Players and teams are warming up to the ladder format for the Digital Games, and several previously-inactive ladders are beginning to show signs of life.

In Counter-Strike 1.6, French team ONE4ALL sports a 1-1 record and 1115 points on the European ladder, while UK’s neP hold second, and Portugal’s mK! has a handle on third.

The Call of Duty 4  South American ladder is Brazilian-dominated, and O MAR ABRIU VEI ! has tied Canibais for first place with 1200 points and a 2-0 record. This motion bumped Ready to Kill Clan down into third.

KiFireLedius, meanwhile, has taken over the Command and Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath ladder with wins over CoDster and JuDgEpowr, but a loss to KhuFu_OwNz. Khufu is now inactive, possibly due to being demoralized after flaming GGL’s ladder system over the course of several days. The European Kane’s Wrath ladder is actually faring a little better, as flying Dutchman Technique sports a 2-1 record and 1240 points, but a 1L streak. Can knolz take advantage? We’ll find out in the coming days. Continued…



Ladder play for the Digital Games runs until July 27, and registration is open for the duration of the ladders. Register to begin your journey in the Digital Games.

The first couple of days of the 2008 Digital Games ladders are complete, and RTS gamers are leading the charge.While activity has been slow on many of the titles requiring more coordination, Digital Games RTS titles are unique in that finding a server is not necessary (or alternatively, servers like Blizzard’s Battle.net and EA’s online service are always up).

Additionally, matches can be completed in a relatively short amount of time.This ease of use is borne out in the number of matches played in Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne and StarCraft.

Currently, the Russian NaviGraF sits atop the European WC3 ladder with a 13-12 record, 2560 points, and a 1 game winning streak. His time on the top may be short lived, as the well-known Polish player Paladyn is in 2nd place with a 13-2 record and 2380 points.DreamS.SalaN (2020, 9-4, 3W) has a tenuous grip on 3rd place.

Right behind him is 4th place tp_uSports-aVa (1960, 8-5, 1L). The top 20 spots on the ladder are dominated by Russian and Ukrainian players.We’ll find out if any of the other European region countries represent themselves this well as time goes on.

Additionally, we’re seeing moderate activity on the StarCraft and Command & Conquer 3 ladders.

North American StarCraft stalwart Artosis is leading his region with a 4-1 record, including wins over Machine[Media], TeamLiquid (the entire TeamLiquid community? haha), GoShox, and goodbody. Keep up the great work!

We’re only two days into ladder play, and registration is open for the duration of the ladders. Ladder play ends June 27, so there’s still plenty of time to particpate. You will need to be a GGL member to participate in this competition. Register to begin.



Only four players remain in the StarCraft GOMTV Star Invitational, whittled down from the original 16 contestants.

Today’s quarter-finals decided those competitors in best of three matchups. The maps were, as always, Blue Storm, Katrina and BaekmaGoji.

Here’s the video on demand list:

Flash vs. JaeDong (Blue Storm)
Flash vs. JaeDong (Katrina)
Flash vs. JaeDong (BaekmaGoji)
Much vs. AnyTime (Blue Storm)
Much vs. AnyTime (Katrina)
Iris vs. Bisu (Blue Storm)
Iris vs. Bisu (Katrina)
Sea vs. Stork (Blue Storm)
Sea vs. Stork (Katrina)

Any English VOD counts toward Nick “Tasteless” Plott’s future employment opportunities with GOMTV, so get to clicking.

Results below (spoilers): Continued…



Group play of the StarCraft GOMTV Star Invitational has concluded, with the two best players from each group advancing to the single elimination brackets. Four Protoss, three Terran, and one Zerg continue to duel for prestige and honor. Only the top players will survive, facing a best of three match in the Round of 8.

The map set follows (as reported by TeamLiquid) :

Blue Storm
Katrina
Baekmagoji

Quick analysis: It’s interesting to see two maps with 1v1 setups, sandwiching Katrina, a very controversial map.

The Matchups

Flash (Terran) v Jaedong (Zerg)

Flash really surprised me. Not only did he win out of his group 3-0, but he managed to really rise up and show everyone why he’s here. Jaedong took a strange loss and came out of his group 2-1. Some experts claim he threw the match to avoid playing his teammate so early on. Either way, these players aren’t going down easy, especially with Jaedong as the only Zerg making it out of group play. Both of them are not ready to back down.

With Jaedong on fire and Flash in shape, expect this to go to three maps.

BlueStorm: Jaedong > Flash
Katrina: Flash > Jaedong
Baekmagoji: Flash > Jaedong

Flash advances (2-1). Continued…