Week One in the Books

The preliminary week of the IPL Team Arena Challenge #3 had everything we'd want in a teamleague. There was an all-kill, two thrilling 5-4', a number of exciting player debuts, and some good old fashioned stomping by established names.

Also while the better known teams faired well in the first week, there was a notable exception in FXO.CIS's win over the nearly all-Korean compLexity. In last week's report, we had predicted a 5-4 compLexity win, and indeed the match was close, but the final set fell to the Eastern Europeans. This mild upset will help considerably with the decidedly Korean-flavor of the tournament's later rounds. Indeed, IPL TAC #3 has an interesting dynamic, with this Round of 24 featuring a number of well known foreigner teams taking on lesser known foreigner teams for the right to take on GSTL teams. But FXO.CIS's win, as well as the next round's looming Mousesports vs Liquid roshambo. give hope yet for the foreign masses.

In Week Two, we'll see another set of matches that fit into this fold. Beware Tuesday's EG vs iS match, as Infinity 7 has some upset potential, if EG brings the flat teamleague form we've seen in the past. Quantic will also stave off an upset against Karont3's LucifroN and VortiX. Finally, the end of the week features perhaps the most long-shot upset bid of all, as x6 faces the only GSTL team (besides Liquid) in the opening round: TSL.

Another dramatic week of teamleague action is in the cards. Happy watching!

Week One Review

All went according to plan for Acer up until the moment Welmu came out. With questions swirling about how Eclypsia would perform after the departure of three of their front line, many, including myself, laughed at the idea that Eclypsia could contend on the back of just Welmu and Dayshi. And indeed, when the French terran fell in the first set, things looked very over for the oddball French outfit.

Then Welmu stepped in and dominated. Acer stepped around the issue as much as it could, but in the end, they were forced to throw their ace, Nerchio to stem the bleeding. With the help of a hidden expansion, Nerchio stopped the streak of the Finnish protoss, and saved Acer from embarrassment. While nobody on Acer exactly proved they could beat Nerchio—who would've been the best player in the series, even if Eclypsia hadn't lost their line—it seems reasonable to suggest that Eclypsia may very well have won this set if they had the addition of Scarlett, Artist, and DesRow. It certainly would've been less likely that elfi would've three killed, and thus more pressure would've been placed on Nerchio. And in a ZvZ, let's not forget that Scarlett defeated a Code B korean with even latency.

But alas, it was not to be, and so the Finnish protosses were able to steal the show. Acer will move on to face Prime; an extremely tall order. Bly will need to deliver much more help, and Nerchio will need to carry the team against Prime's onslaught. But losing so much to Welmu is worrying; as good as Welmu played, MKP will prove a much tougher test.




Dignitas was the first team eliminated from IPL TAC #2, and In IPL TAC #3, they didn't get off to much better of a start. Dignitas had no answer for Zenio, and without BlinG or SeleCT, they were especially out of answers. SjoW, who carried the team in an upset of Liquid in the EG MC, was unable to save them in his role as ace player. It was a combination of many things going wrong, and Zenio getting luck and applying his skill when it was most needed.

All of the games went in some kind of macro direction, and the ZvT's in particular were long and scrappy. But the real saving grace for Zenio was his broodlord micro; two words that don't often get put together. Yet Zenio's focus on kiting his broodlords saved them on several occasions from death by marines and paved the way to a comback in both ZvT's. meRz especially held a lead, but Zenio tenaciously held on, crucially killed a wayward drop attempt, and retook the center on Antiga to secure victory.

Wins don't need to be pretty, they just need to happen. In all of his wins, Zenio didn't win with crisp planned strategies, clever all-ins, or dazzling micro. He won simply by being better and smarter in the late game. It was more than enough.

In the next round, Liquid would love another good performance from Zenio, but they'll undoubtedly expect a stiffer fight. Their opponents, Mousesports, are notoriously good at teamleagues, and even though they just lost their ace, in ThorZaIN, rumors are circulating of possible replacements. By the end of the week, it's quite possible that Mousesport's hole will look like a strength again. At any rate, the TL vs mouz match-up is certainly looking like a highlight to come in the tournament's fourth week.




We always had this pegged as a close match, but the Korean-ness of coL's line-up was compelling in making them the favorite here. But FXO.CIS proved the deeper team, and on the back of clutch performances from HappyZerg and BRAT.OK, the Eastern European squad got the better of the mostly Korean one. coL will certainly be looking at the GanZi and Heart sets and asking what went wrong, as having your two best players fall without taking a single win is undoubtedly a recipe for disaster. That it ended up so close is to the credit of Killer, who played very well. Only CatZ came in his support though, but the form the Peruvian zerg showed against BRAT.OK wasn't enough to overcome FXO.CIS's ace, Strelok.

