GotFrag.com - The Arena Tournament is an annual event sponsored by Blizzard Entertainment to pit the best arena players against each other. After a hectic last couple of hours the qualification round of the tournament has finally come to an end. Eight teams will be moving on for a chance to win cash, glory, and the opportunity to participate in the Global Championships during Blizzcon this year. There is a bit of uncertainty at this point in time regarding two of the qualifying teams who are considering not attending the event, but the following 8 teams are the teams which have recieved invitations to regionals from Blizzard.
: Vileroze
: Tinygnome
: Hawtstuffs Relatively unknown players (hence the name) Tinygnome and Hawtstuffs paired up with Vileroze to form what is the only MLS to qualify for regionals. Every contest needs its underdogs and Rise of the Nobodies certainly fits the bill.
Friends in real life, Tinygnome and Hawstuffs have been playing together since the release of Arena. Typically playing a Priest on live realms, the Tournament Realm was one of Hawstuffs first experiences with the Shaman class having only played it briefly before. It's hard to think that someone can qualify for the Arena Tournament regionals with a class they have never played before, here is what Hawtstuffz had to say about his first regional qualification:
You guys seemed to have some difficulties playing against Col.Black. How do you guys plan on dealing with them should you two be matched up at regionals?
Yea we had alot of trouble with them on the TR because we never knew when we were facing them, I think what we need to do is just stack more stam/resil, and maybe I'll wear some more pve gear to be able to keep up with the damage. We stacked different gear against hawk gaming and we won a couple of times but other times we never knew when we were facing them so they would just destroy one of us instantly.
This will be the first LAN event for you and your teammates, what adjustments to your play are you making to prepare for it?
We've just been practicing alot, and I'm trying to find a shaman on live to practice on because I just started playing a shaman this TR. we are also not playing with mods, so thats another change. None of us play with alot of mods but Vileroze, but he has already started converting the default UI.
: Seruuf: Uck
: Chris The Australian breakdancin', Chaos Boltin' Warlock hero Uck has been one of the superstars of Wrath of the Lich King arena. Because of his location it has been very difficult to garner the interest of potential sponsors, and to this date Uck remains one of the most talented unsponsored players in World of Warcraft. But a big scale win like the Global Championships could be the thing that finally makes sponsors look in Uck's direction.
Playing the Hunter, Warlock, Druid composition (along with Chris and Seruff, two very talented players) ladder play was rough for team CHRIS THROMAN. With a 70% win ratio the team struggled in games against the other qualifying teams they played. Going 1-5 against TSG and 4-4 against Nerdstompers team CHRIS THROMAN certainly have their work cut out for them at regionals.
: Seastone: Whiteshadows: Cirranis Currently tied for the highest rated 3v3 team in the world, Seastoner, or "Ashy Lary Marcy Projects" as they are known on live realms surprised a lot of players with their #3 finish on the TR ladders.
Being part of highly progressed PvE guilds, many people within the community have attributed their success on live realms to the large amount of PvE gear they have access to. But the members of Seastoner have certainly proven that they can run with the big dogs on equal footing with a 74% win ratio, and 6 wins and only 2 losses against TSG, the #1 qualifying team and last year's Global Champions.
Here is what Seastone had to say about the upcoming regional tournament:
You guys are fairly new to the scene, how long have you been playing together as a team?
We have only been playing together for a few weeks. Me and whiteshadows have played together since the beginning of the season running 2s, but we just recently started playing with cirranis in 3s.
Of the other qualifiers which are you most / least looking forward to meeting at regionals?
We are hoping to face zileas team. Although our record isnt perfect against them we think that we have a much easier time fighting them than we do some of the other teams. We are hoping to avoid probably hoodrchs team, they are a team that we can beat but it can be really scary at the same time, our record isnt too hot against hoodrchs them.
: Twixz: Flexx
: Toez Pioneers of the infamous "Beast Cleave" composition during MLG Columbus 2009, an event they later went on to win, Complexity Black is among the most inventive teams currently playing in the arena.
