Elite Eight

At the beginning of the season, IPL announced that this TAC would be the last, with a new format teamleague taking its place. This week, we found the eight teams who would make up the Premier division in the new IPTL. Joining the winners bracket semi-finalists, Liquid, SlayerS, Startale, and IM, will be TSL, MVP, Prime, and EG.

This week, we'll get a preview of that tournament, as all of these teams will play this week to see who can move on in the IPL TAC3. Coming off of a thrilling defeat of Prime, Liquid will hope to repeat the magic against SlayerS, who have dropped only three sets all season. But that performance is topped by IM, who has only dropped a single set. They face Startale, who just barely squeezed past TSL in the previous round.

Drop down to the lower bracket, and we see a titanic clash between two teams known for up and coming zerg lines; TSL and MVP, as well as a potential do-over for Prime, who faces Liquid's rivals EG, or for EG, who didn't get the chance to beat NSHoSeo, as that team simply forfeited the match.

We're down to six top korean teams, and the two most famous foreign ones. From here on out, everyone plays, every week. Two teams will bid adieu to the tournament. Two will lose the first of their two lives. This is all you can ask for; the biggest foreign teamleague stage. At the end of this week, and the following two, we'll be left with just a couple of names left; flying to San Francisco for the grand finals.

Good stuff.

Week Nine (Losers Round 3) Review

By tree.hugger

TSL, the powerful Korean team against Acer, the upstart foreign squad. The storyline practically wrote itself, until it looked dead in the water four games in, with RevivaL on a roll and Nerchio, Bly, and ParanOid all out. Who else was there left?

And then the storyline came back with a vengeance.

Acer's new pick-up, the prodigiously talented Scarlett, stopped RevivaL cold and then ripped into TSL's fleshy protoss underbelly, destroying Inori and Cyrano before TSL, down to their final player, wised up and sent out Polt. Still, nothing was decided, as Scarlett hung in against repeated aggression from Polt, finally succumbing after a long game. Then, Acer sent out DarkHydra, who on paper has been their weakest link. But the only non-zerg on Acer had a trick up his sleeve, cheesing Polt on Sandshorn Mists with a mass reaper, hellion and scv pull that came down to a 10hp tank getting repaired at the last possible second for Polt's defenses to hold. It was undoubtedly the most dramatic moment in the whole of the IPL TAC 3 so far, and we'll be spoiled if we have another like it.

Acer was 10hp away, but close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and protoss deathball micro. The lime green destroyers are out in heartbreaking fashion; very similar to the way in which Liquid fell to Prime and FXO, with a last gasp dt switch dooming them in TAC2. But the future looks bright for Acer. They played every team they faced extremely tough, their 3-2 record and +3 differential stand out in this extremely stacked tournament. For a team that started out looking extremely vulnerable, shallow, and one dimensional, they have come out looking like one of the premier foreign outfits. Now if only they could get another protoss!

TSL moves on by the skin of it's teeth to go face MVP. The remain a scary scary team, and perhaps not sending SymboL vs Acer was a sign of over confidence. They obviously will know what MVP is about, however, and won't make the same mistake again. Still, TSL has been a funny team to follow this season. They always produce entertaining series, at least, having gone to a ninth game in all matches but their opener against x6. They're a bit like Prime in TAC2, who also had a penchant for 5-4 games, although Prime never dropped to the losers bracket. We know TSL is good, we know they can beat MVP, but they can certainly lose as well. We'll see if they can make the series a stylish nine game one again.





After upsetting Empire in the previous week, Karont3 had a reputation to keep, and even though they couldn't take the victory against MVP, they certainly acquitted themselves well. LoLvsxD got his first win for Karont, AlaStOr took a victory too, and even though LucifroN and VortiX couldn't carry the team, they delivered solid performances. Perhaps that's too accommodating an assessment, but the Spanish National Team has come a long way since the beginning of the tournament to even be considered a fair opponent for a top caliber team like MVP.

There's plenty of other ways to get to know Karont3 and their associates if you enjoyed their performance here. VortiX just played in the IPL Fight Club against ST_Squirtle, where he lost 3-5, but played quite well. He's also qualified for the TSL4. Both he and LucifroN will represent Spain at WCS Europe. Karont3, in some capacity, whether as this hybrid team or something different will also have qualified for the challenger division of the IPTL, which is scheduled to come next season. With their impressive performance, nobody can count them out in that league.

