POST STUFF
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 by trancez, Level 46
Last updated at March 4, 2010, 9:04 am
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The Intel Extreme Masters World Championships has been one of the best tournaments ever despite the coverage issues.
Prizes:
1st - $25,000
2nd - $10,000
3rd - $4,000
4th - $2,000
5/6th - $1,500
7/8th - $1,000
9/10th - $1,000
11/12th - $1,000
1st - $25,000
2nd - $10,000
3rd - $4,000
4th - $2,000
5/6th - $1,500
7/8th - $1,000
9/10th - $1,000
11/12th - $1,000
The DDoS attack on ESL's internet connectivity really slowed things down during Day 1, but the crew at ESL was able to bounce back to make provide the community a tournament for the ages. 2gd, virulence, and Special Guest Commetator Realz provided a very entertaining show on the 2nd day. The majority of the matches have been ultra-competitive and enjoyable to watch. Underdogs have become favorites and the results have taken the community by surprise.
In my original ESL Preview Blog, I asked the community to predict the Top 4 for this tournament and I would shout-out any reader that provided a correct prediction(and possibly an award). To give you an idea about how unexpected the results have been: Not one person voted Team EG to make it to the Grand Finals.
Woundman at the far-end, Tenderloin in the Middle, and Azael from Team EG of Canada and the US.
Before coming to CeBIT, every pro team considered these North Americans to be an after-thought on the potential road to the finals. Azael, Tenderloin, and Woundman have proved that sometimes raw-talent and composition knowledge can achieve great results without much preparation. It was a lot easier to doubt them simply because they didn't have enough practice together compared to the other teams at this tournament, but it's been a pleasure watching them play so far.
Hydra, Kalimist, and Flyn of Team Dignitas from England.
As many predicted before this tournament began, many believed Team Dignitas to have been the favorite coming out of Europe for a long time. They settled for nothing short of an amazing performance thus far and it's not a far cry to say that they are on Button Bashers' level. Representing England and now the rest of Europe in the Finals, Dignitas holds the pride of their continent on their shoulders. Being the only team to have beaten SK.Korea in the preliminary rounds, it's very likely we'll be seeing this team in the Grand Finals. I can't wait for the matches to start!
Team Dignitas vs. SK Korea
Game 1) Ring of Valor - Dignitas comes out swapping hard on warrior and paladin. The match begins to get drawn out for awhile and Hydra starts going oom. Hydra ascends on top of a pillar by himself but despite the nice play, the pillar comes down and SK Korea kills Hydra afterwards.
1 - 0 SK-Korea
Game 2) Dalaran Sewers - Dignitas uses this map to their advantage and sat on the boxes the whole game, preventing the druid from cycloning. Flyn and Kalimist swap between the paladin and warrior for a while, preventing SK to stay on Hydra long. Kalimist manages to restealth a lot during this match and Hydra just spam drinks, eventually SK Korea runs out of defensive cooldowns and Dignitas lands a kill on SK's Paladin.
1 - 1
Game 3) Dalaran Sewers - Dignitas comes out with heavy pressure on the Warrior of SK.Korea, forcing trinkets on every member of SK Korea. The match draws out a little and the warrior sits in defensive too long with no damage pressure from SK Korea. Hydra is allowed to drink almost to full, he comes in and blows offensive cooldowns onto the Warrior of SK Korea with the rest of his team bursting. 2 - 1 Team Dignitas
Game 4) Ring of Valor - The cleave team of SK Korea seems confident about going onto Hydra and Kalimist opens hard on the Druid of SK Korea. After making forcing barkskin on SK Korea's Druid and dispel his hots, Kalimist re-opens on the Druid and Dignitas blows him up before SK can force any pressure on Hydra. 3 - 1 Team Dignitas
Game 5) Ruins - Dignitas opens onto the Druid of SK Korea, without any interrupts or crowd control with a Warrior/Ret Paladin, SK Korea can not peel Dignitas off of the Druid of SK. The druid goes down rather quickly.
