WTL Winter 2023 - Awards + Team Grades

Republished By Plato

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by: Nakajin

2023 has come to a close, and so has the WTL Winter regular season. We expected it to be a season of unparalleled parity at the start, but it's proven to be anything but. We saw SSLT finish at the bottom with zero points, while ONSYDE clinched the regular season title with a record-setting 31 points.

As such, the final week of the regular season was less exciting than in previous seasons, with the final standings largely mapped out. However, the season as a whole was anything but boring, so we'll be looking back on each teams' performance and handing out our traditional TL.net awards.

Top 7 teams qualify for the playoffs.
Bottom 2 teams must requalify.
Points are awarded as follows:

3 points for a victory in a series that does not require an ace match
2 points for a victory in a series that requires an ace-match
1 point for a loss in a series that requires an ace-match
0 points for a loss in a series that does not require an ace match

Week 11 Results

This week we're bringing you a truncated recap, as most of the standings were already sorted out by Week 10. ONSYDE had already clinched the regular season title, Mystery Gaming were 99% of the way toward securing the last playoff spot, and even the relegation race was mostly settled with SSLT and the Freecs being the likely pair to go down.

None of the 1% scenarios came to fruition in Week 11, so Mystery Gaming happily booked their ticket to the playoffs, while SSLT and Freecs were left to ponder their futures after being relegated.

However, we did get one major surprise as the Spirit-less PSISTORM pulled off a huge 4-3 upset against Dragon KaiZi Gaming. It's true that DKZ played some questionable StarCraft II (as has often been the case for them in the regular season), but PSISTORM took full advantage of the opportunity. Gerald stole an unlikely 1-1 tie off of Dark, which was followed by Namshar taking an even unlikelier 1-1 from herO. Namshar did his adopted region of North America proud, melting herO's brain with a good ol' fashioned proxy-Hatch Roach rush. Oliveira staved off defeat by holding MaxPax to a tie, but momentum was on PSISTORM's side. MaxPax came back for the ace match, where he finished DKZ off by handily defeating Dark. This surprise result had repercussions on the final playoff seeding, with DKZ falling down to 3rd while PSISTORM jumped up to 5th.

There were some interesting 1-1 ties in less meaningful matches, with Future going 1-1 against Firefly while ReWhite got a 1-1 against Harstem (Platinum Heroes, Matcherino, and Starlight Twinkle all ended up in the boring no-playoffs/no-relegation zone).

Other notable results of the week were BASILISK getting their first clean sweep of the season against the Freecs, which finalized the semi-retirees' relegation. ONSYDE vs Liquid had one of the more amusing match results, with Ryung 2-0'ing Clem just days after being eliminated from DreamHack Atlanta with a 0-2 to Vindicta (truly, the most Ryung-ish AND Clem-ish outcome possible).

PSISTORM Gaming 4 - 3 Dragon KaiZi Gaming
Watch VOD

Team Liquid 1 - 5 ONSYDE
Watch VOD

BASILISK 6 - 0 Kwangdong Freecs
Watch VOD

Platinum Heroes 2 - 4 Matcherino Esports
Watch VOD (Chinese)

瘦死骆驼 (SSLT) 1 - 5 Mystery Gaming
Watch VOD

Starlight Twinkle 1 - 5 Shopify Rebellion
Watch VOD

Week 11 MVP: ONSYDE.Ryung

Sometimes, we downplay the impressiveness of a player's win if their team had nothing to play more. In this case, should we give Ryung bonus points for his win over Clem? Indeed, ONSYDE had nothing to play for but pride in the final week as they had already locked up the regular season title. Even if we factor in a 'championship hangover' for Clem, it was still a very impressive win for the veteran TvT master.

Weekly MVP's:

Week 11: ONSYDE.Ryung
Week 10: ONSYDE.Solar
Week 9: BASILISK.Serral
Week 8: MYG.Strange
Week 7: SR.ByuN
Week 6: MYG.SHIN
Week 5: Liquid`Clem
Week 4: SLT.Wayne
Week 3: BASILISK.Reynor
Week 2: SR.Harstem
Week 1: BASILISK.Serral

Regular Season Report Cards

With the end of the 2023 Winter ~~semester~~ season, it's time to evaluate the performances of the twelve teams. Who passed, who failed, and who transferred to the weird school for artsy kids across town?

