16 top European players.
One day of straight gaming.
No loser bracket, no second chances.
One day of straight gaming.
No loser bracket, no second chances.
If you've been around the Starcraft community for long enough, you remember how the Team Liquid Invitationals began. Now, over seven years after that first tournament, TL is proud to present the first ever Team Liquid Starcraft 2 Invitational.
In the past month, we've seen our share of beta tournaments. Some of us have even played in them. Now, we're carrying the mantle, just like we've done all these years. This first SC2 Invitational is our attempt at putting today's best players out there for people to see. We strongly believe that the timing, the participants and the prize pool is just right and that we will get to see some truly fantastic games next Saturday. Now, on to the players.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/keit/participants_sc2.png)
First off, our very own Victor "Liquid`Nazgul" Goossens and SC2 Forum moderator Jonathan "Frozen Arbiter (Jinro)" Walsh will be sharpening their jousting gear. Nazgul, a #1 in division Platinum player for much of the beta, also recently came runner up in the first ESL Invitational tournament. Jinro on the other hand, apart from being #4 in all of Europe for quite some time also made it to the semi-finals of Zotac #4, and is certainly one of the Terran's to look out for on today's SC2 circuit.
Moving on, we have Joseph "ret" de Kroon, a Zerg who needs no introduction here on TL. Boasting one of the highest winrates on the EU server, our current Liquibition champion and former progamer with Estro in Korea will be playing once again and we're pretty excited. Speaking of excitement, remember Pavel "Brat_OK" Kuznetsov? Yeah, course you do, you nerd. Who could forget his run through the Razer TSL? Well, he's back, and flying the flag for the Dominion as he takes the race into SC2 land. Will he overcome the swarm and the offspring of Aiur? Only time will tell.
While many top foreigners did dive right into the beta, none dived deeper than Ukrainian Protoss Oleksiy "White-Ra" Krupnyk, the player with the most games played on Europe at the moment. A thoroughly manner, thoroughly brilliant player, you can be sure that he will give us some great games this Saturday.
What's great about the beta though is that it's basically drawing two communities together. While all the players mentioned so far were top Broodwar players in their time, the first TL SC2 Invitational is also proud to include the likes of top Bulgarian WC3 player Zdravko "Insomnia (Omnisain)" Georgiev, winner of the first WCG War3:ROC title in 2003. High ranked throughout the SC2 Beta, Insomnia, himself once a Broodwar player, will duke it out this weekend with the beta's biggest names.
Of course, he wont be alone. We have other top War3 players joining the fray, including Benjamin "Demuslim" Baker, a Terran who not only has one Zotac win and one runner up title but is also one of the most consistent ladder performers, currently at #2 on the overall European ladder. A former member of the legendary War3 team 4K, he is definitely a must watch during this tournament, and we're sure he's going to show us some super games.
Other participants include former Broodwar players Ian "Zion" Gryncewicz and Dario "TheLittleOne" Wünsch who have been at the top of their respective Platinum divisions since the beginning of the beta - the latter being the highest rated random player currently on EU - as well as the WC3 pros (and high ranking SC2 players) Dennis "HasuObs" Schneider and Lazar "Nightend" Silviu.
Rounding out the field are Brood War stand-outs - and perennial SC2 high rankers - Stefan "MorroW" Andersson, Eugin "Strelok" Oparyshev, Marius "HoRRoR" Overhageböck, Mattias "Naugrim" Ottoson and Hayder "HayprO" Hussein.
As always, the event will be streamed live, and TL's own Sean "Day[9]" Plott will take you through the action as we watch SC2's biggest names lock horns. Be there, Team Liquid. One of foreign Starcraft's oldest tournies is back with a vengeance, and you can be sure it's gonna be a blast!
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/keit/summaryinfo.png)
Stay tuned for more information including format and brackets.
This post was made by the Team Liquid Starcraft 2 Coverage Team. For more of TL's coverage, please visit the Team Liquid Starcraft 2 Beta Page.
FAQS
1. Where is Lucifron?
Unfortunately Lucifron has a LAN event on the same day and had to decline his invitation.
2. What about US Events?
Our next liquibition event will be on the US server.
3. Where is Orly?
He was unfortunately unable to attend as well.