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Trevor "Midway" Schmidt takes a look at America's fall from the top of the International ranks in 2008. (GotFrag) - What has happened to the USA? Last year the Americans dominated World of Warcraft the way no other country has dominated an eSports game since Sweden in Counter-Strike back during the SK.swe/Team9 days. This weekend’s staggering destruction of the six American teams in Paris is proof of change. Besides SK.USA, no Americans even made noise at the event, going quietly outside the top 6 before the event even reached its zenith. Pandemic drops the baton. The mighty Pandemic of 2007 is in shambles. Pandemic won every single event in 2007 and basically crushed the rest of the world in WoW Arena from China, Toronto to Sweden. This year they have only managed five wins and six losses with MLG San Diego and WWI combined. Obviously the losses of Knitt and Vhell as mainstays in the lineup hurt at some level but if that was the only indications of problems it would be a bigger story. The large trend is the destruction of the American WoW Arena scene. Glory days? American WoW Arena was a staggering 27-8 against worldwide teams in 2007. Think about that number for a second, 27-8, that’s 77%. It also wasn’t America’s best teams either. Fnatic EU sent its team to both WSVG Louisville and Dallas to see them go a combined 3-4 with all three wins in group stage and 0-4 in bracket play before even facing America’s top teams. SK Wardens then gave it a shot at WSVG Toronto where they managed a 4-4 mark only to lose to the new American Fnatic.Insurrection team. The major victory came at Dreamhack where four American teams took on three European teams and a Canadian team. The Americans went a staggering 6-0 and swept the top four spots. Just to add insult to injury, it wasn’t even close matches as the Americans won 18-3 in maps played. It seemed the World had taken notice to the American dominance. Both Fnatic and SK Gaming picked up American teams, banking that the new American success was a reality. Still it seemed all too perfect for the Stars and Stripes. Downward spiral. With America riding high it seems the only direction they could turn is down. The rest of the World took notice and coming into this year there were quite a few groups looking to bring order back to the World of Warcraft. So began 2008. Nihilum fired the first salvo going 4-1 against American opponents at MLG San Diego. The biggest win was against Pandemic who they defeated 3-1. Their composition of Resto Druid, Disc Priest and Marks/BM Hunter didn’t seem like a setup that would work against American teams all to ready to play Double Melee and Healer teams. Still they excelled against the odds and placed a seed of doubt in the minds of the American teams. Then WWI this weekend in Paris. The downfall of American teams became complete as the USA went 4-9 against Worldwide teams and watched as two Pandemic teams couldn’t even muster a top 6 finish. For 2008, the USA is 5-13 against International teams. That’s 28% compared to last year’s 77%. The reality of the situation. Can America rebound? There are four major events remaining on the schedule this year that have been officially announced for World of Warcraft. MLG Orlando (July 11th-13th), MLG Dallas (October 3rd-5th), ESL Extreme Masters (TBA) and Blizzcon Anaheim (October 10th-11th). Americans will have to rally in those events to reclaim the glory of 2007. |
Friday November 27 2009 | |||||
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User Comments
So to judge the North American teams based on this tournament is not really fair.
At the same time though, the European and Asian teams are clearly extremely skilled as well... but I believe with the top teams from each continent it would be a much closer competition, as all three continents are very strong.
A fairly pointless article, really.
An enjoyable commentary on the whole; I hope we see more articles from Midway in the future. I think that it's a very valid counterpoint, though, that the USA's top teams really weren't represented this past weekend. Invitations for the BWI were handed out almost 6 months ago, based on performances from 2007's event season. Obviously, the North American hierarchy has changed significantly from 2007 to 2008, and I'd very much like to see how this year's top US teams perform against the international talent that did so well in Paris.
There's a lot of factors you can look at regarding WWI, and one of them is that an American team placed 3rd without running their full lineup. That team also placed poorly at MLG San Diego while a bunch of other Americans played better than them, so if those teams were at WWI, it could have been a much different story.
A team like Pandemic Blue is getting blasted in this article (and the authors own comment) for placing 7th-8th, but they only lost to the 2nd and 3rd placing teams while taking a round from each of them.
We won't really find out whose the best into the world until the actual best teams from each region play each other in a tournament. Until then, all WWI shows is that European and Asian teams can definitely compete with everyone else - every region is in the mix.
Now everyone is familiar with countercomping and strategies are very basic. The game is a year old and it almost feels like every setup combination is well known, whereas before it was new and exciting. The competition now is higher than it ever was, not because people are playing better, but because people aren't brand new to arenas anymore. Pandemic just can not keep up with the fierce competitors. Pandemic seemed strong back then when some of the best players in the world were still gearing up out of their level 70 blues. But an adult isn't smarter than a genius child. He may seem smarter when the child is a toddler, but as the child blossoms, it will become more and more obvious that the adult cannot keep up with the genius.
Same logic and scenario applies here.
I can't imagine the Americans competing in the future if the usage of the game at high levels continues.
I think its just a joke how you write about pandemic being world #1 on no basis whatsoever, and then have to U-turn like this. It wouldn't happen if you didn't hype people up. It's like your american sports, you have a world series with just canada and treat it like the whole world is involved.
It's not really surprising that with a lot of team changes and very little actual playing their performance would drop and their comps would be outdated. SK.US was really the only competitive team from the US at WWI Paris in my opinion, and they did quite well considering they were forced to use a different lineup and run some different comps because of it.
When you have old US teams playing teams from other countries who are topping their TR's you can pretty much count on who's going to win...
