This Monday AfreecaTV’s Global StarCraft II League (GSL) will make its return for the second season of the year. It may seems like only last week that we finished the GSL Super Tournament, and in fact, it was. But StarCraft waits for no one, and there are new battles to be had.
Like any good blockbuster sequel, the main storyline of this new season will be a continuation of the previous one, but with bigger stakes.
Maru to cement his rule
Last time, Maru could match record holder Mvp’s four GSL titles. This time, he could surpass him with his fifth, consecutive championship, leaving no doubt who Korea’s GOAT is.
Then there is the Protoss veteran, Classic. He was thought on his way out at the start of the season, as mandatory military service looms. Yet he has since reached his third consecutive GSL event finals, winning two of them. He’s also well on his way to BlizzCon as perhaps the best current Protoss. It seems unlikely that he’ll sit this one out.
Lastly, we have GuMiho, the Protoss slayer and only player of another race left after the Super Tournament’s Round of 16. Can he do it again? Will it be necessary?
Supporting cast
The supporting cast is pretty great too, with fan favorites like INnoVation, Stats, and Dark looking to overcome their struggles earlier in the year and take the crown for themselves. There are even some westerners in the mix, with Scarlett facing Trap, herO, and KeeN in Group F. The Canadian Zerg will likely have to share top-two here with Trap, but that would still require her beating KeeN and herO, the latter of which evicted her from the competition by one game last season.
In Group H, Mexican talent SpeCial seems like he has drawn the short straw with both sOs and TY in his group. But you never know what Juanito will pull off (besides switching teams at some point that is), so anything is possible.
We will start tomorrow with Group A, however. This one features both Maru and INnoVation. Conventional wisdom suggests that these titans will be the ones moving on to the next round, but one can never count out Patience. Zerg Armani seems destined to be worn as a suit, but who knows?
You can follow the action on the GSL’s English language stream starting at 18:30 KST, 5:30 a.m. EST tomorrow.
Published: Apr 28, 2019 02:20 pm