monk Profile Blog Joined May 2009 United States 8468 Posts Last Edited: 2013-06-10 15:56:24 #1



After three seasons of bracket style or group stage GSTL in 2012, GOM has decided to switch back to a round robin format. And you know what that means. Fantasy GSTL is back! Now once again, all of the couch confined commanders and theorycraft trained tacticians have a battlefield on which they may show their worth. In the past there have always been ways to prove your passion as a fan; now there's a way to prove your intelligence as one. Can you assemble the greatest inaugural HotS GSTL Fantasy team?



After three seasons of bracket style or group stage GSTL in 2012, GOM has decided to switch back to a round robin format. And you know what that means. Fantasy GSTL is back! Now once again, all of the couch confined commanders and theorycraft trained tacticians have a battlefield on which they may show their worth. In the past there have always been ways to prove your passion as a fan; now there's a way to prove your intelligence as one. Can you assemble the greatest inaugural HotS GSTL Fantasy team? Week 11 Starters: ???





How to Play

You choose 8 pro-gamers and 1 pro-team that you think are good. They will score you points when they win.



You pick 3 players that you think are bad. They will lose you points when they win.



Players and teams can be traded between weeks for those valued less than them.



The fantasy owner with the most points at the end of the season will be declared the champion. The winner will receive an awesome special icon.



Notes for this Season (Important!)

Matches will be played in the bo7 all-kill format.



There will be 28 matches spread over 14 weeks of play.



Every week will have 2 matches, one on Friday and one on Saturday.



You will be able to trade after every week, meaning there will be 13 opportunities to trade.



The players you can pick are directly taken from the official GSTL roster submitted to GOM. Note that teams have a chance to change their rosters on the 25th of every month. Fantasy GSTL will not account for these changes and you won't be able to select the newer players.



Some players were not on the official rosters and they will not be added. Notable players missing include Happy, dreamertt, Ready, true, Galaxy, YoungSongE, Terius, Harrier, SoN, Tiger, Grubby, and Arthur. They may be added to the system when they're added to the roster, but there's no guarantee you'll be able to trade for them.



Happy, dreamertt, Ready, true, Galaxy, YoungSongE, Terius, Harrier, SoN, Tiger, Grubby, and Arthur. They may be added to the system when they're added to the roster, but there's no guarantee you'll be able to trade for them. Following the trend of KeSPa players, some eSF players have also changed their names.

+ Show Spoiler + FXOTear -> FXOHurricane

IMLosira -> IMKangho

MVPMonster -> MVPNAKSEO

MVPfinale -> MVPduckdeok

MVPKiller -> MVPSwagger

MVPLure -> MVPBillowy

MVPVampire -> MVPSuper

NSHDarkstar -> NSHKySarr

NSHEllenKey -> NSHTible

HogUPrime -> EmirPrime

Spoiler In addition, there are a few new players additions you may be unfamiliar with:

+ Show Spoiler + FXOKong (T)

FXOHell (T)

FXOAcou (P)

BarbiePrime (P)

StarTaleBooster (P)



Spoiler It has been confirmed that Sting will not play by WW's manager even though he is on the official line-up. As such, you cannot trade Sting to your anti-team.



Fantasy GSTL Rules



Team Selection

+ Show Spoiler + Main Team Selection

To start, each Fantasy GSTL participant is given a total of 36 points* with which they may purchase players. With these points, a main team of eight pro-gamers (of which one is your team captain) and one pro-game team must be selected. The captain of your team is the same as a regular player with the exception that they cannot be traded.



The pro-gamers and pro-game teams have been assigned point values based on a variety of factors, including past GSTL performances, number of past GSTL appearances, performances in individual competitions, estimated likeliness to compete in the upcoming GSTL, etc. When pro-gamers and pro-game teams win games in the GSTL, the Fantasy owners who have purchased these players earn points. Detailed scoring rules are listed below.



*These points are only used for team selection. The points used for scoring are separate.



Anti Team Selection

Each Fantasy GSTL participant is also given 13 points with which to assemble an “anti-team.” Three pro-gamers must be selected to be on the anti-team. The anti-team is identical to the regular team in all respects, except points scored by the anti-team count AGAINST the owner.



Scoring

+ Show Spoiler + Player Scoring:

Lineup Appearance: +1 Point*

Game Win: +2 Points per win

Game Loss: -1 Point

2-Game Streak Break: +1 Point**

3-Game Streak Break: +2 Points**

Your Player's Team Wins: +1 Point***



Tie-breaks are decided by the team captain's score.



*Point given just for appearing in a match, regardless of win or loss. Only counts once, i.e. if MC goes 4-0, he still only gets 1 appearance point.

**Given when a pro-gamer defeats a pro-gamer on the opposing team who is on a two or three game winning streak. Streaks do not carry over between matches; all streaks must occur in the same match.

***This counts for all players on the team's roster, even if they did not play in the match.



Team Scoring:

4-0 Victory: 6 Points

4-1 Victory: 4 Points

4-2 Victory: 3 Points

4-3 Victory: 2 Points

3-4 Defeat: 1 Point

2-4 Defeat: 0 Points

1-4 Defeat: -1 Points

0-4 Defeat: -2 Points



Miscellaneous

Trade Tax: -1



Trading

+ Show Spoiler + Trading Rules

Between each week of games, you may trade players (swap a player for someone you don't have)



Player and team values will increase or decrease every week, depending on their performances.



Every player has a trade value, and you can only trade for players of lower value (higher value for anti-team)



value (higher value for anti-team) You are limited to a maximum 2 Main Team and 1 Anti Team trades per week



Trades do not carry over from week to week if unused



Your team captain cannot be traded



Each time you trade, you will be assessed a -1 point trade tax



Basic Trading Strategy

Check the schedules each week! You'll want to know what teams are playing (and thus, which players are likely to appear)



Don't make trades just for sake of making trades, as they cost you trade tax points and you may get stuck with a player you don't want



The trade price formula takes into account number of matches remaining -- so players with more matches remaining will have higher prices



You must trade for players with less value, but try to minimize the value loss. For example, if you trade someone worth 30 for someone worth 20, next week you can only trade the 20 for someone less. It's much better to trade the 30 for someone worth 29.



GSTL Schedule



+ Show Spoiler + Week 1: March 22-23

FXOpen e-Sports vs. Incredible Miracle

MVP vs. Axiom-Acer



Week 2: March 29-30

New Star HoSeo vs. StarTale

AZUBU vs. Prime



Week 3: April 5-6

Axiom-Acer vs. Incredible Miracle

MVP vs. FXOpen e-Sports



Week 4: April 12-13

Prime vs. StarTale

AZUBU vs. New Star HoSeo



Week 5: April 19-20

StarTale vs. AZUBU

Axiom-Acer vs. FXOpen e-Sports



Week 6: April 26-27

Incredible Miracle vs. MVP

Prime vs. New Star HoSeo



Week 7: May 3-4

FXOpen e-Sports vs. New Star HoSeo

Prime vs. Axiom-Acer



Week 8: May 10-11

Incredible Miracle vs. AZUBU

StarTale vs. MVP



Week 9: May 17-18

Incredible Miracle vs. Prime

New Star HoSeo vs. MVP



Week 10: May 24-25

FXOpen e-Sports vs. StarTale

AZUBU vs. Axiom-Acer



Weeks 11-14

Not yet annouced



Interview with Previous Winner



+ Show Spoiler +



Q: Can you introduce yourself, your BW/SC2 background, and your history with Fantasy Proleague/GSTL?



Hello this is mrbamboo. I used to play broodwar as a little kid with friends, nothing serious. Got into it a big more when Wings of Liberty came out and played some ladder. Wasn't that amazing at it, was Diamond league. Instantly got hooked on the GSL. Stayed up late every night during college to watch starcraft. Followed it pretty religiously. That's when Team Liquid last did their GSTL. I thought it would just be kind of fun. Did really well the first week of results, like top 50 or something. Then I got bit more serious about trading. Since I was already following GSL/GSTL religiously every night, I feel like I had a pretty good grasp on the players conditions. That and some luck, I ended up winning the first fantasy GSTL



Unfortunately GSTL changed formats afterwards and there wasn't fantasy for a long time until Proleague started recently. I haven't been doing as well in FPL, I think ranking around 200-300 in the last 2 rounds. I'm super excited for Fantasy GSTL to be back. Although now that I'm out of college and work full-time, haven't been able to follow all the games as I used to. That and with all the players transitioning into HoTS, will be tricky to say which player is in the best condition.



Q: What is it about Fantasy GSTL that makes it so different from Fantasy Proleague?

I believe the schedule is the biggest difference. In proleague every team plays twice each week. That's 8 matches. Where as in GSTL there's only 2 matches a week. That means half the teams don't even play. This makes trading a lot different in fantasy between those two leagues. That, and of course totally different teams/players



Q: Last season, you did an absurd amount of trading to win. What was the rationale behind this and on what basis did you make these trades?



Well before each week you get to see the starting players in all kill format, and you've also learned more information about the teams and players from the previous weeks. The information you have the better choices you can make. Trading is to adjust your roster based on new information. I think it's pretty silly to say that we've learned nothing new through out the tournament. I think it's only natural to do a lot of trades. Even in Fantasy Proleague, I think I was top 50 in +trade value in the last two rounds. Also I like to gamble some times. So maybe that's just me haha.



Q: Before we get into specifics about this season, how in touch are you with the current SC2 scene?



I still follow most of the large tournaments. I haven't been following GSL as much due to it being so late at night. But most of the western tournaments like MLG, Dreamhack, IPL, IEM etc I definitely do still follow. And I'm usually up to date on the results even if I don't get to see the matches live. I'd say I'm reasonably in touch with the current status.



Q: Looking at values for this season's Fantasy GSTL, are there any players that scream out to you as obvious picks? What about easy anti-team picks?



I think most of the LGIM players are a bit on the cheap side. Ruin, Ragnarok, and Byul have all done well in the preseason and seems like they've been practicing HoTS longer than the GSL regulars who were still occupied with Wings of Liberty until recently. Also the IM Coach in the past has fairly regularly sent out B-teamers in GSTL. So I think they could see a lot of play.



I'm a bit partial to Jjakji. He's not exactly cheap at 7, but he's the only good players on NSH so he's likely to play every time and get a few kills. I think there are a lot of really talented 4 point terrans in the pool, we've got Heart, sC, dream, keen, sting, hack, and even mvp. I don't think mvp will get used a lot but the rest of them are all pretty good. Especially with Terran being really strong in HoTS. I could see any of them rack up some damage in GSTL.



As far as anti-team. I haven't seen any obvious picks yet. All the 6+ value players pretty much deserves their value, except maybe Ryung. I think he's a bit over valued at 6.



Q: Are there any traps you'd caution Fantasy players to stay away from?



Mostly pay attention to the schedule and keep track of which team is playing and who the starters are. With GSTL only half the tteams play each week, it's important to know this information to get the most out of your trades. Also keep updated on roster changes and traveling. We've got a few foreigners who are likely to miss some weeks due to other tournaments, and the same goes for high profile players like MC. Too many times I see people complain in the forums that they traded for so-and-so and they aren't even at the event.



Q: What about in terms of picking initial players? Are there any players that look deceptively good?



I think MMA and MKP are probably not great picks that people might think other wise. They've are both really strong terran players that are great at micro. So HoTS should help them right? They are also arguable the ace on their team so they'll see a lot of play. And you might be right, but I think it's a bit of a gamble. I think there are a lot of really great terrans out there right now and MKP and MMA are not a step above the others in HoTS yet. So for 6-7 points they are probably not worth it. Maybe add Gumiho to that list, too. Like MMA/MKP he's really good terran that should theoretically benefit from HoTS. But so far hasn't impressed with their transition to HoTS yet. Probably not worth the 7 points. Again, don't complain if they end up making tons of points, I think they are all have the potential to dominate, but aren't quite consistent to be worth the 6-7 valuation. I certainly am not suggestion to put them on your anti-team.



Q: Any other tips for prospective fantasy players?



Well maybe just one thing. Don't pick 1-2 point players unless absolutely necessary; they are a waste of a slot. they never see play, and are not worth enough to trade later. Sure you can get like a bunch of 7+ value players and get a bunch of worthless players. But past fantasy leagues are indications that about half the higher value players end up not making a ton of points. It's really the midrange 3-5 value players that exceed expectations that makes the biggest impact to your fantasy team.



Q: Anything else you want to say?



I hope I can start doing better in FPL. And really excited to soon have both FPL and FGSTL going at the same time. Gonna be a lot of fun. To help you get into Fantasy GSTL, here's some advice from the previous winner of Fantasy GSTL.Hello this is mrbamboo. I used to play broodwar as a little kid with friends, nothing serious. Got into it a big more when Wings of Liberty came out and played some ladder. Wasn't that amazing at it, was Diamond league. Instantly got hooked on the GSL. Stayed up late every night during college to watch starcraft. Followed it pretty religiously. That's when Team Liquid last did their GSTL. I thought it would just be kind of fun. Did really well the first week of results, like top 50 or something. Then I got bit more serious about trading. Since I was already following GSL/GSTL religiously every night, I feel like I had a pretty good grasp on the players conditions. That and some luck, I ended up winning the first fantasy GSTLUnfortunately GSTL changed formats afterwards and there wasn't fantasy for a long time until Proleague started recently. I haven't been doing as well in FPL, I think ranking around 200-300 in the last 2 rounds. I'm super excited for Fantasy GSTL to be back. Although now that I'm out of college and work full-time, haven't been able to follow all the games as I used to. That and with all the players transitioning into HoTS, will be tricky to say which player is in the best condition.I believe the schedule is the biggest difference. In proleague every team plays twice each week. That's 8 matches. Where as in GSTL there's only 2 matches a week. That means half the teams don't even play. This makes trading a lot different in fantasy between those two leagues. That, and of course totally different teams/playersWell before each week you get to see the starting players in all kill format, and you've also learned more information about the teams and players from the previous weeks. The information you have the better choices you can make. Trading is to adjust your roster based on new information. I think it's pretty silly to say that we've learned nothing new through out the tournament. I think it's only natural to do a lot of trades. Even in Fantasy Proleague, I think I was top 50 in +trade value in the last two rounds. Also I like to gamble some times. So maybe that's just me haha.I still follow most of the large tournaments. I haven't been following GSL as much due to it being so late at night. But most of the western tournaments like MLG, Dreamhack, IPL, IEM etc I definitely do still follow. And I'm usually up to date on the results even if I don't get to see the matches live. I'd say I'm reasonably in touch with the current status.I think most of the LGIM players are a bit on the cheap side. Ruin, Ragnarok, and Byul have all done well in the preseason and seems like they've been practicing HoTS longer than the GSL regulars who were still occupied with Wings of Liberty until recently. Also the IM Coach in the past has fairly regularly sent out B-teamers in GSTL. So I think they could see a lot of play.I'm a bit partial to Jjakji. He's not exactly cheap at 7, but he's the only good players on NSH so he's likely to play every time and get a few kills. I think there are a lot of really talented 4 point terrans in the pool, we've got Heart, sC, dream, keen, sting, hack, and even mvp. I don't think mvp will get used a lot but the rest of them are all pretty good. Especially with Terran being really strong in HoTS. I could see any of them rack up some damage in GSTL.As far as anti-team. I haven't seen any obvious picks yet. All the 6+ value players pretty much deserves their value, except maybe Ryung. I think he's a bit over valued at 6.Mostly pay attention to the schedule and keep track of which team is playing and who the starters are. With GSTL only half the tteams play each week, it's important to know this information to get the most out of your trades. Also keep updated on roster changes and traveling. We've got a few foreigners who are likely to miss some weeks due to other tournaments, and the same goes for high profile players like MC. Too many times I see people complain in the forums that they traded for so-and-so and they aren't even at the event.I think MMA and MKP are probably not great picks that people might think other wise. They've are both really strong terran players that are great at micro. So HoTS should help them right? They are also arguable the ace on their team so they'll see a lot of play. And you might be right, but I think it's a bit of a gamble. I think there are a lot of really great terrans out there right now and MKP and MMA are not a step above the others in HoTS yet. So for 6-7 points they are probably not worth it. Maybe add Gumiho to that list, too. Like MMA/MKP he's really good terran that should theoretically benefit from HoTS. But so far hasn't impressed with their transition to HoTS yet. Probably not worth the 7 points. Again, don't complain if they end up making tons of points, I think they are all have the potential to dominate, but aren't quite consistent to be worth the 6-7 valuation. I certainly am not suggestion to put them on your anti-team.Well maybe just one thing. Don't pick 1-2 point players unless absolutely necessary; they are a waste of a slot. they never see play, and are not worth enough to trade later. Sure you can get like a bunch of 7+ value players and get a bunch of worthless players. But past fantasy leagues are indications that about half the higher value players end up not making a ton of points. It's really the midrange 3-5 value players that exceed expectations that makes the biggest impact to your fantasy team.I hope I can start doing better in FPL. And really excited to soon have both FPL and FGSTL going at the same time. Gonna be a lot of fun. Moderator