Groups for ICSC 8 finals drawn

4-7-2011 22:56

The groups for the Intel Challenge Super Cup 8 finals in Kiev this weekend have been drawn.

Season eight of the ICSC was influenced by a lot of team dropouts in the later part of the tournament, which made the league lose a bit of the glamour it had established by attracting the majority of the European elite.

The second group stage concluded last week and up next is the finals, which will take place July 9-10 (this weekend), at the Kiev CyberSport Arena. Despite qualifying in top spot of their group, TCM-Gaming will not make it to Kiev, which is the second season in a row for the Danish squad.

Craig "walkah" Walker, running management at TCM-Gaming, explained the reason to why the team won't travel to Kiev:

"Unfortunately we are the latest team to drop out of Season 8 of the Intel Challenge Super Cup. Although we made every effort to make ourselves available for the event, the two date options given by the organisers clashed with holidays of 2 different players. We will be looking towards preparing for GameGune, pending our invite of course."

This left two spots open for the finals, as fnatic last week had announced they too wouldn't make it. This made the organizers bring third placed teams in Group A and D, the two Russian teams Virtus.pro and Moscow Five.

The groups for the finals were drawn today and the groups are as follows:

Group A	Group B
SK Gaming	ESC Gaming
Frag eXecutors	Moscow Five
KerchNET	ROCCAT
tao	Virtus.pro

Just like the online stage of the season, teams will play each other twice in the group stage. Top placed teams in the two groups will advance directly to the semi-finals, while second placed team will play third placed teams from opposite groups. The eight teams will be fighting for a piece of the $10,000 prize purse, which will be split between top three finishers:

1. $5,000
2. $3,000
3. $2,000

The schedule for the ICSC 8 finals, which will span over two days, have been drawn out as below:

Saturday
10:00	SK Gaming	vs.	KerchNET
10:00	Frag eXecutors	vs.	tao
10:00	ESC Gaming	vs.	Moscow Five
10:00	ROCCAT	vs.	Virtus.pro
12:00	SK Gaming	vs.	tao
12:00	KerchNET	vs.	Frag eXecutors
12:00	Moscow Five	vs.	Virtus.pro
12:00	ESC Gaming	vs.	ROCCAT
14:00	SK Gaming	vs.	Frag eXecutors
14:00	KerchNET	vs.	tao
14:00	Moscow Five	vs.	ROCCAT
14:00	Virtus.pro	vs.	ESC Gaming
17:00	A3	vs.	B2
17:00	A2	vs.	B3

Sunday
10:00	A1	vs.	A3/B2
13:00	B1	vs.	A2/B3
17:00	Third place decider
17:00	Grand Final

You will be able to follow all of the action from the ICSC 8 finals right here on HLTV.org, starting from 10:00 on Saturday.

go SK & ESC ;)

2011-07-04 22:59

10 replies

Agreed :) ESC & SK GoGoGo! ;)

2011-07-04 23:24

SK will take this!:D gl

2011-07-04 23:46

2 replies

easy

2011-07-05 09:30

1 reply

hopefully, but not easy

2011-07-05 13:59

group A fx win and B esc win

2011-07-05 01:53

4 replies

Fx is playing very bad so SK take it.

2011-07-05 10:33

3 replies

Not at all, didn't you hear that FX let moscow 5 win the match? Because FX wanted to check some new things on de_tuscan. :) If it's true they're not as weak as I expect. We'll see how low or high form they have at this tournament soon.

2011-07-05 11:20

just cuz ur testing some new things doesnt mean ur letting them win lol

2011-07-05 12:40

dude believe it or not they practice to check things on de_tuscan, take down your fanboy glasses... And afterall its one match on de_tuscan but if something weird doesn't happen with SK they should crush FX

2011-07-06 02:41

SK & M5

2011-07-05 08:53

fx !

2011-07-04 22:56

So awesome to see the old ROCCAT tag again. :)

yeah so awesome..yeah

2011-07-04 23:03

14:00 SK Gaming vs. Frag eXecutors EPIC !!!

2011-07-04 22:58

9 replies

mrrrr :D

2011-07-04 23:15

++++++++

2011-07-04 23:20

first match FX vs new SK?

2011-07-04 23:21

Yes

2011-07-04 23:30

with delphan yes.

2011-07-05 13:24

they already won against SK with allen and with dennis, first match after Delpan

2011-07-05 18:41

EPIC I dunno its funnier when its LAN matches =(

match and revenge :]

2011-07-07 14:17

SK wins.

SK vs FX...waiting for that game!

SK win, FX is out of best shape :/

2011-07-04 23:07

8 replies

SK is better anyway imo :D

2011-07-04 23:17

5 replies

2011-07-04 23:18

with Delpan yes

2011-07-04 23:19

we'll see, now I hope for FX despite delpan in SK, FX could defeat Na'Vi, Na'Vi could defeat SK so I think these teams are so close.

2011-07-05 11:25

FX did so good against Na'Vi in the final of IEM... I almost fell asleep cause you knew from first 5-10 rounds that Na'Vi was the better team and they'll take it no matter what FX do.. And SK were very close to defeating FX then and they look 5times better with Delpan now... They look awesome to be honest and I can't see FX touching them, ESC has more chance

2011-07-06 02:43

The main thing for FX is to kill Delpan at the beggining of the round, than they can do their job :) And about SK, one tournament don't make them awesome team, just look at fnatic for example at the begining of the year. But i agree that they "looks" strong at the moment.

2011-07-06 10:36

It's bo1, anything can happen. I'm hopping for a win or a tie for SK

2011-07-04 23:26

oh common...

2011-07-04 23:34

sick matches

TCM ?!

2011-07-04 23:00

Gonna be in Spain : (

wait, what?

2011-07-04 23:05

7 replies

hes gonna be in spain, so he cant watch the mathces.. holidays, you know? trips?

2011-07-04 23:09

6 replies

Ty for helping me not to explain that easy thing for him : )

2011-07-05 00:54

sorreh bro:P

2011-07-05 15:10

Why do you apologize? Im glad you did it instead of me : p Saved some time ^^

2011-07-05 16:25

dunno, your reply earlier made you seem you were pissed for me spoiling the troll or sumthing;D

2011-07-05 17:35

No, I was just thankful : p

2011-07-05 20:37

lol, i didn't understand that because he didn't say im gonna be in spain.. and btw no one cares where he'l be :P

2011-07-05 13:06

find there any c@fe and watch it XD

2011-07-04 23:31

Very nice group for ESC

not really. they got two good opponents in roccat and m5, while tao and knet aren't that good..

Fx vs. roccat for the 1st place, Sk vs. ESC for the 3rd

SK vs ESC/ROCCAT FOR 1ST place...

lmao @ swedish troll fx won all lan games vs sk this year dude...

2011-07-04 23:10

before delpan

True ;)

dennis > delpan any day so it's even worse now.

2011-07-04 23:32

awp -> delpan > dennis by miles and miles now when robban has dropped the awp(which he never really were any good at), he can focus 100% at the igl role. that's why they're so much better with delpan than with dennis/allen. the've been in need of an above average awp for a long time. ;)

2011-07-04 23:52

ahaha :( obviously every child knows delpan > dennis easy You only post it becasue you want to make people think that fx won stronger sk a few months ago :( but with delpan they > fx easly nicetry. don't want any conversations with you that's my point. bye.

Actually all the kids think Delpan is any good so...

2011-07-05 11:57

dude u missed a few years of CS? Delpan is up there with markeloff as the best sniper in the world and you haven't seen SK lately huh? they'll piss on FX

2011-07-06 02:44

Keep dreaming

SK and Roccat FTW!

2011-07-04 23:02

< ICSC 3

waiting for SK VS FX will be very interseting :P

Roccat is back? who's the lineup?

BASiC - lurrpis - naSu - plastE - aslak

BASiC,plastE,lurrpis,aslak,naSu

2011-07-04 23:06

If FX regain form, I am sure that the match will be aligned, and only luck will be decided on who will win this match, because their game is actually quite low on the absence of the game for some time due to injury Loord. However, I am rather FX, I hope they manage to not only win the SK in the group stage, but win ICSC 8! :) Aggrrr. Group A: 1. FX 2. SK 3. KerchNET 4. tao Group B: 1. ESC Gaming 2. ROCCAT 3. Moscow Five 4. Virtus.pro GL FX ! :)

i hope that FX will win to:) gogo FX gl ROCCAT

Group A: 1. SK 2. KerchNET 3. FX 4. tao Group B: 1. ESC Gaming 2. ROCCAT 3. Moscow Five 4. Virtus.pro

fuuu hater.

2011-07-05 09:54

no mTw?

hltv.org/news/7032-mtw-withdraw-from-ics..

2011-07-04 23:11

tnx

Group A: 1.SK-Gaming 2.Frag Executors 3.KerchNET 4.tao Group B: 1.ROCCAT 2.Moscow Five 3.ESC-GAMING 4.Virtus.pro

Group A: 1.SK-Gaming 2.Frag Executors 3.tao 4.KerchNET Group B: 1.ROCCAT 2.Moscow Five 3.ESC-GAMING 4.Virtus.pro

2011-07-05 01:26

:) i havent seen KerchNET playing against tao, but i think that KerchNET can win over tao, but still we'll see.

2011-07-05 13:07

nice teams anyway! looking forward to this.

SK gaming for sure!!!!

GL ROCCAT!

GoGo ROCCAT!

SK vs roccat for 1st place, FX vs ESC for 3rd.

SK vs FX incoming!

2011-07-04 23:08

ROCCAT!

A: 1.FX 2.SK B: 1.ECS 2.M5 FX>M5 SK>ECS Grand Final: FX>SK

Did you read this news?

2011-07-04 23:23

ECS? I noticed you wrote it once, and thought it was just a mistake, but when you wrote it twice, then i started to wonder :D it's ESC btw ;)

3 teams advance from each group...

2011-07-05 00:21

roccat vs fx final!!

if neo is not on fire it will be walk in the park for sk

2011-07-04 23:14

With lava on the floor in the park sure.

2011-07-05 13:34

Where's Na'Vi? ;O Am I missing sumthin?

hltv.org/news/6759-navi-skip-icsc-8

2011-07-04 23:22

so V frag-executors.com/upload/142471633.jpg

keyboard brand or name ?

2011-07-05 01:17

idk, this is neo keyboard frag-executors.com/upload/1884337772.jpg

2011-07-05 13:19

ok Ty anyway :)

2011-07-05 13:25

i'm pretty sure SK will be in the final, but the other finalist is harder to guess

Group A: 1. SK 2. FX Group B: 1. M5 2. ESC SK will take this:)

group B +1. Something really tells me that m5 are gonna surprise us all again.

2011-07-05 00:45

yeah:D

2011-07-05 00:49

14:00 SK vs FX The match we've all been waiting for.

2011-07-04 23:25

14:00 SK Gaming vs. Frag eXecutors Yeah, I'm waiting for this match ! If Frag Executors win this match, I will start to jump with happiness :D

wow, group A is much stronger than group B oh well, gl KerchNET and VP

2011-07-04 23:40

SK Gaming ESC Gaming Frag eXecutors Moscow Five

go SK <333

A.SK, FX B.ESC, M5

2011-07-04 23:41

wow, very nice, really looking forward to it..

Let's The the Reaction of FX ! Hope to be a good game vs SK !!! Hope so FX will be in second place becouse is team which loses from some NOOBS :S Let's see if they repeat that mistake or not ;)

2011-07-04 23:54

roccat

go go M5, surprise us ;)

2011-07-04 23:56

gogom5

2011-07-04 23:57

SK FX, Esc m5/roccat

2011-07-04 23:58

gl MODDII

2011-07-04 23:59

I think SK is going to win this..

2011-07-05 00:00

roccat linup?

2011-07-05 00:05

gl KerchNET

2011-07-05 00:09

ROCCAT FTW its rape time biatches

2011-07-05 00:10

I hate when players say: "Huh, sorry, we can't play cause we have holidays" This is your fucking work, just do it, without crying. Thank you. p.s. no, I'm not mad.

2011-07-05 00:14

I think SK will win it, but we should see some interesting matches in SK-FX, ROCCAT-M5, ROCCAT-ESC, ESC-M5 :D

#86 : BASiC,aslak,plastE,naSu,lurrpis @ Topic I would not be surprised if FX take the whole tournament. I think that they are in really good shape now but they have let go the matches agains old palsit and M5. I think that FX fans (and me) should be prepared to say FX POWER once they WIN :) From where I know FX is in a good shape?? Loord's Words From an Interview before EPS Poland Final: "Pytanie: Trudny temat - DreamHack. Wasza "slaba forma" byla tylko jedna z przyczyn, braku waszego uczestnictwa w turnieju, prawda? Odpowiedz: Niestety nie moge; udzielic; prawdomównej odpowiedzi na to pytanie. Nasza forma jest taka, ze moglibysmy namieszac; w TOP3, zreszta jak na kazdym innym turnieju. Takze niech nie zmylaja Was nasze ostatnie wyniki !!" In English :D "Question:Tough case - DreamHack. Your teams "bad shape" was only one of the reasons of you missing the tournament, was it? Answer: Unfortunately I cannot tell a truth answer to this question. Our shape now is so good that we could stir the TOP3, like on any other tournament. Do not get fooled by our last poor performance !!" ThankYou and prepare for surprise from FX :)

2011-07-05 00:18

gl for all,but fx will win

2011-07-05 00:20

ESC & ROCCAT

2011-07-05 00:34

GO GO SK; <3 f0restwOw~

2011-07-05 00:37

GO FX POWAH ! GL M5 ! :) GO NEO !

