Our Swedish hero was up first against the impossible to abbreviate BBoongBBoong. First, BB held off Thorzain's neat hellion/marine timing. After, BB was able to counter with mutas, and against Thorzain's low marine count, killed over 20 workers with the harass. 37 SCVs against 80 drones sealed the deal. BBoo out of BBoongBBoong.

The Peruvian aggressor was up next. Despite a nicely timed hellion marine attack, he pulled his marines back a second too late, allowing zerglings to get a perfect surround and defeat the push quite handily. BB used a solid muta timing to take out a ton of SCVs and marines and put Fenix way behind (sound familiar?). By the time Fenix could finally move out, there were well... a few banelings waiting...



BBoong / BBoongBBoong

It was then onto Fox's Koreans to try and handle the situation, with Lyn going out first. In this game... Roaches are pretty good against hellions.



A quick ling follow up and that was the game...if Lyn hadn't decided to stay in for an extra 14 minutes just to be sure. This game put the B in BBoongBBoong, but nothing else.

As the last resort, Fox's Moon went out to try and prevent an all kill in his infamously mediocre ZvZ. I don't want to talk about it. Moon opened with terrible ling baneling micro and transitioned into not scouting his opponent at all and getting rolled over by mass roach as a result.

Let me sum up the day for you:

Hellion marine timing, hellion marine timing, and hellion timing. Oh I'm sorry, was there another game? I must have missed it.

---

Ganzi blew our collective minds with a supply depot in Cezanne’s main, into a barracks in Cezanne’s main, into a series of bunkers in, you guessed it, Cezanne’s main. Cezanne actually dealt with that pretty well by maynarding all his drones to his natural, ending up behind on tech but reasonably even on economy. Ganzi then moved into the phase of his plan that called for a mass of poorly-microed blue flame hellions. While the hellions were utterly unable to deal any real damage, they gave Ganzi unquestioned map control. He used that to macro like mad and then beat Cezanne into submission.

Ganzi’s hero reaper immediately scouted SuperNoVa’s early banshees, but he didn’t even come close to preparing for the follow-up marine-tank all-in. Ganzi’s reaction was...unexpected. Rather than try to defend, or even base trade, he let SuperNoVa trash his production while he lifted about half of his SCVs and most of his army out. From there the game became a bizarre cat-and-mouse farce, with Ganzi continually attempting to re-establish a base, and SuperNoVa showing up to knock it down before production really started. When Ganzi finally decided to actually fight his marines did a remarkably good job, but it was too little, too late.


Slayers, well aware that they were fighting for their last chance at the playoffs, sent out MMA. Both players proceeded to build a million hellions and then dance them around in the middle of the map. MMA supplemented his with primarily tanks, while SuperNoVa went viking-heavy. SuperNoVa used his superior mobility to take out MMA’s third in a battle that cost both players most of their hellions. And then both players were able to really focus: TANKS TANKS TANKS. MMA built some thors, and SuperNoVa kept throwing out some vikings here and there, but it quickly became clear that tank count was going to decide the game. MMA pulled of some slick drops, and had arguably better positioning/decision making, but after losing his third he just didn’t have the macro to compete and was eventually ground down.

Slayers went with Taeja next, hoping to capitalize on his momentum from last week's all-kill. Again, both players started with hellions and moved into tanks, but this time it was Taeja who seized both air control and a tank lead on the backs of two ravens and a billion auto turrets. Once he amassed enough of a force, he rolled right over SuperNoVa to even up the series.


oGs countered with MC, who rocked out a one-gate expand. Meanwhile, Taeja massed up a marine-marauder force and pushed out with a killer timing; getting three quarters of the way across the map before just sitting there waiting for MC to macro up and get units. Taeja eventually went home, leaving him way behind on expansion timing with absolutely nothing to show for it. When MC brought his colossi into battle Taeja was just beginning viking production, and that went...not so good for Taeja.

Slayers went with...a Zerg! No, just kidding, all of the players on SlayerS are Terrans. Ryung managed to survive some early pressure from MC, and then promptly snuck an expo at the 12 o’clock. MC kept a food lead until they finally had a meaningful battle almost 20 minutes in; Ryung’s MMM+tank ball was able to fight MC’s gateway+immortal army to a draw. Unfortunately for SlayerS, MC was able to re-macro his army faster, and just like that Slayers was eliminated from playoff contention.


Boxer, we know you love Terran. You don’t have to prove it to us. Please get someone on your team who you trust to play a non-Terran race. Even just one player. Sure having both a
Protoss and a Zerg would be nice, but we can take baby steps. Remember Alicia? Remember all the good times you had? Maybe just play him once?

… Please?