Teams were graded according to expected results before the season, final standing, and whatever else I decided to value (it's the teams fault for not checking my RateMyProfessor.com rating before taking this class).

SSLT: D

Regular season finish: 12th place (0 points)
Previous season finish: 6th place (7th in regular season)
Pre-season power rank: 11th place

TL.net had the chance to interview the Starving Camels after their electric run last season, where they surpassed teams like PSISTORM and Shopify to reach the playoffs. When asked if they overperformed expectations, the collective answer was a clear ‘’no’’—they were just underestimated by everyone else.

We'll never know if they were right to believe so, because that miracle-making squad from the summer got completely blown apart. Ace player Firefly was signed away by Platinum Heroes before the season even started, and their next best player in Cyan (7-11 record) was signed by Mystery Gaming Week 9. While it feels somewhat unfair to fault SSLT for losing Firefly and Cyan, in the world of sports, a team's financial strength is inevitably a part of its evaluation.

At least, SSLT should make for a nice Code A team, and their players are really due for some easier matches.

Freecs: D-

Regular season finish: 11th place (6 points)
Previous season finish: N/A
Pre-season power rank: 9th place

The Freecs might have finished ahead of the Camels in the standings, but overall they were the most disappointing squad. They weren’t actually all that bad—KeeN and Stats combined for a 16-26 record, which would have been an okay-ish record for the 2nd/3rd best players on a mid-tier team. However, KeeN and Stats were just underqualified to move a slot up and play as the 1st/2nd options. Not only that, but the Freecs frequently shuffled their lineup with little logic, benching Keen or Stats multiple times (including the one time they deployed aLive, only to have him no-show the match entirely).

The 3rd line-up spot ended up being a total disaster for the Freecs. TY was an especially hard watch, as he was arguably the league's worst player at 0-12 (although Toodming 1-21 is a strong contender). He played some pretty terrible StarCraft 2, including an egregious week 8 performance that saw Cure kill him with a Reaper-Expand like he was a 2014 diamond Terran. This was the biggest knock on Freecs—their weaker players almost never delivered a gutsy underdog performance. While it's hard to measure 'effort' from where we're seated, it has to say something about the Freecs that they couldn't steal some 1-1's when players like ReWhite, Namshar, and YoungZest took maps off much stronger opponents..

I do understand the position TY, soO, and Armani are in—they earned their WTL spot fair and square, and it's entirely up to them how they want to go about their post-military careers. However, if the plan is to run it back with the same squad and mindset, I wouldn’t be too sad to see them replaced by a hungrier squad next season.

Platinum Heroes: C

Regular season finish: 10th Place (6 points)
Previous season finish: 7th place (6th in regular season)
Pre-season power rank: 7th place

Like the Starving Camels, the Platinum Heroes had a fall back to earth after a great summer season. Still, looking at it with more realistic expectations, 10th place is not too bad. Avoiding relegation should still be the most important goal of a team like PH, so they get a passing grade for remaining in WTL Code S.

I did expect more after the surprise signing of Firefly in the offseason. The Chinese Protoss did ok with a 10-13 record (including a season-saving ace match against Keen in week 6), but wasn’t as explosive as he was last summer. The incumbent members of the team also trended downward, with the Protoss trio of Goblin, ShaDoWn, and DnS unable to perform at the playoff-clinching level from last season (DnS had an especially poor end to the season and has since departed the team).

Here’s to hoping DnS can get his mojo back and perhaps stay within the WTL, and that the Platinum Protoss trio can up their games for next season.

