Sai Wins CEPL Qualifier.
The finals for the "knock-out" phase of the CEPL qualifiers conclued on Jan. 08, 2011 with Sai in first place. As previously listed: here, the CEPL qualifiers consisted of 10 rounds of individual matches, followed by a 256 seat "knock-out" tournament. Since full coverage this tournament would be unwieldy, this article will only cover the "knock-out" portion of the qualifier.
1. Big Name Losess; Unorthodox Play
Plenty of well-known players fell to unknowns during the "knock-out" rounds after "off-racing" and engaging in highly unorthodox strategies. Notable collapses in the round of 256 included TeD, who was hellbent on tower-rushing:
LAOT 2:0 TeD LAOT 1:0TeDVG Replay LAOT 2:0TeDSV Replay
Yumiko's games also featured some oddball strategies. In game one, his opponent, Moonstarer, opted for hippogryph riders. In game two, Yumiko opened with a 3-AoW rush:
Moonstarer 2:0 Yumiko Moonstarer 1:0YumikoVG Replay Moonstarer 2:0YumikoSV Replay
The round of 64 saw the addition of Infi's name among the ranks of the eliminated. The former 2009 WCG winner, employed two highly unorthodox Night Elf openings, including a proxy AoW attack:
APM_STAR 2:1 Infi apm_Star 1:0InfiDFReplay apm_Star 1:1InfiTSReplay apm_Star 2:1InfiEIReplay
Finally, TH000 was eliminated during the round of 32 after "off-racing" as Undead. In both games, ACam's Warden left TH000's heroes severely "under-leveled." Blast was also eliminated by Vshow.
ACAM 2:0 TH000 ACam 1:0TH000DFReplay ACam 2:0TH000TMReplay
Vshow > Blast No Data; No Replays
2. The Round of 16 and Beyond
China's newest Warcraft darling, Una, continued to turn heads during the CEPL qualifiers. During the round of 16, the young upstart defeated both his team captain and Fly100% before being felled by a 'Sai'-storm in the finals. Sai, a 2-1 victim of Una during the 2010 World GameMaster Tournament, managed to avenge his prior loss.
CEPL Qualifier Round of 16 and Beyond
Round of 16Quarter-FinalSemi-FinalFinalsWinner Una2-1 Una Sky2-1 Una Fly100%2-1 Fly100% Zhou_Xixi2-0 Una haha2-1 sbwfz sbwfz2-0 ForDream Cloud2-0 ForDream ForDream2-1 Sai SunS2-0 SunS 0082-0 SunS STAR2-0 Howl Howl2-0 Sai hanye2-0 Vshow Vshow2-0 Sai ACam2-1 Sai Sai
Replays for the round of 16 and beyond, can be found in the GosuGamer's Warcraft III replay section: here. In the wake of Sai's victory lies a a trail of elven blood. Sai's path to the top resulted from four-straight wins in Night-Elf mirror. For his efforts he'll receive 1,500 RMB ~$226 and a one year membership to the Holdfast Battle Platform, a Beijing gaming center. The prizes will be distributed as follows:
CEPL Qualifier Prizes
RankNameCashAdditional Prizes#1 Sai1500 RMB 1-Year Membership at Holdfast Battle Platform#2 Una1200 RMB1-Year Membership at Holdfast Battle Platform
#3 ForDream900 RMB1-Year Membership at Holdfast Battle Platform#4 SunS600 RMB1-Year Membership at Holdfast Battle Platform#5-#8 Vshow
sbwfz
Fly100% Howl200 RMB1-Year Membership at Holdfast Battle Platform#9-#16Many0 RMB6-Month Membership at Holdfast Battle Platform#17-#32Many0 RMB3-Month Membership at Holdfast Battle Platform#33-#64Many0 RMB1-Month Membership at Holdfast Battle Platform
Congratulations to Sai on winning the CEPL Qualifier and best of luck to all players in the actual upcoming CEPL.
Links
TATA - Round of 16 and Beyond
GosuGamers - GosuGamer's Replay Section
