BenQ GSTL
Season One

Week 7 Recap
Things happen but Scarlett's new hairstyle is more interesting


Week 8 Preview
LG-IM vs. Azubu
Startale vs. MVP

Brackets and results on Liquipedia

Whoa, have we reached the halfway point of the GSTL already? Seven weeks through, the GSTL is still anyone's game, with the #1 spot still wide open for the taking. Axiom-Acer stands at #1 for now with a win over Prime, but there are three teams right on their heels who will take over their spot with just one win.

Week 7 in Review: Hurricanes and Hairdos

The first game of the week saw NS HoSeo suffer their third all-kill of the season, as FXO's Hurricane sent the entire NSH roster flying. It was a serious letdown for NS HoSeo after they scored the upset against Prime last week, looking like they would be a contender after all. In retrospect, it may have been more indicative of Prime's haplessness than anything else, especially when you consider their loss to Axiom-Acer (more on that below). What may have been even more disappointing than NSH's loss was the fact that they refused to use MadBull, the charismatic Protoss player who powered them to victory last week. Let's put it this way: NSH win rate with Madbull = 100%, without Madbull = 0%. Stats don't lie!


The other match had Prime's laughably predictable four man, no-Zerg line-up get pummeled yet again, this time by Axiom-Acer. While Axiom-Acer's roster was also known to be one of the shortest in the GSTL, it didn't matter as Ryung and CranK were all they needed to crush through Prime's A-team. ByuN continued to be the only Prime team member capable of getting any result in HotS, but even he couldn't stand up to Crank's methodical macro play in the end. There might be some good news for Prime on the horizon, as ByuN announced former player AnNyeong's return to progaming in a recent interview. Of course, whether or not Annyeong will be good enough to break into the Prime starting four remains to be seen, but having any credible Zerg option would be a huge boost to Prime.


In the end, week seven's stories weren't particularly surprising—Prime and NSH continued to be bad at HotS, Hurricane showed why he's popular with elitist hipster fans, and Ryung reminded us that hey, he did happen to be a Code S regular for a while. Instead, the best story of the week uncurled outside the game: Scarlett's new hairstyle:


Indeed, Scarlett finally returned to the straightened hairstyle she showed us a long time ago at IPL4, one which she had inexplicably abandoned despite the fact that it looks about 500% better. As for the coloring, that we have more mixed feelings on.

It turns out we have LastShadow to thank for this change of style. Make sure to thank him for re-establishing good taste in the GSTL after GomTV caster and self-proclaimed hair expert Wolf shirked his duties for weeks.

Upcoming Matches

LG-IM is still one of the deepest teams in the league, but about two months into HotS we're noticing they have a serious flaw: They're not top heavy enough. To be a strong all-kill team you need to have depth AND have concentrated power in a few stars, but LG-IM is showing that they only have depth without enough multi-kill potential. Their backbone of YoDa, LosirA, Squirtle, First, YongHwa, and crew is strong, but besides Squirtle, there's no one you look at as a real all-kill candidate. They're all well-established, consistent players, but they could use more inconsistent, streaky players to supplement the line-up (like ByuN, Tear, etc).

Azubu is similar in that respect, having a deep bench with a lot of competent players of each race, but they also have the GSTL monster Symbol anchoring their line-up. Unfortunately for Azubu, Symbol was in Code S action the night before this match, which makes it unlikely that he will make an appearance. If this turns into a battle between the rotation players, I have to favor LG-IM by a bit. Outside Symbol, there aren't really many streaky players on either side, and the overall quality of LG-IM roster is slightly better.

Prediction: LG-IM 4 - 3 Azubu




The winner of this match has a very high chance to take first place away from Axiom-Acer, unless Azubu manages to defeat LG-IM by a very big margin. In a surprising move, MVP have decided to send out their super-ace of old, DongRaeGu, as their first runner. This isn't a demotion for DRG (he played as the point man a few times even at the height of his power), and it's actually a move that I really like. DRG's been having a lot of trouble in HotS, and putting him in position to rack up multiple kills from the low-pressure starter position could be what he needs to rebuild his confidence (especially after a terrible loss to SuperNoVa in Code A this week).

Following Avenge's 2 - 1 win over Fantasy in Code A, his deployment as the starter in this match looks even more interesting. Startale has been giving their bench players chances in this season of the GSTL, and Avenge has been one of the players who has taken advantage of those opportunities with good performances. His return to the line-up in this position suggests that he's solidifying his spot as the #1 Startale Protoss, filling the void PartinG and Squirtle left. Those are some big shoes to fill, but Avenge has seemed full of confidence so far, and he won't be intimidated by facing a GSTL legend like DRG.

Overall, I like MVP's line-up a little bit more than Startale's. Yes, Startale has the extremely fearsome Life, but MVP is a team that's extremely well equipped to deal with him, having the trio of Monster, Sniper, and DongRaeGu to take him on in ZvZ. Assuming that Life can be contained without too much damage being done, the overall quality and experience of MVP's roster should be enough to take on the more unproven players on Startale.

Prediction: MVP 4 - 3 Startale

Writers: Waxangel.
Graphics: Pathy.
Editor: Waxangel.