QCup

From Liquipedia StarCraft Brood War Wiki
[e][h]QCup
League Information
Organizer:
Emerald
Sponsor(s):
QPad
Server:
Europe
Type:
Online
Location:
TBD
Format:
1v1
Prize Pool:
€1,000 EUR
(≃ $1,438 USD)
Start Date:
2007-06-18
End Date:
2007-12-19
Liquipedia Tier:
Participants
Number of Teams:
32
Maps
Longinus • Gaia • Tau Cross • Python

Overview[edit]

The "QCup" was a clan tournament hosted in between June and December 2007. The main organizer was Emerald and his team Nerds at Work, the prize pool of €1,000 was sponsored by QPad. During six months a total of more than 32 teams played in the league. The entire event was covered on most fan pages, not only because it featured the foreign elite, but also because controversies emerged in several phases during the game.

Prizepool[edit]

Format[edit]

The league had a rather exotic style, as it did not feature clan wars like most of the other team events. Instead, a total of 21 individual tournaments were hosted on the event's standalone page. Each team was allowed to send out one player of their roster to enter the 32 Man Single Elimination Brackets. All matches were played as Best of One, except the Grand Finals, which used a Best of Five. However, the winning player was not allowed to be used again, if his team would defend the title in the next tournament. This meant that players could only be re-used if another team's champion was successful. Depending on the champion's finish a team could score up to five points.

Point Scheme
  • : 5 Points
  • : 3 Points
  • /: 1 Point

The so-called "Mid-Season" Cup, the 21st Cup, was held after the so-called "Group Stage". The results did not count towards the standing, but could win a total of roughly 200€ in Hardware. For this tournament each team was allowed to send out two players. PG24.com, a Czech community page, streamed the entire Mid-Season Cup live.

The teams to score in the top three qualified for the play-offs. In the play-offs clan wars were hosted, the match for third place was a Best of Three, the Grand Finals were a Best of Five.


Participants[edit]

Initially 32 teams were invited, but only 30 team captains confirmed their slots. Consequently two additional qualifiers were held, following the format of the league. In the course of the league more and more teams were either disbanded, merged, or kicked due to inactivity. Furthermore, some players switched their teams, even if the teams continued to play in the league. The most prominent example was the Swedish Zerg HayprO transferring from Team BW- to the Templars of Twilight in early December 2007[1].

Initital Invites[edit]

Teams
Russia 3D Clan France Against All Authority Russia All For Zerg Poland Betsson Voodoo Gaming
Czech Republic Czech Demolition Squad Germany Deutschlands Kranke Horde Portugal excello Russia fAke.PeoOple
Europe infernal Gamers Portugal k1ck eSports Club Argentina Latin Gamers Spain Los Reyes Del Mambo
 Meet Your Makers United States Micro Media France MicroGamerZ Sweden Nerds at Work
Mexico New HorizOnt's Belarus Next Generation France Nuit Blanche Russia pAq Team
United States redCode.X-Fi Czech Republic SkyRiders Chile Team (CHILE) Sweden Team BW-
United States Team Light United States Team sMi  Templars of Twilight Lithuania Terror Squad
France United Team Poland Zajebiscie Zjebany Zespol Sweden ThePlayers Australia God-Hand

Changes[edit]

Results[edit]

Most of the signed up clans did not perform well in the league, mostly because the overall activity in the smaller and less professional teams missed. The speciality of this event was, that clans only needed small number of high profiled players to perform well, which played in the hands of clans like Nerds at Work, Team BW- and 3D. Compared to the big names of the Templars, Meet Your Makers, Deutschlands kranke Horde or excello, these theoretically should have not have big chances, yet almost all of them only missed a spot for the play-offs by few points. Especially the Danish multi gaming clan Meet Your Makers and Deutschlands kranke Horde seemed to have problems motivating their best players to take this league seriously; the merge of both teams didn't solve the situation.

Notable Players[edit]

The arguably best performing player was the Ukrainian Strelok. He was the sole reason his team qualified for the play-offs, as his three won tournaments, one second and one third place alone gained excello 18 out of 21 points. In addition to his run in the tournaments, he also won the mid-season cup against a tough competition, in which he defeated the strongest players of all participating teams.

Two other players showed a great performance throughout the individual series: HayprO and executor[3]. However, both were found guilty of hacking a few months after the tournament was finished. It's uncertain how much of their winnings were own skill and if they could've performed as well without illegal methods. Especially HayprO's cheating almost cost the Templars of Twilight their first place overall.

