Week 10 Recap
Setting up a tense regular season ending

Week 11 Preview
BASILISK and Vitality neck-and-neck for #1

Bracket and standings on Liquipedia

World Team League - 2024 Summer Season

by: Nakajin

A roller coaster WTL regular season is coming to a thrilling conclusion, with Vitality and BASILISK neck-and-neck headed into the final week.

Team Vitality's seemingly insurmountable lead has melted like spring snow over the past few rounds, with baffling decisions and poor play causing them to drop points left and right. On the other hand, slow starters BASILISK have surged back ever since Serral resumed his weekly appearances.

Vitality still have a map score differential lead over BASILISK, which means their destiny is in their hands. If they can take a clean, 3-point victory in the final week, they will clinch the regular season championship regardless of BASILISK's performance. However, the situation is complicated by the fact that BASILISK will face one of the weakest WTL teams in Berserker, while Vitality go up against a far more challenging Team Liquid squad.

However, first place isn't the only thing being fought over. The contest for the seventh and final playoff spot is just as tight, with Platinum Heroes, Mystery Gaming, and Twisted Fairy all having a realistic chance of winning that final ticket (more on the scenarios in the preview section). Also, OFFSYDE, Berserker, and Starlight Twinkle are in their own race at the very bottom of the table as they seek to avoid relegation.

Week 10 Recap

Top 7 teams qualify for the playoffs.
Bottom 2 teams must requalify.
Points are awarded as follows:

• 3 points for a victory in a series that does not require an ace match
  
• 2 points for a victory in a series that requires an ace-match
  
• 1 point for a loss in a series that requires an ace-match
  
• 0 points for a loss in a series that does not require an ace match

Team Liquid 6 - 0 Twisted Fairy
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Twisted Fairy were unable to get anything positive from their match against Team Liquid, leaving them at a heavy disadvantage in the race for the final playoff spot.

Clem started things off by killing Stats quickly with a proxy-Reaper into a 1-1-1 follow-up, displaying some exhibition-esque micro to close the game. In game two, Clem's surgical micro allowed him to inflict moderate early damage with a Widow Mine drop in tandem with Reapers and Hellions, setting up an eventual win on the back of his stronger economy.

Cure barely gave Classic any room to breath in their first game on Alcyone, starting with 3-Rax pressure and continuing into multi-prong tactics with infantry and Medivacs. Classic could only hold out for so long against the constant attacks before being forced to GG out. Game two on Goldenaura began in a more passive manner, with both players macroing up fairly peacefully. However, once the tempo picked up, Cure once again looked to be too fast for Classic, dancing around the map and setting fires everywhere. Classic still had a chance to win the match with a big max-out attack, but Cure pulled off a close hold to secure his team's victory.

With Liquid already having obtained the full three points, SKillous ran up the map score with a 2-0 against Nice. In the first game, he gave Nice a taste of his own medicine with a proxy-Robo all-in on Amphion, after which he completed the shutout with an Immortal-Chargelot-Archon timing on Ghost River.


Platinum Heroes-R8 2 - 4 BASILISK
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Platinum Heroes put up a valiant fight against BASILISK—including an hour-long bout between Reynor and Goblin—but were unable to scrounge any points in a 2-4 loss.

Surprise roster entry Nikich gave a very good account of himself in the opening match against BASILISK and Trigger. On Goldenaura, Nikich parried a series of early and mid-game attacks to put himself in an advantageous position. While the large nature of the map prevented him from closing out quickly, eventually Nikich exploited his tech advantage in the form of Vipers and Lurkers to take the W at just under 21 minutes. Trigger kept things simple on Dynasty, tying the series with an unseen 7-Gate Blink all-in.

Goblin put BASILISK's backs against the wall, getting away with a fast Carrier build in his first game against Reynor. The Carrier-Stalker force struck before Reynor had a proper counter for either (thanks to Reynor self-scamming himself by going for Mutas), giving the Heroes an unexpected 2-1 lead.

It felt like BASILISK's campaign for the #1 was all but over in the early going of game two, where Goblin's Oracle-Adept harass managed to pick off 19 Drones in the first 8 minutes of the game. It seemed like it would be all too easy for Goblin to win with the same fast Carrier strategy, but some better tech choices from Reynor (Lurkers and Infestors) allowed him to avoid dying to the very first attack.

