Teamliquid Legacy Starleague Season 3 is entering the round-of-16 stage this weekend, with the group A being played on the Saturday and group B on the Sunday. This is the first time in our newest season that we'll see the four seeds who were in semi-finals last season. In group A we have none other than our two times champion of TLS, Sziky, looking for his golden mouse award I'm sure. In group B we have a second place finisher from last season, TechnicS, who will certainly make it his goal to take the first place this time around.

It will be interesting to see how our two seeds will fare against the rest of the players who got through the round-of-24. So to see some awesome games this weekend, tune in on Saturday, Oct 26 5:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for group A and on Sunday, Oct 27 5:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for group B. Group A starts in only so make sure not to miss it!







The first game saw the TLS newcomer Mad face the old favourite G5 on Destination. G5 started by teching up to very quick dark templar which was easily scouted by Mad, who responded by getting a second factory rather than a standard fast expand. This allowed him to use mines to block the dark templar from doing any damage, while a large number of vultures were able to take advantage of G5's lack of units to force the natural nexus to be cancelled.

Both players eventually took their natural expansions, and G5 was able to prevent Mad's vulture harass and drops from doing much damage. At this point mind games started to come into play, as Mad clearly expected fast arbiter tech to follow, and built a fast science facility while building up to a two-base push. However, G5 had no intention of making arbiters and instead built two shuttles to defend his third base. This led to a crushing victory for the Protoss as tanks approached the third base.

At this point, G5 looked to have an overwhelming advantage, and decided to confirm his victory by making a carrier switch. However, he overreached himself and attempted to end the game too early, losing a lot of dragoons for free and giving Mad a route back into the game. Mad was able to push and destroy G5's third base, while G5's initial carriers were pushed back from the Terran third base. The game had now swung decisively in Mad's favour, as he had established a third and fourth base of his own. G5 had succeeded in building up a significant force of carriers, and rather than solidifying his position Mad made the error of splitting his forces. G5 took advantage of this to easily destroy half of the goliath numbers. Suddenly, Mad appeared to be struck by indecisiveness and the Protoss forces annihilated the entire main base. However all was not yet lost as Mad's earlier push and persistent vultures had reduced G5 to almost no mining at all.

Mad threw up more bases and factories elsewhere as G5 rampaged around the map. Despite G5 having almost no economy, there were never quite enough goliaths to fight the carrier-dragoon force. Eventually, Mad was forced to leave a game he had looked almost certain to win.

The second game was between Doty and Octzerg on Destination. Octzerg opened pool first and was able to run past the single cannon with two zerglings which were able to cause some lost mining time for the Protoss. After taking his expansion, Doty moved out with his first four zealots towards Octzerg's third base. These were cleaned up by extra zerglings, and the first corsair was destroyed by scourge.

Doty decided to attack again, this time with speedzealots, while Octzerg had began building up a mutalisk force. These were able to easily wipe out the zealots before they could destroy the third base, putting the Zerg player in a commanding position.

However, Doty patiently waited in his base while he constructed a large army of corsairs, archons and zealots. This was able to crush the Zerg forces and take a strong position outside Octzerg's natural. Octzerg sent a sneaky force of hydralisks around to snipe the third base of Doty, but Doty took advantage of this to attack and destroy Octzerg's natural and main bases. Octzerg tried to hold on, but the Protoss forces were far too much for a one-base Zerg to handle and he was forced to gg.

In the Winners Match Doty and G5 faced off to compete for the reward of being the first to advance from the group. The game was on Neo Aztec, and both players opted for 2 gate builds due to the downwards ramp into the main. Doty followed his 2 gates with an expansion, while G5 decided to go for reavers to try to push Doty's expansion. However, Doty crushed the attack with ease and the was able to ride his huge economic advantage to take the win.

