EPT
RSL Revival: Season 2![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/RSL/s2groups.png)
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/RSL/s2bracket.png)
Inaugural RSL Revival champion Classic deepened his imprint on the nascent tournament series, maintaining his status as its only ever champion by winning a second consecutive title in Season 2.
If the summer's RSL Season 1 was a chance for Classic to give everyone a preview of his world championship finalist-level skills, then RSL Season 2 was a reminder that those skills hadn't gone anywhere after EWC. Without Serral to stop him, Classic rampaged to the championship with an overall 6-1 record in matches and 19-5 record in maps.
Runner-up Zoun felt the brunt of Classic's wrath, losing to the champ by 1-4 scores in both the winners' finals and the grand finals. While RSL Season 2 allowed Zoun to show that his PvT and PvZ could be close to Classic's level, Classic was more than happy to exploit Zoun's weak match-up of PvP when they collided. Even though Zoun looked competitive in games that stabilized into macro battles (narrowly losing two tight basetrades), he was outmatched by Classic in the dark arts of PvP. Whether it was early Probe harassment, finding the window to sneak in an Oracle, or just knowing where to hide a proxy, Zoun was rarely able to find advantages in the margins.
Besides Classic's continued run of good form, one of the major subplots of RSL Season 2 was Maru's deepening slump. Things have only gone south for Maru since his championship run at DreamHack Dallas, and his RSL Season 2 journey ended in a disappointing fifth place after losses to Classic and Reynor.
Speaking of Reynor, the fourth place finisher was the only player to win a series against Classic during the entire tournament, taking a 2-1 win in the group stages. While Reynor probably isn't satisfied with his final placement, at least the viewers owe him a debt of gratitude (alongside 3rd place Cure) for carrying the entertainment burden during the playoffs by playing several, exciting, full-length series.
RSL will continue with Season 3 in November, and wrap up the year in December with an offline event featuring players from the three online seasons (specific details pending).
