• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 00:09
CEST 06:09
KST 13:09
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall10HomeStory Cup 27 - Info & Preview18Classic wins Code S Season 2 (2025)16Code S RO4 & Finals Preview: herO, Rogue, Classic, GuMiho0TL Team Map Contest #5: Presented by Monster Energy6
Community News
Firefly given lifetime ban by ESIC following match-fixing investigation12$25,000 Streamerzone StarCraft Pro Series announced6Weekly Cups (June 30 - July 6): Classic Doubles6[BSL20] Non-Korean Championship 4x BSL + 4x China9Flash Announces Hiatus From ASL66
StarCraft 2
General
Firefly given lifetime ban by ESIC following match-fixing investigation The SCII GOAT: A statistical Evaluation TL Team Map Contest #4: Winners Weekly Cups (June 30 - July 6): Classic Doubles The GOAT ranking of GOAT rankings
Tourneys
$25,000 Streamerzone StarCraft Pro Series announced FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series WardiTV Mondays
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
[UMS] Zillion Zerglings
External Content
Mutation # 481 Fear and Lava Mutation # 480 Moths to the Flame Mutation # 479 Worn Out Welcome Mutation # 478 Instant Karma
Brood War
General
BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ [G] Progamer Settings ASL20 Preliminary Maps [ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall SC uni coach streams logging into betting site
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL20] Non-Korean Championship 4x BSL + 4x China [BSL20] Grand Finals - Sunday 20:00 CET CSL Xiamen International Invitational
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers I am doing this better than progamers do.
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile What do you want from future RTS games? Beyond All Reason
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Positive Thoughts on Setting Up a Dual-Caliber FX
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Summer Games Done Quick 2025! Stop Killing Games - European Citizens Initiative
Fan Clubs
SKT1 Classic Fan Club! Maru Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
Formula 1 Discussion 2024 - 2025 Football Thread NBA General Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NHL Playoffs 2024
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
Culture Clash in Video Games…
TrAiDoS
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 546 users

[TSL4] Ro16 Sunday Preview

Forum Index > News
42 CommentsPost a Reply
1 2 3 Next All

[TSL4] Ro16 Sunday Preview

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
August 12th, 2012 05:34 GMT
  • hack vs hasuobs
  • sting vs darkforce
  • creator vs coca
  • taeja vs first
  • Liquipedia


st_hack vs mouzcc.hasuobs


kr (T)ST_Hack < Metropolis > de (P)mouzCC.HasuObs
kr (T)ST_Hack < Cloud Kingdom > de (P)mouzCC.HasuObs
kr (T)ST_Hack < Ohana > de (P)mouzCC.HasuObs
kr (T)ST_Hack < Entombed Valley > de (P)mouzCC.HasuObs
kr (T)ST_Hack < Metropolis > de (P)mouzCC.HasuObs


During the last TSL, HasuObs took out Boxer 3 – 0 to make his way to the semi-finals. This time around he swept his former mouz teammate ThorZaIN to advance into the Ro16. Then and now, no one who is familiar with HasuObs' tournament performances is really that surprised. HasuObs has always been able to hang with the best European players, and his only fault is that he hasn't had the luck to win a high-profile tournament in his SC2 career. In that way you could say he's like a German, Protoss version of DIMAGA before he finally found gold at Assembly Summer 2011. Rest assured, we will question his ability to make it deep in tournaments come the later rounds, but in the Ro16, we like his chances.

His opponent, Hack, is a borderline Code S Korean Terran whose best match-up is TvP. He will be an extremely difficult player to go up against, but he's not unassailable. Perhaps shaken by the expectations of having to beat an 'inferior' player, he is coming off a recent loss in the WCS tournament against Samsung's RorO. In his mind, HasuObs is probably another inferior player, but that kind of dangerous thinking could lose him two games in a row. Then again, Hack just beat MaNa – one of Europe's premier players – with a crushing 3 – 0 score in the previous round, so perhaps it's us who are not giving the Korean enough credit for his TvP ability.

