Team Pandemic takes the prize in China
by Krystalle Voecks 
May 3rd 2007 at 8:30PM
![[Pandemic wins World of Warcraft Arena WSVG finals in China! Faces are melted! Film at 11...]](http://www.blogcdn.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/2007/05/pandemic.jpg)
They started out as Power Trip, and were the first WoW arena team to have official sponsors. But today, team Pandemic proved that all the money and hype weren't for nothing. After coming up through the ranks, which included 63 Chinese teams, one European team, and one other American team, Pandemic went on to dominate in the finals against Fnatic 3-0. This makes Pandemic the current WSVG World of Warcraft Champions. And considering the roar from the crowd when Pandemic was awarded their prize, it appears that WoW Arena teams are most definitely a welcome addition to competitive gaming.
The secret to team Pandemic's success appears to have been due to a combination of factors. One of the first, and most notable, is that the Chinese teams have not had access to the Burning Crusade expansion for nearly as long. This meant that those hometown teams were playing with spells and abilities that they are not very used to, whereas the US/EU teams have had the chance to get used to them for months. However, one of the most telling things in the final match was that both ending teams used a solid Warrior, Mage and Paladin combination. Why would this prove to be such a big deal? It's use put Pandemic in a far stronger place than Fnatic from the word go, as Fnatic's mage, Sander 'Vo0' Kaasjager, has only been playing his class for approximately three weeks. Both teams appeared to focus on the strategy of forcing the opposing team's mage to burn their two Ice Blocks as quickly as possible, which, combined with some poor crowd control and just plain bad luck on the side of Fnatic, proved to be the winning combination for Team Pandemic when it came down to it.
Now we wait and see what happens next when the WSVG reconvenes in Louisville on June 21-23. Hopefully the camera work for the webcast will be a bit better this next time. Or better yet, that a channel like G4 picks up the final rounds at least. For now, the China WSVG videos are all over the Internet, for those interested in catching the highlights of some of the finger-twitching-good action.
(The current team rankings and prizes awarded are beyond the cut.)
1st Place - Pandemic, from America - winning $9,000 plus $3,000 for travel expenses.
2nd Place - Fnatic, from Sweden - winning $4,500 plus $3,000 for travel expenses.
3rd Place - MoB, from America - winning $3,000 plus $3,000 for travel expenses.
4th Place - Part of Shadow, from China - winning $2,400 plus $3,000 for travel expenses.
5th Place - Obsidian, from China - winning $500
6th Place - Warden, from China - winning $500
7th Place - Extra Order, from China - winning $500
Congratulations to all the winners on one hell of a competition!
[via Alch and GotFrag]
Filed under: News items, PvP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tiforix May 3rd 2007 9:06PM
Proud of winning, but certainly not proud of racist comments from idiots. Sheesh.
Theheretic May 3rd 2007 9:47PM
I think he was joking, hence the Steven Colbert reference...
Paradoxic May 3rd 2007 9:52PM
/sigh... Can someone delete that comment above?
I'm glad to see that WoW can really competitive game. I was really skeptical about the Arenas, but it proved to be something Blizzard has really done right.
WoW can finally be considered to be something more than point and click... this proves there's actually skill and strategy involved. Good luck and congrats. I'll certainly be watching the pro circuit from now on. :)
Mabye WoW insider could make a new column focusing on the Arena and Pro Gaming aspect... (I'll write it! lol)
Christopher Cruz May 3rd 2007 9:54PM
Actually It was only one other american team, and its WSVG, not WVGA =)
Kirby1612 May 3rd 2007 9:55PM
The fact that they didn't have the game as long as long as Americans doesn't seem like it would do much. I know as soon as I got my new spells, I tried to find every scenario to use them so I could get used to using them at the right time.
You can't expect to win with only having played your class for 3 weeks, but I'm pretty amazed that they made it to the competition with someone as possibly inexperienced as that.
As for the double ice block, this is why the Hypothermia is being implemented. Mages shouldn't AoE people until they get to 1% health and ice block, get a heal, pop their mana ruby and do it all over again.
Since I'm too lazy to look. I hope it wasn't just one round for the finals. Luck plays a large part in PvP, especially arenas. A Clearcasting proc, string of crits, bad timing, all of those can change a match immensely. Either way, grats to Pandemic for winning out.
lolwtfstfu May 3rd 2007 10:12PM
it was 3 games dude
anyway anyone know any links for videos of wsvg? colbert ftw
Krystalle Voecks May 3rd 2007 10:16PM
I got the comment in question. Joking or not, there is no place for it here.
@Christopher Cruz - WVGA: Can you tell I've been looking into inexpensive projectors for my laptop? :D And you've got me there; it was two teams in total, not two additional. Thanks!
@Kirby1612 - It was three rounds total, all going to Pandemic. I agree Fnatic had an excellent showing for having a mage new to the class!
wowtard May 4th 2007 6:35AM
I doubt the Chinese will take this lying down.. and wait until the Koreans get into the action.. the NA players may not stand a chance!
Smutcakes May 4th 2007 4:10AM
To me the arena system is actually nothing great. I don't care about "esports". All I see is how Blizzards messes the game up in order to appease those crying for arena balancing while at the same time messing up PvE, which would be the part of the game I'm interested in.
You can't tell me that most of the changes which gimped engineering haven't been made with the foremost intention to keep that profession out of arenas. It also means that if anything is being reintroduced later on those devices will have horrendous cooldowns in order to not be usable in areans which makes them ridiculous in PvE as well. Druid bear tanking and their damage? wasn't much of an issue in PvE, the crying was centered about arenas. Current Paladin changes? I suspect similar causes.
To me arenas and the emphasize on esports is what is currently slowly ruining the game. Trying to make WoW another Counterstrike shouldn't be the way to go.
Paradoxic May 4th 2007 9:47AM
@8
So you're saying that Blizz should only pay attention to the aspect of the game YOU'RE interested in? PVE, is it?
What about the countless players who choose to focus only on PVP or both?
PVP is actually what keeps me playing.. Nothing beats competing against other human beings. A computer isn't much of a challenge now is it? Especially when it's the same scripted encounter over and over.
PVP is a positive thing that adds a lot of interest... without it WoW wouldn't be the same. Both PVE and PVP are integral parts of the game, niether should be sacrificed for the other and it's clearly possible to keep both in balance. In fact, it could be argued that waaaay more attention is paid to PVE as the VAST majority of content updates deals with PVE, (black temple, ect...) but I won't complain ;).
Oh, and both the Druid and Pallie issues you brought up were first and foremost PVE related... Druids were beating out Prot warrirors as far as aggro management goes, clearly a PVE issue... and Pallies were just too good at conserving mana in both PVP and PVE due to mass new spell crit healing gear in TBC.
Additionally, Arena changes don't have a huge impact on PVP... especially when it comes to your beloved, but crappy engineering, because the engineering trinkets can be disabled from the Arenas without having to put them on long cooldowns. -_-