In a very close and emotional match fnaticRC won against SK Gaming with 2:1 maps. fnaticRC came out of the Lower Bracket and showed an amazing performance. SK Gaming came back at the end of both maps, but fnaticRC won the important rounds.
It's over! SK Gaming WOW PvP EU won the Global Challenge in Montreal. Gravitas Gaming - WoW played really good, but finally the European team won with 3:2 and 3:2. It was an extremely emotional match between the two that errupted into a nerd rage by Celex after losing out again in a Grand Final!
It happened again. The nerds raged. Celex destroyed his laptop and part of the backdrop of the player's area after losing closely to SK Gaming WOW PvP EU. Of course, pictures and video will follow soon. So stay tuned to this channel for the second part in this epic saga of fail.
Is it the comeback of fnaticRC? Yesterday the swedish team lost against Team EG, but today fnaticRC dominates Made in Brazil on de_inferno and advances to the Grand Final. They will face SK Gaming, the winner of the Global Challenge Los Angeles.
The matchup for the Counter-Strike Grand Final is now known. This also means that another 2 slots for the Global Finals at CeBIT in March 2009 have been distributed. Current slots are as follows:
The Continental Finals will decide who exactly will take up the slots and fight for the giant prize purse at the Global Finals at CeBIT in March 2009. Dates for the Continental Finals are:
Americas: November 21-23, Philadelphia, USA Asia: Januery 16-18, Chengdu, China Europe: February 13-15, Hamburg, Germany
Yesterday fnaticRC took revenge on Team EG. Today the swedish team has the opportunity to take revenge on Made in Brazil for the bash on de_train. The winner of the match advance to the Grand Final, the loser is out of the tournament.
In a very close and emotional match, SK Gaming won against Made in Brazil 16:11 on de_train and advance to the Grand Final. Made in Brazil will face fnatic or Turmoil Gaming in the Consolation Final. SK Gaming did a service to their fellow Europeans for the second time. On the European Continental Finals in February, Europe now has 4 slots for Counter-Strike teams to qualify for the Global Finals.
For yet unknown reasons, two of the players from Made in Brazil switched positions today. Up until now throughout LA and Montreal cogu was always sitting in the middle. Today, he traded his position with bit. In their currently running match versus SK Gaming, they certainly seem to be highly motivated. The whole stadium reverberates with the echoes from mibr's loud screams.
fnaticRC takes revenge on Team EG for the bash during the Global Challenge Los Angeles: The swedish team owned Team EG 16:01 on de_nuke. Furthermore Turmoil Gaming lost against SK Gaming and have to play in the lower bracket versus Evil Genuises.
Remember the keyboard unplugging incident earlier today? We now got all the photos of the discussion and the ensuing loss of EG to Gravitas in our mightily filled Global Challenge photo gallery!
At the Global Challenge Los Angeles fnaticRC lost against Team EG in the first round of the playoffs and against sdasdasdasd in the lower bracket. Nothing seems to have changed. In an one-sided match Made in Brazil owned the swedish team 16:03 on de_train. The next match will be fnatic vs. Team EG. Will they beat Team EG now?
With the grand final participants known, also the final distribution of the 12 slots in the Global Finals is all done as this is the last Global Challenge of the season. Slots are as follows:
The Continental Finals will decide who exactly will take up the slots and fight for the giant prize purse at the Global Finals at CeBIT in March 2009. Dates for the Continental Finals are:
Asia: November 13-16, Seoul, South Korea Americas: November 21-23, Philadelphia, USA Europe: February 13-15, Hamburg, Germany
As SK-Gaming is correctly reporting, their CS team has received a minor penalty point for their first group stage match. The reason is two players not recording in-eye demos which is required on all ESL offline-events, just as it is required in all online competitions. SK already received several warnings about this at the Global Challenge in Los Angeles. Penalty Points were inevitable this time. A minor penalty point at a Global Challenge leads to a deduction of 3% of the prize money. The sum is spread out across all teams. This penalty point has no effect on the European Main Round or any other Intel Extreme Masters event.
Phys1kz and Lalonde of the evilGeniuses use yellow 3-D glasses
Maybe you already wondered why you can see yellow glasses on phys1kz and Lalonde while they play. "Well", these yellow glasses "make thinks pop out a little", Lalonde reports. "The yellow in these glasses can take out the blue on my screen while I play Counter-Strike" he says. He ordered these glasses on gunnaroptiks.com. Lalonde recommends these glasses, because they reduce muscle strain while he is playing Counter-Strike. The glasses are especially made to protect the eyes of people that work many hours in front of a computer.