From there, the game entered a lull, with the two players splitting the map and preparing for a late-game brawl. However, no one expected that the brawl would last for over an hour and see the entire map get mined out. Goblin was left with a Carrier task force and a ton of Cannons and Batteries defending dried out bases, while Reynor hid his swarm of Corruptors, Queens, Zerglings behind a forest of Spore Crawlers. A different pair of players could easily have agreed to a draw in this scenario, but Goblin was determined to use his handful of Tempests to break the deadlock and force a conclusive finish to the game.

After giving up several of his peripheral buildings to draw the Protoss troops in, Reynor finally initiated the deciding battle of the game. The key move was sending in a swarm of Zerglings first, which baited out key Psionic Storms from Goblin. This gave Reynor just enough of an advantage to win the battle in the skies (also with the help of a very juicy Parasitic Bomb), clean up on the ground, and force Goblin to concede defeat.

After the marathon PvZ, the viewers, players, and casters were all exhausted. Fortunately for everyone but the Platinum Heroes, Serral made short work of ArT to end the match and keep BASILISK in the running for first place.

Vitality 4 - 3 Mystery Gaming-AG
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Vitality's implosion continued as they failed to garner three points from the heavily outmatched Mystery Gaming, setting up a neck-and-neck final lap with BASILISK for the regular season championship.

Lancer (previously known as Cyan) rang the alarm bells early with a game one win against Solar. Playing on Goldenaura, both players ramped up to the late-game with Lancer assembling a Carrier armada while Solar went for Lurker-Hydra-Viper. Against all expectations, Cyan outplayed his more accomplished opponent, using Zealot run-bys to keep the Zerg economy in check while his own deathball grew stronger. Solar had to go for an aggressive attack into Protoss territory to keep things even, but had to GG out when Storms enveloped his entire army. Game two on Alcyone saw Solar go for a fast Spire, which seemed risky after the previous week's loss with a similar strategy against ShoWTimE. However, this time around the Mutalisks served as more of a diversion, while his mass Roach-Bane swarm brute forced his way through the Protoss front lines to force the GG.

Even with Lancer taking a tie, Vitality shouldn't have been too worried at this point. They still had the next match in the bag, as it featured one of the most unbalanced match-ups of the season in Maru vs Lemon. However, Lemon quickly delivered a punch to the gut, taking out Maru in their first very bout on Alcyone. Maru took the initiative with a fast tech build, looking to test his opponent's defenses with a 3-hit combo of Mine drop-Cloaked Banshee-Tank push. However, Lemon dealt with all of this aggression without taking much Probe damage at all, leaving him with a huge economic lead. Maru's superpowers almost allowed him to force a normal macro game from this situation, but Lemon knew he couldn't afford to let Maru settle into turtle mode. He mass expanded and battered Maru with constant attacks, refusing to let the Terran defenses become fully set. While the trades weren't pretty for Lemon, his much stronger economy eventually gave him the massive upset win against Maru. The Vitality ace quickly evened the score in game two with a Marine-Liberator-Tank push, but the damage had already been done.

In solidarity with his teammates, Ryung became the third Vitality player to blow a favorable match-up and give up a 1-1 tie. His first game against Strange was a little too close for comfort, as he fell behind in the mid-game and only won after a crazy basetrade. Ironically, game two actually started looking much better for Ryung, but this time Strange pulled off the comeback with a 2-2 timing of Colossus and mass Zealots.

For the second time this season, Maru was not deployed for a crucial ace match, leaving fans to wonder what the heck is going on behind the scenes with Vitality. In any case, Vitality turned to Solar to hold down the fort, while Mystery Gaming gave Lemon the well deserved ace honors. A loss would have 90%+ forfeited the regular season title for Vitality, but Solar averted the worst case scenario by taking down Lemon with Swarm Hosts and Lurkers.

Starlight Twinkle 3 - 4 PSISTORM-NAVI
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Starlight Twinkle caught a minor break by earning a point from their match against PSISTORM, although it may not be enough to save them from relegation in the end.

Krystianer and Gerald were first up on Goldenaura. After the typical ground army build-up we see on the map, Krystianer won the game-deciding engagement by forcing Gerald to fight in a narrow corridor where most of his Zealots were rendered useless. Krystianer then took game two on Dynasty in rather anticlimactic fashion, punishing Gerald's attempts to apply split backdoor-frontdoor harassment by simply smacking him with a direct attack down the middle.

