The first Super Tournament of the ESL Pro Tour 2022/23, AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 1 is starting next week. IEM Katowice is happening next month so ESL Pro Tour 2021/22 still isn’t over, but GSL ST 1 will take us to the next pro circuit already. Let’s find out what’s happening there.
The qualifiers for the event were played this week on January 10. Sixteen players made it to the main event, where they will play in a single-elimination bracket. After three BO5 rounds, the grand finals will be played in BO7 and the first Super Tournament winner of 2022 will be decided. You can find our evaluations of some participants below. You will also be able to keep track of this event, watch the games and place your bets at Luckbox.
The participants of 2022 AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 1
As mentioned earlier, 16 Korean players will be participating in this tournament sponsored by AfreecaTV. Rogue, who won the last Super Tournament of 2021 made it to the main event through qualifiers along with Maru.
While those two could easily be considered as the favourites of this tournament, they will have strong opposition here. GSL Season 3 winner Cure will be fighting for the prize. His teammate herO will probably want to do better than quarterfinals this time around.
Solar, who upset some strong players at the 2021 GSL ST 3 but lost against Maru in the semifinals, will be participating here once again. His surprising success made the previous event so much more enjoyable, and I’m hoping to see such a performance from him once again. It’s always great to see old names in the scene leaving such effects at more recent events.
Classic, Creator, Trap, Zest and Zoun are the other five Protoss players in the event. Creator hasn’t been lucky with events lately, just like Zest who got second place at IEM Katowice 2021 and couldn’t break that curse ever since and Zoun who had two second places at two GSL Super Tournaments last year. Maybe it’s time for them to make the breakout.
Trap on the other hand won the first two Super Tournaments of 2021 and had great results all year long. He is definitely one of the strong players here.
Bunny, ByuN, Dream, GuMiho, Armani and Dark are also present at 2022 GSL Super Tournament 1. Other than two top fours, 2021 wasn’t a great year for Bunny, as it wasn’t for ByuN who struggled to get good placements. Dream, GuMiho and Armani are no different, although they qualify for events, they weren’t able to outperform iconic players like Maru.
Dark, the last player, has been a pain for them though. Although his only championship was GSL Season 2, Dark was placed high before every event, and even at events he left early, he made sure that his enemies gave him enough credit. He will also look at 2022 as a year to make the breakout he needs after two years, and he has the skills and the career to make that happen.
Prize pool and schedule at 2022 GSL ST 1
The winner of 2022 AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 1 will get $10,000 in cash, aside from ESL Pro Tour points and/or slots in other tournaments that aren’t disclosed right now. As more information about ESL Pro Tour gets public, we will know more about that. The total prize pool is $30,500, and that is a good one for StarCraft II tournaments.
Event will start on January 17, Monday. Look at the matches and the dates below.
January 17
Zest vs Classic - 09.00
Rogue vs Bunny - 10.30
Maru vs Armani - 12.00
Hero vs Trap - 13.30
January 20
Dream vs ByuN - 09.00
Dark vs GuMiho - 10.30
Solar vs Creator - 12.00
Cure vs Zoun - 13.30
You can watch esports games and place your bets on Luckbox.