Matcherino Esport: B

Regular season finish: 9th place (11 points)
Previous season finish: N/A
Pre-season power rank: 10th place

In their debut season, Matcherino played around the level of my expectations, beating teams below them in the Freecs, Platinum Heroes, and Starving Camels, as well as pulling off an upset by sweeping Mystery Gaming. Nightmare and Astrea had pretty decent seasons with around a 50% combined win-rate (with both giving us great games pretty consistently), but as expected, it was their 3rd slot line-up spot that hurt them as Future and Arrogfire struggled.

It’s disheartening that Matcherino announced the departure of Nightmare after the end of the season—this roster had some intriguing upside potential if Astrea and NightMare went on a hot streak. While we don't know what new teams will be joining Code S next season, Matcherino could end up in the relegation zone if they don't get some reinforcements.

Starlight Twinkle: A

Regular season finish: 8th place (13 points)
Previous season finish: 10th place
Pre-season power rank: 12th place

Starlight Twinkle seemed destined for relegation ever since Spirit departed in the middle of the previous season, but Nice, Wayne, Cham, Rewhite, and YoungZest proved to be an incredibly resilient and scrappy squad. They made the most of a bad situation, and even gave Mystery Gaming a scare in the playoff race.

No single player had a transcendent season, and their final map differential was an unimpressive -18. However, SLT refused to drop the ball against their fellow lower-half teams, and ended up beating all four teams below them in the final standings. On top of that, they scored two big upsets to make a push for playoff contention, going 3-4 against BASILISK while winning 4-3 against Mystery Gaming. Nice ended up with a very respectable 9-9 record, while Wayne, despite finishing 8-14, was a huge clutch performer with two ace match wins. Cham and ReWhite also chipped in with big victories at crucial junctures (sadly for YoungZest, his 1-1 against Dark was for naught).

It will be a hard performance to reproduce in the future, but for now, they should be very proud of what they achieved this season.

Mystery Gaming: C+

Regular season finish: 7th place (17 points)
Previous season finish: Eliminated in Code A/qualifiers
Pre-season power rank: 5th place

It was a tale of two halves for MYG: an absolute dumpster fire for the first five weeks, then an excellent 5-1 streak to clinch a playoff spot in week 11. Aptly, they ended the regular season. with a perfectly balanced 35-35 map score.

Part of this Jekyll and Hyde performance was due to their loaded first-half schedule, which started off with matches against DKZ, ONSYDE, and Shopify. However, they also managed to lose to both SLT and Matcherino, which was certainly not what I envisioned at the start of the season.

However, their hearts did not fall into darkness and despair, and they retook control of the season in the second half. Bunny and SHIN started playing at the level we expect from them, and they won clean against TL while forcing BASILISK to an ace match. Strange also upped his game significantly in the second half, but that may have been due to him drawing more PvP's and winnable matches in general.

It will be interesting to see if they can carry their momentum into the postseason, especially with Cyan coming onto the ship. But just grading their first 11 weeks, they’ve slightly underperformed in my opinion.

Team Liquid: C+

Regular season finish: 6th place (20 points)
Previous season finish: 5th place (4th in regular season)
Pre-season power rank: 4th place

In a way, TL had the opposite experience as MYG but ended up in nearly the same spot. While Mystery went on a stressful rollercoaster ride, TL stayed in the same region of the rankings all season long. They easily dispatched the weaker teams without dropping a point, but on the other hand, they put up a disappointing 1-5 record against fellow playoff teams.

Statistically, Clem and Elazer were both very good this season, with both players achieving 70%+ win-rates. With Cure joining for the final 5 weeks, TL were even projected to make a push for the top three. However, things just didn't click—Clem's TvT tripped him up at the worst possible moments, Cure underperformed with a 6-5 record, and the bench players couldn't come up with any key upsets (except Kelazhur, who 1-1'd Reynor in week 1 and bounced).

As a team that has one of the deepest rosters in the competition and also has one of the strongest super-aces, Liquid is better than a 6th place team on paper. However, considering their history of underperforming in the WTL, they've finished just around where we'd expect.

