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4 Kings Win WC3L Season 7
Every few months, the top professional and amateur Warcraft III clans compete to earn one of the dozen coveted spots in the WC3L regular season. The season then ensues with clan wars each week, featuring both teams pitting their best solo players and 2v2 teams against one another. After the online playoffs, the months of hard work for the top four teams culminate in the offline finals. Only one team returns from this event crowned champions.
The clear favorites coming into the event were the top-seed 4 Kings.Intel, a veteran team consisting of players like the 2004 WCG winner, 4K-Grubby. They had posted an impressive undefeated record during the regular season of 11-0.
Also qualifying from the playoffs were MYM-Hanbit, a Danish-Korean team who finished the season 8-3; SK-Gaming (formerly known as Schroet Kommando), who finished 6-5; and European team 64.AMD, who finished the regular season in third place with a 9-2 record.
On May 21 and 22, the four qualified teams converged on Cologne, the German city on the Rhine with over a million people. The city's centuries-old landmarks, such as the Gothic cathedral, which dominates the skyline, and its interesting mix of ancient and post-modern architecture, made it a gentle and peaceful setting… for a weekend of all-out war in Azeroth.
The tournament took place in the Cologne MediaPark, with two rooms set aside for each of the teams playing. There was also a large room to accommodate the many fans watching the event and a place for the press to broadcast the action in German, French, and English. Most of the rooms were packed to capacity, and what initially sounded like a fight or riot emanating from the press room turned out to be the high-octane German shoutcaster Khaldor broadcasting the action to a thousand Internet listeners at 300 WPM.
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4 Kings vs SK-Gaming & MYM-Hanbit vs 64.AMD - (Saturday May 21, Round 1)
The first round of the winner's bracket kicked off at 11 a.m. with 4K.Intel facing the fourth seed, SK-Gaming, and MYM-Hanbit squaring off against 64.AMD in the other match. Both matches turned out to be very close ,with the results only decided in the final game of the three 1v1 and two 2v2 clan war format.
As most had expected, the 4 Kings advanced with a win. However, the result was an extremely close 3-2 score, with both SK-HoT and SK's 2v2 team of Zacard and Miou picking up wins. In a highly anticipated match of two of the world's best orc players, Dutch player 4K-Grubby came out on top with a win over Korean player Zacard.
The other first round game was equally close, with 64.AMD defeating MYM-Hanbit 3-2 on the strength of solo victories from ElakeDuck and WinneR, as well as wins by the 2v2 team of SaSe and ElakeDuck.
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SK-Gaming vs MYM-Hanbit - (Saturday May 21, Round 2)
Both SK-Gaming and MYM-Hanbit, having lost their first game in a double-elimination format, now faced the grim prospect of elimination and having to attend Sunday's event as spectators. Yet again, the result was an extremely close 3-2 match. This time it ended in favor of SK-Gaming, who advanced behind the wins of Zacard, Ukrainian player HoT, and the HoT/Insomnia tandem. MYM-Hanbit kept the match very close with wins from all three of their Korean stars: Susiria in solo and the tandem of GoStop and Lucifer. SK advanced to survive for another round, while the disappointed Danes and Koreans of MYM-Hanbit dispersed back to their hotels and the beer concession stand.
64.AMD vs 4 Kings - (Saturday May 21, Round 2)
With every match to this point being so close and unpredictable, many felt that anything could happen in the winner's bracket match of 4 Kings and 64.AMD. It wasn't to be though, and the 4 Kings put up that day's most decisive display of Warcraft mastery with a firm 5-0 thrashing of their rivals. Only 64.AMD's ElakeDuck, an orc player in strong form, was able to take a map win in the best-of-3 games, once solo and once with his tandem partner, SaSe.
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SK-Gaming vs 64.AMD - (Sunday May 22, Round 3)
A great deal was at stake for both SK-Gaming and 64.AMD in the loser's bracket finals. The winner would advance to face 4 Kings in the finals and the loser would have to settle for third place. As the lineups were announced, many felt the match-ups favored the SK-Gaming team. ElakeDuck, one of 64.AMD's best shots to take a solo win before the match-ups were announced, was to play against SK's star player Zacard, a match from which very few predicted him to emerge victorious. ElakeDuck defied the doubters, and emerged with a 2-1 win, which immediately tilted the game in 64.AMD's favor. 64.AMD's Norwegian player, Creolophus, and both 64.AMD's 2v2 tandems then proceeded to add to the victory count and power 64.AMD to a 4-1 win.
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64.AMD vs 4 Kings - (Sunday May 22, Finals)
The finals featured a rematch of the 4 Kings and 64.AMD, whose previous match had been anything but close. But as 64.AMD demonstrated by bouncing back with a win in the previous round, their opponents would have to take them very seriously. The matches started with all three solo games playing first. As each match-up resolved itself, the situation became increasingly grim for 64.AMD. 4K-Grubby defeated WinneR 2-0, followed soon after by 4K-FoV posting another 2-0 result over Creolophus. 64.AMD's last hope rested with ElakeDuck, who was pitted against 4K's ToD. Although ElakeDuck managed to win a map, he too was defeated. Although the remaining 2v2 games were played out for fun, the result was already decided: the 4 Kings were the WC3L Season 7 Champions!
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