EPTTable of Contents
Consoled
Intro
FXO vs ZeNEX
Match Results
HoSeo vs TSL
Match Results
The Place of the Team League
Opinion
Check out the GSTL on Liquipedia
Consoled
As the GSTL moves forward, we saw four teams face the chopping block this week and two escape with their tournament lives. With the matches being comprised of the losers from the previous two weeks, the games were predictably scrappy, as people tend to say when being nice about such things.
Moving into next week, we finally get to see MVP and Prime show their stuff and begin 2012 GSTL runs. The format from here essentially starts fresh with a double elimination bracket, giving both of them plenty of time to adjust and settle into the new season should they need it, as well as giving the winners of the consolation matches a ray of hope.
The last three weeks have merely been warmups, the real GSTL will show its face now that we have cut two teams from the bottom of the pool.
FXOpen
ZeNEX
Game One – FXO_Lucky vs ZeNEX_Sparta –
![[image loading]](/blogs/images/blackstar.gif)
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Dual Sight
FXO is a team that has been looking spectacular lately, meanwhile most people rate ZeNEX as the underdogs to win a single match this team league season. With that in mind, our first game begins in complete normality – completely, boring, mundane, passive, normality. It’s actually so passive a game that you could call it abnormal. Sparta gets out some hellions while lucky macros up, and both players advance their tech. This goes on for a staggering 15 minutes before ANY aggression noteworthy happens. At this point lucky feels comfortable enough with his macro advantage - and the fact that Sparta was unable to even accomplish creep spread attenuation with his hellions – to bust the Terran third while his army was out of position. A sick baneling land mine makes the clean up of Sparta’s remaining army a bit too easy.
Let's pretend there was a good way to make a “ZeNEXT” pun here to signify Lucky's stance about taking on the rest of the team.
Winner: Lucky
FXO (1 – 0) ZeNEX
FXO is a team that has been looking spectacular lately, meanwhile most people rate ZeNEX as the underdogs to win a single match this team league season. With that in mind, our first game begins in complete normality – completely, boring, mundane, passive, normality. It’s actually so passive a game that you could call it abnormal. Sparta gets out some hellions while lucky macros up, and both players advance their tech. This goes on for a staggering 15 minutes before ANY aggression noteworthy happens. At this point lucky feels comfortable enough with his macro advantage - and the fact that Sparta was unable to even accomplish creep spread attenuation with his hellions – to bust the Terran third while his army was out of position. A sick baneling land mine makes the clean up of Sparta’s remaining army a bit too easy.
Let's pretend there was a good way to make a “ZeNEXT” pun here to signify Lucky's stance about taking on the rest of the team.
Winner: Lucky
FXO (1 – 0) ZeNEX
Game Two –
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FXO_Lucky vs ZeNEX_Mushroom – Antiga Shipyard
This game I enjoyed, in fact I loved it. Nothing excites me more than novel situations in Starcraft pro game. When I saw the Zerg hatchery go down I thought somehow I had accidentally skipped to the end of the game where lucky was telling Mushroom to get out. But oooooooh no, this was quite the opposite. Instead he used this hatchery to the obvious purpose of blocking the nexus and getting out a few quick lings. As if that wasn't enough, he managed to squeeze out a queen and drop a creep tumor in a location where a cannon could never kill it. This left Mushroom in a situation where he could not take his natural for a very, very long time.
Mushroom responded with a 1 base warp prism push that Lucky deflected completely. Not stifled by this failure Mushroom double expands, presumably while praying his risk pays off. Lucky retorts by making mutalisks, and going on to kill his long-dead Protoss enemy. For people that have seen or experienced this strategy before the game might not have been as entertaining, but for me it was absolutely awesome.
Winner: Lucky
FXO (2 – 0) ZeNEX
This game I enjoyed, in fact I loved it. Nothing excites me more than novel situations in Starcraft pro game. When I saw the Zerg hatchery go down I thought somehow I had accidentally skipped to the end of the game where lucky was telling Mushroom to get out. But oooooooh no, this was quite the opposite. Instead he used this hatchery to the obvious purpose of blocking the nexus and getting out a few quick lings. As if that wasn't enough, he managed to squeeze out a queen and drop a creep tumor in a location where a cannon could never kill it. This left Mushroom in a situation where he could not take his natural for a very, very long time.
