Num News: 18

The WC3L has represented the best competition in Warcraft® III for more than two years now. Since December 2002, we have seen seven seasons, hundreds of players from dozens of countries and an ever-growing fanbase all over the world. The league grew enormously during the past months and now the time has come for the next big step: We are proud to announce a cooperative arrangement with Blizzard Entertainment®, the creators of Warcraft III!

First of all, the WC3L is now listed as one of five official competitions, along with WCG, ESWC, ACON5 and Battle.net®'s Ladder. The second and even more exciting thing is that the WC3L's two best teams will get the opportunity to nominate players for each gateway-championship of Battle.net Ladder Season Two. Both finalists of our offline-event in the end of May will be granted two spots.

"This is a nice step for the WC3L, and I am very happy to see that we are getting a nod from Blizzard for our work and dedication to their game," WC3L's supervisor Sebastian "Baschi" Weishaar states. "Having this in mind, we can only look optimistically into the league's future."

"We think this is a great opportunity for some of the top WC3L players to compete with some of the best players on Battle.net in an official tournament," stated Mike Morhaime, president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We're eager to see how the action plays out, and we're looking forward to similar such opportunities for future tournaments as well."

That's right folks, it's that time again! The WC3L is proud to present to you it's 12th installment of the King of the Hill! Today's match will pit the defending champion, SK.Zacard against one of the best European Night Elf players in mTw-DIDI8.

This match will of course be streamed by ESL-TV with GreatSam, so make sure to reserve your spot now! As per usual, we will pick 3 people who correctly predict the score of this match to receive a free 30-day premium account!

SK.Zacard vs. mTw-DIDI8 2:3, Thursday 6pm CEST
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2 - Game 3 - Game 4 - Game 5

Here we go again: The qualification for the eighth season of the WC3L commences! 26 new clans will fight along with the four relegated teams for a spot in the league. Since united5 and Team 3wD are coming from the playdowns, they receive a wildcard to the second round of the winner-bracket.

After the teams had two weeks to write their applications and persuade us to take them in, we are proud to publish the official list of participating teams (in alphabetical order):

Setting aside the horrible phrase, The Electronic Sports League needs you! To further advance our player relation partnership in 2005 we have the following positions available within our Electronic Sports LeagueWarcraft3 Staff.

Still interested? Read through our available positions and if you feel you fit a certain job, you see the Job Description and see the Requirements below.

This Monday, the WC3L will be holding its final online match of the season, as the members of mouz.BenQ and mTw.ATI will duke it out for 5th place overall.

We will also be giving away 3 free 30-day premium accounts to 3 people that correctly guess the match score, including maps, by posting in the comments!

Congratulations to mTw for reaching 5th place in WC3L Season VII

Mousesports.BenQ vs. mTw.ATI, Monday 9PM CET BetOG

mouz.Romeo vs. mTw-Tak3r 1:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2 (MUST SEE!) - Game 3
mouz.Suboshi vs. mTw-DIDI8 0:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2
mouz.Spell vs. mTw-Wizard 2:0
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2
mouz.HasuObs & mouz.Romeo vs. mTw-Ghostridah & mTw-DIDI8 0:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2 (MUST SEE!)
mouz.Jan & mouz.dArk vs. mTw-Tak3r & mTw-Wizard 0:0
Replays: (Not needed)

Total score: 1:3

With the success of Season VII's new maps, we here at the WC3L are proud to present you the new mappool for Season VIII. After looking for some new, innovative ideas for maps, the WC3L managed to make its own maps which we hope will bring even more excitement to the league. Here are the results of our selection:

Today we have 2 great matches for you from the WC3L, being our seasonal Playdown matches. The winners of these hard fought battles will earn themselves a seed in the WC3L Season VIII, while the losers will head down to the qualification tournament.

Starting things off bright and early will be the two American teams in our league, united5 and rSGaming, while later on at night will be Team 3wD taking on Team Ownage.

Congratulations to rSGaming, by winning here they are now assured a spot in the WC3L Season VIII!

United 5 vs. rSGaming, Thursday 2:30AM CET BetOG

u5.qazzi vs. rS.Hunter 2:1
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2 - Game 3
u5.Psion vs. rS.Shore 1:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2 - Game 3
u5.Sabre vs. rS.eTched 1:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2 - Game 3
u5.Newbiee & u5.Legato vs. rS.Hunter & rS.Shore 1:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2 - Game 3
u5.qazzi & u5.yahi vs. rS.eTched & rS.N 0:0
Replays: As the series was not needed, the teams agreed to not play it out due to time constraints.

Total score: 1:3

Congratulations to Team Ownage, by winning here they are now assured a spot in the WC3L Season VIII!

Team 3wD vs. Team Ownage, Thursday 8pm CET BetOG

3wD.Demon-TT vs. Ownage.Sjow 2:1
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2 - Game 3
3wD.3wD.OMA.S.Jack vs. Ownage.Zerter 1:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2 - Game 3
3wD.RotterdaM vs. Ownage.Tharkas 1:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2 - Game 3
3wD.JuStStar & 3wD.3Bepb vs. Ownage.DeliCato & Ownage.SjoW 1:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2 - Game 3
3wD.Demon-TT & 3wD.RotterdaM vs. Ownage.Zerter & Ownage.Zubie 0:0
Replays: Again, not needed.