The Losers Match was between Mad and Octzerg, again on Neo Aztec. Both players chose standard openings with a 12 hatch against a one barracks expand. Mad clearly wanted to counter the mutalisks and quickly teched to a fast science facility. However, this was undone as Mad misplaced his turrets, allowing the mutalisks to deal significant damage in the Terran main before being pushed out. Mad managed to build up a large marines force, pushing out and knocking out the Zerg's optimistic fourth base before any lurkers could arrive to defend. However, a Zerg counterattack did a large amount of damage at the Terran natural, giving Octzerg the chance to complete his hive tech.

As Mad moved out, lurkers and zerglings caught a group of marines in an awkward position, further reducing the Terran forces. From this position, ultralisks, lurkers and zerglings broke the Terran natural and despite a dropship full of marines killing a large number of drones, here ended the hopes of the entertaining, heroic but ill-fated Mad.

The final game on Fighting Spirit would determine whether Octzerg would manage to be the latest Zerg to qualify for the next stage, or whether the returning G5 could continue his unexpected success story. Octzerg opened pool first, but his attempted run-by was shut down by G5, as he only managed to get a single zergling into the Protoss base.

Octzerg took his third base while unusually, G5 decided to take a fast third base himself while making dark templar. These were able to do an enormous amount of damage as Octzerg's third base was entirely cleaned out of drones.

After a period of passivity, Octzerg was able to re-saturate four bases, and G5 moved out with a powerful mid-game army. This looked as though it would be enough to cause Octzerg some serious problems, but some poor control meant that the force was cleaned up before it could do any lasting damage. At the same time, guardians knocked down G5's natural nexus, putting him in a very tricky position.

After building up another large force, G5 attempted to move out of his natural but he had no storms available and waves of hydralisks, lurkers and zerglings overwhelmed the Protoss forces before they could make any headway across the map. From this point, G5 could do nothing but sit in his own natural until the Zerg forces were finally able to break his defences. Octzerg advances!




Group F opened on Destination, where INF3cted opened pool-first against LancerX's forge fast-expand. INF3cted managed a zergling run-by against a totally inadequate wall at the Protoss natural, but was unable to do real damage. As the players entered the midgame, INF3cted moved to threaten hydralisk pressure, but his overextended force was slaughtered by an efficient zealot squad. These soldiers of Aiur moved to the Zerg third, where they could move freely along the back of the natural and cause enough distraction to allow for a safe Protoss third. INF3cted finally moved to deny the nexus but was too late. Good micro commenced from both players, but while the Zerg struggled to do real damage with his aggression, LancerX cleaned up a mineral line with a single dark templar. He finally moved his full army across the map, and INF3cted had no response to repel the attack.

The group proceeded to its second match, where TLS veteran eOnzErG faced off against newcomer non. eOnzErG opened with a three-hatchery build that included a hydralisk den and spire, but had neither hydralisks nor mutalisks to defend non's initial vulture drop. non missed an opportunity to deal kill off the developing mutalisks with his spider mines, but his attack managed significant damage to the Zerg economy before it was cleaned up. eOnzErG did no damage with his air units, but did take an opportunity to engage the growing mech force favorably on the ground. He chose to continue mutalisk production to protect hive tech. non's goliaths and valkyries easily held this threat as he took third and fourth bases. The Terran was now in a strong position and continued to establish entrenched defenses in preparation for a long war of attrition. eOnzErG responded beautifully, using a hole in the defense to raze the Terran natural and securing bases within his enemy's zone of influence to prevent a split map situation. non continued to win every direct engagement and even killed several hatcheries, but when his invasion force was cleaned up he lost control of the game. eOnzErG seized the map with nonstop production and great multitasking, and the spread out mechanical army was gradually worn down and defeated.

The Winners Match was played on Neo Aztec. eOnzErG played to the map, moving as fast as possible to secure the unclaimed main and natural. His defense appeared solid, but he neglected effective detection at his expansions. LancerX seized this opportunity by sniping the few nearby overlords and inflicted massive damage with dark templar. eOnzErG attempted to return fire with a flock of mutalisks for harassment. A few cannons minimized the damage while LancerX hit hard at the Zerg's third. The Zerg diverted his mutalisks in a final effort to save his economy, but LancerX had saved multiple storms to protect his flank. eOnzErG took far too much damage from the Protoss invasion to pull back into the game, and struggled on only briefly before giving his surrender.