In a battle of the teams that no one really knows the full roster of, ZeNex opened with Byun and New Star HoSeo opened with Tassadar. The match ended up being standard PvT, with Tassadar going mass gateway and Byun going MMMG. Byun's EMP's landed and his macro was better than Tassadar's so it was a pretty clean win. Nothing too exciting, but it wasn't boring either.

NSHS sent out Seal to try and defeat Byun.



Byun's bio opening did some nice damage and it looked like he was going to win with his huge supply lead. Unfortunately for him, Seal made a nice hold of the attack, putting him very far behind (as bio is for very aggressive oriented play, once you lose an army decisively it usually spells defeat). With no ghosts, Seal's infestors reigned supreme and took the game for NSHS.

Zenex sent out another Terran, Hack, to hack at a baby Seal (sorry for that Artosis). Seal ended up overcoming some poorly executed roach drops to take the game against Hack's meching Terran. Despite some good execution of mech from Hack, he didn't get the essential ghosts out to make the composition work in the late game.

JJun showed some pretty poor play in his match against Seal. He went for hidden mass hellions that didn't pay off against Seal's banelings. Seal won through both macro and a very smart engagement, getting a perfect surround on JJun's small army and taking the game quite handily.



Formally known as Zenex Line, Suhosin was the last hope against Seal. Both players went ling baneling, with Seal having a slight edge from not ten pooling. Combined with Suhosin's terrible ling/bane micro, Seal easily took the win and All-Kill.

As the GSTL season draws towards its final week of regular season, clear leaders have emerged on the fantasy leaderboard. Only 12 of the 10244 fantasy teams that participated in TeamLiquid's first ever StarCraft 2 Fantasy League have scored 100 or more points. Who will win TeamLiquid's inaugural Fantasy SC2 season? Let's find out!

First, let's examine the state of the fantasy leaderboard after week 8. Below are the top 19 teams standing at the top of the leaderboard, with rosters cleared of inactive players:

1. mrbamboo 116 pts, 2 players
   + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
   • Players - DongRaeGu, Smart
     
   • Antiteam - FruitDealer, Lyn
     
2. godemperor -5 pts from fantasy leader, 5 players + FXK
   + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
   • Players - DongRaeGu, MC, hero, Luvsic, SocceR
     
   • Team - FXOpen Korea
     
   • Antiteam - Trickster, Lyn
     
3. Nexic -7 pts, 4 players
   + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
   • Players - DongRaeGu, GuMiho, Noblesse, SocceR
     
   • Antiteam - Choya, FruitDealer, Trickster
     
4. maze. -8 pts, 4 players + MVP
   + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
   • Players - DongRaeGu, Bomber, Smart, hero,
     
   • Team - MVP
     
   • Antiteam - FruitDealer, InCa, Lyn
     
5. pretensile -10 pts, 4 players + ST
   + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
   • Players - DongRaeGu, GuMiho, TheStC, Noblesse
     
   • Team - StarTale
     
   • Antiteam - Trickster, Lyn
     
6. MinoMino -10 pts, 2 players + oGs
   + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
   • Players - DongRaeGu, GuMiho
     
   • Team - Old Generations
     
   • Antiteam - ThorZaIN, FruitDealer, Lyn
     
7. GenoPewPew -11 pts, 6 players
   + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
   • Players - DongRaeGu, Bomber, ThorZaIN, Ace, GuineaPig, hero
     
   • Antiteam - Lyn, Moon
     
8. Mattchew -12 pts, 4 players + MVP
   + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
   • Players - DongRaeGu, GuMiho, Ace, Heart
     
   • Team - MVP
     
   • Anti - HuK, Fenix, Lyn
     
9. xxxxxxb -12 pts, 4 players
   + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
   • Players - DongRaeGu, Smart, NaNiwa, TOP
     
   • Anti - Trickster, Lyn
     
10. AmICool -14 pts, 4 players
    + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
    • Players - DongRaeGu, GuMiho, Smart, NalZa
      
    • Anti - FruitDealer, Maka, Lyn
      
11. ZasZ. -14 pts, 3 players
    + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
    • Players - Clide, Noblesse, hero
      
    • Anti - HwangSin, Lyn
      
12. MidnightSun001 -16 pts, 3 players + MVP
    + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
    • Players - DongRaeGu, GuMiho, GuineaPig
      
    • Team - MVP
      
    • Anti - FruitDealer, Trickster, Zenio
      
13. Toganas -17 pts, 5 players + MVP
    + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
    • Players - DongRaeGu, GuMiho, aLive, GuineaPig, SocceR
      
    • Team - MVP
      
    • Anti - HuK, InCa, Lyn
      
14. manicshock -18 pts, 4 players
    + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
    • Players - DongRaeGu, Squirtle, Ace, July
      
