WTL 2024 Summer – Qualifier Preview + GOAT List

by: Nakajin

No, your eyes do not betray you. It’s everyone’s (but mostly my) favorite time of the year. The WTL Code A qualifiers are upon us once again!

Belonging to the illustrious ‘qualifier to a qualifier’ category of tournaments, the Code A qualifier has given us classic matches such as GA vs PTB&TNL, LTK vs CSO, and this season, RPEa vs FBEe.V.X.HO.

As we prepare to write another unforgettable chapter in StarCraft II history, one question animates the forums day and night: Which are the Greatest WTL Summer 2024 Code A Qualifier teams of ALL TIME?

• Match times: April 3-5, 11:00 GMT (+00:00)
• Six teams qualify for WTL Code A.
• Three teams from WTL Code A qualify for Code S.

The Greatest World Team League 2024 Summer Code A Qualifier Teams of All Time

No reputable TL list would be complete without a robust methodology ensuring the ranking is undebatable and uncontroversial. As such, I have developed a highly scientific way to rank the greatest WTL 2024 Summer qualifier teams OF ALL TIME, relying on 3 pillars:

1. Vague knowledge of roster members’ existence
2. Browsing Aligulac and Liquipedia, but not too meticulously.
3. Personal whims

Let us begin!

Unranked: Teams that recently signed SC2 players for the sake of the Esports World Cup

In a shocking turn of events, neither Talon, Cloud 9, Team Falcon, Gaimin Gladiator, nor Na’vi have picked up additional players in order to participate in the WTL. The only reasonable explanation is that they were too intimidated by the hallowed reputation of the WTL to dare set a foot forth in the competition. While this display of respect and humility is appreciated, this unfortunately disqualifies these teams from the GOAT list.

#15: REDPack Academy

Players: Abathoor, Matthew, Xung

• Roster has two of the top ten Romanian players according to Aligulac.com (the top ten has seven players in it)
• Have figured out the WTL sign-up procedure
• Are an ‘’Academy’’ – That sounds serious!

Hailing from wonderful Romania (and so-so Germany), REDPack Academy makes their first appearance in the WTL qualifier alongside their parent team. While none of the players have a Liquipedia page, their participation sent me on an internet dive into the surprisingly robust Romanian scene. I was tempted to place a short “Greatest Obscure Regional Scenes of All Times” list here, but that would probably have sent me down an infinite spiral of GOATception.

The Tools: REDPack Academy’s greatest asset is undoubtedly their vampiric powers, which they have already used to hypnotize SCboy into seeding them one match away from Code A qualification.

The Numbers: With 24 wins, Matthew ranks as the seventh winningest Matthew of all time.

The Placement: While Abathoor and Matthew have proven themselves in the brutal Romano-Moldavian circuit, Xung has only ever played in EPT Europe—an inconsequential tournament I won’t be considering for the sake of this ranking. With Xung weighing the roster down like that, I can’t conscionably place REDPack Academy any higher.

The Games: + Show Spoiler +

#14: GdA-Team

Players: Deca, Damrud, MonstR, YellowFox, Bubbas, Bingoking, Fiened, NOOBER

• Once won a map in a 2022 WTL qualifier
• Players have competed in the Dutch national team league, the Russian national team league, and the French national team league

GdA can instantly improve on their last WTL ‘appearance’ by actually showing up to play—they previously forfeited in the 2023 Summer qualifier. Alas, even that might be a hard goal to achieve as most of their players are marked as inactive on Aligulac. Deca looks to be their best hope to take a few map wins, with the French veteran having taken series off of Ashbringer, Ziomek, and Disk in the last year.

The Tools: Maybe GdA’s opponents will be so confused by what their logo is supposed to represent that it will affect their in-game play?

The Numbers: With a 7.7% win-rate in the WTL qualifiers, GdA has vastly overperformed teams such as Incredible Miracle, SlayerS, and Evil Geniuses in the same competition.

