TLS Season 3 round-of-8 has concluded last weekend and now we're facing semifinals that are bound to be epic. Two weeks and four players are left until we get to crown our new champion in the third season of this premiere foreign BW tournament. Due to some very unfortunate incidents in the round-of-8, we're now left again with a 75% players being pure Zerg players, just as we were in the first two seasons. Contrary to the first two seasons though, our fourth player is a Protoss and Zerg race picker, but fortunately for us he will only play Protoss against his opponents.

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 and Elegant on Saturday, Nov 16 6:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for the semifinal matches.









The first game in the series between the Zerg player, Sziky, and the Terran player, TerrOr, took place on Destination. Sziky spawned at the top position, while TerrOr spawned at the bottom position. In the early game, the Zerg player opted for a two-hatchery mutalisk build while the Terran player began to build wraiths off two starports. When the respective air armies met, Sziky’s superior mutalisk control was able to give him the edge against the wraiths, and TerrOr was not given time to recover by his opponent.

In the second game, which was played on Neo Aztec, Sziky spawned at the twelve o’clock position on the map and TerrOr spawned at the five o’clock position. TerrOr attempted to proxy two factories at the three o’clock position, but Sziky, who went for a three hatchery build, was able to scout it out and prepare for the attack. sziky going 3 hatchery, mutas later. sziky scouts it while terror builds a second fact. TerrOr attempted a push, but Sziky’s waiting mass of hydralisks was able to absolutely crush it and win the game.

The third game in the series was played on Andromeda, and TerrOr spawned at the bottom left position while Sziky spawned at the bottom right.third game on andromeda. Both players took their expansions; Sziky built his hatchery on twelve, and TerrOr went for a 14 CC build. In response to the Terran build, Sziky attempted a drone rush, but TerrOr was able to build a wall and thus prevented the drones and eventual zerglings from getting into his natural. Behind in the game, Sziky reverted to a three-hatchery mutalisk strategy. In the mid-game, TerrOr made multiple attempts to destroy the Zerg position at the three o’clock base and was frustrated each time because of Sziky’s mutalisk control and lurker placement. These attacks, which did little economic damage to the Zerg player, proved quite taxing for the Terran player, most notably after the second try when the majority of the Terran army was destroyed and the science vessel count was reduced significantly. By the time TerrOr was finally able to take out the three o’clock base, he became entrenched in an attack at the top right position and his units were overwhelmed. Sziky was then free to engage the Terran player in his own bases and win the game.

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The first game in the series between DragOn, who played Protoss, and Julia, who played Zerg, took place on Destination, with Julia at the top position and DragOn at the bottom position. The game was over in a flash, because Julia was able to mine out the rear mineral block and sneak a drone and zerglings into DragOn’s base to win.

In the second game, which was played on Neo Aztec, Julia’s expansion was blocked by DragOn, so he built his simcity hatchery first and produced zerglings. As corsairs arrived, julia developed lurker drop capability, and used that capability to disrupt the Protoss bases. However, his attempts were cleaned up with apt use of observers, corsairs, and storm. DragOn maintained a supply lead and map control, but only up to a point. Eventually Julia became more cost-effective than his opponent and seized the economic lead in the game. After a last-ditch Protoss attack against his bases, Julia won the game.

In the third game, Julia opened with an overpool against DragOn’s forge-nexus-cannon expansion build on Andromeda. After exchanges in the early game and mid-game, DragOn’s attack at the top left natural and its expansions were too much for Julia to handle.

In the fourth game, which was played on Polaris Rhapsody, Julia spawned at the top left position and DragOn spawned at the bottom right position. Both players took their expansions, and Julia prepared a three hatchery hydralisk bust feint in order to force cannons out of his opponent behind his own expansion and containment action. Protoss broke out of the containment with dragoons, templar, and archons, ate the Zerg supply and won the game.

In the fifth and deciding game, which was played on Fighting Spirit, DragOn spawned at the top left position, and Julia spawned at the bottom right position. The Zerg player went for five hatcheries, while Protoss went for corsairs. The corsairs were able to destroy the Zerg scourge and they went after overlords, which led to supply block issues for Julia. Julia was unable to respond effectively as he had made a lot of his hydralisks into lurkers, and he thus lacked anti-air capabilities against DragOn’s continued corsair aggression. After having sensed enough damage was wrought, Protoss went on the ground attack path and was able to destroy the Zerg army with a well-thoughtout composition and excellent storm use. Julia was unable to reinforce effectively because of the supply block issues, and DragOn was able to perform the reverse sweep in order to advance to the semifinals.

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In the first game of the mirror Zerg series between eOnzErG and trutaCz, which was played on Destination, both played opened with identical nine pool builds. eOnzErG was able to trap and destroy trutaCz’s initial zergling force by hiding an element of them away from the gaze of the scouting overlord. trutaCz built a sunken to help defend against the counterattack, but the economic damage was still able to be done by eOnzErG’s forces. As the mutas came out, eOnzErG was able to wins the game with that advantage.