Style wise, this should be a classic duel of sword vs shield. HasuObs is at his best when he can safely macro up, max-out his army, and slaughter the Terran forces in favorable engagements. Hack's late-game Terran is decent, but his biggest strength is his ability to abuse the firepower and mobility of Medivac-marauder-marine during the phases of the game where Protoss defenses are stretched thin. If he can weather the storm, HasuObs should be in good shape to take the games, but he's in danger of crumpling to the floor without a fight if he doesn't have 100% concentration while defending.

One peculiar twist is that Hack displayed a unique mech style of TvP when he played in the TLOpen qualifiers for TSL4. Without any Korean TvP games since then, we haven't seen whether it's still in his arsenal. Against MaNa, he preferred to play bio as well. Is he just hiding his mech so he can use it against future opponents, or has he decided after further experimentation that it's just not worth it? Hopefully it's the former, because his mech games ended up being some of the most entertaining. Overall, Hack is favored slightly, but this match is definitely on our upset watch.

sting vs atn.darkforce


kr (T)NSH_Sting < Cloud Kingdom > de (Z)aTn.DarKFoRcE
kr (T)NSH_Sting < Daybreak > de (Z)aTn.DarKFoRcE
kr (T)NSH_Sting < Entombed Valley > de (Z)aTn.DarKFoRcE
kr (T)NSH_Sting < Ohana > de (Z)aTn.DarKFoRcE
kr (T)NSH_Sting < Cloud Kingdom > de (Z)aTn.DarKFoRcE


As two of the biggest dark horse candidates in this tournament, Sting and DarkForce are players who unfortunately have become lost in the shuffle due to being from countries with great Starcraft depth and a considerable number of marketable stars. Alas, what celebrities they could have been in the USA! Instead they will have to make their names known the hard way, by defeating great players and winning tournaments. Luckily for them, TSL is one the greatest launching pads in the scene.

From what we can tell, Sting has left NSH and is now all out there on his own. However, considering that PartinG never forgets to thank him for practice in his recent PvT interviews, we can surmise that he's still well connected. If he can summon equivalently skilled players at ZvT as PartinG is at PvT, then being out of a team shouldn't hurt his preparations for this match against DarkForce at all.

The TvZ style Sting showed us in his impressive TSL4 qualifier run was one of hyper-aggression, sending streams of reinforcements across the map to batter his Zerg opponent into submission. It's an older style from the pre-queen buff days, when you didn't have to fight on creep about 99% of the time, but he still managed to make it work against strong lair stage players like CoCa and HyuN.

DarkForce is actually somewhat similar to the other German who is playing on this match day, HasuObs. Both have been known to be quite good for a long time, both are excellent with end game compositions, but both haven't really had the break-out performance to make them known on a broader scale. Unlike HasuObs, at least DarkForce got a chance to impress the North American audience by defeating aLive in the first round of NASL S1, but that even then he was quickly overshadowed by an even better foreigner performance as Sen made his third place run. On a marginally related note, Darkforce has a penchant for unintentionally comedy, and aTn manager Take should consider making a popular youtube series based around his amusing player to increase his profile worldwide.

Late game ZvT is where DarkForce shines the most. A year ago, he was already babying his expensive infestors and brood lords more carefully than some prominent foreign Zergs can manage even now (we won't mention any names, but one's from the Netherlands and the other is from Ukraine). Many Zergs have caught up in the hive management department as it became an integral part of their game, and it's made DarkForce's greatest strength a little less unique, but it's a strength nonetheless. Unfortunately, DarkForce's play at the early and mid phases of the game is wanting in comparison, and he doesn't always complete his end game composition without getting severely bloodied beforehand (if not killed).

If Sting is as relentless as he was against Hyun and CoCa, then DarkForce might very well be in trouble. He will certainly want to study those games and find a solution, but the answer might not be a simple strategic adjustment. More likely, it means he will just have to flank better, inject more often, and micro more accurately – not improvements that are easily made in a short amount of time. We don't know much about Sting's late game play, but assuming that he plays against high level Korean pros on a regular basis, nothing DarkForce does should seem particularly impressive to him. While this is a prime opportunity for both players to shine, we think it will be Sting who keeps his tournament hopes alive.