Mushroom responded with a 1 base warp prism push that Lucky deflected completely. Not stifled by this failure Mushroom double expands, presumably while praying his risk pays off. Lucky retorts by making mutalisks, and going on to kill his long-dead Protoss enemy. For people that have seen or experienced this strategy before the game might not have been as entertaining, but for me it was absolutely awesome.
Winner: Lucky
FXO (2 – 0) ZeNEX
Game Three –
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FXO_Lucky vs ZeNEX_Life – Entombed Valley
Lucky seemed red hot, and rearing to all-kill in this interesting pairing of player IDs. The choices for this mirror came down to Lucky going for banelings, while Life felt confident in his defense and went for a hatchery. Lucky showed him you need more than confidence, by killing all his queens and detonating all over the lings – cute spinecrawler block on the ramp or not. This didn’t even look fair.
ZvZ connoisseurs, should they exist, would find this to be of the more bland side of standard.
Winner: Lucky
FXO (3 – 0) ZeNEX
Lucky seemed red hot, and rearing to all-kill in this interesting pairing of player IDs. The choices for this mirror came down to Lucky going for banelings, while Life felt confident in his defense and went for a hatchery. Lucky showed him you need more than confidence, by killing all his queens and detonating all over the lings – cute spinecrawler block on the ramp or not. This didn’t even look fair.
ZvZ connoisseurs, should they exist, would find this to be of the more bland side of standard.
Winner: Lucky
FXO (3 – 0) ZeNEX
Game Four –
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FXO_Lucky vs ZeNEX_Avenge – Metropolis
Last week Avenge showed great promise, and I was certainly hoping for something better to change the streak of slow games through this match. Things started out normal, until Lucky tries to sneak out a really fast third – and if there’s one thing Avenge was hoping for with his build it’s a place to attack that is marginally harder to hold than a sim-city'd natural.
Going for a strong 2-base timing attack he hit with a sentry/stalker/immortal composition, with 1/1, at around 120 supply. Even though Lucky managed to flank from nearly every side with his roaches, forcefields prevailed. Avenge broke the third with enough efficiency to carry on to the natural and end the game.
Winner: AVENGE
FXO (3 – 1) ZeNEX
Last week Avenge showed great promise, and I was certainly hoping for something better to change the streak of slow games through this match. Things started out normal, until Lucky tries to sneak out a really fast third – and if there’s one thing Avenge was hoping for with his build it’s a place to attack that is marginally harder to hold than a sim-city'd natural.
Going for a strong 2-base timing attack he hit with a sentry/stalker/immortal composition, with 1/1, at around 120 supply. Even though Lucky managed to flank from nearly every side with his roaches, forcefields prevailed. Avenge broke the third with enough efficiency to carry on to the natural and end the game.
Winner: AVENGE
FXO (3 – 1) ZeNEX
Game Five –
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FXO_z vs ZeNEX_Avenge – ESV Cloud Kingdom
In the mirror to end all mirrors we see Oz decide on an early divergence by taking 3 quick gas – 2 of those being his own. Avenge caught him smirking though, and picks off a few units for free in the early game, putting him into a comfortable position. From here, Oz expands first and Avenge does nothing to stifle this economic lead. Eventually, Oz attacks with better upgrades, more colossi, and a better position.
Remember kids, you only die by expanding first in a mirror match up if your opponent actually attacks you.
Winner: FXO_z
FXO (4 – 1) ZeNEX
In the mirror to end all mirrors we see Oz decide on an early divergence by taking 3 quick gas – 2 of those being his own. Avenge caught him smirking though, and picks off a few units for free in the early game, putting him into a comfortable position. From here, Oz expands first and Avenge does nothing to stifle this economic lead. Eventually, Oz attacks with better upgrades, more colossi, and a better position.
Remember kids, you only die by expanding first in a mirror match up if your opponent actually attacks you.
Winner: FXO_z
FXO (4 – 1) ZeNEX
Game Six –
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FXO_z vs ZeNEX_TREME – Crossfire SE
With Oz being the PvP beast he is it seems only logical to send out…another Protoss. Ouch. Now I know for the last game I said you should die in a mirror if you expand first and your opponent attacks. Well...in this game Oz expands first and Extreme attacks him, crucially before the macro kicks in.
