By the roar of the Altitude ISL3's mighty engines we enter the Round of 8. All the players have come a long way and are all guaranteed to at least part of the 2500$ prize pool. From here on out it's serious business though as all matches are being played as Best of 7s. Read on to find out more about the players before our casts go live again on Saturday and Sunday.
Round of 8
Sziky vs Technics
Sziky vs Technics
TechnicS has been looking ridiculously dominant in his last two series, crushing GoTuNk! 3-0 and besting AstrO 3-1 in a highly recommended series. His ZvP run has ended for now though. If he advances to the semifinals, he'll be guaranteed to have to play a Terran, but first his ZvZ will be put to the test. His opponent, Sziky, the reigning ISL champion, is the player to beat. This Hungarian Zerg is looking as strong as ever, going 3-0 against both AlfiO and Bizzy.
Bibiane vs Pro7ect
The first Terran versus Terran in a while, and the only two remaining Terrans facing off. In ISL2 both these players were eliminated in the Round of 8, so one of them will best the standing record. Both of them are renowned players, but neither looked invincible in their most recent matches. We'll be guaranteed a good series though, with hopefully a variety of styles on a selection of maps both new and old.
dOTY vs Sneazel
dOTY defiantly qualified for ISL3 after not being on the reservation list. And he's the only person still in the tournament who wasn't. Not only that, he's had a really good run as well, taking out ISL2's Runner-up Ace 3-0 and Karate 3-2 in a close series. Sneazel, the 4th place finisher from ISL2, was none too confident after making it through Qualification. He may have surprised himself more than anyone though, as he's only one more round away from another top 4 finish. His PvP looked good vs Jumper, can he repeat against dOTY?
Semih vs Michael
Semih is another player making a bit of a surprise run. He's made some good showings in the various clan leagues, but it's his first time to go deep in an ISL. His opponent is one of the invites: Michael whose 3-0 dismantling of Dewalt should unnerve any Protoss opponent. He plays a cheeky style though, the real question is how well Semih can play into that.
Interview with Semih
You beat SouthPark in the Round of 16. How did that go? Did everything go according to plan?
I suck at blocking ling busts, so that was pretty annoying, but other than that my strategies went pretty well.
If you beat Michael you have to play either dOTY or SneazeL - who would you rather face and why?
I'd rather face doty because he beat me in one of the qualifiers, and I want to pay him back for that
Of the remaining 8 players, who on the other side of your bracket do you think is the favorite? Do you think you could beat them in a best of 7 or so series, and do you want to play them?
Obviously the favorite is sziky. I've only played him once and I lost, but I think i can beat anybody if im practicing, but no I would rather not play him.
How about the rest of the tournament - what do you think about the overall results so far, is there anyone you're rooting for and would you like to say anything else?
I don't really follow the results other than who i'm playing next. I'm only rooting for myself. I want to give thanks to everyone who sponsored/organized this tournament, and in the unlikely event that I have someone rooting for me, I'd like to thank them too.
Interview with TechnicS
You beat AstrO in the Round of 16. How did that go? Did everything go according to plan?
I am satisfied with how the series went overall. Game 1 went pretty well for me and one of the keyfactors was the big help I received from bonebreakker_ (the real one) as strategy discussing and practicing. But I’m left with mixed feelings about the other games: my early,mid and late game of Game 2 had its mistakes which got punished pretty badly by draw. In Game 3 my early game was way worse than usual and I can’t feel too good about it. Also draW’s shuttle harass was amazing that game imo, so I got a lot more gameache. In game 4, I didn’t really have a plan, since I hadn’t played a single game on it. I was not too happy with my build order choosing/placing but I managed to play well/safe enough to secure the win afterwards (probably too because I got lucky to catch 2 of the 3 tries of shuttle harass by draw this time).
If you beat Sziky you have to play either Bibiane or Pro7ecT - who would you rather face and why?
I am not too sure if I know Bibiane’s TvZ playstyle very well and I am not too sure what shape Pro7ecT is right now so… I don’t really know who I would rather face, nor why ;D
Of the remaining 8 players, who on the other side of your bracket do you think is the favorite? Do you think you could beat them in a best of 7 or so series, and do you want to play them?
Looking at the 4 players from the other side of the bracket I can’t really point out a single player as the clear favorite. They are all very good players with their unique playstyles, skills, tendencies etc. so I think they all can deliver good results (the way they have done so far). I’d love to have the opportunities to play all of them in a bo7, meaning we will have more BW tournaments delivering exciting series, meaning Game and the ISL team would have done even more awesome job because lets face it - ISLs wouldn’t have happened without them.
How about the rest of the tournament - what do you think about the overal results so far, is there anyone you're rooting for and would you like to say anything else?
ISL3 has been great so far. Maybe the qualifiers went for a bit too long timewise but they were definitely made cleverly so they would be exciting and intriguing as well.
Also I would like to add many thanks to LRM)Game for preparing for this match, as well as INF3CTED and icotuza! Thanks to Altitudeisl, twitchtv.com and the ISL3 team ;D!
Last, but not least, I’m very thankful to bon3breaker_’s help I received for this series so I wanna say: bonebreaker_ SO BEAUTIFUL!
The bracket stage is straight forward: good old Single Elimination.
The Round of 8 starts out with Best of 7 matches.
