I will not be holding back by saying that the second Ro16 weekend of the TeamLiquid Starleague was perfect. After all the blazing quick 3-0s the week before, the final days of the round gathered players that orchestrated an amazing show for the viewers.

The first set of the first day saw Boxer fight SEn. The Emperor had the really heavy burden of defending the honour of his country as only MC had managed to survive in the TSL while all their other compatriots fell victim to the foreign forces. Fortunately for all his fans, Boxer did not disappoint.

Yo-Hwan 'BoxeR' Lim 3:2 Chia Yang 'SEn' Cheng
-1:0 Xel'Naga Caverns
-1:1 Terminus RE
-2:1 Metalopolis
-2:2 Shakuras Plateau
-3:2 Crevasse

The match was an unending display of macro mastership and both players kept trading sets without anybody winning it easily. Boxer, who had had some disappointing runs in the GSL, showed that he truly has what it takes to take on the best in the world.

The Emperor played magnificently, using a very clean, tactical, BroodWar-style of play, positioning his Tanks perfectly along the map and doing multi-proned attacks to hinder the macro of SEn.

The Taiwanese, however, fought valiantly and managed to be quite equal to the Emperor, denying his set advantage as soon as he got it. However, the Zerg lost the final set on Crevasse in the same manner he lost the previous ones - he just could not battle Boxer's tank positioning.


Dennis 'HasuObs' Schneider 3:2 Carl Stefan 'MorroW' Andersson
-1:0 Metalopolis
-1:1 Terminus RE
-2:1 Crossfire
-2:2 Shakuras Plateau
-3:2 Tal'Darim Altar

Morrow did not have an easier time as his Taiwanese Zerg brethren. He played Hasu who, the skilled player he is, managed to exploit every single element of the PvZ match-up to win it. However, it was not like Morrow did not had his fair share of bad decisions.

The first two sets was your everyday normal PvZ with the Zerg going Roach/Corruptor against the Protoss deathball. Both players showed that they know how to play standard and soon the score was tied 1:1.

Going in set 3, Morrow decided to evade the macro scenario and went for a Hydra/Spine Crawler aggression and was soon at Hasu's natural with his Overlords spitting creep all over the place. Unfortunately for the Zerg, though, the Protoss showed impeccable defence and pulled forward, only to lose the following set when he failed to keep his third up under Morrow's relentless aggression.

For the final set, Morrow went for a drop play, which also did not play quite well. Hasu had scouts everywhere and managed to deal with the Zerg quite effectively, losing few and killing many. Deciding not to switch away from this tech (or probably realizing that there is no hope), Morrow just GGed out, giving the match to Hasu.


The games on Sunday were not as on the edge as those on the previous day, though they too offered a big deal of enjoyment, especially for all the Protoss fans out there.

Johan 'NaNiwa' Lucchesi 3:1 Sascha 'GoOdy' Lupp
-0:1 Tal'Darim Altar
-1:1 Crevasse
-2:1 Shakuras Plateau
-3:1 Xel'Naga Caverns

It took Naniwa just one set to learn how to battle Goody's turtling mech play. After losing the first game on Altar, Naniwa apparently got the hang of it and entered the set on Crevasse with brilliant anti-mech timing and crushed the Terran forces before Goody could get equal on bases with the Swede.

On set 3, Nani must have been feeling crazy as he tried to proxy two Gateways straight into Goody's main. The German saw them and managed to deny them by pulling SCVs but that denied him the precious mining time that his mech play so requires. After the game entered a more normal phase, Goody was hugely behind and lost soon thereafter. He then proceeded to lost the final set as well, trying to do the uncharacteristic of him Marine/Marauder push. Naniwa, having dealt with this strat a thousand times, had no troubles deflecting it and winning the match.

Abdulaziz 'CrunCher' Abed 3:1 Christoph 'Mondragon' Semke
-0:1 Terminus Re
-1:1 Shakuras Plateau
-2:1 Tal'Darim Altar
-3:1 Metalopolis

Cruncher continued his crusade against the Zerg and after slaying Idra in the Ro32, he now stomped through MYM's Mondragon. He dropped just one set to Mondi's strange Roach play against Void Rays that he displayed in the previous round. Entering the set on Shakuras, Cruncher used the same strat that he defeated Idra with and turtled hard until he had big enough Void Ray/Colossus army to smash the Zerg. Mondragon tried to find loopholes in the Protoss defense but there were almost none and his relentless dropping did not produce efficient enough damage.

The third set was quick as Mondi went for a Hatch first and got Cannon rushed to death. Yes, it is that simple - do not go for greedy play against Protoss, you will get punished.

The final game was way more entertaining and after being denied his air play by Mondragons Mutalisk/Corruptor force, Cruncher transitioned into mass Blink Stalkers with High Templar support and after several pushes at Zerg's heavily Spined expos, he managed to pull off a victory.

If you want to see the victors play again, tune in to the quarter finals of TSL 3 which will be played this Saturday and Sunday at 20:00 CET.