CollegiateStarleague Profile Blog Joined May 2011 United States 550 Posts Last Edited: 2014-01-10 02:44:34 #1

Written by Chris Okamura [West 1], David Wise [West 2, Midwest]

Paul Benson [East] and Nicholas Dawes [Canada]

Banners by Chantha Kul and



CSL pulls into 2014 carrying over five years of intercollegiate StarCraft competition with it, and as a result there is a wealth of backstories to explore as the new season fires up in January. In order to do justice to the nearly one hundred schools playing in Division 1, we took time to arrange the nine SC2 conferences into four larger regions to explore the lineages classic CSL schools bring with them, and to uncover some potential rivalries that are already developing between the “old dogs” and the new.



WEEK ONE STANDINGS ON CSTARLEAGUE.COM





WEST 1



Four of the seven CSL Championships have been taken by California teams, and we have some very strong favorites to take championship number five in the West 1 division. Berkeley of course takes the top spot in any power ranking of this region, even without



There is a short drop off here, with San Jose State, UC San Diego, and UC Irvine filling in the second tier of potential top performers. San Jose State made it all the way to North American semi-finals in the Azubu Collegiate Champions (ACC) before being knocked out by Berkeley. During the spring season, they were a bit quieter with a Round of 8 loss to Ohio State in Qualifier 1 and only showing up again in Qualifier 4 with a quick loss to University of Washington in the Round of 32.



UCSD also had a strong showing in the ACC, battling to the quarterfinals before losing a close match to University of Washington. They skipped out on the first qualifier of the spring season, but just couldn’t break through that wall in Qualifiers 2-4 with Ro32, Ro8, and Ro4 losses respectively to miss out on the spring finals bracket.



UCI had the weakest showing in the ACC out of the 3 teams in this tier, with a Round of 32 loss in the North American playoffs, but they are the only California team, other than UC Berkeley, to make it to the final bracket of the 2013 spring season. They locked up their spot by upsetting University of Washington in Qualifier 3. They did lose their opening round match vs Western University, and lost again to Georgia Tech in the 2nd round of the loser’s bracket.



The rest of the field is pretty open at this point. Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UCLA, and UC Santa Cruz have all had strong performances in last two seasons, with all of them making the North American playoffs in the ACC, and losing to top teams in the spring season qualifiers. All of these teams will be expecting good results and may be able to surprise some people if they get an a roll.



This season however we do have a dark horse. Stanford has not competed in the CSL at all during the last two seasons, so we’ll have to keep an eye out for how they look in the beginning weeks of 2014.



WEST 2



The West 2 CSL StarCraft Division exhibits powerful talent. The most notable school in the division is the University of Washington, former CSL finalists and home to ROOT Gaming’s Portland State University.



However, that is not the only school to watch in this division. The University of Utah prevailed easily Week 1 against the University of Nevada. The team boasts a full roster of high-masters players and can potentially upset the University of Washington for first place in the division, despite the departure of Huy “SCDPride” Truong and IvDGaming’s Sangjae “Zergzingzing” Park. This week, the Utes face off against their school rival Brigham Young University for Utah’s eSports’ bragging rights.



During Week 1, the University of New Mexico prevailed over Oregon State, Brigham Young University swept the Colorado School of Mines, Northern Arizona University won against the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, despite the team having Quantic’s Daniil “Cheeseheadlogic” Pauley on the roster.



The West 2 division boasts powerful talent, both obvious and underrated. This is definitely a group that should be on every e-sports’ fan’s radar as it will undoubtedly prove to be both cutthroat and highly competitive.







The Midwest 1 StarCraft 2 division boasts some impressive talent. The most prominent school in the division is the University of Texas, Austin where Fnatic’s



UT Austin shares a division with University of Alberta, where Clarity Gaming’s University of Minnesota Twin Cities.



While the other schools in the division do not wield pro StarCraft talent, the first week exhibited some impressive results. The University of Minnesota’s win over the University of Alberta illustrated the overall strength of the Twin Cities’ squad, which definitely hints at promising yields the rest of the season.



During the first week of competitive play, the University of Kansas won 3-0 over Kansas State, and Rice University swept its series against Bentley University and the South Dakota School of Mines prevailed over the University of Oklahoma 3-1. While UT Austin is undoubtedly a favorite to take their division, first is still up for grabs.



The Midwest 2 CSL StarCraft division illustrates the game’s diversity of playstyles. The schools here do not boast the results that UC Berkeley or the University of Washington do but they are some of the most interesting in terms of the players competing.