PSISTORM Gaming: B+

Regular season finish: 5th place (20 points)
Previous season finish: 9th place
Pre-season power rank: 6th place

PSISTORM are back in the playoffs and I can finally shut up about GuMiho leaving. MaxPax has been on a tear all season long, finishing with a marvelous 20-5 record. His performance is what let PSISTORM get back their playoff spot, with his big ace match wins over DKZ and Shopify being the highlights. MaxPax got some admirable help from Gerald and Spirit, which allowed these ace matches to be played in the first place. Somehow, Spirit's mid-season move to NAVI didn't hurt PSISTORM all that much, with Namshar (what?) stepping up with a couple of huge upsets versus herO and Firefly.

Of course, PSISTORM still had a notable weakness. They struggled when they couldn't draw the right match-up for MaxPax, and both BASILISK and ONSYDE defeated PSISTORM 4-2 by getting the lucky 'sacrifice' match-up of their weakest player vs MaxPax.

But that won't matter in the playoffs. All throughout 2023, PSISTORM could entertain the dream of winning a WTL championship with a monster performance from MaxPax in the playoffs. Finishing 5th in the regular season and letting MaxPax skip a playoff series is a job well done.

Shopify Rebellion: A

Regular season finish: 4th place (24 points)
Previous season finish: 8th place
Pre-season power rank: 8th place

I’ve had some bad takes in my days, but saying the Rebellion were cooked and predicting them to miss the playoffs again has to be one of my very worst. The fan-favorite squad of Harstem, Lambo, Scarlett, and Byun are still very much able to dish out elite performances week in and week out.

Everyone got to enjoy some time in the spotlight. Lambo beat Reynor 2-0 to secure an ace match against BASILISK. Harstem swept herO en route to a team victory against DKZ. ByuN won 'BO3's' against both Bunny and Clem to get victories over MYG and TL. Scarlett roared back from a 35% win-rate summer season to achieve a 69% win-rate in the winter (11-5), which is more in line with her past showings in the WTL.

Overall, Shopify cleaned up their play against weaker opponents, which showed up in a 22 map point swing compared to last season. They shouldn’t feel too bad about any of their 3 losses either. One was a loss to ONSYDE with ByuN missing, and the other was to BASILISK where Serral went 3-0. The loss to PSISTORM is arguably the only one they'd regret, but it doesn't take much away from an overall great season.

DKZ: B

Regular season finish: 3rd place (24 points)
Previous season finish: 3rd place (3rd in regular season)
Pre-season power rank: 3rd place

Oh DKZ, I was so ready for a ‘’the champs are back!’’ take, but you guys just couldn’t help but screw it up just a little bit, could you? Up until their surprising defeat at the hands of PSISTORM Gaming in Week 11, DKZ were on track to jump ahead of BASILISK and claim the #2 seed. Instead, the old school powerhouse has settled for third place again, overshadowed by the two disruptive newcomers to the WTL.

DKZ's season was in line with the last one, with everyone playing great Starcraft all-around. This time it was Dark's turn to have a superlative season, as he went 18-6 in maps. They were the only team to beat ONSYDE during the regular season, with Dark taking out Solar in the ace match. However, this team still has the DNA of KaiZi and DPG, which means they're just not going to dominate the regular season in the way their talent would suggest. They dropped points in unexpected ways, like herO getting upset by Harstem and Namshar, and Oliveira giving up a 0-2 to Trigger.

All in all, it was an acceptable season for one of the league's most talented teams. As always, expect to see the 'real' DKZ in the playoffs.

BASILISK: B+

Regular season finish: 2nd place (26 points)
Previous season finish: 2nd place (2nd in regular season)
Pre-season power rank: 1st place

I did say at the top of this bulletin that expectations went into team grades, and unfortunately for BASILISK, even a 10-1 performance is a bit disappointing when you consider their potential.

For the second straight regular season, BASILISK have ended up in second place. A big part of it was, of course, due to their regular season loss against ONSYDE, which ended without an ace match. But while a loss to the champs is understandable, it was mind boggling how many points BASILISK dropped by allowing their opponents to force an ace match. With four ace match victories and only a single 6-0, they let ONSYDE beat them by five whole points and 15 total maps.

