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Swedish born Faton 'LaLuSh' Rekathati made waves in our second qualification tournament.  The vocal Zerg player decided on a couple different occasions that he wanted to chime in with more than your usual "glhf" and "gg" when he felt a match hadn't gone his way.  In a series with the universally beloved and admired WhiteRa, LaLuSh and the Ukrainian Protoss had two separate exchanges.  In game two, after losing, LaLush had this conversation with his opponent:

Lalush: I want to something bad words to you

Lalush: Good idea to say?

WhiteRa: omg dont say

WhiteRa: say Blizzard

Lalush: *&^% you David Kim!

Lalush: then gg

Then in game three, after LaLuSh won and closed the series, WhiteRa responded:

White-Ra: You not cry anymore

LaLuSh: Curse at David Kim

WhiteRa: You very BM

WhiteRa: not write me more about balance

WhiteRa: or next time I kick you &%&//!

WhiteRa: gg

I think it's entirely possible that this may have been the first time that WhiteRa, the poster child for good manner, has ever been provoked into threatening someone over a game of Starcraft.  As if that wasn't enough, LaLuSh decided to leave BratOK with some parting words after the Russian Terran won their series.  LaLuSh noted, "I will watch this replay and laugh" just before leaving the game.  Very salty, indeed.

All that said, let's see what it took for this talented Zerg player to qualify:

First round he had a bye.

Second round he beat Kwest, a Masters Zerg player.

Third round he beat he beat RangeD, an up and coming Protoss player who played for Lazarus Gaming before their split.

Fourth round he beat Nadagast, a Terran player who used to play professional World of Warcraft.

Fifth round he beat WhiteRa, who might be the best foreign Protoss player.

Sixth round he beat DarkForCe, one of Europe's better Zerg players.

Seventh round he lost to BratOK.

Fantastic showing, I must say.  The fact that he was outspoken throughout the event certainly means he'll be one of the players I'll pay most attention as our main event rolls around.

It's difficult to put your finger on Carlo 'ClouD' Giannocco.  The Italian Terran will slam out really impressive wins against the world's best, and then follow it up with very average results for the next month.  He's constantly on the verge of becoming everybody's new favorite player, but he lacks the consistency to really make his accomplishments stick.

The second season of the IGN Pro League gives Cloud another chance to prove to the North American audience that he's got what it takes to win our hearts.  With a mediocre performance in the North American Star League fresh in his mind I'm certain that the drive to succeed is there, but I'm curious as to whether or not that gusto will translate into results.  He'll again be facing opponents of world class caliber when our second season's main event rolls around; he'll need to topple giant after giant to win.  A sick series or two won't cut it if he's looking to go far.

Here's what our friend Cloud had to go through to qualify:

First round he had a bye.

Second round he beat EVODeemo, a high-level Master Terran.

Third round he beat tQyrUseCC, a high-level Master Terran.  Try saying that username three times fast.

Fourth round he beat tGensulitor, a high-level Master Terran.

Fifth round he beat SCDPride, the most notorious SCV pulling Terran this side of the Atlantic.

Sixth round he beat NrGMalice, a Grandmaster Zerg.

Seventh round he had a bye over Strelok, who due to scheduling issues couldn't make their game.

Eighth round he lost to Merz, a strong European Terran.

Great showing all and all, but he had two freebies.  I'll be watching ClouD with a notepad and pen in hand as his main event games play out, because I really am lost as to where I should be trying to place him in my mental hierarchy of players.

One in every three Swedes born will become professional gamers; Tim 'Merz' Olsson falls in that magic thirty-three percent.  Though he's not exactly a household name here in North America, he's a player I'm expecting to see good things from in the second season of the IGN Pro League.  He's a beastly Terran who has earned quite the reputation for himself in the weekly European Cup circuit, and his trophy case is peppered with a fewer larger wins as well.

He's no stranger to ESL Cup wins, Craft Cup wins, and he even walked out of the BYOC qualifiers and into the main event at Dream Hack Winter.  His bracket in our second qualifying tournament wasn't something to scoff at either; let's look at who he went through to get into our main event:

In the first round he beat xDxRayzrwulf, a Masters Zerg player.

In the second round he beat iPBioOrMech, a high-level Master Zerg.

In the third round he beat xiWarden, a Grandmaster Terran.

In the fourth round he beat BTS, a Masters Protoss.

In the fifth round he beat Ryze, a Granmaster Zerg from the North American team Complexity.

In the sixth round he beat GoOdy, a famous, factory-loving Terran from Germany.

In the seventh round he beat Fury, a stellar European Terran.