What's up with the favourite Team EG? They lost their first match in the playoffs against Turmoil Gaming 14:16 on de_dust2 altough the servercrash rule applied and they had no disadvantage from their misfortune with the keyboard. Their next match will be versus the Canadian Team EG. I think EG will come out on top of that one. HAHA.
The issue has been decided. Admins ruled to apply the server crash rule that says that gaming will be continued with the score before the affected round with 5000 start money for both sides. Gravitas was very unhappy with the ruling and argued they would have won the round either way.
It was hostile's keyboard that was unplugged for 6 seconds just at the beginning of a middle push. Both sides have now been heard, and admins are discussing a ruling.
In the WB1 match between EG and Gravitas there just has been an incident. The keyboard of one of the EG players was accidentally unplugged at the beginning of a round by a player who was setting up on the opposite row. EG lost the round. Admins are now discussing how to decide.
There's an interview up on SK-Gaming with Inflame from Nihilum Plasma where they talk about their reasons for forfeiting their last match, their bad performance in Montreal and what the future holds in stock for their team.
After an extremely tense final in Group A, fnaticMSI.WoW is out of the tournament. It came down to the last map in the game between Gravitas Gaming - WoW and x6tence.wow to decide who would advance to the relegation matches and keep his chances for the playoffs.
And it did not go well for fnatic. Gravitas won, fnaticMSI.WoW is out. The third placed team from Leipzig follows the fate of Nihilum Plasma who had been eliminated earlier.
Team Roccat is out Team ROCCAT is out of the tournament. After four games the team has four losses, placing 7th/8th and not getting any prize money. The other 4 teams are still in the tournament.
Since we recovered the backlog, we'll start uploading today's pictures. Here's the first batch that has many shots of our admins and a lot of SK playing their first match here in Canada.
SK Gaming advance to playoffs Group B in the WoW tournament is finished. SK Gaming WOW PvP EU advance to playoffs. Pandemic.WoW and compLexity have to play one relegation match against a team from the opposite group to determine the last 2 playoff teams.
Our colleagues over at fragbite shot a very nice video that gives you an overview of the tournament area, the Olympic Stadium and the surroundings in which the Intel Extreme Masters take place. Comes highly recommended.
walle is the only one who uses medium crosshair! Check the settings from SK Gaming.
zet - Resolution: 640 x 480; Crosshair size: large (green) walle - Resolution: 640 x 480; Crosshair size: medium (green) allen - Resolution: 640 x 480; Crosshair size: large (green) RobbaN - Resolution: 640 x 480; Crosshair size: large (green) Tentpole - Resolution: 640 x 480; Crosshair size: large (green)
Check out how ESL TV's Uli "FlyingDJ" Schulze goes on the main stage and conducts a mighty raffle German style. Also more pictures from the WoW tournament and Made in Brazil playing.
ESL TV got the scoop again! Sort of. Here's a short teaser video for day 2 showing you what'll happen in terms of eSports on this beautiful autumn day in the Olympic Stadium.
International journalists don't seem to sleep, so we have quite a nice array of content surrounding the Intel Extreme Masters in Canada.
SK-Gaming has a video interview of Pandemic's kinnt Another SK interview has GotGame complain about 3.0 GotFrag has an interview with Canadian local team NSU
Nihilum forfeits last match - Leipzig winner out of the tournament
The winner of Global Challenge Leipzig, Nihilum Plasma is out of the tournament. The team forfeited their last group stage match against Evil Geniuses for unknown reasons. At that point they already lost 2 matches in their group. Since the team already played more than 66% of their group stage matches, all of yesterday's results stay valid.
Second day in Montreal kicks off with delayed EG matches
We're off again in the beautiful and cold city of Montreal with the second day of the Global Challenge here. The first eSports serving today: The matches of Evil Geniuses versus SK Gaming WOW PvP EU and compLexity. We switched the SK Gaming and GotGame matches due to minor delay of GotGame arriving in the venue. Now they are here and setting up, so the second match should start on time.
A few hours before the second tournament day in Montreal starts SK published an interview with their very own walle. They smoothly arrived Canada and will start playing their group matches soon.
Those happy four players are now able to follow the Premium High Quality Stream of ESL TV for the next three months including Events like Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge Montreal & Dubai.
Tomorrow we will give away another three ESL TV Premium Accounts, so don't forget to write your tips below the unplayed groupstage matches in Counter-Strike 1.6 and World of Warcraft.
MiBR and Team EG.ca advanced to playoffs There is no surprise in Group B. Made in Brazil owned the Canadian teams and advanced to the playoffs. EG.ca is also qualified because they won against Dynamo. The last match for the day is Team EG.us versus North Stars United.
cogu uses medium crosshair! You want to know which resolution and crosshair size cogu or nak use? Check the settings from Made in Brazil! And let us know if you want to have more of these.
bit - Resolution: 800 x 600; Crosshair size: small (green) btt - Resolution: 800 x 600; Crosshair size: small (green) cogu - Resolution: 800 x 600; Crosshair size: middle (lightblue) fnx - Resolution: 800 x 600; Crosshair size: small (green) nak - Resolution: 800 x 600; Crosshair size: small (green)
Our very own star photographer diejule snapped away and captured lots of pictures of EG.ca in action as well as portraits of aAa nawaK and lots of impressions from the tournament area and surrounding booths.
Incredible. Team EG just arrived at the tournament area with their full lineup although they are scheduled to play at around 9 pm local time. That made hst kind of angry, because he has to wait now. He went on to say that he'll only show up at noon earliest tomorrow, since he was told to be there at 11.30am and he expects more delays. n0thing just stood by and was obviously embarassed by his teammate. Seems like at least one of the players learnt from the debacle in Los Angeles where Team EG lost 12% of their prize money for being late on two days in a row.
The Brazilian team Made in Brazil has to delay its setup for the first match. All 5 players set their clocks to a wrong time zone, arrived late at the venue and only then noticed that they had forgotten their badges needed to enter the stadium. Their setup phase for the match against Dynamo will start as soon as they come back from the hotel. HLTV IPs will be posted shortly.
For all who are wondering what's playing on the stream at the moment: It's the Intel Friday Night Game in Stuttgart, part of the German ESL Pro Series. That's why it's covered in German. We only have one channel running at the moment. So immediately after the top match between Alternate aTTaX and n!faculty in Counter-Strike 1.6 we'll switch to our main station in Cologne and start broadcasting the first World of Warcraft matches in English.
Team EG (WoW) late, Major Timetable changes for today
The World of Warcraft team Evil Geniuses will not be able to play today. An hour ago we learned that their player greenranger has changed his flight to Montreal on his own accord, due to confusions with the timetable. He will arrive later today after the show has ended. All other teams from Group B agreed to postpone their EG matches until tomorrow morning.
The penalty for this action will be determined and announced later on.
We'd just like to give you a short round-up of the tournament mode here. In Counter-Strike, the top 2 teams of each group will advance to an 8 team double elimination bracket. All matches in the tournament will be played on only one map (BO1). The map is chosen by way of elimination. Both teams veto two maps out of 5, the last reamining map will be played. Map pool: de_tuscan, de_inferno, de_train, de_dust2, de_nuke.
In World of Warcraft the top team in both groups will advance directly to the 4 team double elimination playoffs. Teams placed 2 and 3 will face the respective 3rd or 2nd from the other group for a relegation match. All WoW matches will be played in BO5 mode, meaning a team has to win 3 maps to decide the match.
Our ESL TV guys are already busy bringing you moving images from this weekend's event. You'll find plenty of interviews and impressions on their YouTube channel throughout the weekend. We'll also upload VoDs of the top World of Warcraft matches there!
Yesterday, we learned that DynastyGaming will not be attending the Global Challenge Montreal. Two players recently left the team without informing the other players. Must have been quite a surprise for the others yesterday.
On the other hand we were kind of surprised a couple of minutes ago, when CheckSix notified us, that they cannot afford their flights to Montreal. So CheckSix will not attend the Intel Extreme Masters as well.
There will be no changes to the groups. All match by both teams will be forfeited 30:0, making the remaining match in Group A and D a decider match for playoff seedings. Turmoil Gaming, fnaticRC, Team EG and North Stars United are now already qualified for the playoffs.
It's not yet clear what these two teams' problems will mean for the American Main Round. Don't expect anything definitive on this issue until next week.
The international coverage of the Global Challenge starts to kick into high gear. Here you go with some predictions on Counter-Strike and World of Warcraft group stages and a nice photo story of fnaticRC going to Vegas together with Fatal1ty.
Canadians beware. The Intel Extreme Masters in Montreal are open to the public! During the full length of the motorsport show Sport Compact Performance you can watch the games live. We have put up bleachers on both sides of the tournament area, where you can see Counter-Strike and World of Warcraft. Entrance fee to the show is $17. The Intel Extreme Masters booth is located in the middle of the Olympic stadium.
We have for you the first pictures from the Montreal venue. This Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge is happening at the stadium of the 1976 Olympic Games in Monreal. Sounds like a perfect venue for eSports, doesn't it?
Everything seems set for an on-time start at 5.30 pm local time today. Our admins are currently doing last tests to our Dell and Alienware high-end tournament equipment and prepping the admin stations. Shortly we'll have the first batch of live photos from Montreal for you.
Win ESL TV Premium Accounts Only one more night until the first groupstage matches kick off in Montreal and we want to give you the opportunity to win some ESL TV Premium Account (3 months) so you can watch the high quality stream.
All you have to do is to write a match comment to each groupmatch with the team you think will win. After each event day the three users with the most right results get an ESL TV Premium Account.
Montreal WoW participants reduced by two With an unfortunate turn of events, The Got Game West had to cancel the participation in this event, as the team decided to split up for unknown reasons. This makes the group evened out on five participants each!
Going to Montreal for a new organisation Just a couple of days before the event in Montreal starts the Counter-Strike team of Turmoil Gaming found a new home. Just after a quite good performance in Los Angeles by reaching the play offs Gravitas Gaming signed one of the most talented American teams. They will play their first matches for Gravitas at the Global Challenge in Montreal.
Montreal, a piece of France in North America Canada's second biggest city after Toronto will be the location for an Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge. More than 1.5 million people live in Montreal, and including the surrounding area it is easily the double amount. The name of the city originates from the hill in the city center, the "Mont Royal", which also indicates the French roots the city has. Its also the world's second largest French-speaking city after Paris. Besides that, Montreal was ranked the 10th clearest city in the world by Forbes Magazine.
The World of WarCraft groups for Montreal are here Yesterday we saw the Counter-Strike teams for Montreal go live, and today we're happy to announce the World of WarCraft teams. As you can see there will be two groups with six teams in each. The first team of each group will advance to the playoffs immediately while the second and third team will play a relegation match against the second and third team of the other group. The playoffs is a double elimination bracket of, obviously, four teams.
The Counter-Strike 1.6 groups for Montreal The guys over at League Operations have now announced the Counter-Strike 1.6 groups for Montreal. Notice that the first and second placed team of each group will advance to the playoffs, which obviously holds eight teams. Have a look at the groups:
World of WarCraft attendants list expanding, updated This World of WarCraft participants list expands, as nine teams join up. Old and new faces, Nihilum and x6tence, grand final teams from Los Angeles, join up together with Gravitas Gaming and Team ROCCAT. Have a look:
Counter-Strike attendants list changes, one team out, three in It is unfortunately unavoidable to announce that oXmoze will be dropping out from this tournament just like with the Los Angeles one. In better news, three fresh American teams will be joining us to fight for the $50,000 that's available in the Counter-Strike tournament.
Predict the winners! This news is dedicated to your thoughts and predictions! What do you think, which team will win the tournaments?
Counter-Strike?
Will it be SK Gaming and Made in Brazil in the grand final again? Will SK's momentum bring them another title? How will fnaticRC perform, have they redeemed themselves enough? How will the prodigies in Team EG do -- will they perform even better, now that they have some experience?
World of WarCraft!
Will Los Angeles runner ups Nihilum Plasma take it this time, or will the champions x6tence.wow claim one more title? Or will H2k-Gaming WoW stand in the way for the friend in Nihilum (if you did not know, Nihilum is a part of Mousesports)? Does fnaticMSI.WoW have any tricks up their sleeve?
Montreal participants gathering up We are halfway through the attendee list for the Global Challenge in Montreal. Eight CS 1.6 teams and 7 WoW teams are already announced. Have a look at the great lineup so far:
Flashback to the Global Challenge in Los Angeles Just a few days ago, the Global Challenge in Los Angeles took its end. The event was a success, so make sure you do not completely miss out on everything that happened there. (Link).
All the upsets, all the close matches and all the other things that attracted attention. Talking about other stuff that happened, let's say you should not miss the "nerd rage" video that was filmed during the event, where a World of WarCraft did not really like what his team mates were doing. For the record, this movie has been on the Global Youtube top of the week for all the comments and all the views it got.
Just to once again make sure you did not miss it, I'll be posting it again! Enjoy! (smiles)
Intel Extreme Masters
EU
Counter-Strike. 
matches on our 
Anelit (Priest), 
Orly (Priest), 