In terms of blame—as much as you can hand out for a squad that finished second—was spread all around. Serral wasn’t quite as extraordinary as last season, Reynor scored the exact same 16-7 stat line (basically 50% in TL.net writer math), and trigger finished with a sub-50% win-rate once more (9-13).

Alright, that’s enough for the negatives. BASILISK is still a very, very, very good team. Serral and Reynor were perfect on ace duty and regularly took out the very best of the league while trigger also had some bright spots. The Canadian took a small, but noticeable step forward and came to the rescue of his team multiple times, including a very important 2-0 of Oliveira in week 4, and a 1-1 against ByuN.

I still consider BASILISK the favorite in the playoffs, but it might be the final time for me. If they fall short once more, I’ll have to accept they aren’t the juggernaut I thought they were destined to be.

ONSYDE: A+

Regular season finish: 1st place (31 points)
Previous season finish: 1st place (1st in regular season)
Pre-season power rank: 2nd place

ONSYDE has put together the best season in WTL history, passing their own milestone of 29 points by scoring 31 out of 33 maximum points. They became the first team to ever win the regular season by more than a 2 point margin, and they clinched a place in the grand finals with a week to spare. They've also set the map score differential record at +37, beating out the old DPG super team of Zest-Dark-Rogue-Cure and their score of +34. In other words, it was as close to perfection as one could get.

This was made possible by Solar reaching probably his highest level ever in SC2. The reigning GSL champion 'rebounded' from his 14-8 summer season with a sensational 19-4 performance. When you consider his current form and how he carried ONSYDE in the last WTL playoffs, no one in the WTL would want a piece of Solar in a BO2 at the moment.

Having the GSL champ on call is nice, but it's somehow the second most impressive thing about ONSYDE Gaming. Maru is going through one of those random, terrible Maru slumps right now, and Ryung cannot get anything going for himself in the GSL. Yet, ONSYDE must know some WTL-specific voodoo spell, because the two Terrans are killing it in team competition.

Maru put up a monster 21-1 record, and the only reason he couldn't try to tie Serral's 23-1 from last season is because his team didn't give him enough ace matches to play in (though, he did cede the one ace match opportunity to Solar). Even though Ryung's win-rate went down from 70% to 55% this season, he didn’t lose his ability to win on command in important moments. He tied both SHIN and Reynor, and closed the season out with a 2-0 over Clem. While he dropped maps to Arrogfire and Silky, it didn't cost his team any points in the end.

While it's hard to know exactly how much ONSYDE prepare for the WTL, I think there's something worth noting about their success with unusual builds. For example, Maru brought a mass BC build against Harstem for a predictable air war on Radhuset, while Ryung blasted the underdog ArT with a double proxy-Factory Cyclone all-in. Solar even went as far as to unveil a perfect backdoor mineral-wall rush to counter Dark's fast gold base on Alcyone, just days before their GSL semifinals match. Whether these are specifically crafted strategies, or builds they already had in their repertoires, ONSYDE definitely have a knack for deploying them effectively in a BO2.

Whatever happens in the grand finals, ONSYDE's regular season dominance in WTL Winter 2023 should be celebrated and remembered.

Regular Season Awards

As per tradition, we end the WTL Winter 2023 regular season by giving out awards to the best, brightest, and most amusing of the World Team League.

As always, we remind you that the TL.net awards are separate from the official SCBOY-WTL awards they give out at the end of the season. Obviously, ours are much more coveted since SCBoy feels obligated to pay money with theirs, while the pride of winning a TL.net award is enough of a reward in and of itself.

The MaxPax award for most mysterious player in the league: Starlight Twinkle's YoungZest

Hey, remember YoungZest? You know YoungZest, the guy who showed up midway through the season and went 1-1 against Dark? Because I sure do, and this guy played some great Starcraft, and I mean really great Starcraft—it’s one of the best series of the season.

And then he never showed up again.

And remember last season? He did the same thing, coming out randomly off the bench in the final week as the ace to beat iG. Like, who the hell is that guy?

