WTL 2024 Summer - Code A Preview

Republished By Plato

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by: Nakajin

After an intense, three-day test of will and skill, six of the Greatest Teams of All Time (of the WTL Summer 2024 qualifier) earned their passage into WTL Code A.

The next stage of the competition sees two invited/seeded teams join the mix, making it a total of eight teams contending for the final three spots in WTL Code S. Who will earn the right to compete in StarCraft II’s premiere team competition?

WTL Qualifier Results

The Code A qualifiers featured all the chaos you expect from such a varied group of teams and players, with stomps, no-shows, and surprisingly competitive performances from the underdogs.

Team Rotti was one of the teams who achieved the latter, pushing favorites Club NV to an ace-match with a Code A spot on the line. Fjant was the key performer for the streamer-backed squad, with his 1-1 tie against Creator being the result that pushed Club NV to the brink of elimination. Unfortunately, Fjant couldn’t make another miracle happen in the ace match, as DRG closed the series out. Still, it was a laudable showing from Team Rotti, and a concerning one for Club NV going forward.

REDPack Esports was another team that had to play a series of closely contested matches. Aftering narrowly getting by team 3D in the first round thanks to an ace-match win from BabyMarine (also helped by a no-show from 3D’s Bee), the Romanian squad was once again forced to play all seven maps against Team Gosu in the qualifier match. The first three series all went 1-1, leaving BabyMarine to face off against MeomaikA in a tense ace match. Unfortunately for the Italian Terran, he couldn’t clutch things out this time around, and Team Gosu ended up taking the victory.

Things weren’t quite as dramatic for OFFSYDE Esports, “HyperBurg,” Berserker, and Platinum Esports, who also advanced to Code A.

One final shoutout goes to PcEc, as the team of Chinese amateurs beat BingBong Exports in the first round and had a surprisingly strong showing against Platinum Esports in the decider match. Little known player 南忧 (Nanyou) tied Vindicta 1-1 while Misaki also took a 1-1 against ART, which meant Platinum Esports needed a 2-0 from the unheralded Boanaan to secure advancement.

WTL Code A Preview

Match days: April 8-15,

12:00 GMT (+00:00)

Top three teams qualify for WTL Code S

Code A usually consists of two relegated teams from the previous season of Code S and six teams coming from the qualifiers, but this season was slightly complicated by Freecs (11th place in the previous Code S) forfeiting their Code A spot. Rather than pull a seventh team from the qualifier, the decision was made to instead replace the Freecs with the 4th place finisher from the last Code A tournament, Twisted Minds.

Or, as they’re called now, the Twisted Fairies. The Saudi team has entered a partnership with one of last season’s surprise overperformers, and also signed some new players to make them a strong favorite to advance from Code A.

Here’s a look at the first round matches:

Starving Camels/瘦死骆驼 (SSLT) vs Berserker eSports
TooDming Post-Youth > GungFuBanDa
Silky Dynasty > DnS
Espoir Site Delta > BattleB
Ace: Aclyone >

Ever since Firefly left the Starving Camels for Platinum Heroes last year, the Starving Camels have been a shadow of the plucky underdog squad they used to be. Things got even worse once Cyan followed Firefly out the door, so it will be a hard ask for this depleted SSLT team to beat a much more well-rounded and deep Berserker eSports.

A line-up of BattleB, DnS, and Mixu made short work for GdA in the qualifier, and Berserker are flexing their depth by swapping Mixu for GungFuBanDa to avoid the variability of ZvZ against the all-Zerg SSLT. Expect Berserker to continue using their depth this way, avoiding mirrors when they’re the favorites and opting into coinflips when they’re the underdogs.

Match Prediction: Berserker eSports 5 – 1 SSLT

Final Placement Prediction:
Berserker esport – Lower bracket final and Code S qualification.
SSLT – First round lower bracket exit

Club NV vs Team Gosu
DRG Post-Youth > MeomaikA
HHQuanTa Dynasty > Reaper
Creator Site Delta > Goomba
Ace: Aclyone >

Both NV and Gosu had to battle hard to get out of the qualifier, which doesn’t bode well in Code A where the competition will be even tougher. Club NV are the much bigger name in this bout, but you can smell the upset potential here. MeomaikA vs DRG could easily be a 1-1, and maybe even a 2-0 for MeomaikA if everything goes right. Also, HHQuanTa wasn’t all that convincing in the qualifier, so it’s critical that Creator take his 2-0 without any issues.

Match Prediction: Club NV 4 – 2 Team Gosu

Final Placement Prediction:
Club NV – 2nd Place and Code S qualification
Team Gosu – Second round lower bracket exit

Twisted Fairies vs HyperBurg
Classic Post-Youth > threepoint
Nice Dynasty > ForJumy
Stats Site Delta > SpeCial
Ace: Aclyone >

Twisted Minds took advantage of the new loan rules introduced to the WTL to form a coalition with Little Fairy, creating the amusingly named “Twisted Fairies.” But coalition aside, the bigger news is that they’ve added Stats and Nice to the roster (though there’s no official announcement as of yet), which gives them a Code S-worthy starting line-up of Stats-Classic-Nice. With no GSL scheduling issues to get in the way, the Fairies will be able to play their best line-up all the way through, making them the favorite against every other team in Code A.

Match Prediction: Twisted Fairies 5 – 1 HyperBurg
Final Placement Prediction:
Twisted Fairies – Code A champion and Code S qualification
HyperBurg – First-round loser bracket exit

OFFSYDE Esports vs Platinum Esports
uThermal Post-Youth > Vindicta
Rex Dynasty > ART
Firefly Site Delta > Iba
Ace: Aclyone >

The battle between the two spinoff teams from established Code S teams promises to be quite entertaining. uThermal played random in the qualifiers, and if he continues to do so here, his match-up luck will prove to be critical as he faces off against Vindicta. Still, with Rex and Firefly looking like favorites in the other two match-ups, OFFSYDE might be able to withstand some unlucky rolls of the dice for the Dutch Terran/Zerg/Protoss.

Match Prediction: OFFSYDE Esports 4 – 2 Platinum Esports
Final Placement Prediction:
OFFSYDE Esports – Third round lower bracket exit
Platinum Esports – Second round lower bracket exit