Saturday, March 19, 2011

TSL Starts!

Im watching the stream right now so here´s a copy paste for what´s up:


This Saturday is the opening day of the third TeamLiquid StarLeague. Never before have so many top players from so many countries gathered for a single tournament. In the first day alone, seven nations will be championed by the best they have to offer. Those qualified for the TSL, on top of representing their homeland, will also be flying the colours of their respective teams. Day One will feature the best from top eSports teams Mousesports, Praetoriani, TLAF-Liquid`, TSL, SlayerS, and Fnatic. The amount of prestige, fame, and respect to be won for nation, team, and individual is gargantuan. 

For the spectator, the rewards are almost greater. The matchups in the TSL, on the opening day alone, are some of the most anticipated since StarCraft 2's release. The fact that we have the best players from Europe, North America, SEA, and Korea competing against each other as early as the round of 32, solely, makes the TSL a different species of tournament. One of the biggest reasons for anticipation is the question of how foreigners will stand up against the top Koreans, who of late, have only been growing in dominance. From foreigner to Korean, the scope of skill in the TSL is both awe inspiring, and unprecedented. At this point in StarCraft 2 history, it is not possible to fully comprehend the reality of what we will be experiencing on Saturday. Even the most jaded liquibetters are struggling to make their picks. We are sailing into uncharted waters. Our stabilizing force, the one sure and safe factor we have to guide us, is the map pool. 

As unfortunate as the longevity of Blizzard's defaults may be, it gives the TSL the unique opportunity to provide not only the best matches, but the best matches on a new generation of maps that few of us have seen more than a handful times at the professional level. Not even Korean favorites Boxer and FruitDealer have played more than two games on all of the new maps combined. For top foreigners like Sen and Fenix, and the majority of others to follow, they will - finally - be playing on maps deserving of their skill. The only thing the new maps assure is quality. How the games will play out is unforeseeable. 

I know this is the tournament of your dreams, because these dreams are shared by us all. On Saturday we will wake up and live them.





TeamLiquid thread about the tournament: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=202156


HD Stream: http://www.teamliquid.net/video/streams/TeamLiquidTV


tl;dr awesome tournament with day9 and chill casting it, check it out!

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