From returning champions to teams that have never before competed at a live event, the Guild Wars 2 World Championship lineup sets the stage for an unpredictable tournament. After an intense weekend of qualifiers earlier in August, six teams emerged as the top contenders. Tomorrow they will battle for a share of the $200,000 prize pool and the right to be called best in the world.
Here’s what the team captains have to say about tomorrow’s event:
Misha – Rank 55 Dragons
“Our first match is in the semifinals because we are the first European seed. Our guess is that Denial is going to win their match and face us in the semifinals. That’s going to be the hardest game for us because they’re probably the best team right now. If we beat them we’ll be very happy. We were more preparing for the match against Denial than anything else and we’ll just have to see what happens when we get to the finals. For our match against Denial I don’t know what to expect because we didn’t get to practice against them at all, so we don’t know what they play and they don’t know what we play. It’s going to be a close game for sure.”
Helseth – Denial eSports
“Denial will be the only team in Guild Wars 2 history to win two LAN tournaments in a row. My only concern is that no team will be able to take a single game off of us, making the show a little less entertaining to watch. Denial eSports supported the Guild Wars 2 scene before it grew to what it is now, before we had LANs and what not, and we’re very excited to give their brand the win that they deserve.”
Olrun – Never Lucky
“I’m excited to be here and meet all my teammates in person for the first time. None of us have been at a LAN before, and the experience so far has been full of unexpected things like having to wear makeup. I didn’t expect that, but it makes sense. It’s also been great to meet the players on the other teams. I’m not really nervous about our first matchup against Denial, I’m excited. We’re just going to try to do our best and enjoy it.”
Phantaram – Astral Authority
“With Astral Authority having a bye to the semifinals I'm most excited about seeing which teams will make it through the first round to meet the semifinal teams.”
Argi – Vermillion
“We are the color of vengeance and we expect top two minimum! We are very excited about fighting the North American teams.”
Java – Team PZ
“While we haven't been able to get the kind of meaningful practice we would like to have gotten, we remain optimistic for our Worlds performance. I think we have a good understanding of the meta and the rotations necessary to mitigate the unpredictability of modern team fights, but as we've not gotten the chance to play against the comp that most teams will be running we'll have to see how our plans measure up at the tournament. I'm hoping for a Rank 55 vs. PZ finals. I don't think Rank 55 will let the events of last LAN's Finals repeat themselves in their semifinal match against Denial, and I think our superior rotations will be able to carry us through versus Astral Authority. I'm not expecting Vermillion or Never Lucky to have a great showing at this LAN, but I'd be pleasantly surprised to see either team prove me wrong. Regardless of how it all plays out, it's going to be a great tournament with some amazing matches and we can't wait to see how everything unfolds!”
TUNE IN
Watch the action live tomorrow on the Guild Wars 2 Twitch channel starting at 10AM Pacific. Both online viewers and studio audience members will have the chance to win great prizes. Be sure to follow ESLGW2 on Twitter and Facebook for live coverage of the #GW2WC and all the latest competitive Guild Wars 2 updates.
