It's time for the semifinals! Three of the remaining four players are guaranteed to get a chunk of the $500 prize pool, but we all know it's not about the money. It's about the fame, the glory, the fangirls! One of these players will go down in StarCraft history as the winner of the first season of the TLS.

The players still fighting for this title are Skzlime, Michael, eOnzErG, and Sziky. Three Zerg and a Terran. Three invites and a qualifier. Three sas players and the iFU captain. There doesn't appear to be much balance here in the semifinals, but the best things in life StarCraft are imba anyway. Arbiters, siege tanks, defilers, plenty of OP units will be thrown around this weekend (well, maybe not arbiters) to give us some epic games.

Tune in at Saturday, Mar 23 8:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for the cast!



Day 1— Eraser

SouthPark vs skzlime

Game 1

On Neo Jade, SouthPark spawned at the eleven o'clock position, and skzlime spawned at the five o'clock position. SouthPark opened with a nine pool speed build, however, because skzlime opened with a defensive two barracks in-base build, his zerglings were stopped at skzlime's reverse ramp by a blocking force of marines and SCVs.

After this initial engagement, both players moved to establish their natural expansions. Seeking to attack before the Terran player could finish the bunkered wall outside of his natural, SouthPark attempted a zergling bust which failed in the face of a marine defense. skzlime then moved out to the middle of the map with a force of marines, medics, and firebats. He attempted to poke into the Zerg's natural expansion, but a wall of sunkens prevented him from doing so.

After getting his spire up, SouthPark built up a mutalisk force and, in conjunction with a few zerglings, was able to retake the middle of the map. By this point, however, the Terran player was significantly ahead in tech, and, after a disastrous Zerg attack was foiled with a key irradiate, SouthPark was forced to concede defeat in this game.

Game 2

On Neo Electric Circuit, skzlime spawned at the seven o'clock position, and SouthPark spawned at the one o'clock position. SouthPark opened with a standard three hatchery style, in comparison to skzlime's non-standard early gas in vulture drop play.

In response, SouthPark goes hydra-heavy, and walks a group of hydras across the map despite the spider mines in order to attack skzlime's natural expansion. While SCV drilling and attempting to hold off SouthPark's forces at his natural, skzlime dropped a force of four vultures directly into SouthPark's unprotected main base and equalized the game with a significant number of drone kills.

Things continued to go badly for SouthPark as the game progressed. An ill-advised attack into a number of turrets and marines did significant damage to the Zerg player's mutalisk stack at the start of the mid-game period. Later on, in an engagement in the center of the map, his lurkers experienced bugged-out pathing and were destroyed without doing significant damage to the Terran army at all. While he was able to eventually hold of this particular Terran push, his forces were so depleted that he could not hold off the second. SouthPark was forced to concede defeat in this game, and was now one game away from elimination.

Game 3

On Neo Ground Zero, SouthPark spawned at the seven o'clock position, and skzlime spawned at the eleven o'clock position. SouthPark opened with a nine pool speed build, but, once again, skzlime anticipated it and opened with a two barracks in-base build.

As the game progressed, SouthPark attempted some harassment with mutalisks in the natural, but he lost a number of them with some poor micro. SouthPark did get a good engagement against the Terran player shortly after this point, catching skzlime's units in an awkward position as they attempted to deny the Zerg's close-by-air third expansion at the nine o'clock position.

It all went terribly, terribly, wrong for SouthPark in the end, however. skzlime's vessels, which had a free rein across the entirety of the Zerg base because of a lack of scourge to defend, encountered SouthPark's morphing Guardian force at the nine o'clock position.

With a devastating irradiate eraser maneuver, every single one of the Guardians was killed, putting SouthPark irredeemably behind in the game. SouthPark was forced to concede defeat, and was eliminated from the TeamLiquid Legacy Starleague.

Michael vs TerrOr

Game 1

On Neo Jade, Michael spawned at the one o'clock position, and TerrOr spawned at the eleven o'clock position. Things immediately started in non-standard fashion, as Michael opened with a seven pool sunken rush with a hatchery at his opponent's natural.

In response, TerrOr's quick factory allowed him to break out a little bit with vultures. TerrOr took out the hatchery at his natural, and then moved out to attack Michael's natural in turn. Michael's mutalisk force was able to force TerrOr back, but at the beginning of an engagement at the center, Michael somewhat unexpectedly typed out of the game.

