A few days ago we published the first part of the Extreme Masters season one review. The first part was about the qualification round, the beginning of this great event. In our second review we want to sum up the results and the highlights of the main round, especially the Intel Friday Night Game in Hamburg.

The grand season opening was on Friday, October 27, in Hamburg, Germany. The first Intel Friday Night Game of the Extreme Masters was held in the Congress Centrum Hamburg. Over 1,000 excited visitors came to this event and watched two thrilling matches, great entertainment and a great eSports show.

In Warcraft 3 the German player miou played against Insomnia. This match between two of the best gamers of their country was surprisingly fast paced. Miou won with 2:0 and the German spectators went ecstatic! After this first treat another local contender played against an international top team: mousesports vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas in Counter-Strike. The German powerhouse played really well but they did not manage to win the important rounds. So the end result was 15:15. What a great beginning of the main round!

Photos from the Intel Friday Night Game Hamburg
In the following weeks the main round of the first Extreme Masters season went on without any breaks. The first playday however already had a surprising result in store: The big favourite mTw.AMD int. lost against ID Gaming EM with 08:16 on de_inferno. And this was only the beginning of NoA's disappointing season. In the next matches they lost against SK Gaming and emuLate. Furthermore the team from Denmark didn't get further than a draw against Team Excello. In the end NoA placed fourth in the main round, so the first favourite had to say goodbye.

In Warcraft 3 another favourite quit after the main round: SaSe. He lost four matches and could only win one match against ieS.Giacomo. But overall the favourite players and teams placed first and qualified directly for the playoffs or they placed second or third, which meant they had to go through the relegation.

The relegation was a tournament between all second and third placed teams and players of the main round. The matches were drawn live on GIGA2 and played in a best-of-three mode. In Counter-Strike all favourite teams managed to win their games but in Warcraft 3 two favourites lost the matches. Grubby had to give a forfeit win to HoT and fire_de won against Insomnia.

After this exciting main round and the thrilling matches in the relegation there was another small tournament: The last spot cup. NightWOlf could not attend the finals because of illness and this cup determined his replacement. In this last spot cup Grubby won against all other participants, so he qualified for the playoffs as the very last person.

Photos Intel Friday Night Game Hamburg
Photos Intel Friday Night Game Stockholm
Photos Intel Friday Night Game Paris
Photos Intel Friday Night Game Moscow
Main Round Results
Relegation
Main Round Results
Relegation
Last Spot

The finals of the first Extreme Masters season were held at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany, from 15th to 18th March. Don't miss our next review about the finals!