creatorprime vs slayers_coca


kr (P)CreatorPrime < Entombed Valley > kr (Z)SlayerS_CoCa
kr (P)CreatorPrime < Metropolis > kr (Z)SlayerS_CoCa
kr (P)CreatorPrime < Cloud Kingdom > kr (Z)SlayerS_CoCa
kr (P)CreatorPrime < Ohana > kr (Z)SlayerS_CoCa
kr (P)CreatorPrime < Entombed Valley > kr (Z)SlayerS_CoCa


Despite both being great Korean players that have fairly unique playstyles, Creator and CoCa just haven’t quite found the spark to bring themselves into the upper echelon of Code S level competition. Also, having more recently made their skill known, they have yet to have many opportunities to compete abroad. However, here in the TSL, two of the best rising players in the world will be given a chance to showcase their skills.

As far as recent results, both players have an impressive number of victories over top opponents, but not consecutively in a single event. CoCa performed excellently in the GSTL and ESV weeklies, and Creator made a brief Code S appearance before getting sent to the Up/Down matches. Both showed stellar play in their TSL qualifier runs, showing they are definitely in top shape coming into this tournament. Though his GSL results were pedestrian, Creator did quite well elsewhere, taking a little-noticed victory in the Gigabyte Nvidia Invitational with Bo5 wins against Leenock, MarineKing, and Nerchio. Additionally, he's coming in with a 2 - 1 victory over DongRaeGu in the WCS Korea Nationals, which is the biggest confidence booster any Protoss player could get. In their Ro32 matches both players made quick work of foreigner opposition, with Creator looking solid in a quick 3-0 over SeleCT and CoCa getting over a first game defeat against SaSe, by taking three straight from there.

Creator plays solid, efficient two-way threat PvZ builds, capable of taking a third base safely or just going for the all-in. He’s not afraid to take games late, having just as much confidence in picking apart the hive army as he does in finishing games off two or three bases. CoCa on the other hand plays a bit of an unconventional style, but not in the sense that he uses tons of all-ins or totally off-the-wall strategies. CoCa just tends to do things with his own little spin.

This match is a tough one to call. Both are looking stellar, but neither is looking close to unstoppable. This match will likely come down to maps, preparation, and simply who has a better day on game day. Zergs in Korea have been lamenting their Protoss woes a bit as of late, so we're going to go ahead and pick Creator for a match that is certain to be close an exciting.

liquid`taeja vs lg-im_first


kr (T)Liquid`TaeJa < Cloud Kingdom > kr (P)LG-IM_First
kr (T)Liquid`TaeJa < Entombed Valley > kr (P)LG-IM_First
kr (T)Liquid`TaeJa < Ohana > kr (P)LG-IM_First
kr (T)Liquid`TaeJa < Metropolis > kr (P)LG-IM_First
kr (T)Liquid`TaeJa < Daybreak > kr (P)LG-IM_First


Alongside Creator vs CoCa and Squirtle vs Curious, this match is one TSL4 matches that will feature Code S level play.

Not much more can be said about TaeJa than what has already been said. He’s on fire, he often looks like the best Terran player in the world, and he has all the momentum behind him going into this tournament. Adding a victory at ASUS ROG was almost expected, and it reinforced the growing opinion that TaeJa simply was better than the competition. He did look a little shaky in his Ro32 series against Bischu, but he may have relaxed a little too much after making Bischu look silly in the first two games.

Just recently, he went 7 - 1 against LG-IM in the IPL TAC3 finals, further solidifying his reputation as the best Terran. If he had singlehandedly won the series for Liquid, we'd be billing him as THE best player in the world. He was particularly impressive in TvP, looking most of the LG-IM Protoss line look outclassed, with the highlight being a ridiculous win against Younghwa from disadvantageous position on Antiga Shipyard. Unfortunately Liquid, TaeJa was eventually taken out by Seed (who annoyingly decided to not qualify for TSL4 in favor of silly things like winning Code S), so the hype train has been temporarily halted, albeit at a very high peak.