He gave up his EPT Asia spot after going through the qualifier, he doesn’t play in the EPT Weeklies or any other cup outside of China, and has 4 of his last 6 defeats as forfeits. Now I’m not saying he’s in fact Zest playing on a laptop hidden below his blankets in his barracks bunk bed, but I’m also not saying that’s not the case.

Here’s to hoping he can appear next season—I really need him to draw Reynor for maximum comedic potential.

Also, shoutout to Namshar, who has a 5-3 record across the last two seasons, with ties against Elazer, herO, and Firefly. What. A. legend.

The "Team Salmon" award for most underrated trio: PSISTORM Gaming Gerald, Shopify Rebellion Scarlett, and Starlight Twinkle's Nice

After a disappointing Summer season where Gerald, Scarlett, and Nice saw their win-rates fall to the 30~40% range, three veterans of the SCBOY Team Leagues enjoyed a resurgence in the Winter season. Nice (9-9), Gerald (11-9), and Scarlett (11-5) were all integral parts of their teams' success, and it's not the first time they've played such a crucial role.

I feel like these performances go pretty unappreciated, so I tip my hat to Nice for his many Skytoss builds, Gerald for his popoffs, and Scarlett for actually playing from outside of her darkness sanctuary that one time.

Best Regular Season Protoss: PSISTORM.MaxPax

Last season I disagreed with SCBOY's decision to give their best Protoss award to MaxPax, and instead gave the coveted TL.net best Protoss award to herO. But this time, I'm pretty sure we're going to be aligned.

MaxPax's 20-5 season was heads and shoulders above any other son of Aiur. PvP was obviously the Dane's most potent weapon as he went 11-1(which occurred during a stretch where he went 39 straight PvP matches without a loss), with no one having an answer to his gate-fast expand. Of course, he had great performances in other match-ups as well, including ace victories against Lambo and Dark. MaxPax is the reason PSISTORM are in the playoffs at all, and even have a puncher's chance of moving up a few rounds.

Best Regular Season Zerg: BASILISK.Serral

The Finnish Phenom wasn't quite as dominant this season compared to the last, but you know someone’s pretty good when a 21-4, MVP-candidate performance is a downgrade. Serral managed to lead BASILISK to a second-place finish including three ace match victories, the most out of anyone in the league. His best performances included a 3-0's against Team Liquid and Shopify, as well as cursory 2-0's over Bunny and Astrea. Over the course of two regular seasons, he still hasn't given up a 0-2 through 22 matches, and you could easily see him continuing the streak for a third regular season. Serral would obviously have won back-to-back MVP's if it wasn’t for a certain ONSYDE Terran.

Speaking of ONSYDE, I was torn between Serral and Solar for the best Zerg award until the very last week of the regular season. Solar went 1-1 against Cure to end with a 19-4 record, which tilted things ever so slightly in Serral favor. At 19-4, Solar had nearly the same record as Serral, except his team was too good to give him any more ace match opportunities (granted, Maru may have played instead). You can only judge players for the matches they did play, however, and Serral's extra ace match wins pushed him ahead of Solar.

Best Regular Season Terran and Regular Season MVP: ONSYDE.Maru

Maru clearly ran TL.net through Google translate and saw how we were gushing about Serral's 23-1 performance last season. Why else would he promptly answer back with a 21-1 season to take his second TL.net MVP award and third best Terran award?

The G7L winner was untouchable all season long—he didn’t just win 95% of his games, he was almost never in any danger of losing at any point during play. It reminded me of 2016, where the popular adage was "there's no one more dangerous in a teamleague than a struggling Maru."

This season, Maru was impervious to upsets, crushing his adversaries with both devilish timing attacks and calm late-game play. It’s well documented at this point that Maru’s results are extremely sensitive to his playing environment, but when he finds an event he's comfortable with, I’m not sure anyone in the world can stop him. It sure seems like he's found a second home in WTL.

Maru's only map loss came in an understandable 1-1 split against the MVP runner-up Serral, where the duo played two of the best games of the season. It’s very likely we’ll see this matchup in the grand finals for the second time in a row, which would settle the score between our two WTL MVP's of 2023.