MVP will move on to face TSL; a thrilling battle of the best two teams from the GSTL second groupstage. These are two squads that have produced a number of excellent prospects, and it'll be exciting to see them do battle. Vampire, Lure, Sniper, and Monster, matching up against HyuN, SymboL, RevivaL and Inori. Waiting in the wings are Polt and DRG. Just as TSL has played almost all nine set matches, MVP has played nearly all quick ones. With a 5-0 win, a 1-5 loss, and this 5-3 win, it'll be interesting to see whether TSL's trend of down to the wire games, or MVP's trend of playing decisive series will prevail.





Tear was a force for FXO in the GSTL, but you had to feel things wouldn't go the way of the orange and black when MKP came out and took charge against the upcoming protoss. FXO threw all they had against the Prime ace, finally succeeding with Leenock, but the damage was done; you don't lose three of your best four players without repercussions. After Creator took out Leenock, it was down to TheBest. Despite reports that he's better now than he used to be, our infamous friend reverted to form against Creator, and it worked. Then he got knocked off by B4, and it was all over too quickly for FXO.

FXO has had a sad fall recently. Back in TAC2, GuMiho, Leenock, Lucky and Oz was one of the most fearsome foursomes in the game. But with Oz gone and the rest of that three slumping (or was Lucky ever that strong to begin with?) they've struggled to make themselves into a presence. The emergence of players like Tear, Tree (this writer hopes), and Whale, plus the apparent revival of TheBest should give fans of FXO hope. Come the IPTL, this could be a top tier team again. But the timing conspired against them for this event.

Meanwhile, Prime advances, as expected, but in the losers bracket (not as expected). Next up, they face EG. They'll be favored, just like against everybody, but they will need to be careful against another hybrid korean-foreigner team. Prime actually played SlayerS-EG in the GSTL, but no EG players were used, instead Prime was all-killed by SlayerS_CoCa. Indeed, that loss and their demise at the hands of Liquid`TaeJa has led to Prime not having quite the aura of invincibility that they had before. While Prime is probably happy to be facing EG instead of MvP or TSL, EG could quite reasonably say they're happy to be facing Prime as well.





Only the second walkover in the IPL TAC3, this was a weird one, given how deep into the tournament it was. Why NSHoSeo didn't show up to play EG isn't clear to me, but just like Quantic, they done goofed. It's important for teams to play events like these; they're a showcase for players and for your brand. Perhaps NSHoSeo doesn't care as much about a foreign league, but they ought to; foreign tournaments are perfectly willing to bring over notable koreans to win money, as we all know. But you can't be notable without playing in events like these.

EG didn't get the chance to prove their mettle vs a Korean team, and there's no sense in docking them points simply because their opponents no-show'd. But the questions and the story for EG is the same this week as it was the last. Is this a team that can put together a teamleague run in the crowded pseudo-GSTL field? Can they compete as a team with the best? On paper yes, but many things that look good on paper aren't true in the end. EG had a golden opportunity vs NSHoSeo, now they have a tougher opponent in Prime, but still an opponent who can be beat. If they can put the pieces together and look as strong as they did against everyone but MvP.Monster, than EG could inflict a tremendous upset in booting the champions out of the tournament.

Week Ten (Winners Semis, Losers First-Semis) Preview

By NrGmonk

Winners Bracket Matches

Who would have expected this match for the winners bracket semifinals? Certainly not this writer. As the winners bracket round of eight was dominated by seven Korean teams and only one foreign-based team in Liquid, it seemed only natural that Liquid, as the odd man out, would fall to the losers bracket. To make matters worse, Liquid was facing Prime, a team that held the titles of GSTL, KSL, and IPL TAC champions at the same time. All seemed lost when Hero fell in an hour long game, which both shattered Liquid's hopes and put them at a 0-3 disadvantage. But out of nowhere, Taeja surprised everyone and managed an all-kill, beating greats including Maru, Creator, and even MKP.

