The Liquid Weekly #29

February 28th, 2011 06:52 GMT

TSL incoming!

Quick Links

Liquid` Sightings

TSL Time
Liquid speaks.

Aftermath
GSL survivors tell all.

This Week In Replays

Liquid in GSL - 28th February, 2nd March, 3rd March 2011

Liquid in GosuCoaching Premiere Playoffs - Soon

Liquid in GSL - 28th February, 2nd March, 3rd March 2011

Liquid's last GSL Ro32 match will take place in just a few hours today as TLAF-Liquid`Ret faces SlayerS_M in the GSL. Last week was a good one for Liquid, and we look forward to Jos opening this new one with a win as usual for the team. Coming out of a convincing performance at Assembly, we have no doubt that the Flying Dutchman will move quickly into the Ro16, so be sure to be here with us on stream as we cheer him on!

Jinro and HuK, driver and conductor of the SC2 pain train.

Meanwhile, having blazed through their Code A and Code S Ro32 games respectively, TLAF-Liquid`HuK and TLAF-Liquid`Jinro will now go into the Ro16 on Wednesday and Thursday. As usual, TL will be here en masse as our warriors gear up. Catch us in the Live Report thread and on IRC as we see them through to the next round.

Here is the complete Liquid GSL schedule for the coming week.

Monday 28th February 2011
LiquidRet vs SlayerS_M

Wednesday 2nd March 2011
LiquidHuk vs TSL_Revival

Thursday 3rd March 2011
LiquidJinro vs HongUnPrime

TLAF-Liquid`HayprO unfortunately did not advance from the Ro32. We look forward to bringing you more from him in the weeks to come as he continues to live and practice with the Liquid crew in Incheon.

Liquid in GosuCoaching Premiere Playoffs - Soon

After giving us a fright for a week or two there, our boys in blue stepped up in the final week of the GCPL group stage to deliver a 3 - 1 win over Empire and reclaim their rightful place at the top of the standings. Although four teams have a 5 - 2 record in this stage of the tournament, Liquid's impressive 19 - 8 per game win/loss record put them at the top of the table.

Woot!

Ready to see them dominate the playoffs as well? Watch the GCPL thread for more information on playoff schedules!

It's kind of a big deal.

So, the TSL, the mother of all online RTS tournaments is just around the corner, and we now know for sure that all six active Liquidians will be taking part. Woohoo! Our obvious jubilation aside though, there is a lot to consider. We have some returning participants and some freshers. What does your favourite player make of the event? Find out below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-vnh6sGTR4
Just a quick reminder that we're defending champions, yo!

Congratulations on qualifying/being invited for the TSL. What went through your head when you first found out you will be playing?

HayprO: I was very happy because I've already been in the TSL before and being able to compete in the biggest online tournament ever again is a very huge thing for a progamer.

HuK: I hope I play Koreans / North Americans first.

Tyler: Thanks. I was thankful that I qualified via seeding from TSL2! The NA/EU qualification process has proven to be extremely competitive. I also got a feeling like Christmas, like it's that time of the year for magical things to happen.

TLO: I was extremely stoked, haha, and to be honest I would have felt really really bad if I didn't manage to qualify because I didn't wanna be the only TL member who wasn't in the TSL... that would have sucked so hard.

Jinro: Well, duh, of course they invited ME.

Really though, I was happy.

Ret: Just happiness. The more tournaments the better, especially prestigious ones like this one.

What are you looking forward to the most about returning to the tournament? How will the TSL3 be different from previous TSLs, especially for you?

HayprO: Obviously, the biggest difference is of course that it's SC2 now and not BW. Also, this time the Koreans are part of it which makes it so much harder but also much more fun.

Tyler: The TSL3 is more prestigious than previous TSLs. In previous TSLs, it was known that there were dozens of Korean players who could plow through the tournament. With TSL3, we have the best players in the world competing. It's a world championship. I'm looking forward to the star treatment. No one does it like the TSL does it when it comes to production and promotion. With Glider working on the art (and TL's always-amazing graphics department) and with the establishment of a TL office, I'm expecting great things.

