GSL 3: Bracket Thoughts

The GSL 3 brackets are out. The best place to view them is probably on Team Liquid's tournament page.

As with the qualifiers, there is an amazingly long-lived rumor that the main tournament brackets are randomized, even though GomTV has never said so. If there were any doubts (I certainly had none) the brackets are planned, John the translator should have put them to rest when he recently said that he was one of the people who, well, plan the brackets.

In GSL 1 only a few of the players had reputations from the beta as being strong, so separating them was easy. In fact, if you look at the GSL 1 bracket today, it still looks pretty thin as far as talent. GSL 2 had better players, but also a clear desire on GomTV's part to protect SlayerSBoxeR and Nada as much as possible, so the opening rounds were uneven (most notably resulting in TLO vs. SangHo in the round of 64).

GSL 3 has more good players than ever before and the result is the good players are distributed quite evenly...there was really no choice. There's no one that leaps out as having an easy path to the quarterfinals like in previous GSLs.

Since the quarterfinals are particularly important for S Class considerations, let's look the important players matched together for each spot. I've selected the notable players using the highly scientific method of...picking players I think are notable. Obviously a fair number of these guys are going to lose in upsets, like Maka in GSL 2 or Genius in GSL 1, and a few of the unknown players are going to come out of nowhere like Kyrix in GSL 2. But knowing what (little) we know now, these are how the players shake out. Notice how almost every group has four "big names" in it. Each one plays a lesser player in the opening round, but from there it's going to be either notable opponents, or players who knocked out those notable opponents. Players with a * have already secured S Class:

A1

*IMNesTea (Z)
Sen (Z)
JookToJung (Z)
*MakaPrime (T)

This is the only quarterfinal spot with 3 big name Zergs. I know considering JookToJung a big name is a bit of a stretch, but he's qualified for all three GSLs, so that's nothing to sneeze at. In any case, Sen will be disappointed to have a probable match up with the reigning champion in the round of 32, especially considering NesTea's ZvZ success in GSL 2. Maka has the slightly easier road but he'll have to play better than he did last time.

A2

oGsTheWinD (Z)
*NsPGenius (P)

I said almost every quaterfinal spot had four prominent players in the hunt, but this is one of the exceptions. Given the success Zergs are having against Protoss at the top levels in Korea, oGsTheWinD has a good chance here.

B1

*STRainbow (T) AKA HopeTorture
LiquidHayprO (Z)
*FruitDealer (Z)
Bless (T) AKA Lyn

If the favorites win out, we could see a GSL 1 finals rematch in the round of 16. However, both Rainbow and FruitDealer looked vulnerable in GSL 2, although admittedly it was the same player (Foxer) who humbled them both.

B2

LiquidRet (Z)
anyproPrime (P)
*HongUnPrime (P)
*KyrixZenith (Z)

Ret probably has the easiest path of any foreigner since anypro isn't as intimidating as, for example, HayprO's round of 32 opponent Rainbow. Best of all if you subscribe to the idea that Protoss is underpowered, he could easily reach the quarterfinals playing only ZvP. However, IdrA thought he was sure to be playing ZvT and we all remember how that turned out.

C1

*Foxer (T)
GuMihofOu (R)
TSLClide (T)

Foxer could have the easiest path of anyone, since GuMiho is notable only for being a Random player, not for actually being good, while Clide, undeniably talented, hasn't played to his potential yet on the big stage. Everyone knows how Foxer plays, so we'll have to see how well he does now that he won't surprise anyone. It's important to note that GuMiho is on Foxer's side, so if he advances Foxer will have seen him play at most 3 games. Since Random players typically use gimmick builds, GuMiho (who basically admitted he was a Random of the cheese variety in his fomos interview) will be most dangerous early in the tournament. I decided Leenock wasn't worth mentioning here, but his match against Clide in the round of 64 is the closest matchup of the opening 32 games...at least on paper.

C2

oGsHyperdub (T)
oGsMC (P)
IMJuly (Z) AKA JulyZerg
*oGsZenio (Z)

It's not clear how good JulyZerg really is at this point. He failed to qualify for GSL 2, so there's some reason to think this is actually a pretty easy bracket for Zenio. On the other hand, we saw how NesTea, a lesser Brood War player by far than JulyZerg, made incredible strides between GSL 1 and 2.

D1

*SlayerSBoxeR (T)
PoltPrime (T)
LiquidJinro (T)
Liberty (Z) AKA Moon

Well, what a coincidence, SlayerSBoxeR is in the only bracket whose notable players are mostly Terran and his best matchup is TvT. Foreign fans will almost all be rooting for Jinro to face The Emperor, but GomTV's executives are praying for SlayerSBoxeR to play Moon. Polt still hasn't replicated the majesty of his GSL 1 Scrap Station game, but he's another three time qualifier.

D2

EGIdrA (Z)
IMmvp (T)
CheckPrime (Z)

This is the only bracket without someone who has clinched an S Class designation, but that doesn't make it easy. Probable matchups against MVP and Check make it the toughest set of opponents IdrA has been grouped with. With apologies to oGsZenio, IdrA has yet to play a top tier opponent in the GSL, but this looks likely to change. Check was probably the most relieved player when he saw the brackets: he can't face Rainbow, the player who eliminated him in both GSL 1 and GSL 2, until the final.