Watch It Live: http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/

Broadcast Schedule: http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/_images/rf09_schedule_en.pdf

Saturday 11:15 – 20:45 (5:15 - 14:45 US Eastern)
Sunday 11:15 – 18:00 (5:15 - 12:00 US Eastern)

Germany local time listed, find your time difference here

US Bracket:http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/brackets-wow-na.xml
EU Bracket:http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/brackets-wow.xml

Many feel the TSG DK/warrior cleave is better with druid over paladin, but Zilea always delivered superior results with his paladin. Can Zilea's first ever LAN tournament turn into a magnificent victory for Veex's TSG, the highest rated 3v3 team in the world and first seed going into the American regionals?  This is the best chance for the paladin hero to bring pride to his class.  Don't miss it 10 AM US Eastern time!  But first we have Euro finals.

EU Loser Bracket Final: X6 vs Edawg (DK/Hunter/Paladin vs Rogue/Mage/Priest) 3-0

Can Edawg put together what Realz/SK-US did vs Emazing Gaming running the same comp, and beat X6?  We will find out shortly!  Edawg went on X6's paladin right away, forcing a bubble during cheap shot but did not peel for their priest at all, poor opener allowed X6 DK/hunter making a bee line to their priest and that is not going to cut it as he went down in six seconds.  The mage needs to peel the DK AND dishing out damage on paladin at same time, Pookz style.

Game 2 Edawg had a much better start, very good peels on DK in the beginning and forcing the bubble before their priest took any damage.  But the priest was caught in a bad spot during the bubble and went from 100-0 during the bubble duration.

Edawg went with paladin instead of priest for round 3, but as we have seen from other teams that changing the priest alone doesn't do anything, the PHD just trains the mage instead.  Edawg mage was forced to block before X6 paladin had to bubble and that sealed their fate.  By the time they forced bubble Edawg mage was forced to block for a second time and he went down shortly after.  Edawg's paladin was very second hand, with BOP he should have kept his mage from blocking so early but that is what happens with second hand classes.

6 RMPs and not a single one will get a ticket for Blizzcon, how is that for people crying for RMP nerfs?  3.2 will probably be even tougher for the comp with durability goes up, and matches are dragged out longer.

Have to respect the professionalism of WC3 players, after a thrilling 2-1, 2-1 finish in grand finals, both players sat down and watched their replays immediately.  I am really hoping they will add arena replay to WOW soon.  It will greatly improve the competition.

EU Winner Bracket Final: Woah vs X6 (Warrior/Lock/Druid vs Warrior/DK/Paladin) 2-3, 2-3

Will X6 play hunter against Inflame's warlock, or will they go cleave?  Apparently they did go cleave but I don't think they have the same quality of play from TSG as a second hand comp.  And that showed in game 1.  They couldn't get the pressure out on Inflame with his druid's cyclone/root.  When they finally got to him, they brought him to 20% but a teleport later Inflame was healed back to full.  From behind the boxes Inflame was able to get off his fears on the X6 paladin and scoring a kill on the warrior.  Woah up 1-0.

Incredible play from Inflame/Kae on Ring of Valor, a map that is supposed to favor the cleaves.  X6 trained Inflame all game but every time it looked like he was going down, a simple demonic portal and he gets healed back to full.  X6 managed to kill both of Inflame's pets but DOT pressure from DK/lock is just too much to overcome as the game went on.  X6 paladin had less than 1000 mana when his warrior died, Woah druid still had almost full mana.  Woah up 2-0.

X6 made a surprise swap on Woah druid who has been cycloning/rooting the last two games.  Poor guy never saw it coming and intercept + strangulate + hammer of justice killed him.  I think this is what X6 needs to do if they are going to make it a series.  Warlock can't really peel warrior/DK effectively.  But is it too late?  Woah up 2-1.

Game 4, X6 starting out for a pet kill before quickly swapping to Woah druid again for the kill.  Is this warrior/lock/druid's fatal flaw?  Warrior/lock can't peel DK/warrior much at all, and all it takes is a few seconds to bring down the druid.  2-2 and momentum is definitely shifting.