With two bullets to fire against Spirit, Cham took his first shot with an old school Ling-Bane-Muta macro game on Alcyone. While Spirit very nearly punished him with his first Marine-Tank push, Cham survived the danger and put himself in the driver's seat. From there, Cham got to do all the fun Muta-Ling-Bane things, slamming wave after wave of Zerg units into the Terran defenses before finishing him off with Ultralisks. Cham went for the same Muta-based opener on Crimson Court, but this time he never got his strategy off the ground as he lost a fatal number of Drones to an early Hellion strike (his very late Zergling speed did not help the situation). After hamstringing the Zerg economy early on, it was all too easy for Spirit to finish Cham off with a Marine-Tank push.

Considering the remaining matches, a loss for PSISTORM was unlikely to affect their final standing. Still, MaxPax showed no mercy to SLT, and pulled his team back from a 1-3 deficit to take two points.

First, he dispatched Wayne in a 2-0. Game one was a typical Glaive-Adept horror show, with Wayne GG'ing out in under seven minutes after losing too many Drones. MaxPax continued to pick on Wayne's Drones in game two, this time using Oracles. Playing with a gold base on Post-Youth let Wayne mitigate the damage somewhat and be more tenacious, but ultimately he couldn't overcome his economic deficit in a macro game.

Finally, MaxPax took care of business against Krystianer in an ace match. The furtive Dane went for his signature Void Ray fast expansion, while Krystianer tried to counter with a 1-base proxy 4-Gate all-in. MaxPax responded perfectly by giving up his natural once, and simply retaking it once he had enough Void Rays to thwart further attacks. Unable to keep up the offensive, Krystianer belatedly tried to transition into a macro game. However, he had no answer to being A-moved by mass Void Rays, and he had to concede defeat to the PSISTORM ace.

OFFSYDE Esports 4 - 2 Berserker eSports
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OFFSYDE defeated Berserker Esports to gain a massive edge in the three-way contest to avoid relegation. Barring improbable upset wins from either Berserker or SLT in Week 11, OFFSYDE are heavily favored to be the team that finishes above the relegation cutoff.

HeroMarine and BattleB got us started with a pair of fun macro TvT's, where the younger German Terran put in a good effort but was ultimately outdone by his more illustrious countryman in both games.

uThermal and GunGFuBanDa then traded maps in the middle rotation. uThermal struck first on Alcyone, putting the Protoss on wobbly legs with a 2-base Marine-Marauder-Tank push and landing the KO punch in the late-game. Game two then saw uThermal attempt a 2-base all-in with SCVs in tow, but this time GFBD got his gloves up in time to block the blow and take the game.

Firefly proceeded to close the door on Berserker, defeating DnS in a Phoenix war on Amphion. DnS would pull back one map point on Oceanborn, but it was too little, too late.

Shopify Rebellion 2 - 4 Weibo Gaming
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Weibo Gaming won this battle for upper/mid-table standing, and they now have a very good chance at locking in a third place finish.

The series began with a duel between aces who proved to be equally matched. Game one was a late-game macro battle on Goldenaura, with both herO and ByuN consuming their fill of resources and assembling high-tech armies. ByuN won the deadly dance between Ghosts and High Templars, allowing him to smash the enemy Carrier fleet and march to victory before herO could reinforce with Disruptors. Game two on Oceanborn was completely different, with both players focusing on chaotic early-game action. herO went for a rarely seen DT-drop into Disruptor strategy, while ByuN went for a two base push. While it was hard to make total sense of this unusual game, ultimately herO got the big Disruptor hits he needed to take the tying point.

Scarlett proceeded to make things quite dicey for WBG, cooling Oliveira's momentum with a 1-1 tie. The Canadian Zerg showed impressive macro play on Alcyone, shutting down his pushes with Roach-Ravager while climbing up to Lurker tech. Oliveira's defensive setup was far from ideal, and he gave up a quick GG once a Nydus popped up in his main base. Scarlett went for the 2-0 with a cheeky Hatchery-tech Ravager-Ling attack on Oceanborn, but it failed to achieve game-ending damage against Oliveira's peculiar speed-Banshee opener. A pair of nimble Banshees did a good job of laying the hurt on Scarlett's economy, after which an 8-Rax bio push finished the job.

Having the score tied 2-2 headed into Lambo vs soO seemed slightly favorable for Shopify at first glance, but the good version of soO happened to show up for the match. Game one saw soO win decisively in the early-game Ling-Bane skirmishes, following up with mass Roaches for a quick victory. Lambo opted for a 2-base speed-Roach all-in in game two, paving a Creep highway with Overlords to speed up his reinforcements. This attack came very close to breaking through, but soO's economy kicked in just in time for him to hold it off.