Aside from the more or less known names a few surprises did happen. Especially the Polish TGO caused a small uproar in Cup 7. On his way to the finals he defeated a couple of the strongest foreigners, among them GoOdy and the dominating Strelok; he could only be stopped by White-Ra. The other surprise were both winners of the 17th cup: TagoMago and Sensei. Both did well in their respective nations, but were far from improved enough to take on the foreign top class. Ironically, TagoMago defeated two hackers on his way to the gold medal: SenSei and TT1 were caught hacking in the same wave HayprO and executor were found in[3].

Final Standings Group Stage[edit]

Top 5
Place Points Team
#1 27  Templars of Twilight
#2 22 Spain Los Reyes Del Mambo
#3 21 Portugal excello
#4 20 Sweden Team BW-
#5 17  Meet Your Makers
#2 17 Russia 3D Clan

History[edit]

# Cup 1st (+5 pts) 2nd (+3 pts) 3rd/4th (+ 1 pt) 3rd/4th (+1 pt)
1 Spain LRM Australia gH Belarus nGR Sweden BW-
2 Sweden BW- France uT World TBA United States sMi
3 Germany DkH Russia 3D France MgZ Germany ToT
4 Spain LRM Czech Republic CDS Russia fake Sweden NaW
5 Germany ToT Russia 3D France MgZ United States sMi
6 Denmark MYM Germany ToT Chile CHILE Australia gH
7 Spain MYM United States rSk Sweden BW- Portugal xLo
8 Germany ToT Spain LRM Germany DkH France MgZ
9 Germany ToT Sweden BW- World iGod Russia pAq
10 Portugal xLo United States Keeper United States rSk Russia Sudden
11 Spain LRM Russia 3D United States Keeper Portugal xLo
12 Sweden BW- Russia 3D Russia fake Europe iG
13 Portugal xLo France MgZ Europe iG Sweden NaW
14 Czech Republic CDS Germany ToT World TBA World TBA
15 Denmark MYM World TBA World TBA World TBA
16 Portugal xLo Germany ToT Denmark MYM Belarus nGR
17 World Qcg Sweden NaW France MgZ Belarus nGR
18 Spain LRM Germany ToT Denmark MYM Sweden NaW
19 Sweden BW- Russia 3D Portugal xLo United States Keeper
20 Czech Republic DK Portugal xLo Sweden NaW Russia 3D

Group Stage Cups[edit]

Mid-Season Cup[edit]

Playoffs[edit]

Semifinals
Semifinals
Semis
SF
Grand Final
Grand Final
Final
GF
ExcelloExcelloEXC
2
Los Reyes del MamboLos Reyes del MamboLRM
1
Submatch1
Submatch2
Submatch3
Templars of TwilightTemplars of Twilighttot
3
ExcelloExcelloEXC
2
Unknown (w/o)
Submatch2
Submatch3
Submatch4
Submatch5

Controversies[edit]

LRM)pAllo

In the eigth tournament Mondragon defeated the Chilean Zerg pAllo with a clear 3-1 sweep. However, on his way to the finals pAllo defeated a number of better players, which was considered to be a surprise. After his replays were analyzed by WGTour admins and Emerald himself, pAllo was convicted of map hacking in the course of the tournament[4]. Theoretically, the rules suggested that LRM was to be removed instantly from the league. However, Emerald decided that LRM's manager Nuno helped pro-actively in clearing up the case and judged that LRM should only lose their scored points and an additional penalty of one point. Furthermore, Meet Your Makers and Deutschlands kranke Horde were allowed to re-play the semi finales, from which the winner would get two extra points. DkH gave MYM a walk over[5]. When made public, the community itself wasn't completely satisfied and discussed whether or not LRM should be banned and/or ridiculed their players for repeatedly using hacks[6].


LoWeLy

LoWeLy was signed up for this league as member of the clan New Generation. However, in the 18th cup he smurfed for his team mate Undead, which was clearly against the rules. LoWeLy's win against the Templar Squall was hence reversed and Squall was allowed to continue, eventually finishing as runner-up[7].


HayprO and Finals

HayprO played the entire group stage for the clan Team BW- and won several tournaments. At the 3rd December he joined the Templars of Twilight and was added to their roster for this tournament. However, he was soon found guilty of map hacking[8] in one not specified group stage cup. This was found out only after he won his Best of Five in the Grand Finals against the Polish Terran Signal with a 3-1, which in turns meant the Templars won the event. Emerald ruled that the match had to be repeated and that the Templars had to send out a replacement[9]. Excello's manager Bartar disagreed heavily with this decision, claiming that they should either receive a walk over, or should be allowed to replace Singal to adjust to the changed situation. When Emerald denied the request, Barter publicly complained and gave the Templars a walk over[10].

Interviews[edit]

References[edit]