For example, Alloy eSports’ Adriel “Yoshi Kirishima” Leung plays for the University of Michigan. Leung is a high-masters Terran who only plays mech and sky Terran compositions in all matchups, including TvP. The University of Cincinnati’s

(Connor Fitzpatric), formerly of ROOT Gaming, was one of the original innovators of the mass queen playstyle in Wings of Liberty. In addition, Corey “Schnitzel” Schnedl, a high-level Random player, competes for Ohio State University.



Week 1 results have given a preliminary indication of whom to watch this season as well. Purdue University took a 3-0 victory over Michigan State, the University of Chicago won 3-0 against Miami University, and University of Cincinnati prevailed 3-1 over Ohio State. Despite Week 1’s results, the division leaders aren’t clear. This season should prove interesting not only for the caliber of players in the division but also for what will surely be a highly competitive and cutthroat group.







Overall, CheeseHeadLogic’s pre season power rank was accurate in this region after Week 1, with two-thirds of his listed teams winning their matches (UMCP received a Bye and Carnegie Mellon lost to NYU). There were no surprises here, as Toronto and Georgia Tech are household names for CSL fans. Georgia Tech narrowly lost to UC Berkeley in the 2013 spring season, and the team made it to the finals of their conference in the ACC in 2012-13.



Columbia U, having performed well in Spring’s March Madness qualifier, launched back into the CSL scene with a dramatic win over NYU in the Battle for Manhattan at Fallcraft 2013. While NYU and Columbia are split into different divisions within the Eastern region, there are still major rivalries to follow. Kevin “Paperboat” Cosgrove of Vassar College, the team coordinator, says the team is “eager to butt into the NYU/Columbia rivalry” and is gunning for a head-to-head conflict with George Washington. Could we see shots fired across the internet? It might be a CSL staple -- CSL co-founder Mona Zhang



Ultimately, the theme in the East is renewal. WPI, Vassar, and UTK have all admitted to rebuilding much of their rosters. Vassar’s team is entirely new, and WPI and UTK have lost significant numbers.







Schools in the Great White North are in a state of flux. This season the battle for supremacy resumes with plenty of rivalries and pre-season stories searching for their conclusions. Lots of experienced SC2 players from Canada graduated last spring, hindering team rosters. But a few schools received much-needed new faces which could alter the snowy landscape for years to come.



McGill University's coordinator, Jean-Michel Giroux, graduates this year; so the pressure is on for him and his team to go out with a bang. Watch out for McGill to play the Universite de Sherbrooke; Giroux's brother, Marc-Andre “KsXuoriG” Giroux, plays Terran for them. Last season he played in every series through the Ro32 and did not drop a single game. So when McGill and Sherbrooke face off we could see a family rivalry and “Plott-esque” mindgames play out. McGill also has their sights set on taking down the University of Toronto (in NorthEast 1), one of the best schools in Canada. In 2010-2011 they made it to the Top 4, but only reached the Ro64 last season. But they'll also have to face the Ecole de Technologie Superieure, Montreal in their conference if they want to reach the quarterfinals this year.



The ETS, Montreal team played a showmatch with McGill earlier this year. The series went to the ace match where ETS lost. But the season has started and they are determined to make up for that defeat. It will be a tough battle, as the team's roster has been adjusted to accommodate the League and incoming Dota 2 leagues, compounded by players graduating after last season. Keep an eye out for David “Names” Desrochers, an all-around strong Terran player for ETS.



In the Canada West conference the University of British Columbia has a new coordinator at the helm, Alek “Poo” Hrycaiko. They boast a serious roster featuring 3 GM-level players, a Master's level, and a consistent 2v2 team raking in impressive win rates through the off-season. On paper they look like the team to beat in Canada West.



Finally last season's “Ivy-killer”, University of Guelph, comes in to the 2013-14 season with a roster slightly withered by last year's graduation. In the previous season they reached the Ro16, besting Harvard, Columbia, and RPI until they faced San Jose State. Bitter feelings over that loss remain, Guelph has not forgotten, and is looking to redeem themselves this season. They are hoping to repeat their victory over Harvard, who defeated them in a LAN last year despite not winning in the playoffs.



