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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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On January 29 2011 20:08 Golden Ghost wrote:
Why is the top 4 of Kiev going there (and the top 5 from Asia) but only the top 2 from America?
The slots are distributed considering the results and appearance during the recent Intel Extreme Masters events and seasons.
Example. If the two Americans will be placed first and second in Hannover America would have more slots for future events.
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i think whitera really gave 3 games away
everyone knows he never makes phoenixes so hes open to drop harass for the _entire_ game, he never managed to stabilize 2 bases against sjows drop play which is a bit laughable imo
3rd game is xelnaga, almost undroppable that map
4th game he 4gates....
well it was late into the night but i was extremely underwhelmed by ra's performance in the final game
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On January 29 2011 19:51 DisaFear wrote:Poor White-Ra On the other hand, wow replays available for dl? Yay
"Poor Whitera"? Dude, it's okay if you're just not badass enough to not take FOUR tournaments in like 2 weeks. Even Whitera needs to deepen his medal repertoire! (with silvers!)
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This isnt a thread to talk about how OP terran is, its to talk about about Gosu sjow is. Ggs SJow I hope you make it into Korea and dominate to prove all your haters wrong
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On January 29 2011 20:32 ChickenLips wrote:
well it was late into the night but i was extremely underwhelmed by ra's performance in the final game
I kinda agree, it felt like he was trying to force something special against an extremely safe player.
Really really nice write-up btw 
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True.. he seemed really tired tough.. especially the three forcefields in his 4gate attempt in sjows base.. they seemed.. random.
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Poland375 Posts
On January 29 2011 20:08 Golden Ghost wrote:
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?
We don't have an even distribution of slots between continents. Normally we look at prior results in ESL competitions (and others if we believe it would give us a better idea of the region's strength) and assign a slot number arbitrarily.
For this season the Americas received 2 slots (remember IdrA is counted as an Asian since he lives there), Europe 4 and Asia 5. The last, or rather first, slot was to be won in the Global Challenge in Cologne.
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They should do something with terrans cuz 90% of all tournaments - terran players =\
We want to see more tosses and zerg :D
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Thanks for your clear answer Carmac & KiNGxXx. Looking forward to the finals. Also I didn't know that foreigners currently living in Korea would be counted as Asians. Good to know.
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On January 29 2011 19:47 Armada Vega wrote:Show nested quote +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.
Idra changed nationality? Last time I checked, USA was far from Europe.
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Good to see White-Ra is still in pretty good shape ! But i gotta say grats to Sjow it was his day
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there is a replaypack of (almost) all matches released on the esl site:
edit: sorry i was thinking of another cup :/
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On January 29 2011 19:49 Liquid`Nazgul wrote:
Sjow so good!
LiquidSjow, make it happen, go go go :D
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Sjow was so deserving. Did anyone see him vs. Socke? Quite the game!
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Fuck I was in Kiev the last two weeks and I didn't even know about it!!!
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GG's, I really hope he gets his money x_x
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On January 29 2011 21:29 Carmac wrote:Show nested quote +On January 29 2011 20:08 Golden Ghost wrote:
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? We don't have an even distribution of slots between continents. Normally we look at prior results in ESL competitions (and others if we believe it would give us a better idea of the region's strength) and assign a slot number arbitrarily. For this season the Americas received 2 slots (remember IdrA is counted as an Asian since he lives there), Europe 4 and Asia 5. The last, or rather first, slot was to be won in the Global Challenge in Cologne.
But Idra played the American Qualifier, why is he counted as korean now? Isn't that competitive distortion?
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On January 30 2011 07:49 arctics86 wrote:Show nested quote +On January 29 2011 21:29 Carmac wrote:On January 29 2011 20:08 Golden Ghost wrote:
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? We don't have an even distribution of slots between continents. Normally we look at prior results in ESL competitions (and others if we believe it would give us a better idea of the region's strength) and assign a slot number arbitrarily. For this season the Americas received 2 slots (remember IdrA is counted as an Asian since he lives there), Europe 4 and Asia 5. The last, or rather first, slot was to be won in the Global Challenge in Cologne. But Idra played the American Qualifier, why is he counted as korean now? Isn't that competitive distortion?
Are you sure he played the qualifier? He was not in the online group stage http://www.esl-world.net/masters/season5/america_sc2/ , i don't know how the amaricans qualified for the online group stage but sounds strange that Idra didn't manage to qualifie there.
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Incredibly impressive performance by Sjow, keep up the good work!
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On January 30 2011 02:42 Nimic wrote:LiquidSjow, make it happen, go go go :D
How about LiquidWhite-Ra ?
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On January 30 2011 11:31 hitman133 wrote:Show nested quote +On January 30 2011 02:42 Nimic wrote:On January 29 2011 19:49 Liquid`Nazgul wrote:
Sjow so good! LiquidSjow, make it happen, go go go :D How about LiquidWhite-Ra ?
Neither LiquidSjow or LiquidRa looks nice ^^
Would like to see more Sjow vs Ra games tho 
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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.
Lol ya T only has the really good players .. idra ret july as good as any imo
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Must have been an exciting tournament, 10/12 players being terran and all.
But on a more serious note, with this win especially, I think Sjow is definitely going to be accepted into the GOM house, since he is confirmed to have applied
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How did MorroW get seeded into the World Finals? I don't even see him in this tournament.
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On January 31 2011 06:32 Kazzabiss wrote:
How did MorroW get seeded into the World Finals? I don't even see him in this tournament.
He won IEM Global Challange in Cologne.
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Anyone got an animated gif of the players walking up the stage with the song DMX - party up in here? That was so funny.. especially white ra xD
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EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/IEM/IEMEUFinals_banner.jpg)
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