Round of 16 continues this weekend as the final two groups will determine last four players who advance to the Round of 8. Group C will be casted first, on Saturday, while promising some very good games (ie. no Zergs)! Continuing on Sunday, Group D shows another weird race distribution as there is no Terrans there. Both groups feature some very popular fan favorites who are gonna go against established names in the BW foreign scene. Will they be able to make an upset or will they fall down to make way for most determined players? You definitely don't want to miss any of the games this weekend.

Find out more about this week's groups and the players in the recaps and previews below and make sure to tune in with Sayle on Saturday, Jun 29 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for Group C and Sunday, Jun 30 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for Group D.









The first match of the group was set between Sziky and Bakuryu in a mirror match on Wind and Cloud. The game was short, as Zerg mirrors tend to be, with Bakuryu moving out with his zerglings as Sziky attempted to establish a base at his natural. Sziky was forced to bring drones along with his limited zergling numbers, but he was able to defend the attack. As Bakuryu got mutalisks, he made a final effort to attack Sziky. After that effort failed, he left the game.

The second match of this group was between the Terran player, Bizzy, and the Protoss player, dRaW, on Wind and Cloud. Bizzy opened with a standard Fake Double timing attack against dRaW’s two base arbiter play. This attack seriously disrupted the Protoss natural, but the onslaught of the tide was finally stemmed by dRaW’s arbiters and dark templar. After defending, dRaW initiated a recall into the Terran main in order to break the contain outside of his base but was unable to complete that objective. He was, however, able to snipe a key comsat station for himself, which limited the number of scans available to his opponent. The damage performed allowed, dRaW was able to win the game in time.

The winners match of the group was set between Sziky and dRaW, and the first game was played on Wind and Cloud. After a less-than-successful timing attack, Sziky was able to severely disrupt the Protoss player’s economy despite having a position of contain outside of the Zerg natural and he was able to do enough damage in order to win the first game. Next was the second game on Outsider between Sziky and dRaW. With his early zerglings, Sziky attempted to force his way through the zealot-blocked ramp, but was unable to do so. Sziky continued to build zerglings, and brought the additional units along with two drones in a further attempt to break through the zealot wall. With the arrival of the Protoss corsairs, Sziky once again attempted a breach of the zealot wall. dRaW finally went on the offensive on the group and attacked the Zerg third at the top position of the map. Sziky was unable to hold off the attack, and Sziky was forced out of the game. The third and deciding game of this match was played on Fighting Spirit. Minor harassment on the part of both players were the hallmarks of the beginning of this game as both dRaW and Sziky attempted to establish an economy to fuel their later game exploits. As the mid game developed, a deadly dance developed between the corsairs dRaW was building up off of two stargates versus the large scourge numbers of the Zerg player. By this point, however, Sziky had switched production into a very heavy hydralisk and lurker cycle, and he took these units out in an attack against the Protoss player in an attempt to bust through to the natural. dRaW was able to take out the initial force, but he was only able to do so at the high cost of a number of his critical high templar. At the end of the game, dRaW got his entire army surrounded by Sziky’s forces, a blunder that put him at an terminal disadvantage in the game.

Next came the first game of the losers match between Bakuryu and Bizzy, played on Wind and Cloud. After an uneventful early game, Bakuryu attacked the Terran natural while Bizzy engaged the Zerg third in a counterattack. After a lot of back and forth, Bizzy took out the Zerg third before a nydus worm could be completed to facilitate reinforcements on the part of the Zerg, putting him in an insurmountable lead in this game and bringing the series to 1–0 despite Bakuryu’s attempts to fight it out to the end. In the second game on Outsider, Bizzy attempted to end the game early with a bunker rush that ended up failing despite Bakuryu being left with only three drones. Bizzy allowed Bakuryu to stabilize to the point that Bakuryu was able to pursue a large number of mutalisks and guardians, against which Bizzy deployed four starports pumping out wraiths to defend. Bizzy added on two more starports, expecting more air units. This ended up being a critical mistake, as Bakuryu switched to a very hydralisk-heavy force, to which six-port wraith was simply unable to respond. In the final, deciding, game of the loser’s match, which was played on Fighting Spirit, Bizzy’s mid game containment attack on the Zerg natural ended up being thwarted by Bakuryu after the Zerg player sniped three siege tanks and a science vessel. Bizzy executed a switch to mech after that setback, while Bakuryu proceeded to morph guardians outside of the bottom left base position. The mech switch allowed Bizzy to split the map with his opponent, but because map control remained firmly in Bakuryu’s grasp, the Zerg player was able to make an obscenely large number of guardians. He then made a decisive attack with those air units in combination with all of his ground forces in order to win the game.

