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Warcraft 3: WC3L Season X Finals Preview - Four Kings

By: Jaclyn Lo - Published January 11, 2007 at 12:50 AM EST - Writer Archive
Jaclyn "JacziE" Lo breaks down the teams who are attending the WC3L Season X Finals in Cologne, Germany. This is the first of the four-part series featuring Four Kings, two-time WC3L champions, the only team this season with no losses, putting them on top of the ranks.

Netherlands Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen
France Yoan "ToD" Merlo
Norway Olav "Creolophus" Undheim
Croatia Ivica "Zeus[19]" Markovic
Sweden Sebastian "FuRy" Pesic
ROAD TO THE FINALS
China World Elite
4:1
8:2
South Korea ONE Gaming
4:1
9:3
(International) SK Gaming
4:1
4:3
South Korea Team NoA
4:1
8:3
South Korea Meet Your Makers
3:2
6:5
Germany mortal Teamwork
5:0
10:2
Germany SK Germany
4:1
8:4
United States verGe Gaming
3:2
7:4
fnatic
3:2
6:5
Germany mousesports
5:0
10:2
United States hoorai
5:0
10:0
11:0
90:33

Four Kings continue to show why they are considered the most powerful Warcraft III team in the current WC3L. They were on a winning streak up until MYM took them down last season. Losing the previous championship doesn’t mean that the team is any weaker, even with the recent departure of FoV. Just check out their statistics for Season 10 – eleven wins and zero losses, definitely a performance that can't get any better.

Two dominant players, ToD and Grubby, lead the team as expected. Looking through the history of clan matches however, you’d see one glaring difference. Point person FoV might have left the team before the offline finals, but his participation isn’t as crucial as last season. He only played 5 matches this time around.

While some might expect this to impact negatively against the team, there was someone to pick up the slack. Newcomer Creolophus did this quite well, playing nine out of all eleven matches. While his results aren’t as pristine as his more accomplished teammates, he’s certainly shaping up to be a strong clutch player. FoV’s departure might be a big blow to the team, especially losing a key Undead. But if their offline performance mirrors online, then they won’t really have a problem. Creolophus stepped up this season, putting the team on top of the ranks where they always belong.

Four Kings did a clean sweep three times. While mTw and hoorai might be easy teams to beat, the other 5:0 is from mousesports, another team attending the LAN finals. 4K won 10:2, with only Creolophus dropping a map against TitaN on Elf mirror, and a map on the 2v2. There were two close matches, against verGe and fnatic. The match verGe occured with Zeus losing to CanucK along with the 2v2 played by Zeus and ToD. With fnatic, it's ToD losing his only matchup of the season, and FuRy losing against Satiini.

Four Kings Starting Maps

Figuring out starting maps is a pretty tricky process, since not only is the map or race considered, but a player’s potential opponent as well. Nevertheless, the most visible constant on the Four Kings starting lineup is ToD taking Lost Temple; six out of seven times this map was played first. What’s there to read into this choice? ToD prefers this Human-favored battleground that it is the most “predictable” starting map for the team. The rest spreads out more evenly between the other players. Grubby starts three times each on Echo Isles and Terenas Stand, with Creolophus on Twisted Meadows and Gnoll Wood thrice as well. Another interesting highlight is on FuRy, who started on Twisted Meadows for all three times that he played.

EI SV TS LT GW TR TM
China World Elite FoV Creo Grubby ToD
South Korea ONE Gaming ToD Zeus Creo Grubby
(International) SK Gaming FoV ToD Grubby Creo
South Korea Team NoA Grubby Zeus ToD FuRy
South Korea Meet Your Makers Grubby ToD Creo FoV
Germany mortal Teamwork Zeus ToD Grubby Creo
Germany SK Germany Grubby Zeus ToD Creo
United States verGe Gaming Creo Zeus ToD FuRy
fnatic ToD Creo Grubby FuRy
Germany mousesports Grubby ToD Creo FoV
United States hoorai FuRy ToD Grubby FoV



Continued (1/4) »
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