Game 2

On Neo Electric Circuit, Michael spawned at the eleven o'clock position, and TerrOr spawned at the seven o'clock position. In comparison to the first game, Michael opened in a much more standard fashion with a twelve-hatchery expand build. For his part, TerrOr opened with a one-barracks expansion build.

Minor engagements marked the early stage of the game, as well as a loose contain that kept TerrOr largely in his base, forcing a bit of drop play on his part in order to get things going. The drop at Michael's third was able to take out the Zerg player's Hydralisk Den, as he was too busy setting up for a back-door lurker attack that was denied with good siege tank placement on the part of the Terran player.

With the support of Dark Swarm, Michael's lurkers regrouped and pushed directly into TerrOr's base, causing utter disruption of the Terran player's plans and forcing him to concede defeat in this game.

Game 3

On Neo Ground Zero, Michael spawned at the five o'clock position, and TerrOr spawned at the seven o'clock position. Terror opened with a one-factory expand build against Michael's standard hatchery expand.

Seeing that his opponent was opting for vulture harass, Michael built a large zergling force and simply attacked the Terran when his vultures were out of position. TerrOr was forced to concede defeat in this game and was one more game away from elimination.

Game 4

On New Sniper Ridge, Michael spawned at the one o'clock position, and TerrOr spawned at the five o'clock position. TerrOr opted for a one-base all-in play against Michael's twelve-hatchery expand build. Michael was able to hold off the all-in with two sunkens and a number of zerglings.

After holding off the all-in, Michael moved against TerrOr's base. TerrOr opted to defend against the Zerg attack at the bottom of his ramp, instead of the much more advantageous position at the top of the ramp, and lost the engagement, the game, and the match. TerrOr was forced to concede defeat and was eliminated from the TeamLiquid Legacy Starleague.



Day 2 — Eraser II

eOnzErG vs NeMu

Game 1

On Neo Jade, Nemu spawned at the one o'clock position, and eOnzErG spawned at the five o'clock position. NeMu opened with an eight-rax against eOnzErG's standard twelve-hatchery expansion build. In order to defend, eOnzErG pulled all of his drones save for one, and lost four drones in the process. eOnzErG subsequently built a zergling force and counterattacked, destroying a bunker and forcing NeMu to defend with SCVs at the reverse ramp.

After the early excitement, the game moved somewhat more passively as it progressed. eOnzErG opted for a hidden expansion at the top left position and transitioned his forces to a mixed hydra-lurker composition. NeMu teched to starport in order to build vessels, continuing with his bio-focused composition.

As the game moved to the later stages, NeMu moved his tanks into a siege position, but was rudely reminded of the fact that he had forgotten to complete siege research before that point and announced this fact to his opponent in chat. Meanwhile, eOnzErG morphed a number of guardians directly behind Nemu's natural expansion's mineral line but these guardians were all taken out with irradiate as they were all stacked on top of each other. A drop in the main on the part of NeMu took out a number of drones and delayed mining time for a bit at that base. This was followed up with a simultaneous drop attack on eOnzErG's nine o'clock position as well as a ground force attack at the top left position. In response to the attack eOnzErG took out every single science vessel at the top left position with a handful of scourge and counterattacked at NeMu's third.

At the end, eOnzErG finally spent his surplus resources and built a large number of ultralisks and attacked straight into NeMu's base. Perhaps thinking the end was inevitable, NeMu built two somewhat useless battlecruisers at the end and conceded defeat in this game.

Game 2

On Neo Electric Circuit, NeMu spawned at the one o'clock position, and eOnzErG spawned at the five o'clock position. NeMu opened with a forward barracks at eight at his natural against eOnzErG's standard expansion build. With his initial marines and an SCV, NeMu attempted a bunker rush at eOnzErG's natural. In a significant blunder, eOnzErG sent his drones out in a fruitless excursion to the four o'clock expansion, leaving them in poor position to defend against the bunker rush. However, eOnzErG was able to defeat the bunker rush with a snipe of the repairing SCV, forcing NeMu back to his base.

Quickly teching to lurkers, eOnzErG was able to set up a position of contain just outside of NeMu's base, but was eventually pushed back by a marine medic force. A number of poor engagements on eOnzErG's part lost him the game, and he was forced to concede defeat.

