In the Crosshairs: ETQW Competition Round-up

The on-going Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Competition Mod beta is testament to the fact that many of us here at Splash Damage HQ are, or have been, keen fans of competition gaming and I am no exception. In my time I’ve played in many a clan, from the most casual (an epic Counter-Strike clan of some 40+ members and assorted ranks) to the more ‘hardcore’ (an all conquering Call of Duty team) and everything in between. This it seems was all it took to convince the Great Overlords of the Office that I would be the perfect candidate to bring you the occasional update about the Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars competition scene – lets hope they’re right!

There have been a multitude of competitions and tournaments played out since the game was released, so rather than cover the numerous epic victories and crushing defeats of the past, I’ll start with the most recent events.

The biggest tournament of the last few months has surely been the Crossfire Devotii Challenge 4. The first major LAN tournament for ETQW since Quakecon 2007 saw Europe’s finest teams descending on Enschede in the Netherlands to compete for a shared prize purse of 2000 Euros. Favorites for the event were Team Dignitas who to date have won pretty much every tournament they have entered, both online and at LAN events, but they were to face tough competition from other leading teams such as Epsilon eSports, Team SPEED-LINK, Four Kings and Team Logitech.fi.

The group stages saw Dignitas ease through their group in first place with SPEED-LINK following behind in second. In Group Two, however, things were much tighter, with the powerful Epsilon eSports team struggling to draws against Logitech.fi and un-fancied Danish team Infinity. A victory in their final group game against Four Kings did see them through the group in second place, though, just behind their defeated rivals.

On to the double-elimination play-offs: In the upper bracket semi-finals Dignitas continued their unstoppable form by defeating Epsilon eSports, whilst SPEED-LINK pulled off something of a shock by beating Four Kings. This sent both losing teams into the lower bracket, where Epsilon again beat the Brits and eliminated them from the tournament. SPEED-LINK went on to lose to Dignitas in their next match and then, after dropping to the lower bracket, also lost to Epsilon to go home in third place. This set up a Dignitas versus Epsilon final, with the Swedes of Epsilon needing to win two sets of maps to gain victory due to reaching the final via the lower bracket. Despite both maps being a close affair, Epsilon were unable to force the second set as Dignitas showed their ability and experience to win 4-0 and take the title of CDC4 ETQW Champions.

Team Dignitas are presented with the first price check by Stu “TosspoT” Saw at CDC 4. Image courtesy of Team Dignitas.

There was no rest for the new champions however, shortly after returning from Holland they were again in action in another final, this time online in the ESL Major Series against Four Kings. Qualification for the ESL Major Series started in the Autumn last year and it had been a long road to the final, with regional qualifiers, group stages and play-offs to get through to earn the chance to win 1500 Euros. In the end the result was some what of a forgone conclusion with Dignitas victorious again, forcing Four Kings into second spot.

In the US, the first season of the Cyberathlete Amateur League (CAL) has recently ended with Mainline Gaming taking the victory over Team Fate. The finals of TGL season 1 are also right around the corner after some drama with the server in one of the semi-finals. The finals will see Hell’s Katz Squad take on Team n3mesis on Salvage.

Other highlights over the coming months will be the hugely popular Clanbase Eurocup XVII and Nations Cup, the on-going Live2Win league and the upcoming CAL and TGL seasons. This should mean I’ll be able you to update you again some weeks from now… if the Makron will still let me! 🙂