Marquee

Plenty of IPL TAC was played last week, and it was of such great importance, that we broke our usual schedule to cover the first lower bracket final. This week, we look at the aftermath from that stunning match and the winners final, which gave us our first team in San Francisco. Most importantly, we've got a preview of Liquid vs SlayerS, the lower bracket final that is coming tonight.

But first, a few words.

There's not so much of this tournament left to go, and we've enjoyed covering it. Each of the 24 teams that entered has given us a great show, and some went above and beyond the normal, inspiring viewers with their play, tenacity, and creativity. In teamleagues, there's and extra element that makes the tournament more exciting than usual. There's the sense that comebacks are always possible (as we saw today), that results are impossible to predict, (as poor NrGmonk has discovered) and that when players are representing their team they can put on a level of play that is miles ahead of the way they play just for themselves.

There are a lot of questions to be asked tonight. Can Liquid get revenge on SlayerS? Can SlayerS make it back to face off against Incredible Miracle? Can TaeJa be stopped? Can SlayerS' young guns deliver once again? Can a TL writer's curse affect a match that was played before the write-up was written?

These questions and more; tonight!

Winners Bracket Final and Losers Bracket Final #1

By tree.hugger

Winners Bracket Final

The battle between the two giants ended up being a pretty one-sided affair. IM brought out LosirA... and that was about it. The former GSL finalist has truly been showing that he is out of his slump, and even if he never reaches the height he once did, results like this will surely be common. Most relevant for this tournament, LosirA showed everyone what we'd figured all along but had no proof of. SlayerS has a lot of up and coming talent, but they're not at that level yet. And by that "that" level, I'm still not sure what it is. But we've been watching SlayerS crush people with players like MiyA who are totally obscure, and at last, someone made us feel justified in saying "who is this guy?"

After Puzzle finally emerged and beat back LosirA, IM sent out MC (and viewers all learned that IM-SK is a thing for IPL TAC too.. who knew) and that was that. SlayerS might have a right to be a little annoyed at that, but the idea of Puzzle beating Seed, First, YoDa and Happy is a pretty tough sell.

So that sends SlayerS down to face Liquid in the Lower Bracket finals. The last two teams remaining with just a single loss will face off tonight, with the winner moving on to San Francisco. While SlayerS defeated Liquid earlier, it wasn't a total stomp, and after this result against IM, it's not clear tat either team has what it takes to defeat the team of the last two GSL champs. Still, SlayerS will be hoping for a second chance (and redemption for their GSTL defeat) and they'll be favored to do so against Liquid.

Meanwhile, IM can sit tight. They've got tickets to San Francisco in hand, an advantage against whomever their finals opponent will be, and will also be favored against them period. With Seed having just won the GSL, and the rest of the First-LosirA, YoDa, Happy combo looking strong, this is clearly a superb opportunity for IM to take over the world. They're not going to be much more in-form than this.



Losers Bracket Final #1


Liquid looked dead. No other way to put it. HerO, Ret, Sheth and TLO had all lost. Just like the GSTL, Life was rampaging. But unlike the GSTL, Liquid had a final ace up their sleeve, and in the blink of an eye, it all changed. TaeJa's performance against Startale was among the best single efforts of the tournament, topping his all-kill of Prime simply by the sheer artistry of the games. It's not that Startale played poorly, in fact, they played a tremendous series. Life, Curious, Squirtle and Bomber both looked on the ball. The issue was, TaeJa played even better. Against Life and Curious, he put on a clinic of maneuver and macro. Against Squirtle, he demonstrated the power of EMP. Against Bomber he showed tenacity, decision making, and the power of a single upgrade. In the end, it's Liquid that moves on, and Startale, who played so brilliantly, that comes away with only a fourth place finish.

Happy trails to Startale. They really were impressive. While quite a few deeps have 'depth' in this tournament, Startale has at least six players who are their 'top line' and would make the top line of anyone else. They have a fantastic set of aces. They have a ton of players overall. Unfortunately, TaeJa.

Speaking of TaeJa, this kid is on fire in a way we've rarely seen. Even before the MLG Arena, but especially after it, TaeJa's results have been ridiculous. Last season, Liquid made the top six of the IPL TAC. The tournament has gotten harder, but the team made the top sixteen without TaeJa, and would likely have placed highly. But the difference between that result and this one (which, of course, is not yet completely decided) is TaeJa. They're now up against SlayerS. The path to victory for Liquid looks quite similar to the way they beat Startale. Take whatever victories you can in the first matches, using Sheth, Ret, TLO and Zenio in their best match-ups. And then clean up with TaeJa and HerO. Will it work again? Why not? Startale on paper looks stronger than SlayerS. Ret beat Puzzle at NASL3. TaeJa beat Alicia at MLG, and HerO nearly did. CoCa, Genius, and the aforementioned Puzzle are good, but can we say they're better than TaeJa, HerO, and Zenio? Not so sure.