The second game on Neo Aztec would determine the first elimination from the group, a fate which non and INF3cted would fight to avoid. non opened with an eight-barracks bunker rush, which INF3cted held comfortably. The Zerg also appeared well-prepared for the following wraith harass and vulture drop. INF3cted finally moved to apply his own pressure with a flock of mutalisks, which was repeatedly pushed away from the natural before discovering the poorly defended main. non fell behind his opponent in every aspect, surviving only with the aid of an entrenched tank position. INF3cted made good use of an investment in queens to cut these tank numbers and cement his lead. He then dropped non's main, pulling the entire Terran army out of position. In complete disarray, non was picked apart by INF3cted's remaining units, and after two hard-fought games in TLS, he bowed out of the tournament.

The Zergs of Group F played against each other in its final game. INF3cted opened nine-pool gas on Fighting Spirit, while eOnzErG opened twelve-pool expand. INF3cted moved to pressure the natural hatchery with his earlier zerglings, but was deflected comfortably. eOnzErG responded with his own aggression when his superior larva production kicked in. INF3cted suffered a critical setback when he failed to hold his ramp to the attack. eOnzErg's zerglings camped his base and were reinforced at a much higher rate than INF3cted could match. With an eventual zergling attack that massacred the drone line, and with spore colonies at home to protect himself, eOnzErG was untouchable in the rest of the brief battle between these two top Zerg players, and secured his advancement to the Round-of-16.









The Round-of-24 is now over. This first group stage served to weed out poorly prepared seeded players from last season and those who found less competitive opponents in the qualifiers. The Round-of-16, the second group stage of the third TLS, now hosts only the best players from around the world, and none have any easy path ahead. To further shake things up, the venerable maps of the previous rounds are being rotated out. Two brand new maps will host the majority of games of this round.

The opening group of the round features our two-time TLS champion Sziky, who boasts astronomically high win rates in all match-ups and has not lost a series since 2011. Those statistics don't count showmatches though, and all games considered the tyrant of TLS is actually 0-3 versus Terran to date in this tournament, after finally meeting his match in former progamer Sea. That won't help his first opponent, FremAN. Few expected the rookie Protoss to succeed in the Round-of-24, but he played well and earned advancement only to be matched against the undisputed king of foreigner Brood War. The battle for second place in this group may not be heavily contested either, since Group A also hosts trutaCz. The Zerg is undeniably one of the top players outside of Korea, but hasn't yet reached his potential in TLS. He has absolutely smashed his way through the brackets thus far and will be solid favorite for second. Rounding out the group is Zaraki, who is making his first tournament run in TLS. Zaraki has shown very solid play against Protoss and Zerg in the past few weeks, and could very well be a surprise success in tonight's games, but most evidence would indicate that he is outclassed by the other Zergs in this group.

Sziky versus FremAN will open the group, and for the latter's sake let's hope he has something special prepared. Polaris is a good map for Protoss in this match-up, so there may be hope yet for the Frenchman. Meanwhile, trutaCz will be the clear favorite versus Zaraki. Anything can happen in a best-of-one Zerg mirror, but trutaCz is more likely to take it. He would then face Sziky in the Winners Match. trutaCz has it in him to take games off Sziky, he is in fact 1-1 against the champion in TLPD history, but he is unlikely to take the series. The series between FremAN and Zaraki could come down to the wire, with both players riding momentum in the tournament. Zaraki looks to be the superior player in Zerg versus Protoss. He should take a third game on Fighting Spirit if it comes to that. He might not have what it takes to win the final series in this scenario. trutaCz swept him in the qualifiers and appears to have all the skill and experience to make a deep run in this season of TLS.






