The round of 24 of the Teamliquid Legacy Starleague continues this weekend with the players in groups C and D fighting it out to see who gets to move on to the next stage of the tournament. Due to AlfiO and dOTY dropping out of the TLS2, they've been substituted with the next two players from point rankings, Cryoc and Assault. This is especially bad news to all the Protoss lovers who lost two strong players in one blow. However, these two new players have been giving a chance to rewrite history and make a name for themselves in TeamLiquid Legacy Starleague. Will they be able to do it? Tune in on Saturday, Jun 08 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) to find out!









The first match in this group was set between the two Protoss players, LancerX and Arcneon, on Jade. After a quiet start from both players, the game ended quickly in LancerX’s favor after he engaged Arcneon while he was busy setting up a third base.

The second match in this group featured the Terran player, Bizzy, playing against the Zerg player, WhistleR on Jade. WhistleR opened with a two-hatchery mutalisk play that transitioned into a three base lurker-centric style against Bizzy’s standard one-barracks expansion build. After defending against the initial mutalisk attack, Bizzy moved out with a marine and medic force to attack WhistleR’s third at the bottom left. In response, WhistleR sent lurkers to camp the Terran natural and prevent reinforcements. Bizzy pulled back and was able to cut the lurker numbers in half by surrounding them as they attempted to run away. WhistleR was able to morph mutalisks into guardians just outside of the Terran natural and attacked with them in order to disrupt mining at that base. However, map control remained solely in the Terran player’s favor, and this translated into an economic advantage in the game and a far too large number of science vessels and siege tanks for the Zerg player to defend against in the late game.

The winners match took place between Bizzy and LancerX on Match Point. In this game, Bizzy performed a simultaneous drop on the Protoss main and natural bases with vultures. He was able to kill a few probes and disrupt the Protoss somewhat as the match entered the mid game. Bizzy then took control of the center of the map and initiated a siege of the Protoss natural, an action that led to the destruction of the nexus at that position. LancerX was able to attack straight into the Terran army and break that contain despite judicious use of defensive matrix on the part of his opponent. At this point, the two players split the map and LancerX sought to attack the Terran army before enough spider mines were in position. However, there were simply too many units there for the Protoss player to handle, and the destruction of his army and their reinforcements cost him the game.

In the losers match, Arcneon fought against WhistleR in a battle of elimination on Match Point. In the early game, WhistleR was able to sneak in a few zerglings into the Protoss natural after Arcneon left the gap in his wall unmanned by a probe. This disrupted mining at the natural until a zealot could be made to deal with the zerglings. In the midst of all of this, WhistleR went for a five hatchery before gas into lurkers and zerglings build. In response, Arcneon sent out a +1 zealot timing attack but he was prevented from getting a significant number of zealots into the Zerg main because of a drone and zergling block. WhistleR then sent out his formidable ground army against the Protoss third that was being established at the top left position, but his unit numbers were significantly thinned out by high templar with storm despite being able to deny the base. After a high templar storm drop at the Zerg natural, and a dark templar infiltration into the main, the Zerg player was at a disadvantage for the rest of the game and WhistleR eventually left the game.


The final match of this group was set between Arcneon and LancerX on Fighting Spirit. In the early game, Arcneon’s plans were severely disrupted by dark templar. While Arcneon was able to hold it off eventually, he was forced to attack with his reaver at the front. After failing to destroy his opponent’s natural, Arcneon attempted to set up a base at his own natural, but he was very far behind his opponent economically. LancerX’s storm drops and final attack with his containment force sealed the deal and allowed him to move on to the next stage in the Legacy Starleague.



The first match of this group between the Zerg player Cosy and the Protoss player EnjoYmE on Jade was over in a flash as Cosy’s early zerglings were immediately able to get through the Protoss wall and put the Protoss player at a severe disadvantage in the game, forcing an early exit from EnjoYmE.

The second match of this group on Jade was set between the Zerg player Julia and the Protoss player dRaW. Julia went for a three hatchery lurker build after getting pylon blocked at his natural, while dRaW went for a play centered around drop play. Not to be outdone, Julia dropped lurkers into the Protoss main and natural. Julia continued to build up units and set up a lurker contain outside of the Protoss base. In response, dRaW sent three shuttles loaded with units to the Zerg main in an attempt to have Julia pull units out of the contain to defend. However, dRaW was unable to dislodge the Zerg player from the position of containment, and after a final attempt to break out he left the game.


The winners match on Match Point between the Cosy and Julia was another quick game as Julia was able to sneak zerglings into Cosy’s base after Cosy left his base undefended as he had sent his units out to attack. Julia was able to hold off the all-in zergling counterattack with the help of mutalisks, and won the game as a result.


As EnjoYmE forfeited the losers match, the final match of this group was set between dRaW and Cosy on Fighting Spirit. dRaW opened with a 10/12 gateway play, built at his natural, and sent out units to attack. After reaching the natural, dRaW reassessed his plans and retreated back to his natural in order to defend. WIth two rows of photon cannons and a reaver to defend, dRaW easily defended against the Zerg bust while simultaneously dropping dark templar into the Zerg main to win.



