The IeSF (Internation E-Sports Federation) is holding its annual grand finals for WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne and FIFA this week, and 4 South African gamers are flying over for the event. 

Accredited by the MSSA (Mind Sports South Africa) with Protea colours, Rolando de Alveira and Abu Bakar Ebrahim will be representing South Africa in Fifa. Matthew Putter and Magiel de Lange will be flying the Warcraft III flag. 

Yesterday MSSA held an event in Johannesburg to award the players their colours, along with their respective uniforms and kit, and we were there to chat to some of them.

There is large rift within the local competitive gaming scene. Telkom DoGaming holds the country’s largest competitive gaming league, although it does not receive National accreditation, and cannot take advantage of government funding. The MSSA on the other hand is less popular amongst gamers, but has the advantage of being able to send gamers all over the world to play in international tournaments. The two bodies have not been able to find common ground regarding how South African gaming should be run. 

We chatted to some of the players to wish them well on their trip, and get some insight into the local gaming community. 

Magiel de Lange – WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne

“It’s an honour to play for South Africa, and we will do our best to represent our country well at the event. Some of the world’s top players will be there, such as Grubb, and Moon. These are players that we have always read and written about, and we have watched countless replays of them. Now we will be able to test some of our own strats against the best,” said de Lange.

De Lange has been playing WarCraft III for six years, and mentions the days of Arena 77 with Len Nerry. 

“Going overseas is a great opportunity, and all our local players that have been over have managed to stay at the top of their game. I hope to improve my game over there, and bring back valuable experience.”

As a slightly older gamer, we asked Magiel what his impressions of MSSA have been.

“I first saw an MSSA post on the Twilight server. From there I contacted Collin [Webster] and became involved. Having played a lot on the Twilight servers, I noticed the level of play was not particularly high in the MSSA tournaments. It made me wonder where all the best local players were. As you know, DoGaming is trying to boycott MSSA. This may be why some of the best players, such as Shase (Travis Weedon) are not playing. This allows other players to get the opportunity, but it’s not nice to know that all the best players were not participating. Obviously I don’t want to put claim to something that could have been different if everybody played, but then again, you can go to a rugby World Cup and New Zealand can still lose – so the best player doesn’t win by default.”

“That was a bit of a disappointment, and it’s a problem that gamers don’t want to  get involved.”

“If gamers united and took advantage of what MSSA can offer, then we could become a competitive gaming country again, like we were in 2002.” 

Despite various complaints from gamers in the DoGaming leagues regarding MSSA, Magiel only had positive things to say about the association. 

Matthew Putter – WarCraft III

Matthew was a bit younger, and more reserved than Magiel, but was clear about his excitement at participating in the IeSF Finals. 

“I expect a big difference in the standard of play over there. I have seen what they are capable of, having watched a lot of replays. I’m generally good with strats, but my micro is bad. I also think nerves will be difficult to overcome.” 

WarCraft III is actually a secondary game for Matthew, and he plays Call of Duty 4 for Pandemonium. 

He could not comment on the tension between the MSSA and DoGaming, having only heard of it last year. However, he claims to be happy with his dealings with them so far. 

The South African Warcraft III and Fifa players are flying to South Korea tonight. They will arrive on Thursday, and then play for three days straight.