ESWC Masters of 2008?

It is almost like Christmas, waiting for something extra special. It is that time of year where more than 350 progamers from around the globe find their way to Paris, France. All eager to perform and with the desire to win the progamers have always made ESWC something special, but there is different this year.

Changing lanes

This year, the ESWC Grand Finals will not take place in the French capital of Paris. For the first time in ESWC history, the grand finals will take place in San Jose, USA. Did ESWC make the right call by moving to a new continent, or was it simply a fact that they had no other choice due to sponsorships? Never the less, Paris will not miss hosting ESWC in 2008. As a special gift this year, ESWC decided to host the ESWC Masters on European soil. the reason behind the decision of hosting ESWC Masters remains unknown, but  the organizers will not forget the 5000 fully-energized fans from last years ESWC final between PGS and NoA.

Is it really that difficult?

Earlier this year we saw that the title-holders from last year had to re-qualify for this years ESWC Grand Finals. The Polish 1.6 team from PGS changed to MYM and got caught by an odd and earlier unseen rule, forcing them to re-qualify. Making it even more difficult for MYM, the Polish ESWC national qualifier collided with the KODE5 Global Finals which the team had already qualified for. MYM went to Russia to conquer the KODE5 trophy, but got beaten to it by several teams and placed fourth. The Americans from Evil Geniuses were also stuck with a choice of KODE5 or the American qualifier for ESWC, as both events took place during same weekend. This is the absolute last chance for MYM and Evil Geniuses to qualify for ESWC Grand Finals 2008.

After several years of events colliding, events still continue to plan their event on top of already scheduled events. It used to be ESWC and CPL colliding over the summer, fighting to get the most top teams to attend their event. Now that CPL dropped threw in the towel and totally gave up, it should prevent events from colliding? But no, for a fact that is not the case and it is a pity when we continue seeing events close down, we clearly need all the events we can get in this industry. Should planning really be the toughest aspect we have to worry about in professional eSport?

Throwing a spanner into the works

Joining the race for a berth to ESWC Grand Finals 2008, are Danish and Finnish teams.

Denmark and Finland both lacked a national qualifier for ESWC this year. The fact that the Grand Finals would take place in USA, made the expenses for the organisations arranging the qualifiers go up a notch. Was this the reason for the previous organisations to drop out and not organise a national qualifier this year, or is there more to it than just numbers?
This has for a fact forced at least four teams to seek the last possible way for them to qualify for ESWC Grand Finals 2008. Excello, mTw, roccat and Spirit of Amiga are all in Paris fight out the last opportunity to attend the ESWC Grand Finals in San Jose, USA.

Practice and cash

Several of the teams attending ESWC Masters have already qualified for the Grand Finals in San Jose. Attending for the practice and the cash to grab would be the only concerns these teams should have. But there is more to it.

While some of the biggest names in 1.6 have already qualified, we missing a few big names for the Grand Finals of 2008. Will the already-qualified teams put an end to the dream for the teams attempting to qualify? With the groups announced earlier this week, we can already now draw a picture of want can possible go wrong.

Teams already qualified – fnatic, mibr, Alternate, mousesports, SK Gaming (additional two French teams will qualify from French qualifier taking place Friday).

Hot names yet to qualify – roccat, MYM, mTw, Evil Geniuses, e-STRO

Already before tournament kick-off; one of these teams will not be qualifying for the 2008 Grand Finals. Evil Geniuses, e-STRO and mTw ended up in the same group and only two teams can advance from the group stage to the playoffs. roccat also ended up in a group where things could go many ways. With fnatic, mibr and SoA, this group is almost a repetition of the group stage at Extreme Masters II finals (where mousesports was playing, here it is dimension4). We all remember what happened at the back then, where roccat and SoA advanced in front of fnatic and mibr, time for revenge or a repetition of what happened last time?

The teams yet to qualify might even miss out qualifying by being beaten by one of the already qualified teams. There is a berth to ESWC Grand Finals 2008 for the top3 finishing team, who  have not already qualified. It is tricky to figure out who will make the cut and who will get caught up in the middle and go home empty handed.

It all comes down to this event actually being the Masters of 2008. There is more at stake than just pride, honour and big checks. Put all of the aspects mentioned above and go figure out what’s REALLY at stake at ESWC Masters in Paris, France.