Game 5 saw Ocelote, the Woah warrior hitting a blade storm at perfect time and took X6 DK to 15%, but X6 managed to keep him up despite death coil + drain soul from Inflame.  Swap to the druid again after pressuring the warlock early, and the druid really can't stay up against intercept -> charge -> strangulate, just too much damage and pressure as HOTs can't keep up. 

Wow, I am not sure if Woah has an answer for this.  Will TSG's warrior/DK/paladin turn out to the answer for Inflame's warrior/lock/druid?  X6 is going into the second set with all the momentum in their favor.  X6 abused the hell out of warrior's ungodly mobility, starting pressure on Ocelote the Woah warrior, quick swap to druid, swap back to warrior again, and back to druid to score the kill.  Druid's biggest problem is their HOTs take time to roll up, and when you have a DPS as mobile as the warrior swapping back and forth, it is a nightmare on his mana pool.  X6 up 1-0 in second set.

Incredible game by Woah as they kept their druid behind LOS while Ocelot got off a perfect blade storm, taking both of X6's melee to 40% health.  X6's first druid swap attempt didn't work out as Kae was able to get away in travel form and get himself back to full.  X6 paladin's mana was getting really low but their second swap attempt dropped Kae.  However, by that point their warrior is at very low health and the paladin is out of mana.  Woah drops the X6 warrior, followed by out of mana paladin and they won the 2v3 fight.  All tied up 1-1.  It is now a best of 3.

X6 got a very clean opener on Kae the druid and caught him under the blade's edge bridge.  Very bad spot for him to be in as chain stuns from warrior/paladin/ghoul and strangulate from DK made short of him.  X6 hit a super early bubble to keep the momentum rolling and never lost it.  X6 up 2-1.

Game 4 took place on Ruins and X6 made some hasty decisions.  They got a good death grip on Inflame very far from his druid, and chose to blow blade storm and strangulate on him instead of saving them for the druid.  Inflame got off his teleport with 10% health left and that greatly weakened X6's swap attempt on druid without those big CDs.  X6 couldn't drop the druid and lost their DK in the process. 

One game for all the marbles!  Again on Blade's Edge X6 got the first hit on druid, Whoa hit all the right peels but blade storm + DK dots took Inflame to 50% in the process.  Druid managed to get away but stun + swap on Inflame took him to 15%, Inflame gets off the teleport to get back above the bridge but X6's DK hit a beautiful death grip to bring him right back down for the kill.  What a grip as X6 wins the second set 3-2!

Great job by X6 as they once again came out of loser bracket to beat Inflame at the European regionals.  It is amazing how consistent this team is, same exact roster from 2008, totally different comps, they played 600-plus games over the last week or so and practice really paid off.  Inflame doesn't have to worry too much however as if the trend continues, his team should win the Blizzcon world finals two months from now with the 3.2 resilience buff.  American regional is next!  Go TSG! 

TSG (Warrior/DK/paladin) vs Complexity (Rogue/Mage/Priest): 3-0

The American tournament is not going to kind to RMPs either as TSG played a very strong series.  Big trains on priest in two games and even a mage kill in one and they made it look easy.  The highest rated 3v3 team in the world did not disappoint and Zileas is looking good!  I unfortunately fell asleep for 30 minutes and missed this series, but TSG dominated the match-up from start to finish, was never pressured.  I think people who actually believe BG makes a difference (Rampage vs Stormstrike, are you serious?) can shut up now, a 2950+ team that doesn't queue dodge is a 2950 team for a reason.

SK-US (Rogue/Mage/Priest) vs Wild Rogue Monkey (DK/Hunter/Druid): 3-1

Wild Rogue Monkey scrapped the hunter/mage/shaman comp that took them to the regionals and went with RMP counter DK/Hunter/Druid.  Can they pull it off with a second hand comp?   The druid version of DK/BM is a lot easier to kite than PHD, and it reliest on outlast.  Game 1 SK-US peeled DK/hunter off their priest effortlessly, but couldn't put together any effective kill attempts of their own.  Realz eventually ran out of mana and WRM scored a kill on Enforcer the rogue for game 1.