In the eighth round he beat ClouD, an Italian Terran that Artosis ushered into my MYM.

In the ninth round he lost to BratOK, Russia's most notable Starcraft player.

He walked away with the second seed from our second qualifier.  If that doesn't deserve a round of applause, I don't know what does.

IGN eSports is proud to present IPL TV! Each weekday we will be airing scheduled broadcasts of some never before seen games from the IGN Pro League Season 2 qualifiers, interviews with players and casters that are participating in the IPL, as well as video blogs from around the IGN eSports offices!

Our overall goal for IPL TV is to provide high quality, exciting and varied content for fans of StarCraft 2 and eSports in general.  We have a lot of programs that are in development that we cannot reveal yet, but they will be adding depth and interest to the current lineup, so keep watching every day and check back often!

Here are the programs that are in our current lineup:

Match Videos

We will be opening each day with a brand new match from our qualifiers, cast by our in-house casters - CatsPajamas, HDStarCraft and/or PainUser!  We will also be closing out each day with a match that has already been uploaded to our site but we feel is really exciting and interesting.  All of these games feature players who are some of the top players in the world as they fought to qualify for IPL 2.

Inside IGN Vlogs

These are short pieces about the experiences of the cast and crew of IGN.  We focus on a different person each time and follow them around the office, checking out how they do what they do, and do a quick interview with them.  It’s basically a short glimpse into IGN eSports through different people.

Ask IGN eSports Anything

This is a show where we take any questions from users from facebook, twitter and email for the staff of IGN eSports.  We then do a show with our casters who will be responding to the questions and talking about things related to the discussion.

IPL Interviews

We recently had the opportunity to do a bunch of high production quality interviews with players and managers who participated in IPL 1 and who will be participating in IPL 2.  The interviews were conducted by our casters and they revolve around the player’s and manager’s impressions of the IPL, their reactions to IPL 1 and their hopes for IPL 2.

We hope you tune in tomorrow at 5 PM PDT for the first broadcast of IGN TV and please let us know your thoughts after the broadcast is over!

Since 1995 the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has been annual convention that gamers look forward to most.  The magic that comes out of the Los Angeles Convention Center during an E3 never ceases to impress and inspire.  For fans of video games, both young and old, it is a chance to see what's on the horizon; E3 always keeps us posted on what games to buy,  on what consoles to look forward to, and on what innovations in electronic entertainment are on the way.

IGN eSports decided there would be no better venue than E3 to share the love for competitive gaming with gamers that might not be aware of our growing scene.  IGN eSports understands we're a community within a community, and with that in mind we hit the pavement where like-minded people could be found.

CatZ and Drewbie were sent down to Los Angeles for E3 to head up a "Coach versus Coach" show match series at an eatery a block away from the convention center.  For the event, CatZ and Drewbie would each pick a fan from the crowd and then coach their pick to victory or to defeat.  The contestant that had the best showing walked away with a $250 giftcard to Gamestop, courtesy of IGN eSports.

CatZ and Drewbie had a blast at the event, meeting other gamers, and it would seem as if the sentiment was shared by those who participated.  The gentleman who won the $250 Gamestop giftcard posted a small blog about his experience over on Wellplayed.org.  In the blog our winner, Digitalnomad, wrote that, "Drewbie’s coaching was awesome and I feel like I really learned a lot of cool things. He helped me out in every situation and I ended up winning. I highly recommend Drewbie for coaching. He and Catz seemed like really cool guys and kudos to IGN for putting this awesome thing together."

IGN eSports looks forward to being able to do more things like this in the future.  The team was very excited to get out and into the community, and hopefully it isn't too long before the chance to do something similar again occurs.  Please keep your eyes peeled to see if IGN eSports might be putting something together at an event near you down the road.

To read Digitnalnomad's full blog post, please click here.

Terran versus Terran is easily my favorite mirror.  The fact that there are countless viable openings that a player can do insures that we're always in store for entertaining games.  In this match, Merz opens with a reactor fast expand while his opponent opens with a siege-tank timing off one base.  If Merz can hold off the timing with his smaller army he'll be extremely far ahead because of his economic build, but if Fury can set himself in a good position he'll score a quick win in the first game of this series.  It will all come down to positioning and patience.

After four weeks of qualifying events, we've finally got our thirty-two players for the IGN Pro League's second season main event.  We've already seen our fair-share of fantastic games, and with each and every competitor in our league being of world-class caliber you can certainly expect even better matches come July.

We've got the round of thirty-two matches drawn up, and I have to say that they are there are some games worth calling in sick for.

