KODE5
This event was amazing in the true sense of the word. Yes, there were a group of amazingly talented individuals competing for a large amount of money but no 4k victory? Seriously though, Deadman’s form at this event surprised everyone except himself. Not only did he finally overcome Grubby but to rub salt on the wound he went and beat his team-mate, ToD, in the finals.

A lot of people will be pointing a finger at Grubby after failing to win the past two LAN events he’s attended, but that really isn’t fair on Deadman or to RotterdaM for that matter. The Russian dropped just one map in the whole tournament from start to finish and claimed a victory that was made all the sweeter by the fact that he overcame 4k on the way.

For ToD, making it to the final could almost be considered fortunate. He won just three games on his way there and even lost to his grand final opponent in group play. That being said, it’s a little strange to consider second place a disappointment for anyone but I’m sure that’s what the Frenchman will feel about this event. Are the rumors about his motivation more than just rumors? Time will tell but a certain Russian certainly won’t care about that.

WC3L
The WC3L had a slow start to the week thanks to KODE5 but Tuesday brought us a fascinating contest between Mousesports and Clan GO. The German-based team has been red hot for most of the season but they were stopped almost single-handedly by Shy. His defeat of SaSe set the tone for this game but it was a close match to the very end. In the two-on-two it was Shy again who made the difference as he and FoCuS overcame SaSe and Happy 2-0 to claim a win for GO. Mouz still tops the WC3L table but 4k in second has a game in hand which should take them back to the top no matter what the result is (as long as it isn’t 0-5, of course).

Sunday was the main day of action for the players this week with four games taking place on a frantic evening. Proceedings were started, appropriately enough, by Clan GO as they saw-off ONE in 4-1 victory that was closer than the result shows. Three of the four solo matches were narrow 2-1 victories and ONE will be ruing one or two missed opportunities. Farseer’s loss to Space and Rainbow’s defeat by FoCuS were especially surprising but GO are making a real go (sigh) of things towards the end of the season but with SK and WE for their last two fixtures don’t expect any last minute pushes into the playoff spots.

Meet Your Makers found their form again on Sunday with resounding ease. Poor VerGe were on the end of an absolute hammering as they went down 5-0, picking up just a solitary map win, which predictably enough, was because of a disconnect. Life looks grim for the Americans, stranded at the foot of the table with just two games to play but the tunnel of relegation does have a light at the end. Well, it’s more of a turn-off to avoid relegation really. Their last two opponents are SK.de and mTw; eleventh and tenth place respectively. Fellow Americans, Hoorai may be out of reach in ninth place with eighteen points but at least VerGe has some chance of avoiding the bottom spot.

For mYm this win cannot be over-emphasized. The opposition they faced wasn’t the strongest in WC3L but two wins in a row now after a four match losing streak have shot them back up the table into fifth place. Things can only get better for the Koreans, as their last two matches are against mTw and SK.de – two of the weakest teams in the league right now. An interesting side story is developing here. Their last victory, over ONE, was a narrow 3-2 in which Moon lost to Bifrost and to Rainbow and Farseer in the two’s game. He was dropped for Sunday’s game against VerGe and the team went on to win 5-0. Is it coincidence, weak opposition, or a real indicator of Moon’s current standard? It’s difficult to say right now but don’t be surprised to see a Moon-less mYm before next season.

Hoorai continued to struggle in their game against Mouz but Nilknarf continues to stake his claim for the awards ceremony comes the season’s end. His victory over TitaN was a ray of hope for American WC3 in a weekend where precious little was available. He was the only North American to win a game (not including disconnect wins, he was the only player to win a map, in fact) all weekend and with WCG fast approaching this could at least be considered a mixed blessing.

An all-German clash finished off a hectic day for the WC3L admins as old-school favourites, mTw took on SK’s German division. Predictably at this end of the table the game was hard-fought and a little scrappy. In the end SK were just edged out 3-2 , having been up 2-0 after the first two solo games. With two tough fixtures coming up both of these teams will feature in the so-called playdowns in a couple of weeks and their form in NGL doesn’t bode well for their chances of WC3L survival.

InCup #8
HoT joined Satiini on Sunday as the second player to win two InCup tournaments in the summer season. With two cups left to play, the Ukrainian is top of the table by just thirty-six points. His run to the final was a tough one as he faced a dangerous match in every round. The sixth round saw him victorious over an underrated Finnish player, Konna, before the tournament kicked up a gear in round seven. Satiini saw-off Nilknarf in the game of the round while Moon continued his disappointing run of form, going down to the semi-famous Hungarian, Day-Night_Abuse (DNA). HoT, meanwhile, defeated TeRRoR on his way to a semi-final match with DNA. The Hungarian again made his presence felt but it seemed one upset was his limit as he went down 2-1.

The final was another Nightelf mirror match between Satiini and HoT. InCup has been kind to Satiini this summer but the Finn couldn’t claim his third seasonal victory as HoT proved true to his name. The Ukrainian claimed a convincing 3-1 victory, despite losing the first map in one of the best games of the weekend.

As a final note, I promised to have a “replays of the week” section this week but for personal reasons, mostly revolving around starting University this proved impossible. I will try and do it next week but for now, check out the ‘Must See’ games here.