• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 07:33
CEST 13:33
KST 20:33
  • 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
RSL Season 1 - Final Week5[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall10HomeStory Cup 27 - Info & Preview18Classic wins Code S Season 2 (2025)16Code S RO4 & Finals Preview: herO, Rogue, Classic, GuMiho0
Community News
Firefly given lifetime ban by ESIC following match-fixing investigation17$25,000 Streamerzone StarCraft Pro Series announced7Weekly Cups (June 30 - July 6): Classic Doubles6[BSL20] Non-Korean Championship 4x BSL + 4x China10Flash Announces Hiatus From ASL70
StarCraft 2
General
TL Team Map Contest #4: Winners RSL Revival patreon money discussion thread Esports World Cup 2025 - Final Player Roster Server Blocker RSL Season 1 - Final Week
Tourneys
$5,100+ SEL Season 2 Championship (SC: Evo) RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series $25,000 Streamerzone StarCraft Pro Series announced FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
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
Script to open stream directly using middle click A cwal.gg Extension - Easily keep track of anyone BW General Discussion ASL20 Preliminary Maps BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues Small VOD Thread 2.0 Last Minute Live-Report Thread Resource! [BSL20] Non-Korean Championship 4x BSL + 4x China
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers I am doing this better than progamers do.
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile CCLP - Command & Conquer League Project The PlayStation 5 Nintendo Switch Thread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
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 The Accidental Video Game Porn Archive Stop Killing Games - European Citizens Initiative
Fan Clubs
SKT1 Classic Fan Club! Maru Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion 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
Men Take Risks, Women Win Ga…
TrAiDoS
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Trip to the Zoo
micronesia
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 749 users

[TSL9] Week 1 Preview - Opening Act

Forum Index > SC2 General
3 CommentsPost a Reply

[TSL9] Week 1 Preview - Opening Act

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
July 28th, 2022 22:42 GMT
Week 1 Preview

Brackets and standings on (Wiki)Liquipedia

Follow Twitch.TV/TLnet to keep up with the games!

Week 1 Preview

by Wax

Seven months after Rogue triumphed in TSL 8, the TeamLiquid Starleague returns with its ninth tournament!

The stakes have been raised yet again, as this time 32 players will be competing for $40,000 in prize money ($15,000 first place)—the most in TSL history. There's also 2,540 precious EPT points on the line, which will help players qualify for the 2023 IEM World Championship.

[image loading]

The schedule for week one is as follows:
  • All games streamed on Twitch.TV/TLnet
  • Friday, Jul 29 11:00am GMT (GMT+00:00): Upper bracket round one, first half (best-of-3 matches)
    • Clem vs soO
    • Serral vs Solar
    • RagnaroK vs Zoun
    • DRG vs GuMiho
    • Reynor vs trigger
    • Astrea vs NightMare
    • HeroMarine vs SKillous
    • ByuN vs Classic
  • Saturday, Jul 30 11:00am GMT (GMT+00:00): Upper bracket round one, second half (best-of-3 matches)
    • Creator vs Rex
    • TIME vs MeomaikA
    • herO vs MaNa
    • Lambo vs Ryung
    • Maru vs Rattata
    • Elazer vs ShoWTimE
    • Neeb vs Gerald
    • SpeCial vs Kelazhur
  • Sunday, Jul 31 11:00am GMT (GMT+00:00): Lower bracket round one (best-of-3 matches)
    • All matches TBD


Week 1 Highlight Matches: DongRaeGu vs GuMiho, Elazer vs ShoWTimE

The EPT point-based seeding means that the finals-caliber matches will be reserved for week 2 (Serral vs Clem, anyone?), but a couple of week one bouts stood out to me in terms of having big entertainment potential.

First, the day one clash between DongRaeGu and GuMiho could be absolutely fantastic, and I'm not saying that because I'm waxing nostalgic for the Wings of Liberty days. These two army veterans have upped their games considerably in recent weeks, winning huge upsets over championship-class players. In DRG's case, he beat Clem 2-1 in the World Team League and Maru 2-0 in the GSL (although Maru repaid the favor with a 3-0 sweep in a later round), showcasing dominant mid-game macro play. As for GuMiho, he took a 2-0 against Serral in the group stages of HomeStory Cup XXI, even outlasting the Finnish Phenom in a 26-minute map-split game.

