[TSL4] Qualifier Week 3 Recap and Interviews

EU/NA 5
EU/NA 6
KR 3
Standings

Last week the TSL4 qualifiers marched on, bringing us just past the halfway point and making the end ever-present. The week started with one of the more packed qualifiers when Stephano decided to play in the European tournament, and ended with a Korean tournament that actually looked easier than the previous week's due to GSL.

In the European event, Liquid`Ret came out ahead over mouz.HasuObs while in the North American tournament EC.Welmu beat MajOr to be Eclypsia's first player in a TSL. The Korean tournament was narrowed down to CreatorPrime and ST_Hack, where Creator took home the victory after five close games.

With the time winding down, the tournaments will only get harder from here as players scramble to try to become one of the few to hold a coveted spot in TSL4.

#7: EU/NA Qualifier 5

EU/NA 5 started out as the most star-filled TSL4 qualifier yet, with Stephano and HuK jumping into the fray in the middle of what has become a regular cast of top European and American players. However both of them fell before their time, with HuK losing an unlikely PvT in the first round and Stephano forfeiting in the Ro16 to move on to other things.

The people's champion, mycerion, made his triumphant return to the Ro16 this time before being defeated by a sleep-deprived KawaiiRice. Empire's Happy had another strong run, before running into BabyKnight and losing in the Ro8, after starting the series with a nearly hour-long victory on Entombed Valley.

UK WCS champion Ziktomini had a solid day as well, getting a fortunate walk-over against Stephano in the Ro16 before being stopped by HasuObs in the Ro8. KawaiiRice made for one of the rare appearances of a North American in the Ro4, bringing the series against Ret to 3 games thanks to an incredibly strong and close second game.

In the end, it was Ret who was able to prevail over the German Protoss HasuObs in the finals, taking him down in 3 games when he stopped each two-base timing to take control of the games. This marks the first player to qualify for all four TSLs, a distinction that will remain his and only his for future TSL tournaments.

1st	Liquid`Ret
2nd	mouz.HasuObs
3rd-4th	aL.BabyKnight
3rd-4th	KawaiiRiceLighT
5th-8th	Mill.Ziktomini
5th-8th	EmpireHappy
5th-8th	RoX.fraer
5th-8th	mouz.Marine

Full bracket - Thread

Interview with Liquid`Ret

We always ask this; could you introduce yourself for the few people who don't quite know you?

My name is Jos de Kroon, I play as Liquid`Ret and I like to make drones!

You qualified for TSL4 on your third try. Relieved? Or did you always expect to make it?

Hmm I wasn't really worried about qualifying, there are quite a few more cups... ^^ But I'm glad I made it so I can focus fully on other tournaments now.

This was a tremendously stacked TLOpen at the start, but some big names dropped out in weird ways, including HuK, who was on your end of the bracket and lost in a PvT in the first round! Was it easier than you expected?

I didn't really have too many problems along the way, I think it was easier than last week where I had to play a few strong players early on.

Who was your toughest opponent? Were there any games you'd recommend people check in the replays?

Hmm KawaiiRice was the toughest but it's just because I didn't really play very well in the second game. It wasn't really close against any of my opponents this time, none of the reps were too great... only worth a watch if you want to learn safe ways to open ZvP and ZvT.

You mentioned the semi-finals where you faced KawaiiRice, who gave you a stiff fight, taking it to a third game. How did you feel you played in that series overall?

Well I was a little bit annoyed because he was talking about how tired he was and how he hadn't slept and I feel like that's none of my concern and when I am about to play a semi final game I don't want to think about things like how my opponent is feeling. I was a bit irritated and it affected my mindset... I shouldn't let things like that happen and learn how to be calm under all circumstances. I think I played decent... but I still haven't played the kind of ZvT in televised games that I can play in practice.. so I'm hoping I can show better soon.

The other semi-final was a PvP between HasuObs and BabyKnight. Did you expect HasuObs to win? Were you comfortable against either player or did you have a preference?