The maps, to be played in order, are: New Heartbreak Ridge, Tau Cross, La Mancha, Circuit Breakers, Gladiator, Neo Aztec, Match Point
NOTE: We will be using the original versions of the current Proleague maps.
The Round of 16 will be played on: May 26th
As per usual, the matches will be played at 19:00 CET from channel OP ISL3.
As per usual, the matches will be played at 19:00 CET from channel OP ISL3.
Full Casting Schedule
May 26th
Casted by Sayle and Elegant at Sayle's stream starting from 21:00 CET.
Bibiane vs Pro7ect
dOTY vs Sneazel
May 27th
Casted by hacklebeast on hacklebeast tv starting from 19:00 CET.
Sziky vs TechnicS
Semih vs Michael
May 26th
Casted by Sayle and Elegant at Sayle's stream starting from 21:00 CET.
Bibiane vs Pro7ect
dOTY vs Sneazel
May 27th
Casted by hacklebeast on hacklebeast tv starting from 19:00 CET.
Sziky vs TechnicS
Semih vs Michael
NOTE: To determine the #5 through #8 ranking, the eliminated players will be invited to a Round Robin the week after the Quarterfinals. The four players will play every other player in a Bo1, with 500$ of prizemoney being distributed according to their ranking. Details such as maps will be announced in next week's thread.
+ Show Spoiler [Tournament Rules] +
1) Rules Concerning Executive Decisions and Over-Rulings
- All Players are subject to administrative discretion.
- LRM)Game reserves full discretion over all decisions and procedures.
2) Rules Concerning Behavior
- No bad manner during the tournament, period. This applies to bad manner of staff, fellow participants, in write-ups, in the official channel, or in game. Professionalism is mandatory, and will be absolute.
3) Rules Concerning Server and Launcher
- All games must be played on Fish Server
- If under special circumstance Fish is down for an extended period of time, an announcement will be made in the applicable round's threads.
- All games must be played using Mini-Launcher or ChaosLauncher
- All games must be played using the #l2, #l1 or #ll settings.
4) Rules Concerning Replays
- All replays must be sent to AltitudeISL@gmail.com immediately after the completion of a round. The winner must send in both wins and losses. Failure to do so will result in replacement. If a failed send occurs, however the player has proof of the attempt, the player may advance as long as the replays are delivered before the start of the next round.
5) Rules Concerning Lag
- If a player is experiencing an unplayable quantity of lag, they must leave the game before the two minute mark. Beyond this point, the player will be forced to play out the set.
- If one player has unplayable lag, one the referees will set a time for that set to be finished given the availability of the player who is not lagging.
- Under the circumstance of a lag conflict, the set will be forced into postponement. The postponed time and date will be set by the league commissioner. On this time and date, both players must have either found a LAN cafe in which they will be forced to surrender the IP from, or playing from a different, but applicable location. Examples being a friends house, school, library, etc. IP's will also be mandatory from these locations.
6) Rules Concerning PP matches
- If a player makes one of the referee's aware that he cannot play the day of his match within 72 hours of the set playing time, he will then be allowed to then contact his opponent 48 hours ahead of time to pre-play or postpone the match. The time frame is very tight, and thus must be obeyed. Upon proof via screenshot of contact back and forth between player and opponent, the referee handling the case will then assign a date and time to be played, earlier or later than set time, at a time of mutual availability. The circumstance of a match played earlier is first at the discretion of the opponent who is being inconvenienced, and then must be confirmed reasonable by said referee.
7) Rules Concerning W.O Timers
- A player who finds himself without an opponent will be granted a W.O victory for every 15 minutes of waited time.
- The above rule is applicable not only to situations of tardiness, but those of neglect.
- Technical issues do not apply and will be handled case to case.
8) Rules Concerning Abuse
- Any form of abuse will result in the offending player's ban from the Altitude International Starleague. This player will not be allowed to re-enter another qualifier, nor any league operated by the organization of Altitude's International Starleague.
9) Rules Concerning IP
- Players may be required to surrender their IP address again at any given time during the league without notice.
"Altitude is a free to play, fast-paced, competitive, multiplayer game made by and for fans of BW." - Altitude
"There is no doubt in our minds that StarCraft 2 has elevated eSports to a new level over the last year or so. However, it's important to give credit to the game that catalyzed the genesis of eSports as we know it - StarCraft: BroodWar. We at TwitchTV are happy to see that the SC:BW scene continues to live, and are excited to sponsor this event. We encourage any current BroodWar players to stream on TwitchTV and help keep the community vibrant and strong!" - Ben "FishStix" Goldhaber, TwitchTV Outreach Manager
"I'd like to wish the players, caster and viewers a good time, bw hwaiting!" - Prowler
"I'd like to thank every person who makes this tournament possible, and to wish good luck to the players. Let's show everybody how awesome the foreign bw community can be!" - corumjhaelen
Total prizepool: $2500
1st: $1000
2nd: $500
3rd: $300
4th: $200
5th: $175
6th: $150
7th: $100
8th: $75
1st: $1000
2nd: $500
3rd: $300
4th: $200
5th: $175
6th: $150
7th: $100
8th: $75
Useful ISL3 Links:
Announcement thread - Qualifiers 1-3 - Qualifiers 4-6 - Qualifier 7 - Group Stage - Round of 32 - Round of 16
PM Game
The Website - The Sponsor - Reps.ru Coverage
Altitude's ISL on Liquipedia