Slayers has had mixed results in team leagues recently. On one hand, SlayerS, with some help from EG, recently made it to the round of 4 of the GSL, also known as the playoffs of the most prestigious team league in the world. But on the other, SlayerS only achieved third in EGMC, losing to both compLexity and Fnatic in the playoffs. Although this would have been an accomplishment for any other team, SlayerS was expected to completely dominate the league, being the only 100% Korean team with previous team league accomplishments. For SlayerS, it was a failure.

Although this match will air on Tuesday, I can assure to everyone planning to watch that it was played far in advance of NASL lan finals, which put a lot of players from both teams out of commission. In fact, both teams will have access to their full and complete rosters. That is, we will definitely have the opportunity to see the likes of Puzzle, Alicia, Ryung, CoCa, and MMA for SlayerS, and Hero, Taeja, and Ret for Liquid.

A full roster for Liquid means a compete team with a roster that has never looked better than they do now. Taeja has won almost every online qualifier he's entered as well as achieving back-to-back GSL round of eights. Hero recently won the IPL Hot Import Nights Showmatch, beating Quantic.Illusion and top ranked player in the world by GSL points, DRG. He did dodge MMA, however. And Ret made top placements in both HSC and NASL, notably beating SlayerSPuzzle 3:1 along the way.

SlayerS also has many players who have performed admirably recently. Puzzle is the hero of Slayers, carrying them through most of the current GSTL season. Alicia has surprised everyone with his amazing results, despite the lack of personality in his play, getting second at both MLG Spring Championships and NASL. Ryung, despite not making it far in the GSL, has been brimming with confidence and shown us extremely high quality games, most notably a clinic on late game TvZ versus DRG in the GSL. CoCa, following in Taeja's footsteps, has also recently all-killed Prime, but on an even more prestigious stage in the GSTL. And while MMA isn't his usualy dominating self, history has taught us never to underestimate former GSL champions.

Whatever the final result, this will be an extremely close battle, but based on momentum, I'm going to lean towards our boys in blue on Team Liquid. Taeja will have the chance to battle his former team and continue his amazing streak of wins. Hero will also play an important role in this war; with SlayerS' best Terrans being weak in the TvP match-up and Hero's PvZ being one of the best in the world. SlayerS' best chance at taking out Hero should be a PvP, which can be rather random. And as with any preview, I have to bring up the Zerg factor: As Liquid has a top tier Zerg roster of Ret, Sheth, Zenio, Haypro, and TLO, how can they lose?

Prediction: Liquid 5:4 SlayerS




Startale's acquisition of Zenex seemed strange to me at first. After all, I consider Startale to have one of the strongest five man lineups of any team in any team, with the ability to send out Squirtle, Bomber, Parting, Curious, and Virus/Hack/Ace in any given team match. But then it hit me when I played a game of world association with myself: team leagues-of course, Zergs! Although Curious is no slouch and probably a top 10 Zerg in the world, he alone cannot fulfill the Zerg needs of a team the caliber of Startale. And with July in decline and going to his mandatory military service fairly soon, Startale needed a new injection of Zerg larvae. Which is just what Zenex provided. Although Zenex was widely considered the weakest Korean team pre-merger, what they did have going for them was a strong lineup of Zergs. Most notable is Life, a Zerg who was the star of his team this season of GSTL, and as of this writing, the current third ranked player in Korea according to TLPD. With Zenex behind them, Startale now has even more viable, solid options, becoming even more of a favorite in this league.

IM is a team known for not doing nearly as well in team leagues as individual teams; they are known as a team whose coach often makes questionable lineup decisions. So it should be a surprise that IM got this far in this competition by upsetting team league favorites, MVP. One thing going for IM is the rise of their Protoss lineup. IM has always had strong Terrans in MVP, Happy, and Yoda, and Zerg masters in Nestea and LosirA. But their Protosses in Seed and Younghwa always played too conservatively, and as a result, not up to par with the rest of the team. For example, Younghwa, for a very long time, used the overly safe 2 gate robo build exclusively in every PvT he played. These days, the name of IM Protoss has a very different meaning. Both IM Protosses have now adapted their conservative macro styles into something that actually works. And as a result, Seed is now in the round of four in the GSL and Younghwa both recently won the HSC Korean qualifier and got second place in the main HSC tournament.

