Photos by: ESLThe WarCraft 3 scene is putting on a spurt this weekend: After the launching of WC3L, the International eSports Festival kicked off today, in Suwon, South Korea. All the matches but the grand final have already been played, with a clear Chinese dominance.
In the groupstage, all games were held using a "best out of one" format. Moreover, only one player from each group was set to advance in a narrow escape to the semi-finals.
All Chinese players finished first in their respective groups causing upheaval and disappointments to the finest Korean contestants.
Drawn in the first group, together with two Japanese players, the Chinese Undead 'TED' claimed his ticket to the playoffs after prevailing easily over the two outsiders.
In group B, top favorite 'Moon' was hoping to grab his first major title this year but he couldn't overcome his nemesis 'Fly100%' who has been showing a strong performance lately. The Orc took the spot to the next round while the Korean had to leave the tournament bitterly.
Group C witnessed a solid play by the Human master 'TH000' who managed to beat the only yet so strong Korean of his group 'WhO', making his way to the semis since he defeated the Russian Elf 'nicker' earlier.
The last group brought together 4 top-notch players: 'Lyn', 'SocceR', 'InFi' and Europe's hope 'Grubby'. No one could pretend to know how the competition would evolve in this "group of death". In fact, one of the favorites for the title, 'Lyn' surprisingly lost all his matches while 'InFi' signed three consecutive victories over his group mates to finish in pole position, concluding the groupstage with a clear Chinese prevalence.
| Group A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| R | Pts | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1. |   TED | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2. |   ENZA | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3. |  nemuke | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Group B | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| R | Pts | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1. |  Fly100% | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2. |  Moon | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3. |  NightEnD | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Group C | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| R | Pts | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1. | TH000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2. | WhO | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3. |  nicker | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Group D | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| R | Pts | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1. | InFi | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2. | SocceR | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3. |  Grubby | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4. | Lyn | |||||||||||||||||||||||
In the semi-finals, 'InFi' maintained his winning streak, triumphing over his Undead country mate by the score of 2-0. In parallel, 'Fly100%' defeated 'TH000' by 2-1.
The consolation match ended in favor of the Human who grabbed the 3rd place on the podium after winning by 2-0.
The final will oppose 'Fly100%' and 'InFi' tomorrow at 02:00 CET.
| Semi-Finals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TED | 0 - 2 | InFi | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| TH000 | 1 - 2 | Fly100% | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3rd Place Match | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TED | 0 - 2 | TH000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Final | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| InFi | 1-2 | Fly100% | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Update: Fly100% wins IEF 2009 after a 2-1 win over InFi.
Links
SK-Gaming.com - Source
GosuGamers.net - IEF 2009 Photos
GosuGamers.net - IEF 2009 Coverage