I preffered Babyknight over Hasu...Hasu is a player who is known to show good 3 base / late game in the past and babyknight is more unpredictable and likes 2 base timings. Ironically hasuobs 2 based every game against me... lol.

The finals went very well for you; did you anticipate winning 3-0?

I thought it would probably be 3-0 or 3-1. I feel I improved a lot recently ZvP and feel pretty good about it. I still get surprised by timings sometimes or make the mistake by droning a little too much, so I never really expect 3-0 vs Protoss.

Your ZvP has gotten you most of your big wins recently, do you feel the most confident in that match-up?

Well it's kind of interesting because there was a time I felt really good about ZvP and then the immortal all-in completely threw me off. I struggled for a while to get the timings down and now I feel like I can finally deal with it. I'm still learning a lot of ZvP every tournament I play but I feel pretty good about playing anyone except some of the very best Korean Protosses in the game. In that regard I'm really happy I get to test myself against Puzzle [E/N: In NASL Grand Finals] and the next two weeks will be dedicated to improving my ZvP and (hopefully) getting it ready for a top Korean.

Oh, and you mentioned Hasu's strategic choices earlier, was your interesting hatchery placement in game three a reaction to that?

Hehe yeah I figured if he's not gonna take his 3rd base I might as well.

Now you've qualified for all every single TSL, the first person to achieve that feat, and perhaps you may end up being the only one. How do you look at that accomplishment?

It's actually just a cool thing to think about. I remember coming back to BW for the very first TSL and I have many fond memories of staying up at night and grinding the iCCup ladder for TSL points. I used to play a lot with my buddies Incontrol, LzGaMeR, Machine, and Artosis back then. Thinking back of those days now it's awesome to see where everybody is at and that we are still enjoying to play this game. TSL has been an awesome tournament every time and I am super excited to be a part of it once again, and you can bet your ass I'm gonna try my hardest to show some good games to the TeamLiquid community and the rest of the world.

The TSL is famous for seeing new and surprising players show their stuff, but so far the qualifiers have yielded almost all well known players like yourself. Do you think the Sc2 scene is better establishing who is at the top?

Yeah if you look at the players who qualified before me, they are almost all amongst the players I would consider at the very top of the NA/EU scene. With Bo1 system early it's a still a bit dangerous, but I expect the trend continues and Stephano and HuK will probably make it.

Of the qualifiers so far, who are you most worried about, and who would you most like to face?

Hmm Curious and Nerchio I worry about, strong Zerg players and that is probably my weakest match-up right now. I'd love to play more games with SaSe because I think he's a great guy and a great player and all of our series have been close and fun to play.

Who else would you like to see qualify?

I obviously really want my teammates to qualify, Sheth is looking good with points and TaeJa/HerO/Dario are battling it out in the KR qualifiers. I'd like to see Tyler compete more and do well too. If not them, I'd like to see Stephano, Huk and possibly one more EG guy like IdrA or DeMuslim to qualify. I feel like IdrA is getting back to the level he is supposed to be at and I want to see him do better.

Oh, and tomorrow HayprO [E/N: Qualifier #6 (NA), last week] will try to qualify from my house and I'll be supporting him live. So it'd be awesome if he made it =) He's been traveling so hasn't played much, but he's still good.

Well, thanks so much for speaking with us, and good luck in TSL4!

Thank you so much and thanks especially to the people who watch me play these qualifiers again on my stream, you made it fun. GGs!

#8: EU/NA Qualifier 6

The tournament on the following day brought much of what we have come to expect from TSL qualifiers, a lot of high profile professionals getting unlucky breaks and a few who fly under the radar showing their potential. It proved to be mycerion's week as he flew into the Ro8 this time, before losing 1-2 to eventual champion Welmu. TypeDBS went all the way to the Ro4 after eliminating HayprO and narrowly defeating BlinG with his trademark aggressive play, and ToD made his first deep appearance in a TSL qualifier until Welmu stopped his run short.

Forsen knocked out one of the favorites, HuK, in the Ro32 in a three game series and then went on to take down BabyKnight in the following games, before losing to MajOr. We had the first sight of North American Terran VPCursed when he took out Bischu in the Ro32, and then LoWeLy in the Ro16 before just barely losing to ToD in the Ro8.

