EPTThis weekend we will get our first taste of what the Korean post KeSPA StarCraft 2 scene might look like in the future. Four teams of four to six players will take on each other in the first ever VSL Team League. The quartet of teams competes in a double elimination tournament format, while the matches are played out in the Best of 7 All Kill mode. Matches will be played offline at the VSL Twitch Studio (the same location used for the Olimoleague Monthly Finals). The full schedule is as follows:
10 November - Semifinals
13 November - Winners' Final and Lower Bracket
20 November - Grand Final
Let’s meet our four new teams, what their strategies might be and how their chances are looking.
#1 TRAIN TO BUSAN
ByuN | Ryung | 
TRUE | 
HurricaneSubstitute(s): N/A
The obvious choice as the favoured team is the crew around newly crowned WCS champion
ByuN. Core and ace player all in one, the One Man Army is a huge danger in the All Kill format, threatening to take out whole teams all by himself. With all the exposure in the last days and the defeat at the hands of ShoWTimE still fresh on everyone’s mind, sniping the champion might come easier than at any other time.Luckily, ByuN has a competent team lined up beside him.
Ryung reached the top 8 in the last season of GSL himself, his best result of 2016. The Terran player somewhat regained his status as an expert in the TvT match-up, almost eliminating ByuN and proving to be his new teammate's biggest hurdle on his run to the GSL title. TRUE showed some weakness against Protoss at BlizzCon, but his unpredictability is a valuable asset to any team. And then there’s Hurricane, a former GSTL ace player with much experience in the format. He’s not had a very good year, but he has shown again and again that he’s a capable opponent in team leagues, ready to perform big even against superior adversaries.TRAIN TO BUSAN come into the tournament with the world’s best player at their helm and a very experienced, unpredictable troop of supporters behind him. Their All Kill and their sniping potential are both fantastic. Choo Choo, towards Busan!
#2 Yeoksam-dong
INnoVation | soO | Classic | MyuNgSiKSubstitute(s):
SorryTheir last performance in Proleague may not have been the goodbye they wished for, but Yeoksam-dong—named after the location of SK Telecom T1’s practice house—are ready to make up for it. And their line-up certainly looks to be capable of that.
INnoVation demonstrated that he perhaps finally deserves his name during his visit to BlizzCon in SHOUTcraft Kings by going for a mass-cyclone strategy on the new patch, and could well bring some further refinements given the aptitude for mech that he's shown in the past.Not much has been seen of
soO, Classic and MyuNgSiK in the last weeks—except for some Overwatch-related news—but with names such as these we don’t need to ask ourselves if they’re up to the challenge of taking on the world champion. Both Classic and soO suffered this year, but still had their solid phases, during which they belonged to the absolute top class of players. And while MyuNgSiK may be practicing Overwatch with his new team at the moment, his playstyle will still be as dangerous as ever. Although his crisp builds and their execution may be off a little bit, owed to both less preparation and practice time, this man just knows where and when to strike for full effectiveness.Totally-not-SKT aka. Yeoksam-dong have something to prove: They need to show, that KeSPA’s elite is ready for this new wild west that the Korean SC2 scene might become. They need to prove that they are world class athletes who can also compete when the conditions are not optimal anymore.
#3 afniKKa
aLive | KeeN | Symbol | SuperSubstitute(s):
DRGLing, BillowyWhile the KeSPA players are entering new lands, for the veterans of Afreeca this is a return to the past—it does feel a bit like the GSTL days. Of course, back then most of these players fought on different sides with different success, but now they find themselves as allies and have to pool their capabilities together. For afniKKa the core and ace members of the squad certainly are
aLive and Super. The Terran has experienced a second coming of his skills in 2016, and although that didn’t lead him to tournament wins, he has retained the aura of one of the most solid Terrans Korea has to offer. Super is a man you never should underestimate, lest he might topple a tournament favourite or two, as he’s done repeatedly in the past. He may lack consistency, but when Super is out for blood, he’ll oftentimes be successful.Complementing this two man hit squad are
KeeN—another very solid Terran with a long history—and Symbol. The Zerg might honestly be the weak spot of the team, as unfortunately Symbol hasn’t shown anything to contradict that statement in the entirety of the year. He chases after his former glory, probably never to catch up. That said, the Afreeca players offer a great deal of experience in this format and the circumstances, which certainly grants them upset powers.We also do not know the rule of substitute players: Can they be transferred into a squad before, during or after a match? Will they only be used if another player can’t make it to the games in time? In any case, while DRGLing shouldn’t pose much of a threat to any team, Billowy has a fabled history of triumphing in team leagues, which makes him a valuable asset, especially when used a sniper for a certain player.
#4 No Toss
Dream | Forte | Armani | SolarSubstitute(s):
DarkLast but not least is team No Toss. Although some may sympathize with the sentiment, competing without a Protoss option could be a fatal mistake, as it reduces the flexibility of the team drastically. Also: Can Dark compete as a substitute player, or will he only provide moral support? We simply don’t know at the moment. Seeing as their strongest player is only a substitute and they lack an entire race in their roster, No Toss look like they might get kicked out first if they don’t show amazing gameplay.
Their Terran department surely could do so, however.
Dream and LotV never became huge friends, but maybe now that the game is out for quite a long amount of time we could see a bit of a rise in his abilities. We’ve seen him dominate all sorts of players with his multitasking-heavy style, so there's no suggestion that Dream lacks the speed to play this game to full effectiveness. He needs to prove it though. Solar had a bit of a disappointing BlizzCon experience, falling out of WCS quickly, but at least regaining some momentum in SHOUTcraft Kings, where he ended up taking out three Foreigners and remaining king at the end of the event, setting him up as the first boss in December. Still, his fast and surprising elimination left a bitter taste.Forte and Armani, two players mostly known for their prowess in online tournaments, are backing up Dream and Solar. Both have shown some promise in Proleague matches before, and Forte even has collected some GSTL experience on New Star HoSeo—yes, we also haven’t heard that name in a long time—, but they do lack some of the sovereignty the other teams can boast. No Toss has some amazing potential, and this ranking would look different if it was clear that Dark can play, but as it is the other teams look a bit stronger. On the 10th of November TRAIN TO BUSAN will meet afniKKa in the opening match, after which Yeoksam-dong and No Toss will face off. The winners will continue into the Winners' Final, while the losers will battle for survival in the lower bracket.