Game 3

On Neo Ground Zero, eOnzErG spawned at the five o'clock position, and NeMu spawned at the seven o'clock position. eOnzErG opened with a twelve-hatchery expansion build into two-hatch muta against NeMu's one-barracks expansion build. With a force of zerglings, eOnzErG was able to break through the bunker wall at the expansion and then run into NeMu's main, allowing him to kill a number of SCVs. The second ling run-by was prevented from breaking through to the main, but it was able to completely disrupt mining from the natural expansion.

The zergling pressure was going so well for eOnzErG that, in his estimation, he could forwent building mutalisks and just went all-in with zerglings. In addition, he built a number of manner scourge in order to show off his advantageous position, but after the attack somewhat faltered, eOnzErG built the necessary mutalisks and won the game.

Game 4

On New Sniper Ridge, eOnzErG spawned at the one o'clock position, and NeMu spawned at the five o'clock position. eOnzErG opened with a nine pool, and NeMu, having scouted the incoming attack, attempted to build a bunker at the bottom of his ramp instead of blocking his natural with two SCVs. eOnzErG was able to kill NeMu's two marines, but because NeMu had pulled a number of SCVs to defend, the zergling pressure was eventually thwarted.

NeMu counterattacked at eOnzErG's natural with a few marines and SCV support, heavily disrupting building time at that position and setting up a position of contain with a bunker just outside the base. In response, eOnzErG opts to run by the position entirely and went straight into NeMu's base. While this attack was held off, the bunker outside of his natural was taken out by a sunken, and the game somewhat stabilized.

As the game progressed, eOnzErG built a force of mutalisks and moved to a position of contain with them in conjunction with a ground force at NeMu's natural. The constant mutalisk harass bled NeMu out of the game and he was forced to concede defeat, eliminating him from the TeamLiquid Legacy Starleague.

Dewalt vs. Sziky

Game 1

On Neo Jade, Sziky spawned at the eleven o'clock position, and Dewalt spawned at the five o'clock position. Sziky opened with a three hatchery style versus Dewalt's forge fast expand.

Dewalt went for DTs, but started off on the wrong foot, getting his first unit stuck between within the building wall outside of his natural. Dewalt dropped nine gateways in his base and began attacking Sziky's expansions in the top right. Poor engagements on his part cost him the game and he was forced to concede defeat.

Game 2

On Neo Electric Circuit, Dewalt spawned at the one o'clock position and Sziky spawned at the five o'clock position. Sziky opened with a nine pool against Dewalt's standard forge fast expand. Sziky's early lings sneak by the wall and set up in a position that denied future mining at the natural expansion in the future. Catching Dewalt in a period of inattention, Sziky's early zerglings moved from the natural's mineral line to the main base itself, further disrupting the plans of the Protoss player.

Significantly behind in the game, Dewalt resorted to a dragoon all-in, but, with the number of mutalisks out on the map, Dewalt no longer had a chance and was forced to concede defeat.

Game 3

On Neo Ground Zero, Dewalt spawned at the seven o'clock position, and Sziky spawned at the five o'clock position. Sziky opened with a nine pool against Dewalt's slightly delayed forge fast expansion build. Sensing the incoming zerglings, Dewalt built two cannons at his wall instead of a Nexus in order to defend.

In order to deal with the wall, Sziky built a force of hydras and began to attack the wall at range while simultaneously taking a third expansion at the 2 o'clock position. In response, Dewalt went for a DT drop into Sziky's main, catching Sziky's army out of position at a position of contain outside of the Protoss natural, and catching the Zerg's overlords without speed as well.

The DT attack was highly successful, killing a number of drones, completely disrupting mining, and taking out both the Hydralisk Den and the Spire. With the initiative in the game seized, Dewalt followed up the DT drop with an attack across the map and forced Sziky to concede defeat.

Game 4

On New Sniper Ridge, Dewalt spawned at the one o'clock position, and Sziky spawned at the five o'clock position. This game featured Dewalt's attempts at Corsair/Reaver against a standard three hatchery style from Sziky.

Throughout the game, it became evident that Dewalt simply did not have the multitasking required to effectively pull off Corsair/Reaver, as mis-control and periods of inattention cost the Protoss player heavily in the game.

