The inaugural season of the revised Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne ladder has drawn to a close. Players from around the world have engaged in ladder play before, and tournaments have already been hosted on battle.net, but this is the first time that a ladder season has been combined with a season-ending series of tournaments across all four Gateways to declare a single Worldwide Battle.net Champion. This special contest also marks the first time that prizes will be awarded to the winners of the tournaments. Going forward, www.battle.net will continue with this format, hosting tournaments at the end of each ladder season to offer prizes and a championship title to the winners.
Season one of the ladder contest runs from July 1, 2004 to September 30, 2004. During this time, all solo and 2v2 games on the Lordaeron, Azeroth, Kalimdor, and Northrend Gateways will be tracked by Blizzard. The players with the most experience in ladder play will then be matched against each other in a series of tournaments to determine the ultimate winner in both the Solo and 2v2 formats.
Tournament News
- November 2, 2004
Warcraft III Season One Audio Commentaries!
Hear all the action from the recent Season One Battle.net Finals in a new set of audio commentaries! Veteran commentator Darren “Bloodlust” Spencer, from Replayers.com, has made these audio files available for all Warcraft III fans to enjoy. They’re designed to be played alongside the replay file that is provided in each ZIP archive, allowing the listener to observe the replay while hearing Bloodlust’s comments on the action, strategies, and tactics being used. Instructions are included in each download.
- November 1, 2004
Warcraft III Season One Solo Champion
Congratulations to PhoeNix_ReMinD, who has been crowned Season One Solo Champion! He defeated runner-up mTw-Ghostridah on
Friday in the Battle.net Solo Finals to cap an impressive tournament performance. We would like to thank all the competitors and
Warcraft III fans for participating in our first ladder season.
- October 27, 2004
Warcraft III Season One 2v2 Champions Crowned!
Rival.Showtime and RendeyQ have been crowned
Warcraft III: TFT Season One 2v2 champions after a 3-1 victory in the finals
over runners-up aNc.Delicato and aNc.sjoW! We’d like to congratulate all finalists on their strong performances and prizes.
- October 25, 2004
Warcraft III: Season One Tournament Semi-Finals
The Overall Battle.net semi-finals have concluded, leaving only two solo players and two 2v2 teams to battle one last
time to determine the Battle.net champions later this week. We’d like to congratulate the following finalists:
PhoeNix_ReMinD - who will represent Kalimdor in the solo finals.
Ghostridah - who will represent Azeroth in the solo finals.
Rival.Showtime and RendeyQ - who will represent Kalimdor in the 2v2 finals.
aNc.Delicato and aNc.sJoW - who will represent Northrend in the 2v2 finals.
These players and teams are now only one step away from victory, but to get this far they had to defeat other Gateway
winners in the semi-finals. You can watch all the exciting semi-finals action by downloading the replay pack we’ve
created here.
- October 21, 2004
Warcraft III Season One Gateway 2v2 Winners!
The Gateway competitions have drawn to an exciting close and the 2v2 champions have been crowned for the
Season One Ladder Competition! We would like to congratulate all the winning 2v2 teams.
The Overall Battle.net Championships will be played on October 23, 2004. Schedules and information for the
Overall Championships can be found
here.
We’ve created another replay package that contains all the solo and 2v2 Semifinals and Finals matches.
You can download this ZIP file
here.
- October 14, 2004
Warcraft III Season One Gateway Solo Champions Revealed!
We would like to congratulate the winners of the
WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne Season One Tournament
solo competition! After many closely fought battles, the Gateway Champions have won the right to advance to the
Battle.net Finals this coming weekend.
Kalimdor Solo Champion: PhoeNix_ReMinD,
Kalimdor Solo Runner-Up: Lof.Myth
Northrend Solo Champion: SK.Insomnia,
Northrend Solo Runner-Up: NoSeX
Azeroth Solo Champion: Ghostridah,
Azeroth Solo Runner-Up: CADX2-Craft
Lordaeron Solo Champion: Rival.ShowTime,
Lordaeron Solo Runner Up: Silver.Rythm
PhoeNix_ReMinD will meet Rival.ShowTime in the first semi-final of the Overall Battle.net Competition, while Ghostridah will take on SK.Insomnia this coming weekend.
Game times will be announced on Wednesday, October 20.
The Gateway 2v2 Semi-Finals are on-going, with the Azeroth Gateway competition scheduled to start at 7p.m. EST and the Lordaeron Gateway scheduled to start at 7p.m. PDT.
WCReplays.com will continue its Internet-radio ShoutCast coverage of the Season One Tournament. To listen in and enjoy the action, tune in to:
www.gamesports.de/kida.pls.
A replay ZIP file of all solo and 2v2 matches will be made available tomorrow.
- October 14, 2004
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Season One Tournament Underway
Fiercely contested battles have raged across the lands of Azeroth on all four Gateways as competitors began their quest to be
crowned Battle.net Champion! We’ve compiled a
replay pack (4.8MB .ZIP file)
containing all the Round One games in both solo and 2v2 formats. Updated brackets, schedules, and news can all be found on the
Season One Competition page.
- October 11, 2004
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Tournament Brackets Posted
The brackets for the Season One Ladder Competition have been posted. Over the next two weeks, several hundred
of the best players on Battle.net will be competing in a series of tournaments for cash, prizes, and the glory
of being crowned Battle.net Champion. Tournament news, information, replays, and the schedule of events can be
found on our Season One Competition page. Good luck to all competitors!