This was supposed to be the best week ever. Both the group of death and also the group of death. Yeah the groups were that good. Unfortunately for us dOTY and AlfiO has dropped out. They are replaced by Cryoc and Assault who were ranked tenth and eleventh in the point rankings. Group C however is still intact and is now possibly the hardest group in the round of 24; containing Bakuryu, Ramms, trutaCz, and Mazur.

Bakuryu faces off against trutaCz which is probably the most heavy-named starter of the round of 24. Bakuryu will have a really hard time. Zerg vs Zerg is statistically is worst match-up at around 45%. He is also 0-4 against trutaCz on TLPD. trutaCz on the other hand has a 60% ZvZ win rating. In the last thirteenth games on TLPD he has only lost one game. To Sziky. In the other twelve he has 2-0'd Bakuryu and 2-0'd TechnicS. trutaCz definitely looks to take game one. Although it is a ZvZ and a best of one. Anything can happen but expect solid games from both players.

Mazur is the only non-seed in this group, qualifying by points in fourth on the rankings. He has to play against Ramms' terran. Ramms hasn't played in tournaments for what seems like an eternity, but has been spotted practicing some on fish. Mazur hasn't played against a top-tier terran in a tournament in ages either. Non of the players are especially known for their PvT so it's hard to say who's more advantageous. Neo Jade caters a lot to three base turtle terran so that's most likely what we're going to see. Mazur is also very good at sitting so a long macro game is certain. With Mazur having been more active recently and the countless of hours he has spent in long macro games his expertise will make him prevail.

Even though Mazur is so known for his PvZ I don't think he will win vs either trutaCz or Bakuryu. Even though Bakuryu lost to him in the TLS showmatch. Bakuryu and trutaCz just feels one step up to me in this group. They should advance if nothing unforeseen happens.






So Group D. TechnicS and NeMu must have taken a huge sigh of relief when they saw that both AlfiO and dOTY had dropped out. What would have been my two favourites out of the group are now faced against two much lesser opponents. Cryoc though has been absolutely tearing it up. People just can't seem to win against him. Cryoc is 8-2 in Gambit's Cup this round. 8-2!? That's unbelievable. It's not like he has only played pushovers either. An excerpt of people he has beaten; dewalt, Gargoyle, INF3cted twice, and most recently skzlime. And it's not like he only wins in one match-up. It's all of them. Whatever Cryoc and WandS has been eating I want it.

The group starts with Assault against TechnicS. There's not really much to say about this. Assault is 1-5 in Gambit's Cup against some not very top-tier players. In those games he is 0-3 in ZvZ against Bakuryu, Pike, and Zaraki. Meanwhile TechnicS is someone who pretty much only loses to Sziky in ZvZ. I don't think there is much arguing that TechnicS will beat Assault.

This next match-up, but not necessarily this game, will decide who advances alongside TechnicS. NeMu and Cryoc are very closely matched. Whoever faces TechnicS will lose and whoever faces Assault will win. Both Neo Jade and Fighting Spirit are relatively balanced for TvZ (I'm assuming NeMu will play Zerg against Cryoc). NeMu might lose the first game but he will surely win on Fighting Spirit. NeMu is the reason I'm so high in liquibet because he keeps magically winning in TLS, and that's what's going to happen this season too.

Player	Staff Picks
Bakuryu (11)
	2Pacalypse-, Sayle, Epoxide, kjwcj, itsjustatank, Kiante, Hyde, Falling, Torenhire, bioboyAT, Nagisama
trutaCz (5)
	Epoxide, itsjustatank, Kiante, Hyde, bioboyAT
Mazur (3)
	2Pacalypse-, Sayle, kjwcj
Ramms (3)
	Falling, Torenhire, Nagisama

Group C is the new group of death in TLS2 after some minor complications resulting in different players for Group D. TLS Staff may be unanimous on thinking that Bakuryu will advance, but they’re completely split between the remaining three. It’s a tough call as any two players can be seen making out of this group. The Moustache Zerg was the easy staff favourite while TrutaCz gets the extra votes to put him slightly ahead of the remaining three. While I think Mazur and trutaCz have the better chance at advancing, my Terran bias can’t help but vote for Ramms.

Player	Staff Picks
TechnicS (11)
	2Pacalypse-, Sayle, Epoxide, kjwcj, itsjustatank, Kiante, Hyde, Falling, Torenhire, bioboyAT, Nagisama
NeMu (6)
	Epoxide, itsjustatank, Kiante, Hyde, Falling, Torenhire
Cryoc (5)
	2Pacalypse-, Sayle, kjwcj, bioboyAT, Nagisama
Assault (0)

If your name is Assault, then Group D is still quite the group of death. Similar to Group C, all the TLS Staff picked TechnicS to get out of the group with the rest being split between Cryoc and Nemu. This leaves poor Assault to have no one vote for him. Cryoc has been on fire recently beating some exceptionally strong players in Gambit Cup. It’s this and Nemu’s Ro8 finish last TLS that has the staff divided on who the second player to advance will be.

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That's all for now! Join us on Saturday, Jun 08 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for the cast of Groups C and D! And as always a big thanks to our sponsors: