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Americas and Europe qualifier #2: SpeCial, Lambo, MaNa, and Harstem qualify
The second set of American and European server qualifiers saw SpeCial, Lambo, MaNa, and Harstem earn spots in the main event of TeamLiquid Starleague 5.
Unfortunately, controversy marred the proceedings in a couple of ways (read TL's statement on the situation). SpeCial's matches during the European server qualifier ended up being played on the North American server due to confusion regarding the rules, leaving players such as MaNa and SKillous feeling justifiably aggrieved.
In addition, the overlapping scheduling of the two-day qualifiers saw a 'double-qualification' scenario for SpeCial and Lambo play out, as the two players reached the upper-bracket final of both the EU and NA competitions on day one. While the situation was resolved by qualifying both SpeCial and Lambo and giving walkovers to their day two opponents, it did take the air out of what could have been a very exciting series of day two matches.
This effectively simplified the qualifiers: whoever came out of the losers bracket would qualify directly for TSL5, without having to face SpeCial or Lambo in the losers final. In the EU qualifier, the main event spot was contested between two Polish powerhouses in MaNa and souL (VOD). MaNa put on a late-game PvT clinic to win game one, mangling souL's economy with counterattacks while out-valuing souL in the Liberator-Tempest standoff. souL hit back in game two with a series of uncontested Widow Mine drops, killing over forty Probes to force a GG out of MaNa. The trump card came out for MaNa in game three, as he proxied a Robotics Facility and Gateway for an early Stalker attack. MaNa was able to deal heavy damage with the initial attack and continued to batter souL with strikes afterward. souL was never able to truly stabilize and GG'd out after it was clear that he had no way back into the game. With the win, MaNa joined fellow Polish player Elazer in qualifying for TSL5.
The second qualifying spot out of NA was contested between the Netherland's Harstem and Neeb (VOD). The American Protoss was made to experience some rather unpleasant deja vu, as a European Protoss blocked his qualification for the second straight event (PtitDrogo had eliminated Neeb in NA qualifier #1). Neeb went for a proxy-Gateway and early Stalker pressure on the first map, but Harstem was able to scout it in time to prepare his defenses. Though Neeb caught up in terms of economy, his tech deficit forced him to GG out when Harstem attacked with his Immortal-backed army. The second game started out in more even fashion, with both players securing their naturals and teching to Immortals and Glaive Adepts. Unfortunately, a single mistake swung the game against Neeb: he lost his Warp Prism and two Immortals while harassing, opening him up to a devastating counter-attack from Harstem. Neeb didn't even bother to watch the fight play out, GG'ing out of the hopeless situation.
There was plenty of reason to feel bad for Neeb, and not just because he missed qualification by a single match for the second qualifier in a row. In an upper-bracket match, SpeCial showed that you can take the Mexican out of NA, but you can't take the NA out of the Mexican as he went for three proxy-rax cheeses in a row. Full credit to SpeCial, though—he closed out the series with mech after Neeb held off the early attack. Neeb was also unfortunate as to have to suffer through an hour-long PvP staring match against GungFuBanDa—it was a victory for Neeb in the end, but one imagines it was as unpleasant for him as it was hilarious for the audience (VOD).
The non-Korean players have one final chance to qualify for TSL5 in the ongoing NA qualifier #3. Korean players will get their last shot in Korean qualifier #3, which will be played on Thursday, May 07 7:00am GMT (GMT+00:00).
Americas Server Qualifier #2Full bracket on ESL Play
