Image courtesy of TeamLiquid

Live Stream



Jesper 'Bischu' Johansson



Game 1 Daybreak - Winner: TaeJa

Game 2 Entombed Valley - Winner: TaeJa

Game 3 Cloud Kingdom - Winner: Bischu

Game 4 Metropolis - Winner: Bischu

Game 5 Daybreak - Winner: TaeJa Young Seo 'TaeJa' Yoon 3 - 2Game 1 Daybreak - Winner: TaeJaGame 2 Entombed Valley - Winner: TaeJaGame 3 Cloud Kingdom - Winner: BischuGame 4 Metropolis - Winner: BischuGame 5 Daybreak - Winner: TaeJa



TaeJa advances to the round of 16.

Series recap:

Live Stream



Jonathan 'DarKFoRcE' Belke



Game 1 Ohana - Winner: DarKFoRcE

Game 2 Metropolis - Winner: Nerchio

Game 3 Entombed Valley - Winner: Nerchio

Game 4 Cloud Kingdom - Winner: DarKFoRcE

Game 5 Ohana - Winner: DarKFoRcE Arthur 'Nerchio' Bloch 2 - 3Game 1 Ohana - Winner: DarKFoRcEGame 2 Metropolis - Winner: NerchioGame 3 Entombed Valley - Winner: NerchioGame 4 Cloud Kingdom - Winner: DarKFoRcEGame 5 Ohana - Winner: DarKFoRcE



DarKFoRcE advances to the round of 16.

Series recap:

Live Stream



Ju "Sting" Hoon 3 - 1 Aleksandar 'Beastyqt' Krstic



Game 1 Ohana - Winner: Sting

Game 2 Entombed Valley - Winner: Beastyqt

Game 3 Antiga Shipyard - Winner: Sting

Game 4 Cloud Kingdom - Winner: Sting



Sting advances to the round of 16. Ju "Sting" Hoon 3 - 1Game 1 Ohana - Winner: StingGame 2 Entombed Valley - Winner: BeastyqtGame 3 Antiga Shipyard - Winner: StingGame 4 Cloud Kingdom - Winner: Sting

Series recap:

Live Stream



Dennis 'HasuObs' Schneider



Game 1 Cloud Kingdom - Winner: HasuObs

Game 2 Ohana - Winner: HasuObs

Game 3 Daybreak - Winner: HasuObs



HasuObs advances to the round of 16. Marcus 'ThorZaIN' Eklöf 0 - 3Game 1 Cloud Kingdom - Winner: HasuObsGame 2 Ohana - Winner: HasuObsGame 3 Daybreak - Winner: HasuObs

Series recap:

The Team Liquid Starleague has become one of the biggest events of the year. TSL is known for changing the lives of many young pro gamers looking to make a name for themselves. This TSL will be no different in fact with the upcoming launch of HOTS this might be the tournament for someone to build their career.Day 4 of the round of 32 is here. We have 8 players going head to head to earn their spot in the round of 16. Tonight's games feature some of the best European players battling it out against each other, as well as some European's having a shot at taking down the top Korean players. We'll be covering all the action from tonight make sure to check back for the latest updates!The first set of matches on day 4 of the TSL 4 in the round of 32 was between the two players TaeJa and Bischu. Of course the Terran from Team Liquid was the big favourite and everyone thought that he would easily crush Bischu with 3-0. However the viewers should see five short but still exciting games.Daybreak was the first map and it turned out TaeJa did not want to waste any time as he built a proxy baracks at the natural expansion of Bischu. The Protoss player had no idea about it and opened with just one gate and two assimilators. When the concussive shell tech finished TaeJa was ready to push out and build a bunker on the lower ground first. As that one was done the Terran was pushing up the high ground building another bunker there as well. Bischu tried his best to hold but the micro and multitasking from TaeJa was just too good. The Korean also defended the counter attack from Bischu. There was only "gg" left to say for Bischu.The second map Entombed Valley should not last long either. While Bischu opened with a nexus first, the Terran went for a gas first build which turned into a hellion and marauder push with concussive shells around the six minute mark. Decent micro and great focus firing ensured the win for TaeJa and forced the "gg" out of Bischu very early again.Should there be a fast ending on Cloud Kingdom as well? It seemed to be the case in the first minutes of the game. TaeJa managed to sneak in one SCV that instantly started to build a baracks in the main base of Bischu. A single gate and early double gas came out of Bischu. However TaeJa even built another baracks at the possible third expansion from Bischu so that marines could be produced out of two baracks. The bunker push was eventually held from Bischu. He then followed up with a five gate push that was too much for TaeJa, as he did not manage to repair his bunker and Bischu's units just streamed into the main base from TaeJa. The "gg" came out of TaeJa this time.A command center first opening from TaeJa indicated that he planned a long term game this time. Bischu opened pretty standard, took an expansion fairly early and added two more gates to get a total of three. As soon as the gates and warpgate tech finished the Protoss was ready to push out and his forward pylon was barely missed by TaeJa. All of the marines from TaeJa were totally out of position and Bischu just marched into the main base from TaeJa to finish him off quickly, getting the 2-2 score.The series started and finished with Daybreak. However there was no cheese from both of the players in the very early game. Both players took an expansion which shouldn't really come into play a lot. Bischu decided to go for super fast colossus tech while TaeJa tried to drop very early. The observer from the Swedish Protoss was in position and spotted it so the drop did not do any damage at all. With 2 colossus who did not have the range upgrade. Bischu started to push at the natural expansion from TaeJa. The Protoss was unable to kill the bunkers and lost his first colossus pretty fast which forced him to move back. TaeJa did not lean back though and due to his very fast upgrades was clearly in the lead. With smart focus fire and decent micro he could easily crush Bischus army. The favourite from Team Liquid managed to win with 3-2.This means TaeJa will play against First in the Round of 16.The first game of the series starts on the map Ohana, Nerchio as always favours the speedling opening making him safe from all sorts of early aggression, while DarKFoRcE went for a hatch first with delayed speedling upgrade. Nerchio poked a couple of times at DarKFoRcE’s natural base pushing him back and forcing him to tech to banelings. After speed was done DarKFoRcE started to poke Nerchio’s natural, trying to get him to make units rather than drones. After scouting Nerchio’s third base and the roach tech route, DarKFoRcE decided to tech to spire and get a later third base. Nerchio managed to show the power of the roaches even though there were mutas attacking them they managed to get DarKFoRcE’s third base with some burrow micro. Having an economic lead, Nerchio managed to get out of position in the middle of the map, which resulted in him losing most of his roach based army. Around the 21 minute mark the german player saw that this is the moment to attack because he has an army lead and pushed Nerchio’s third base and won the game.Again in game number two Nerchio is going for the gas first build on the other side of the map is DarKFoRcE who went again for hatch first with an early spine crawler. As soon as speed upgrade was done both of the players started to scout each other aggressively and even poking each other with banelings trying to catch the other player off guard and do some damage. DarKFoRcE trying to get an economic edge in this game he went for an early third base and even managed to destroy Nerchio’s third base with a speedling counter attack, while at the same time teching to mutalisks. The tables turned when DarKFoRcE lost almost all of his mutalisks to the infestors of the polish player. As we entered the late game both of them went for a roach/infestor composition Nerchio being the one mixing up hydras and both of them trying to get broodlords out on the field. DarKFoRcE did multiple drop attacks, but they were deflected by Nerchio, after that he gathered all of his forces: broodlords, roach, infestors, corruptors and attacked DarKFoRcE and winning the game with an better engagement and unit splitting.After defending the entire previous game, Nerchio decided this time he is going to be the one putting the pressure on and went for an early pool knowing that every game so far DarKFoRcE went for an early hatchery. The polish player did not went go for fast zerglings, he pulled drones with his attack and sneaked a spine crawler in DarKFoRcE’s base. After a long micro battle with drones and zerglings DarKFoRcE was forced to type “gg”.In game number four DarKFoRcE yet again went for the same style, getting a fast expansion but this time he got an earlier gas, on the other side Nerchio went again for the safe speedling opening which he loves. Both of them are getting an early lair and the defensive baneling nest. As time passed both of them showed their tech decisions and it was spire. Now we enter the mutalisk battles. In one of the many battles DarKFoRcE destroyed Nerchio’s third base and got an economic and production lead in the game. This game can be describe as a non stop aggression and back and forth action, but in the end DarKFoRcE and his constant harassment won him the game over the polish player.For the last game we are on the same map as we started in the first place and both of the players decided to go for a more macro oriented builds. DarKFoRcE going for the hatch first build and Nerchio for speedling expand. The polish player aiming to secure himself a lead in the game goes for a faster third than his german opponent and knowing that he always techs for mutalisk he gets hydras to secure his expansion. DarKFoRcE upon realising that he has a high gas count he drops a fourth base so he can spend the resources and knowing that Nerchio wont attack anytime soon with his less mobile hydra, roach, infestor composition with a lot of spine crawlers. DarKFoRcE’s burrowed Infestor hit squad killed near 50 workers at the same time as a battle between the armies occurred. The german player upon knowing how far ahead he is in the game he gathered and huge amount of infestors and combined it with the rest of his army and went for the final blow and won the series against the polish player Nerchio.This means DarKFoRcE will play against Sting in the round of 16.A best of five series in TvT? some of you might think: "That will take hours!" But it turns out that TvT can also be pretty fast. Sting was the favourite and Beastyqt was supposed to be the underdog.The first map Ohana didn't last very long as Sting was going for a proxy baracks at the natural expansion of Beastyqt. Unfortunately the Team Empire player scouted it too late and the first marauder was already in production. The expansion still went up for Beastyqt as well as a bunker but the micro from Sting was just too good. As soon as some SCVs arrived, Sting made his way right into the mainbase from Beastyqt forcing the early "gg" and taking the 1-0 lead.However Beastyqt did not give up and started with a command center first build, which was followed up by two baracks, on Entombed Valley. Sting went for a one barracks expansion. While Beastyqt went into a macro mode and built one hidden expansion his opponent Sting built a lof of barracks while expanding. Sting moved out for an attack and tried to push into the natural expansion of his opponent. Beastyqt was ready and was ahead in tech, also getting the double upgrades. So he was able to hold the first push. Another push from Sting was also annihilated. A periode of macro followed but even potential drops from Beastyqt got cleaned up by Sting. Once Beastyqt was feeling comfortable he started to push through the center of the map killing a lot of units of Sting. But there were more kills about to come as Beastyqt sieged up outside the natural expansion of his opponent. While Sting tried to clear the army up, the reinforcements of Beastyqt marched right to the third base of Sting killing a lot of workers which finally forced Sting to write "gg" and the series was tied up.On Antiga Shipyard both players went for no expansion at all. Sting was going for claked banshees and Beastyqt went for banshees as well but without cloaking. However Sting had decent control and hit a perfect timing to kill a lot of marines before Beastyqt could get out his raven to detect the banshee. Sting took the lead but Beastyqt still seemed fine. Both players then took their natural expansion. The Korean Terran was able to use some more banshee harassment killing a lot of SCV kills which gave Sting an even greater lead. The counterattack from Beastyqt was scouted just in time by Sting who would crush it without problems. With nothing left to do Beastyqt had to give the 2-1 lead to Sting.The fourth map had a lot of action for the viewers. One early push from Sting put Beastyqt in some trouble but he could defend it. Both players settled down a bit trying to get their macro going. Sting seemed to be more active and moved out with some units to push. He denied the expansion from Beastyqt and did substantial damage to the economy while he also managed to defend the drop from Beastyqt. However the Terran from Team Empire was finally able to crush the contain from the Korean Terran and get his expansion up and running again. But there was no way Beastyqt could come back as Sting took the supply lead and would not give his opponent a chance to come back into the game. With two more pushes and contains at the third base, Sting could kill all the forces from Beastyqt. Good micro, and a bit of luck while pushing and overall being more active assured him another win and the final 3-1 victory.This means Sting will play against DarKFoRcE in the round of 16.We enter the first game of the series on Cloud Kingdom, the German Protoss player HasuObs who is going for a one gateway zealot expand and ThorZaIN who is going for a gast expand too and adding additional barracks. When HasuObs second base kicked in he teched for a robotics facility followed by robotics bay and double forge, opening with a Collosus timing attack. Uncharacteristically of ThorZaIN as he began an aggressive push at HasuObs base with Medivacs and bio army and scouting the Collosus tech route, while expanding behind it. With no surprise at all, both of the players went into a passive macro mode securing themselves a third base. As the game continued even further both of the players poked at each other armies in the middle of the map, but at one point HasuObs saw a flaw in ThorZaIN’s defence and dark templars managed to get into the mineral line and killed nearly 30 workers. After another engagement near HasuObs fourth base. After some back and forth situations we ended up with a base trade situation where HasuObs had an edge due to having defensive units set up back at home, he forced ThorZaIN out of the game to take a 1:0 lead.As we entered the second game on Ohana, ThorZaIN shows how confident he is in his play and went for a one barracks expand later on adding another barracks and double gas, while on the other side of the map HasuObs who went for a one gateway expand. Both of them decided to make peace at the early stages of the game and macro up. At the ten minute mark ThorZaIN tried to do a medivac timing attack but it was defended by HasuObs. When ThorZaIN’s drop failed HasuObs saw his moment for victory and as soon as he got 2 collosus, he pushed to the middle of the map and engaged ThorZaIN’s army resulting in a total annihilation. HasuObs now finds himself entering match point.The third game was on Daybreak and both of the players are going for a pretty standard macro oriented openings and getting their early expansions. ThorZaIN this time went for an early ground upgrade and stim possibly aiming for a timing attack with medivacs. The German player saw with his observer what army composition is his Swedish opponent was going for and decided to counter it with double forge, Collosus and gateway based army. As time passes by the game went into a late game scenario, where you can say that the Protoss player will have an edge, because HasuObs did not received any economical damage and managed to secure himself half of the map. Long battles have been fought between HasuObs and ThorZaIN, one of the biggest ones was near the middle of the map where the Swedish player wanted to nuke the army of HasuObs, but he commited and lost too much resources resulting in him not managing the transition to battlecruisers and lost game number three, which gave HasuObs an unexpected victory over ThorZaIN.This means HasuObs will play against Hack in the round of 16.The games tonight were fantastic, and next week we will kick off the round of 16. Here on SK-Gaming.com you'll find the preview for the upcoming round of 16 day 1. As well as live coverage of the event as the action unfolds.