First Losers Bracket Finals Preview

By NrGmonk

I give up. As I watched Liquid versus Startale in last week's edition of IPL TAC, I was torn over who to root for. One one hand, as a staunch fan and supporter of both TeamLiquid and Taeja, I adamantly cheered for Liquid. But on the other, if Liquid won, I would have been 0-4 in my predictions of Liquid versus Korean teams in the IPL TAC, slowly inching myself closer and closer to the title of the Kim Carrier of Starcraft 2. (Note: Kim Carrier was a Starcraft 1 caster most notable for his outbursts during casting and streak of mis-predicting 31 tournaments in a row.) Going into the match, I thought that there was no way a foreigner team like Liquid could overtake a team like Startale; in fact, in my preview of this match, I even went so far as to call Startale's lineup a perfect counter to Liquid's. In the middle of the match, I thought there was no way Taeja could come back from a 1:4 map-score deficit against a team like Startale. And even in the last minutes of the last game, I seriously doubted Taeja's ability to take it home from the precarious situation he put himself in. But I was wrong, dead wrong. Taeja grabbed a broom from his closet and sweeped all his games to take the match. Which brings us here.

This week's meetup pits Liquid against SlayerS in a rematch from the winners bracket where Liquid was knocked down to the losers bracket by the GSTL second place team. Interestingly enough, SlayerS was the only team I predicted to lose to Liquid, so of course it was SlayerS, and only SlayerS, who have beaten Liquid in this team league. For SlayerS, this is a chance at redemption. After achieving only third in the EGMC and only second in last week's GSTL finals, SlayerS knows exactly what it feels like to get so close to the prize and yet just barely fall short. They know what it's like to be humiliated, losing in the EGMC to inferior teams on paper and getting all-killed in the GSTL finals without scoring a single point. The last thing they want to add to this list is losing to a foreigner team in yet another team league.

Liquid, on the other hand, has the chance to make history. They have already proven that they are a solid contender for any team league. They have proven that they could do a ton of damage in the next season of GSTL, should they choose to compete. But it would be monumental if they made it all the way in a league filled with just about every single Korean-based team, all the way to grand finals stage, which this time would be a literal stage. It would be magical if Liquid then were somehow able to take back-to-back series against IM, a team with 8 GSL titles. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here; Boxer's sons still stand in their way.

SlayerS is a team that has shown great depth, having multiple team-league ready players of each race. Even "second-stringers" like Min, Miya, and Yugioh have shown incredible promise in team leagues. One huge glaring weakness they have this time is their inability to properly prepare for this match. As this match was played close to the GSTL finals, SlayerS surely prioritized their upcoming GSTL finals in front of thousands of people on a live stage to their online match played in their team house. Thus, SlayerS is more likely to use players who did not participate in the GSTL finals. A lesser chance of MMA, Ryung, Puzzle, and CoCa? Yes! A lesser chance of Min, the slayer of Hero? Hooray!

Still, no matter who SlayerS decides to send out, the end result may not matter. Of all the stars who will be playing in this match, including the resurgent MMA, GSTL most wins winner, CoCa, and the silver miner, Alicia, it is still Taeja who shines the most. In each of Liquid's major wins against Korean teams, Taeja proved to be the star of the show, with a 2-kill versus MVP, an all-kill of Prime, and a reverse 4-kill of Startale. I have come to sudden realization of why Taeja is so damn successful in IPL TAC. To Taeja, IPL TAC is just another online tournament. And Taeja does not lose online tournaments. Although Taeja has recently proven he can perform at LANs, it was online tournaments, specifically the ESV tournaments where we first took note of the micro-intensive Terran. His streak of six gold finishes in seven consecutive ESV cups confounded us all, and although Taeja has eased off of these tournaments for a while, he has recently begun to dominate online tournaments like no other. In a very short time frame, Taeja won an MLG qualifier, an IPL qualifier, a TSL qualifier, and the ESV Season 3 finals, not to mention qualifying for WCG at a LAN. Taeja dominates in the online environment where nerves become less of an issue and he can rely on his raw skill instead of preparation to take games. At a LAN, there may be still a handful of people favored over Taeja, but online, Taeja is king. Last time, it was Alicia who took out Taeja in the SlayerS vs Liquid war, but Taeja has since more than proven that he is a match for this mere mortal, besting him in a best-of-seven at MLG Summer Arena. And don't forget, it was not too long ago that SlayerS was all-killed by a Terran, a Terran many would consider lesser than Taeja.

As I sit here, writing this preview while hoping for an epic Liquid win and their advancement to the LAN finals in San Francisco, I feel there is only one sensible thing to do with my Kim Carrier curse, and that is to call this: SlayerS will definitely win this match and it will not even be close. Ret will lose to another early pool. Sheth's keyboard will fall out of his lap during a pivotal moment in one of his games. Hero will squander a 200/200 fully upgraded carrier army in a PvZ he's already won. Taeja, especially, will not score a single point. Take that, fate.

Prediction: SlayerS 5:0 Liquid