Over 150 players signed up and checked-in for ESWC’s US qualifiers, only two made it out. Our very own Axslav is one of those two and after enduring days on end of a variety of skilled opponents; he’s made it on top while knocking out It’s Gosu’s dde, Complexity’s Goswer and 4Not’s latest addition: Xenocider.
Nick ‘Axslav’ Ranish will go on to face against the other qualifying player: rtz, who managed to take out Complexity’s Trimaster, as well as the invited: Suppy, IdrA, HuK, Ranged, Hawk, daisuki. With the lack of significant Terrans amongst the invited, Axslav’s focus will need to be on his Zerg match-up as well as checking into his most confident type of opponents: Protosses.
Though this is only an offline US qualifier to the ultimate world ESWC finals in France, this has been the second recent tournament Axslav has qualified for, the first being IPL5. ESWC World Finals is set to kick off on October 31st to November 4th, with ESWC’s North American Path at PAX Prime to commence on August 31st to September 2nd.
It’s been a little over a year since we welcomed jEcho to our team. Previously with LagTT, Joseph Lopez showed a new kind of potential and atmospheric confidence that we had never seen before as he came aboard.
During his run in the recent ESEA season, he performed the most out of the entire team with a record of 10 wins and 1 loss. Beyond that, he was invited recently to participate in WCS Canada, coming close to defeating HuK in the lower bracket and is a constant participant in Playhem Opens coming in second place three times, only to have lost to some of the best Zergs around: TSL4 qualifying player, Hyun, and TSL player Revival.
jEcho has represented both Canada and Infinity Seven in the best way possible during his time on the team, his stream was a constant source of calm and tactile play, but also displayed knowledge and strategy before, during and after every match whether he was winning or losing.
About leaving the team jEcho had the following to say:
“I’ve been with Infinity Seven since the start and loved every second of my time there. As time progressed some players left and new players joined but no matter what it always felt like a family, B teamers and management included. I’m proud to have been a part of the journey to becoming a top 5 North American team. Unfortunately with my final year of school coming up goals for the future had to be changed. I’ll miss everyone on the team and wish them the best of luck in the future.”
It’s with a heavy heart that we say farewell to jEcho as he moves on to bolder endeavors and wish him the best of luck in whatever he does.
The last time we spoke, we were swept up in the eye of an E-Sports storm. MLG being one of the largest E-Sports events of this year was a checkmark in our team’s achievements and expectations. With MLG and WCS gone with the wind, we now set our eyes for the GIGABYTE ESPORTS LAN Invitational with an $11,000 prize-pool.
On June 15th to the 17th, thanks to GIGABYTE, Intel and the SoCal LANFest, 24 of some the best players around the world will be competing for top prize of 5,000 dollars. We are also sporting our finest gems with both open-bracket MLG warrior Axslav coming in to represent the best that Protoss has to show as well as our very own prodigy and third-place Blizzard’s World Championship series: USA nationals player Insur. Thundertoss will be joining the casting crew for GESL and will do his best to capture the excitement of the games!
Despite a large number of Koreans coming in to steal the show, such as SlayerS Alicia, MVP Tails and TSL’s Inori, Infinity Seven will be amongst the top contender for first place given Insur’s versatility in all match-ups and Axslav’s valuable experience and knowledge of a lot of the opponents’ playstyle for his advantage. Axslav, having taken second place in the MSi Battlegrounds, took out Quantic’s Agh, B2B’s Siphonn and EG’s IdrA, it’s clear he hasn’t lost his A-Game and capable of still contending among the elite. Insur, having lost to Golden fairly early at MLG, will be looking for revenge on LighT’s star, which will also serve as a preview for our match against LighT Esports for the ESEA playoffs.
One thing is for certain, when noon strikes in Southern California on Friday, the SC2 community will be watching some of the best Koreans and foreigners duke it out for top-prizes and exciting matches.
GESL TeamLiquid thread
It is day two of the one of the biggest live events in the world for StarCraft II. In addition to the exhibition matches for the Brood War professional players, it is also the biggest live championship for both MLG as well as Blizzard’s US World Championship Series regionals featuring some of the best and most prominent players in the world.
As day one rolled out, our players were ready to hit the floors with Friday opening with the World Championships. Pyre fell into the losers brackets in round one losing to future finalist of the whole regional championship: NITRIX Daisuki. He tried his hardest once more defeating ROOT pUCK in round one of the losers brackets, but soon met his local area rival: It’s Gosu Pokebunny and lost 2-1. This is the second time Pyre has lost to Pokebunny in recent times, having lost to himand claiming second place before at a Local LAN (NJ Power Overwhelming #03).
Against recent CSL Scholarship winner and CheckSix player, Suppy, Axslav falls as well into the losers bracket and ending his short run losing to Sonata. While his WCS story was cut hastily here, his MLG Championship tale would prove to be even more exciting and exceptional than one could foresee.