Slowly gaining the economic advantage over his Protoss opponent, Sziky developed a huge army and attacked into Dewalts base, forcing him to concede defeat and eliminating the final Protoss hope from the TeamLiquid Legacy Starleague.





I'm back again! I bet you all have missed me. Thanks to TheEmulator for filling in for me last week. Last week I predicted all non-Zergs because I wanted to even out the odds for an all Zerg semifinals. Unfortunately only skzlime advanced out of the other races. This week I will keep up the hope for a non-ZvZ final. If you want Michael to win you're either a bad person or Harem (who is also a bad person).

Elimination Bracket Semifinal

The first match in the semifinals is a TvZ between skzlime and Michael. Both invites, both on sas, both showing very solid games in the quarterfinals. After being the only one on staff predicting a 3-0 by skzlime I wrote in the preview thread how I wanted skzlime to fulfill my prediction. After posting skzlime PM'd me with the subject "" and the content "i'll see what i can do :3". And here we are in the semifinals with skzlime through 3-0. skzlime have one of the best TvZ's in the foreign scene and he considers it his best matchup. Michael however has been way too scary. Only dropping one game against TerrOr and too be honest it didn't look like Michael was playing to his full extent. Many people have praised him recently for his amazing muta micro and I have to agree, it's been pretty far above every other foreigners muta micro. It definitely looks tough for skzlime and to top it off dRaW said that Michael is something along the lines of fifteen wins to one loss against skzlime in practice games. If skzlime can get his fellow team and countryman Sziky to practice with him maybe he can come up with something amazing. I want this series to be close but I'm not so sure it will be. My predictions are extremely biased because I really don't want a ZvZ final.





The second match is a ZvZ between Sziky and eOnzErG. This is the matchup I expected to see in the final prior to eOnzErG's poor showing in the round of 24. eOnzErG has redeemed himself since then and so has Sziky who showed lackluster play in the round of 16 but both played amazing in the quarterfinals and has once again gained my trust. Sziky must have been drunk or something along the line in his round of 16 group because his play looked like night and day compared to the quarterfinals. Even though it was Sziky's ZvZ that looked atrocious I can't make the same mistake again (behind dRaW by two points in liquibet because I bet on dewalt ) and I have to say that Sziky is still the undisputed best foreigner. eOnzErG however is in amazing shape and should be able to make this match look closer than it probably should. Expect him to take at least one game off of Sziky, perhaps even two.









skzlime vs Michael

Score	Staff Picks
3-2 skzlime (6)
	HawaiianPig, 2Pacalypse-, Epoxide, Torenhire, KristofferAG, ImbaTosS (Elegant)
3-1 Michael (4)
	Jonvvv, mustaju, Sayle, corumjhaelen
3-1 skzlime (2)
	TheEmulator, itsjustatank
3-0 Michael (2)
	Harem, nbaker
3-0 skzlime (1)
	Falling

TLS staff are crazy vote with their hearts. Especially Falling, although I suspect he was at least partly intoxicated and/or delirious when he picked Skzlime to win this match 3-0. While both of these players showed dominating performances in the round of 8, Michael should really be the favorite here despite what the staff seem to believe. It's probably just wishful thinking as we hope to avoid a similar fate to the PDPop MSL.

eOnzErG vs Sziky

Score	Staff Picks
3-2 eOnzErG (4)
	HawaiianPig, 2Pacalypse-, TheEmulator, Falling
3-2 Sziky (2)
	Sayle, itsjustatank
3-1 Sziky (7)
	mustaju, Harem, Epoxide, Torenhire, corumjhaelen, KristofferAG, ImbaTosS (Elegant)
3-0 Sziky (2)
	Jonvvv, nbaker

With Sziky seemingly back on form after crushing through Dewalt in the round of 8, this poll is looking surprisingly reasonable as far as TLS staff picks go. Sziky is the undisputed king of the foreigner scene and rightly has the majority of staff picking him to win. Having said that, I would easily put eOnzErG in the top five foreigners (who are not Sziky) at the moment and given the volatility of ZvZ, he certainly has a chance in this match. Four of the TLS staff are even predicting the upset with eOnzErG clinching a deciding game five.

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That's all for now! Join us on Saturday, Mar 23 8:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for the cast of the round of 4! And as always a big thanks to our sponsors: