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[IEM] European Championship Finals

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[IEM] European Championship Finals Text byXxio Graphics bypachi January 20th, 2011 05:49 GMT On January 20th at 10:00 GMT (+00:00) the IEM V European Championship Finals will be be kicking off in Kiev, Ukraine. Twelve players fought tooth and nail in the online equivalent of the Thirty Years' War to qualify for a spot in the finals and a chance at $7,500. In the aftermath 10 Terrans and 2 Protoss remained. Thankfully, Terran vs. Terran is one of StarCraft 2's most exciting and dynamic match ups, and the players are top tier. Oh, and the top 4 qualify for IEM's World Championship. If you watched IEM's Cologne or NYC tournaments, you know what quality to expect. If not, well, you're in for a treat. Let's take a look at the star-studded lineup. The Players SjoW Sjow may be the most threatening and accomplished Terran player in this tournament. In the few months StarCraft 2 has been released, he has racked up 13 gold medals and 3 silvers. Sjow's most notable achievements are winning two CraftCups back-to-back, the DSRack #3 tournament, and 2nd place in the recent PokerIdol European Championship, in which he defeated Liquid`Haypro in the semifinals and barely lost to TLO 3-2. However, this past weekend in the 2nd Homestory Cup Sjow was quickly beaten out 2-1 by Dimaga and Socke. Sjow left the IEM Championship group stage 3-0 and 4-1 in TvT, a good sign for the upcoming tournament. PredY PredY is probably one of the least known players in the tournament, but that does not mean you should count him out. PredY has been on a tear since November when he beat Naniwa and Haypro to take 1st in the 24th Zotac Cup. More recently he defeated Sjow, KiwiKaki, and AhhBoxxah in the 9th TeamLiquid Open before losing to the eventual runner-up, GoOdy. There are so many big names going to Ukraine that if PredY can clutch out good results he will quickly become a StarCraft 2 household name. GoOdy GoOdy is going to the Ukraine with 8 golds and 8 silvers. A solid player since retail, GoOdy's skill and momentum have only grown. In December, he won 3 first place finishes and 1 second place finish. This January he has already won a tournament and come 2nd in another. Though his results in the PokerIdol Championships were dismal, GoOdy has been doing well in the Black Dragon League with wins over Kas and DeMusliM. His first match in Kiev will be against Socke – a tough match for anyone, but especially for GoOdy given his recent results in TvP. Socke Time and time again Socke has proved to be one of the best Protoss players in Europe. When StarCraft 2 was released Socke's name was one of the first to keep popping up over and over. Having won 6 medals in August alone, Socke then placed 3rd at MLG Raleigh and 2nd at DSRack #3. In recent months his results dropped off, only to pick up again with a 6-1, 1st place finish over GoOdy and ClouD in the ESL Pro Series Season XVII Finals and a close 4th place finish at the 2nd Homestory Cup. Along with White-Ra and MaNa, Socke is probably the most feared Protoss in Europe. One of Socke's greatest strengths is his ability to multitask and macro far past the 30 minute mark. His games against Jinro at MLG Dallas stand as a testament to his skill. Naama A strong player from Finland, Naama is best known for his victory over TOP and 1st place finish at DreamHack. In the 2nd Homestory Cup Naama beat top players BRAT_OK, TLO, and Morrow before losing to DreamHack silver medalist, MaNa. While he has his fair share of medals, it is only recently with his big wins at DreamHack that Naama came to the forefront of the international scene. In Kiev, Naama will have another shot at taking a big win. The competition will be fierce, but that's hardly anything new for this Terran player. White-Ra What is there to say about White-Ra. Dubbed the 'Granddaddy of eSports', he has probably played more games of StarCraft than all of the other players in this tournament combined. Famous for being at the top of the Brood War scene since the beginning of time and taking a game off Boxer, White-Ra has already started to build an even scarier reputation in StarCraft 2. This past weekend White-Ra defeated, among many players, ClouD, TLO, DeMusliM, Naniwa, PainUser, Dimaga, Sen, Machine, and MorroW to win 1st place in the 2nd Homestory Cup, the SCReddit Invitational, and Root Gaming's WARZONE, three of the most difficult tournaments to date. Before 2011, expectations for White-Ra were low. Many did not count him among the top players in the world. Now, White-Ra is a favourite to win this tournament. With his veteran experience, momentum, trademark aggression, and home turf advantage, White-Ra certainly makes an intimidating opponent. Kas Kas will be a player to watch for in Kiev. Coming from the rising team Empire, Kas has racked up 11 gold medals in his StarCraft 2 career and shows no sign of slowing down. Though definitely not the strongest player in the Championship Finals, Kas has still taken down GoOdy, BRAT_OK, and Naniwa in 2011, and has already qualified for TSL3. Kas is well-rounded with telling wins in all match ups, but this will be the largest StarCraft 2 tournament he has every played in. I hope he can keep his composure and show us what he is capable of. SarenS SarenS made a name for himself at IEM Cologne by almost taking out IdrA in a very intense series. Afterwards, IdrA noted that SarenS was a good Terran player (a rare compliment, especially at the time) that had a strong macro game. Since then SarenS has fallen a bit off the map. Recent tournament wins over Naniwa and Merz show that he is still a contender, but in the Championship Finals, that means very little. He will need to bring all his skills to bear if he wants to beat Europe's elite. Tarson Like many of the other ex-Brood War pros, Tarson has been doing quite well in StarCraft 2. Consistency seems to be his forte – not a month has gone by since StarCraft 2's release that he did not place top 3 in a tournament. In Kiev he will be trying to keep his streak going into the New Year, and he certainly seems capable of doing so. Though a sound tactician, Tarson has been known to slip in the management game. Faced off against players who will be prowling for any advantage, this may be the factor that decides Tarson's fate. meRz Similar to SarenS, Merz has yet to show the world any big results. With a row of silver medals topped off by 1 gold, Merz must be hungry to prove himself. Consistent appearances in Zotac, Viking, and CraftCups show his determination, but unlike the majority of people that will be duking it out in the Ukraine, Merz has not shown leaps and bounds in his skill as a player – that is, until you look at his results from the group stage. Against all odds Merz went 6-1 in his group against KroLu, Dimaga, and DeMusliM, achieving the highest win-rate of all the players and showing that he is more than capable of competing. It will be very interesting to see how Merz handles himself and his opponents in the days to come. ClouD ClouD comes to StarCraft 2 with many years of experience as a Brood War pro. The Championship Finals may be the biggest StarCraft 2 tournament for ClouD, but I have a feeling he will take it in stride. After all, how intense can it be for someone who played a bo3 against Savior and Xellos in the same day? Years of StarCraft and big stage experience will benefit ClouD greatly, but it will take more than that for him to come out on top. An incredibly lopsided record vs. White-Ra may prove to be ClouD's biggest obstacle should he make it to day 3. DeMusliM Recently recruited by EG, DeMusliM has a significant fan base going into this tournament. Known for winning the 1st Homestory Cup and being one of the best European Terrans, DeMusliM is carrying a weight of expectations. A lack of top 3 finishes may give some a cause for concern, and so it should. However, it also means that there is a lot for DeMusliM to gain. As it is with all 12 players, top results will mean a big deal while an early exit, given the calibre of the competition, is nothing to be ashamed of. The next few days are going to be bring us a torrent of top-notch games. Check out the official IEM V Championship Finals schedule and set aside a few hours to watch Europe's best knock heads. ESL TV is the official stream for the tournament and ESL TV SC2 will be covering "additional StarCraft 2 matches". ESL also offers premium, higher quality streams which can be found, along with links to the free streams, on the same page as the schedule. The Championship Finals are here and the war is almost over. Tune in to watch the finale to IEM Season V and the crowning of a champion.

Daria Australia500 Posts January 20 2011 05:52 GMT #2 Should be a great tourney - thanks for the coverage

SmoKe93 Germany162 Posts January 20 2011 05:54 GMT #3 Looks incredibly promising!

ScaryOlive Canada121 Posts January 20 2011 05:54 GMT #4 Go White-Ra!!!

PartyBiscuit Canada4525 Posts January 20 2011 05:54 GMT #5 Oh man, I'm really hoping White-Ra and Socke can go deep in this just to keep the tournament a little interesting. That being said, go Sjow and DeMu!

Twistacles Canada1327 Posts January 20 2011 05:54 GMT #6 15 terran 5 toss 3 zerg 1 random Wow, that's gonna be an exciting tournament. good writeup, though!

Kimaker United States2131 Posts January 20 2011 05:55 GMT #7 Ouch >_< not a single zerg made it...that sucks. Ah well, here's hoping to some GG's! GO GO DEMUSLIM!!!! EG HWAITING!

T0fuuu Australia2275 Posts January 20 2011 05:56 GMT #8 It appears a certain race is missing from this finals

Klamity United States994 Posts January 20 2011 05:58 GMT #9 I'm rooting hard for white-ra in this one!

Djzapz Canada10681 Posts January 20 2011 05:59 GMT #10 I hope the winners get paid, that'd be really awesome. Duckload fighting!!!

ranjutan United States636 Posts January 20 2011 06:00 GMT #11 Sweet writeup Also- This shouldn't be too surprising considering the state of the European sc2 scene, but... 10 T, 2 P, 0!!! Z OMG

eieio United States14512 Posts January 20 2011 06:04 GMT #12 Great writeup! I haven't seen any of Naama's play since dreamhack; I'm really excited to see what he's doing these days. His tank marine pushes vs Mana were brutal. Additionally, anything with whitera is obviously a must watch. It's a little sad that there are no z's but such is life. Looking forward to watching this!

AngryJackB Congo83 Posts January 20 2011 06:22 GMT #13 Something is missing from this. Only MarineKingPrime can make TvT fun to watch, and Jinro. gogogoogo white-ra

Misanthrope United States924 Posts January 20 2011 06:24 GMT #14 Oh woohoo more Terran. I mean, go e-Sports and everything, but jesus this line up is absurd.

Juxx 325 Posts January 20 2011 06:27 GMT #15 can't wait to see the white load take it down!

Zim23 United States1681 Posts January 20 2011 06:32 GMT #16 That's a lotta Terran! Go White-Ra.

AngryJackB Congo83 Posts January 20 2011 06:32 GMT #17 The old protoss will show these terrans whats up.

KARnyge United States132 Posts January 20 2011 06:33 GMT #18 Wow talk about an extreme ratio of races. 10 Terran, 2 Protoss, and 0 Zergs. Not trying to spark a debate in anyway just an observation. Anyways Go Whit-Ra!

Buffy Sweden665 Posts January 20 2011 06:34 GMT #19 Jesus christ this article made me smile/cry out of happiness. Great read, and this tourney is going to be as awesome as, dont fucking know, to damn awesome to describe properly. GOOOOO Demuslim!

danson United States689 Posts January 20 2011 06:38 GMT #20 go demuslim!!! i hope he goes to korea in tip top shape, so idra can finally start getting some meaningful practice!

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