Image courtesy of SOOP

SOOP (co-CEOs Choi Young-woo and Lee Min-won) will begin the second week of the 'Google Play ASL Season 21' Round of 16 on Monday, the 20th. ASL is an esports league featuring Blizzard Entertainment's sci-fi RTS game 'StarCraft: Remastered,' and it is a long-running league that celebrates its 11th anniversary this year. Following the previous season, Google Play has returned as the official sponsor, and every match since the opening has been a hot topic of conversation.

In the first week of the Round of 16, which began on Monday the 13th, four players secured their spots in the quarterfinals. In Group A, 'defending champion' Park Sang-hyun (Z) proved his strength by finishing first, while Yoon Su-cheol (P) caused an upset to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in his career. In Group B, Jang Yoon-chul (P) and Jo Il-jang (Z) both secured their tickets to the next round with solid performances.

Group C, scheduled for 7:00 PM on Monday the 20th, is considered the most intense battleground of this Round of 16. With Kim Taek-yong (P), Kim Tae-young (T), Lee Jae-dong (Z), and Lee Young-ho (T) all in the same group, the 'Lee - Ssang - Rok' match between Lee Jae-dong and Lee Young-ho has been set for the first time in about eight years. Fans around the world are focusing their attention on this rivalry, which defined an entire era of StarCraft history.

The Group D matches will follow on Tuesday, April 21st. With a group consisting of 'four Terrans'—Hwang Byung-young (T), Shin Sang-moon (T), Kim Ji-sung (T), and Lee Jae-ho (T)—the matches are expected to be intense psychological battles where the outcome will be decided by build choices and micro-control.

The Round of 16 matches will use 'Polypoid' for the first and second games, while the winner's, loser's, and final matches will be played as a best-of-three series following a map-veto process. Note that the 'Knockout' map is excluded from the veto pool.

All matches will be held in front of a live audience at 'Freec Up Studio' in Daechi-dong, Seoul. Tickets for in-person viewing can be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis via Ticketlink starting at 5:00 PM every Thursday. Meanwhile, detailed information, including live broadcasts, replays, and match prediction events, can be found on the official SOOP ASL broadcast channel and the esports page.