You may ask how Oz could possibly hold despite having 400 minerals invested in a building instead of his army. Extreme, hopefully due to nerves, suicides his only probe before planting a forward pylon and is unable to reinforce his army in any kind of efficient manner, Oz pulls some sick micro, and by the time Extreme remembers to put down said forward pylon Oz has his blink tech. The FXO Protoss master then blink micros all over Extreme’s attempt to expand and rides it to victory. Oz's PvP record now sits at a comfortable 80% winrate thanks to these games.
Oz is just too good at PvP. And so it would seem, FXO is too good for ZeNEX.
Winner: FXO_z
FXO (5 - 1) ZeNEX
With Oz being the PvP beast he is it seems only logical to send out…another Protoss. Ouch. Now I know for the last game I said you should die in a mirror if you expand first and your opponent attacks. Well...in this game Oz expands first and Extreme attacks him, crucially before the macro kicks in.
You may ask how Oz could possibly hold despite having 400 minerals invested in a building instead of his army. Extreme, hopefully due to nerves, suicides his only probe before planting a forward pylon and is unable to reinforce his army in any kind of efficient manner, Oz pulls some sick micro, and by the time Extreme remembers to put down said forward pylon Oz has his blink tech. The FXO Protoss master then blink micros all over Extreme’s attempt to expand and rides it to victory. Oz's PvP record now sits at a comfortable 80% winrate thanks to these games.
Oz is just too good at PvP. And so it would seem, FXO is too good for ZeNEX.
Winner: FXO_z
FXO (5 - 1) ZeNEX
Game Seven –
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FXO won 5 - 1
Game Eight –
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FXO won 5 - 1
Game Nine –
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FXO won 5 - 1
Overall results
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Lucky > Sparta
Lucky > Mushroom
Lucky > Life
Lucky < Avenge
Oz > Avenge
Oz > Extreme
FXO 5 – 1 ZeNEX
Lucky > Mushroom
Lucky > Life
Lucky < Avenge
Oz > Avenge
Oz > Extreme
FXO 5 – 1 ZeNEX
New Star HoSeo
Team SCV Life
Game One – NSH_Sculp vs TSL_Polt –
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ESV Cloud Kingdom
As Polt opened with a 15cc and Sculp begins mining gas for a factory, the commentators busy themselves with a discussion on the strength of mech on Cloud Kingdom. They note how Polt prefers a style with marines and marauders, and mentioned that he plans on using them “until it doesn't work”.
Sculp opted into a typical reactor-hellion expand, killing a few marines with his first set of hellions before they find solace in a bunker. He moved into cloaked banshee harass, and netted a handful of kills before being chased off by a viking. The game moved into a steady normal bio-vs-mech midgame, where each player took bases and began building their final max-out composition. Polt took advantage of Sculp's immobility by taking bases in the far corners of the map, and roamed freely with marauders looking for any stray units.
Nearly maxed, Sculp eventually decided to move out with his tank-hellion-viking-raven force and caught Polt, somewhat with his pants down, as he had 2.2k minerals banked and around 20 less supply. They clashed briefly in the middle of the map when around half of Polt's marine-marauder force forced a siege, but the tight corridors proved to be Sculp's ally as he pressed on to Polt's natural. Eventually he forced a clash where Polt attempted to flank but after killing the hellions, he found himself wiped out by the remaining tanks. From there Sculp leapfrogged into Polt's natural and finally his main.
Perhaps now is time for Polt to reconsider using mech more often, at least on this map.
Winner: NSH_Sculp
New Star HoSeo (1 – 0) Team SCV Life
As Polt opened with a 15cc and Sculp begins mining gas for a factory, the commentators busy themselves with a discussion on the strength of mech on Cloud Kingdom. They note how Polt prefers a style with marines and marauders, and mentioned that he plans on using them “until it doesn't work”.
Sculp opted into a typical reactor-hellion expand, killing a few marines with his first set of hellions before they find solace in a bunker. He moved into cloaked banshee harass, and netted a handful of kills before being chased off by a viking. The game moved into a steady normal bio-vs-mech midgame, where each player took bases and began building their final max-out composition. Polt took advantage of Sculp's immobility by taking bases in the far corners of the map, and roamed freely with marauders looking for any stray units.
