Group stages in the ESL Major Series are over and we now enter the phase or relegation matches. Tonight, an epic fight will decide the fate of Mondragon and Draco - only one of them can advance!
Already ready for advancement to the playoffs are no other than Idra, IefNaij, Dreiven and Dinot. They were all number one in their respective groups, forcing Strelok, White-Ra, Yayba and HoRRoR to leave the tournament.
The players ending up in the middle of each group have to play relegation matches and this promises to give us quite a few very exciting games.
Relegation Matches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Played 8th of June | GosuBet | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Mondragon vs Draco | Link | |||||||||||||||||||||||
ParanOid vs Arew | Link | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Played 15th of June | GosuBet | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Ret vs Kr | Link | |||||||||||||||||||||||
BRAT_OK vs Sawyer | Link |
That means that we will have one of the most epic rivalries played out again. Draco has become active again and is once again going up against the foreign champion of ZvP. In Mondragon's own words:
This game is probably one of the most epic matches you could imagine and it will be such a close series as usual. Though I see the advantage on Draco's side, although he appears to be not that active. But with this experience and skill he is always the favorite to win. Good Luck
Unfortunatly for ParanOid and Arew, their match will probably stand in the shadow of the giant match above, but their game should also provide an entertaining ZvP. ParanOid is a Zerg with a very personal macro oriented style.
Both ParanOid vs Arew and Mondragon vs Draco are played at 21.00 CET tonight.
Ret should have no real problem cleaning up Kr from the map, given his current form. While he, in a weak moment, stated over at TL.net that he might be cutting down on his BW activity soon, he is nonetheless a monster right now.
Last match is the Russian powerhouse BRAT_OK, the heir of the once mighty Iron Trio of Russia, against the Polish Sawyer. Sawyer is, in comparison to the rest of the names in this tournament, relatively unknown, and unknown players can always surprise. Still, this match is BRAT's and anything else would be a huge upset.
Links
ESL.eu - Source
[url=http://www.esl.eu/eu/ems/season4/scbw/download/search/?filter[node]=10321&filter[category]=replay&filter[age]=2months&filter[order_1]=created]ESL.eu[/url] - Groupstage Replays
ESL.eu - Live Stream