CSL pulls into 2014 carrying over five years of intercollegiate StarCraft competition with it, and as a result there is a wealth of backstories to explore as the new season fires up in January. In order to do justice to the nearly one hundred schools playing in Division 1, we took time to arrange the nine SC2 conferences into four larger regions to explore the lineages classic CSL schools bring with them, and to uncover some potential rivalries that are already developing between the “old dogs” and the new.Four of the seven CSL Championships have been taken by California teams, and we have some very strong favorites to take championship number five in the West 1 division.of course takes the top spot in any power ranking of this region, even without http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Suppy (Conan Liu). The two-time defending champs look to be a step above the rest in this field (even placing #2 in CHL Overall Power Ranking. Hyunjae “TwentyOneJ” Lim will most likely fill Liu’s 1v1 spot, with Fan “Fan” Yang and Alan “Abstinence” Yao returning along with Luke “Sunshine” Lalor and Richard “Sky” Xue, forming one of the strongest 2v2 teams in CSL.There is a short drop off here, with, andfilling in the second tier of potential top performers. San Jose State made it all the way to North American semi-finals in the Azubu Collegiate Champions (ACC) before being knocked out by Berkeley. During the spring season, they were a bit quieter with a Round of 8 loss toin Qualifier 1 and only showing up again in Qualifier 4 with a quick loss toin the Round of 32.also had a strong showing in the ACC, battling to the quarterfinals before losing a close match to University of Washington. They skipped out on the first qualifier of the spring season, but just couldn’t break through that wall in Qualifiers 2-4 with Ro32, Ro8, and Ro4 losses respectively to miss out on the spring finals bracket.had the weakest showing in the ACC out of the 3 teams in this tier, with a Round of 32 loss in the North American playoffs, but they are the only California team, other than UC Berkeley, to make it to the final bracket of the 2013 spring season. They locked up their spot by upsetting University of Washington in Qualifier 3. They did lose their opening round match vs, and lost again toin the 2nd round of the loser’s bracket.The rest of the field is pretty open at this point., andhave all had strong performances in last two seasons, with all of them making the North American playoffs in the ACC, and losing to top teams in the spring season qualifiers. All of these teams will be expecting good results and may be able to surprise some people if they get an a roll.This season however we do have a dark horse.has not competed in the CSL at all during the last two seasons, so we’ll have to keep an eye out for how they look in the beginning weeks of 2014.The West 2 CSL StarCraft Division exhibits powerful talent. The most notable school in the division is the, former CSL finalists and home to ROOT Gaming’s http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Caliber (Patrick Coury) and Denial e-sports’ http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/KawaiiRice (Adrian Kwong). Regularly considered to be the favorite against almost all schools they play, the squad exhibited strong results week one with a commanding victory againstHowever, that is not the only school to watch in this division. Theprevailed easily Week 1 against the. The team boasts a full roster of high-masters players and can potentially upset the University of Washington for first place in the division, despite the departure of Huy “SCDPride” Truong and IvDGaming’s Sangjae “Zergzingzing” Park. This week, the Utes face off against their school rivalfor Utah’s eSports’ bragging rights.During Week 1, theprevailed over, Brigham Young University swept thewon against the, despite the team having Quantic’s Daniil “Cheeseheadlogic” Pauley on the roster.The West 2 division boasts powerful talent, both obvious and underrated. This is definitely a group that should be on every e-sports’ fan’s radar as it will undoubtedly prove to be both cutthroat and highly competitive.TheStarCraft 2 division boasts some impressive talent. The most prominent school in the division is thewhere Fnatic’s http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Hellokitty (Zifeng Wang) studies. While UT Austin has traditionally been a CSL StarCraft powerhouse, the school’s first week was a Bye so we have yet to see their true power and potential this season.UT Austin shares a division with, where Clarity Gaming’s http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/SaroVati (Brian Zhao) plays. Zhao recently qualified for the WCS America Challenger League. However, despite him being on the roster, the University of Alberta dropped its first series 1-3 against theWhile the other schools in the division do not wield pro StarCraft talent, the first week exhibited some impressive results. The University of Minnesota’s win over the University of Alberta illustrated the overall strength of the Twin Cities’ squad, which definitely hints at promising yields the rest of the season.During the first week of competitive play, thewon 3-0 over, andswept its series againstand theprevailed over the3-1. While UT Austin is undoubtedly a favorite to take their division, first is still up for grabs.TheCSL StarCraft division illustrates