Esport News
DotA
03rd June 2008, 20:40
Fire & Ice 2008 announced
After a successful finish last year, 
eMg and Dust-Off have paired off once again to bring a bigger and better edition of Fire & Ice. This time there will be 3 qualifiers, online and LAN before the grand final event in Chicago.
Last year, Fire & Ice was an open event and took place in the winter of 2007. 
MYM took first place, coming home with $6000 while eMg took second place. The event was successful, but now eMg and Dust-Off want more! This time they want more involvement from international teams, thus they have come up with a new setup.
Prize outline:
LAN Qualifiers (2)
- $1200 + prizes
- $800 + prizes
- $400
Online Qualifier
- $1500 + prizes + $1000 travel stipend
- $1000 + prizes + $500 travel stipend
- $500
Grand Final
- $7000 + prizes
- $3500 + prizes
- $1500
- $500
Official Press release:
The 2008 Dust-Off Fire & Ice Series Announced
June 2nd, 2008, Dallas, TX -- eMazing Gaming, LLC, is proud to announce the return of our popular DotA tournament as the 2008 Dust-Off Fire & Ice Series. For 2008, Fire & Ice has evolved into a series of qualifiers that lead up to a Grand Final in Chicago, IL with over $12,500 in cash and prizes. The total prizes purse for the series will be over $25,000.
The series will begin in July and run through December. The tournament series will feature stops at Netolic LAN center in Annadale, VA; Gamers Universe in San Diego, CA; and conclude once again at Ignite Network in Chicago, IL. Beginning in September an online qualifier will be hosted through the eMazing Gamers Zone. For more details or to register for the event please visit the event website at http://dota.emgaming.com . For general, media, or sponsorship inquires please contact Matt Marcou at matt.marcou@gmail.com or Pu Liu at puliu88@uchicago.edu
I had the pleasure of interviewing eMg's Matt Marcou, who is leading this event!
Hello Marcou! First off can you tell us about Fire & Ice and the sponsorship with Dust-Off?
I'm thrilled to bring back a bigger and better Fire & Ice this year thanks to the generous support provided by Dust-Off. (Yes, we did alter the name for a variety of reasons that will be explain in an upcoming FAQ). The 2008 Dust-Off Fire & Ice Series has grown into 3 LAN events and 1 online event. Last year's event was a huge success overall, but there are a lot of things that we are seeking to improve upon as the popularity of DotA tournaments grows.
How did you convince Dust-Off to sponsor Fire & Ice again? How did they feel about the first event?
Dust-Off is very in-tune with competitive gaming and their involvement in E-Sports has spanned into 3 years now. They understand the popularity and appeal of DotA, eventhough the community is a bit "underground." Dust-Off was thrilled upon seeing the turnout of last year and immediately jumped on the opportunity for this year.
Why does eMg decide to invest so much time into providing DotA tournaments? How do you guys feel about DotA as an esport?
eMazing Gaming, LLC is now fully committed to event and tournament management. The company made a collective decision to support gamers by running events instead of direct team sponsorships. We felt we could bette aid competitive gaming this way. The company has always supported competitive DotA as we recognized its community and potential as an E-Sport very early. Personally my involvement with DotA traces back over 3 years ago when I helped bring DotA to the Cyber-athlete Amateur League and later founded the Verge Gaming DotA team.
What are the dates of the events? Is there an official site for the tournament and what is the schedule/format for it?
There will be 2 American LAN qualifiers: July 18th-20th in Annadale, Virginia @ Netolic & August 15th-17th in San Diego, California @ Gamers Universe. The online qualifier will be announced later in the summer, but I anticipate that it will start in September. The Fire & Ice Grand Finals will be held on December 27th-29th @ Ignite Network once again.
The tournament will be run in a double elimination format at the Grand Finals, but group play may be used for the LAN and online qualifiers depending on the # of registered teams.
The event website is located http://dota.emgaming.com and it will be updated continuously over the next few weeks. You can find footage from the 2007 event at http://emg.sourceradio.com for the time being.
How come the prizes for the online qualifiers are higher than the LAN qualifiers?
We anticipated that the online qualifier will be filled mostly with European and Asian teams, so we decidedly increased the prize pool there in order to better support their travels to North America for the Fire & Ice Grand Finals. There's an additional travel stipend for the top two finishers of the online qualifier.
How did you find the gaming centers for the LAN events, were there other choices?