We had one of the more unlikely finals of the qualifier series so far, when EC.Welmu met still-living-in-Korea MajOr (playing under the name Princess on this day). After a proxy 11/11 rax put the Terran up in game 1, they went on to play long games with a lot of back-and-forth pull as the two slammed upgraded armies into each other repeatedly, game after game. It went the full five games and when all was said and done, it was Welmu who came out on top and will represent one more Protoss in TSL4.

1st	EC.Welmu
2nd	MajOr
3rd-4th	TypeDBS
3rd-4th	FnaticRCToD
5th-8th	Forsen
5th-8th	d.BlinG
5th-8th	mycerion
5th-8th	VPCursed

Full bracket - Thread

Interview with EC.Welmu

Congrats on qualifying for TSL4!

Thanks a lot!

In a qualification process that has seen mostly big names get through, you're probably the biggest sleeper of the bunch. Could you introduce yourself?

Hello everybody, I'm an 18 year old Protoss player from Finland. I started playing Starcraft 2 in early beta and before that I played a couple of months Starcraft 1, being as good as D+ in iCCup. I just finished high school and have been practicing/participating more in tournaments since then. I am also going to start studying in university this autumn unless I crush everybody in Starcraft. ^^

Do you feel extra pressure to live up to the international reputations of the other open winners? Or to make a name for yourself that is as big as theirs?

Not really. I just want to play up to my skill level and show off entertaining games to fans. I don't want to go down in disappointing fashion and I want to show more of my potential. TSL4 will definitely help me to make my name more known.

Not so long ago, you left Empire with rumors that you weren't taking the game seriously. But since a few months ago, you've re-emerged as one of the best Protoss players in Europe. What explains your turnaround?

Back then I was still in high school and only got to practice 2-3 hours a day. Also I didn't play in online cups, because they are held so late and I need to wake up early for school so I couldn't really show up my skills anywhere. Now that I have a lot more time I can play in many cups and I guess that is the biggest reason for my turnaround.

This was a tremendous qualifier run for you, playing a GM-level opponent every round. How did you feel about your play today?

My play was pretty decent. I used wise builds and didn't make any major mistakes, but I made many sloppy mistakes so it was far from my best, about 80% of my normal skill level. I was little bit nervous in earlier rounds, but when I went to the sauna after my Ro16 games I didn't feel so nervous anymore. I had some fatigue, which most likely contributed my sloppy mistakes.

How do you grade your play in general? What is your best/worst match-up? What parts of your game do you think is your strongest?

I like to play very safe styles while mixing up some all-ins in order to be unpredictable, especially in PvZ. I feel like shuffling strategies and keeping up with the metagame is very important in Starcraft 2. My best match-up is definitely PvP and my worst is PvT even though PvZ has been feeling harder and harder lately. I know very well what works in PvP what doesn't and I think many Protoss players aren't playing PvP correctly, which contributes my very good PvP. My mechanics are pretty good and I have very good macro. My micro in 200/200 fights and decision making is something where I have most to improve.

In the finals, you played MajOr who is a Korean GM player. What was your plan for that series?

I decided to not use any new builds and only focus on builds I know very well. I knew that Major is good at mixing up builds so I played safe style in most of the games. I also decided to focus on Colossus heavy builds instead of storm, because it is really hard to cast good storms in NA server delay.

MajOr said in a forum post that he tried to end all the games quickly. Did you sense that and adjust accordingly? How did you react to being down 1-2?

Hmm... I couldn't sense that at all since he went for macro in all games except the first, maybe my own passive style prevented him from finishing games quickly. I was worried that MajOr would pick Korhal to last set, because I have vetoed it in ladder and it feels like Terran favored map, but luckily he chose Entombed instead. ^^

The moment you won, how did you react?

I did small fist pump and thought "fuck yeah". :D

Any games or series people should look back into the replays and check out from this qualifier? Or in past qualifiers?