The Placement: GdA ranks above the REDPack Academy because I remember some of their players from my previous WTL qualifier articles.

The Games: Here’s the highlight of the last time GdA signed up for the WTL qualifiers
+ Show Spoiler +

#13: PcEc

Players: Jim, LeeLee, Misaki, XingMing, Yryf, 千年之狐, 南忧

• Top 3 MS paint logo:
• Top 2 in the last season of the SC2 Amateur Team League
• Top 1 in the WTL 2024 Summer Season Random Chinese Team Power Rank

In a departure from previous seasons, our first qualifier of 2024 only has two all-Chinese teams, and of the two PcEc are clearly the most Chinese. I’ve long accepted that I don’t have the brain power or patience to make heads or tails of the 15 different team leagues, weeklies, weekenders, and exhibitions that are run concurrently in China, but PcEc have players with much experience in them. Also, they have Jim! I know Jim!

The Tools: With years of experience on iG, Jim will be able to give top-tier psychological care to the rest of the team after they lose

The Numbers: PcEc and Team Grass are the 19th-20th majority Chinese team to enter the WTL qualifier since the creation of Code A. None of them have made it to Code S so far.

The Placement: IDK, feels about right.

The Games: Wanna see Voldemort get bopped by Jim?
+ Show Spoiler +

#12: 3D!Clan

Players: Bee, Couguar, Astra, GgMachine, DefMars, LightWeight, kyuub1, jimmymicro,

• Probably the best team if this was Age of Empire 4
• So 90’s emo that 3D! stands for ‘’Danger Destruction Death’’

The venerable 3D!Clan is at it once again. As one of the oldest online clans in gaming, the Russian team isn’t exactly a powerhouse at the moment. However, they were active since the Brood War days, so they get extra points for competing during the highest skill era.

The Tools: GGmachine, Naji, and Bee seem to be 3D!’s most active players at the moment, but Couguar could also contribute if he happens to show up.

The numbers: With eleven consecutive wins, Couguar is tied with Hellraiser for the longest win-streak in the King of CIS series of tournaments.

The Placement: Honestly, at this range of the rankings, it’s pretty flexible depending on who wants to paypal TL.net $5.

The Games: + Show Spoiler +

#11: Fairy Thugs

Players: Eiger, KarmaPrime, LiarisFreese, Number, Vaisravana, 寂寞杀手

• Kicked Classic’s butt in last season’s qualifier
• Most street cred in SC2

The Fairy Thugs pulled off the biggest upset of the last WTL qualifier (playing under the team name of “Little Fairy”), beating the Classic-led Twisted Minds and sending them to the losers bracket. “If you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em” seems to have been the thinking of Twisted Minds’ management, as they promptly acquired Little Fairy’s BreakingGG, DyyS, Mokou, Psycho, and Shameless on loan. While Coffee and ForJumy also departed the team for other reasons, the original Fairies aren’t backing down. Rebranded as the Fairy Thugs, they are ready for another mugging in the WTL qualifier.

The Tools: While Liquipedia is giving me opposite signals, the team may have signed Nice a couple of weeks ago? If so, then yeah, they’ll play him.

The Numbers: Eiger finished top 4 in a recent Irish+British region cup with 32 players. That’s an impressive stat, since it means there are at least 32 people from the British Isles who know about StarCraft 2 and haven’t been converted to broadcast talent by ESL.

The Placement: Sure, they may have lost all their players, but who cares? F*ck everyone, the street remembers

The Games: + Show Spoiler +

#10: Team Rotti

Players: Arrogfire, Fjant, HiGhDrA, sebesdes

• Have the best sponsor in the world
• Managed to give XY an ace match victory last season

The ever-evolving team Rotti has found two recruits for their 2024 class: Arrogfire and Sebesdes. The 16-year-old protoss Frenchman is especially promising, having already played in WTL Code S for Matcherino last season (3-5 record including a tie against WTL god Ryung). Drawing Club NV in their bracket means a repeat Code A appearance is unlikely, but you never know!