Ret: The difference is that it'll SC2, and that means it's going to be way bigger than the previous 2! And Koreans will be competing so that makes the tournament better/harder all around.

What does the TSL mean to you? Did you experience any of them in the past, as a fan, perhaps? As a player, what are your hopes for this upcoming tournament?

HuK: Teamliquid Star league. Yes I use to watch them before, but was never good enough in SC1 to compete I don't think. To win obviously.

TLO: I have watched the past two TSLs and they were just AWESOME, I mean it was the biggest non-Korean event and it felt very different watching our own community compete on such a high level for a such a big prize pool. I really hope to go far in the TSL3 but it's gonna be very tough. My wish is for one of us in our Team to take 1st place of course.

Jinro: I was a referee for the first one... I don't think anyone who has qualified or been invited has any other goal than winning.

What was your favourite moment from the TSL so far? Anyone you rooted for in TSL1 or TSL2?

HayprO: During both TSL1 and TSL2 I rooted for Mondragon.

HuK: When Idra left the game after cancelling his Command Center. Didn't really root for anyone though.

Tyler: Beating IdrA in TSL2 is my favorite moment. I mainly rooted for JF.

TLO: Idra cancelling his CC obviously, it was just hilarious and I rooted for Tyler of course. :D

Jinro: he come-from-behind victory of JF in the TSL1 finals. It couldn't have been a more epic story if you rigged it.

Ret: Finding out that I had to play 4 ZvZs if I wanted to make it to the final of TSL 2.

In your mind, what makes the TSL different from other online SC2 tournaments? With many LAN events on the cards for SC2, where do you feel a massive online tournament of this nature fits into the picture?

HayprO: The biggest difference between the TSL and other SC2 online tournaments is that the TSL is much bigger both money-wise and player-wise. This tournament has so many top players that it's very hard to decide on favourites. I think despite all the LANs going on for SC2, there is always room for this kind of massive online tournament, especially when it has such a large prize pool and such strong playerfield.

HuK: The prizepool and star power, no other online tournament to date has had all the star power that TSL has in my opinion. I think online tournaments are still good but the only problems is cross server play, but still a great tournament.

Tyler: TSL just puts on a better show. It's got the best players. I think it's great to have an online tournament like this. Traveling is tiresome and there are so many events that they're starting to conflict. It made it possible to invite all these amazing players in Korea. And players play their best from the comfort of their own homes. So there are definitely some pros to an online tournament.

TLO: I think its actually quite intriguing to have such an important online tournament. We have a selection of absolutely top notch players and I am expecting a higher quality of games than what is delivered by offline events. Everyone can play in his or her comfort zone so the TSL should produce some truly epic high level games for everyone to enjoy.

Jinro: It's the only one right now to realistically bring players from all three major servers together, at almost every other event you will see at least one region severely under-repped.

Ret: It's just the biggest fish of them all. Travelling makes me tired so I'm quite happy to be playing an online tournament of this magnitude, and I won't have to go anywhere!

If you had a choice, which non-Liquid player would you like to face in the first round, and why?

HayprO: I would like to a face a Korean to avoid cross server play, so maybe MVP.

HuK: Boxer because he is my idol and plays from korea.

Tyler: Empire.Kas or Prae.ThorZaIN. I think PvT is a great matchup nowadays and I have heard these are some good Terrans.

TLO: Any Terran player really! It's by far my best matchup for all 3 races I think. Well, maybe not Protoss but even there I feel comfortable.

Jinro: Dunno, don't really care about the first round as long as I win. There's not even anyone I have a lot of history with in it that I could say I want a rematch against. If Select makes it I guess I wouldn't mind playing him again (late in the tournament preferably).

Ret: Wouldn't mind playing naniwa. :D Doesn't really matter to me though, each round will be hard and in the end you gotta beat em all to be. #1

Many of you are no strangers to TL's continuous coverage of the GSL, but if you missed the post Ro32 interviews of Jinro and HuK, here they are below! Thank you Hot_Bid and the TL GSL team for doing such an amazing job keeping us all in the loop with these great Foreigner Specials.

