|
Russia. Taking up a good chuck of that world map you have hanging out on the wall it is a huge, right in your face country, and you'll have to work really hard to miss. But it is a country of wonders. Fifteen years after the fall of Soviet Union the remnant of the "Iron Curtain" can still be seen -on the endless fields of battle.net. Russia has its own private Brood War community which until just recently was lurking at the shadows, like a cobra striking only when there was a lot of at stake. Up until a couple of years back, names like yAn, Advokate and Androide would bring out nothing confusion in the eyes of a stranger. Today the Russian scene seems much more familiar, but there is still a lot hiding behind the shreds of that curtain, where unarmed eye can not see.
One of such things is ASUS Cup. One of the biggest Brood War tournament outside of Korea is barely covered by the english news portals, and besides an occasional news post here and there there is almost no information to be found. Did you know that today its ASUS time again? Probably not. But have no fear, all is not lost, you still have the time to catch up. So read up, and let your mind enjoy the world of ASUS.
| The Money
| | Overall | 50000 RUR | (~1850 USD)
| | 1st | 16000 RUR | (~600 USD)
| | 2nd | 10000 RUR | (~375 USD)
| | 3rd | 8000 RUR | (~300 USD)
| | 4th | 6000 RUR | (~225 USD)
| | 5/6th | 3000 RUR | (~110 USD)
| | 7/8th | 2000 RUR | (~75 USD) |
| The Rules
The Brackets:
64 people. Double Elimination. Winnerbrackets: BO3. Loserbrackets: BO1
The Maps:
| | WCG Gaia | WCG Azalea | WCG Paranoid Android
|  |  | 
|
Each player picks a map, and the order is determined by a coin toss. In case of a draw third game is played on the remaining map.
The Seeds:
 fanatiC.eX
mYm.Advokate[S2]
Notforu[S2]
 blank.White-Ra(LKI). The seeds are subject to change.
The Schedule
May 27th, 2006
| | Play sign in and draw | 09:30-11:00
| | Tournament | 11:00-19:00
| | Final | 19:00-19:30
| | Award Ceremony | 19:30 |
The Place
Where: Moscow, Russia. Gaming center «4GAME»
«4GAME» –The first and the only gaming center dedicated to the needs of professional gamers in Russia. A two-story building complex conveniently located next to the AEC (All-Russian Exhibit Center) is the ideal setting for a high-scale e-sports tournament.
Disturbing banner pointing to the 4GAME website (which untill today had nothing but a flash intro) have recently appeared on cyberfight.ru, and informs us that the gaming center area is 800 square meters and will include a hundred "super-powerful" computers. Following the banner you could find out that the information wasn't quite right, and the gaming center is packing only 80 computers, but it defines "super-powerful" pretty well: AMD Athlon 64 3800+ / 1024 Mb DDR400 PC3200 / nVidia GeForce 7800 GT. Of course this specifications allow you to run about a hundred Starcraft: Brood War games flowlessly.
A couple of weeks ago one of our own, a Starcraft fan Ayumi[a2] has managed to free up her busy schedule and take a trip to the mysterious house #12 on Yaroslavskaya street.
Ayumi_a2:
Surprise! The 4GAME gaming center is still under construction! The two-story building is renovated from the outside, but inside there is still rubbish from the construction everywhere. But the set up of the gaming equipment is already in progress. The area is small, but cozy. The lightning is and all the windows are camouflaged (maybe just until the construction is over?) A little park and a stadium can be found nearby. There is no cafés in the proximity, however it’s not a problem if you’re willing to take a little walk –AEC is really close, and the trip from the subway station was just a bit over five minutes. We were informed that the gaming center will be fully functional on May 25th, the day before ASUS launch.
Building on the right, red cross marks the entrance (by Ayumi_a2).
Unfortunately, fearing industrial espionage, the organizations prohibited Ayumi from taking photographs inside the building.
| The History
When it comes to foreign e-sports scent, Brood War is hands down the most ignored discipline out of the big 4(Quake, Counter Strike, Warcraft, Starcraft). And with ASUS, the case holds just as well: out of 14 ASUS's held, only 4 included StarCraft: Brood War.
It started out so well in the gloomy Autumn of 2004. Back then the cyberfight news reporters, and great starcraft fans 3D.Overmind and Odd_Ulvar[S2](or maybe just one of them) after a lot of arguments managed to persuade the organizators of this event to add Starcraft as an official discipline. It turned out to be a marvelous tournament, one of the biggest and best Starcraft tournaments this world ever seen. The prizes were up to par with the likes of Quake and Warcraft, giving every Starcraft fan the hope for better future.
| | 1st | mYm|Yan[S2] | 250 USD + *
| | 2nd | Androide[3D] | 100 USD + *
| | 3rd | RoX-Pomi[S2] | *
| | 4th | 3D.Escape | 80 USD
| | 5/6th | MCA[S2] | 60 USD
| | 5/6th | MiG.Scout | 60 USD |
*=video ASUS V9520 Home Theater/P 128Mb
But this wasnt enough to make the sponsors believe that Starcraft is a worthy investment. Starcraft skipped one ASUS and reappeared only half a year later, at ASUS Cup Spring 2005. The prize money this time was significantly behind the other disciplines, but still enough to make hungry for attention starcraft players happy. It is needed to be remind that this tournament was hosted differently then the rest, instead of at the door registration, several qualifications in Russia and Ukraine where held.
| | 1st | mYm|yAn[S2] | 6 000 RUR + * | (~220 USD)
| | 2nd | ROX.Bruce | 5 000 RUR | (~185 USD)
| | 3rd | MiG.Scout | 3 500 RUR | (~130 USD)
| | 4th | PGC.Androide.3D | 2 500 RUR | (~90 USD)
| | 5/6th | bLank.White-Ra(LKI) | 1500 RUR | (~55 USD)
| | 5/6th | fanatiC.EX | 1500 RUR | (~55 USD)
|
*=unidentified ASUS graphic card
This seemed to be a great idea, as Starcraft was immidiately included in the next ASUS-Summer 2005, and sported a nice prizepool, comparable with the rest of the disciplines. 
| | 1st | fanatiC.EX | 10 000 RUR | (~370 USD)
| | 2nd | bLank.White-Ra(LKI) | 7 000 RUR | (~260 USD)
| | 3rd | mYm|Advokate[S2] | 5 000 RUR | (~185 USD)
| | 4th | MiG.Scout | 3 000 RUR | (~110 USD)
| | 5/6th | Enemy | 1500 RUR | (~55 USD)
| | 5/6th | mYm|yAn[S2] | 1500 RUR | (~55 USD) |
Three ASUS's in a row Starcraft was on the list. This time the organizators dicided to spice it up by changing the format from duel to teamplay. A dire mistake it was, the turn out was much less then expected and the sponsors pulled the plug on Starcraft.
| | 1st | mYm|yAn[S2] | & | mYm|A2[S2] | 15 000 RUR | (~455 USD)
| | 2nd | blank.White-Ra(LKI) | & | 3D.Escape[TD] | 10 000 RUR | (~370 USD)
| | 3rd | Bonza[a2] | & | Stalker[a2] | 7 000 RUR | (~260 USD)
| | 4th | Crafter | & | Crazy | 5 000 RUR | (~185 USD)
| | 5/6th | Potrax[S2] | & | Woody[S2] | 1500 RUR | (~55 USD)
| | 5/6th | 3D.u3 | & | 3D.Smoke | 1500 RUR | (~55 USD)
|
A lot of strong words were thrown around after Autumn 2005. "Starcraft will never appear on ASUS again." Furious the community strongly protested this grave injustice, and it seems like the efforts were worth it. Starcraft is back in ASUS, even though only as "unnoficial" discipline. This ASUS is a test, knowledgable people have informed me, to see how many people will come. And so far, it is looking good, 90 people have registered , only 2 less then(suprise!) FIFA, and 8 less the Warcraft.
| The PlayersAt the moment there are 90 registered users for this event. But keep an mind that is a rule only somewhere between a half and two thirds of those who register actually attend the event.
01. avva.
02.  Notforu[S2].
03.  MiG.Sup.
04. HsePlayer1.
05. RoX.Bruce.
06. RAge[3d]zakard.
07. MiG.Silver.
08.  cF.Pro7ecT_kr[es4x].
09. shmiga.
10. fAke.xt3rNaL.
11. --v.ProFy.
12. --v.Tristania.
13. Tuban.
14. Sudden[a2].
15. [SR]DyPeMaP.
16. Antonio[a2].
17. Nt.Executer.
18. pAq.PireS.
19. ny]City.
20. hemuri[a2].
21. mamontenok.
22. fAke.Mamon.
23. pAq.Monster12.
24. FD.Plumbum.
25. Chekanog[3D].
26. burn.
27. oFF.a2.
28. W1ldF1re.
29. RoX-Pomi[S2].
30. --v.PallMall.
31. mYm.Advokate[S2]
32. Fanatic.eX.
33. Lammerman[S2]. (aka MCA)
34. meFi[a2].
35. Mister-X.
36. 4p)Burger.
37. blank.White-Ra[LKI].
38. ZERGUT.
39. ExeR[CO!].
40. fAke.poPPleR.
41. esA)Izixhidi(a2.
42. Drive.T34.
43. esC.Listen.tQ.
44. OBOLLI.
45. --v.damaGe.
46. MiG.Scout.
47. SS[a2].
48. liuHinyo.
49. pAq.The.
50. Akella.
51. [N0t4u]Casper.
52. Tioko.
53. esA.Leprosy.v.
54. aZy[a2].
55. (sit)noname.
56. [3D]$m0ke.
57. fAke.Chaki_bzzz.
58. 3D.u3.
59. 3D. Escape.
60. MiG.NoGood.
61. fAke.Kapa6ac.
62. AntEnt
63. hse.John
64. ~Arctica.Human~.
65. cF.aRty[es4x].
66.  fAke.VirGo.oO.
67. m1pt.aSbO
68. LaunCher[a2]
69. Potrax[S2]
70. aFz)ho8ad
71. ZerGgBoY
72. G_bAsus.GLEN
73. afz)arsenal.
74. Kazuya[S2].
75. hYdro)Gamer
76. qG.E2.
77. BARTLEBY[S2].
78. Crusader-Z.
79. With_Love.
80. Logic.
81. SeNsera.
82. cF.si1veR[es4x].
83. True7ove.
84. Notifi.
85. Dieaxilus.
86. aFz.e.6a6eno.
87. pAq.dead.
88. gR.Djem5.
89. Jedi_One.
90. ShT)Pro_toss.
| The Brackets
The Brackets
Comprehensive brackets(missing games starting with loser quarterfinals) thx to 3D.Overmind
| The Results
| | 1st | | fanatiC.eX | 16000 RUR | (~600 USD)
| | 2nd | | Notforu[S2] | 10000 RUR | (~375 USD)
| | 3rd | | MiG.Scout | 8000 RUR | (~300 USD)
| | 4th | | mYm.Advokate[S2] | 6000 RUR | (~225 USD)
| | 5/6th | | blank.White-Ra(LKI) | 3000 RUR | (~110 USD)
| | 5/6th | | --v.Profy | 3000 RUR | (~110 USD)
| | 7/8th | |  cF.Pro7ect_kr[es4x] | 2000 RUR | (~75 USD)
| | 7/8th | | 3D.Escape | 2000 RUR | (~75 USD) |
Its official: 2006 is the year of the Zerg. Zergs dominate OSL, Zergs are pushing Terrans back in Russian tournaments. Zergs are on the doorsteps of the new era of domination.
ASUS has brought us quite a few suprises, with another oldschool zerg MiG.Scout following the example of Lammerman and coming back, with a whopping 3rd place. Profy was another unexpected name in top 6, while always being one of the best, he never was able to make it into the top tier. Pro7ect_kr- a completely new name in the prize zone, a Korean terran residing in Russia, who's ancestry spirit is waking up, boosting his APM and skills to an incredible hights.
| The Gallery
A picture is worth a thousand words. And this ASUS, we have thousand of pictures!
Here are some of the galleries our gaming fans took:
LEETE's(of cyberfight) gallery- Day 1(CS)
LEETE's(of cyberfight) gallery- Day 2(CS, BW, FIFA)
LEETE's(of cyberfight) gallery- Day 3(WC3, Q4, NFSMW)
a2team gallery 1
a2team gallery 2
a2team gallery 3
cannon Fodder gallery
Because cyberfight galleries are consisted mainly of Counter Strike photographs I took the liberty to select the few that would intrest a BW fan:
|  |  |  | 
| | The spy: Ayumi[a2] | Ayumi[a2] and unidentified female | a2clan moviemaker: Bamper | a2clan designer: ilovetill
|  |  |  | 
| | The winner: NotForU[S2] | unidentified Broodwar gamer | The Gaming Stage | 4Game employee
|  |  | 
| | Award Ceremony Stage | The Spectator Area | cF.Pro7ect, fake.Virgi, back of cF.s1lver
|
And last but not least is a suprise guest appearence of the one:
courtecy of a2team
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Search
You are not a logged in, or you are not registered. Create an account or login to be able to post a comment.