In the first game of the final match of this group, which was played between Bakuryu and dRaW on Wind and Cloud, the Protoss player was able to successfully utilize corsairs and reavers in order to get an advantage over his opponent and win the game. In the second game of the final match of group A, dRaW faced off against Bakuryu on Outsider. Early zealot pressure punctuated with a delayed cannon rush at the Zerg third characterized the early period of this game. However, sunken colonies built at the third put an end to those shenanigans. dRaW was able to take out the Zerg spire with a mixed reaver and zealot drop, which put his opponent even further behind in the game. Frustrated with the game’s development and his progress within it, Bakuryu built a total of two spires for purposes of redundancy. This move was a sign that the end was near, and a final attack on the part of dRaW won the Protoss player the game and ended up eliminating Bakuryu from the tournament.




The first match of group B was set between the Zerg player, Michael, and the Terran player, Cryoc, on Wind and Cloud. Cryoc opened four barracks before gas after expansion and moved out with a very large and early bio force. While it appeared that Cryoc had the upper hand in army numbers as the engagement began outside of the natural, especially after Michael cancelled a building sunken colony, a lack of target firing and what can only be described as generally poor execution of the bust on his part led to the failure of the all-in attack and the Terran player’s early exit from the game.

The second match of the group took place between the Zerg player, Julia, and the Protoss player, LancerX, on Wind and Cloud. Julia was able to sneak a group of zerglings directly into LancerX’s base in the early game, which granted the Zerg player key scouting information and directly led to a number of probe kills. As the mid game developed, Julia turtled up on three bases before commencing a drop into the Protoss natural while a lurker shut down the Protoss third. A short while later, LancerX engaged the Zerg player in a very poor fashion in the center of the map, a move which lost him his entire army and the game itself.

The winners match was a Zerg mirror between Michael and Julia and the first game between the two players took place on Wind and Cloud. Both players opened with identical builds, however Michael introduced a sense of nostalgia into the tournament with an attempt to recreate his overlord-zergling block at the ramp which was once used against Sziky in the Teamliquid Legacy Starleague. Unfortunately for him, this game, and his moves during this game, ended up demonstrating that all great Zerg versus Zerg blunders appear, so to speak, twice; the first time as tragedy, and the second time as farce. While history has been proven to repeat itself in Brood War, it thankfully did not do so for a third time in the second game of this match, which was played on Outsider, as the game played out as a standard Zerg versus Zerg game that revolved around mutalisk and scourge control in the mid and late game periods. Michael won the micro control and numbers battle and took the match to a third game. In that third game, which was played on Fighting Spirit, Julia was able to get mutalisks before his opponent, and this advantage showed in the critical mutalisk versus mutalisk engagement of the game, where Michael’s scourge were unable to deliver the required results in order to eke out victory. Michael tried again, but was unable to overcome Julia’s advantage and he thus lost the game.

Cryoc faced off against LancerX in the losers match of the group and In the first game of the series, which was played on Wind and Cloud, Cryoc went for a two factory build that took advantage of some poor control on LancerX’s part in order to get into a position to siege the Protoss natural. LancerX attempted to do a double drop into the Terran main, but he suicided his units and lost the game almost immediately after that. Cryoc attempted a vulture drop in the second game, which was played on Outsider, that was immediately intercepted by the Protoss player. He was, however, able to sneak in a siege tank onto the cliff outside of his opponent’s natural. After finally getting rid of these annoyances, LancerX initiated reaver harassment and was able to do significant damage to the Terran economy before his opponent could get wraiths out in time. This put Cryoc at a disadvantage that cost him the game in the end after a final attack by LancerX which brought the series to a third game. In that third game, which was played on Fighting Spirit, LancerX brought out everyone’s favorite Protoss capital ships, the carriers, and was able to achieve a critical mass of them after taking advantage of Cryoc’s poor goliath control. He thus took the victory and eliminated Cryoc from the tournament.

The final match of this tournament was then set between LancerX and Michael. The first game took place on Wind and Cloud, In this game, Michael built mass hydralisks and queens with broodlings in order to take out the Protoss high templar units. The Zerg player’s strategy worked to perfection, and allowed Michael to lay a significant beat down on LancerX’s units when they met in the decisive engagement of the game and it won him the game. In the final game of the series, a base race situation on Outsider developed between Michael’s mutalisk force and LancerX’s archons. The mobility of Michael’s mutalisks combined with his superior control of those units compared to his opponent allowed him to win the game and move on in the tournament.



Both fortunate and unfortunate for terran fans is that three terrans are in one group. With both Bizzy and Cryoc out 0-2 in their groups we are guaranteed at least one terran in the quarterfinals and most likely two as G5 once again have to be the underdog fighting to stay alive. Ramms is race-picking protoss against both skzlime and TerrOr so the only possible mirror is skzlime vs TerrOr. The rest of the group is going to consist of only TvPs. If Ramms would have played terran in more than one game I think he would have advanced, but nevertheless he has to play his protoss and I don't have any faith in it.