We wanted to run a qualifier on both the East and West coasts that were as easily accessible as possible . So from the start there was a focus on LAN centers in California and the Washington DC area. I personally visited several LAN centers on each coast based on recommendations from players and other colleagues of mine. Both Netolic and Gamer's Universe were chosen primarily due to excellent staff support and I'm glad to have their support.
Ignite Network was an obvious choice for the finals again. Their support from the previous year was spectacular and the location is convenient for travelers.
Are you expecting a better attendance this year? Have you spoken to any international teams about it?
I am definitely expecting more teams given that there are more locations and that teams must qualify this year. There was a considerable amount of time planning out the format and I hope the mix of LAN and online qualifiers will encourage even more teams to attend. This concept is a bit experimental, but I don't think there is a better time to try it out.
The announcements for the tournament have been released and we will begin to contact top international team individually as well.
Have you come up with any sort of ruleset yet? What map will be used for Fire & Ice?
We anticipate that the 48b map will be used as it is the most stable and practiced map, however we plan to monitor changes in community preferences and adjust according. The most important factor for our decision will be the DotA community.
The ruleset will adjust accordingly based on the map selection, but for now the ruleset is the same as last year's.
Thanks for your time! Do you have anything else to add/shoutouts?
Firstly, I'd like to thank Pu "Whisper" Liu for being my right hand man and working with the community. This tournament wouldn't be as successful without him. Secondary, I'd like to thank Wayne and Thyton from Netolic; Dane, Scott, and Jordan at Gamer's Universe; and last but not least Flavius, Reuben, Sam, and the staff of Ignite. Finally another big thanks from Dust-Off for their support. I'd urge the community to check out www.dustoffzone.com and witness the effort that Dust-Off is putting into the gaming community.
Not many companies work with gamers with the same level of respect and knowledge that Dust-Off puts forward. I appreciate any feedback from the community as this event is for you first and foremost. Look for me on the DotA forums and feel free to drop me a line at marcou@emgaming.com
Not many companies work with gamers with the same level of respect and knowledge that Dust-Off puts forward. I appreciate any feedback from the community as this event is for you first and foremost. Look for me on the DotA forums and feel free to drop me a line at marcou@emgaming.com
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Comments (27)
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(last year)
 #1 
KrakatH 
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ill be there.
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sounds fucken awesome
keep up good work | |
xD
7500$ 7500 / 5 = 1300 each ╦╦╦╦╦╦╦ The fence of the Ancients ╦╦╦╦╦╦╦
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Good news!
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NICE! Great work Pu! Who's in for AMC remake?
Also, many thanks to Dust Off, cause that is one fucking SIIIIICK prize pool. Last edited by theOtter at 03.06.2008, 21:00
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oops double comment lewl
Last edited by theOtter at 03.06.2008, 21:01
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(last year)
#7 
CoAInvaderZim
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Sup im always up for playing, and i dont plan on feeding with SK vs solo potm again, lol!
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(last year)
#8
darknight240
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Nice prizes! Shoud attract alot of big teams.
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52c plz....
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(last year)
#10 
GenoZStriker
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Hahahaha what better way to attract pla
Gl to all teams. Last edited by GenoZStriker at 03.06.2008, 22:23
Demigod ESL 2v2 Opening Cup - http://www.esl.eu/eu/demigod/
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+1 tourney xDD
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7500/5 is $1500 each.
Map version selection will depend on what most tournaments are running at the time. Setting it at 52c at this moment would be a very risky move to say the least. | |||||||||||||
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(last year)
#14 
Meitre
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It s far evey from me but i ll come ;p
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(last year)
#15 
RESTINPEE
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huge prizes for dota, good job
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wow this sounds so amazing 2 bad i cant atend this :(
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wow nice,good news.
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(last year)
#19 
Fantasy810
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Oh,another big tournament,how nice ^^
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(last year)
#20 
BA|frequency-
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Huge prizes, only a good thing for DotA! gogogo
<VisarkA> one night ended with me sleeping in jolies bed
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(last year)
#21
amimamimo
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is VP gonna be there ? =)
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(last year)
#23 
MobZombie
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Dunno, but don't you think that pla
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(last year)
#24 
NyMe
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plz eMg make 6.52c as the official version for Fire&Ice 2008
~Carpe Diem~
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FireInAss :P
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(last year)
#26
amock
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a step in the very right direction, gratz
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(11 months ago)
#27 
Maeka
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gogogo MYM ;o
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