The Tools: Unlike some of the teams in this ranking, I’m pretty sure Highdra, Arrogfire, Fjant, and Sebesdes are all active at the moment so they could all actually play. Arrogfire is the sole member with a career win-rate above 50% according to Aligulac, so he’s the team’s ace on paper. But honestly, they’re probably all around the same level.

The Numbers: Fjant and Arrogfire’s combined age is still less than Jaedong. DO YOU FEEL OLD NOW?

The Placement: Team Rotti’s roster is very young, which means its players have few historical accomplishments compared to the other players in the qualifier. However, if we narrow the sample range to start last Tuesday 15:34 UTC +5 and end at whenever you’re reading this, it’s clear that they compare pretty favorably to everyone else.

The Games: + Show Spoiler +

#9: Bing Bong Exports

Players: Acheron, Anticore, Azura, Holden, Mag, Nisho, Shiny, Spazymazy
Bing Bong Exports (no, it’s not a typo of “esports”) sent me into minor depression last season when Anticore tied soO, an early sign that the Freecs were very much not on track to turn back the clock 5 years. While their WTL qualifier run was short-lived, BBEx have had decent success in other team leagues, including Koprulu league (a very active community team league series) where they recently managed to beat Psistorm Gaming 4-0. That makes them a massive favorite for this qualifier as long as you don’t look at who was playing for PSISTORM.

The Tools: Bing Bong Export players have a 75% win rate in the Basilisk Big Brain Bouts, proving the letter B is the secret to their success. Their petition to rename the WTL into the Biosphere Battles Bonanza is still pending, though.

The Numbers: Did you know you can write Acheron, Anticore, Azura, and Holden’s names using only 13 of 26 English alphabet letters?

The Placement: I forgot about them when I did my first draft and had to slot them in somewhere.

The Games: This one’s just for Azura + Show Spoiler +

#8: 草苔班子 aka Team Grass

Players: Doll, Sarutobi, Sayo

• Have organized six seasons of WTL
• Would beat the s*** out of Team Water if they participated

Team Grass fields three behind-the-scenes actors of the WTL, with Doll and Sarutobi being admins and Sayo being the dedicated WTL observer. You might not know them, but they’re the people helping us enjoy the best team league fun this side of Proleague. But are they any good at actually playing the game?

The Tools: Team Grass’s most potent tool is without a doubt, “herbivore vision.” Like a deer or rhinoceros, Sayo has eyes positioned on either side of his head, giving him optimal peripheral vision to elude predators. This has the added benefit of making him the only person alive who can follow the action of a StarCraft II game while looking away from the screen. This superhuman ability has baffled the foreign casters of the WTL for years, but Sayo himself is seeing dimensions of the game that are inaccessible to anyone else.

The Numbers: Only counting regular season matches, these guys have helped organize 396 WTL matches so far. All of which I’ve watched, a somewhat surreal thought.

The Placement: While Team Grass are undoubtedly worthy of the GOAT title for the tireless work they have put into the league, I’m penalizing them for failing to conquer global logistics and allow free overnight shipping of WTL giftboxes.

The Games: How Sayo plays Starcraft
+ Show Spoiler +

#7: Team Gosu

Players: Meomaika, Maplez, Reaper, Binski, Goomba, JmaC, Larry, NAchobo, Rocker, ScrubbleS

• Made it in the top half of this ranking despite the massive disadvantage of being from NA

Not to be confused with It’s Gosu or the Gosu Crew, Team Gosu is entering the WTL qualifiers for the third time. They have had some success in the past, coming one match away from qualification in the 2023 Summer Season. That all-time-great run was achieved by beating the Cuku-lead Team Rotti. A rematch against the Romanian copil-minune seems likely as they have been put in the same bracket as REDPack.