+ Show Spoiler [HuK Code A Winner Interview] +

TLAF-Liquid`HuK Post Game Interview

Congratulations! This is our first foreigner special interview with you, and it's starting off on a good note. How did you feel after the match?

Felt really good, at worst now I can play in Code A again.

Is it a relief to finally get a GSL broadcast win under your belt?

Of course, especially since now at worst I get to play Code A again next season, but yes huge relief. Hopefully the next matches I won't be so nervous.

Why were you nervous?

It's weird, I dont really get nervous about that to much but anything Starcraft and I'm screwed. I don't know what it is really, just SC2 is really chancy sometimes and if I don't win I feel like I disappointed so many people, including myself. I just want to play my best and post results to match my skill.

Did the games go as you expected? You said you met Curious on the ladder and that the series was not going to be easy.

First game definitely did not. Second game was what I hoped and expected. I was really really really nervous first game though, after the win though I calmed down a bit.

Take us through the first game then. What were your thoughts as it went on?

Well, I had practiced this forge build to all-in if he didn't cheese or hatch first. I saw he took gas really early so I was very nervous about defending baneling bust / nydus / ling / roach all-ins. But afterwards my plan was to push with 6-8 gateways and try to finish it off 2 base, in practice games it always worked. Then it failed horribly and I basically just tried to play from behind, luckily with some nice DT play and his mistakes, I came back in.

There was a point in the game where he had five or six overlords filled with banelings and you killed them all barely losing any units. Is this a common new strategy? We haven't seen it much in big tournaments yet, and both Zerg players did it in their matches today.

All oGs use it quite commonly, I figured as much that they had banelings in them; at least hoped lol. It's really strong but if expected you just have to spread well and it's not that effective, especially with a more stalker heavy ball compared to a mass zealot/sentry ball.

In the second game you went for a relatively safe 3-gate sentry expand, but you managed to kill him with a low gate count.

My plan from a lot of discussion with Hayder was to all-in with those positions for numerous reasons on the map, his style, my style, and odds. But after he lost some lings early on I figured there was a timing. Basically I just counted on his small mistakes and waited for my pylon near his nat to finish to get a round of stalkers vs his roaches and it was gg after that. Even if he held I think I would of done enough damage to win most games from there on.

You've been in Korea for several months now, but this is your first televised match. You mentioned before about feeling pressure to show results, can you elaborate on that more?

Because the way Korea works I dont play many tournaments anymore. I hate cross server lag and don't travel that much since a lot of things like MLG are on their off season right now, so when I do play in something I want to win it always. Other then that i just want to do my best and impress as many as I can.

Are you superstitious? You are now 2-0 in GSL with no trademark hoodie or pillow.

I don't know if I would say I'm superstitious, but I do believe in some things lol, as weird as that sounds. Gotta rock the TL shirt and the lady put so much effort into my hair I would feel bad to ruin it with my hoody. I forgot my pillow but my oGs jacket faired okay.

You stated that PvZ was your best matchup now. It was your worst before. What caused this change?

Just safe builds like 3-gate expo I guess. I don't have a ton of variation in my play, but I think my control is decent and I don't mind playing anyone in macro games so. Just expereience of korean ladder I guess.

You will play another Zerg in the next round - Revival, who looked pretty good in his series versus ButterflyEffect. Any thoughts on him? When will you start preparing for the next round?

I've heard hes really good and practices a lot and hard. As soon as I know the maps I guess I will start practicing specifcally for that. I'll probably play some tonight or tomorrow morning, no days off for progamers ;o .

Did the oGs or Liquid guys have anything special to say to you before or after the matches?

Everyone pretty much said GL or fighting or whatever and then congratulated me afterward. But I talked most with Hayder so a special shoutout to him for helping me.

Hayder has something to prove in his match later this week as well. Are you planning on watching your teammates play?