Nearly maxed, Sculp eventually decided to move out with his tank-hellion-viking-raven force and caught Polt, somewhat with his pants down, as he had 2.2k minerals banked and around 20 less supply. They clashed briefly in the middle of the map when around half of Polt's marine-marauder force forced a siege, but the tight corridors proved to be Sculp's ally as he pressed on to Polt's natural. Eventually he forced a clash where Polt attempted to flank but after killing the hellions, he found himself wiped out by the remaining tanks. From there Sculp leapfrogged into Polt's natural and finally his main.
Perhaps now is time for Polt to reconsider using mech more often, at least on this map.
Winner: NSH_Sculp
New Star HoSeo (1 – 0) Team SCV Life
Game Two –
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NSH_Sculp vs TSL_Dream – Calm Before the Storm
As has become fashionable, both opened by expanding to their back base first. While Sculp followed up with a quick third command center, Dream decided against taking a third fast and stayed on two bases, moving into double forge after adding a robotics facility. Sculp quickly started upgrading his bio forces from two engineering bays, and the game progressed for 10 minutes as both players simply teched and built units. The first engagement came at about minute 12 when Sculp, having produced his first round of medivacs, finally felt confident enough to move down his ramp and across the map while landing his errant orbital in his front expansion.
Dream had unfortunately picked that exact time to take his third nexus, and the Terran army easily forced a cancel. As Dream moved back into his base, Sculp kept the pressure on by threatening to stim up the ramp, and even picked off the first colossus when it got too eager.
The crucial moment of the game came when Sculp loaded up his entire army into medivacs, and dropped them all in Dream's back base. It happened right as Dream had moved his army down his ramp which meant the marauders had more than enough time to take the nexus down and scurry away, losing only a single medivac with marauders inside in the process.
From there Sculp merely had to keep trading units until the Protoss had no more, pouring into Dream's natural and slamming his forces against zealots until they were no more.
Winner: NSH_Sculp
New Star HoSeo (2 – 0) Team SCV Life
As has become fashionable, both opened by expanding to their back base first. While Sculp followed up with a quick third command center, Dream decided against taking a third fast and stayed on two bases, moving into double forge after adding a robotics facility. Sculp quickly started upgrading his bio forces from two engineering bays, and the game progressed for 10 minutes as both players simply teched and built units. The first engagement came at about minute 12 when Sculp, having produced his first round of medivacs, finally felt confident enough to move down his ramp and across the map while landing his errant orbital in his front expansion.
Dream had unfortunately picked that exact time to take his third nexus, and the Terran army easily forced a cancel. As Dream moved back into his base, Sculp kept the pressure on by threatening to stim up the ramp, and even picked off the first colossus when it got too eager.
The crucial moment of the game came when Sculp loaded up his entire army into medivacs, and dropped them all in Dream's back base. It happened right as Dream had moved his army down his ramp which meant the marauders had more than enough time to take the nexus down and scurry away, losing only a single medivac with marauders inside in the process.
From there Sculp merely had to keep trading units until the Protoss had no more, pouring into Dream's natural and slamming his forces against zealots until they were no more.
Winner: NSH_Sculp
New Star HoSeo (2 – 0) Team SCV Life
Game Three –
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NSH_Sculp vs TSL_HyuN – Daybreak
The game started off normally, with a quick hatchery from HyuN and a reactor-hellion expand from Sculp. The first hellions failed to do much damage aside from causing drone shuffles, and the game progressed as normal. Sculp made a quick third orbital and began pumping out marines, while HyuN stayed on two bases while he ramped up to infestors before taking a third.
The Zerg took a brief lead after a failed hellion raid, followed by a marine-medivac army getting crushed with a few key fungals. The game moved into standard GSL TvZ, the players postured a bit in the center and took bases. They began the battle to see who could multitask better, as Sculp started dropping in multiple places with constant pressure to the mineral line. HyuN found himself on the losing end of several of these exchanges, and chose the ultra route for tier 3 tech.
