Last weekend the most awaited days of the year for the Spanish Starcraft gamers hit the calendar - the World Cyber Games had arrived! This feature is written by Ozmita, and is both a full coverage article and a personal column.
First day
It was Friday at 17:00 and gamers had to gather at the main entrance of the World Cyber Games, which was located in the 'Parque de Atracciones de Madrid'. There were over 300 gamers plus a hundred of observers or guests. A total of eight game tournaments were to be played: Counter-Strike, FIFA 2006, Need for Speed, WarCraft 3, WarHammer Dawn of War, Dead or Alive 4, Project Gotham Racing 3 and last but not least StarCraft.
After the check-in that took quite a while, we finally got to reach the gaming hall. Filled with banners from hotshot companies such as Samsung, AMD, Microsoft plus Spanish TV stations (Antena 3, LaSexta, Localia) and a lot of newspaper journalists. It was a bit too late to start playing, but we went ahead and we almost finished first round of groups. As you can see, 32 players from all around Spain came to play the National Finals. There were more people who signed up, but there was a limit in order to avoid schedule problems and so on.
Group A
LRM)Suker 3-0
LRM)WerATuL 1-2
BaaSF_2097 1-2
cG.Raul 1-2Group B Vodka[CS] 2-1
Abeja_die 2-1
AlaStOr[CS] 2-1
Fuhrer_die 0-3Group C Zelotito_die 4-0
cG.TwoGirl 2-2
Unknown player 2-2
Willy_2097 1-3
HyujaZerg_2097 1-3Group D LRM)Renton 3-0
LarioS-AFM- 2-1
LRM)PRoMaNiaC 1-2
BBiGG.Fujur 0-3Group E ToT)SquaLL(LRM 3-0
SiKoRiS 2-1
Sepo_die. 1-2
cG.Kini 0-3Group F KaSinS[CS] 3-0
Seifer_2097 2-1
BasS_die 1-2
DelmaS[CS] 0-3Group G -=ALFA=- 3-0
LRM)Ozmita 2-1
KeL_die 1-2
Solid_2097 0-3Group H LRM)eXeCuToR 3-0
LRM)JiMBi 2-1
TheBigChobo 1-2
KraKen_die 0-3
It was over for today, so the players went back to the hotel and they played some Pro Evolution Soccer 5 on the PlayStation 2. Some other players (including me!) watched some replays and a couple of vods on the laptops.
Once it was finished, the players went to sleep - another day plenty of pure competition was about to hit.
Second day
It was 8:30 AM and we had to wake up - WCG was starting at 10:00 AM today. After having a shower and so on, we arrived a bit late to the park and some people were waiting for us. When we stepped out of the car with all our hardware plus the LRM T-Shirts, we headed to the main entrance of the theme park, and an unexpected thing happened: a fight emerged. Apparently, KaSinS[CS]'s cousin and some of his friends were waiting for LarioS-AFM- to punch him. ALFA, SuKeR, WerATuL and some others went in the fight and then the 'attackers' ran away when the security girl came. Nothing happened to our beloved gamers, apart from a small cut in SuKeR's eyebrow.
The players finally entered the theme park and they discussed about these facts with KaSinS[CS] and AlaStOr[CS]. After that, the players joined the hall and they sat in the gaming area - second round of groups of the Spanish WCG was about to begin. The Top 2 from each group in stage one had advanced. The second group stage had four groups á four, and the top 2 were to advance.
-=ALFA=-
Abeja_die
LRM)JiMBi
Vodka[CS]Group B
ZelotITO_die
LRM)Renton
SiKoRiS
LRM)OzmitaGroup C
LRM)SuKeR
LRM)eXeCuToR
LRM)WerATuL
cG.TwoGirLGroup D
ToT)SquaLL(LRM
LarioS-AFM-
KasinS[CS]
Seifer_2097
There were upsets such as Vodka[CS] or LRM)WerATuL not advancing, but a lot of great gamers advanced to the next round. There was enough time to play the Quarter Finals, so we went ahead and played it.
Quarter Finals
-=ALFA=- < LRM)Renton 0-2
Abeja_die < ZelotITO_die 0-2
LRM)SuKeR > Larios-AFM- 2-0
ToT)SquaLL(LRM > LRM)eXeCuToR 2-0
Once the Semi Finals were played, we left the WCG Hall and we went to have a nice meal in a restaurant which was near of our hotel. In the afternoon, we played some Pro Evolution Soccer 5 while we discussed about the upsets, blackhorses, the fight, possible standings, strategies and so on. We received a phone call which invited us to a 'paella party' or something like that in the center of Madrid. It was going to be held on Cats' hotel, where some of the players were staying. Everybody went there except SquaLL, Renton and me - we were really tired and we wanted to talk about some stuff. We got Wi-Fi internet access that night at the hotel, so we read the forums and MSNed a bit. At last, we went to sleep. SuKeR phoned me at 5:00 AM (!) to open the door - they were back from the party. SuKeR had to play the semifinals and he had a party until 5:00 AM. Unbelievable ~ Good night.
Third day
Riiiing. It's time. Today we had to be in the theme park at 12:00, but we were late. We woke up at 10:00 AM or so, but we had to tidy our rooms, pack the baggages and gather in the hotel's entrance in order to go to WCG by car. We finally arrived there - we showed our Gamer Card and we went in. Players were so nervous because they knew that a single mistake would leave them out of the main standing ~ three out of four would go to Monza. We started with the semi finals, below are results:
Semi Finals
LRM)Renton < ZelotITO_die 0-2
ToT)SquaLL(LRM < LRM)SuKeR 0-2
Are you ready, players? Third-place game started - We all expected it to be really close since both gamers have an incredibly great skill level, but the result didn't say the same. Videocast turns on. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... gl. ToT)SquaLL(LRM and LRM)Renton had to face on the third-place game. That means one of them would not go to Monza. In this case, LRM)Renton, the surprise of the tournament, will have to follow the WCGs from home. SquaLL finally made it - he fought really hard on latest WCGs and he finally got it. Congratulations.
Match for third
ToT)SquaLL(LRM > LRM)Renton 2-0
On the other side, the Grand Final had to be played. Two titans were going to battle the first spot out in order to get the best prize, since both of them were already qualified for Monza. We had to wait for around 3 or 4 hours in order to get a videocast, but when it was our turn... it didn't work. Since eliminated gamers were not allowed to join the gaming area, we had to sit behind ZelotITO, who was near to the entrance. SuKeR was on the other side, so we ould not look at his screen.
Grand Final
LRM)SuKeR > ZelotITO_die 2-1
ZelotITO won the first game, but was defeated by SuKeR, who won with 2-1 as the result. All the gamers were great. At this time, we know the three players who will represent to Spain in the Grand Finals: LRM)SuKeR, ZelotITO_die and ToT)SquaLL(LRM. Congratulations! Additionally, the new gaming corporation G-Energie awarded ZelotITO_die with an extra prize, according to the observers votes, considering him the best player of the tournament. There is a photo on the Photo Pack 2 by KrITiK4L.
WCG Spain Top 3
PlayerPrize
LRM)SuKeRSamsung Video Camera VP-DC183
ZelotITO_dieSamsung K5
ToT)SquaLL(LRMSamsung Mobile Phone
Photos
We have made three photo packs, coming from different digital cameras, since my battery went empty quite fast.
Pack 1
Pack 2 (Thanks to KrITiK4L!)
Pack 3
ZelotITO, SquaLL and SuKeR. Picture taken by KrITiK4L (Thank you!)
Congratulations, once again! See you in Monza!