Many regard their playstyle as being "cheesy", and Complexity Black is often accused of running the easiest composition to be successful with in the current content version as opposed to running a comp that requires a high amount of skill to master. Whether or not that logic is sound is arguable, but what isn't is that fact that no matter how easy their comps may be to play, Complexity Black has most certainly seen their fair share of success. With a string of tournament wins over the last few arena seasons, Complexity Black has become one of the most successful arena teams in the tournament scene. Will they finally be able to add a Global Championship victory to their trophy shelf?
MLG Columbus is behind us and the next big stop is regionals, here is what Twixz had to say about his team's performance both past and present:
It seemed as though you were struggling a little at MLG Columbus, can you comment on what lead to that performance? Can we expect to see the good old Complexity Black for regionals and onward?
Im not sure how people see us as struggling at MLG Columbus. We had one tough match up in Arenapwnage that we knew would be hard, but was hoping it would go a little better then that. Then our only other loss all event was to Loaded.Black who we go back and forth with every event. We where up to them 2-1 and lost 2-3 if we would have won 1 more map we would have got first in the group. So did we struggle I don't look at it that way, was it a dissapointment for us? Of course. We are looking to get back to our old form and really make a push for blizzcon, we have no excusess for not winning MLG Ohio, we know what we need to fix now its just time to fix it.
Of the 7 other qualifiers, which are you most / least looking forward to facing at regionals?
To be honest I am looking forward to playing them all. We are all expecting close and tough games, getting through the bracket will require a bit of everything, skill, luck, and smart decision making.
: Venruki: Snutz: Sodah If you have been following competitive World of Warcraft arena at all since the Burning Crusade then you are no stranger to the names Sodah and Venruki. Among professional World of Warcraft players, they are the elite. And then there is Snutz. If you watched any of Complexity Red's games during the 2010 MLG Columbus event you may not have seen Snutz, but you most certainly heard him.
The combination of limitless experience and youthful exuberance that is Complexity Red has lead them to a considerable amount of success in the arena. The 4th highest rated team in the World on live servers (running RLD with Reckful, another member of Complexity Red), the 2nd place team in MLG's 2009 PC circuit, and runners up at MLG Columbus 2010, Complexity Red are no strangers to pressure. But do they have what it takes to become more than just second best?
One of the biggest factors for CoL.Red's success was the consistency of newcomer Snutz. We caught up with the rising star the night they secured their place in the US Regionals:
After Columbus you've gotten a reputation for being quite the vocal player, how important do your consider communication to be in competitive World of Warcraft?
I'm not exactly sure, my teamates tell me that me being vocal really helps them out and gets them pumped with a quick adrenaline rush and I myself feel like it kind of helps, it's better to be in a good mood rather then a negative mood so I guess it does benefit us in someways.
Of the 7 other qualifying teams, which do you think you have the best chances at defeating? Are there any teams you are worried about?
To be completely honest I am not concerned with any team's in the top 8 currently. We are confident in every team going into Regionals and are prepared for every matchup unless Button Bashers manages to show up :).
: Talbadar: Nuvos: Diziet Newcomers to the tournament scene, Arena Pwnage has become one of the most hyped teams currently playing. Constantly lauded for their excellent play by a number of players in the community, there was a lot of pressure on Arena Pwnage to perform at their first LAN event in Columbus.
Finishing round robin play with a 4-2 record, and narrowly missing championship qualification, Arena Pwnage performed better than most had expected. However, after Columbus the team began to grow apart. Drmayonaise, the team's Druid at the time, was known for having a short temper and being extremely vocal when it came to scrutinizing his teammate's play. A week before qualification rounds were scheduled to end Talabadar and Novos decided enough was enough and dropped Drmayonaise from the team, instead choosing to play the rest of their games on the TR with Diziet, a Druid formerly sponsored by Skillcaped.com.
All indications point towards this being a positive change for Arena Pwnage as they were able to level a brand new team up to qualification rating with an impressive 78% win ratio.
