Fratricide: Looking towards a teamkill

Teamkills are a famous occupational hazard of playing for Team Liquid. Without bragging too much, when you have seven players who have all counted themselves among the world's best, it's sometimes impossible for them to avoid each other. Sometimes, for example, you have three players all in the top four. And that's the best possible scenario; that's when everything works out and it's only Liquid players remaining and teamkills are the only way to hash it all out. Much more often, the luck of the draw consigns Liquid players to knock each other out in earlier rounds, or in the same group. It's annoying for any fan of the team, and weighs on team cohesion. But what can you do?

Long before the WCS match-ups were announced, it was clear there was a chance of a teamkill. With five players qualifying for a Challenger series that would seem them sorted into fourteen match-ups, it was always possible, even if not likely. But with the way things shook out, it was clear; and on the final day when TLO qualified, we already knew a teamkill would occur in some way or another. So it has panned out, with TLO taking on Ret, on the second day of matches.



How to prepare for a teamkill? How to think about a teamkill? These are problems the Liquid team has usually encountered in the context of a LAN weekend, where the situation arises regrettably and unexpectedly. There's nothing to do but play it out and cheer for the victor. But in WCS Challenger, both Ret and TLO have had days to prepare, and the stakes are high. The winner moves to Premier and a guaranteed $4500, while the loser takes home only $2000 and must re-qualify the following season.

As unfortunate as the situation is, it is inescapable, and both TL zergs have put their heads down and gone to work. For Ret, the match is a chance to show the results of hard practice and a resurgence in form. "The truth is I want to win," he told me. "So I don't care at all who I'm playing."

But it clearly preys on his mind. When pressed to say more, Ret demurred. " I'd like to think less about playing TLO and more about just playing another zerg," he said. "So I feel if I have to analyze how I feel about playing TLO, it doesn't help!"

True to form, TLO was a bit more candid about confronting the moral complexities of the teamkill. "Well when I play a teammate I try to see it positively, because it means one of us is guaranteed to advance," he said. "But I'll make sure that it's me. You can't show any mercy just cause you play a friend of yours. My teammates are my allies until the moment that I have to play against them."

When Ret and TLO play on Friday, it's impossible to know what to expect. Both are skilled, veteran players. In the fifth qualifier, Ret took a 2-0 win, but that's just one data point from many. Ret amassed an 8-7 ZvZ record in the qualifiers and took half of the six series he played in that match-up. Meanwhile, TLO achieved a 18-12 ZvZ record and won eight of eleven mirror matches. Which is a more meaningful predictive statistic, the head to head or the overall record? Maybe their prowess at ping pong?



Perhaps it's not worth much to guess at all. As TLO reminded me, nothing is certain. "You approach teamkills differently cause you know your teammates really well," he said. "There is a lot of meta gaming going on. Either it becomes super gimmicky or instead it's a show of pure mechanics."

Whichever it is, it's unfair to take any side. As always, TL will remain neutral, all the while celebrating the great play of the players. Ideal scenario? A 3-2 series in which both players show the very best of their skill and strategy. The winner takes full advantage of their premier placement, while the loser immediately re-qualifies for next season's WCS...where they don't get a teamkill. No matter what occurs, after the match we'll all be back on the same page, cheering for that.

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