While high level TvZ is one of the best bets for entertainment, that's not the only reason I'm intrigued by this match. GuMiho has always been known as a creative player who's not afraid to bring unorthodox strategies to the table, and that happened to be the case against Serral at HSC as well. After going for a double-Starport Battlecruiser build in game one, he brought out an even more unusual strategy in the form of double-Thor drops in game two. Well, it would have been unusual for any other player, but it was actually an old favorite for GuMiho. This combination of ZvT excellence and the potential for wild Terran builds is why DRG vs GuMiho is my pick to be the highlight match of day one.

Moving on to day two, I'm going with a pairing of European players who really showed out at HomeStoryCup XXI. Both Elazer and ShoWTimE fought their way into the top eight of the Krefeld event, once again proving how deep the European region is. Elazer collected quality wins against Reynor and HeroMarine along the way, while ShoWTimE scored a huge 2-0 victory over Serral (breaking a 10-match losing streak). With not even a week having passed since HomeStory Cup, it will be interesting to see which one of these two players can carry over their momentum into TSL9.

It's hard to pick a spotlight match for day three when nothing has been determined, but I know I'll be sad to watch the confirmed lower-bracket match of [RagnaroK/Zoun] vs [DongRaeGu/GuMiho]. It wouldn't be a surprise to see any of those four players reach the top four of TSL9 if they're playing at their best, so it will be a damned shame to bid one of them adieu so early.

Reynor and Maru - Off-Chance of Off-Race?

Reynor has made quite the splash with his off-racing shenanigans in recent weeks, piloting Protoss to victories over the likes of Solar, ShoWTimE, HeroMarine, and Lambo in various events. Now that he's set to play one of TSL9's lower-seeded players in trigger, one has to wonder if he'll be tempted to reach for the Protoss card once again.

On one hand, Reynor has already beaten trigger with his Protoss in the recent past, taking him down 2-1 in ESL Open Cup #127. On the other hand, Reynor has typically limited his antics to either smaller cups, or the group stages of major events where he's afforded a second chance. If Reynor plays Protoss here, it would arguably be the riskiest situation in which he's tried to off-race. Chances are he just plays it safe, but you never know with the impish Italian.

While Reynor has been by far the most prolific off-racer, Maru is a dark-horse candidate to bring his Protoss out against Rattata. Perhaps emboldened by Reynor's success, he recently off-raced for the first time in a competitive event, playing Protoss against Percival in the TSL9 Korean server qualifier. It was a successful outing, as Maru won 3-1 to secure his spot in the bracket.

Maru has suggested that he's willing to play Protoss in the main event as well, but will he actually have the resolve to follow through when it's time to play? Considering that Rattata recently lost 0-4 to Reynor's Protoss in a recent grudge match, this might be Maru's best chance.

Fabulous Prizes - TSL9 Contests

Before you go, make sure you enter into TSL 9's three contests!

Hot Seat Community Questions: Everyone loves to spam Twitch chat about how an interviewer's question was terrible—well, let's see you do better! Submit the questions you want the TSL9 players to answer, and we'll pick the best ones to be asked during the Hot Seat (sponsored by Secretlab) interview segments. Winners are entered into a raffle to win a best-in-class gaming chair, courtesy of Secretlab.

TRUE or False: Shopify and TLO are back with another season of TRUE or FALSE, where viewers can try to out-predict the ever-creative Dario Wünsch. The potential prize here is credit for the official Team Liquid store, where we'll soon have unique TSL 9-themed merch on top of the usual pro-team goods.

Bracket Prediction Contest: The last contest is a bracket prediction contest brought to you by IMC Trading and Liquipedia. Basically, you take a look at the starting bracket and try to predict it out to the very end, learning some very useful Liquipedia syntax in the process (wow, once you've learned those skills, why not put them to use and update some future ESL Open Cups?). We ran out of gaming-themed prizes for this one, so IMC Trading is just handing out $1,000 in straight cash to whoever has the most accurate bracket when it's all said and done.

