Drama. Controversy. Heroes. This WCG had it all. With reports suggesting International Cyber Marketing (the global organizer of the WCG events) to have spent nearly 8 million dollars in this event, a lot was expected from the 2008 edition and it definitely did not fail to impress.

WCG 2008 was a nice demonstration of what eSports can be and of how big they have actually become. When it comes to the festival part, almost everything went perfectly. It was certainly a very interesting show even for those who are very skeptical about video games and their importance in adolescents' lives. When it comes to the tournament part though, it almost seems like it was a different story.

There were reports indicating problems in the brackets of the Warcraft III tournament. GotFrag.com also reported a controversial happening in the first day of Counter-Strike, when Dignitas was allegedly wrongly eliminated from the tournament due to a typo in the rules. There was also another incident in the Counter-Strike tournament in the match between x6tence and Ultima Ratio. The Spanish team used a flashbug and discussion about what to do next followed. Luckily, this year's incidents were nothing compared to the whole silent-running episode that had occurred in Seattle. Hopefully, the WCG committee and admins will continue to clarify, update and enforce rule sets.

mTw: the new fnatic?

The Danish team confirmed at the WCG the good form shown in China during the World eSports Masters, capturing its second major trophy of 2008 in a matter of days, mTw's fourth this year after winning KODE5 in May and the ESWC Masters in July. mTw is en route to establish itself as the main Counter-Strike force in Europe and the DreamHack WGT event will be the perfect opportunity for the team to prove its critics wrong. Will mTw succeed fnatic as the most consistent Counter-Strike team? That's what will be seen later this month in Sweden, where mTw will again take on some of the world's finest teams.

mousesports: Where were you?

The trophy for disappointment of the tournament surely has to go to Team Alternate. The German team went to the WCG event with the hard task of representing a country that has experienced some of its best results in eSports' history with mousesports this year.

Alternate proved in Cologne that it is no alternative to mousesports, at least not now. The team crashed out of the tournament at the group stage, placing third behind mTw and k23. When the maps were picked and it was decided that Alternate would play k23 on de_tuscan, a lucky break for Alternate since this map is used in EPS Germany.

Alternate's experience on de_tuscan proved to be little or nothing against k23 as the team from Kazakhstan would win the match 16-14 to progress to the knock-out stages, throwing the German side out of the tournament. Even though Alternate has been anything but impressive for the past few months, an early elimination at WCG was something few were expecting. Especially considering the team was playing at home.

Sunde for president?

Christoffer "Sunde" Sunde certainly knows when to bring out his best game. He has been a vital piece in mTw's scheme in the most important events, and WCG 2008 was no exception. Sunde was pivotal for mTw in Cologne and his exceptional form played a crucial role in the team's success story. He has demonstrated to be mTw's most inspired member and its main pillar in a time where Danny "zonic" Sorensen has not been getting as much applause as he used to.

Behind Sunde comes Marcus "zet" Sundström. The ex-NiP man had not been that great before the WCG event but he surely knew how to step up his game for this tournament. If Sundström manages to continue this hot then SK will definitely mount a serious challenge in upcoming events.

Norway: Ye or ne?

Some say that Norway was the big surprise of the tournament. Some do not agree. The team now known as XpreZ had a tough time getting out of the group stage and only placed first because of the alleged typo in the rules. If the WCG had taken into account the round difference between the tied teams instead of points, Norway would have finished second and met GamePlay in the Round of 16.

In the knock-out stages, it can be said that Norway got the easiest path, having faced HiNet-UMX and Gravitas before meeting mTw and e-STRO. The team did put up a good fight against mTw, taking the game to a third map, but was completely thrashed by e-STRO, thus missing a spot on the podium.

Every time Norway had to battle big names, the team proved to have little solutions to come out on top. Still, it will be very interesting to see how the boys from Norway will perform in future events now that they will play the EPS Scandinavia league.

Roster changes?

The effects of the WCG event on the teams' rosters have yet to be felt but they are coming. Team Alternate's early exit only proved that the team has not been great and that something must be done, should this string of bad results continues. Alternate currently sits fifth in EPS and anything worse than a second-place finish in the play-offs will most likely result in roster changes.

With Made in Brazil's owner Paulo Velloso threatening to wield the axe on some of the players after the unsuccessful WCG campaign, pressure is now piling on every single member. Made in Brazil has confirmed the creation of a B team so the current line-up will have in DreamHack WGT the last opportunity to prove its worth.

Chengdu. What to expect?

The WCG commitee has confirmed that the tournament will return to Asia four years after the continent's last event. This time, China will be staging the WCG event and Chengdu will be the hosting city. China has proved to be a good choice to host big events and the 2008 Summer Olympic Games was a success as it demonstrated this as a modern country, now ready to embrace the "Cyber Olympic Games".

As stated earlier, the WCG commitee will need to put some more focus on the tournament rules so that the referees know exactly what they are supposed to do in every situation to prevent mistakes and long delays from happening.

The country and the venue have been chosen. Now it is up to the community to vote for the games it wants to see played in China. One thing is for sure: WCG 2009 has all the conditions to be one of the best events in the history of the eSports.


GotFrag's Full Coverage of WCG 2008 Grand Finals