IdrA v. Drewbie

What a way to open up the IPL 2, as this will be a series worth watching.  IdrA is, unarguably, one of the best foreigners in the world, and he has a bit of history with Drewbie.  Drewbie, a IPL1 invite, was bested by IdrA in our previous tournament in a decisive fashion; you might recall the game where IdrA neural parasites every single Thor that Drewbie had.  Watching your own army kill itself has to be brutal, so expect that potential series to be a grudge-match.

Minigun v.  Diestar

There isn't nearly as much back story to this match as there was to the previous one.  Both players are strong, so you can expect quality matches.  Minigun tends to have very strong results in the few tournaments he actually enters, so this series will go towards proving if those were a fluke or if he's the real deal.

MooNan v. Fury

Again, another match where the players have no bad blood.  Why can't more folks be more temperamental?  It will be interesting to see a match between a former semi-professional Korean Brood War player and a WarCraft 3 player who was on one of the few teams that could stand up to the Koreans in WarCraft 3.  Can FuRy translate his success in WarCraft 3 to StarCraft 2?

ViBE v. Tarson

ViBE and Tarson have a little history between them.  ViBE actually beat Tarson in our first qualifying event in the round of eight.  ViBE's TvZ is good the longer the game goes, but he often falls apart to early pressure.  Whether or not Tarson can take advantage of ViBE's weaker early game will likely decide how this series plays out.

Axslav v. Thorzain

Axslav told me, on multiple occasions, over the course of last weekend that Terran versus Protoss is his worst match up.  I have my fingers crossed that he feels a little more comfortable with the match up by the time our main event rolls around, as Thorzain is no pushover.

Destiny v. Socke

This is going to be one that I'm sure tons of fans will tune in for.  Destiny is a fan favorite, and Socke is an absolute monster.  A lot of folks have been speculating as to whether or not Destiny can hang with the best of the best, so this will be a great chance to see how he competes when matched with the best.

MaNa v. DarKFoRcE

Two great players, and it should be a fantastic match.  Who doesn't love Protoss versus Zerg (other than Zerg players)?

DDE v. Fenix

DDE, a downright fantastic player, has two sick match ups and then one horrible one.  His bad matchup is Terran versus Terran.  Considering Fenix has a really solid TvT, DDE will need put in some work to be able to make it out of this series alive.

KiwiKaki v. Strelok

KiwiKaki finished second in the first IGN Pro League, but Strelok is one of Europe's best Terran players.  KiwiKaki had a bit of a slump at MLG, so I'm curious to see if he can turn things around when IPL rolls around.  This will be one to series to look out for.

Nerchio v. Cloud

Though they are both lesser known players here in North America, they are both absolutely outstanding players.  If you're looking for a series to see some unique play in, check this one out.

State v. GoOdy

State is the weirdest guy.  He's very talented, but he doesn't follow the professional scene at all.  He didn't even know the IGN Pro League had a $50,000 prize pool; it was just a tournament a friend told him to sign up for.  I don't know much about GoOdy's TvP, but I know he loves factory units in the other two matchups.  This should be a cool one.

Merz v. NightenD

This is another series where I can't make any comments other than to tell you to tune in as they're solid players.  I love watching European players duke it out; they tend to play a tad differently than their North American counterparts.

SeleCT v. Ret

This might be the match up I'm most excited to watch in the round of thirty-two.  I'm a huge fan of both players, and they also have a smidge of history, as SeleCT beat Ret at MLG Dallas.  This is one to mark on your calendar once our schedule comes out.

LaLush v. Ranged

This series is between two lesser known players.  LaLush managed to take a win off White-ra in our qualifiers, so I know his PvZ must be pretty good.  Ranged managed to qualify for our main event shortly after his old team, Lazarus Gaming, split up, so I'm rooting for him a little as he seems like quite the trooper.

BratOK v. Stalife

I absolutely love Terran versus Terran, so this is definitely a match I'm looking forward to.  Stalife managed to beat NaDa, one of my all time Terran heroes, in the NASL, but I know BratOK has a good TvT too.  This should be an awesome series.

White-ra v. CocoA

This is a match that a lot of people are thinking will be one sided.  White-ra is one of the world's most famous players, while CocoA is a relatively new face on the scene here in Starcraft.  This match will come down a lot to how prepared CocoA is for the series.

Be sure to keep posted for more details as our main event draws nearer.

I'd wager I'm in the minority here, but I love watching Protoss versus Protoss.  It's such a silly matchup; there are innumerable and cheeses one can do, and even at the professional level you still all the tricks and gimmicks.  In this game Desrow cannon rushes his opponent, TT1.  TT1 tries to defend with cannons of his own.  You'll have to watch to see who's cannons come out on top.