Finals! Today is the grand day where some very happy players will be walking away from the event with a large sum of money and a free ticket to Blizzcon 2008. Both Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft players are prepared, probably having thought about strategy and tactics for the majority of the previous evening.

There are 3 WoW teams remaining, ready to fight for glory, money and travel to Blizzcon. Two of them veteran lan tournament teams, being x6tence and Nihilum. The third team, Triple Threat, is new to lan play. Will they prove themselves worthy of representing Europe in the Grand Finals? We will find out shortly.

As far as the event goes, Sunday has started out with some very nice weather. As we are walking around the venue, we can see the excitement of everyone here. Whether it is due to playing Starcraft 2, due to the competition itself or due to the weather; it is unknown. What is important though, is that everyone is contributing to making this event an exciting and fun place to be.

Coming up on the stream shortly are the two last matches of the tournament. With Nihilum Plasma and Triple threat in the lower bracket finals coming up first, and x6tence waiting for the winner in the regional finals game. Which two teams will represent Europe? Tune in and find out for yourself on the live stream located here: http://tv.esl.eu/de/esltv_stream/

Also, you can keep yourself up to date on happenings and the bracket status on our Regional Finals page here: http://eu.blizzard.com/rf08/

Lastly, we invite you to talk, discuss and share your comments on the tournament in this thread. We will be updating the thread over the course of the day with the latest status updates as well as some editorial goodies!

World of Warcraft Winners:
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1st place: x6tence
2nd place: Nihilum Plasma
3rd place: Triple Threat

Warcraft 3 Winners:
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1st place: Happy
2nd place: SaSe
3rd place: Lucifron

We have winners!

The European Regional finals for World of Warcraft and Warcraft 3 have come to a close for this year. The event in Madrid, Spain, has been an awesome experience for everyone who attended. Comments from the guests and attendees, the players, the commentators and the event staff on site all indicated that the atmosphere and general feel has been great. Food, drinks and snacks were brought around for everyone involved in the tournament, and for many this has been a wonderful first trip to Spain.

The tournaments themselves ran smoothly and on time throughout the event, much to the delight of everyone participating. With sun shining and everyone happy, we embarked on the European finals with much anticipation. Who would walk away with the top prize money? Who would get knocked out? We even heard of some attendees placing bets on their 'favorites' for small posterity slumps of money and beverages. In any regard, everyone had a great time.

Of course, the tournament and the event itself would not have been there if not for the players. Every WoW team, and every Warcraft 3 player did their part in making the 2008 European regional finals into something special.

Some of you who were watching the live stream of the World of Warcraft finals will know without doubt the level of excitement displayed in the final rounds of the event. Particularly, the final match in the game between Nihilum and x6tence was some of the most exciting games of the tournament. Not just because it was the final match, not just because it was the deciding factor for who would win the most money, but because of the outcome of the event in the final moments. x6tence losing their warrior right as Nihilum lost their druid certainly held our attention to the very end. Of course, at this level of play, leaving a warrior and warlock against a warlock and a druid sounds pretty straight up on paper. However, people watching had for sure at some point the thought that "can Nihilum really pull this off now?".

In the end, x6tence pulled off a very nice victory, ensuring a nice check of 15000 dollars collectively and a trip to Blizzcon, representing Europe as the regional champions of 2008. Not only will they have to face American and Korean teams such as Council of Mages (with whom they fought against and lost in the Worldwide Invitational tournament), but they might also just have to face off against Nihilum once more, pending how the brackets play out.

For those of you who followed the WWI tournament, especially the final matches with Council of Mages from Korea, will know the extremely high level of play this Rogue/Mage/Priest team delivers on a consistant basis. Here from Madrid, Spain, we wish our European players the very best of luck further in the Grand Finals.

And last but not least, there is the Warcraft 3 tournament. Happy, the new regional champion of 2008, proved to both himself and the world that he has it in him to play at the very top level of competitive Warcraft. With SaSe placing second and Lucifron 3rd, Happy is sure to be bringing a group of players capable of facing off against the very best in the Grand Finals to Blizzcon to represent Europe.

At the end of it all, following the award handouts, we had an opportunity to talk a bit with each of the winners. One of the things they all had in common was that they were very much looking forward to new challenges at Blizzcon. As with our World of Warcraft EU teams, we wish them the very best of luck in the upcoming Grand Finals and any other games they will play along the way.

With that, dear readers, the regional finals have come to an end. We would like to thank everyone who came to the venue to cheer on their favorites and friends, everyone who came to play in the tournament and everyone on the staff who made this event everything that it was.

Until next time,

Adios from Madrid, Spain!