With the amount of attention being paid to team Arena Pwnage, its hard to imagine that they have competed at only one tournament event. Here is what Talbadar had to say about his team, and the other's who qualified for regionals:
Your team has been described as a "3 healer comp" but Diziet is your only healer. Can you explain where that name came from?
In any given situation where my team is forced under pressure, the shaman and priest from the team don't have the control and peel abilities that other teams have. Because of this, the 2 DPS players will end up tossing out a few heals any time we are in trouble.
Of the other qualifying teams which are you most looking forward to facing? Which team are you hoping to avoid?
Who we are looking forward to playing TSG, CoL Black, Nerdstompers, and Team CHRIS THORRMANN. Who we are hoping to avoid CoL Red.
: Hoodrych: Nadagast: Velsuz In terms of World of Warcraft personalities Hoodrych is among the largest. A player since competitive World of Warcraft was in its infancy, Hoodrych is one of the most experienced and revered players currently playing the game.
The Warrior, Warlock, Druid composition that Hoodrych, Nadagast, and Velsuz run was one of the strongest comps during the Burning Crusade expansion. It has however diminished in power considerably since then. The amount of Mages, Druids, and Elemental Shamans in the arena today, and the lack of a reliable dispel make the Warrior's job of putting out pressure very difficult. But while the arena world was giving up on their composition, Nerdstompers was busy perfecting it.
There exists no WLD currently playing that can match Nerdstompers. If Hoodrych is able to stay on a target long enough to get a kill (something Nerdstompers struggled with at MLG Columbus 2010) Nerdstompers may just chop their way to the Global Championships.
A black cat in a sea of Wizards, Nadagast remains as one of the only Warlocks to avoid jumping on the Wizard Cleave band wagon. Here is what he had to say about how Nerdstompers hopes to handle the wizards.
It seems as though you will be in a group full of Wizards just like in Columbus. How do you guys plan on dealing with them differently this time around?
Online we're normally able to deal with them quite a bit better than we did at MLG. They can still be somewhat rough but we made some critical mistakes at MLG that we don't normally make. I can understand how people think we might be hard countered by mage wizardcleaves if they only saw those four MLG games, but if we play well and don't let our nerves and the atmosphere throw us off we should be able to put up a much better fight.
Of your fellow qualifiers which do you hope to face / avoid at regionals?
If we play well, we have a good chance to beat every team with the possible exception of TSG. I'd personally like to avoid the Prot teams because I like to actually cast spells, but I really think our biggest enemy is ourselves and how much we can keep the drop in our level of play small when going from online to LAN.
: Veev
: Valrath: Zilea Last year's Global Champions, TSG has been a dominating force in arena throughout Wrath of the Lich King. Masters of "the ladder game" many people have lauded, and hated TSG for the tactics they often employ to remain at the top of the ladder (even going as far as leveling a second team to act as a safety net).
With frequent drama among the team's members, many questioned TSG's ability to match their success in the last Arena Tournament. But, true to form Zilea, Veev, and Valrath were able to work out their differences and level two teams to the top 8 on the ladders, hold a 73% / 79% win ratio, go positive against most of the other teams within the top 8, and place first among qualifiers.
We caught up with Valrath of TSG to ask him a couple of questions while his team watched the ladders a couple of hours before the Tournament Realm came to a close. Here is what he had to say:
How was the leveling experience this time around in comparison to last year's TR? Did you find it more difficult to maintain your ratings this year?
It was easier last year because our DK/Lock/pally comp was near unbeatable, this time around we had to play it smart by lvling 2 teams high. It's easy to maintain raiting when you got 2 teams
Among the qualifying teams, which are you most / least excited about meeting in regionals and why?
If hoodrych's team or SK us qualify it's a pretty easy win for us, toughest would be col.red.
Your team seemed to be having a bit of trouble with Beast Cleave, any worries about Col.Black?
We can beat beastcleave no problem if we know we're playing them. Every time they got us we weren't geared nor speced for it
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