On the other hand, First is a bit of a mystery, someone who had gone relatively unnoticed until he decided to roll over a bunch of Terrans at MLG Summer Arena, including TOP, PuMa, GanZi, and aLive before falling to TaeJa. At the very least we know his PvT is very good, and at the same time we can say it's still probably not as good as TaeJa's TvP, and he’ll certainly need to bring his best in this match. Aside from that, there’s not a ton that makes First stand out amongst Korean Protoss players – a win vs TaeJa followed by a nice run in this TSL could do much to improve that standing.

It’s hard to pick against TaeJa. You could say First has good PvT, you could say TaeJa almost lost in the Ro32, you could say a lot of things, but when it comes down to it, there is very little reason to doubt the wrecking ball that is the crown prince of Liquid. After IPL TAC, TaeJa is now 3 - 0 against First, and comes into this match as the favorite. There is no reason to doubt his ability to cruise through to a path of glory.





Sponsors:
sponsor
TwitchTV is the world’s largest video game entertainment and chat community. TwitchTV features the top gaming personalities, players, tournaments and commentary, in addition to the most active and interesting discussions around video games. TwitchTV provides publishers and advertisers a platform to create long term engagement and commitment from gamers.

Learn more at www.twitch.tv
sponsor
Razer has been a pioneering supporter of e-Sports since its conception. It is in our blood and we are driven to further the culture of professional gaming in all that we do. We work hand in hand with our pros to forge weaponry for the players who stake their livelihood on podium placements. Our gear is designed to perform flawlessly in high-stress tournament conditions where winning is everything and mistakes cost championships. Those who compete with our equipment will attest – We live by our words: For Gamers. By Gamers.

For more information, please visit www.razerzone.com



Art by:

sponsor


Facebook Twitter Reddit
TL+ Member
Trasko
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Sweden983 Posts
August 12 2012 05:37 GMT
#2
Excellent reason! GO TAEJA!
Jaedong <3
Gruntt
Profile Joined August 2010
United States175 Posts
August 12 2012 05:39 GMT
#3
I want to see hasuobs win this whole thing.
Khi
Profile Joined March 2011
Germany188 Posts
August 12 2012 05:39 GMT
#4
GOGO germans!
"When you want to be successful as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful!"
X3GoldDot
Profile Joined August 2011
Malaysia3840 Posts
August 12 2012 05:40 GMT
#5
hack, sting, creator and taeja
prime/startale/[SexComaZerg, RoyalRoaderZerg, SirLifealot] ingame ID = GoodGame
opterown *
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
Australia54784 Posts
August 12 2012 05:44 GMT
#6
GOOOO CREATORPRIME
ModeratorRetired LR Bonjwa
TL+ Member
Froadac
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States6733 Posts
August 12 2012 06:05 GMT
#7
Go darkforce and taeja.
HououinKyouma
Profile Joined November 2011
Australia152 Posts
August 12 2012 06:08 GMT
#8
[image loading]

GO CREATOR AND TAEJA!!!

[image loading]
Terran Dream Team | TaeJa | INnoVation | Maru | TY| Cure | Maru again
Sm0k3d
Profile Joined May 2010
Denmark20 Posts
August 12 2012 06:24 GMT
#9
Go Hasu !

Go Taeja !


This is gonna be an awesome nigth of sc2 action :D
Wayne123
Profile Joined July 2011
88 Posts
August 12 2012 07:16 GMT
#10
Im rooting for Hasu and Darkforce. I do think that both of them have a decent chance in their matchups. I´m gonna predict that one of them, or both will advance.
Qntc.YuMe
Profile Joined January 2011
United States792 Posts
August 12 2012 07:24 GMT
#11
team taeja go!
Porcelina
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
United Kingdom3249 Posts
August 12 2012 07:25 GMT
#12
Very, very much looking forward to Creator v Coca. For me it is the highlight of the round.

Keeping tabs on Creator, it has been entertaining to see his PvZ blossom quite a bit in the recent months. Going from achilles heel to perhaps his strongest point in many ways. And Coca is equally interesting to watch, sometimes sublime, often creative and always inherently Coca.
starception
Profile Joined August 2012
205 Posts
August 12 2012 07:26 GMT
#13
Hmm...since both LG-IM_First and Liquid.Taeja both are coming back from California, they both will be jet lagged.

For the Taeja match, I'm going with Taeja since he has more experience with jet lag.