The 2nd game against Ret in fourth qualifier was very intense and close and mycerion's play really surprised me and his fans should check out my 2nd game vs him in this qualifier, nothing else really stands out to my mind. I didn't use enough special tactics...

Speaking of past qualifiers, you went into the sixth Open with a solid amount of points anyway. Were you always confident that you would find a way to get into TSL4?

I was pretty confident that I could get into TSL4 with points too since I'm normally pretty solid player overall. My only concern was that I knew I would miss some qualifiers and I'm very glad that I don't have to be concerned about qualifying anymore. I'm confident in my skill nowadays.

You've been dedicated to obtaining TSL4 qualification. You've never played the TSL before; what does it mean to you as a tournament?

TSL has been very important tournament for me. I tried to watch almost every TSL2 VOD back when I was still Starcraft newbie and I was so amazed how good the players/games were. Its pretty unbelievable to think that I'm actually participant in tournament, which I used to admire so much... and actually watching TSL3 games was only time I was at computer after seven o'clock :D TSL is one of the best tournaments around for sure.

What do you hope to accomplish in TSL4?

At least I want to beat a Korean and gain more respect.

I will aim to win every game like always. This will be first time where I get to prepare many days against exact opponent and I'm interested to see how I can make use of this preparation time.

Is there anyone else you hope qualifies?

TypeReal, TSL_HyuN and Finnish players Elfi and Protosser. It would be also cool to see mycerion qualifying... and only Europeans/Koreans. Also as many Protoss players as possible, because PvP feels very easy.

Thanks so much for talking with us, and the best of luck in TSL4! Any final words or shoutouts?

I want thank all my fans and all other people for positive feedback. It is great to get congratulation messages from so many people.

I also want to thank my team Eclypsia for all the support they have gave me and I really hope that team will get better reputation after the early hiccups. I will be playing in many LANs later this summer and I will practice hard in order to obtain those top places. I wasn't happy about my play in last Dreamhack and I want to place better in every other LAN this summer.

If you want to follow me best way is through twitter! It's twitter.com/eclypsiawelmu! Hopefully I didn't forget too many things.

#9: Korean Qualifier 3

If it was ever possible for one TSL4 Korean qualifier to be less stacked than others, this was the one. With MarineKing, MC, Squirtle, and Symbol all playing in what became the GSL Ro16 Group of Death, it was less considerably more free of GSL contenders than the previous two events.

There were, as always, a variety of notable surprise wins and upsets. Sniper took down Lucky for his entrance to the Ro8, Miya beat Seal in the Ro16, and YoDa earned his Ro8 spot by knocking out TaeJa.

An improvement over last week, this time two Terrans made the Ro8. Unfortunately they had to play each other, leading to a PPPT semi-finals of Creator, Puzzle, Lure, and Hack (interestingly, the latter two of which both play in Code A matches tonight).

With Creator triumphing over Puzzle in fairly one sided games and Hack picking apart Lure first with mech, then with strong marine-marauder timing and control it came down to a PvT final. Both Hack and Creator showed significant improvement in their games over the last few months and the games were both entertaining and close, even showcasing the rarely seen TvP mech play, for the second time in as many series, in the opening game.

After five games Creator came out on top and earned his spot in TSL4, making the Korean qualifiers a convenient Zerg, Terran, Protoss sequence.

1st	CreatorPrime
2nd	ST_Hack
3rd-4th	SlayerS_Puzzle
3rd-4th	MVPLure
5th-8th	MVPSniper
5th-8th	FXOLeenock
5th-8th	SlayerS_Miya
5th-8th	IMYoDa

Full bracket - Thread

Unfortunately we don't have an interview with Creator yet, however, we do have last week's chat with Sting about his qualification in TSL4 Korean Qualifier #2. We'll be back later this week with Creator and his thoughts on winning the third tournament.

Interview with NSH.Sting

So, how do you feel about getting through the TSL4 qualifiers?

I'm so happy I feel like I should just fly away... Zerg is strong lately, so I'm really proud that I qualified after beating good Zerg players.