Weekly MVP: MYG.Lemon

A Most Valuable Player award, not to be confused with a Best Player award, highlights the individual who has provided the week's most important performance for their team (Editor's note: Huh?). While other players recorded better records in Week 11, no one had a more valuable performance than Lemon's 1-1 tie against Maru.

Becoming just the fourth player to take a map off Maru in the last three seasons, Lemon allowed Mystery Gaming to steal a crucial point as they vie for a playoff spot. While it's hard to put a percent value on how much Lemon's tie improved MYGAG's chances, we can say it moved them out of "probably dead" into "...but what if?" territory. The dream is still alive.

Lemon is a Starcraft journeyman who has tried all three races in his search for success, yet has only played in a single major offline event (WCS Montreal 2019) while never winning a single offline match. But, for one game in late July, with all his teammates counting on him, he was better than the best Terran to ever play the game.

How can you not be romantic about Starcraft?

Weekly MVP's:

• Week 10: MYG.Lemon
  
• Week 9: WBG.Oliveira
  
• Week 8: PSISTORM.MaxPax
  
• Week 7: WBG.herO
  
• Week 6: SR.ByuN
  
• Week 5: BASILISK.Reynor
  
• Week 4: MYG.Cyan
  
• Week 3: SR.Scarlett
  
• Week 2: OG.Firefly
  
• Week 1: SLT.Krystianer

TL.net Moral Victory™ Recipients: KeeN, Nicoract

Preview: Regular Season Week 11 (Final Week)

Scenarios Breakdown

First place and regular season championship

Team Vitality to clinch first place:

• A 3 point victory (controls own destiny)
  
• A 2 point victory AND Basilisk earn 2 or less points
  
• A 1 point defeat AND Basilisk earn 1 or less points AND Weibo earn 2 or less points
  
• A 0 point defeat AND a bunch of other things that are so unlikely to happen it's not worth the comedy value of writing them out

Basilisk to clinch first place:

• A 3 point victory AND Vitality earn 2 or less points
  
• A 2 point victory AND Vitality earn 1 or less points AND Weibo earn 2 or less points

Weibo to clinch first place:

• A 3 point victory AND Vitality earn 1 or less points AND Basilisk earn 2 or less points
  
• A 2 point victory AND Vitality earn 0 or less points AND Basilisk earn 1 or less points

Team Liquid to clinch first place:

• A 3 point victory over Vitality AND Basilisk and DKZ both lose

7th place and the last playoff ticket

Platinum Heroes-R8 can to 7th place with:

• A 3 point victory (controls own destiny)
  
• A 2 point victory AND Mystery Gaming earn 2 or less points
  
• A 1 point defeat AND Mystery Gaming earn 0 points
  
• A 0 point defeat AND Twisted Fairy win AND Twisted Fairy finish with tied or worse map differential than Platinum Heroes

Mystery Gaming - All Gamers to clinch 7th place:

• Earn one or more points than Platinum Heroes in any way.

Twisted Fairy to clinch 7th place:

• A 3 point victory AND Platinum Heroes earn 0 points AND Platinum Heroes finish with worse map differential than Twisted Fairy

Avoiding relegation

OFFSYDE Esports to avoid relegation:

• Any victory (controls own destiny)
  
• A 1 point defeat AND SLT earn 2 or less points
  
• A 0 point defeat AND SLT earn 1 or less points AND Berserker earn 2 or less points

Starlight Twinkle to avoid relegation:

• A 3 point victory AND Offsyde earn 1 or less points
  
• A 2 points victory AND Offsyde earn 1 or less points AND Berserker earn 2 or less points

Berserker eSport to avoid relegation:

• A 3 points victory AND SLT earn 2 or less points AND Offsyde earn 0 points AND Berserker finishes with a better map differential than SLT

BASILISK will take to the stage first on Friday, making their move ahead of Vitality. The combined head-to-head data from all three match-ups is a whopping 61-11 in favor of BASILISK, and even without that stat, most fans are probably penciling this in as an easy win for team science (amusingly enough, all of the Berserker wins come from GunGFuBanDa vs ShoWTimE, mostly played years ago).

