Sometimes a team is just too beautiful for this world, and I fear ZeNEX may be that team. Despite Avenge and TREME's unexpectedly cute and solid performance last week, ZeNEX appears not long for this world. As our fearless editor WaxAngel once said, it is truly a miracle of modern esports medicine that they lived long enough to participate in this tournament at all.

Though not all is lost, regardless of how far into their deathbed they are. Despite FXO's formidable lineup including four Code-S players, the team leagues have always been a place for hope to remain ever-lasting. Remembering F.United's wonderfully inspiring run last season, or Qxc's unlikely all-kill of Incredible Miracle (or at least, three-guys-and-MVP) is enough to warm even the darkest of esports hearts.

Line had an acceptable outing in his last match, and earlier this week his Zerg counterpart Life gunned down each member of ReIGN in the IPL Team Arena Challenge one-by-one for a clean 5-0 victory. Avenge and TREME looked legitimately capable of taking down high class players in their current form. Kyrix and his hilariously aggressive tendencies make him a wild-card that will always be capable of clutching a victory here and there. It will be a tough road for them to battle the clear favorites in FXO, but amazing things can always happen.

For those amazing things to happen, though, it unfortunately requires FXO's main stars to have an off day. The all-kill format is a duel of the cream of the crop, and FXO has multiple men capable of wiping out a roster in a good day. Can ZeNEX withstand the onslaught of Oz, GuMuho, Leenock, and Lucky to keep themselves afloat for another day?

Out of their GSL qualified players TSL is a team that is 3/5ths Zerg, and HoSeo is 4/7ths Protoss. After some in-depth number crunching, requiring the utmost of statistical trickery, it would seem that Protoss versus Zerg is the most likely matchup to come out of these two teams meeting. However, I am no mere statistician, and deductive Starcraft reasoning tells me that this match is going to come down to the performances of Polt and Jjakji.

TSL realizes that their best hope is Polt, and they’re not trying to hide it by putting him out first (where he will face off against Sculp). In terms of first round picks, this choice is tough to analyze. If HoSeo knew one thing going into this, it’s that Polt is going to be played. So the question is, should TSL hide him, knowing full well that HoSeo will have a player waiting in the wings to snipe him? Or should they just throw him out first, probably picking up an easy win in the process? TSL’s choice to open with Polt could turn out to be a good one, as the winner of the Super Tournament may be able to pick up the same momentum that Bomber found last week against the cast of HoSeo. Perhaps TSL is trying to mimic StarTale's run last week by having a strong Terran player all-kill, but the fates seem against them here with more on the line and a more experienced NSH.

Should Polt eventually fall, TSL will find themselves in a difficult position but not out of it. Symbol has routinely showed he has what it takes in ESV weeklies, and last week looked impressive while he took down Yoda and Seed. RevivaL is still in the lineup in some form, and always has the ability to step up when the situation is dire.

On the other side HoSeo is fielding a team with not only a better star in Jjakji, but a deeper lineup outside their ace. The Protoss trio of Sage-San-Tassadar remains as threatening as ever even if under the radar in recent weeks, and Seal had an impressive showing against Bomber last week even if his run was cut short.

All that being said, I still think this comes down to a match between Polt and Jjakji. Outside of that, HoSeo has a stronger lineup with more capable players while TSL's chances rest mostly on the shoulders of one Terran and one Zerg. At the very least HoSeo should be unwilling to let another Terran all-kill them.

The GSTL is the future. I don’t mean that it’s where the meta-scene is going, or that the players make their entrances riding hover-boards and DeLoreans, but it’s where we first get to see players who someday will top the GSL ranking charts and be adored world-wide.

The value of this isn’t simply so we can seem cool to our friends and say “we knew that guy when,” it leads to better Starcraft now. In the GSTL, the player who’s hot today can play today. Players don’t have to struggle through a months-long qualification process designed to ensure stability at the top-tier. Seeking that stability is certainly understandable, even admirable, but you don’t have to look hard to see that undeniably top-rate players had trouble qualifying – DongRaeGu is the poster child for this scenario. To play in Code S against the top competition, you have to have put in that time and maybe had some luck; to play in the GSTL all you have to do is impress your coach. The walls between players and the stage are much thinner.

The GSTL also plays a special role because for a long time the GSL is still largely the only game in town in Korea, though the ESV Korean Weeklies have gained substantial headway. Contrast it to Foreign-land, where there are lots of live, open events where a player can make a name for himself, and there are the seemingly innumerable weekly cups in Europe where guys like Nerchio, Kas and Happy can establish their reputations. The stability at the top of the GSL world likely helped develop professional SC2 in Korea, but it hadn’t allowed for enough turnover to let the best players shine.

That leads us to the question, who are some players who might be the next Sage? The next to have muta control like DongRaeGu? The next showman like MMA? Trying to predict this is a fool’s errand, but what are we at Team Liquid if not fools for eSports?

Team SCV Life is without a doubt the most interesting in this GSTL. Not only has there been a lot of turnover with the players, the drama that always seems to surround them must take a toll at some point. They have, however, several interesting players who could be poised to shine. Everybody wants to talk about HyuN due to his Brood War skills, and that’s certainly an intriguing story, but another Brood War veteran could be ready to make news and his name is Symbol. He crushed Korean Weekly #16 back in December, beating a number of good players (Sage, RevivaL, and TaeJa), and beat Polt to qualify for the Iron Squid Tournament. His appearance in the team league last week makes him look ready for the big times.

FXOTree is another player that could be poised to break out. He hasn't had much success in other tournaments, but look at the players he lost to recently: GuMiHo (October 2011 GSL Qualifiers), PartinG (November 2011 GSL Qualifiers), and Oz (WCG Qualifiers). Each of them are at least Code S Round of 8 players. On a team with really only one top-class Terran, he could get some playing time.

StarTale's Sound might be too well known at this point to qualify for this article, but he hasn't really shown much in Korea yet, and this GSTL season could be his chance. One of the Korean qualifiers for Homestory Cup 4, he only lost to a resurgent MC in the Finals. He's probably the second-best Terran on the team, and if Bomber actually lets some other players play, Sound could make a splash.