Idle's route
Idle.ee had what many considered [img|right]http://enemy-territory.4players.de:1041/images/upload/idlegroup.jpg[/img] to be the easiest group draw, a fact which urtier admitted to Nellie, when the two talked as part of a Idle profile:
Pretty ok would be pretty correct, as Idle qualified 1st from their group, finishing ahead of second placed team oceans6, who they of course held at the first stages of goldrush. This acheivement handed Idle a first round draw with the old enemy uQ, a game which they lost despite being 60% favourites to take the match. The team of Night, DeadMeat, Holz, urtier, senji and teKoa was beaten by a uQ team who cupadmin lab` commented on being "better this time".
[*]Details: Match report & stats
Therefore Idle dropped down into the loser's bracket, to face a wArning! team fresh from defeat at the hands of IDKFA.
lab` was again present to witness the Estonians knock the stuffing out of the Spaniards; a 4-0 results which was to end in the closure of wArning!'s famous red squad.
[*]Details: Match report & stats
[img|right]http://enemy-territory.4players.de:1041/images/upload/idleroute.jpg[/img]
Next came along one4one, who had previously beaten Idle's group team oceans6 in the winner's bracket, only to be forced out by gods.inc in the winner's bracket 2nd round.
A delayed start by 40mins due to roster issues lead to somewhat of an anticlimax, with supplydepot ending in a 1-1 draw. Radar followed. Despite a strong allied start by one4one Idle was able to settle down and start to pick off each attack on the parts as they came. This effectively carried on until amost 9 minutes hard passed, when Squirrel finally secured the remaining radar parts.
"For one or two spawns one4one witheld their opponents pretty easily but as three of their players selfkilled there was some space and time for the Idle to make a little tower at the west parts and so Night ran off towards the CP. He was too fast for the Brits and so it was game set match after 4:45."
[*]Details: Match report & stats
On to then IDKFA in the 3rd round. IDKFA had knocked out old favourites oceans6 for good, after arriving in the loser's bracket thanks to defeat by uQ By now Idle expert lab` watched this one too, which saw a much easier victory for the Estonian's than many had predicted, sinking IDKFA's battleship at 4-0. Whatever it was, experience or confidence, Idle were now starting to show plenty of it.
[*]Details: Match report & stats
gods' route
gods.inc had a[img|right]http://enemy-territory.4players.de:1041/images/upload/godgroup.jpg[/img] somewhat tougher group to get through, but, like Idle, still managed to qualify first. However, it seems that fate has been on hand, with the tougher group (albeit by a minor margin) qualified god progressing right up to the final stages of the winner's bracket.
Their first game in round one was a Ratatosk side delved in controversy following some dramatic lineup changes. A strong defense on supplydepot and offense on sw_oasis saw the inc take the fight to the bemused rA side, and emerge with a 4-0 victory. I think kanii was pretty much spot on when he said " god was a bit more organised and that was the key to success".
[*]Details: Match report & stats
[img|right]http://enemy-territory.4players.de:1041/images/upload/godroute.jpg[/img]
"141 enslaved by gods.inc" ran the headline following gods' next game, in this winner's bracket 2nd round game. one4one had reached this stage by virtue of victory against oceans6 in the 1st round, and apprached this game full of confidence (remember they had beaten uQ previously). And what a match it was! It took the 3 maps of et_ice, radar, and a decider
of sw_oasis to eventually find a winner, and in truth the result could have gone either way. gods came from behind to sew up a 4-2 win which even CBooky was unwilling to bet on beforehand.
[*]Details: Match report & stats
And now to god's last game, against the seemingly invincible uQ, and another CBooky 50% - 50% offering. Certainly the buzz around this site was of a uQ victory, but we all knew gods would never go down without a fight. And fight they did! The winner of this game went through to the grand EC final, with the luxury of a game buffer meaning they could afford to have 2 chances at the title should a slip-up occur.
The first map was et_ice, which gods had of course lost previously to one4one in the last round. Nothing much changed here, be it a natural aversion or simply lack of practice at the map, and once again their opponents were able to take the early advantage. However, gods stepped up a gear on their favoured sw_goldrush, producing a strong display to force the match into a decider.
Braundorf was played, and this was perhaps the most equal of all the rounds.
However, there could only be one winner, and it was to be uQ who would go on and progress to the grand final, leaving gods to drop down and face Idle this Sunday.