Ravens - CoD4, DotA, FIFA, TMN

In what can only be described as an oustanding performance and against all odds, Roskilde Ravens CS 1.6 are on top of Group A at the  Intel Extreme Masters European Championship Finals after Day 1.

Most people don't know it, but the team faced all kinds of problems yesterday as they had begun their trip to Cologne to compete in the tournament. First of all, the rental car reservation that had been booked for the team went down the drain (my bad). Luckily we were able to find another car for the team to travel in, after which the team managed to break their expense credit card.

Delayed about 3-4 hours the team arrived in Cologne at 2 AM in the night, at what turned out to be a not so pleasant youth hostel near the central trainstation. Some of the players only got about 2-3 hours sleep during the night, and without having eaten properly in the morning, arrived at the event and surprised everyone throughout the day.

In the very first match, Ravens had to face last years World Cyber Games Champions  AGAiN and managed to crush the polaks with a convincing 16-2 win on de_train (final score: 19-11).

The team then went on to face French EPS winners Millenium, and continued the excellent form with a 16-10 win on de_inferno  (final score: 19-11).

In their 3rd match, Ravens had to face Dreamhack Winter winners Meet Your Makers, the very same team they had eliminated in the Relegation rematch just a few weeks ago. The match proved to be a real thriller, as Ravens got off to a bad start and then managed to bring it back to a 9-6 half on de_inferno. The team then went on to win the next couple of rounds, and on match point at 15-7, MYM finally pulled it together and with a great comeback drew the match at 15-15.

The 4th and final match of the day Ravens had to face yet another powerhouse, namely German EPS winners mousesports, for the third time on de_inferno. The Danes got off to a flying 7-0 start when mousesports decided to call a timeout. The Germans finally got into the game at 8-1, and the half score ended 11-4 in favor of Ravens. After half time, mousesports slowly got back into the game but their efforts weren't enough against our boys who were determined to win, and closed the match 16-10 (final score: 17-13).

Group A standings after Day 1 (courtesy of HLTV.org)

As you can see Ravens lead the group with 10 points after 3 wins and 1 tie, ahead of MYM on 2nd place with 8 points and SK Gaming on 3rd place with 7 points. With one match round yet to be played the group is still open, but if Ravens can pull off another miracle in tomorrows final Groupstage match against SK Gaming, they will top the group overall and proceed directly to the Semifinals. If they loose, they will have to play a relegation match against the opposite groups 2nd or 3rd place team.

Also worth noting is that due to Ravens placement today the team has already earned themselves a direct invite to CeBIT 2010 and the Intel Extreme Masters Global Finals scheduled to be held in early March. ESL reports:

Besides the prize money the European Championship Finals offer six spots for the World Championship. So a team need to place at least third in its group to qualify. If SK Gaming or fnatic reach top3 in their groups, even a fourth place would result in a qualification. After four played games each Roskilde Ravens and MeetYourMakers can already book their tickets for CeBIT 2010. mousesports needs one point out of two matches to get the last spot in group A.

That concludes our coverage for Day 1 of the Intel Extreme Masters European Championship, a day full of surprises despite the unfortunate start to the teams trip. We are certainly proud of their accomplishments so far here at Ravens headquarters, and look forward to seeing them back in action again tomorrow, after a well deserved meal and a good nights sleep.

Coverage:
www.hltv.org
www.intelextrememasters.com