Bellum Gens Elite - Stara Zagora 2024
Info & Preview

by Wax


August's Esports World Cup may have marked the end of the 2023/24 EPT Season, but high-end StarCraft II competition hasn't slowed down one bit. Last weekend we had the World Team League finals, and this coming weekend we'll get a live, offline competition from an unexpected source.

Bulgarian esports organizations Bellum Gens and the Bulgarian StarCraft II League have invited sixteen players to the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora, where they'll compete for €10,000 EUR in total prize money over the course of four days (September 5-8).

Reigning EPT world champion Clem is the clear headliner at BGE Stara Zagora, but plenty of worthy challengers have also been gathered to try and knock him off his perch. With Reynor, Oliveira, Solar, and other top players in contention, we could be in for a very intense four days of games.

Alongside Bulgarian commentators NoThx and Exalted for local fans, RotterdaM and BeoMulf will be casting in English for the international audience.

Players, Format, and Schedule

BGE Stara Zagora will be played in a 16-player double elimination format. At the time of writing, the specific dates for each round of the tournament have not been announced (will be updated once announced).

• Thursday, Sep 05 11:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): TBA
  
• Friday, Sep 06 10:00am GMT (GMT+00:00): TBA
  
• Saturday, Sep 07 10:00am GMT (GMT+00:00): TBA
  
• Sunday, Sep 08 11:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): TBA + Finals

Streams: Twitch.tv/BGE_StaraZagora and Twitch.tv/BulgarianStarCraftLeague

Tournament Preview

The key story of the tournament will be about how Clem performs in his first 'title defense.'

Until last Saturday, most fans would have assumed that Clem would cakewalk his way to the championship at BGE Stara Zagora. Having just won EWC with an 18-2 overall map record, he was in the midst of following it up with an all-killing rampage in the World Team League playoffs (at one point, achieving a 29-game win streak across both tournaments). However, Clem's incendiary hot streak was finally stopped when Team Liquid went up against BASILISK in the semifinals, with Reynor fighting the TL ace to a 3-3 draw (across three series) to boot Liquid from the playoffs.

Reynor had faded from the spotlight during a lengthy slump, but that impressive WTL performance—alongside a narrow 2-3 loss to Clem at the EWC—served as an emphatic reminder of the Italian Zerg's own world champion credentials. Even though Reynor's recent slump was rather long and disheartening, he's earned an INnoVation-esque benefit of the doubt: One display of world-class play is enough to make us believe that he's 100% back, no matter what he looked like before. At BGE Stara Zagora, we'll be looking forward to another installment in the rekindled Clem vs Reynor rivalry.

While the rest of the field are underdogs going up against the big two, Oliveira will have a chance to show his world championship class as well. The 2023 champ has been playing fantastic StarCraft II since March, scoring wins against nearly all the top players in the scene (including Reynor and Clem), or at least scrapping his way to close losses (Serral, Maru). In particular, Oliveira's strong TvT could play a big part in deciding the outcome of the tournament. Across both EWC and the WTL playoffs, Clem had only had two tests in TvT—wins against Spirit and ByuN in the WTL. Nothing about those games suggested Clem is dominating TvT the same way he is in other match-ups, and if anyone can take advantage of Clem's traditional weakness, it's Oliveira.

Another top player who should not be overlooked is Solar. The Vitality Zerg has maintained a consistently high level over the years, and in particular his ZvZ looms as a major threat to Reynor. Perhaps challenging TvZ god-mode Clem is beyond Solar's powers at this moment, but with some favorable twists in the bracket, Solar could easily be playing on the final day.

Unfortunately for Protoss fans, this tournament is likely to be a nerve-wracking and frustrating experience. They'll mainly be putting their hopes on SKillous, ShoWTimE, and Stats—all of them being players who have run very hot and cold as of late. Between the three of them, I expect them to deliver one herO's worth of "that was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!!!" and "what the f*** was that????" performances.

---