The odds are truly stacked against Berserker to survive relegation. Not only do they need a 3 point win against arguably the best team in the league, but they also need trip-ups from both OFFSYDE and SLT. Maybe BattleB will take advantage of Reynor's inconsistency, maybe Mixu will dig up some obscure Finnish regulation that prevents Serral from competing against his countrymen during his sports-military service, and maybe GunGFuBanDa will get to coin flip in PvP (wait a second…).

Barring such incredible miracles (might as well wish for Mvp and Nestea to return to SC2), BASILISK will provisionally take first place in the league and await Vitality’s response.

Prediction: BASILISK 6- 0 Berserker eSports



One team wants to make it back into the playoffs, the other just wants to make it back into the league. Who will get their way?

If the Heroes are to win, they must count on a strong performance from Kelazhur against uThermal. The Brazilian Terran has been hot and cold this season, and it feels like a toss-up as to whether or not he can best an equally inconsistent player. uThermal, although known for his early attacks and cheeses, has weirdly looked at his best in the WTL when playing macro games. Are we headed toward a surprisingly orthodox duel between these two Terrans? Or will they go all-out with the trickery in this vital BO2? In any case, I'll give the edge to Kelazhur, who is less far removed from playing serious, high-level StarCraft than uThermal.

YoungYakov and Firefly will be our second match. The two have had contrasting seasons, with Yakov being a rotational player achieving a modest 4-6 map record (3-3 vs P), while Firefly ( PH's old ace) has once again carried a heavy load with a 11-8 record (0-2 vs Z). Still, the specific match-up data suggests it's not as bad for the Heroes as it seems, with YY's recent match history suggesting ZvP is the match-up he's most comfortable in (wins against the likes of DnS, Lancer, Krystianer, and Gerald in the last month). Firefly is obviously no slouch in PvZ, but perhaps this match isn't as straightforward as it seems.

Goblin and HeroMarine will have a chance to close out the day. Big Gabe used to dominate the Croatian Protoss, and even had a 13-match winning streak going against him at one point. However, Gabe isn't quite as invested in SC2 as before, whereas Goblin is enjoying his best WTL season yet with a 11-8 record so far (including ties against ByuN and Reynor). I have no doubt he will arrive with either a clever build prepared, or the confidence that he can win in a straight-up match.

In a season so full of upsets and unexpected results, it wouldn't feel right if we didn't get a final surprise to close things out. I'll pick the Heroes to be, well, the HEROES of the upset, with Kelazhur's 2-0 being the decider in a 4-2 victory.

Prediction: Platinum Heroes 4 - 2 OFFSYDE





Huuuumm… Alright, look. After a couple of seasons covering the WTL, I want to pretend I’ve gotten quite good at doing those predictions.. …But come on. Three PvPs, no real mismatch, and winner has a chance to make it to the playoffs? Just flip a coin to do your Liquibets and enjoy the show.

Prediction: Somehow, against the WTL rules, an actual tie.



PSISTORM is most likely playing for no stakes in this match (at least as a team), as they have a very high chance of finishing in 6th place no matter what. Still, we've rarely seen WTL teams/players mail it in when placed in similar situations, so it should still be a competitive match for WBG who want to lock in their 3rd place finish.

Spirit versus Oliveira takes place under peculiar circumstances, as they'll be facing each other in their initial matches of the Esports World Cup. While neither player is especially cheesy in the match-up, perhaps this particular duel will end up being extra normal as the two players look to hide their strategies and take on each other with their fundamentals. I think those conditions should favor Spirit, the more orthodox player between the two, and help him get a 1-1 draw.

PvP feels like a 50/50 proposition in many cases, except when it comes to herO and MaxPax who have truly separated themselves from the rest of the pack. They should be able to win their respective matches against Gerald and Jieshi, setting the stage for an ace match.

Weibo would have an interesting choice at ace. herO is their best player on paper, but Oliveira took on ace duties in their last two ace matches. Also, herO has been having a terrible time against MaxPax lately, losing their last eight series with a combined 2-20 map score. So, it really seems like Oliveira is the obvious choice here in terms of both match-ups and team trends, even if he'll be fighting an uphill battle against the reclusive Dane.

In the end, I think WTL-mode MaxPax will be just a bit too good for Oliveira to overcome, and PSISTORM will head into the playoffs with some momentum.

On a side note, this match could have some interesting individual player award implications. MaxPax (19-4) and herO (17-4) are both in the running for regular season MVP and best Protoss, with Maru (18-2) looking vulnerable after last week's draw. MaxPax might just clinch both awards with a 3-0 performance here.