And for the only other match worth talking about, CreatorPrime vs. SlayerS_CoCa, I think Creator will win since he beat DRG.
AgentChaos
Profile Joined July 2011
United Kingdom4569 Posts
August 12 2012 07:34 GMT
#14
Creator vs coca game of the night ez
IM & EG supporter
L4hlborg
Profile Joined February 2011
Finland34 Posts
August 12 2012 07:40 GMT
#15
On August 12 2012 16:26 starception wrote:
Hmm...since both LG-IM_First and Liquid.Taeja both are coming back from California, they both will be jet lagged.



The games probably happened before the event, since TSL is cast from replays (I'm pretty sure at least).

I find it a bit harsh that one hast to all-kill IM twice in a row to be the best player in the world.
Naphal
Profile Joined December 2010
Germany2099 Posts
August 12 2012 09:31 GMT
#16
gogo germany!
sVnteen
Profile Joined January 2011
Germany2238 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-08-12 10:34:00
August 12 2012 10:33 GMT
#17
gogo hasu and DF
hope first and coca win the other matches

edit: wow just realized that there are only 6 foreigners left and 2 of them are german gogo foreigners gogo germany haha

MY LIFE STARTS NOW ♥
winthrop
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Hong Kong956 Posts
August 12 2012 11:05 GMT
#18
so map repeated is allowed?
Incredible Miracle
MBH
Profile Joined January 2011
Ireland796 Posts
August 12 2012 11:28 GMT
#19
I think Hack is to cheesy ( or let's say aggressive) for Hasu to handle, but I hope he surprises me.
Sumahi
Profile Blog Joined January 2012
Guam5609 Posts
August 12 2012 11:53 GMT
#20
Go Hack, First, Darkforce and Coca!
Startale <3, ST_July <3, HongUn <3, Savior <3, Gretorp <3, Nada <3, Rainbow <3, Ret <3, Squirtle <3, Bomber <3
1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Replay Cast
00:00
SEL Masters #4 - Day 1
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Nina 215
RuFF_SC2 148
Livibee 69
StarCraft: Brood War
PianO 438
Bale 37
Noble 27
Dota 2
monkeys_forever725
NeuroSwarm81
febbydoto6
League of Legends
JimRising 1087
Counter-Strike
Stewie2K380
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox545
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor101
Other Games
summit1g9921
shahzam536
Maynarde154
ViBE144
ToD76
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick44738
BasetradeTV68
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH320
• Hupsaiya 113
• Light_VIP 49
• practicex 15
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos2337
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
5h 51m
ByuN vs SHIN
Clem vs Reynor
OSC
8h 51m
Replay Cast
19h 51m
RSL Revival
1d 5h
Classic vs Cure
FEL
1d 11h
OSC
1d 15h
RSL Revival
2 days
FEL
2 days
FEL
2 days
CSO Cup
2 days
[ Show More ]
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
2 days
Bonyth vs QiaoGege
Dewalt vs Fengzi
Hawk vs Zhanhun
Sziky vs Mihu
Mihu vs QiaoGege
Zhanhun vs Sziky
Fengzi vs Hawk
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
RSL Revival
3 days
FEL
3 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
3 days
Bonyth vs Dewalt
QiaoGege vs Dewalt
Hawk vs Bonyth
Sziky vs Fengzi
Mihu vs Zhanhun
QiaoGege vs Zhanhun
Fengzi vs Mihu
Replay Cast
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2025-07-07
HSC XXVII
Heroes 10 EU

Ongoing

JPL Season 2
BSL 2v2 Season 3
Acropolis #3
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 2
CSL 17: 2025 SUMMER
Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
Championship of Russia 2025
RSL Revival: Season 1
Murky Cup #2
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25
BLAST Rivals Spring 2025
MESA Nomadic Masters
CCT Season 2 Global Finals
IEM Melbourne 2025

Upcoming

2025 ACS Season 2: Qualifier
CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
CSL Xiamen Invitational
CSL Xiamen Invitational: ShowMatche
2025 ACS Season 2
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
K-Championship
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
SEL Season 2 Championship
FEL Cracov 2025
Esports World Cup 2025
Underdog Cup #2
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.