Total score: 1:3

After the renewal of the player sheets a few weeks ago we have just done the same to the team sheet which will now have the same look as the player sheet now. Of course appropriate space for the awards and trusted logos was added. Admittedly those features are not activated yet, but you can expect the activation to happen in the next two weeks. Nevertheless there are a few new features and bug fixes in the new team sheets. The most important ones as follows:

We are back online! Unfortunately the planned downtime of Sunday night turned into a long unplanned downtime which lasted throughout the day on Monday. What happened?

The regular season is over, but what most other teams are really looking forward to is the qualification tournament for the next season. That is why we are starting the application period for the eighth season of the WC3L today. This period will only last another two days: until Thursday, April 21st.

Furthermore the criteria for applying teams are now increased a lot. Please click on more... to find out which demands your applications will have to meet.

Many of you have been asking us for a long time about banners for your homepages. We discussed this many times but never got to a conclusion. Now we want your creativity and skills.

The second great match we're bringing you from the first round of the Playoffs features the #3 seed, Team64.AMD taking on the #6 team, mTw.ATI. This is sure to be a match for the ages, don't miss it!

As no one got the correct score from out last match (!!!), we will once again be giving away 3 free 30-day premium accounts to the persons that predict the correct score including maps, to be posted in the comments.

By winning this match Team64.AMD qualifies for the WC3L Season 7 offline-finals. Congratulations!

mTw.ATI vs. Team64.AMD, Saturday 6pm CET BetOG

mTw-RushWizard vs. [64AMD]WinneR 0:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2
mTw-Tak3r vs. [64AMD]ElakeDuck 0:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2
mTw-DIDI8 vs. [64AMD]Caravaggio 2:0
Replays: Game 1 (MUST SEE) - Game 2
mTw-Tak3r & mTw-RushWizard vs. [64AMD]Creolophus & [64AMD]WinneR 0:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2
mTw-Ghostridah & mTw-DIDI8 vs. [64AMD]ElakeDuck & [64AMD]SaSe 0:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2

Total score: 1:4

This is it folks, the first match of the playoffs is officially upon us. This match will pit the #4 seed Mousesports.BenQ against the #5 seed SK Gaming in a battle for a spot in the offline playoffs.

This match will be broadcasted via ESL-TV with GreatSam, and that means that we will be chosing 3 people who guess the correct score to the match (including map scores) to get a free 30-day premium account!

By winning this match SK Gaming qualifies for the WC3L Season 7 offline-finals. Congratulations!

Mousesports.BenQ vs. SK Gaming, Wednesday 5PM CET BetOG

mouz.BenQ.Moon vs. SK.Deadman 2:0
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2
mouz.BenQ.Romeo vs. SK.Zacard 1:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2 - Game 3
mouz.BenQ.Shortround- vs. SK.Sweet 0:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2
mouz.BenQ.Wolf & mouz.BenQ.HasuObs vs. SK.Sweet & SK.May 1:2
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2 - Game 3
mouz.BenQ.Shortround- & mouz.BenQ.Suboshi vs. SK.Deadman & SK.TaKe 2:0
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2

Total score: 2:3

Today, we are pleased to announce the official launch of the ESL Russia division. The league is currently fully localized and available online to Russian players. Russian licensee, Joint-stock company “Russian Electronic Sports League” was especially created to provide Russian participants with the possibility to play and compete with European gamers. It is a young and rapidly growing company with a mission to develop Russian cyber sports.

Yes, that's right folks, today's King of the Hill match will be one of our best ever. This showdown will pit our reigning champion MYM]Susiria against none other then the Orc powerhouse SK.Zacard in a battle of the giants!

This match will be streamed by the super cool ESL-TV, so be sure to reserver your spot for this great match! And as always with our ESL-TV matches, we will at random chose 3 people who correctly guess the map score for this match will win a free 30-day premium membership!

MYM]Susiria vs. SK.Zacard 1:3
Replays: Game 1 - Game 2 - Game 3 - Game 4

MYM]Susiria vs. SK.Sweet 0:1 (Showmatch)
Replays: Game 1

Only a small change in our rulebook, but a huge change for the upcoming season!

We are eager to tell you by now about a big rule-change for the eighth season of the WC3L. We will introduce a new match-system and say goodbye to our old one.
This means: No more three 1on1s and two 2on2s. Starting with the qualification tournament for season 8, a match will consist of four 1on1s and only one 2on2.

Click on more... to read about the reasons why we are making this step.

You already know about the upcoming online Playoffs. We just told you about the Playdowns. But there is still something missing. Yes, you already guessed it: The offline-finals!

We are happy to announce that the WC3L Season 7 Finals are going to happen in Cologne from Saturday, May 21st to Sunday, May 22nd. Only the best teams will fight for the championship while only the best coverage will bring you this event live and direct.

The location is the KOMED in Cologne's Mediapark 7 - exactly the same as in the fifth season. There will be a huge screen for all visitors who enjoy an even more 'live' experience.

If you are not sure where to sleep: A list of nearby hotels can be found here.

More details will be published soon. A big thanks to our partner, the Electronic Sports League for making this possible once again!

With the final games of the season finally getting played out today, the seedings for the Playdowns are indefinitely solodified.

The Playdowns will pit the teams placing rank 7-10 against each other in a tournament to determine which teams will automatically qualify for the WC3L Season VIII, and which teams will accompany The JuNgLe TeaM and DkH.Keyweb in the qualification tournament. These matches include:

Team Ownage vs. Team 3wD

united5 vs. rSGaming

You will be able to find these matches being played between April 18 - April 24, and the Playdown brackets can be found here.