Prediction: PSISTORM 4 - 3 Weibo Gaming





Depending on how OFFSYDE versus Platinum Heroes goes, we could see this match played with SLT's relegation on the line, or with the Twinkles already being relegated and having nothing to play for. As for Shopify, barring a terrible loss to SLT, they should be locked into 5th place.

Overall, the matchups are probably to SLT’s liking. The first match is the tough one, with Wayne being hard pressed to get a positive result from his match against ByuN. Across seven seasons of WTL, few players have been more consistent than ByuN, and this season is no exception. He rarely gives up points to weaker players, and I don't expect him to fall for Wayne's Roach shenanigans.

Krystianer versus Harstem is where things get interesting for SLT. The Polish Protoss has quietly been one of the the big risers in the scene over the last 6~8 months, and it's reflected in his respectable 11-13 WTL record. Meanwhile, Harstem has struggled with a 4-10 record, continuing his trend of being one of the most up and down players in the WTL. Krystianer's not quite at the level where I feel comfortable predicting a 2-0 for him against El Capitan, so I'll say this one will be a 1-1.

The chances of an SLT upset look decent in the final match as well. While Scarlett has achieved more overall career success than Cham, the two veterans of WCS/EPT NA competition actually have a surprisingly close head-to-head record (well, if you think a 33-57 map score is close). Moreover, Cham has handed Scarlett some big defeats in major tournaments such as IEM Katowice and EPT NA, and has historically been a dangerous wild card in the WTL. Still, Scarlett's strong WTL performances in the last few rounds have made an impression, so I'll pick the 2-0 for the Canadian.

Prediction: Shopify Rebellion 5 - 1 Starlight Twinkle



As per tradition, SCBoy has reserved the last match of the season for a special clash: a rematch of last season’s grand finals of Team Liquid versus Vitality. While we've had some bad luck in past seasons with the final match having an impact on the standings, this time it's guaranteed to be THE most important match in deciding the regular season title.

Vitality control their own destiny. If they can take three points against a formidable Team Liquid squad, then the #1 seed is theirs. If not… well, there's a complicated list of scenarios that I listed above, but we all know the most likely ones lead to a BASILISK championship.

On paper, fortune seems to be favoring Vitality in terms of match-ups. Mysteriously, Ryung has been a boogieman to Clem in team competition, going as far back as tournaments such as the WardiTV Caster Teamleague. As far as my digging through old records tells me, Clem has never been able to win a team league series against Ryung in eight previous attempts. Of course, their most recent duel in the WTL grand finals saw Ryung score double 1-1's to neutralize the Liquid ace. The streak is bound to end sooner or later, but Vitality will be hoping that Ryung can extend his unbeaten streak to nine matches.

Maru and SKillous will play in the middle series of the day. Maru fanboy Nakajin reacted to Maru's back-to-back 1-1 ties with the very normal conclusion that he was always a washed-up hack choker who’s never gonna win a match of StarCraft again. However, normal StarCraft fan Nakajin said 'calm the f*** down' and pointed out that Maru is still a huge favorite on paper against SKillous.

The TL Protoss is playing arguably the best StarCraft of his life in 2024, having notably shut down Oliveira in front of his Chinese fans a few months ago at StarsWar. However, Korean TvP is one of the riddles he hasn't been able to solve yet. He has hugely unfavorable records against Maru, ByuN, and Cure, while Maru himself is rocking an 18-2-1 match record in TvP in 2024. Dynasty is a tricky map to start the series on, but as both players can mix it up if they so desire, so I wouldn’t say it’s an advantage for either. So, it's a 2-0 for Maru in my book, because editorial refuses to let me keep trying to reverse-jinx Maru.

Solar and Cure will be closing out the season, hopefully in a match that still matters by this point. Hundreds of games for over a decade have left me with the clear, unequivocal, conclusion that these two will always be exactly as good as each other. 251-249 in ‘’favor’’ of Cure is where things stand after the first 500 maps, so there’s no reason they wouldn’t go for another split.

I said in my initial power ranking that no one could challenge BASILISK if they were able to field a full-force lineup. The last two months have proven me right as they have dominated the opposition ever since Serral rejoined the team, with only the early demands of the Finnish military allowing Vitality a chance to hold on to their WTL crown. While they'll be hard pressed to leave the tournament as champions once more, I predict they'll at least enter the playoffs on top.

Prediction: Vitality 4 - 2 Team Liquid

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