Could you introduce yourself to the international fans who might not know you well?

My name is Ju Hoon, and I play for NS HoSeo. It's been about a year since I started playing Starcraft 2. It was just so fun to play, and as a someone who played Brood War, it came pretty naturally.

Do you have any interesting characteristics to your play style?

If you ask other players to describe me, they tend to say I'm an aggressive player. I think that's an accurate description, as I tend to be overaggressive and try to force attacks in games. I lose a lot because of it, but I also win a lot as well.

You've done well in online tournaments like the EWM or the TSL4 qualifier, but you don't play as well when you're in the GomTV studio. What do you think is the reason?

I think I just get too nervous in live tournaments like GomTV. Once I get inside the booth I get so nervous my hands start shaking. But I think I'll be able to get used to it soon, so keep an eye out for me in the GSL!

If you look at TSL4 or other online qualifiers, there doesn't seem to be much of a skill gap between the more famous Koreans and the ones that aren't that well known. What's your opinion?

This is just my personal opinion, but I think there really is a skill gap. For example, if you look at a player like MarineKing, he's amazing when he plays broadcast games, and when he plays seriously on ladder, he almost never loses to lesser known players.

Western progamers are used to the international circuit, so they don't think really think much of it, but it's really tough for Korean gamers to get any chances outside the GSL. What kind of opportunity is a foreign tournament for a Korean pro?

There's a lot of tournaments abroad, but there's very few in Korea. There's a lot of gamers who really look at international tournaments as a great opportunity, and I'm one of them as well. You get a chance to go abroad, and it seems like a lot fun and a great experience as well.

You've had a chance to play some of the foreigners in IPL TAC. What do you think of their skill level?

I think there are plenty of good players outside of Korea. mouz.MorroW stayed with us for about 3-4 months, and he really was a good player.

There's a lot of talk about Terran being weak, or Zerg being strong these days. What do you think about balance? How do you feel coming out of the qualifiers as Terran?

When you play the really good Zerg players, it sometimes feels like running up against a wall. I feel that from players like Stephano, and in Korea there are a lot of players like that as well. In particular, NSH_Seal plays so well when I practice against him that I can barely ever win a game, to the degree that I feel that Zerg is OP. I think it's about 7:3 in favor of Zerg.

Any final comments?

I plan to play in more international online tournaments in the future, and I hope people remember me in the future. It's online, so I'm bound to play well! ^^

Also, I want to thank Liquid`HerO for always giving me advice, every day!

Point Rankings

Detailed thoughts on the point rankings and how they are shaping up, courtesy of Plexa.

You can also follow along with all qualified players and current point standings in the Results and Standings thread.

EU/NA Rankings			Change
1st	Mill.LaLuSh	182	--
2nd	aTn.DarkForce	174	--
3rd	mycerion	124	5
T-3rd	Liquid`Sheth	124	1
5th	d.Bischu	122	2
6th	mouz.HasuObs	111	54
7th	MorroW	103	3
8th	MajOr	100
8th	MANGO.Pink	100	2
T-8th	d.SeleCT	100	2
11th	infs.JonnyREcco	93	1
12th	Empire\|Beastyqt	92	1
T-12th	KawaiiRiceLighT	92	48
14th	ESCGoOdy	83	6
15th	Type.DBS	82	18
16th	AL.BabyKnight	81	75
T-16th	FXO.LoWeLy	81	2

KR Rankings			Change
1st	ST_Hack	132	13
2nd	IMSeed	121	1
T-2nd	IMFirst	121	--
4th	TSL_HyuN	82	1
5th	MvP.Lure	81	13
6th	SlayerS_Miya	73	8
7th	SlayerS_CoCa	71	2
T-7th	ZeNExLife	71	2
T-7th	SlayerS_Puzzle	71	23
T-7th	ST_Squirtle	71	3
11th	TSL_RevivaL	63	1
12th	IMYoDa	62	6
13th	AnnYeongPrime	60	8

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[TSL4] Qualifier Week 3 Recap and Interviews

[TSL4] Qualifier Week 3 Recap and Interviews

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