The two split the map and Sculp started making multiple nukes and amassing an army of ghosts while HyuN maxes out with infestor-ling-ultra. With several chokes throughout the center, HyuN ended with several bad engagements and let Sculp set up position near HyuN's territory, allowing the Terran to set up shop near his expansions. Sculp patiently waited, nuking to advance his position and deny mining bases, and after killing HyuN's army he tapped out and the game was over.
Winner: NSH_Sculp
New Star HoSeo (3 – 0) Team SCV Life
The game started off normally, with a quick hatchery from HyuN and a reactor-hellion expand from Sculp. The first hellions failed to do much damage aside from causing drone shuffles, and the game progressed as normal. Sculp made a quick third orbital and began pumping out marines, while HyuN stayed on two bases while he ramped up to infestors before taking a third.
The Zerg took a brief lead after a failed hellion raid, followed by a marine-medivac army getting crushed with a few key fungals. The game moved into standard GSL TvZ, the players postured a bit in the center and took bases. They began the battle to see who could multitask better, as Sculp started dropping in multiple places with constant pressure to the mineral line. HyuN found himself on the losing end of several of these exchanges, and chose the ultra route for tier 3 tech.
The two split the map and Sculp started making multiple nukes and amassing an army of ghosts while HyuN maxes out with infestor-ling-ultra. With several chokes throughout the center, HyuN ended with several bad engagements and let Sculp set up position near HyuN's territory, allowing the Terran to set up shop near his expansions. Sculp patiently waited, nuking to advance his position and deny mining bases, and after killing HyuN's army he tapped out and the game was over.
Winner: NSH_Sculp
New Star HoSeo (3 – 0) Team SCV Life
Game Four –
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NSH_Sculp vs TSL_RevivaL – Antiga Shipyard
The early stages of this game were nearly identical to the last. Sculp opened with a hellion expand, and began construction of a quick third orbital while he built up his army with marines and tanks. RevivaL meanwhile teched to infestors and secured his third, though this time he had roaches in the mix. The Zerg made a bit of a bold statement by taking his fourth in the center of the map, daring Sculp to come out and play as he added a spire and approached hive.
Sculp took the challenge and moved out to the map's center, seting up his tanks on the familiar spots by the watchtower and easily took down the expansion. RevivaL responded as is common, by simply running around the army and attacking the third with roaches, lings, and infestors. Sculp seemed caught off-guard by this, and saved the base but lost nearly all the workers mining from his third.
RevivaL's first round of broodlords had finished by this time, and he made a line straight for Sculp's natural, forcing him to retreat from the center in the process. He took a stand near his natural, and was able to trade most of his tanks for the entire broodlord army despite having nearly no vikings. Many Terrans in this spot would be content to sit back, take a base while dropping, and bring the game into a later state. Sculp, however, decided instead to go all-out and take his remaining army and shove it down Zerg's throat.
Sensing weakness, he ran across the map and began applying pressure to RevivaL's front while being annoying with drops at expos. RevivaL, trying to build an army of ultras by this point, was able to stop the first wave but as more marines streamed in he had to call gg.
Winner: NSH_Sculp
New Star HoSeo (4 – 0) Team SCV Life
The early stages of this game were nearly identical to the last. Sculp opened with a hellion expand, and began construction of a quick third orbital while he built up his army with marines and tanks. RevivaL meanwhile teched to infestors and secured his third, though this time he had roaches in the mix. The Zerg made a bit of a bold statement by taking his fourth in the center of the map, daring Sculp to come out and play as he added a spire and approached hive.
Sculp took the challenge and moved out to the map's center, seting up his tanks on the familiar spots by the watchtower and easily took down the expansion. RevivaL responded as is common, by simply running around the army and attacking the third with roaches, lings, and infestors. Sculp seemed caught off-guard by this, and saved the base but lost nearly all the workers mining from his third.
RevivaL's first round of broodlords had finished by this time, and he made a line straight for Sculp's natural, forcing him to retreat from the center in the process. He took a stand near his natural, and was able to trade most of his tanks for the entire broodlord army despite having nearly no vikings. Many Terrans in this spot would be content to sit back, take a base while dropping, and bring the game into a later state. Sculp, however, decided instead to go all-out and take his remaining army and shove it down Zerg's throat.
