Today ESWC announced that the Korean team Lunatic-Hai and American team mugNmouse was unable to attend the event. They also announced their replacements - NiP from Sweden and H2k from Denmark.
Now, H2k deserves their spot as they have been doing well in many European leagues and tournaments lately, and everyone knows that they had some bad luck at the qualifier. That's actually what I like about ESWC, or usually do. They always seem to know a lot about the scene and made a very wise descision to invite both MYM and 69N-28E to this years tournament, as they were both lacking national qualifiers.
NiP on the other hand, is a good team, no doubt about that. But do they deserve their spot to ESWC? No. Noway.
The Swedish qualifier was one of the highlights this year, with teams like SK, fnatic, NiP and Begrip going for the 2 spots that Sweden had. The 8 teams got seeded and were put in 2 groups, 2 groups with 4 teams in each group. The #1,3,5,7 seed in Group A and #2,4,6,8 in Group B. The seedings were debatable and eventually fnatic, SK and Begrip ended up in the same group, from which only 2 of the teams would proceed.
The group also turned out to be as hard as it was on the paper, as SK beat Begrip, Begrip beat fnatic and fnatic beat SK. So the group was decided on round difference, which ment that fnatic and Begrip proceeded to the semi-finals. Worth noting is that Begrip won 1 round more in total than SK.
NiP didn't have much problems winning their group, and together with EvilZone proceeded to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals Begrip beat NiP and fnatic beat EvilZone. Which means that fnatic and Begrip would represent Sweden at ESWC 2007.
Now, which is the 3rd best team? According to ESWC it was NiP, because they won their group. Oh wait, their group was SLIGHTLY easier than the other? Oh well. SK beat Begrip. NiP lost to Begrip.
1 week later - ESWC US Qualifier (WSVG Louisville), WB Semi-Final, SK vs NiP 16-8. Consolation Final, SK vs NiP 16-8 again. 2 official ESWC tournaments where the results truly speaks in favour for SK.
I was having a chat with the head organizer for the Swedish ESWC Qualifier last night, and their reply was that NiP went trough the groupstage, and thereby got the spot to ESWC. Is that fair? I mean, having 2 groups and taking the 2 best teams from each group. Then suddenly you need a third best team? What if all the 3 best teams are in the same group? This was the case in Group A.
Let's have a look at SK's "road to ESWC":
Win vs Begrip
Win vs esc.Novamania
Loss vs fnatic
(Win vs NiP)
(Win vs NiP)
... and NiP:
Win vs hippopotamus
Win vs Cold As Ice
Win vs Evilzone
Loss vs Begrip
(Loss vs SK)
(Loss vs SK)
The () means the results of the US Qualifier.
As I stated earlier, I've always liked ESWC because they know what they have to do to host a great tournament. They know what teams to invite to get the perfect tournament.
The Swedish qualifier was formed to find the 2 best teams, not 3.
While I'm still writing, I might aswell compare some of SK and NiP's performances during the year.
SK:
1st SEC Qualifier (Beating both fnatic & NiP)
1st SEC (Beating Pentagram, NoA & MYM)
4th Extreme Masters (Beating MYM, H2k, Losing to fnatic)
4th NGL ONE Season 2 (Losing to NoA & fnatic)
2nd WSVG Louisville (Beating NiP twice, losing to 69N-28E)
NiP:
3rd of 3 teams SEC Qualifier (Losing to SK & fnatic)
1st Spixelania (Beating Begrip)
Well, as you can see, there is nothing logic nor fair in inviting NiP to ESWC instead of SK.
Everyone knows that ESWC is the highlight of the year, there won't be another tournament with so many world class teams attending. Everyone also knows that SK can't afford missing ESWC and ESWC can't afford missing SK.
By the way, blague de ouf means joke of the year in French...
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Sebastian 'gosey' SelinArchive
Well maybe not, but still, compare the Swedish qualifying results & other stuff. Do you honestly think that you deserve the spot more than SK? Or were you just lucky with the groups?
"Now, H2k deserves their spot as they have been doing well in many European leagues"
btw! we haven't lost one single match in eurocup so far... eswc here we come!
Yeah but what level of teams have you beaten? Not saying that you are not doing good. I love to see NiP back on track, though you can't say that you deserve the spot infront of SK?
We also beat EvilZone later and won the prequal. I'm not saying that NiP is a bad team, I'm just saying that the way that they decided the "3rd spot" is unfair.
