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Greetings Starcraft 2 fans! We are back with another article detailing everything you need to know about the next biggest event on the competitive scene of the game: GSL Super Tournament 2! The first edition of the year happened in April, featuring high-caliber players such as Gumiho, Stats, TY, Innovation, Maru, Soo and many others, including the champion herO and the runner-up aLive.
The next edition will be no different, with 16 of the finest pro gamers South Korea has to offer battling it out in a single elimination bracket to crown a champion. Below you will find all the information about the tournament structure, prize pool and betting tips for the first round of the event.
Prize Pool Distribution
The prize pool for the event is 30.000 South Korean Wons, which means roughly $26,200 USD. All the 16 players participating will receive a share of the prize, as pointed out below:
As you can see, the prizes are very top heavy, so the players will definitely try their hardest to claim the highest spots. On top of that, they’ll also get WCS Circuit Points – with Blizzcon right around the corner at the end of the competitive season, guys are fighting through their teeth to guarantee enough points for a direct invite to the biggest event of the year (and biggest Starcraft 2 championship ever). The points distribution is as follows:
The event will start on September 28th and end on the 1st of October. Throughout these 4 days of competition, the 16 attending players will play every single match with their tournament lives at stake in a single elimination bracket. The round of 16, of 8 and Semifinals will be played in best of 5 matches, and the Grand Finals will display a best of 7 fight between the two top guys on the event. You can watch all the action for free on Twitch, with the fan favorite “Tastosis” duo (Artosis and Tasteless) casting all the games. This is certainly a must-watch battle for all the people interested in Starcraft 2. The 2 finalists of GSL Season 3 (Innovation and sOs) were directly invited to the event because of that achievement. The other 14 guys had to go through a very tough qualifying stage to earn their spot for this contest. The 14 gamers are: Protoss: Classic, Dear, herO, Stats, Zest With 7 out of the 16 attendees, Terran looks very strong in this patch and headed into the later stages of the season – but you can never count the 3 zergs that qualified out of the race, even if the matchup is not looking very good for the aliens. Innovation has just won GSL Season 3 this month, the hardest tournament on the planet. There is no doubt that Inno will destroy TIME in this matchup. If TIME can pull off a win here it will be the biggest upset of the year. INnoVation 3×0 Time Two old school players face off in the first round. This is probably going to be a very even matchup, with both of them having what it takes to defeat the other. Who will be better prepared for the event? Both of them can still qualify for Blizzcon if they make deep runs in the tournament, so this 1st phase carries a lot of importance. Classic 3×2 aLive Another TvP on the first round. GuMiho is having arguably the best season of his career – He finally won a GSL, the dream of any Starcraft 2 programer. He is already qualified for Blizzcon because of that, and Dear doesn’t have enough points to grab a slot even if he’s crowned the champion in this event. Based on recent performances, GuMIho has a clear edge going into the series. GuMiho 3×1 Dear This is gonna be a very exciting TvZ series. Both players like to play very aggressive styles, with timing pushes and the occasional cheese. They both still have the chance to qualify for Blizzcon, but they must win this tournament in order to rack up enough points. This series will be a very close nail-biter, probably the best series of the first round, but in the end, I think Maru will advance. Maru 3×2 Rogue Another TvZ, but not quite as exciting at the last one is going to be. That’s because Dark is already qualified for Blizzcon (he has enough points despite not winning a major trophy) and Bunny has no hopes of qualifying. Arguably, one of the scariest zergs in the TvZ matchup, Dark has a clear advantage going into this series, and will probably go through with a certain ease. Dark 3×1 Bunny The clash of the Titans. The #1 ranked player in South Korea (Stats) vs the #3 ranked (soO). Both are already qualified for the WCS Finals, and this tournament is a great opportunity for them to train, gather information about their opponents and improve their confidence by defeating their rivals. Unfortunately, one of them has to go home in the first round. I believe Stats has what it takes to bring down soO with his perfect macro play and incredible execution. SoO 1×3 Stats Our only PvP in the first round is going to be between Zest and herO. Once considered one of the best players in the world, Zest has fallen off the top a bit in 2017. Meanwhile, herO keeps improving at a steady pace and is the favorite for the series, even if some might argue that PvP has too much RNG involved in the build order choices – the best one should still come out on top. Zest 0x3 herO To end the first phase, a TvP. Ryung has no chances of qualifying for Blizzcon, so he is only playing for the money and the trophy. SOs, on the other hand, is the only player to ever win 2 Blizzcons – being out of this competition for him would certainly be a disappointment to himself and his fans, as he always performs insanely well in Blizzard’s main championship. I think he will be very hungry for a win in this event to secure his spot, so I give him the edge in this round of 16. SOs 3×2 Ryung. This contest is going to be packed with great players, great casters and great matchups – don’t miss out on the action starting September 28th on twitch.tv! We hope you enjoyed the article and see you on the next one. Good luck!
2017 GSL Super Tournament 2 Structure
The 16 Players attending
Terran: aLive, Bunny, GuMIho, Maru, Ryung, TIME
Zerg: Dark, Rogue, soOBetting tips for the 1st round of 2017 GSL Super Tournament 2
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TIME
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aLive
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Dear
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Rogue
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Bunny
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Stats 
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herO
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RyungConclusion
