Now that the group stages are officially over and the playoffs are coming up, it's time to take a look at twenty weeks of QCup, from day one to day now.
The QCup was announced by NaW-/QPad. in April as a five month tournament with a 1000-euro prize pool. Thirty teams were invited into the original line-up, but thanks to dying or inactive teams several would be switched out before the end of the cup, including the Czech Demolition Squad and Deutschlands kranke Horde. Four more teams qualified before the kick-off in the league's own qualification tours. The actual group stages kicked off on July 18th, launching Los Reyes del Mambo as the first real competitor when they claimed the top five points.
QCUP WINNERS
1. Los Reyes del Mambo
2. Team BW-
3. Deutschlands kranke Horde
4. Los Reyes del Mambo
5. Templars of Twilight
6. MeetYourMakers
7. MeetYourMakers
8. Templars of Twilight
9. Templars of Twilight
10. Excello
11. Los Reyes del Mambo
12. Team BW-
13. Excello
14. Czech Demolition Squad
15. MeetYourMakers
16. Excello
17. QCg
18. Los Reyes del Mambo
19. Team BW-
20. DK
Mids. ExcelloOver the following weeks, Los Reyes would grab the top spot four more times, cementing their place in the top three but points short of the Templars of Twilight. A maphack scandal involving pAllo cost them points in the eighth week, but that didn't strike them too hard as they continued to make progress week after week.
One of the three Polish players in Los Reyes Del Mambo, Fosken, is hoping to play the grand final. "I hope, I would like to, but we will see." Fosken was not surprised to see his team in the very top along with Excello and the Templars. And to see MeetYourMakers fail to enter the grand final was nothing he raised too many eyebrows about. "They had a lot of inactive players and I think they connected with DkH a little too late," he says.
When asked for predictions, Fosken brings out every cliché, such as "everything can happen", "it's gonna be a really good and hard match". But the Polish Zerg player do tell us that he thinks Excello is a bit stronger than Templars of Twilight, so he thinks the Excello match will be a key match. "If we win against Excello I think we can beat ToT," he admits.
Excello would leave very little impact on the cup until Strelok took number one in week ten. Snapping up two more tour victories as well as collecting other rankings along the way, they had found their place by the end of the season. Time and time again, Strelok bobbed up in the rankings. In an interview with GosuGamers, the Ukrainian player notes, "If nothing extraordinary happens, I will play both the semifinal and final if we get to it."
The Templars were a steady presence from week three on, when Selector fought his way into the quarter finals. Mondragon, INcontrol, GohaN and the rest of their teammates would go on to score points almost every week, ascertaining their place in the playoffs before anyone else. New Templars recruit HayprO took to battle for them for the first time during the midseason event, bringing them into the finals before losing to Strelok. "I was pretty sure I would lose, but when I won the first game I felt that I might have a chance," he says about the final. "I ended up losing two fast games though."
Although HayprO's old team, Team BW-, didn't end up qualifying, they succesfully fought their way up to first place twice: both with the Swedish player at the helm. He notes he'd gladly face his old team again, though he thinks the Templars would win pretty easily.
ToT)HayprO( at DreamHack. Photo: GOSUGAMERS
As for the future, Strelok and HayprO spoke to us about their feelings regarding the upcoming playoffs. "It's going to be a close game," HayprO says about the Excello vs. Los Reyes game that will determine which team the Templars will face in the finals, "But with Idra and Strelok Excello will win."
Strelok himself seems a little less sure, claiming that it will depend on the draw. "If I play well, I will win against everyone, if I play badly - I can lose to everyone. And honestly I do not want to think what other Excello players can or cannot do. I'll try to do my part of task and hope they'll do the same."