As they have invited MYM and 69N-28E on their performances in other tournaments this year, I don't see a reason why they won't invite SK who clearly have been doing among the best.
Were the brackets unfair? To some extent yes. Was it NIP's fault? No.
If you have a problem with the seedings then take it up with the organizers of the qualifier, by the rules of their tournament NIP did better then SK. ESWC chose to invite the 3rd placing team from the swedish qualifier to the event (similar to if Sweden had 3 spots in the first place and NiP would have been invited anyway, would it be unfair then?) THIS was the qualifier for ESWC, not WSVG Lanwar, not an NGL online match. Any results outside of this tournament are irrelevant as this qualifier was who decided who should go and NiP did better. Face it.
If SK deserved to go then they should have done better in the qualifier, simple as that. You BARELY beat begrip 16-14 and then you got absolutely destroyed by fnatic and you think you are more deserving?
Also SK hasn't had a stable lineup in months. If they went to ESWC it would basically be a strong pug and I think we would all rather see a team with a set lineup then a team who uses striker one week, then red another, then striker the next, and also picks up and drops vilden every other day.
"Worth noting is that Begrip won 1 round more in total than SK." Most tournaments don't go by total rounds won, they go by +/- in which case SK went +12 in rounds after group play and Begrip went +18. Your statement is not even true according to gotfrag who says begrip won 54 rounds and Sk won 51 so I'm not sure where that information came from, feel free to show me and prove me wrong.
At the SEC qualifier NiP had a completely different roster AND they used a ringer so that result is fairly unimportant and considering the short time the new NIP lineup has been together I would say they are doing pretty damn impressive. They did manage to beat Mouz and Convention at lanwar- two pretty damn good teams and placed only one spot behind SK.
"Everyone also knows that SK can't afford missing ESWC and ESWC can't afford missing SK" I don't think many will miss Sk honestly, theres plenty of other teams to root for.
MYM and 69N-28E were invited because there was no one hosting a qualifier and ESWC needs a team from Norway and Finland and theres no real doubting that they are the best. And to say H2k deserves a spot more then NiP is a joke. I don't even need to explain that one.
Theres endless reasons why this article is completely biased which isn't surprising because its on SK's site. And I haven't seen one comment from the community about NiP being undeserving of the spot so I guess your "joke of the year" must be an inside joke or something.
SK can now cheer on 3 Swedish teams at ESWC :P
But its their call...
There has been loads of comments that it was the wrong decision.
c'mon gosey, hippopotamus is a top team :D joking ;)
yeah... SK definitely deserve the spot..
u must contact ESWC crew :|
it doesnt really matter since SK.female was on the ESWC this years.
We have a lot of teams and players at ESWC this year, so that is not really the point.
Also taking results from other events than the eswc qualifier is actually of topic. We are talking the final ESWC playoffs here therefore the teams next in line should be NiP and Evilzone, where clearly the ESWC staff chose NiP.
I think you should follow Abdi's mentality and just accept that you guys didn't do very well at ESWC-qual and wish NiP the best of luck.
We all know that you are one of the top teams in the world and surely you will get more shots at ESWC, maybe not in 1.6, but god knows which version of Counter-Strike (If you now can call source counter-strike).
lucky? probably!? perhaps?! but its the result :/
Go at it against the eswc crew or whoever it is that chose NiP, grow up and accept the fact that NiP placed higher than you. No matter how unfair the groups were.
Once again, grow up.
Second: SK has to accept ESWCs decision on inviting teams that "in their eyes" deserve a slot at ESWC Paris and this is what we as an organization do.
Third: the question of how to pick those teams has to be addressed and needs to be discussed.
Fourth: If we look at the arguments the decisions should be based on, we all can agree that it should be results in 2007 in the first place, which leads to
Fifth: a simple comparison of NiP (as they are from Sweden) and SK in 2007 leads to no other conclusion than SK > NiP. Anytime we met, SK had the upper hand. The times we met indirectly, meaning not playing each other, like at the qualifier, NiP had the upper hand in one case.
Sixth: If the decision were only based on the Swedish qualifier, the question needs to be addressed, who finished third? And of course the question needs to be addressed why not Australia, the US, Brasil or Turkey?
Of course it seems odd to SK, seeing NiP being invited and not understanding the pure logic of the decision.
If you hand out one wildcard for a tournament, fine, but if you start inviting 5-6 teams, you argue against your own qualifying system. Meaning: SK did not qualify, we don't deserve the slot. NiP did not qualify, they do not deserve the slot. Simple as that.