Sensing weakness, he ran across the map and began applying pressure to RevivaL's front while being annoying with drops at expos. RevivaL, trying to build an army of ultras by this point, was able to stop the first wave but as more marines streamed in he had to call gg.
Winner: NSH_Sculp
New Star HoSeo (4 – 0) Team SCV Life
Game Five –
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NSH_Sculp vs TSL_Shine – Entombed Valley
This game started in nearly identical fashion to the last few. Sculp opened with hellion expand, and the two players took their time teching up and building small armies without combat. Sculp's first hellions ran into Shine's natural but were unable to force any damage aside from lost mining time.
Shine opted for some variety from the last two games, however, and added a spire as he was taking his third and began to produce mutalisks. The first several popped right as Sculp's initial drop was heading into his main, and clean it up easily. Instead of using his mutas to attack Sculp's base directly, Shine merely used them to patrol around the map and secure his third and fourth, taking control of the game and preventing drops from harassing him.
Sculp moved into the center of the map to stop the spread of creep throughout, and after winning a small skirmish he found himself in bad shape when a second wave of banelines killed his unsieged tanks. Shine played patiently, never attacking further than the center of the map, merely stopping Sculp in the wide open center whenever the Terran forces pushed themselves too far.
Eventually getting to broodlords, Shine contented himself with beating back the Terran advances and trading armies while adding more bases. Eventually Sculp mined himself out and Shine won the war of attrition.
The aggressive tendency to run to the center of the map that won Sculp game 4, proved to be his undoing in game 5 when he was never able to force any advantage. Shine moved on to keep TSL hope alive.
Winner: TSL_Shine
New Star HoSeo (4 – 1) Team SCV Life
This game started in nearly identical fashion to the last few. Sculp opened with hellion expand, and the two players took their time teching up and building small armies without combat. Sculp's first hellions ran into Shine's natural but were unable to force any damage aside from lost mining time.
Shine opted for some variety from the last two games, however, and added a spire as he was taking his third and began to produce mutalisks. The first several popped right as Sculp's initial drop was heading into his main, and clean it up easily. Instead of using his mutas to attack Sculp's base directly, Shine merely used them to patrol around the map and secure his third and fourth, taking control of the game and preventing drops from harassing him.
Sculp moved into the center of the map to stop the spread of creep throughout, and after winning a small skirmish he found himself in bad shape when a second wave of banelines killed his unsieged tanks. Shine played patiently, never attacking further than the center of the map, merely stopping Sculp in the wide open center whenever the Terran forces pushed themselves too far.
Eventually getting to broodlords, Shine contented himself with beating back the Terran advances and trading armies while adding more bases. Eventually Sculp mined himself out and Shine won the war of attrition.
The aggressive tendency to run to the center of the map that won Sculp game 4, proved to be his undoing in game 5 when he was never able to force any advantage. Shine moved on to keep TSL hope alive.
Winner: TSL_Shine
New Star HoSeo (4 – 1) Team SCV Life
Game Six –
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NSH_Sage vs TSL_Shine – Metropolis
Our first PvZ of the day opened with a forge fast expand from the Protoss while the Zerg double expanded, starting his first hatch at the spot for the third. Sage followed up with a fast robo, which he used to quickly pump out a warp prism while adding a few gateways. Loading his initial zealots and stalker into it, he went to the Zerg main but turned around upon seeing a compliment of roaches hanging out with the queen there.
Shine went into full roach production while getting upgrades. Sage decided on strong 2-base play, ramped up to 7 gates and began pumping out immortals nonstop from his robo. After +1 finished, he moved out with his 120 supply army. Shine caught him about halfway across the map, and attempted several flanks, but with 10 sentries in his army forcefields were aplenty and Sage walked through the pure roach army with little trouble.
He pushed into the nat, and then into the main, and as Shine was attempting to rebuild entirely at his third he typed GG. With that, TSL was out of the GSTL.
Winner: NSH_Sage
New Star HoSeo (5 – 1) Team SCV Life
Our first PvZ of the day opened with a forge fast expand from the Protoss while the Zerg double expanded, starting his first hatch at the spot for the third. Sage followed up with a fast robo, which he used to quickly pump out a warp prism while adding a few gateways. Loading his initial zealots and stalker into it, he went to the Zerg main but turned around upon seeing a compliment of roaches hanging out with the queen there.