Again Realz aka Shikamaru/Phil Jackson worked his magic, as the second game they were so much better prepared.  Ring of valor rolled around, a map supposed to favor the cleave, but SK pulled off a beautiful druid train while Pookz controlled the DK for a quick kill.  Game 3, quality peels on with sheep->blind chain to open up fear/burst kill on hunter.  Game 4 it was ring of valor again, and hard train on druid won it again.

Pookz is just amazing at handling pressure.  He managed his ice block/trinket cooldowns flawlessly, kept himself alive and dished out the CCs/damage his team needed to win.  I can't wait to see SK-US vs TSG, the top two teams of this tournament.

Emazing Gaming (DK/Hunter/Paladin) vs Team EG (Rogue/Lock/Shaman): 1-3

This is going to be an ugly series for Azael and company, as they lost to the same setup a few weeks ago.  Zyz played terrible and he CAN step up his game and make a difference here.  And he played a much cleaner/crispier opening round.  Instant blood lust off the first hit, Zyz dished out a ton of DPS pressure and coupled with Azael's DOTs, they put a lot of pressure into Emazing's DK and forced him to play defensively before scoring the kill right before blood lust ran out.

Game 2 showed same pressure from Team EG but this time around Emazing used their defensive cooldowns much better to survive the blood lust.  Again they had Team EG's DK low but couldn't finish the job this time and Azael went down to DK/hunter pressure.  Azael playing affliction allows him to dish out good damage even when focused, but he is not as sturdy as destruction as a result.  EG even won the mana battle but couldn't save Azael at the end. 1-1.

Gorgeous game by EG as Zyz was able to slow down the DK early, and Azael is playing like a MVP.  He put DOTs on both DK and hunter, followed by a spell lock on Paycee to force Emazing's paladin to make some very hard decisions.  With blood lust at start, EG is canceling out Emazing's DPS pressure and actually winning the early game despite of The Beast Within, and they took game 3 scoring a kill on Twix the hunter hero.  This is a totally different Team EG from the MLG days, it is good to see a rogue/lock team playing this good and Azael is taking over the game like he is capable of.

What a difference it makes when Team EG is playing at its best!  Incredible control on DK at start, quick swap to paladin to force bubble which allowed them to CC him later and score a kill on Twix the hunter hero.  Great job!  EG knows humiliation and they grew into a stronger team before our eyes, can they beat TSG in next round?

It is worth pointing out that Emazing Gaming is playing with a different DK for this tournament, and most people believe their MLG DK is far superior.  We will have to see how much that affects them as they are now in the lower bracket.  

SK-US (Rogue/Mage/Priest) vs Pandemic (DK/Lock/Druid): 3-0  

I like Shinaniganz/Pandemic a lot better than Ohnoes/Pandemic, and according to Kintt's interview they have been practicing a lot so this should be a good match-up.  Kintt's druid hopefully improved a lot over the last time we saw him at MLG and at the time they were one game away from beating SK the eventual champion.

SK-US trained Kintt the druid from start to finish with triple-UD RMP, taking advantage of DK/warlock/druid's lack of peels against a triple UD team.  Kintt kept himself alive for quite some time, but was caught in a beautiful blind from Enforcer after trinketing the kidney shot, all of his HOTs fell off in the process and the next round of nuke killed him.  Well played by SK-US!

Wow, did Realz figure out the ultimate anti-druid move?  It is funny how Kintt bragged about going 50-50 against SK-US in practice rounds, when Realz probably saved their nastiest plays for the real thing.  Super early offensive blind on Kintt the druid to dispel him clean and get all HOTs off, improved CS and they drop him during the silence.  Quick decisive win and ingenious play from SK!

Brutal third game for Pandemic and they dumped all of their damage on Kintt the druid yet again.  Pandemic's DK seemed to be left clueless for a bit as he started off on Pookz the mage and did almost nothing on him.  Enforcer/Pookz is probably the best rogue/mage combo in the game right now, with Pookz's incredible defensive/control plays opening Enforcer up to go all out.  A quick 3-0 should wipe the smirk off Kintt's face when he actually sounded confident during the interview, sorry Realz doesn't show his full hand until it is the real thing.

TSG (DK/Warrior/Paladin) vs Team EG (Rogue/Lock/Shaman): 2-3

Can Team EG pull off a major upset here to beat TSG's cleave as a warlock team?  Even Inflame could not pull it off against X6 and we will see what EG can do against the #1 team on SK-100 3v3.

Incredible opening game as Team EG played TSG evenly and stopped most of TSG's burst attempts.  However Azael was still taking massive damage and Kollectiv ran out of mana.  Azael forced Zilea to bubble and scored a cross kill on TSG DK, but out of mana rogue/shaman is no match for Veex/Zilea's warrior/paladin.  TSG up 1-0.

Second round Team EG chose to go on Veex himself to control his damage output.  Unlike the DK, a warrior in defensive mode loses a lot more DPS and that cut down TSG's damage output a lot.  DK alone without MS debuff is a lot easier to heal and Team EG eventually forced a kill on Veex's warrior.  Being able to teleport from lower to upper platform also did wonders for Azael's survivability.

Yet another perfect game for EG as they started on the DK before swapping to warrior.  Azael dotted up both cleaves and Zilea's sacrifice caused him to lose HP at a rapid rate.  All three TSG players were at 50% and Zilea chose to bubble and heal his cleaves, when he came out of the bubble EG swapped to him for a kill.  EG takes 2-1 lead.

TSG is playing too passive and they need to pick up the energy, that what Veex gave them in round 4 with a perfect blade storm taking both Azael/Rogue to 30%, strangulate on shaman and Azael was down for the count.  A lot of people talk about cleave having low skill cap, but I can assure you there is a world of differenec between a cleave like TSG and everyone else.  2-2 all tied up.

When I saw the final game on Blade's Edge instead of Ring of Valor I knew TSG would be in trouble.  Azael managed to jump off the bridge at 10% health twice and TSG probably should have swapped to Kollectiv, instead they went for the bait, Azael teleports right back up, and Kollectiv was able to keep him to full, even dropping a mana tide totem in the process which gave him the mana edge over Zilea.  Zilea ran out of mana, Veex used all of his defensive CDs to stay alive and almost scored a cross kill on Zyz in the process but EG took him down and healed Zyz back up to win 3-2. 

What a series!  Best I have seen this weekend!  And what an incredible difference after EG's embarrassing performance at MLG!  Glick's "we are bad, but we are not EG bad" comment really fired up the team, and now they are at top of their game and winner bracket finals against SK-US.

I still expect TSG to make their way to the loser bracket finals, as long as they review the video of Euro finals when X6 beat Inflame's melee/lock/druid team.  And SK-US will be taking on Team EG and Azael will probably go destruction for this fight.  This should be a much more intense series than MLG, now EG is at the top of their game.

Please Zyz, DO NOT GO OUT AND PARTY TONIGHT like you did at MLG, Hafu-chan is not in Germany to drain your chakra, keep yourself fresh for the finals!  You let Azael/Kollectiv down last time, but you more than redeemed yourself today with huge wins over Emazing/TSG.  Keep it up!

Zilea played a brilliant game, little to no mistakes whatsoever, but if only TSG drew Ring of Valor even once in this series instead of Blade's Edge and Dalaran, where Azael/Kollectiv took full advantage of the Z axis..  TSG you can still fight your way out of the loser bracket!  Remember X6 went to the loser bracket in opening round and came back to win the whole thing.  Be resilient!

Complexity (Rogue/Mage/Priest) vs Emazing Gaming (DK/Hunter/Paladin): 1-3

A quick 2-0 start for Emazing, as demonstrated by X6's PHD vs every RMP this tournament by straight training the priest.  Complexity never had any chance.  But in the third game on Nagrand, the map with the best line of sight for a priest to hide, Sodah the priest managed to outlast the BM, and the RMP was able to recover and score a kill on Twix the hunter hero.

Unfortunately the final map is on ring of valor and Sodah simply doesn't have the pillar power to survive hunter/death knight damage.  Emazing brought him down during BM and Complexity is out of the tournament.  I feel sorry for Venruki/Sodah/Minti as they had to face two RMP killers in a row with TSG/Emazing. 

It is up to SK-US to be the only RMP to make it to Blizzcon out of the US/EU scene.