TechnicS is the seeded player of Group B, placing second last season. TechnicS holds 70+% in both non-mirror match-ups, and only suffers in the Zerg mirror due to the incredible quality of his opponents. He also boasts a 2-0 record against his first opponent, fellow Zerg Bakuryu. Bakuryu is a well-rounded player who has tended to appear prepared and in top form in his long history of TLS matches. Andreyy is the sole representative of the Terran race in Group B. He has used unorthodox play styles to some success in all three TLS tournaments, particularly versus Zergs, and is riding the momentum of a strong Round-of-24 performance towards his best placement yet. Similarly, DragOn is playing through his debut TLS run with impressive game sense and mechanics, leaving one to wonder why we haven't seen more of this Protoss player in 2013.

The opening matches of Group B feature some clear favorites. In the mirror match-up, both of the group's Zergs have a real chance at victory, but TechnicS has the superior history by far. Meanwhile, DragOn's incredible TvP record should completely trump Andreyy's underwhelming history in the match-up, especially on Polaris Rhapsody. The series between TechnicS and DragOn that would follow might be similarly one-sided, as TechnicS hasn't lost a series to a Protoss in over two years, and his opponent does not excel versus Zergs. Bakuryu versus Andreyy would be more interesting. Their series will depend heavily on their use of the new terrain. The more experienced Bakuryu is more likely to come out ahead when the dust settles.

The final match of this group, which many would expect to take place between Bakuryu and DragOn, could be an intense contest between two noteworthy entrants in this tournament. The maps will play a crucial role. Polaris Rhapsody historically favors Protoss against Zerg, while Andromeda does just the opposite. The players may have their fortitude tested with the increased number of games in the Round-of-16, and their preparation will be key as well. In the end, I'll favor DragOn in their match, as his performance last round struck me as more impressive. In reality, advancement could go to any player in Group B.

Player	Staff Picks
Sziky (9)
	2Pacalypse-, Sayle, Epoxide, SirJolt, itsjustatank, nagisama, endy, Selenus, Poetic[AoV]
trutaCz (10)
	2Pacalypse-, Sayle, Epoxide, BisuDagger, SirJolt, itsjustatank, nagisama, endy, Selenus, Poetic[AoV]
Zaraki (1)
	BisuDagger
FremAN (0)

Luckily for me, Group A for the Ro16 will be super easy to write up after taking a quick look at the poor guys stuck in a group with Sziky. While some could’ve hoped for a possible second place finish in the group, trutaCz also happens to be in the group. As the numbers are pretty evident, TL staff thinks it’s been a nice run for FremAN and Zaraki, but they’re journey stops here, crushed under the feet of many Zerglings. There may still be a chance for one of them to upset second place, but Group A is looking like it’ll be eZ.

Player	Staff Picks
TechnicS (8)
	2Pacalypse-, Sayle, Epoxide, SirJolt, itsjustatank, endy, Selenus, Poetic[AoV]
Andreyy (2)
	BisuDagger, nagisama
DragOn (5)
	Sayle, BisuDagger, itsjustatank, endy, Selenus
Bakuryu (5)
	2Pacalypse-, Epoxide, SirJolt, nagisama, Poetic[AoV]

With this being the last TLS weekend before Halloween, TL staff seems to be aiming for an early creepy weekend. Majority of the staff voted for four Zergs to make it out of Groups A and B. For Group B though, the votes are slightly less one-sided. DragOn maintains his popularity during Ro24 with the staff and good old fan favourite Bakuryu comes in at second. TechnicS was the clear choice for pretty much all the staff who voted except me. I voted for Bakuryu cause he’s a fellow anime fan, and andreyy because, COME ON, you guys didn’t read that interview!? It was hilarious! That and he plays Terran. That’s always a vote in my eyes. o/

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Join us on Saturday, Oct 26 5:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for the cast of Group A and on Sunday, Oct 27 6:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for the cast of Group B! And as always a big thanks to our sponsors: