Before I get into the column this week, I want to apologise for SK’s coverage of Blizzcon. As the main WoW writer, it’s my responsibility to keep you guys up-to-date so when my router died on Thursday night we were left with a rather large problem. But rest assured, the problem has been remedied and SK-Gaming.com will be your number one coverage source for MLG next weekend, as usual.

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A tournament can tell us many things about the state of the game. Blizzcon in particular tells us more about the game than most others, for obvious reasons. But an American cleave team winning is something so unexpected that it turns the esports aspect of WoW almost completely on its head.

Contrary to what other websites might have you believe, a Blizzcon win doesn’t mean that America is suddenly on top of the world. But it does mean that they are properly on the map again. Let’s be honest, did anyone really give TSG a chance of winning before the event? SK Gaming USA's squad was previously the only American team worth mentioning but now there are two squads from the new world that deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Ensidia and co.

But almost as surprising was the poor performance of other teams. Without having seen the games (thanks, router), I don’t want to get into the cleave/RMP balance discussion. But I will say that with such high calibre RMP teams as SK and Button Bashers in attendance, an all-cleave final was quite a shocker. Would the result have been different in 3.2? Maybe we’ll find out at MLG next week.

Although I’m no great cleave fan, TSG’s Blizzcon success is still a bit more interesting than "RMP wins... again". Say what you like about triple-plate being skill-less and BM hunter-cleaves being cheesy, the fact is that a cleave win was a good thing for the game. You may well scoff, but the reason it’s a good thing is simple: variety. It doesn’t matter how exciting you find RMP mirrors, they will eventually become boring if there is never an alternative.

Just imagine for a second if an RMP had won Blizzcon. That would have been the third international event in a row to be won by RMP. Include smaller, non-international events in that equation and you begin to wonder where the anti-cleave whining comes from in the first place. Even the all-European ESL Invitational, though won by a cleave team, had three RMP finalists out of four.

So while Europe has had greater success and Korea is often heralded as the most skillful, America is surely the most diverse. And really, this isn’t an especially new development; it’s just that this time it actually worked. Remember Serennia’s team going holy/ret/warrior before ret was even buffed back in Burning Crusade? Sure, it failed miserably, but it showed a bit of ingenuity and creativity at least.

TSG playing cleave is nowhere near that kind of originality but as any Warcraft III fan will tell you, any form of strategic inventiveness is a good thing. If the game becomes an RMP-fest it will stagnate very quickly indeed, no matter how much more skilled you might think RMP is.

The world's first weekly esports column, The Zechs Files, returns next Tuesday. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter for regular updates throughout the week.