Pookz Day, In Our Shoes, MLG Wildcard Team OUT?

I'm Mark, also known as “Pookz.” I've been an e-sports fan ever since I started playing Counterstrike. I currently play competitive WoW for SK.US with Realz and Enforcer. I've been playing the mage class since one month after the game came out, and I was inspired to play WoW as an e-sport by veteran tournament players such as Azael, Spoh, and Celex. Ironically, Celex has recently inspired me to almost quit playing WoW as an e-sport. My first successful arena team was named SKey Gaming in an effort to mock Serennia's old SK team and we qualified for last years Blizzard Tournament. We could not participate in the tournament because my rogue Hosty had a cyst on his back that formed from a cut and was constantly on morphine. I recently found out that Hosty really had no idea we had even played together and thankfully I had my PvP movie to prove it to him. I've always played RMP since it's the most fun and successful comp a mage can play and honestly the way James “2GD” Harding says “are emm pee” makes me want to hold on to the comp for as long as possible.

In Our Shoes

 

The last week was a bloody mess for competitors trying to obtain the final MLG Anaheim spot. It was interesting to see how the teams reacted to the intense pressure of playing in a tournament. Team that had never done a LAN before were instantly placed in the shoes of professional arena teams and faced with the same nerves that tournament players are forced to endure. If only these players had to endure the scent of Serennia in real life then they'd really get an idea of what playing a tournament is all about. I'll never forget my first series at a tournament, right when that arena queue popped nerves fully engulfed me. It was against Pandemic I don't remember one ability that I used, I was shaking and overwhelmed by the team across from us that was screaming and shouting out calls. Seriously Kint was yelling so loud for some reason that I'm pretty sure I just started yelling really loud also to try and out do him. Anyway, after winning 3-2 I turned to Isaac and said “I have no clue how you do this.” 

In the wildcard tourney we saw last minute replacements, teams disbanding, disappointment, and triumph. The MLG Wildcard tournament was structured as round robin which is the most prestigious but most accurate format for a tournament. I say it's the most prestigious because of the raw amount of games a team has to win in order to make it to the finals. In a double elimination system a team can merely win three best of five matches and make a top two slot.

Billian's RMP disbanded after getting 5-0d by Massive's team, apparently Billian did not want to attend MLG anyway and basically wasted his team's time. After speaking to his teammates they said that Billian, on vent, was shouting random things mid-game at the top of his lungs to try and distract them. The only real knowledge of Billian that I have is that he threatened to kill Verty after Verty allegedly /waved him after an arena match, so this notion really didn't surprise me. I really do feel for Kigz though who had a solid performance on rogue at MLG Dallas and Versica who has been looking to get into the competitive scene for a while.

“Where the rhinestones at” pulled a last minute roster change from RLS with Pyrilus on warlock to rogue, feral, shaman with Talason on druid. Apparently the main problem with Pyrilus was that he refused to wear the rhinestone covered hoodie that Cerberus had ordered for the team to wear at the event. I had high hopes for this RLS because of the amount of effort they put into practicing. Even months before the MLG qualifier they were asking top teams to skirm them in an attempt to attend Anaheim. In the wildcard tournament the team, for the most part, started off as rogue, feral, shaman and then subbed in Pyrilus if they lost. Pyrilus didn't really know what to say about their decision and he just knows he was pretty out of it whenever they would sub him in. Sometimes an easier comp won't always provide better results, especially if you have months of practice behind one lineup.

 

The massive opportunity that MLG and Complexity have created for teams looking to get themselves in the competitive scene is great for WoW as an e-sport. MLG should definitely keep the realm up and either have a wildcard tournament before every event, or just keep a static rated MLG ladder in which sponsors can look at on armory and see who the tops teams are.

 

For the Alliance OUT Ensidia IN?

Yeah, I spoke too soon in that last little paragraph since it seems as if the results of the entire wildcard tournament have been foiled. At the moment it seems that “For the Alliance” has forfeited their spot at MLG Anaheim due to "Avalon" the paladin on their team not being able to fly out to the event. This is obviously a huge disappointment to Complexity who was very generous to offer fully paid hotel and airfare in hopes of getting a solid second team, but also terrible news for the teammates of the player who can not attend.

The RMP team Ensidia consisting of Kalimist, Flyn and Hydra is rumored to grab the spot and compete in their second MLG of the year. Should MLG have chosen Snutz, Massive, and Brogo? (the 2^nd place wildcard team) or is Ensidia the right choice? I personally would rather see the new Ensidia lineup than a PHD team since Flyn seems to be at the top of his game right now.  But as far as Massive's team goes I feel they worked very hard for the spot.  If this goes through we'll be seeing the top two European teams competing at MLG Anaheim.

 

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Bye team