2011-07-05 01:05

hmm i think sk will take this ... but i hope in FX beacouse they have neo and i hate gtr !!! Gl both team FX POWER

2011-07-05 01:07

Where is TCM?

2011-07-05 01:13

Read the news.

2011-07-05 02:22

They will play two BO1 or one BO2?

2011-07-05 01:24

One map.

2011-07-05 01:25

roccat very easy

2011-07-05 01:27

So they will play one map two times against each other? Directly in succession?

Hope FX will own SK hard.

2011-07-05 01:36

i would like to see ROCCAT in the finals :S been so long since ROCCAT tag has shown up

2011-07-05 01:54

Go Go Fx Grand Final SK-Gaming 1 VS 2 Frag eXecutors

2011-07-05 02:10

haha this is great, now we finally get to see M5 against ESC but sadly the first match is only bo1 and can go either way. we can also see a rematch between M5 and paistit and decide which team is the best on lan.

2011-07-05 02:34

KAMAN SK ! SK GAMING IS BELIEVING , so face , f0rest ,robban , delpan and get right i belive in you guys ! TAKE no 1

2011-07-05 03:00

GO Fx ! :)

2011-07-05 03:06

Go =[ROCCAT-PLASTE]=

2011-07-05 03:19

what's the point of writing the top2 of each group when obviously the top 3 advances. A 1. SK 2. FX 3. KerchNET B 1. M5 2. ESC 3. Virtus.pro FX > Virtus.pro KerchNET < ESC FX > M5 SK > ESC FX > SK (I think when it really matters FX will be better but I would not be surprised to see SK win in the group stage) ESC < M5 1. FX 2. SK 3. M5

2011-07-05 03:20

M5 win this tourament

2011-07-05 09:32

fx vs sk it will be graet match I will be supporting fx, but imo sk is better at the moment.

good luck ROCCAT

2011-07-05 03:31

new VP suck !

2011-07-05 03:56

gl M5... I was waiting for ESC-M5 match from DH Summer 2011,, finally I would see them in action :)

2011-07-05 05:39

sk vs fx, omg. sk 16;0 beat fx on tuscan :D

2011-07-05 05:56

1.$7000 2.$2000 3.$1000 for me this prizes is better :DD -GL ESC GAMiNG <3333333333

2011-07-05 06:53

gl M5,Fx

2011-07-05 07:27

easycake4SK ;)

2011-07-05 07:44

is it twice or just once they gonna play each other? it says twice but the schedule only showing they will play once?

2011-07-05 08:03

I love SK! Sk gogogogogogo! ) sk-fan.ucoz.ru(c)

2011-07-05 08:15

FX ofc

2011-07-05 08:47

a real test for sk now.....lets see how forest deals with neo and co..... fx frag dominant really.....and when players like taz kuben and pasha gives some support to neo...very few clans can defeat them

2011-07-05 08:56

good to see...clans from russia are coming out good.... good luck and happy fragging to m5 and virtus pro

2011-07-05 08:59

1. SK 2. KerchNET 3. FX 4. tao 1. ESC 2. ROCCAT 3. M5 4. Virtus.rpo Wait for it ;)

2011-07-05 09:01

3.M5? ahahhahah

2011-07-05 09:31

yes? If you say its not possible then youre just another blind fanboy. Esc, roccat > m5

2011-07-05 10:04

saying roccat > M5 makes no sense to me to be honest. roccat has shown some good matches online but M5 is amazing on lan. they are among the strongest teams in the world so I highly doubt roccat will stand a chance against them, on lan that is.

2011-07-05 10:10

these guys from finland have never been bad on lan. finnish teams usually suck online and play good on lan. M5 can make upsets against really good teams but i think theyll have a harder time vs less known teams

2011-07-05 10:20

you base this on what? perhaps against imba russian semi-pro teams but not against internationally known teams (16-4 vs x6tence, 16-8 vs TCM, etc)

2011-07-05 10:23

i base it on my 12 years of experience playing this game. i watched that tcm game live at DH. tcm had a standin and nobody said a word. they were like a pug. only friis doing damage. and x6? come on :D M5 is good when theyre on a roll. When they hit a brick they suck

2011-07-05 10:25

haha well apparently you are new because finnish teams (along with germany teams) have a reputation for failing badly when playing in russia or ukraine. for many years the best team from finland went to asus and esl cups in russia and they often didn't even get past the first group stage losing against completely unknown russian teams. latest performance of power-gaming at lan: hltv.org/?pageid=216&eventid=719&groupin.. (they didn't win a single match in a group with ultimo znation and destiny, didn't get past 1st group stage)

2011-07-05 17:00

SK WIN!

2011-07-05 09:07

where is TCM? :|

2011-07-05 09:12

"Despite qualifying in top spot of their group, TCM-Gaming will not make it to Kiev, which is the second season in a row for the Danish squad."

2011-07-09 01:59

GOGOGO tao and SK Gaming!!!

2011-07-05 09:20

i'm sure that m5 and esc will win their group

2011-07-05 09:22

This will be exciting matches! ...good luck Frag eXecutors!

2011-07-05 09:28

M5 vs SK / FX epic!!!!

gogogogo SK AND M5

2011-07-05 10:05

I think group b is very interesting. I think roccat will finish last in their group and M5 will top the group and I'm especially looking forward to ESC vs M5. Finally we can see who is the nr5 in the world.

2011-07-05 10:18

I think youre wrong.

2011-07-06 03:20

dreamteam?

2011-07-05 10:34

hltv.org/?pageid=236&ref=quickmenu

2011-07-09 01:56

m5, virtuspro gogogo!

2011-07-05 11:11

GOOOO FX <333333333333333333

gl all russian teams

well can u guys help me with this misconception .. i saw one online game between sk and virtus.pro held recently....which sk won 16-7.. i saw sk's pings were 20-25 but virtus's was 40s or above sometimes 55-60 are they playing separately from their home or sk are playing from sweden and virtus.pro from russia???

2011-07-05 11:40

sk playing in swe, VP in russia. Next matches is on lan, there they will have approx. the same latency.

2011-07-05 22:02

Gl virtus! time to beat m5!

2011-07-05 12:13

SK&M5 go go gl

2011-07-05 12:57

SK vs M5 final, SK win

2011-07-05 13:58

Let's see what we will show by Suomi on LAN. I think M5 versus SK-gaming will be in the final. M5 will highly trained, today they go to Kiev for boot camp

2011-07-05 14:11

Group A: 1. SK 2. FX 3. tao Group B: 1. ESC Gaming 2. Moscow Five 3. ROCCAT (hope)

2011-07-05 14:24

Frag Executors go;)

Neo will explain something ;) at SK~

2011-07-05 14:27

A | fX sk knet B | esc roccat m5

2011-07-05 14:28

annyway good teams

2011-07-05 14:34

SK FX Final

2011-07-05 14:38

2 exams on monday. But who cares, I get to see FX, SK and moscow 5! :D

2011-07-05 14:46

SK vs ROCCAT will be the final match n the hottest one :D GL

2011-07-05 14:59

FX may win tournament even if they will be in 3rd position in group :) but gl vs SK, vs kerchnet and tao should be easier, but not easy.

2011-07-05 15:06

FXFXFXFXFXFXFFX!!!

2011-07-05 15:19

12:00 ESC vs M5 14:00 M5 vs Virtus.pro 16:00 SK vs FX this is more interesting matches for me

2011-07-05 16:03

Go ESC and roccat!

2011-07-05 16:19

i'd love to see ROCCAT vs ESC at the final to stop a little bit with the monopolism.. gl.

2011-07-05 16:41

GL SK

2011-07-05 16:48

KerchNet Go GO GO !!!

2011-07-05 16:51

SK Gaming vs. KerchNET ESC Gaming vs. Moscow Five KerchNET vs. Frag eXecutors ESC Gaming vs. ROCCAT SK Gaming vs. Frag eXecutors Moscow Five vs. ROCCAT Epic matches

2011-07-05 17:39

gl knet, m5, roccat

2011-07-05 18:06

Group A: SK FX Group B: ESC Roccat/M5

2011-07-05 18:53

nice finals, gl M5 and ROCCAT

2011-07-05 20:21

gl Knet gl FX gl Hooch

2011-07-05 20:42

Semi finals: SK Gaming vs. Moscow Five ESC Gaming vs. Frag eXecutors Final: SK Gaming vs. Frag eXecutors But who knows... Maybe ESC Gaming win against FX and join the final... GL & HF

2011-07-05 20:44