A decision needs a foundation making it clear and stable. In our case the foundation should be who is the more competitive team out there. It is not about NiP vs SK. This is a question solved at SEC qualifier and WSVG this year already. Calling it luck...maybe, but three times? Seriously, this is no luck no more.
Anyway, ESWC has a great chance of being the most important tournament out there in 2007. But I guess we all agree that having SK in the CS tournament is simply a plus, not a minus if you want to have competition for the best teams in the world. We will see if ESWC sees that point or not.
Other than that we are more than happy to get chances to play at EC, NGL1, Gamegun and other opportunities. We want to prove the decision as it stands right now was the wrong call.
C'est la guerre, I guess :)
I don't know the different in rules between the female and male Counter-Strike before ESWC with quali and invite, but to make a long history short:
Female: (INVITE)
ESWC pick teams who has been at ESWC before - no matter results.
ESWC pick newcoming teams with famous nicknames, sometimes they dont give a fuck if the team started up one day before the application for an invite spot or not.
SK-Gaming - where they at ESWC 2006? I know that they have been there before, but last year? No they where not.
NiP and Fnatic where there, not SK - maybe thats reason nr1 why the ESWC organization choose NiP instead of SK?
It seems that its not all about the qualifier for the ESWC that matters.
For two days ago, Bulgaria went out with the sad news about their not coming to ESWC because of moneyproblem, and one spot where out to the Female Counter-Strike competition.
The Italian girls "Impact" where of course very glad about this, because they where at nr1 on the waitinglist for an invite.
ESWC choose Les Seules from Sweden instead. Why? They lost the Swedish qualifier and ended up 2nd after unFinished.
So why did they choose Seules instead of the nr1 on the waiting list? Maybe cuz Les Seules placed 2nd at ESWC 2006?
Life is not fair all the time, and to sit and compare results for different teams at different maps is a bit lame i think.
NiP - See u soon! You so deserve this.
imo you have just made a stupid decision by opening this blog.
Exacly the point. ESWC has taken som very weird actions here. This is not against NiP, but rather the Swedish ESWC organisation and ESWC as a whole.
Two random wildcards have been given to Swedish teams to begin with. Why is that? Is Sweden better than the rest?
Still sticking with unimportant stuff like what the teams results in other tournaments than ESWC-qual.
All that doesn't matter, can't you just accept that?
NiP finished in a better place and was picked.
I couldn't care less which third team that goes, i think SK is a fairly good team.
My guess is that they picked by order in the qual. which apparently was NiP , not SK. SK didn't go pass the groupstage.
Then if ranking or whatever came in to place, i can't tell - that's up to ESWC w/e they have to say.
But yeah whatever :) Have fun with pajkastning ^^,
I heard that the Italian girls asked the eswc organization why they where not picked out, since they where at the nr1 at the waitinglist, and the answer where that our country Sweden is the number one in the world with good results / most topresults.
That has to be thank to the male CS, because no swedish female team has never won ESWC.
Or friendship or money ;)
I know my english suxx but read it again if you dont understand it.
"I don't know the different in rules between the female and male Counter-Strike before ESWC with quali and invite, but to make a long history short:"
Now your argumentions is "we beat NiP, we beat NiP" yes you did, but was that at anything related to ESWC? NO, was it related a HOLE other event that was badly organised and filled with problems? Oh yes. Was it the same map they placed twice? once again yes. You have to understand that ESWC can only make their descision on inviting teams base on their performances at ESWC related events.
And the_slash you really show that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, and its abit funny actually. As most site stated (maybe sk aswell, havnt checked) Sweden was picked for an extra spot because they on the ESWC rankings (made over the past 4 years) are the country who have had the best placements. Second was USA but since they had no one to invite it went for the third country Denmark where H2k was an obvious choice.
And its so ridocolous ýou only see the case from one site, shutting anything else away. You say SEC qualifier, ehmmmmm that is many months ago and with total other lineups - when we are at old results shouldnt we look back at 2006 aswell who were more succesfull then and who beat who then?
You obviously dont get it at all.
#43 I don't get it that SK are here whining cause you didn't even get through the groupstage? Ok.
BUT I also think ESWC might have looked to professionalisme
and due to the recent accusations after the match vs check6 which may be true or not, we don't know yet...
And tbh i think sweden should have 4 spots no mather what
USA switched to source, leave em out
countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and such leave em out
but hey that's just my pov :o