Yes, I am planning to as long as nothing comes up and my mind set stays the same. I hope the best for Hayder, but his opponent is extremely tough. I predicted Ganzi before the matchups to be one of the best of all Code A.

You did a ceremony at the end of the match. What did it mean?

Basically people need to stop talking so much shit. It's funny now as I'm doing this interview, I'm reading up on TL about some immature jokes, or people complaining about a commentator who probably knows more about the game then 90% of the other commentators out there. I don't know, maybe its just me but I really hate fake people who just like to talk shit or play games.

What is your goal for this season?

To win Code A.

You certainly seem very focused. Good luck! Any last words for your fans?

Thank you all for supporting me so much you have no idea how much I appreciate it all and will do my best to represent you all well. Thanks to all my friends, family, and teammates as well. <333 all of you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH.

+ Show Spoiler [Jinro Code S Winner Interview] +

TLAF-Liquid`Jinro Post Game Interview
By Hot_Bid

Congrats. You made that look easy.

Not so easy mentally. I was really worried going in, I haven't been doing too great lately in practice. Thankfully, I was able to decide on some solid build orders at literally the last second, after practicing until very very late last night.

Why were you worried going in? Your TvT has looked solid lately. How would you rate your matchups now?

TvZ, TvT, TvP. I lost so many TvTs in the last ranking sessions. I only had a positive winrate in TvZ really. I think I was trying to overcompensate for the new maps in TvT.

Still, you advanced 2-0. In Game 1, PoltPrime.WE tried to play bio-only.

Surprisingly, I would have expected banshee play -- though I had been told hes a bio-fan nowadays. I don't think the map suits that at all really.

Polt is MarineKing's teammate -- are you getting better against that style now? You were very cautious with your tanks.

It's not very popular anymore - I thought big maps would make it stronger but I actually think it's the opposite now. When you open bio expo on the big maps, proxy banshee or blue flame followed by banshee can really screw you up a lot more because the retaliation distance is just so far that they can expo behind it safely. Not really applicable to Crossfire, but whatever.

In Game 2 you played another player who made two semifinals, Rainbow. You defeated him convincingly in a long TvT on Shakuras. What are your thoughts on this game?

Surprised he played the way he did, I played him on ladder on my smurf last night and he went blue flame hellion (on shakuras actually!), and he did that vs TOP too on ladder so... I thought it was pretty likely, though I knew it might be a fake. Lost a super close 30 minute game that time. I'm mostly happy with how I played, apart from a couple of control errors -- losing a banshee, losing two dropships because they hadn't been ordered to unload etc.

Next round you play a Bo3 with HongUnPrime.WE.

Really happy it's HongUn and not NaDa. I really thought that group would have NaDa and TOP coming out of it, so I was hoping I'd play NaDa and not TOP because it's easier to practice against someone who doesn't live in the house (NaDa doesn't). But then things went like they did, and well, I'm sure HongUn wasn't excited about the prospect of team-killing either. If he beat NaDa he would have to play Check. He lost in style at least ^^

Has advancing so easily become regular for you now?

As I said, I was really worried this time. It's definitely not a regular thing and I don't want to feel that way about it ever, but I need to stay sharp. As much as I hate the feeling before games like this, it's important that its there.

This is our eighth Foreigner Special interview with you. Since we can only ask the same questions so many times without it becoming repetitive, we've decided to include some special questions this time. Are you ready?

Go go.

In terms of women, what are your turn-ons and turn-offs? Please answer seriously, there could be a potential Mrs. Jinro reading this.

lol, Cute face. Michelle Rodriguez.

You are turned off by Michelle Rodriguez?

SERIOUSLY annoying in every single role she's ever played.

You didn't like her in Avatar? She helped Jake Sully escape and free the blue cat people...

I didn't see Avatar.

What about The Fast and the Furious? She was the love of Vin Diesel's life.

Well, my problem isn't really with her, its with how 90% of female action hero roles, has the lead be a totally unlikable. That's why Alien(s) series is so good, Sigourney Weaver isn't a female action hero anymore than Bruce Willis is a male action hero - she's just an action hero.

Jinro's type?