- October 8, 2004 -
Email invitations for the Season One Competition have been sent to all eligible players! If you finished Season One among the
top players on your Gateway for either solo or 2v2 competition, be sure to check your in-box. In the coming days we will be
posting further information as well as contacting all confirmed participants with the location of the Official Tournament
Channel on Battle.net. Brackets will be posted on Monday, October 11. Please note that some of the invitational emails
incorrectly listed the tournament's start date as October 11. The correct start date is Tuesday, October 12, as noted on the
Season One Schedule. Unfortunately, we will not be able to reply individually to questions from participants, but any
concerns will be addressed on this webpage over the coming days. Although we tried to accommodate all top ladder players,
some individuals were not invited to the tournament because of various reasons, including not having a valid email address,
committing ladder abuses, and having inappropriate account names.
- October 5, 2004 - The schedule for the Season One Ladder Competition has been posted and can be found here. We are still in the process of verifying the eligibility of qualified players and have not sent the invitational emails, so don't panic if you haven't received anything yet! Please note that this page has now been updated with the Tournament Rules and Information.
- September 30, 2004 - Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Season One has now officially ended. The Blizzard team is now hard at work verifying the eligibility of the qualified players to ensure a fair and competitive tournament. When this process is completed, eligible players will be contacted by email and invited to participate in our Season One Tournament. Expect this process to take about one week to complete, so keep an eye on those in-boxes! The Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne ladders will not be reset and will remain available for all types of play.
Solo Format
- Each Gateway will hold a qualifying tournament where the top 32 players in the Gateway play each other in a "single elimination" tournament to determine the final eight players.
- The final eight players in each Gateway will then play each other in a "best 2 out of 3" tournament to determine the Solo Gateway Champion on each Gateway.
- The four Solo Gateway Champions will then participate in a "best 3 out of 5" tournament to determine the Worldwide Solo Battle.net Champion.
2v2 Format
- Each Gateway will hold a qualifying tournament where the top 16 "2v2" teams in the Gateway play each other in a "single elimination" tournament to determine the final four teams.
- The final four teams in each Gateway will then play each other in a "best 2 out of 3" tournament to determine the 2v2 Gateway Champions on each Gateway.
- The four 2v2 Gateway Champions will then participate in a "best 3 out of 5" tournament to determine the Worldwide 2v2 Battle.net Champions.
Rules & Information
- Eligible players will be sent an email with instructions detailing how to reserve their spot in the tournaments. Each player has 96 hours after receipt of their email to confirm their intention to participate.
- The email will include the name of the official tournament channel. Players need to be in this channel using the same account they qualified with at least 15 minutes prior to scheduled match time. Unfortunately, due to the large number of games being played, we will not be able to accommodate schedule changes during the Gateway Tournaments. Players not in the channel at this time may be disqualified.
- A Blizzard Tourney Admin will be present in the official tournament channel to check in players. All replays should be saved and results reported to the Tourney Admin at the conclusion of each match.
- Blizzard staff will be observing many games as referees. Their decisions about issues including cheating, disconnects, pausing, and client crashes will be final. In addition, third-party ShoutCast commentators may be on hand to broadcast some matches. The referees will be assigned to matches randomly depending on availability and must be allowed a full observer slot for the matches they are assigned to.
- At the conclusion of each match, all players must report the results to the Blizzard Admin. Each player and team should also save the replay of every match and provide these to the Blizzard Admin at the conclusion of the match.
- The list of assigned maps, start times, and game formats can be found on the Competition Schedule.
- In general, disconnections will result in a loss for the player who has been disconnected. In rare situations referees may call for a rematch or other resolutions.
- Players may not pause the game, use cheats of any kind, use abusive language, play an account other than their own, or violate the Battle.net Terms of Use or Official Competition Rules. The Tourney Admin, Channel Admin, or referees may take actions against players who violate these terms. Please help us foster an enjoyable, competitive, and fair tournament environment.
- Have fun and enjoy the competition!
Prizes
 Grom Statue
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Prizes will be awarded to all Gateway Champions and Gateway Runners-Up. In addition, The Worldwide Battle.net Champions and Worldwide Battle.net Runners-Up will receive cash prizes.
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Solo Format Prizes
Worldwide Solo Battle.net Champion: The player who wins the title of Worldwide Battle.net Champion will receive a cash prize of $1000, in addition to the prize earned in becoming a Gateway Champion.
Worldwide Solo Battle.net Runner-Up: The player who is Worldwide Battle.net Runner-Up will receive a cash prize of $250, in addition to the prize earned in becoming a Gateway Champion.
Solo Gateway Champions: The four players who win their "best 2 out of 3 games" Gateway tournament will receive a prize package consisting of:
- One Grom Hellscream statue
- One autographed copy of World of Warcraft
Solo Gateway Runners-Up: The second place finisher (runner-up) on each Gateway will receive. . .
- One autographed copy of World of Warcraft
2v2 Tournament Prizes
Worldwide 2v2 Battle.net Champion: Each member of the Worldwide 2v2 Battle.net Champion team will receive a cash prize of $600.
Worldwide 2v2 Battle.net Runner-Up: Each member of the Worldwide 2v2 Battle.net Runner-Up team will receive a cash prize of $150.
2v2 Gateway Champions: Each member of the four 2v2 Gateway Champion teams will receive a prize package consisting of:
- One Grom Hellscream statue
- One autographed copy of World of Warcraft
2v2 Gateway Runners-Up: Each member of the four 2v2 Gateway Runners-Up teams will receive a prize package consisting of:
- One autographed copy of World of Warcraft
Click here to read the complete official rules for the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Ladder Contest.
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