Interestingly, this is also CatZ's last performance in the coL. jersey, as he left the team and restarted the old ROOT team after playing this match.

The Ambitious Terran had a revival in the IPL TAC qualifying, and was good enough here as well. It'll be interesting if his new online form will manifest itself in more offline events. For the moment though, FXO.CIS will need him at home, because the match against NSHoSeo in the following round is a tall order indeed. Last season's runners up have a solid, if unspectacular protoss line, but the real power comes from Jjakji, who was unstoppable, earning the nickname 'The Juggernaut Terran'. FXO.CIS has good TvTers in Brat and Strelok, and HappyZerg did take down GanZi and NaDa. But Jjakji will be a step above, and must be the focus of FXO.CIS's practice for the next round.




Empire looks even more fearsome this week, after they picked up ViNES (formerly of oGs), but their debut of another protoss, TheMista, an AoE champion. It looks like a great pick so far, as the Greek protoss took two crucial PvP sets to catapult Empire to a comfortable victory. TheMista nearly beat Ostojiy as well, but made a crucial over-extension late and was forced to concede. Still, Empire ought to be pleased. Happy and viOlet also delivered as expected. Kas, usually Empire's stalwart, has been a little underwhelming recently, but ought to recover. And with Beastyqt waiting in the wings, this should rank as a comfortable win for Empire, even if went to an eighth game.

But GoSu should also be pleased. Empire is in the elite of global teams, and to go fairly even with them is just fine for GoSu, who was a big underdog. Ostojiy continues to be critical to the team's success, with eccentric and aggressive zerg play that seems highly effective in Bo1 situations. Where GoSu tripped up was probably in sending HwangSin so early, but it's quite likely they were blindsided by the fact that Empire actually has a competent protoss on their roster, which has really never been the case since the days of Empire.NaNiwa. And, of course, someone needed to stop Happy. So well played by GoSu, but especially well played by Empire.

There will be a lot of eyes on Empire, and deservedly so. Empire is one of the few foreign outfits that can take wins from the GSTL teams. In the next round, they've got a doozy in SlayerS. Terran heavy against terran heavy. Prepare for tanks. Here, ViNES and viOlet will be essential, but Empire also should hope to draw upon Kas, Beastyqt, and Happy. All three are strong TvTers, and are more than capable of taking sets off of SlayerS players. With the emergence of one protoss, and the signing of another, Empire is looking stronger than ever before.

Week Two Preview

By NrGmonk

EG is notorious for doing poorly in team leagues. They definately have the starpower and the potential to win any league, but they just too often choke in this team based environment. In the last IPL TAC, they lost 2-5 to oGs before beating a relatively weak Quantic and then getting all killed by Sheth. In their own current Evil Genius Masters Cup Tournament, they're only ranked 7th out of 11. You can blame their poor results Huk's preference to not play cross server or you can defer to the classic complaint about lag in these online-based team leagues when EG is filled with control/micro based players such as Huk and Puma. Or maybe it's the language barrier and country barrier that doesn't allow this team to work as closely together as most other team. Whatever the case, it was clear that EG had to do something big to turn their situation around.

Then they recurited Thorzain. In stark contrast to every member of EG, Thorzain is an absolute beast at online team leagues. As the ace player of Mousesports, Thorzain led his team to championships and extremely high placements with his safe, smart, and stable play that was solid against any of the myriad styles players threw at him in team leagues. In contrast to EG's 7th place in the EGMC, Mousesports current resides 2nd only behind Slayers, thanks largely in part due to Thorzain. While Thorzain may or may not be EG's strongest player, he is without a doubt their ace in team leagues.

iS’s own secret weapon is EG.Axslav iS.Axslav. Axslav, having trained with EG, lived in their houses, and eaten their food, knows their training secrets and has insider information that will no doubt be invaluable in this war. Axslav is also known as a very analytic player, capable of pinpointing weakness in his former teammates and will no doubt share them with his teammates. Then there's Insur, who was extremely strong in the qualifiers, and CrazymovING, who is a former Code A qualifier. Both will need to score some big wins for iS if they hope to pull the upset. Contributions from JEcho and Sandbox would be appreciated as well. Overall, iS has a fun and dynamic team with some real potential for succeess in the future. But they're overmatched here, don't expect them to beat a re-motivated EG led by the Swedish Viking, Thorzain.

Prediction: EG 5-2 iS





In the first corner, filling up the entire corner is Quantic, with the biggest lineup in the IPL TAC. Having recently acquired Vile's entire roster, Quantic, by my count, now houses 17 players. And it's anyone's guess who they'll throw out to play, either Quantic's primer Protoss pair, Sase and Naniwa, their token Korean player, Apocalypse, or their female player, flo. Or perhaps it'll be one of the their original NA players like theognis. Maybe they'll show off their new acquisitions with up-and-comers like Illusion or State. I, for one, will be very interested in seeing who they field as it can tell you so many things, like which players they have confidence in, how they peg the opposing team, and whether their acquisition of Vile helped them at all. The point, however, is that Quantic is scary. They can throw a number of different looks at you, in all races and match-ups. Their line-up is both deep and strong at the top. To pick for a team like Quantic right now would be the dream of many managers.

