As expected, WSVG Louisville champion av3k stormed through group A without suffering a single defeat and it was the race for second place which drew more attention. A three-way tie was the result after Kyrsa beat Sorax, Sorax beat Falcuma and Falcuma beat Kyrsa and it was initially unclear who would progress. Most expected Sorax, incidentally the highest seed, to progress as he had the best rounds difference of the three but it was soon clarified that it would instead be Falcuma. Whisperings of French favoritism were prevalent but it was made clear that the rules stated that the player with the best rounds difference based only on the matches between the tied players would progress and that of course was Falcuma. Sorax in particular has reason to be quite disappointed with the result but the Swedish player only has himself to blame with results like a 38-17 loss to Kyrsa on Phrantic.

Falcuma on the other hand, while not overly impressive, put in some good performances, losing only 8-10, 13-16 to Sorax and beating Kyrsa and the remaining lower seeds comfortably. The French players match against av3k, although not particularly close, was notable for a number of unsavory exchanges between the players. Jibes were traded during the game and Falcuma seemed agitated afterwards, complaining to av3k as both players half-heartedly shook hands. The Polish youngster obviously has tons of talent but is leaving himself open to criticism with displays like this.

Defining Moment: Av3k barely broke a sweat in any of his group games but one in particular stood for other reasons. Facing Neo, here representing Brazil, av3k bizarrely spent the first 10 minutes on Galang jumping around using only the gauntlet. Sixteen to nothing down with five minutes left, av3k promptly typed "OK" and proceeded to make his comeback. Of course the eventual result was a frantic frag fest climaxing in a (literally) last second frag to give avek a 16-15 victory. Arrogant or not, av3k certainly entertains..


Group B was a stroll for the top two seeds, forever and k1llsen, with things finishing almost exactly as expected. Quake 3 star noctis, here representing Austria, took third place but the difference in class was there for all to see. A 37-1 loss versus k1llsen on Galang left noctis frustrated and, with little to no chance of progressing at that stage, noctis jokingly changed his clan name to "q3 1v1 pm me". With Badseed not showing up, ob3n and Asky were tasked with providing an upset but neither looked up to the task and the pair finished in 4th and 5th place respectively.

Top seed forever looked in fairly good form but his game against k1llsen on Thursday was probably too close for his liking. He will face a much tougher opponent in Cooller in the second group stage tomorrow and will definitely have to up his game if he wants to do well. K1llsen on the other hand can be proud of his performance and was visibly pleased with his second round group. He is very confident of beating winz and sees Hunter as his only obstacle to a second place finish behind av3k. Whether his confidence is misplaced remains to be seen.

Defining Moment: A nail-biting 14-13 victory on Placebo Effect against k1llsen saw forever confirm his spot at the top of group B and avoid an embarrassing upset. Ranked as a top seed, the Dutch player is looking to improve upon his 3rd place finish from ESWC 2006 but to do so he will need to avoid underestimating the lower seeded players such as k1llsen. Tomorrow he will go up against PURRI and Falcuma in the second group stage and although this pair shoudn't, in theory, cause him any problems, they are not inexperienced players and any mistakes will be punished.