Liquid+ Check-in: One last thing! While this isn't really a "contest" per se, we're including Liquid+ check-ins for all of the TSL9 related posts on TL.net. Liquid+ is TeamLiquid's fan loyalty program, which allows you to earn points that can be redeemed for merch just by interacting with TeamLiquid related content on the internet! This involves social media interactions and watching Twitch streams, but also includes reading TSL9-related articles on TL.net. Check the bottom of all of our TSL9 related articles and news posts to find a check-in link as such:

Liquid+ Check-in

Good luck, and have fun!




Writer: Wax
Images: TeamLiquid
Statistics and records: Liquipedia and Aligulac.com


Facebook Twitter Reddit
TL+ Member
No_File9196
Profile Joined July 2022
2 Posts
Last Edited: 2022-07-30 12:26:39
July 30 2022 12:18 GMT
#2
We as Starcraft (chess) players find the design of the stream inappropriate.
Is this a kid's birthday party?
Btw. Rotti should do some vacations, he sounds dead inside.
QOGQOG
Profile Joined July 2019
834 Posts
July 30 2022 15:37 GMT
#3
On July 30 2022 21:18 No_File9196 wrote:
We as Starcraft (chess) players find the design of the stream inappropriate.
Is this a kid's birthday party?
Btw. Rotti should do some vacations, he sounds dead inside.

Wow, what a useful, insightful comment. Not every tournament needs to have the same generic look.

Hoping that this can be the tournament GuMiho really delivers.
No_File9196
Profile Joined July 2022
2 Posts
Last Edited: 2022-07-31 13:15:57
July 31 2022 13:15 GMT
#4
Pink and purple, lollipops and candys?
As a great man once said, don't leave war and politics to women.

User was banned for this post.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
RSL Revival
10:00
Season 1: Playoffs Day 7
Cure vs ClemLIVE!
Crank 1408
Tasteless1285
ComeBackTV 1119
IndyStarCraft 215
Rex76
3DClanTV 73
IntoTheiNu 24
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Crank 1408
Tasteless 1285
mouzHeroMarine 406
IndyStarCraft 215
Nina 170
Rex 82
StarCraft: Brood War
Jaedong 1116
Nal_rA 641
ToSsGirL 490
firebathero 336
Mini 258
Light 254
JulyZerg 246
Last 206
PianO 185
EffOrt 139
[ Show more ]
Leta 135
Stork 113
Pusan 103
soO 103
Mind 97
sSak 54
sorry 30
Shinee 28
Barracks 26
zelot 21
Icarus 14
Movie 13
SilentControl 8
ivOry 4
Dota 2
XcaliburYe473
Counter-Strike
chrisJcsgo106
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor187
Other Games
gofns28585
tarik_tv27455
FrodaN2738
B2W.Neo1145
DeMusliM422
shahzam418
crisheroes388
Fuzer 300
KnowMe135
SortOf135
Lowko115
ArmadaUGS41
Trikslyr28
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick31847
StarCraft: Brood War
CasterMuse 26
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 10 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Upcoming Events
FEL
27m
FEL
4h 27m
Gerald vs PAPI
Spirit vs ArT
CSO Cup
4h 27m
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
6h 27m
Bonyth vs QiaoGege
Dewalt vs Fengzi
Hawk vs Zhanhun
Sziky vs Mihu
Mihu vs QiaoGege
Zhanhun vs Sziky
Fengzi vs Hawk
DaveTesta Events
6h 27m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
22h 27m
RSL Revival
22h 27m
Classic vs TBD
FEL
1d 3h
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
1d 6h
Bonyth vs Dewalt
QiaoGege vs Dewalt
Hawk vs Bonyth
Sziky vs Fengzi
Mihu vs Zhanhun
QiaoGege vs Zhanhun
Fengzi vs Mihu
Wardi Open
1d 23h
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
2 days
WardiTV European League
3 days
PiGosaur Monday
3 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
The PondCast
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Epic.LAN
6 days
CranKy Ducklings
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 2
HSC XXVII
NC Random Cup

Ongoing

JPL Season 2
BSL 2v2 Season 3
Acropolis #3
CSL 17: 2025 SUMMER
Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
2025 ACS Season 2: Qualifier
CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
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

Upcoming

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.