The Tools: Like any successful North American company, Team Gosu has outsourced much of its core labor overseas. However, the WTL’s anti-free market practices mean Team Gosu won’t be able to pursue the profit-maximizing strategy of having MeomaikA play every single match, and must rely on Maplez and Reaper to contribute as well. Expect this to be a key debate point in the next round of World Trade Organization negotiations.

The Numbers: If you include Team Gosu’s previous incarnation of License to Kill, Rhizer, Reaper, and Maplez have joined, left, and rejoined the team a combined 14 times.

The Placement: They have a pretty good shot at qualifying, honestly.

The Games: + Show Spoiler +

#6: REDPack Esports

Players: BabyMarine, CuKu, Rom

• Have outgrown Team Rotti
• Best team with “REDPack” in its name
• Fielding the second-greatest brother of a European Zerg world champion

Cuku and BabyMarine have suffered some heartbreaks in previous attempts to get to Code S under other banners, and now they’ll give it another shot with REDPack (BabyMarine was technically in Code S last season, but never was fielded). With veteran Zerg Rom as the third option and a fairly easy bracket, qualifying to Code A feels realistic.

The Tools: They may have left Team Rotti, but they still possess all the wisdom Rotti passed down to them.

The Numbers: The 7-5 all-time WTL record of BabyMarine puts him at a 58%-win rate, which you will notice is higher than 50/50.

The Games: + Show Spoiler +

#5: Platinum Esports

Players: Vindicta, Roszyn, Iba, Aristori, ART, HateMe, eGGz, AaRaSs, Boanaan, Snoxtar

• Have Miguel “The Mighty Duckling” Marmolejo on the roster
• Could realistically own the bottom two Code S spots in a couple of months

Platinum Esports consists mostly of players who previously belonged to the Platinum Heroes’ second division team (the Platinum Vultures), which now seems to have been spun off into its own “sister team.” Regardless of the official name, this is a deep squad of players that have solid upside potential. Vindicta, Roszyn, and HateMe all bring WTL Code S experience, while 15-year-old Iba could be a wildcard.

The Tools: Platinum Esport is fielding the protoss player ART, not to be confused with the Platinum Heroes Protoss player ArT. This makes me think that Platinum Esports should have just called themselves Platinum herOes instead.

The Numbers: From the Liquipedia trivia section: “[Snoxtar] won the “Bonus for a random player” Award three times in a row in the PassionCraft Sunday Showdown series (Cups #11, #12 and #13), a feat that, considering the average number of participants per cup, has a chance to occur approximately once every 13.7 years.”

The Games: Platinum Eagle’s little brother on route to code S
+ Show Spoiler +

#4: Berserker eSports

Players: BattleB, Dimaga, DnS, Foxer, GunGFuBanDa, Mixu, PAPI, Spatz, TeebuL

• Qualified to Code S last season by going 1-3 in Code A (yeah… it was a weird season)
• Would be super good if WTL was 8vs8

After suffering Code S relegation last season, Berserker has made some significant off-season additions by signing DnS and GungFuBanDa. While this might make the manager’s job harder by having even more depth to manage, I suppose it’s never bad to have more options. Qualification should be a formality for a roster of this quality, but Code A itself could be tricky depending on the bracket draw.

The Tools: Like a Fisher Price tool kit, Berserker has plenty of tools adapted to pretty much every match-up and every scenario. However, none of them are the absolute best fit.

The Numbers: Berserker won the ‘’we’re not the worst team’’ race in the previous season of Code S, finishing 1 map ahead of iG.

The Placement: Jokes aside, it’s a really nice European team that Berserker has put together.

The Games: Tutorial on Dimaga WTL ZvP strategy:
+ Show Spoiler +

#3: Freiburg eSports e.V. x Team HyperONE

Players: SpeCial, ForJumy, GogojOey, StephenCurry, threepoint, HonMonO, LeoRusher, Michnek, Scandicain.