In the second game, which was played on Neo Aztec, both players opened with identical twelve pool timings. trutaCz was able to get better engagements than his opponent and thus won the game on the ground with more zerglings despite his opponent’s mutalisks tech.
In the third game, which was played on Andromeda, trutaCz neglected zergling speed but he was able to defend the attacks. The shifts to mutalisks, and trutaCz’s scourge was able to make the difference against eOnzErG’s uncharacteristic mutalisk control.

The fourth game was played on Polaris Rhapsody, and both players took their expansions. eOnzErG was able to trap trutaCz’s zerglings on a bridge in a pincer movement and win the game.

In the fifth and final game, which was played on Fighting Spirit. eOnzErG attacked with early lings before speed, but got them stuck in trutaCz’s base. Terminally behind from that position, he proceeded to lose the game and allow trutaCz to advance to the semifinals.










The semifinals of TLS Season 3 take place this very evening. Four of the best players outside of Korea remain to prove their claims to the title, but only two will play in that final best-of-seven series. The players have practiced tirelessly and they have already won some impressive matches. Best of all, the bracket is beginning to suggest the rebirth of a legend. Good viewers of TLS, tonight's preview requires a history lesson.

Few of us were watching the results of Korean gaming competitions closely in 2001. Those that did, however, will remember incredible new peaks of skills obtained by an invincible Terran named Lim Yo Hwan, also known as BoxeR. The question at the time was whether or not the other races stood a chance against the Terran race at this new, high level of play, and that question was answered by the year's end with GARIMTO's OSL victory. The following year followed the same pattern, with Reach, who earned gold in October in the world's most prestigious Brood War league.

It was during this time that people first began to speak of a legend that guided tournament results. Specifically, the OnGameNet Starleague was said to favor a Protoss champion in only the Autumn months. This Legend of the Fall persisted through the rise and fall of countless top players, the appearance of dominant strategies, and even past the bitter end of professional Brood War. Of the ten gold medals that were awarded to Protoss, eight were earned between the months of August and December.

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Today's history lesson frames the first series of the semifinals. Sziky's dominance in the foreign scene and two-tournament streak in TLS mirrors that of BoxeR all those years ago. The foreign scene right now resembles the environment in which GARIMTO won his medals, with viewers everywhere wondering if racial imbalance can be overcome at our level of play. Perhaps if you were to browse Liquipedia ten years from now, you might see the long list of TLS champions dotted with Protoss green in the Autumn months, beginning with November 2013.

It is this pressure we place on DragOn in his royal road march this season. He may be an extreme underdog against the king of TLS, and viewers everywhere have undoubtedly already braced themselves for his quick exit and the resulting Zerg versus Zerg finals. Dragon was also the underdog last week, when his form inexplicably improved game after game and earned him a reverse sweep of another strong Zerg, Julia. He spoke about these games in a post-match interview with supreme confidence, and he offered no words that might undermine his own strategy when asked about his match against the reigning champion. DragOn might know something that we do not. He may have developed, through practice and strategy, a plan that could topple the new emperor. He may be the first foreigner to realize the Legend of the Fall.

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The other side of the semifinal bracket matches TechnicS, last season's runner-up, against this season's top qualifying Zerg, trutaCz. This mirror match closely resembles the latter's round-of-eight series against eOnzErG, in which two of the absolute top Zerg players fought a short, tense, series that was decided though subtle advantages and rapid decisive engagements. The favorite of this series is a matter for debate. TechnicS proved in last season's final that he has the prowess to challenge even Sziky in the match-up, and his short list of recent games leaves a lot of uncertainty surrounding his current form. trutaCz, on the other hand, has a relatively weak history in previous seasons, but he has a long list of recent victories to prove his form. An important point in the match will be whether trutaCz's play last round showed his hand to his opponent, whether it revealed strategies and tactics to his opponent based on this map pool. This series will be short and sweet, and its victor will only be one series away from the season's gold medal.

Player	Staff Picks
Sziky (10)
	2Pacalypse-, Sayle, Epoxide, BisuDagger, SirJolt, itsjustatank, ]343[, Falling, Nagisama, Selenus
DragOn (0)
TechnicS (5)
	Epoxide, BisuDagger, itsjustatank, ]343[, Nagisama
trutaCz (5)
	2Pacalypse-, Sayle, SirJolt, Falling, Selenus

It’s the Ro4 that many feared would happen. All of the other races and players have been defeated either by the Zerg players in battle, or by their own alarm clocks. One lone Protoss player stands as the last glimmering hope of a non-ZvZ finals. However he faces the final boss before he can reach the end. It’s no doubt that TLS staff, and probably everyone else, bet on Sziky to win. It’s basically the easiest choice they have to make.
On the other side of the brackets there is slightly more uncertainty, partially because it’s ZvZ and also because it’s TechnicS versus trutaCz. The staff are pretty much split down the middle in terms of who they think will win. Rumor has it though that TechnicS has been out of practice, while trutaCz has been streaming regularly. There is only one way to find out who’s on their A-game, and that’s to tune in on Saturday!

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Join us on Saturday, Nov 16 6:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) for the cast of the Semifinals! And as always a big thanks to our sponsors: