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[IEM] European Finals Recap
January 29th, 2011 08:05 GMT
Sjow holds up a much deserved prize and his ticket to the World Championship Finals
The European Championship Finals concluded last weekend. After four days of gaming SjoW emerged as the European Champion, White-Ra as the runner-up, DeMusliM as the bronze medallist, and Tarson as the 4th place finisher. By placing in the top four, these players have qualified for IEM's World Championship Finals. On March 1st,  SjoW,  White-Ra, DeMusliM, Tarson,  MorroW, Fenix, QXC, and 5 players from Asia who have yet to qualify will battle it out over 5 days at the World Championship Finals in Hannover, Germany.
Angry that your favorite player hasn't been invited to Hannover? Wondering how Fenix, Qxc, and MorroW qualified? Check out Liquipedia's great IEM section to bone up on the World Championship Finals qualification process that started in 2010.
Sjow finished the tournament 16-2 with an amazing 11 game TvT winning streak. Only the two Protoss players were able to take games from him. After losing a very one-sided game to Socke (the German Protoss who knocked Sjow out of the 2nd Homestory Cup) in the Group Stage, Sjow barely managed to win the rubber by destroying Socke's last nexus when the Protoss was under 400 minerals. In this final game the double edged aggression that Sjow wielded so well throughout the tournament, and won the finals with, came back to cut him and almost cost him the game. This was the closest Sjow came to losing a series. In TvT, as the record indicates, he completely dominated.
Tensions run high as the games go late into the night
In the finals, Sjow denied the aggression White-Ra had used to overwhelm his other Terran opponents by being the first to pressure and sustaining relentless aggression. With beautiful execution Sjow harassed, dropped, and multi-prong attacked his way to victory. Besides the unfortunate internet hiccuped in game 2, the finals ran smoothly past midnight and provided some of the most exciting games of the tournament. Replays for the Sjow vs. White-Ra finals can be found here.
For the group stage as a whole, there were little to no upsets. White-Ra cleaned up the Terrans in Group A, losing only to the TSL3 qualifier, Kas (2-0). GoOdy, currently tied for 2nd place in the TL Open point rankings, had a good showing as well. In the group stage he only lost one match and that was to Sjow, the TvT juggernaut. In the quarterfinals, he came 1 game away from taking out DeMusliM and qualifying for IEM's World Championship Finals. For the newer players like Merz and PredY the big stage, big tournament experience has undoubtedly hardened them for future events, something essential if they play against veterans like Tarson or White-Ra again. In any case, I'm sure they, and all the players who went to Kiev are now much more confident (or at least learned) in TvT or PvT.
It was a great 2010 for ESL. The IEM Cologne and IEM NYC tournaments were both hugely entertaining and successful. In 2011, ESL continues to live up to their world class reputation. The streams, commentators, and production value in Kiev were excellent from the 20th through to the end. I am very much looking forward to the World Championship Finals in March.
For replays go to ESL's Group Stage page and Playoffs page.For each game, click on the 'vs.' to get the replays and full match information. All pictures used from the event, and more, can be found in ESL's gallery.
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Cool, thanks for the writeup
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7/8 Terran in GSL, with T winner.
6/8 Terran in IEM, with T winner.
Let's see how long this trend continues.
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more good EU terrans maybe ?
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On January 29 2011 17:12 jdseemoreglass wrote:
7/8 Terran in GSL, with T winner.
6/8 Terran in IEM, with T winner.
Let's see how long this trend continues.
Wat? There were 4 terrans in GSL Ro8.
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There wasn't even a single zerg player TT
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On January 29 2011 17:17 bks wrote:Show nested quote +On January 29 2011 17:12 jdseemoreglass wrote:
7/8 Terran in GSL, with T winner.
6/8 Terran in IEM, with T winner.
Let's see how long this trend continues. Wat? There were 4 terrans in GSL Ro8.
Final fours of code A and code S.
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oo where did you get that 7/8
mvp vs tester
mkp vs nada
jinro vs idra
nestea vs choya
that's 4 terran 2 z 2 P
EU is very very Terran heavy though. All their tournaments are basically TvTs top 8 since the beginning of time. Only White-Ra , Nani, Socke and Dimaga when he does not feel like allin-ning break the stranglehold sometimes.
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On January 29 2011 17:17 bks wrote:Show nested quote +On January 29 2011 17:12 jdseemoreglass wrote:
7/8 Terran in GSL, with T winner.
6/8 Terran in IEM, with T winner.
Let's see how long this trend continues. Wat? There were 4 terrans in GSL Ro8.
GSL January
Code S
IMNesTea = Z
MVP = T
MarineKing = T
Jinro = T
Code A
TOP = T
sC = T
Bleach = T
Lyn = T
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On January 29 2011 17:20 jdseemoreglass wrote:Show nested quote +On January 29 2011 17:17 bks wrote:On January 29 2011 17:12 jdseemoreglass wrote:
7/8 Terran in GSL, with T winner.
6/8 Terran in IEM, with T winner.
Let's see how long this trend continues. Wat? There were 4 terrans in GSL Ro8. GSL January Code SIMNesTea = Z MVP = T MarineKing = T Jinro = T Code ATOP = T sC = T Bleach = T Lyn = T
Thats not how the GSL works...
On top of that, its not as much the fact that terran is imba. Its just the REALLY good players right now are terran.
Anyway, lets not get this discussion going again.
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On January 29 2011 17:23 GeneralissimoNero wrote:Show nested quote +On January 29 2011 17:20 jdseemoreglass wrote:On January 29 2011 17:17 bks wrote:On January 29 2011 17:12 jdseemoreglass wrote:
7/8 Terran in GSL, with T winner.
6/8 Terran in IEM, with T winner.
Let's see how long this trend continues. Wat? There were 4 terrans in GSL Ro8. GSL January Code SIMNesTea = Z MVP = T MarineKing = T Jinro = T Code ATOP = T sC = T Bleach = T Lyn = T Thats not how the GSL works... On top of that, its not as much the fact that terran is imba. Its just the REALLY good players right now are terran. Anyway, lets not get this discussion going again.
No one said terran is imba. I simply said it is an obvious trend. And yeah, that was how the GSL worked...
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Sjow raped so hard in this tournament. :O Only two games dropped overall.
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On January 29 2011 17:26 jdseemoreglass wrote:Show nested quote +On January 29 2011 17:23 GeneralissimoNero wrote:On January 29 2011 17:20 jdseemoreglass wrote:On January 29 2011 17:17 bks wrote:On January 29 2011 17:12 jdseemoreglass wrote:
7/8 Terran in GSL, with T winner.
6/8 Terran in IEM, with T winner.
Let's see how long this trend continues. Wat? There were 4 terrans in GSL Ro8. GSL January Code SIMNesTea = Z MVP = T MarineKing = T Jinro = T Code ATOP = T sC = T Bleach = T Lyn = T Thats not how the GSL works... On top of that, its not as much the fact that terran is imba. Its just the REALLY good players right now are terran. Anyway, lets not get this discussion going again. No one said terran is imba. I simply said it is an obvious trend. And yeah, that was how the GSL worked...
Code A are players seeded 33-64th. 33-36 is not part of top 8.
Code A grand prize is the same as placing last in Code S.
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Don't make assumptions on race balance from this tournament, the qualification was played shortly after IEM cologne and therefor before all the terran nerfs.
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Yeah Europe is really terran (and protoss) heavy. It's not often that I'm on ladder and run into a zerg. I play Protoss myself but I really wished alot of people started playing Zerg.
Ah well... Time will make this right. The game still is fairly new.
GL SjoW. Hope you can do well at the international championship. At least there we will see on Zerg (MorroW)
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On January 29 2011 17:17 Silverymoon wrote:There wasn't even a single zerg player TT - Rawr 
Yeah, but if Idra was there I think he could have had a really big chance of winning.
I'm not sure how EU pros think of the zerg race or think its easy to beat. I'm also not sure how many zerg pros there are in EU. There is a possibility that the players in this tournament are just not facing top zerg on a regular basis, a chance for a korean zerg to take advantage?
Don't be depressed, I think its just a faze. Soon more zergs will show up 
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Poor White-Ra 
On the other hand, wow replays available for dl? Yay
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Was a good tournament to watch.
One question about the IEM World Championship.
Why is the top 4 of Kiev going there (and the top 5 from Asia) but only the top 2 from America?
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EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/IEM/IEMEUFinals_banner.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/IEM/IEMEUFinals_top.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/Xxio/IEMV/CHampion.jpg)
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![[image loading]](/staff/Xxio/IEMV/Group_B_aaaa.png)
![[image loading]](/staff/Xxio/IEMV/Sjow2.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/Xxio/IEMV/WhiteRa2.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/Xxio/IEMV/1111.png)