    • Anti - FruitDealer
      
15. oursblanc -18 pts, 2 players + oGs
    + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
    • Players - DongRaeGu, Tassadar
      
    • Team - Old Generations
      
    • Anti - Trickster, Lyn
      
16. DoomsVille -18 pts, 5 players + oGs
    + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
    • Players - aLive, TheStC, July, Noblesse, SocceR
      
    • Team - Old Generations
      
    • Anti - Choya
      
17. Archerylady -19 pts, 7 players + MVP
    + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
    • Players - DongRaeGu, Bomber, RevivaL, GuMiho, Curious, hero, Luvsic
      
    • Team - MVP
      
    • Anti - GuineaPig
      
18. mocavious sam -19 pts, 4 players + ST
    + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
    • Players - DongRaeGu, Bomber, GuMiho, Ace
      
    • Team - StarTale
      
    • Anti - RainBOw, Trickster, InCa
      
19. danana -19 pts, 1 players
    + Show Spoiler [Team Analysis] +
    • Players - LosirA
      
    • Anti - FruitDealer, RainBOw, Trickster
      

The most obvious pattern: 16 of the top 19 fantasy teams have DongRaeGu on its roster, demonstrating once again how completely broken he is in the game. On the other hand, because he's essentially on every fantasy team in the running, DRG's performance against StarTale this week will have absolutely no bearing on the final fantasy standings.

The scoring system in TeamLiquid fantasies is a strange beast. There are three sources for scores - players, teams, and an anti-team of players - but only one are guaranteed to not lose you points. In a final week situation when fantasy teams varies widely in number of remaining active players, that active roster becomes the most critical factor in determining which team can jump to the lead.

More players, more points.

Therefore, I will call it now: mrbamboo will not win Fantasy GSTL Season 1. I am sorry: You had a great run this season, but your TradeValue and roster are spent. No amount of shrewd manipulation of competition will get you the crown. If you win, I will be happy to eat my word and buy you a drink at a future barcraft.

After mrbamboo, it's a toss up between the next 8 for the crown, with only MinoMino appear to be completely out of running. None of the other seven (godemperor, Nexis, maze., pretensile, GenoPewPew, Mattchew, xxxxxb) share a significant overlap in roster, so final ordering between them will be completely unpredictable.

Outside the Top-10, the only team with a serious but outside chance of grabbing the crown is Archerylady's, whom amazingly enough retains 7 active players as well as team MVP in Week 9. A strong performance from MVP, TSL's RevivaL, and FXO's GuMiho can realistically catapult him (not a typo! we fact check!) to the top of the pack; grabbing victory from the jaws of lesser victory.

Who will win TeamLiquid's first ever StarCraft 2 Fantasy League? Personally, I am rooting for team GenoPewPew, which did not make a single active roster trade in the entire season. That's the kind of dedication to his players that I admire (or he's just really lazy in roster management). With a strong performance from MC though, the winner will almost certainly be godemperor. Regardless of who wins, the action on fantasy the leaderboard will certainly match that inside the GOM studio this week.

I can't wait.

F.United is already eliminated from the playoffs, but will likely still be giving their all. They are a team that plays for pride, a team full of hopefuls who will certainly do their best to show they can hang with the big boys.

Unfortunately for them, oGs absolutely needs to play their best because a loss knocks them out of the post season and gives Prime a chance in the bracket. Their whole team has been shaky here and there this season, never really coming together to work as a single unit but this week they are forced to and they are lucky to face one of the lesser teams in the league. oGs easily.




Both teams sitting at the top of their group, neither has a chance to fall out of contention with a loss. This seems like one of those situations where neither team will want to reveal anything they don't have to, which means we get to watch weird stuff from players who probably aren't that good. These are my favorite matches so personally I'm excited but I know most people require "high level gameplay" to be satisfied so your experience may differ.

I still think TSL isn't that good, despite what Revival and Killer have been showing, so I give an edge to MVP. In a no-lose situation though who knows. Meh, MVP.



In a more tense scenario, FXO Korea (fOu of old) can make it in with a win, but unlike oGs they have to face a wolf-in-goofy-logo by playing StarTale to do it. With Bomber starting for ST it seems like they're not messing around, meaning FXOKorea has their work cut out for them. StarTale should have the stronger lineup but with the quality of games players like TheBest have been showing maybe it is much closer than it first looks. Again, ST has nothing to lose by not performing so they can always choose the route of playing lesser-knowns to give them exposure and valuable booth time before more is on the line.

StarTale seems poised to take it but there are a lot of unknown factors working here, the variance is high in these situations. StarTale more likely.