Shine went into full roach production while getting upgrades. Sage decided on strong 2-base play, ramped up to 7 gates and began pumping out immortals nonstop from his robo. After +1 finished, he moved out with his 120 supply army. Shine caught him about halfway across the map, and attempted several flanks, but with 10 sentries in his army forcefields were aplenty and Sage walked through the pure roach army with little trouble.
He pushed into the nat, and then into the main, and as Shine was attempting to rebuild entirely at his third he typed GG. With that, TSL was out of the GSTL.
Winner: NSH_Sage
New Star HoSeo (5 – 1) Team SCV Life
Game Seven –
+ Show Spoiler +
NSH won 5 – 1
Game Eight –
+ Show Spoiler +
NSH won 5 – 1
Game Nine –
+ Show Spoiler +
NSH won 5 – 1
Overall results
+ Show Spoiler +
Sculp > Polt
Sculp > Dream
Sculp > HyuN
Sculp > RevivaL
Sculp < Shine
Sage > Shine
HoSeo 5 – 1 TSL
Sculp > Dream
Sculp > HyuN
Sculp > RevivaL
Sculp < Shine
Sage > Shine
HoSeo 5 – 1 TSL
THE PLACE OF THE TEAM LEAGUE
by Heyoka
The team league has always been one of the finest formats through Starcraft's history. Week in and week out, the team league is a chance to see your favorite players, even after they have been knocked out of the individual Starleagues. It gives fans a reason to follow a team. It creates the need for another kind of player, notably men like Sea[Shield], but with space for those like BackHo or Horang2 whose play we would never really have a chance to enjoy if there were only the individual leagues.
![[image loading]](/staff/heyoka/GSTL/bunkie.jpg)
You can tell he's fun because he has a hat – photo: NeverGG
There is a certain comfort to be derived from its constancy, a certain light-hearted air of fun only to be had when each match isn't do-or-die for the players’ tournament lives. Last year’s announcement of the GSTL was a moment of happiness, though it left yearnings for a longer and more regular season. Their single-elimination format made sense for the time, the league was new and committing to multiple months was likely impossible given the GSL's format. The trial went well, creating exciting games and a fun new way to watch for the uninitiated. It introduced us to DRG and MMA before their qualifying Code-A runs.
Last fall when GSTL switched to a round-robin format I was ecstatic; finally they have moved into the big time I’d thought, hoping it was a step towards a full year-long league. The season delivered for the most part, from lesser-known players getting wins to lovable underdogs Prime not only sneaking into the playoffs, but reaching the finals. Even the two foreigner teams had entertaining upsets.
The success of the round-robin format made the switch to a bracket in 2012 feel like a step back. Round robin is well suited for the team format because it allows for silly situations like those described above. It creates a place where a coach can send out a Seal or Creator, and see how they deal with pressure and tension before they have much to see in Code-A. With the additional burden that comes with the need to win each match, coaches’ hands are forced, with possible aces taking up valuable slots.
The director of GomTV has said that the change in format comes in an effort to force teams to play more of their best players. That stance, while noble, is missing the heart of what makes the long team format great. The purpose of a team league isn't to pit the best players against each other every night. The GSL already does that, as does every other individual competition. The GSTL should be the league for the every-man, the working class league where we get to see the likes of Avenge, TREME, and BboongBBoong. The team league is a training ground, a series of sparring matches in which these players hone their skills and overcome the nervousness that comes with sitting in the booth.
The GSTL is a different beast from the individual format. When the format dictates that not every game is all-or-nothing, when the individual can’t feel the suffocating weight of the league on their shoulders, we are free to see teams open up with both player and build choices. A longer format, with more events, also allows for the creation of a fantasy league which is invaluable when it comes to giving fans reason to follow the league and their players, even during less important games.
The elimination rounds are supposed to create tension, supposed to force each team to send only their best or be axed. Look at last week's games, with each team fighting to maintain their place in the tournament, and the games were still below par. Embrace the differences between it and Code-A/Code-S. Invite mascots, make it fun, embrace the fact that it sometimes turns into a spectacle.
Writer: Heyoka, Divinek.
Graphics: Pathy.
Editor: Heyoka.