• Greatest Worst Team Name of All Time
• Have 3 Korean players who could all realistically get benched

Will the esports world ever be the same now that legendary clubs Team HyperOne and Freiburg eSports e.V. have joined forces? “HyperBurg” seems to be the unofficial portmanteau for the two-team alliance right now, which is disappointing since “Team Esports” was right there for the taking.

In any case, HyperBurg sees SpeCial rejoin the WTL fold, with ForJumy serving as a capable second option at the qualifie level. If the rest of the players can put up a reasonable collective performance as the third option, then Code A should be within reach.

The Tools: The biggest tool from Freiburg is, without a doubt, Friedrich Hayek.

The Numbers: Fun fact: SpeCial is 349-26 in matches against LATAM players not named Kelazhur. This fact is only for fun, because there’s only a single other LATAM player in the qualifier (eGGz).

The Placement: Look, they need to win four maps against the REDPack B-team to qualify; if they can’t do that they should have given their WTL spot to a team with a funnier name.

The Games: StephenCurry for three!
+ Show Spoiler +

#2: Club NV

Players: Creator, DRG, HHQuanTa, Mondo

• Left and rejoined WTL for unknown reasons
• Creator and DRG have the best historical results of anyone in the qualifier
• It would be funny if they qualified for Code S and randomly disbanded/quit AGAIN

The WTL champion incarnation of Team NV may be gone, but its legacy lives on through ABYDOS and now Club NV. It’s a bit confusing since it previously seemed like “Club NV” was formed specifically because NV no longer wanted to be a competitive organization, but I’ll avoid delving any deeper into the incomprehensible NV lore lest it drive me to madness.

With Creator and DRG remaining on the roster, Club NV has one of the qualifier’s most impressive line-ups. Both have been strong rotation players in previous seasons of WTL Code S, and have also put in some clutch performances in the playoffs. Their recent form in individual competition hasn’t been great, but they’re still good enough to give Club NV a good shot at regaining Code S status.

The Tools: It’s pretty clear that NV will be relying heavily on Creator and DRG, but there’s room for Mondo or Quanta to contribute in the qualifiers.

The Numbers: DRG is the only player in the qualifiers to have competed in GSTL, IPL Team Arena, Acer TeamStory Cup, Proleague, AND the WTL. That’s cool, I guess.

The Placement: Since they are essentially a B-squad of Maru’s former team, they are only twice removed from the #1 GOAT. Second place seems fair?

The Games: I’m just gonna leave this here in case Creator gets bopped by Arrogfire + Show Spoiler +

#1: OFFSYDE Esports ft. uThermal

Players: Firefly, Rex, uThermal

• Best YouTube thumbnail maker skills
• Best WTL team mascot in Rex

uThermal, Rex, and Firefly are now a WTL team. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more random line-up, and I. Like. it. So. Much.

Between uThermal, whom I fully expect to use this as an opportunity to make the clickbaitiest YouTube thumbnails possible, caster-player Rex, who’s somehow been carried by BOTH ONSYDE and Jin Air in his WTL career, and FireFly, the cult hero/fan-favorite of the WTL, OFFSYDE Gaming is the embodiment of why the WTL qualifiers are weird in the best possible way.

Praise be Crank, doing God’s work once again.

The Tools: Thor rushes, sentry all-in, and corruptor-queens are just a few of the tools at the disposal of uThermal.

The Numbers: The only team with a 100% chance of having all their matches posted on YouTube with a player’s face and a giant arrow in the thumbnail.

The Placement: Sure, some teams may be better, some may have prepared their lineup with more care, and that’s all good for Code S. But if we have to crown the 2024 WTL Qualifier GOAT team, no one can match this level of delightful clownery. Also, as the ONSYDE/Vitality B-team, they are only once removed from Maru so I’m obligated to deem them the 2024 WTL Summer Code A Qualifier GOATs.

The Games: The last time Rex got a double-kill in a team league match
+ Show Spoiler +

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• Source: https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/623276-wtl-2024-summer-qualifier-preview-goat-list