The first round of the European Nations Championship for WarCraft III has begun. Jacob "Genie" Holm breaks the 2009 edition of the one and only national tournament down to see which teams can be recognized as favorites.
Thirty teams in four pools, the best seeded teams going directly in to the Main Round. Taking last years edition of the tournament in to account, the 1st placed seed is none other than the esports friendly country Germany. Should they be considered as the given favorite? I don't think so. Let's have a look.
Germany
- HasuObs (Undead)
- dArk (Orc)
- hanf (Night Elf)
- yAwS (Human)
- XlorD (Undead)
- HATE-LOVE-ANGER (Undead) Finland
- BrinGeR (Night Elf)
- elfitajja (Undead)
- Satiini (Night Elf)
- Sein (Orc)
- Konna (Orc) Sweden
- LiiLD.C (Night Elf)
- KnOfF (Orc)
- ThorZaiN (Human)
- DowaQ (Undead)
- Effect (Human) Ukraine
- Bly (Undead)
- HoT (Night Elf)
- FiX (Undead)
- Myrik (Undead)
- Majestic (Human)
- TresH (Night Elf) Russia
- Multick (Random)
- FrizzeR (Night Elf)
- nicker (Night Elf)
- Roll (Night Elf)
- SDmK (Undead)
- Sting (Orc) France
- hG (Night Elf)
- KleeNeX (Orc)
- PsYkO (Night Elf)
- Stefano (Human)
- SyDe (Undead)
- ToD (Human)
Sweden is one interesting team, thinking back on all the titles they have in the tournament, winning several times but crashing out in a third place of last season. After solid players like SaSe, FuRy and ElakeDuck and many more strong cards slowly disappearing, the team is now a younger team with LiiLD.C in the front line, trying their best to uphold their nations earlier success.
In last years edition LiiLD.C and KnOfF where the only reliable players in the finals as DowaQ decided not to attend, and the third place was the ultimate proof that Sweden was not what it once were. However, this time around, ThorZaiN has stepped up his game significantly, while LiiLD.C is currently ranked 9th in the world. Ultimately the team could make a come back and show the old spirit.
In the latest news, we find can find a couple of the German front runners stepping the game down, retiring, namely yAwS and HATE-LOVE-ANGER. However, the team has always been one of the widest when it comes to amount of great players and with players like XlorD and HasuObs, they still have a decent chance in defending their title. Not seeing them in the offline finals would be a major upset, but from there, it is hard to tell.
As you may know, Finland came out as runner-ups last year, with elfitajja and BrinGeR carrying most of the team. With no new players to mention, and elfitajja disappearing from the scene, BrinGeR will have a tough time to maintain the team at what it was. The team is a history, where you can think back of each and every players era and say: "those where the days". This year is not a Finnish year.
Russia has been a team that, during the online rounds, proved to be, if not the strongest country, one of the best. They have always been a team with a broad lineup and many stars, and still today they have a solid lineup, despite the absence of Happy and retired XyLigan and TiTaN. The questions has always been if the team can claim themselves some VISA's or not, though, and now we can only wait and see if the story repeat itself.
Sting and nicker are two names to mention as they can wreck some serious havoc against any of the opposing teams.
Ukraine has always been somewhat of a strong team, and now more than ever there is a chance we will see them in the offline finals. HoT, Majestic and Bly are namely players that will for a fact pose as a thread and seemingly they have a team they have a team that will grab points in every match.
France has always been a team that has been leaning back against ToD and tried to show as good support to him as possible. In this years edition of ENC, the backup looks quite dull, as it seems like many of the French semi-pros has found another call in life. What will ToD pull out from his bag?
Denmark
Bulgaria
Netherlands
Croatia
Austria
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Italy
Poland
Greece
United Kingdom
Norway
Belgium
Romania
Latvia
Spain
Belarus
Slovakia
Hungary
Portugal
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Turkey
Ireland
Serbia
Links
esl.eu - Official ENC homepage
Thirty teams in four pools, the best seeded teams going directly in to the Main Round. Taking last years edition of the tournament in to account, the 1st placed seed is none other than the esports friendly country Germany. Should they be considered as the given favorite? I don't think so. Let's have a look.
Top 6 seeds (starting in the Main Round)
Germany
- HasuObs (Undead)
- dArk (Orc)
- hanf (Night Elf)
- yAwS (Human)
- XlorD (Undead)
- HATE-LOVE-ANGER (Undead) Finland
- BrinGeR (Night Elf)
- elfitajja (Undead)
- Satiini (Night Elf)
- Sein (Orc)
- Konna (Orc) Sweden
- LiiLD.C (Night Elf)
- KnOfF (Orc)
- ThorZaiN (Human)
- DowaQ (Undead)
- Effect (Human) Ukraine
- Bly (Undead)
- HoT (Night Elf)
- FiX (Undead)
- Myrik (Undead)
- Majestic (Human)
- TresH (Night Elf) Russia
- Multick (Random)
- FrizzeR (Night Elf)
- nicker (Night Elf)
- Roll (Night Elf)
- SDmK (Undead)
- Sting (Orc) France
- hG (Night Elf)
- KleeNeX (Orc)
- PsYkO (Night Elf)
- Stefano (Human)
- SyDe (Undead)
- ToD (Human)
Sweden stepping up again
Sweden is one interesting team, thinking back on all the titles they have in the tournament, winning several times but crashing out in a third place of last season. After solid players like SaSe, FuRy and ElakeDuck and many more strong cards slowly disappearing, the team is now a younger team with LiiLD.C in the front line, trying their best to uphold their nations earlier success.
In last years edition LiiLD.C and KnOfF where the only reliable players in the finals as DowaQ decided not to attend, and the third place was the ultimate proof that Sweden was not what it once were. However, this time around, ThorZaiN has stepped up his game significantly, while LiiLD.C is currently ranked 9th in the world. Ultimately the team could make a come back and show the old spirit.
Germany suffering from retirement?
In the latest news, we find can find a couple of the German front runners stepping the game down, retiring, namely yAwS and HATE-LOVE-ANGER. However, the team has always been one of the widest when it comes to amount of great players and with players like XlorD and HasuObs, they still have a decent chance in defending their title. Not seeing them in the offline finals would be a major upset, but from there, it is hard to tell.
Finland's great losses
As you may know, Finland came out as runner-ups last year, with elfitajja and BrinGeR carrying most of the team. With no new players to mention, and elfitajja disappearing from the scene, BrinGeR will have a tough time to maintain the team at what it was. The team is a history, where you can think back of each and every players era and say: "those where the days". This year is not a Finnish year.
VISA, Russia
Russia has been a team that, during the online rounds, proved to be, if not the strongest country, one of the best. They have always been a team with a broad lineup and many stars, and still today they have a solid lineup, despite the absence of Happy and retired XyLigan and TiTaN. The questions has always been if the team can claim themselves some VISA's or not, though, and now we can only wait and see if the story repeat itself.
Sting and nicker are two names to mention as they can wreck some serious havoc against any of the opposing teams.
Ukraine in fight for a finals spot
Ukraine has always been somewhat of a strong team, and now more than ever there is a chance we will see them in the offline finals. HoT, Majestic and Bly are namely players that will for a fact pose as a thread and seemingly they have a team they have a team that will grab points in every match.
What will ToD do?
France has always been a team that has been leaning back against ToD and tried to show as good support to him as possible. In this years edition of ENC, the backup looks quite dull, as it seems like many of the French semi-pros has found another call in life. What will ToD pull out from his bag?
Other participating countries
Denmark
Bulgaria
Netherlands
Croatia
Austria
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Italy
Poland
Greece
United Kingdom
Norway
Belgium
Romania
Latvia
Spain
Belarus
Slovakia
Hungary
Portugal
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Turkey
Ireland
Serbia
Links
esl.eu - Official ENC homepage
