China wins the Elite Invitational as Fuoliver beats Hyped [decklists inside]

Photo: Helena Kristiansson / ESL

The short invitational made to fill the days until the NEL playoffs is over and China walked away victorious, defeating the quartet of Tempo Storm.

Tempo Storm's squadron has been fighting the Chinese for some time now. The team flew in on March 1st, invited to compete in the winter season of the local NEL team-league. After two wins and two losses, the foreigners eventually made it, beating reigning champions Yolo Miracle with better set score and are now headed for the playoffs next week.

In order to fill their free days, NEL and Zhanqi put up an individual tournament dubbed the Elite Invitational. An 8-man bracket was created where each Tempo Storm member was paired against some of the most accomplished Chinese players, including two-times CN vs KR grand finalist Zeng “MagicWind” Guoyi and Blizzcon runner-up Wang “TiddlerCelestial” Xieyu.

After the first round of games, each side had given two victims. Tempo Storm lost their captain Andrey “Reynad” Yanyuk as well as their front runner Petar “Gaara” Stevanovic, while China waved goodbye to MagicWind and Lovelychook. Those results also set up region mirrors in the semi-finals: David “Dog” Caero against George “Hyped” Maganzini on one side and TiddlerCelestial against Fu “Fuoliver” Liang on the other.

Both of these battles went the distances, the players obviously familiar with their opponents’ playstyles. In the American face-off, Dog’s [card]Snake Trap[/card] Hunter became his downfall, losing him a total of three games. Hunter was also responsible for TiddlerCelestial’s loss to Fuoliver, going 0-2 and becoming the reason for his elimination.

If the semi-finals were already nailbiters, the grand final brought the tension to a whole new level. Fuoliver opened the score, only to lose three in a row, putting Hyped on match-point. Down to his Oil Rogue, it was supposed to be a done deal for the American.

It wasn’t. Valeera struggled to perform against the Handlock and Rogue of Fuoliver and the score was tied. Even the Paladin – a match heavily in favor of the Rogue – was too much of an obstacle and the championship escaped Hyped’s grasp. China ruled supreme, taking $3,000.