the game’s diversity of playstyles. The schools here do not boast the results that UC Berkeley or the University of Washington do but they are some of the most interesting in terms of the players competing.For example, Alloy eSports’ Adriel “Yoshi Kirishima” Leung plays for the. Leung is a high-masters Terran who only plays mech and sky Terran compositions in all matchups, including TvP. The’s http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Fitzyhere (Connor Fitzpatric), formerly of ROOT Gaming, was one of the original innovators of the mass queen playstyle in Wings of Liberty. In addition, Corey “Schnitzel” Schnedl, a high-level Random player, competes forWeek 1 results have given a preliminary indication of whom to watch this season as well.took a 3-0 victory over, thewon 3-0 against, andprevailed 3-1 over. Despite Week 1’s results, the division leaders aren’t clear. This season should prove interesting not only for the caliber of players in the division but also for what will surely be a highly competitive and cutthroat group.Overall, CheeseHeadLogic’s pre season power rank was accurate in this region after Week 1, with two-thirds of his listed teams winning their matches (received a Bye andlost to). There were no surprises here, asandare household names for CSL fans. Georgia Tech narrowly lost to UC Berkeley in the 2013 spring season, and the team made it to the finals of their conference in the ACC in 2012-13., having performed well in Spring’s March Madness qualifier, launched back into the CSL scene with a dramatic win over NYU in the Battle for Manhattan at Fallcraft 2013. While NYU and Columbia are split into different divisions within the Eastern region, there are still major rivalries to follow. Kevin “Paperboat” Cosgrove of, the team coordinator, says the team is “eager to butt into the NYU/Columbia rivalry” and is gunning for a head-to-head conflict with George Washington. Could we see shots fired across the internet? It might be a CSL staple -- CSL co-founder Mona Zhang created such a video in 2010 in the Princeton/MIT showmatch.Ultimately, the theme in the East is renewal., andhave all admitted to rebuilding much of their rosters. Vassar’s team is entirely new, and WPI and UTK have lost significant numbers. http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/MaSsan (Henry Cheong), a star of Georgia Tech, has graduated, leaving senior member Marco “Remiix” Cognetta in control of a new set of hopeful stars in the Southeast division. It will be up to the new rosters to show if they’re up to scratch.Schools in the Great White North are in a state of flux. This season the battle for supremacy resumes with plenty of rivalries and pre-season stories searching for their conclusions. Lots of experienced SC2 players from Canada graduated last spring, hindering team rosters. But a few schools received much-needed new faces which could alter the snowy landscape for years to come.s coordinator, Jean-Michel Giroux, graduates this year; so the pressure is on for him and his team to go out with a bang. Watch out for McGill to play the; Giroux's brother, Marc-Andre “KsXuoriG” Giroux, plays Terran for them. Last season he played in every series through the Ro32 and did not drop a single game. So when McGill and Sherbrooke face off we could see a family rivalry and “Plott-esque” mindgames play out. McGill also has their sights set on taking down the(in NorthEast 1), one of the best schools in Canada. In 2010-2011 they made it to the Top 4, but only reached the Ro64 last season. But they'll also have to face the, Montreal in their conference if they want to reach the quarterfinals this year.The ETS, Montreal team played a showmatch with McGill earlier this year. The series went to the ace match where ETS lost. But the season has started and they are determined to make up for that defeat. It will be a tough battle, as the team's roster has been adjusted to accommodate the League and incoming Dota 2 leagues, compounded by players graduating after last season. Keep an eye out for David “Names” Desrochers, an all-around strong Terran player for ETS.In the Canada West conference thehas a new coordinator at the helm, Alek “Poo” Hrycaiko. They boast a serious roster featuring 3 GM-level players, a Master's level, and a consistent 2v2 team raking in impressive win rates through the off-season. On paper they look like the team to beat in Canada West.Finally last season's “Ivy-killer”,, comes in to the 2013-14 season with a roster slightly withered by last year's graduation. In the previous season they reached the Ro16, besting Harvard, Columbia, and RPI until they faced San Jose State. Bitter feelings over that loss remain, Guelph has not forgotten, and is looking to redeem themselves this season. They are hoping to repeat their victory over Harvard, who defeated them in a LAN last year despite not winning in the playoffs. * * *

FIND UPCOMING MATCHUPS ON CSTARLEAGUE.COM



Week 2 play starts January 11th, and you can watch all the action on Mondays and Thursdays at 8pm EST/5pm PST.



Edited by Theresa Gaffney

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Week 2 play starts January 11th, and you can watch all the action on twitch.tv/cstarleague on________________________________________________________________________________________________________ About the Collegiate Starleague:



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