The ESWC administration recently announced the rules and maps for this year's edition of Electronic Sports World Cup taking place in Paris, France this summer (6-10th of July). An interesting note is that Plunder Isle has been replaced by Echo Isles. And also, the group stage matches are only played in two games.
With only a few qualifications left in Electronic Sports World Cup, and the grand finals being held in less than a week, you can feel the ESWC heat steaming up inside the players and the scene. The ESWC WarCraft III 2005 champion will receive $13,000 USD, quite a comfortable sum for a gamer. At the Grand Final in
Paris, France, over 600 champions from 50 countries will battle against eachother in the seven different tournaments held by ESWC. For GosuGamers, the most interesting tournament is of course the WarCraft III tournament.ESWC mapsLost Temple Twisted Meadows Echo Isles Gnoll Wood Turtle Rock |
Plunder Isle replaced by Echo Isles in the map pool
In the Grand Final map pool, the criticized map Plunder Isle (said to be favouring Orc and Undead) has been replaced by Echo Isles by the ESWC regulation committee. One of the ESWC attendants,
4K.FuRy said in a short interview with Gamingeye that he liked the map pool except for Echo Isles. "The maps were ok, except for echo. Echo is imba!"Draw possibility in the group stage
Another rule that the Undead Swede did not like (and most likely more players) was that in the group stage, the matches will not be best of three, but a two game settler, meaning it can result in a draw. The second group stage will however be played best of three.
Tournament format
Group stage – 8 groups of 9 players, the three first from each group are qualified for the next step. Each match is played in two games. A match may result in a draw.
Group stage – 4 groups of 6 players, the two first from each group are qualified for the next step. Each match is played in best of three games. A match may not result in a draw.
Single elimination bracket – 8 players. Each match is played in best of three. A match may not result in a draw.
ESWC WC3 champions2004  4K.FoV2003  SK.HeMaN |
4K.FoV reigning champion
ESWC 2004 was won by
4K.FoV, with MaDFroG as the runner-up. FoV qualified by winning the Korean ESWC qualifiers, meaning he will defend his title. Follow one of the most interesting and prestigous tournaments here at GosuGamers, starting 6th of July. 
Links
ESWorldCup.com - WarCraft III final regulations (PDF)
ESWorldCup.com - Shortened regulations (HTML)
Gamingeye.com - Interview with 4K.FuRy