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2011 Pokerstrategy.com TSL3

From Liquipedia StarCraft 2 Wiki


[e][h]PokerStrategy.com TSL3
League Information
Series:
Organizer:
TeamLiquid
Type:
Online
Location:
World World
Prize Pool:
$34,500 USD
Start Date:
2011-03-19
End Date:
2011-05-15
Liquipedia Tier:
Participants
Number of Players:
32
Protoss 11
Terran 11
Zerg 9
Random 1
Maps
Chronology

The PokerStrategy TeamLiquid StarLeague 3, the first TSL event held for StarCraft II, was an international open tournament that took place from March through May 2011, offering a US$34,500 prize pool. It continued the tradition established by the 2008 Razer TSL and the 2009 Pokerstrategy.com TSL, with Korean progamers participating for the first time. Thirty-two players gained eligibility to compete through earning seeds from the TSL2, receiving invitations, winning one of eight qualification events starting in January 2011, or ranking highly in points earned from qualification events. The single-elimination five-round tournament was played beginning in March 2011, with each match a best-of-3, -5, or -7 series. Results were revealed each weekend as pairs of casters commentated over a live stream, usually from replays. The exception was the finals, which were played live at TL.net's headquarters in New York City on May 15, 2011, where ThorZaIN defeated NaNiwa to take the US$15,000 first-place prize.

History[edit]

TL.net, the biggest foreign website-slash-community dedicated to StarCraft, has grown steadily since its founding in 2002. With its increase in both members and staff as well as prestige and acclaim, the site organised numerous events, such as small tournaments and exhibition matches over the years.

In 2008, the biggest foreign StarCraft: Brood War tournament thus far was held: the Razer TeamLiquid StarLeague, which was won by IefNaij. One year later, an even bigger sequel saw the light of day: the Pokerstrategy.com TeamLiquid Starleague. It was won by Liquid`Tyler. Mondragon and Sen came in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

With the release of StarCraft II, TeamLiquid's events have centered around this second iteration. After a number of Team Liquid SC2 Opens, the site finally announced the Pokerstrategy.com TSL3 on the first day of 2011.

PokerStrategy TSL3[edit]

TSL3 Announcement Hypevideo

On the 31st of December 2010, a countdown clock appeared below the banner of TL.net. People began to speculate what would happen at Midnight EST as the timer reached zero. Some dismissed it as a simple New Year's Countdown, but many began speculating as just to what it might be.

As midnight struck, a hype video appeared on TeamLiquid and the TSL3 was announced to the public. Set to be the largest online tournament for SC2, the tournament will be broadcast live around the world and feature players from every major StarCraft region, fighting for a piece of the US$34,500 prize pool. With qualifications for European servers and US Servers alongside invites for those on Chinese and Korean servers, the TSL3 is set to reach one lofty peak that it did not achieve with the previous TSL events: the introduction of Korean progamers.

The tournament started in March and ran for nine weeks. The Qualifiers began on the 8th of January.

Qualification Process[edit]

There are 32 spots available for the Pokerstrategy.com TSL3 and they're allocated as follows:

3 Seeds from 2009 Pokerstrategy.com TSL

13 Players Invited From Asia/Korean Servers

8 Winners from the TeamSpeak TL Open Events

8 Qualifiers from TeamSpeak TL Open Ranking System

Tournament Format[edit]

The main tournament format was a 32 player single-elimination bracket. Each player thumbs down one map in each round before the Semifinals, with maps being picked and ordered randomly following the thumbs down procedure.

  • Ro32: Best of Three
  • Ro16: Best of Five
  • Ro8: Best of Five
  • Ro4: Best of Seven
  • 3rd Place Playoff: Best of Seven
  • Grand Final: Best of Seven

All rounds except the Grand Finals were played online. The Grand Finals were played live at Teamliquid headquarters in New York City.

The Sponsor[edit]

PokerStrategy.com is a poker school and community. It's a place where you can learn poker from the very basics to advanced levels. They have active forums in 18 different languages, and they offer the chance to aspiring Poker players to learn from a beginner to a professional level.

A few words from the sponsor[edit]

An interesting year has passed since we sponsored the last TeamLiquid StarLeague. StarCraft II was released, hundreds of thousands of new StarCraft fans emerged and TL.net went through a phase of incredible growth and development. That’s why we are proud to be back and support the new tournament.

We see TeamLiquid and StarCraft as what we want to be for poker: the world’s best place to learn the game and talk about it. StarCraft is a beautiful game of strategy – and large events such as the TeamLiquid StarLeague help it being recognized beyond the core fan base.

Enjoy the games!