4 - 1 Team Dignitas
Button Bashers vs. Team EG
Game 1) Nagrand Arena - Woundman saps Numberone, Button Bashers opens on Azael. After Woundman comes out, Button Bashers reopens on Woundman and forces trinket. Woundman is then feared and poly'd after with Button Bashers re-opening on Tenderloin. Tenderloin dips quickly even with Earth Shield and eventually dies. 1 - 0 Button Bashers
Game 2) Blade's Edge Arena - Tenderloin comes out extremely cautious of Button Bashers assault on him. Button Bashers forces Tenderloin's trinket and then is feared into a sheep from Orange, Woundman sees the swap right away and manages to vanish away the swap. BB decides to go on Tenderloin, but Woundman is there to peel Hiren right away and EG's Shaman gets away easily. Azael DoTs up Numberone completely and Woundman opens on Numberone, the priest of BB eventually goes down. 1 - 1
Game 3) Blade's Edge Arena - Both teams are trying to maintain position early, Woundman is playing incredibly. This is the Woundman I heard of when he was picked over Neilyo for the fNatic roster. Woundman saps Hiren. Button Bashers attempts to go on Woundman early but manages to escape Hiren and breaks his vanish. Hiren gets pressed but gets away, Hiren's second vanish is ruined by Azael and Woundman re-opens on Hiren. Hiren dies. 2 - 1 Team EG
Game 4) Nagrand Arena - Team EG are playing like gods right now and Woundman saps Hiren, Button Bashers swaps between Woundman and Tenderloin with light pressure on Azael. Tenderloin/Woundman are both really stingy with their trinkets and save them for the best opportunities to kill a Button Basher swap. Button Bashers even gets ahead in mana at one point, with 70% mana on Orange/Numberone while Tenderloin is hovering at 30% mana. After two blown swaps, Numberone and Orange are out of mana. Hiren and Woundman go on eachother and Woundman lands the first kidney, Hiren goes down. 3 - 1 Team EG
Game 5) Nagrand Arena - Both teams attempt to swap hard on each other's rogues, and defensive cool downs are blown to keep both rogues alive. Orange is displaying more control than he has in the previous games, forcing full novas on Woundman. Hiren is denied twice to restealth, but Orange peels Team EG long enough for Hiren to restealth. Tenderloin is running oom at this point, Hiren opens on Woundman with no trinket and kills him. 3 - 2 Team EG
Game 6) Dalaran Arena - Both teams decide to train eachother's healer hard, Team EG seems to be overwhelming Numberone with Shaman Lust and DoTs. Orange bows out of the assault on Tenderloin to attempt to peel and Hiren stays on Tenderloin. Woundman vanishes Orange's Coldsnap/Deep Freeze. No peel from Hiren leaves Numberone taking too much pressure, eventually he falls. Team EG is in the Grand Finals.
4 - 2 Team EG
3rd Place Final - Button Bashers vs. SK. Korea
This series wasn't streamed, but apparently Button Bashers blew out SK.Korea. 4 - 0 Button Bashers
Grand Finals - Team Dignitas vs. Team EG
Game 1) Ruins of Lorderon - Team Dignitas opens hard on to Tenderloin with Flyn trying to control Azael early. Azael DoTs up Hydra while Woundman opens on Kalimist. Hydra dispels Azael's UA and gets trained down. Unlucky or unwise mistake by Hydra costs them this game. 1 - 0 Team EG
Game 2) Nagrand Arena - Kalimist tries to control Woundman early this game and Flyn tries to control Azael. Team EG gets Hydra to about 25% but gets away. Azael gets Kalimist completely DoT'd up with Woundman locking down Hydra. Flyn goes for the kill on Tenderloin and loses Kalimist, becomes a 2v2 between Hydra/Flyn vs. Woundman/Azael. With no cooldowns or mana, Hydra/Flyn get worn down and Woundman catches Hydra to land the kill. 2 - 0 Team EG
Game 3) Ruins of Lorderon - Team EG goes hard on Hydra while Dignitas goes on Tenderloin. From my experience playing RMP against RLS, the Mage/Rogue needs to put pressure on the Warlock starting with a Blind on the Shaman to force trinket. Stopping the warlock's damage prevents early pressure and may force the trinket on Shaman, which would be a better swap target for an RMP. Hydra Dies before Tenderloin. 3 - 0 Team EG
Game 4) Nagrand Arena - Team Dignitas is still training Tenderloin with Azael getting sheeped right away, Azael consumes the sheep but is immediately feared by Hydra. Amazing Fear by Hydra, Tenderloin goes down. 3 - 1 Team EG
Game 5) Nagrand Arena - Team EG opens on Hydra but Woundman gets feared away with no tremor or consume. Azael fully DOTs up Hydra while the rogues are chasing the healers down, Azael starts channeling a drain soul while Hydra stays up for awhile at 15%~ but eventually goes down when Woundman gets on him. Hydra dies. 4 - 1 Team EG
This Grand Finals match seemed to play out exactly as how I thought it would with an inexperienced RMP vs. a top-tier level RLS. There was never a single game where Dignitas tried to stop Azael's damage. I was talking with Vidra (A top mage from BG9 that has played RMP to a 2800+ level) while watching all of the matches, here's what he had to say:
Vidra : they should be opening hard on azael and blinding tender
(Vidra would like to add that he thinks Dignitas is still an amazing RMP and they just weren't experienced vs. this RLS.)Vidra : :|
Vidra : could easily win if they did that
Vidra : does dignitas even play against RLS ever
Vidra : does dignitas even play against RLS ever
Not taking anything away from Team EG, they just proved themselves to be World-Class players and it'd be a shame to not see this same team play again at the next tournament. Woundman played phenomenally, pulling off Neilyo-like vanishes on the best players in the world while Azael was unable to be controlled by anyone. I've personally thought Tenderloin has been the hardest shaman ever to kill, and he just showed the everyone that he's the new "best shaman in the world". They also just pulled off the biggest tournament upset in WoW history.
Why were they the biggest upset ever?
1) They came from the "hardest" group with the three 1st place finishers from the preliminary events and managed to beat against the "unbeatable" teams as the the biggest underdogs in the tournament.
2) No team has ever won a tournament with a Resto Shaman before.
3) Having barely any practice before the tournament, this elite group of players out-played the other teams and won with their raw knowledge of the composition rather than months of practice.
4) Any time you beat the former ESL Global Champions, Button Bashers, you deserve to win the tournament. Button Bashers have been considered the best RMP for a longtime and they did try to adapt to their RLS play style every match. But, EG stayed one step ahead and counter-adapted to everything BB did.
5) North Americans "un-officially" have the best arena scene in the world, and this year's tournament out-comes have proved that. An American team winning every Global Championship this year (BlizzCon, MLG, and ESL)? Who would have believed that?
Source: rakaka.se
Why were they the biggest upset ever?
1) They came from the "hardest" group with the three 1st place finishers from the preliminary events and managed to beat against the "unbeatable" teams as the the biggest underdogs in the tournament.
2) No team has ever won a tournament with a Resto Shaman before.
3) Having barely any practice before the tournament, this elite group of players out-played the other teams and won with their raw knowledge of the composition rather than months of practice.
4) Any time you beat the former ESL Global Champions, Button Bashers, you deserve to win the tournament. Button Bashers have been considered the best RMP for a longtime and they did try to adapt to their RLS play style every match. But, EG stayed one step ahead and counter-adapted to everything BB did.
5) North Americans "un-officially" have the best arena scene in the world, and this year's tournament out-comes have proved that. An American team winning every Global Championship this year (BlizzCon, MLG, and ESL)? Who would have believed that?
Source: rakaka.se
The Final Standings:
1st Place: Team EG $25,000
2nd Place: Team Dignitas $10,000
3rd Place: Button Bashers $4,000
4th Place: SK Korea $2,000
Congratulations to Azael, Tenderloin, and Woundman for Winning the ESL World Championships!
IEM: World Championships Photo Galleries:
http://www.rakaka.se/index.php?newsID=13371
http://www.sk-gaming.com/album/41546
http://www.team-dignitas.org/gallery.php?gid=426&fid=4
IEM: World Championships Photo Galleries:
http://www.rakaka.se/index.php?newsID=13371
http://www.sk-gaming.com/album/41546
http://www.team-dignitas.org/gallery.php?gid=426&fid=4
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qqtronic Mar 4, 2010 at 10:42 am
+3 votes
Dignitas gonna get stomped by EG. No one plays RLS at a high level in EU. This coupled with the fact that BB > Dignitas = EG WINS.
GO USA!
GO USA!
Sharf Mar 4, 2010 at 5:23 pm
+2 votes
Holy **** Trance, you're ******* illiterate. How does somebody with writing skills equivalent to those of a third grader become the manager of a blog...
"After making forcing barkskin on SK Korea's Druid and dispel his hots" - trance.
Are you kidding me? That's probably not even the worst example in this blog, I just couldn't abuse my brain any more deciphering wtf you're trying to say. I can understand your merit as a "wow insider", but why do you insist on destroying the quality of your own blog by actually writing for it?
PLEASE RESPOND.
"After making forcing barkskin on SK Korea's Druid and dispel his hots" - trance.
Are you kidding me? That's probably not even the worst example in this blog, I just couldn't abuse my brain any more deciphering wtf you're trying to say. I can understand your merit as a "wow insider", but why do you insist on destroying the quality of your own blog by actually writing for it?
PLEASE RESPOND.
trancez Mar 5, 2010 at 11:28 am
+1 votes
this is the first time looking at my blog since posting it, I've had it rough the last couple days... I've been moving from my house in North Los Angeles to my New place in Huntington Beach, I stayed up all night drinking wednesday night going into thursday morning(it was my last night at my old house, had to celebrate with my local friends)... Around 10am is when I finally passed out. Woke up a couple hours later to pack up my computer and have my internet disconnected.
I know I typically have grammatical errors in my blogs, but the wowriot nerds would not believe me nor care if I told them the real reasons behind my lack of thorough professionalism(i'm sorry you have to put up with me wowriot).
I know I typically have grammatical errors in my blogs, but the wowriot nerds would not believe me nor care if I told them the real reasons behind my lack of thorough professionalism(i'm sorry you have to put up with me wowriot).
Nelo Mar 5, 2010 at 3:09 pm
+1 votes
Don't mind the ******* term paper nerds. What really matters is the content of the blog, not the grammatical errors. And you did well offering good commentary on what happend at IEM with some good background info on EG.
EG played really well this tournament, every one of them. I think Azael especially played well, just some of the stuff he was doing was pretty sick.... except for his high pitched girl scream at the end when they were finishing Hydra hahaha. But hey, it was 25k and a World Champion title, i'll let it slide!
EG played really well this tournament, every one of them. I think Azael especially played well, just some of the stuff he was doing was pretty sick.... except for his high pitched girl scream at the end when they were finishing Hydra hahaha. But hey, it was 25k and a World Champion title, i'll let it slide!
Sabella Mar 4, 2010 at 9:09 am
+15 votes
15:07:07: luke: he is not innervating early, playing this well
15:07:08: 2gd: here comes the innervate
15:07:08: 2gd: here comes the innervate
THA3L91 Mar 4, 2010 at 9:22 am
+1 votes
holy ****. ESL commercials.
something must be going right...........
something must be going right...........
frostitute Mar 4, 2010 at 9:25 am
-1 votes
i just hope someone beats dignitas. wonder if they will shake hands if they lose? its easy to be gracious when u win.
sicko2012 Mar 4, 2010 at 9:32 am
+1 votes
why u hating on dignitas lol, ofc they wil shake hands if they lose.
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