What is your favorite movie and favorite scene from that movie?

Well, I have many - I think my favorite movie would probably be Snatch, but there's a couple of movies where I could more readily think of really nice scenes. Revolver has some pretty amazing scenes in it. I'm not really sure how to describe them though, but the one where Ray Liotta and his Asian counterpart are yelling out at their respective underlings is pretty solid, as well as the monologue on the beauty of death later on in that movie =)

Give us a few more.

The opening of Snake Eyes is awesome. The first five minutes of Dead or Alive (the Takashi Miike movie), is the best 5 minutes in cinematic history. It's too bad the movie nosedives after that. The first five minutes of the movie are literally going at 110 mph and the remaining 2 hours are a leisurely walk, it's a bit unintuitive. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance has some insanely emotional and powerful scenes in it too.

Favorite TV shows?

The Wire.

Nice. Favorite character?

Hmm, Omar probably. Stringer is awesome too though. Seriously there's not that many not awesome characters in The Wire. Everyone is interesting.

What job would you like to do if you weren't a progamer?

Day trading seems fun.

Why day trader? That's a stressful job that most people would not like.

Because I loved having dual monitor setup while pokering and daytrading would let me do that too haha. It just seems kinda like playing poker to me. I don't really have any normal jobs that appeal to me. When I was a kid I always said I wanted to be a like, sea-rescuer like from helicopters but that was just because I watched a documentary about it.

What profession would you absolutely hate doing?

Anything 9-5. Literally. I guess if the 9-5 was doing something I really liked, like esports related or something, I could stomach it. 9-5 just seems like slow death to me in the long run, I sometimes feel it would be nice structure wise, but I know after a while I'd hate it.

How dare you not capitalize it.

My bad, ESPORTS.

Are you a dog or a cat person?

Dog, my family have had a total of 4 (2 still alive), puppies twice.

You used to practice MMA right? Is there anyone in the oGs-Liquid house whose ass you could not kick? Be honest.

Dunno, Jos is pretty strong! TheWind has done military service so he can probably look after himself too. I wasn't that great anyway

You're at a convenience store. The clerk is a jerk to someone right in front of you, and when it's your turn to pay, the clerk gives you an extra $5. Do you give it back?

I hand it back. Maybe he won't be a jerk to the next guy.

Always give it back?

Always, if I was mad at him I'd take it out in some other way.

Which superpower would you pick: flight, speed, or invisibility?

I think flight... as much fun as invisibility would be, I imagine less people would want me dead if I pick flight

Would you rather be Batman or Superman?

Mm, Batman's costumes is marginally more tasteful I guess.

You judge by costumes!?

I mean, I can already fly. So I'm basically a flying Batman already.

If a zombie apocalypse happened what part of you would be sort of excited? 5%? 10%?

The 95% of my mind that compulsively consumes survival horror movies and games.

Would you try to survive by yourself or form a group?

Group, I'm scared =)

You would be a pretty big asset to any zombie survival group, you can fly and you drive a batmobile.

This is true. In fact depending on type of zombie I could probably live in trees with my awesome flight power.

You have some things to clear up about the Korean interview translations.

They asked me if I wanted to be more like Elky or GiYom, I said like Elky cuz of the sunglasses and his successful post-BW career. They thought I said like Elky except for the sunglasses. But man, the sunglasses are everything. My life goal is to have a wardrobe of only sunglasses. Sunglasses and watches. There'll be like, one wardrobe for the unessential things, like clothes. Then another with just watches laid out at the bottom and sunglasses all along the wall.

It seems this interview is getting very long. Do you have any last words or shout outs?

Just the usual I guess; thanks to everyone in oGs for help with practice, thanks to Sculp (Bak Yong Hwan) for the same! Thanks to everyone for watching~~

TWIR we have for you a cross section of ladder games as usual. Inside, find Huk vs White-Ra, Haypro vs Loffiftyone, TLO vs Zeerax and more!

