSL4 qualifiers begin?
I feel due to face a korean in first round this time. I always face top 200 players and sice ,GM only GM players in the first round and always lose pretty badly. I'm pretty sure I'll face Polt or MKP this time.
From now on, all TL SC2 Opens will take place on the NA server. We previous stated that we'd alternate servers, but we feel that several factors favor holding it on NA. First, we like consistency, and players wondering each week whether the server is NA or EU (and wondering what time the tournament starts) is not good for the tournament. Second, with the added interest from the Korean server, we want to allow all players an opportunity to play (EU-KR is impossible due to lag). Lastly, and probably most importantly, we receive a lot more signups when we hold the tournament on NA, possibly due to the already large number of weekly tournaments held on EU. In addition, it seems that when we hold it on EU there are a large number of players playing two tournaments or having conflicting commitments. We apologize to our EU members who want to play in a TL Open, but we hope you guys understand our decision.
I was looking forward to the TL Open and am quite disappointed by this decision. I can fully understand the majority of the reasoning but the last point does not make that much sense to me.
From my knowledge the last EU TLOpen was on February 19 and was a TSL3 Qualifier. That means that any knowledge you have is quite old and can quite likely be outdated. That makes me feel that it would have been better to hold one more TL Open on EU to see if your knowledge would still be accurate and if so at that time make the decision.
I signed up in the hope I get to have the honour of getting owned by a Korean pro in the first round, I hope the tourney is still ok for noobs like myself to play in!
On July 01 2011 21:07 AxionSteel wrote: I signed up in the hope I get to have the honour of getting owned by a Korean pro in the first round, I hope the tourney is still ok for noobs like myself to play in!
EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/TLOpen2011/Banner.jpg)
HwangSin, a progamer from team MVP. Last week, the ZeNEX entered most of their team, and placed three out of the top 4 spots, with 
IceCream taking the final over 