The first game of group C is skzlime playing a TvP against Ramms on New Wind and Cloud. Although skzlime's weakest match-up is TvP I think that Ramms protoss isn't good enough to beat skzlime. This is exactly what I predicted for last seasons round of 16 group D where skzlime had to face Ramms in the first game of the group on Neo Jade. That time Ramms won and played great. They later had a rematch in the final set on Fighting Spirit. skzlime ended up advancing. Ramms surprised me in the round of 24 going out 2-0 in solid fashion out of a really hard group, and his special practice on fish might pay off once again. An ”upset” might be possible. The second match of the group is between G5 and TerrOr on the same map. G5 probably shouldn't be here just looking at how active he is. He is heavily out-matched by his peers in the group and Wind and Cloud suits TerrOr's aggressive play, expect a hard contain outside of G5's natural. This style will clash against G5's bulldog. Anything can happen.

What we will see in the other two sets are most likely a TvT between skzlime and TerrOr, and a TvP between Ramms and G5. TerrOr and skzlime are very closely matched in skill and it's sure to be the highest level of foreigner TvT we will have witnessed in a very long time. I predict skzlime to go 2-1, losing on Outsider trying to hard contain. Ramms is just way too solid for G5 but Outsider should suit G5's quirky play, I predict another 2-1. Once again Ramms has to play his protoss and will lose to yet another solid terran.






Just by glancing at group D the two obvious choices are TechnicS and eOnzErG. These two players are just too good not to get to the quarterfinals. The other two players in the group are very likable characters though. WandS is just amazing. C rank not too long ago, now getting to two consecutive TLS qualifier finals making him qualify for the TLS first in points. Okay that had to be a fluke, enters the round of 24, WandS is placed in a group with TerrOr, Napoleon, and TTF. Now there is no chance he is getting out of that group. WandS 2-0's the group, beating both TerrOr and Napoleon.

WandS can't possibly beat either eOnzErG or TechnicS can he? The fourth player in the group is dewalt who is said to be inactive and it was noticeable on his play in the round of 24 where he was nearly knocked out of the tournament. When this guy tries, he succeeds. The two opening games are both ZvP's; eOnzErG vs dewalt and TechnicS vs WandS on New Wind and Cloud. To be completely honest I don't think either dewalt or WandS stands the smallest chance against these titans.

What's really interesting in this group is the ongoing rivalry between eOnzErG and TechnicS. In late 2012 they faced each other fourteen times with a total score of eigth wins for TechnicS and six wins for eOnzErG, which four of those wins were against TechnicS' protoss. TechnicS already off-raced protoss once against zerg in TLS and said soon after the game that it was too dangerous to experiment with his protoss in a tournament. eOnzErG definitely has his work cut out for him if he wants to say he is the second best foreign zerg after Sziky. TechnicS has the upper hand and should be the one controlling the series. The losers set is hard to predict. WandS can perform miracles, especially in PvP. The series should still go to dewalt. The final set will be a rematch between eOnzErG and dewalt which will be as one-sided as the first.

Player	Staff Picks
skzlime (9)
	2Pacalypse, Sayle, Epoxide, SirJolt, kjwcj, itsjustatank, KristofferAG, nagisama, bioboyAT
TerrOr (7)
	Sayle, Epoxide, SirJolt, kjwcj, itsjustatank, Nagisama, KristofferAG
G5 (2)
	2Pacalypse-, bioboyAT
Ramms (0)

Holy TvT grou… wait a minute. Contrary to what the group shows, there is only one combination of players there that will play TvT while Ramms race picks PvT. After the disappointment last week of no Terrans advancing, the possibility of two to advance here is exciting to look forward to. That said, pretty much all of the TLS staff has picked the two visibly strongest players in the group, *cough* the true Terrans!* Even I wasn’t silly enough to follow 2pac and bioboyAT to pick G5 for this group. Poor Ramms, he has to practice both PvT and TvP and no one picked him.

*Terran power!

Player	Staff Picks
eOnzErG (7)
	2Pacalypse-, Epoxide, Sayle, SirJolt, kjwcj, itsjustatank, bioboyAT
TechnicS (5)
	Sayle, Epoxide, kjwcj, Nagisama, KristofferAG
WandS (3)
	2Pacalypse-, SirJolt, nagisama
Dewalt (3)
	itsjustatank, KristofferAG, bioboyAT

It’s no surprise that with the addition of the top four into the Round of 16, those players are also the easy staff favourites. Including eOnzErG, all the invites have received top picks from the TLS staff. I realized after I selected WandS to advance that TechniS and eOnzErG was also in the group. I probably would’ve just picked Dewalt instead. It’s not just me to pick WandS, 2pac and SirJolt all have faith in that he will miraculously advance. Just make DTs! :D

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That's all for now! Join us on Saturday, Jun 29 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for the cast of Group C and Sunday, Jun 30 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for Group D! And as always a big thanks to our sponsors: