The WCG German National finals
The National Qualifying Finals for the World Cyber Games were a long awaited event for many eSports fans. Many teams had applied and tried their best but only two made it into the finals. This event took place on Thursday August 16th at gamescom in Cologne, Germany. The two powerhouses were OM-White Beard (Odem Mortis) and the W4sP (Wild 4 eSports),who had been waiting for this encounter for a long time.
The stage for the finals was the Samsung Arena in Hall 10 of the trade fair complex, where the competitors met side by side in front of an audience of over 200 spectators. A giant screen behind the players streamed the action from the competitor’s PCs live into the spacious 500m2 arena, much to the delight of the fans.
Overall, the mood was tense from the beginning. Players and spectators alike knew what was at stake – only one of these two teams would go on to represent Germany in the biggest eSports tournament of the world – the World Cyber Games 2012 in Kunshan, China.
The format of the finals was the best of five battles, with seven players on each side. Whichever team managed to score three wins first would be crowned national champion. When the players took their seats in their virtual tank cockpits at around 3 PM, everybody was prepared for a heated battle. OM-White Beard were the clear favourites, having won all of the biggest Wargaming European eSports events in recent history.
The first game proved to be a highlight from the start. The system randomly selected an open space map, and many knew that such terrain is where OM truly shines. However, W4sP didn’t get discouraged and countered with a controversial vehicle choice, picking a tier 8 artillery – something you don’t normally see in these kinds of eSports situations. This decision worked out well for them; the SPG alone managed to take out three of OMs tanks very quickly. W4sP did not let up and went on to win this first match, taking the lead. This was much to the surprise of the crowd who were expecting OM to make use of their open area experience.
This opener was followed by a pair of equally tense games where each side managed to score one game each. This meant that after three matches, W4sP had a strong 2-1 lead and were only one more victory away from winning it all. The OM guys, feeling uncomfortable at being under this kind of pressure, would need two victories in a row to ultimately avoid defeat.
However, being the calm and calculating professionals that they are, OM weren’t going to go down without a fight. They managed to win the fourth game, making the score 2-2 and meaning that the fifth and final battle would be the decider. The atmosphere tensed up considerably. People stopped in their tracks to check out the action on the main screen, all hoping for a grand finale.
In the end both teams delivered! The last match was the toughest, taking a long time with both sides playing carefully to not be the one first to crack. After an intense 15 minutes, OM had the upper hand and came away with the victory. As they prevailed against all odds, the audience cheered and clapped for the winners, clearly relieved after what had been a very close match.
The winners had achieved their goal of earning themselves the trip to China. However, they were also rewarded with a Samsung Notebook each, whilst the runners-up each received a Samsung Galaxy S3 mobile phone, all courtesy of our generous partner. Nobody went home empty-handed.
It was a great final and we’re happy to have found the team that will represent Germany at the national finals. We would like to thank all of the fans who came down to support the event live at gamescom and hope that you enjoyed the show. You can also check out our earlier interview with Odem Mortis.
Congratulations to the winners and until next time, Commanders!