TSL Raffle[edit]

Players who complete the PokerStrategy Quiz, get a chance to enter the TSL3 raffle and win a trip for two people to visit South Korea for a GSL Finals and a tour of the oGs-Liquid house.

Prize Pool[edit]

The TSL3 prize pool in all its beautiful Graphics Glory

A total of US$34,500 was rewarded to the players. Seeds into the TSL4 were also awarded to the top three finishers.

Casters[edit]

  • Blake "Chill" Muzar is a long time face of the TSL. His casting roots started in making strategic commentaries three years ago, and from there moved on to hosting Team Liquid events TL Attack!, Liquibition, as well as the two previous TSLs. Known for dry Canadian humor, he has a no-nonsense style of casting that hits the critical issues of any game.
  • Sean "Day[9]" Plott is truly a man needing no introduction. For StarCraft: Brood War, Day9 casted the TSL2 and the WCG Grand Finals three times. He hosts Day[9] Daily and has done commentary for nearly every major StarCraft II event outside Korea, including MLG, IEM, Blizzcon, and Dreamhack. Day9 brings incredible energy, strategic analysis, and offbeat humor to every event he attends.
  • Marcus "djWHEAT" Graham is a long time commentator of many competitive video games. He has done casting for Blizzcon, MLG, and WCG World Finals. Wheat hosts the popular programs Live on 3, Weapon of Choice, and Kings of Tin, and brings professionalism and experience to any casting team.
  • Mike "Husky" Lamond started casting games of StarCraft: Brood War over YouTube. Since StarCraft II's release, Husky has since grown his channel to not only one of the largest in the StarCraft world, but anywhere on the internet. With a passion for the game that few are able to rival, he is also making it big as a SC2 musical star. Known for upbeat, humorous casts he has the rare ability to make any game interesting and entertaining.

Special Guest[edit]

  • Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski is best known for casting the GSL and denying high fives. Artosis was a top American Brood War Terran who moved into casting for events such as Blizzcon, the WCG Grand Finals, and the first two TSLs. In 2009, Artosis moved to Korea and gained years of experience covering events with IEG and the eSTRO progaming team. Since StarCraft II's release, Artosis has become an important figure in the community. Currently a caster for GSL, he is known for his deep understanding of StarCraft II and ability to give strategic insight. Artosis will be taking a few days out of his busy GSL schedule to cast some TSL3 games.

Map Pool[edit]

Crevasse
Creator: JackyPrime
Tileset: Ice
Size: 140x140
Spawn Positions: 4 at 1, 4, 7, 10
Crossfire SE
Creator: JackyPrime
Tileset: Jungle World
Size: 108x160
Spawn Positions: 2 at 1, 7
Shakuras Plateau
Creator: Blizzard
Tileset: Twilight
Size: 156x128
Spawn Positions: 4 at 1, 5, 7, 11
Tal'Darim Altar
Creator: LSPrime
Tileset: Jungle World
Size: 176x176
Spawn Positions: 4 at 2, 5, 8, 11
Xel'Naga Caverns
Creator: Blizzard
Tileset: Ulaan
Size: 140x124
Spawn Positions: 2 at 1, 7
Metalopolis
Creator: Blizzard Entertainment
Tileset: Korhal
Size: 140x140
Spawn Positions: 4 at 12, 2, 6, 8
Terminus RE
Creator: Blizzard/LSPrime
Tileset: Space Platform
Size: 162x160
Spawn Positions: 4 at 12, 3, 6, 9

Each player will be allowed to thumbs down one map in best-of-three and best-of-five series. Maps will be randomly chosen and ordered of those remaining.

Map Modifications[edit]

Shakuras Plateau has been edited for diagonal position play only and Metalopolis has been edited to remove close land positions. The bottom of ramps have been modified to prevent easy walling with buildings. Our Blizzard ladder maps are the same as those used in MLG and the GSL specific maps are the same as those used in the GSL.

The maps have been modified to hide results and build orders in the match history section to avoid spoilers.

Players[edit]

Protoss Protoss (11) Terran Terran (11) Zerg Zerg (9)
United States Tyler Ukraine Kas Germany Mondragon
Sweden NaNiwa Sweden ThorZaIN Taiwan Sen
United States CrunCher United States qxc United States IdrA
Ukraine White-Ra South Korea Mvp Sweden HayprO
Romania NightEnD China Loner Netherlands Ret
Germany HasuObs Sweden Jinro South Korea FruitDealer
Canada HuK South Korea NaDa South Korea NesTea
South Korea Genius South Korea BoxeR Sweden MorroW
South Korea MC Germany GoOdy Denmark Ciara
France Adelscott Peru Fenix
Bulgaria ZeeRaX Ukraine Strelok
Random Random (1)
Germany TLO

Racial Distribution[edit]