Summertime brings a host of international gaming events. Players from around the world compete in local and regional tournaments before being flown to exotic destinations across the globe to compete against the best for large cash prizes. Among the first of these events is ACON5, which features Warcraft III players from 16 nations.
As the results from the qualifying tournaments began to trickle in, including the North American qualifier at E3, it became apparent that winning this event would be no easy task. World class players including Battle.net Season One winner ReMinD from Korea, Chinese star WE.Sky, top German player SK.Miou, and Russian player SK.apm70 were headed to China, each one very determined to win the event.
The city chosen to host the event was the ancient Chinese city of Xi'an, the capital to 13 Chinese dynasties. For players, media, and traveling fans alike, Xi'an's ancient wonders like the army of terra cotta warriors in the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, made for a spectacular tournament setting.
ACON5 didn't use a seeding mechanism, so the first evening featured a small ceremony where the brackets were drawn. Danish WC3L competitor Ciara, considered to have some chance of winning the event, was pitted against ReMinD in the first round.
The first two rounds yielded relatively few surprises, with the favorites advancing to the third round of the winner's bracket. SK.apm70, SK.Miou, ReMinD, and WE.Sky all advanced as predicted. Although there were experienced international players occupying spots in the loser's bracket by this stage, including Ciara and the British player BoNd, the audience's attention was still focused on the winner's bracket.
The large partisan crowd agonized in the third round as SK.apm70 defeated Chinese player WE.Sky to guarantee a top 3 finish. In the other third round game, ReMinD sent SK.Miou crashing into the loser's bracket after holding off an early tower rush from the German player.
Both of the relegated players, Miou and WE.Sky, met the survivors who had been fighting off elimination by advancing through the loser's bracket. WE.Sky was pitted against the Frenchman Blatty, while Miou drew the Dutchman RotterDaM. However,
both recent entries to the elimination bracket won their matches against their respective opponents. The field now looked just as it had in the third round winner's bracket, but now with the other 12 players officially eliminated from contention.
Back in the winner's bracket, only two players now had the potential luxury of entering the final match with a full game advantage. At this point the bracket converted to a best-of-3 format. This happened none too soon for ReMinD who lost his first match to SK.apm70,
only to come from behind to win the next two.
With a prize structure of $8,000 for 1st place, $5,000 for 2nd place, and $2,000 for 3rd place the match between SK.Miou and WE.Sky would determine which player would end up with a podium and prize-winning finish, and which would go home empty handed. A huge local crowd gathered around the two projection screens in the convention center to cheer on their compatriot, WE.Sky. Their support and rambunctious applause with each slick demonstration of micromanagement seemed to work as WE.Sky emerged the winner.
Two games removed from his loss against SK.apm70, WE.Sky met his nemesis once again to determine who would advance to face WE.ReMinD in the finals. This time the local favorite came out on top with a 2-1 win. Both players from the international team SK-Gaming lost in consecutive games to the Asian teammates from WE.
The players in the finals were finally known: WE.Sky and WE.ReMinD. Remind started with a full match advantage having come from the winner's bracket, so Sky would need to win two full best-of-3 matches, while ReMinD would only need to win one best-of-3 match to become champion.
While none of the Chinese crowd had given up hope, it's doubtful any of them could have imagined the display of Warcraft III dominance
WE.Sky would display. Having already won three consecutive matches since his lone defeat, Sky proceeded to win four straight games to completely shut out his opponent and take first place!
A closing ceremony followed as the top three players were showered in confetti and camera flashes while presented
with their trophies and oversized checques. Players, media, and organizers all had the chance to wind down as ACON5 had generously arranged a day of sightseeing for everyone involved. Most players looked a little bleary-eyed on the bus rides. But whether that was from Xi'an's active nightlife or the adrenaline of the event we shall never know.
*In order to view the following Acon5 replays, you first need to create a new
folder called "Acon5" in the ~\Warcraft III\Maps\ folder ; then you should
copy (take care not just moving them, or you may have issues when playing on
Battle.net) the following map files to the Acon5 folder:
~\Warcraft III\Maps\(4)LostTemple.w3m (Reign of Chaos version)
~\Warcraft III\Maps\FrozenThrone\(4)TurtleRock.w3x
~\Warcraft III\Maps\FrozenThrone\(4)TwistedMeadows.w3x
~\Warcraft III\Maps\FrozenThrone\(6)GnollWood.w3x