In the other corner is LucifroN and friends (and family). LucifroN seems to be the only really well known player in this all Spanish team, but he is definitely not to be underestimate. In Warcraft 3, he was known as pretty much the only player who had the talent to break into the scene 5 years after the game came out and actually win tournaments. He is in a similar situation in sc2 as even though he was one of the hottest players in the beta, he took a long break and only recently started playing again, showing amazing results, winning The Gathering 2012 and the SCAN Invitational #5 with a notable 4-0 vs Thorzain in the finals. His brother, Vortix, is probably their 2nd best player, and he's also extremely high as an EU GM, but like in Warcraft 3, he is again overshadowed by the more dominant Lucifron. And then there's... well MikOeL qualified for TSL...

I hate to say this but, it looks like this war will be a test if Quantic can take down Lucifron, and to a lesser extent VortiX. I would like to give Karont3 more credit, but with all their other players having zero results, I can't realistically make a different prediction.

Prediction: Quantic 5-2 Karont3





Surprise! With oGs disbanding, Alternate-Type, the next best performer in the IPL TAC qualifiers, takes their place in the tournament. By banding together, the two teams have enough players to both compete and be competitive in the team leagues. For references here are their rosters. Alternate has Socke, who recently placed top 14 at a very tough MLG Spring Arena II. They have somewhat household names in Cloud and Darkforce. Type's most notable players are Real and Phoenix, both Koreans who are now living in Germany, training at the Type house. With their powers combined, what do they form? Hopefully for them, a winning combination.

At the news of oGs's disbanding, dtG must be breathing a sigh of relief right now. Last week, one of their players was quoted as saying that they had a 0.0000000000000001% chance versus oGs. Yes, that is the right amount of 0's. But they're still not out of the woods yet, if Alternate-Type has anything to say about it. This relatively unknown Korean based team despite not having any known names, except perhaps Sickness, previously NEXSickness. Oh, and GGanDol is notable for getting byes through to the Code A qualifier finals where he 2-1'd Cella. To his credit though, he didn't look too bad in Code A, but got knocked out in the first round.

Even though Alternate-Type looks stronger on paper, you can't discredit dtG. After all, dtG did beat Alternate-Type 5-4 in the first qualifier. You also would be a fool to discount Code B Koreans. After all, remember DRG and Symbol, who were in Code B for the longest time? Remember Puma? He's still in Code B. Just because the talent isn't known in the GSL doesn't mean it's not talent. Still, I'm going to have to give it to the known and proven players in Alternate-Type. These two teams are close, but I like aTn-Type's experience. Same score as the qualifier, but with flipped results.

Prediction: Alternate-Type 5-4 dtG





Not too long ago, TSL looked like the weakest korean team, even over Zenex. Their only notable player, Polt, wasn't doing too swell and they could only field Polt and 3-4 zergs in every team league match. They were bleeding players losing Tester, Fruitdealer, Killer, JYP, Alive, and Heart. They fell out of the last GSTL with extremely disappointing 1-5 and 2-5 scores. Oh how things have changed. First, they recruited Inori from the ashes of Reign and he's been certainly exceeding expectations. Polt has recently been on a tear, either winning or placing second in every foreign tournament he enters(which happens to be a lot). And one zerg has separated himself from the pack in TSL's previously almost all zerg lineup: Symbol has the title of most improved player in the last few months and he's arguably a top five zerg at the moment with 2nd place at Iron Squid, qualifying for code S, 2nd place at MLG Spring Arena II Korean qualifier, and 2nd place at MLG Spring Arena II. In just the last 2 months alone, he has beaten MKP 3-0, Nestea 3-1, JJakji 2-0, MC 2-0, Stephano 2-0, Polt 2-0, Losiria 2-1, and MMA 2-0, a SICK SICK run for anyone. Be scared, because TSL is like a Dragonball Z character near the end of a story-arc. At first, their enemies clearly out-muscled them, so they went into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to train. After a few grueling months, they're ready to exact revenge and show the world what they're capable of.

I wish I had talked about x6 first, because now I'm a bit low on steam with the hype train. x6 is a really really good North American team with a token Korean in Sleep. They relied heavily on Sleep in the qualifiers, and Mystik, a promising US zerg picked up a few wins at the margins. TSL, on the other hand, is the only Korean GSTL team not seeded into the round of 16 and they can field a whole roster of players on the level of or way above the level of Sleep.

Prediction: TSL 5-1 x6