Download TLO, HayprO, HuK Ladder Replay Pack

Liquid` is proudly sponsored by The Little App Factory, makers of fine applications for Windows and Mac OS X and fans of great Starcraft! Their flagship program, iRip allows you to recover your music from iPods - a life saver if you, like many of us, do tech support for friends and family. In fact, for a limited time, you can use the coupon code TEAMLIQUID to get 25% off when you get TLAF products!

This week, check out TLAF's music organisation app Tagalicious, which was recently released on the Mac App Store.

Australia1651 Posts

February 28 2011 06:54 GMT

TSL is going to be AMAZING.

Thx again for the replays.
♥

Nich

397 Posts

February 28 2011 06:59 GMT

Small mistake here

+ Show Spoiler +

HayprO: Obviously, the biggest difference is of course that it's SCW now and not BW. Also, this time the Koreans are part of it which makes it so much harder but also much more fun.

GHOSTCLAW

United States17042 Posts

February 28 2011 07:00 GMT

Gotta love the fact that we've got 6 in TSL ^^

average_amoeba

9 Posts

February 28 2011 07:01 GMT

Another great write up, good interview. Especially looking forward to this replay pack... hehe

ElelloN

Norway9 Posts

February 28 2011 07:06 GMT

Haypro is a baller, wants to play MVP first round? ^^

kellymilkies

Singapore1393 Posts

February 28 2011 07:08 GMT

Omg!! This week is going to be so great! So many TL games!

kommunalka

United States550 Posts

February 28 2011 07:10 GMT

On February 28 2011 15:59 Nich wrote:
Small mistake here

+ Show Spoiler +

HayprO: Obviously, the biggest difference is of course that it's SCW now and not BW. Also, this time the Koreans are part of it which makes it so much harder but also much more fun.

SCW: Starcraft Wings of Liberty?...

Tremor

United States92 Posts

February 28 2011 07:16 GMT

TSL 3 looks to be epic, I can't wait for the brackets to be released.

JWD

United States12607 Posts

February 28 2011 07:21 GMT

#10

Good luck in GSL tonight Ret! Fighting!

(Tweeted.)

Zim23

United States1681 Posts

February 28 2011 07:25 GMT

#11

Been waiting on this weekly! Go Ret Go!

Mortician

Bulgaria2332 Posts

February 28 2011 07:25 GMT

#12

Jinro: he come-from-behind victory of JF in the TSL1 finals. It couldn't have been a more epic story if you rigged it.

Finding out that I had to play 4 ZvZs if I wanted to make it to the final of TSL 2.

Should be

+ Show Spoiler +

Jinro: The come-from-behind victory of JF in the TSL1 finals. It couldn't have been a more epic story if you rigged it.

ret: Finding out that I had to play 4 ZvZs if I wanted to make it to the final of TSL 2.

We must not confuse the newer members, right? ^^

Char711

United States862 Posts

February 28 2011 07:26 GMT

#13

That classy Jinro picture is pure awesome. Reminds me of that Tyler one we got awhile back. Mind you, Tyler's looks like he's about to sex you up while Jinro looks like an aloof gentleman from back in the day.

Can't wait for TSL3!!! The qualifiers have been great, so the actual tournament will probably blow our collective minds.

DerNebel

Denmark648 Posts

February 28 2011 07:45 GMT

#14

Haypro is fearless. That is all.

FlashIsHigh

United States474 Posts

February 28 2011 07:45 GMT

#15

Hoping Ret can win two tonight with his awesome macro. TSL is going to be absolutely insane, heres to hoping its a non Korean wins the whole thing

firexfred

United States78 Posts

February 28 2011 07:54 GMT

#16

I don't think I'll be the only one staying up late tonight even with stuff to do tomorrow, show them how it's done Ret! Fighting!

This will be my first ever TSL, and I know it is going to be amazing! Liquid Fighting!

Slardar

Canada7593 Posts

February 28 2011 07:59 GMT

#17

With those invites handed out, that will make sure TSL 3 is a tournament to be reckoned with. I have high hopes that this will be one memorable tournament, very much looking forward to this! Also.... Ret Hwaiting!