The true story of WCS here in Anaheim would be fromour Insur. Decisively taking out LighT’s Heavens, he soon makes work of players like SirRobin, HelloKitty and Checksix’s Perfect. Whether he wins or loses against Checksix’s Mystik would not change his qualification into the continental World Championship Series of the Americas (Canada, USA, Mexico) given his extensive run in the winners brackets. However, he ties Mystik up before losing to current finalist and ROOT player ViBe. Day two would be his chance to prove he has earned his right for a rematch against ViBe, but did not seem to overcome against NITRIX Daisuki, making that two Infinity Seven players taken out by the Zerg. Insur folds up camp for WCS taking third out all of North America and with only the MLG Spring Championship on his plate.
Now onto the main event! Anaheim proved to be our biggest presence in recent times! With the majority of staff there to root the players on, Sanddbox, Pyre, Insur, Axslav, CrazyMoviNG and jEcho were all fitting themselves for the battlegrounds. Within the span of Friday and Saturday, Pyre tries his hand at the open bracket but gets walled by EG JYP and against by Quantic’s State in round three of the losers bracket.
jEcho sets off in his corner of the brackets striking vVv Rocker decisively similar to his confident win over him during our ESEA match against vVv. Some things do not seem to change as jEcho plays against the match-up he despises the most: Zerg. More specifically; Fuzzy of Team Dynamic who, coincidentally, has also qualified for the World Championships Canadian Regionals (jEcho has been invited to WCS of Canada). Down in the losers bracket, jEcho’s luck runs out as he taps out against Team Liquid’s formidable Korean Zerg: Zenio.
While a similar fate seemed likely for Sanddbox, losing to vVv glon in the first round, Sanddbox was not counted out just yet as he takes major names all the way to round five of the losers bracket. Quantic Flo, Checksix Future, EG DeMuslim, EG LzGamer are all names eliminated by Sanddbox the bounty hunter. It was not until Ostojiy stepped into the ring that Sanddbox met his match and gets eliminated. Ostojiy was also an unstoppable force in our ESEA match against It’s Gosu where jEcho loses to Ostojiy 2-1.
However, revenge was served to Axslav as he later takes out Ostojiy in the finals of the losers bracket. With better luck than in WCS, Axslav progressed passed Quantic’s Agh, Siphonn (Axslav recently lost to Siphonn in a showmatch back in March) and the day after: EG idrA. Though idrA proved to be no longer a threat, a return of favour after losing to idrA in the IPL Team Arena Challenge, Axslav falls to JYP similarly like Pyre in round two.
The quiet CrazyMoviNG took his wins with carefulness and confidence. LighT’s Knight, Gatored and current WCS finalist, ViBe, all fell into CrazyMoviNG’s pocket as he out-macroed and maneuvered his way to Oz. Oz, now with Fnatic, shoved CrazyMoviNG into the losers bracket against It’s Gosu YaTa and soon after LighT’s KawaiiRice. He was however stopped short against Dignitas SelecT at the losers bracket finals, just missing the championship series after a close back-and-forth three-game series against the Terran player.
As for Insur, he takes a second-helping of SirRobin, knocking him down to the losers bracket similarly as he did at WCS. However, Insur was no match for LighT’s Golden as he goes underground to the losers bracket collecting names such as Ruff and BoYo before STX cut his winning streak short.
Axslav ends on a high note reaching the rim of the championship bracket before FXO’s Lucky comes into play. After two fierce games, Axslav bows out and so conclude Infinity Seven’s run for MLG’s 2012 Spring Championship at Anaheim, California! All the players played formidably and showed a remarkable amount of strength, perseverance and reach! Despite their conclusions, they did not go down without a fight and without eliminating some of the most powerful foes of recent times! With Insur taking third place at WCS, Axslav reaching the championship bracket and Sanddbox, eliminating a large chunk of EG players, Infinity Seven is looking nothing but up to a reach higher than before!
Summary: WCS;
- Pyre 0-2 Daisuki -> LB: Pyre 2-0 Puck, 0-2 Pokebunny
- Axslav 0-2 Suppy -> LB: Axslav 1-2 Sonata
- Insur 1-2 Heavens, 2-0 SirRobin, 2-0 HelloKitty, 2-0 Perfect, 2-1 Mystik, 0-2 ViBe -> LB: Insur 0-2 Daisuki [Third place]
MLG Championship;
- Pyre 2-0 avilo, 0-2 JYP -> LB: Pyre 2-0 boonerebu
- jEcho 2-0 RockEr, 0-2 fuzzy -> LB: jEcho 2-0 xerO_o, 1-2 Zenio
- Sanddbox 1-2 glon -> LB: Sanddbox 2-0 flo, 2-0 Future, 2-0 DeMuslim, 2-0 LzGaMeR, 0-2 Ostojiy
- CrazyMoviNG 2-0 KnighT, 2-1 Gatored, 2-0 ViBe, 0-2 Oz -> LB: CrazyMoviNG 2-0 YaTa, 2-1 KawaiiRice, 1-2 SeleCT
- Axslav 2-0 ukas85, 2-1 Agh, 2-0 Siphonn, 2-1 IdrA, 0-2 JYP -> LB: Axslav 2-1 Ostojiy -> Championship Bracket: Axslav 0-2 Lucky
