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Warcraft 3: ToD disqualified from e-Stars

By: Jonas Alsaker Vikan - Published August 08, 2007 at 11:49 PM EDT - Writer Archive
Yoan "ToD" Merlo has been disqualified from the E-Stars tournament following a dispute with the administrators of the event in Seoul


French Warcraft 3 star Yoan "ToD" Merlo is disqualified from play at the Warcraft 3 tournament at E-Stars.

Details are sketchy at this point but people in the press area are being informed that ToD was unhappy with the mapsystem and that a misunderstanding arose that led to him being disqualified.

"Describing it as a misunderstanding is a very light way of putting it," Merlo says.

The player informs Gotfrag that he was invited to the tournament some time ago. During this conversation with the organizers Merlo explained that he did not wish to participate.

"I told them no thank you. They came back to ask if I had any suggestions to changes that would entice me to compete."

Apparantly E-Stars was asked to ensure airconditioned booths for the players as well as change the way the maps were selected. According to Merlo his requests was taken under consideration before they were finally granted and ToD traveled to Korea to play.

"When we got to the venue the aircondition was not fixed, furthermore when I was ready to prepare for my match I discovered that the map selection process had indeed not been altered."

Merlo says he opted to discuss these matters with the organizers on site. He is unhappy about how the situation was handled.

"I'm not difficult or the only one that disagrees. There was an argument and a disagreement about which maps to use. I tried to enter into a compromise with them without any luck."

The French superstar claims he was put before an ultimatum without being able to confer with his teammate Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen.

"They told me I had 1 minute to decide whether I wanted to play or not. I wanted to call Grubby to hear what he thought about the situation but couldn't. This is really disappointing to me. I came here to play."

Upon not deciding to play within the sixty second time frame Merlo was disqualified from E-Stars Seoul 2007. At present time he is sitting in the tournament area pondering his next move.

"I told them that I want to fly back home earlier now, but I'm not sure if they will grant that request after everything that has happened so far."

Mr. Paul, who is involved with organizing the event thinks the entire situation is sad.

"This is regretful for the tournament," he said.

"The player complained about the regulation. It had already been changed to accommodate the requests of several of the players and he still complained about it. In addition the official regulations of this tournament were made available to all players some time ago."

User Comments

1
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rofl
3
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that would be messed up if they gave him false promises, but tod has a big history of being a whiner.
Snape Kills Planes
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tod is ALWAYS COMPLAINING, it's good that admins told him to gtfo.
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Merlot says he opted to discuss these matters with the organizers on site. He is unhappy about how the situation was handled. Lol! *Merlot*

But to be honest if they agreed to his demands then took back there word, says f'd up.
6
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imagine if every "good" player in every tournament demanded a certain thing or else they wouldnt play..... totally ridiculous, this guy needs to grow up and not be so picky
7
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Hes french, THIS ALL MAKES SENSE!!! DUHHHHHHHH
BdaaN-
8
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hahhahhahaha
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lol @ #7
you're either pro or you're noob and that's life.
10
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lol he wanted air conditioning in his player booth....come on...
11
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.

This comment was edited at 11/30/2007 12:35 PM
12
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wtf is this? ToD is one of the best players and got disqualified from the tournament?
Damn!! It is very unfair for admins... They should've grant ToD's requests on map selection!
13
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idk still seems a little wierd

/interested to hear more
wassup
14
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At least they were gracious enough to give him a full 60 seconds to decide if he wanted to participate. Two or three more minutes to consult with his teammates would have just been ridicules. Especially after flying all the way to korea. Stick a 10 dollar plug in fan in the booth, tell the kid "we've decided to use the original maps chosen and would appreciate it if you still participated". Whats with all the hasty decisions and e-sports drama lately? Disqualifying players because of stupid things like this makes the tournament less fun to watch.

Do these tournament organizers realize that their dealing with mainly teenagers?
15
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Are the booths extraordinarily hot? Is it like playing in an oven, or does ToD prefer a perfect 73°f climate. Either way it sounds like he didn't really want to play anyways for whatever reason.
16
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I would imagine they would get very hot inside. Having a computer in there running all day with no air circulation and no way to cool it down, the air would eventually get to the point of being as hot or close to the temp of what is heating it. This being the computer parts itself, it would get well over 100 degrees inside.
17
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Of course it gets hot in the game box.. you have a PC running and you're wearing a headset or headphone (since some headsets/headphones can make your ears hot over an amount of time). Also it's for RTS games do you know how intense it can get when you're in a battle and you have to micro a lot of units?

This comment was edited at 08/09/2007 1:57 AM
18
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It all comes down to professionalism.

You are representing your sponsors, your affiliates, your team, but most importantly yourself. If your request's arent met, you don't whine, you act professional and you play because you are representing the name and your sponsors name.

It's unfortunate but ultimately you are a player and the admins are the admins.
Proud member of NoA! (NoA|DoiCare)
19
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Wow, to force him to make a decision on the spot within 60 seconds is ridiculous. Surely it wouldn't hurt to allow him to consider his options, heck an extra minute or two can't be that hard to grant. I mean, you probably can't think straight if you're put in that situation.

Whilst there does seem to be a conflict of facts, ToD claiming one, whilst the organizers claiming the other... so I'm not sure who to believe.

I also agree how hot it can get, I have a computer running in a significantly larger room to the booth's and it gets pretty hot in here. Imagine that in a more limited room.
blbk
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haha good point # 17. I wouldn't last 30 seconds in claustrophobic 100 degree booth. WAREZ MAH AIRCON BI*CHEZ! Or perhaps train in Arizona in the summer outside in a steel shed? hmmm.
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ToD is very picky about the heat in tournaments. He can't play when it's really hot. He plays extremely bad when he's sweating a ton. He sees no point in even playing at all since he's going to get owned anyway.
do drugs kids
22
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that will be a big conflict betwen organization of this championship and this palyer xD
bullet never lies
23
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#21 Exactly, ToD has always have problems concerning air conditioning and doesn't stand high temperatures. Anyways, he didn't seem too motivated to play this tournament, so maybe it is for the best.
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He's French, what do you expect.
25
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Same conditions for everyone so stop moaning you frog noob.
Your as ColdAsIce, Willing to sacrifice...

@7
Besides that he's French, ToD always loves to whine at first best occasion.
Like 18 posted, a proplayer has to accept the odds like all the other players do, because he has to representate his sponsors and plays for the audience. Maybe ToD should make a Sponsorship-Deal with Whirlpool so he could get an airconditioned-suite ;-).
Imagine every player on the tour would request his own playing conditions, map choices etc. in every tourney played! Tournament-orgas will have to decide well if to invite ToD in the future! If he isn't able to play under asian conditions, then he schouldn't play there at all.
And why should the admins give him more time to negotiate, why talk to Grubby??? This is prosports not a union meeting. Grubby wasn't complaining officialy as far as I got it, nor any other player did.
Tod no doubt is a great player, but he is just behaving like a Diva with no respect for his fans and no commitment to his sponsors.
So, grow up ToD or go clubbing and quit WC3 :-)

P.S. sorry for bad english

This comment was edited at 08/09/2007 6:27 AM
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Well it makes sense doesn't it #26, if you want the "big" players of WC3 to come, you're going to have to cater to their needs, which mind you, was warned before hand to the organizers and failed to deliver (using ToD's side of the story). It's not like he's saying "you must have a red carpet for my path towards my gaming area with luxury leather seats and the whole crowd hailing to me", it's about playing conditions (which if you've ready Grubby's blog on 4kings website, is for the benefit of all players not just him alone as you hint at).

And why shouldn't they grant him more time to negotiate? What harm can that cause? Oh no, I wasted an extra 30 seconds, my tournament is doomed!? It's not a union meeting, as you like to exaggerate, he wanted to consult Grubby because he was unsure of his mentality.

Well you mention ToD having no respect for his fans, what about the organizers respect for the players? Without them, there would be no tournament. This is of course, assuming ToD's story is correct.
blbk
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man, if tod got some plastic surgerey to sizen down his nose, itd make all the difference.

Not trying to pay out on him, I seriously think he would be a good looker with a nose job.

This comment was edited at 08/09/2007 7:13 AM
yo

Generally ToD arrives at an event to find he has problems with it, which is not uncommon. He said himself he wasn't interested in playing until an organizer offered to change some things for him, which he was told had been changed.

He then flies however many miles to find that nothing has been changed and that he had just been tricked into attending the event, more or less. He could have said "I'll go" and then complain when he got there, he didn't. He was prepared to sit this one out and when they offered to change things around he gave them plenty opportunity to do so.

If it's true then I definitely think he has a right to complain, I guess we'll just have to wait and see whether or not it's true.

The only difference between ToD and the rest of them is that he says what they all say in public. He tells us what happens and it turns into a big spectacle where everyone has their own opinion and wants to make sure that opinion gets posted. The chances of problems at an event being repeated when ToD has facilitated such bad press is unlikely, he's doing himself and the rest of competitors a favor.
What is that you say? Can I dig up my body now? Why certainly, ofcourse you can.
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Well said #29
Can I keep you?
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GotFrag Prime!
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ToD is an amazing player and has played many matches in environments that we have not seen/expereinced. He has dominated in several countries under different conditions, so he has the right to be concerned with the setup of a tournament. This isn't a giant tournament, it has the best minds in WC3 and getting someone of that caliber to fly halfway across the world under false pretenses is messed up.
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good decision ToD!
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tod is a girl
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They fixed the post thx to mine, i feel special!

he's french so complaining is in his culture :x
I know what I'm talking about :x
=^.^=
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That's Stupid
#nightfall
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every1 is whining about tods whine, im sure there are more players complaining about the same things; the temperature in that booth or other things, but only discuss it under their teamm8s/friends

#31 ToD lives in beijing, thats hardly half way across the world :D
Powders got more power when cooked with flour.
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#7, you are american, but I don't think you are inevitably an ignorant fat ass... stop classify pple by the country they come from, this is incredibly stupid, and you know it. Anyway I think ToD was right to complain this time, even if this is too much whining in a short time... but as always (cf blizzcon) the organisation was a mess and I doubt that his requests about the aircondition and map system ever went to organisator's ears. If ToD lived in Korea, ok np he should just shut up and back home, but when you take a fly and realize that organisators make fun of you and don't give a shit, you can have some reason to be angry.

This comment was edited at 08/14/2007 6:35 AM
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Since he is French, he should have also demanded 35 labour hours week or no more than 7 hours gaming day xD
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Back at summer cpl 05 some of my friends who played PK for 4k had the unfortunate experience of having to room with Tod. He kept complaining about everything and was just strange in general.
#rize on qnet

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