Both teams certainly deserve to be here, but I question IM's path a bit more. Against MVP in the last round, they relied on Happy to proxy 2 rax DRG on an unfamiliar map for him. Meanwhile, Startale beat TSL, an incredibly strong team at the moment, in a close match that displayed immense skill from both sides. For this, and Startale's more consistent performance in generally in team leagues, I predict a win for the men in black and orange.

Prediction: Startale 5:3 IM

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Losers Bracket Matches


TSL vs MVP doesn't seem like a match we'd see in the losers round of of the IPL TAC3; rather, it seems like a potential finals of the GSTL. And that's exactly what it is. Both TSL and MVP are now semifinalists in current iteration of GSTL, and being that they are on opposite sides of the bracket, TSL vs MVP might very well be this season's finals. Both teams are very similar, in that they are backed with a mostly Zerg lineup including a Zerg super-ace. TSL is the quintessential Zerg team, with the ability to field the likes of Symbol, Hyun, Shine, Ragnarok, and Revival. And even without their formidable players of other races, such as Polt and Inori, TSL is a still competitive team, which they showed by beating NSH in the GSTL with an all Zerg lineup. MVP shares a similar story. While they used to be a well-rounded team, backed by the core of DRG/Genius/sC, these days, their best players all seem to come in the form of Zergs: Monster, Sniper, and of course, DRG.

Which reminds me: we should talk about each team's respective super-aces. Of all the players in the GSTL, DRG and Symbol show the most potential and ability to all-kill opposing teams. Sure, players like MC, Nestea, MMA, and MVP could arguably be better players with better results, but none of these have shown any recent competence in team leagues. And with Nestea slumping a bit, DRG and Symbol are also competing for the best Zerg in Korea. Unfortunately for Symbol, while it was a close contest last month, DRG is now leading by a wide margin. While DRG has recently won a big international tournament in the MLG Spring Championship, Symbol has yet to produce any tournament wins. While DRG is still in the GSL, Symbol dropped out rather surprisingly to Seed. And most recently, when DRG and Symbol were put into the same ODT group, it was DRG who came out triumphant, with Symbol not even achieving top two. If either of these Zerg super-aces fall, the other team will get a huge advantage, as both players have the potential to all-kill each others' teams. So as MVP has the stronger and more substantial ace, my vote goes to them.

Prediction: MVP 5:4 TSL




Prime is looking for both redemption and revenge in this match against EG this week. As the current champions of GSTL, IPL TAC, and KSL, Prime has a lot of pride and is eager to defend all three championships. But after being eliminated from the GSTL and with the next season of KSL nowhere in sight, Prime can now divert their full attention to this one league and a focused Prime is a scary one. As for revenge, it was SlayerS-EG who dealt the killing blow to Prime's career in the GSTL, and now that EG doesn't have their partners in crime, SlayerS, to help them out, Prime seems to have cornered their prey in a corner.

After all, who would have though EG would be here, in the round of 8 of IPL TAC3, already qualified for the Premier Division of IPL TAC4? Certainly not me. Last week, EG was scheduled to play NSH for the chance to advance into top 8 of IPL TAC3 and to advance to the premier division of next season. However, NSH forfeited their match, probably so they could focus on their upcoming do-or-die GSTL match against FXO. (They died, by the way.) Whatever the reason, EG got a lucky free pass, and are now among the absolute best teams in the world in this round of eight. Unfortunately, EG has not shown that they actually deserve to be this far in the competition. So far in IPL TAC3, they have beaten only lower tier teams including i7, Dignitas, and dtG. But as soon they met a top tier Korean team in MVP, they were easily all-killed without much of a fight.

Due to an unfortunately forfeit by NSH, we now have a David and Goliath scenario this late in this competition. (And who would have thought EG would ever be the David in a David and Goliath analogy?) Although Prime as a team has not been doing so well, their main players have all been performing in individual leagues. Creator has recently won his first big online tournaments in both a TSL qualifier and the first Gigabyte Nvidia Invitational. Byun is now in the round of four of the GSL, and looking to go even further. And MKP is still MKP. In contrast, none of EG's players have really been in top form. Unless EG suddenly shows a sudden and unexpected spark of inspiration, Prime should have no problems with this one.

Prediction: Prime 5:2 EG