GSTL 2012 Season 1 Ro8

This year's first GSTL has been quite action packed, especially with so many changes that have taken place in the team rosters recently. Past contenders have given way to new ones with players eager to prove themselves. If there's ever a place to prove one's worth in StarCraft II, it's definitely the GSTL, a place where breakout stars like DongRaeGu, MMA, and qxc shined.

Perhaps fans haven't been looking forward to as much action as before though with the switch from round-robin format to a bracket format. The round robin gave teams incentive to send their more inexperienced players to the booths in order to see how they deal with pressure just as they're attempting to break through the Code A qualifiers. With the bracket format though, more top players have to take the booth in order to win it for their respective teams, which is what the GSL actually wanted, but it does seem to defeat the purpose of the team league.

The ten participating teams are divided into two groups with the top two performing teams, namely MVP and Prime, seeded into the Ro8.

In Group A, the teams have put forth some good performances so far in the Ro10. SlayerS, one of the teams to beat, have disposed of FXO and will be going up against oGsTL, which had defeated ZeNEX in a really close matchup. FXO is now clawing back to contention and defeated ZeNEX with a 5-1, with both Lucky and Oz crushing the opposition. Avenge, who had put IdrA out of Code A recently, was the only one who won a game, defeating Lucky in yet another PvZ. FXO is now slated to go up against Team MVP.

In Group B, the stories were more of lopsided victories as insanity unfolded. StarTaleQ, the partnership between StarTale and Quantic Gaming, has yet to put more than one player in the booth as Bomber had all-killed New Star HoSeo in an unbelievable performance. Then as expected, Incredible Miracle takes out Team SCV Life with YoDa and Mvp (the player) taking the victory, but not before encountering resistance from Symbol, who had beaten YoDa and Seed before IM decided to send out Mvp.

More of these breakthrough performances was shown by the Terran player Sculp of NSHoSeo as he gave TSL more than a run for their money with a four-game sweep, defeating Polt, Dream, HyuN, and RevivaL before being beaten by Shine. Sage then finished it off by beating shine in a PvZ for a 5-1 finish in favor of NSHS.

Two teams have now been eliminated from the GSTL, namely TSL and Zenex. TSL currently sits at the bottom of the pile, which is understandable as they had been losing their top players for quite a while now. Rain left for Fnatic; PuMa was taken by EG back in July of last year; Killer, JYP, and Clide left for different teams; and aLive was recently acquired by Fnatic after the two teams got into a misunderstanding amidst negotiations for a partnership. Time will only tell if Coach Lee Woon-jae will be able to get the team back to fighting form. Currently, TSL has a total of nine players, with Polt and RevivaL being the top names.

Tune in to GOMtv for more GSTL action in the coming weeks. The playoffs is set to start in April 13, so there's still a lot of time to catch up with VODs. For schedules, you may consult the Liquipedia page of the GSTL.

UPDATE: MVP versus FXO has taken place, with FXO taking the fall 5-2. It was a competitive matchup, with both teams alternating between their picks. MVPKeen went in first and took out FXOTear, then was taken out by FXO coach Choya. Monster then took him out, then was defeated by FXOLeenock. Then, the surprise of the match came when MVPfinale came along and eliminated Leenock, Oz, and GuMiho to give Team MVP the victory.

Sources:

Liquipedia - 2012 Global StarCraft II Team League Season 1

TeamLiquid - [GSTL] Eliminated, Consoled

TeamLiquid - [GSTL] Facing Death