WSVG took place on China when Burning Crusade was not up (gg Pandemic), and American's city that was to expensive for Euro Team.
There is some good team in America and some good team in other countrys. But your "Pandemic" and "US Fnatic" team need Learn to Play.
That happend mainly since in most of the tournaments during 2007, 80% of the competing teams were from US.
Even tho, they showed great play it doesnt mean US was better than Europe whatsoever.
And right now, the prove that U.S never really dominated the scene is even bigger.
All the wins took by Pandemic in previous tournaments, there was just 1/2 EU teams and none asian teams (except WSVG China maybe), so they actually dominated cause there was no real competition in terms of Continents.
Right you cant say someone dominates the WoW scene, even tho Asian teams showed great skill, it was 1tourn out of 15 or so.
Although he may not have been a fan of the series as a whole, he at least appreciated the excitement that the controversial (but oddly successful) new game selections brought to esports, called it somewhat of a 'restart,' and was right on.
We've found out since then that this restart has revitalized pro gaming and brought in new sponsors, huge communities, and even been responsible for GotFrag's most successful coverage weekend to date.
His major flaw with the series, he said, was the lack of 'big names' at the events. It needed a more involved fan following - players his audience was more familiar with, faces that had made names for themselves. That too was correct.
Perhaps it's mostly politics (WSVG as a Games Media property versus MLG as a GotFrag affiliate), but that's why it's so disappointing to just now see these kinds of articles being written.
Those 'big names' were here in 2007 and though times are certainly changing, it's a shame that they weren't covered in their own era and that teams who were very much at the forefront of the game since its existence must now earn their respect from scratch; and I'm not even talking about my own players.
MoB and Fnatic US, for example, have more than earned their place in the current top 10 and at the recent invitational events. All it takes is one look back at the LAN results of last year and their record against the big name Euros of the same time. Argue what you want, but they consistently finished in the top 3 at virtually every event while the foreign competition - who earned their own sponsorships from major outfits such as SK, Fnatic, and MYM - were lucky to make it out of the first round.
I know I've heard at least one person on staff say 'MLG.WoW brought [them] back to feelings of early CPL,' but that drama and excitement's been with LAN WoW all along - not just MLG/GFTV (although your broadcast was no question head and shoulders above the rest).
Competition is better, there is an incredible amount of parity in the game, and we are nowhere near the level we (Pandemic) were in '07 right now- criticize us all you want for that, but we will all get back on our feet.
US players were turned away from the game when the WSVG collapsed and it appeared they'd have no home; if you'd been a part of that rollercoaster you'd no doubt better understand. Why go on working your ass off every day for a game you've practically made a career out of when it appears your time is over?
Non-WSVG teams like SK.US and FD, on the other hand, kept playing and competing on live out of love of the game, and their time put in has noticably paid off at these last two events. Koreans and Europeans simply never had a reason to stop playing in the first place.
I'll agree that we've slipped for the start of '08 and that our counterparts didn't fare so well at WWI, but I'll also remind you that it's the first time in the game's history that a non-American team has won an event. Though it won't always be my squad in the winner's circle, the good money is still on the stars and stripes in this game - like it or not.
But "wts", who win CGS competition was a spanish team so :
but I'll also remind you that it's the first time in the game's history that a non-American team has won an event
is wrong :D
Americans won the real CGS competition, 3's.
4 invited teams and no selection ?
Gratz, you won.
See you this year on CGS.
Oh no ... You will not be there :°)
In 2007, the first WSVG stop was held in China, only 1 European team attended, fnatic.WoW, which were basically players that were hanging around in the 1800's. The other stops were all in the US, giving Europeans not much of a chance to attend an event (yeah we checked for Louisville and LA and the prices were just too much). Adding the fact that Chinese players hadn't even played TBC yet since it was simply not released there yet, Pandemic winning the first stop was kind of expected.
First stop in China was good (at least if they had the same version to play and practice), but the 2nd stop had to be in Europe, giving local teams at least a chance to enter the competition, and being able to get their travel money (WSVG gave a certain amount for the top3 i think to cover travel expenses to the next event).
The way it looked now last year was 1 European team (fnatic with not that great players, let's face the facts here - yet fnatic had the funds, being such a successful organization). Rest was Pandemic, MoB teams, insurrection and some local teams.
Now it was an event based on invites from across the world. Good teams from Europe got invited, and showed what good European teams can do.
I got a bit fed up with the 'US wow > EU wow' especially seeing as the majority thought that fnatic was the top of Europe. It was about time an event like this took place.
Just look at the MLG... every event is based in the US, giving high rated local teams not much of a chance to compete.
Ofc this is the way things work in all (e)sports, if u don't have the funds u can't attend, but it doesn't mean that the American wow is on a downwards spiral). Last year pandemic was just lucky that no good European or Asian team got a decent sponsorship deal imo.
This is exactly what i mean... "big name Euros of the same time". Please dude.. learn to face the facts :-). Big name European ORGANIZATIONS with lack of recruiting skills.
Wait, you're kidding right?
Lemley, if this is the attitude of 'your' players, than I'd suggest you go find a decent playergroup who are motivated even when things aren't moving your way. It's just ridiculous to say that you'll stop playing a game competitively if there are no major cash prices involved in the upcoming months.
Everyone knew WoW leagues were becoming more and more popular after the WSVG, only Pandemic saw it otherwise and just stopped playing competitively?
I wonder what kind of retarded people u have a board tbh.
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