Day one of the GSL Super Tournament 2 took place at 5 p.m. KST today, which is either very early or very late for those of us in North America, at 4 a.m. EST. Let’s dive into the action!
The Super Tournament
The Super Tournament is a four-day competition running until Sunday, Sept. 30. By then, we will know who the final competitor at the WCS Global Finals at Blizzcon this November will be. We touched on this in our earlier coverage of this exciting event, but at the beginning of the Super Tournament, five players were in the running for that coveted last spot at the finals.
GuMiho, Trap, sOs, soO, and Solar all had a chance at Blizzcon this morning, with WCS points ranging from 3575 to 2975. But as the first four matches played out, we watched both GuMiho and Trap lose their shot at the global finals, joining the ranks of players such as Dear and INnoVation.
The round of 16
sOs defeated KeeN 3-1 and obtained, for now, rank eight in the GSL standings, knocking GuMiho out of the running. GuMiho was not a participant in the GSL Super Tournament, but he had the most points when it began. Nevertheless, his chance of moving on to Blizzcon was slim.
Trap was the second to go, losing to Stats 3-1. This leaves sOs as our most likely final competitor, with Solar and soO still fighting. Solar did so once already, defeating Impact in a rapid-fire 3-2 series of games. soO will have his shot tomorrow, when he fights Bunny in the first match.
Maru vs. Rogue
The one matchup not yet mentioned was, in many ways, one of the most exciting. Maru vs. Rogue was the first match of the day, and Maru took it in a decisive 3-0 victory over the winner of last year’s WCS Global Finals. Although Rogue was ahead at times, Maru seems truly unstoppable. It was a real treat to watch.
Up next
Maru is currently ranked #1 in both South Korea and the world — scary news for sOs, who will face him in the round of eight. Solar vs. Stats will be the second of our round of eight matches. Solar was victorious over Stats 3-1 in the WardiTV Invitational finals just yesterday, and he’s trying to win his way to Blizzcon, but Stats is the only player I know who has defeated Maru recently, and whoever wins might just need to face him next. It’s going to be an exciting game.
But before the round of eight, we still have the second half of the round of 16 to go: soO vs. Bunny, Leenock vs. Dark, FanTaSy vs. Classic, and Creator vs. TY. There are reasons to be excited about all of those matchups, but I’m holding out for FanTaSy vs. Classic, personally.
Classic is the clear favourite in that fight, but FanTaSy made a name for himself as one of the best Terran players of the last seasons of the Brood War scene, and returned to StarCraft 2 fairly recently after his two years of military service. That would be such a fun story to write about tomorrow if he did win, don’t you think?
Published: Sep 28, 2018 10:28 am