Hello there, as one of the managers for Vox Eminor i thought why not take the time out to let you in behind the scenes of an esports organisation so you can see what happens around here.
First of all as a manager my job is conflict resolution, as with all teams you have those moments when someone makes someone else angry and then the team starts fighting. Naturally its about petty childish things most the time so i step in and take the involved aside and go okay what did you say to him and then basically tell the other guy to harden up!! No really, thats what it takes most of the time because most disputes are usually from players geeing eachother up and then you get that point where someone randomly decides today its not a joke and takes offense. So i work towards diffusing the situation tell the boys to get over it and its business as usual!
The next thing i do, and this is probably the hardest bit when you have a number of gamers under your banner is monitoring them. That doesnt mean check a website to see what games are coming up, this is a daily effort which involves going in to watch the teams practice or asking them whats happening. This is a critical process in managing a team because its about getting in with your players and showing them that hey im not just bringing you in for results, I really am interested in what you do and where the team is at. On a good week i can watch 20 prac sessions but naturally this on the prac schedules for my teams. When you mix in matches that are live streamed or i spectate its a substantial time commitment that no person should commit to unless they are willing to consistantly spend time with your teams.
Aside from that i have to liase with our sponsors, this part is one I love doing because a big rewarding part of having a team is seeing your sponsors post on your facebook page or liking posts. This is a measure of how well your doing your job is the fact that your sponsors are taking time out of their day to check in with you and stay involved with your team. There is also the promo process where you come up with promo ideas for the brands who support you to help them get their name out there. Its an important process to learn and master for any team manager as its those companies that help your gamers get to events and your support and dedication to support of those sponsors that makes it all happen.
Logistics is the next one and im not gonna lie its the bane of my existence, this involves posting out products to fans or hardware to players. We spend alot of money sending gear around the country and its a really time consuming process so you often find your lunchbreak heading down to the post office to ship something off to someone. Next on the list on the logistics part is coordinating player movements. You have events coming up close to today and further down the track and a key component is preparation. Scott is the catalyst of this where he keeps me on track so we have our players flights and accommodation booked in good time so our players do nothing but focus on the upcoming games.
Finally the next part is production, this involves collecting downloading uploading editing and formatting digital media for your team. This could be articles, reviews, or video blogs for the team. Its an integral component of the team as ideally you are working to get your team out there in the community and a big part of it is providing meaningful and sometimes just general video and written content to help the community learn about what we are doing at Vox Eminor. This takes massive amounts of time and effort, it involves hours of editing videos and written articles to ensure they are presentable but also maintain the character of the people who are involved. You dont want your written or video content to be too formal, you leave bits in that may look wrong or worded strangely but its important to leave it there because its how your player sees things. Getting the players out there in the community and sharing inside looks into how we operate and what we get up to is a big part of making our team what it is.
So thats all for me on this installment but ill keep writing these so i can share my processes when it comes to operating a major gaming team. Hope this helps some of you newcomers out there and i hope to present an article about sponsorships in the future.
Richard Lawes.
Inside the minds of some of Australias top e-sporters
Thursday, 29 December 2011
XBOX COD Team Update - Unleash
Howdy all!
Basically just letting everyone know where our XBOX360 COD team is at! Currently we have been playing MW3 turbo matches and getting used to the maps, weapons, and trying to gain as much knowledge as possible from the new COD heading into ACL Gold Coast LAN. We have played 2 matches so far and both games we were victorious winning 16-3 and 16-1, although everyone is new at the game it gave us an insight into how S&D / 4v4's works on MW3. We are hoping to continue our form going against the more profound team's and to be as dominant as we were on Black Ops.
As for our league games, we are still awaiting our WaW match against Mind Freak and are just working out what time suits both teams. The COD4 final we are waiting for a few more games to be played to determine who we vs in the grand final, but so far its looking like either Mind Freak or Malice. We are definitely going to go into these games with more of a drive to win and try to make up for our disappointing loss in the CGi Black Ops Season 2 Grand Final after being undefeated during the whole season then losing the grand final 3-1.
We've also got a ODC ( One Day Comp ) for 4v4's and we're playing CTF ( Capture the Flag ) there is a $40 entry fee for those who wish to participate and we're hoping to do pretty well in it. If we do come out victorious it would be a major confidence boost heading to ACL Gold Coast in which we hope to win or place in the top 3.
Anyway that's about it for now if any of the matches get streamed, ill be sure to post the links up on the Vox Eminor facebook page.
Unleash Out!
Basically just letting everyone know where our XBOX360 COD team is at! Currently we have been playing MW3 turbo matches and getting used to the maps, weapons, and trying to gain as much knowledge as possible from the new COD heading into ACL Gold Coast LAN. We have played 2 matches so far and both games we were victorious winning 16-3 and 16-1, although everyone is new at the game it gave us an insight into how S&D / 4v4's works on MW3. We are hoping to continue our form going against the more profound team's and to be as dominant as we were on Black Ops.
As for our league games, we are still awaiting our WaW match against Mind Freak and are just working out what time suits both teams. The COD4 final we are waiting for a few more games to be played to determine who we vs in the grand final, but so far its looking like either Mind Freak or Malice. We are definitely going to go into these games with more of a drive to win and try to make up for our disappointing loss in the CGi Black Ops Season 2 Grand Final after being undefeated during the whole season then losing the grand final 3-1.
We've also got a ODC ( One Day Comp ) for 4v4's and we're playing CTF ( Capture the Flag ) there is a $40 entry fee for those who wish to participate and we're hoping to do pretty well in it. If we do come out victorious it would be a major confidence boost heading to ACL Gold Coast in which we hope to win or place in the top 3.
Anyway that's about it for now if any of the matches get streamed, ill be sure to post the links up on the Vox Eminor facebook page.
Unleash Out!
Why this article appealed to me - Talnoy
Our quakelive dueler ZLR linked me to this article, ill include the link at the bottom of the blog here but i thought instead of just linking it on facebook id give a bit of history. Its just a bit of a ramble about where i started in gaming and why i started in gaming and how i got to the position i am in today.
Okay so back in 1996 i was fresh out of high school and looking at what to do with my life. I had always wanted to be a carpenter or cabinetmaker but as im sure my teachers would attest i was literally the WORST at woodworking. It was something of a blow to me as i really wanted to do that but fate had other adventures for me.
I grew up on a little hobby farm literally in the middle of nowhere, i had ventured with my dad to an army disposals store and dug up something i wanted to tinker with. We had only just started using computers in schools back then and while i didnt have much money i managed to buy an appleIII for $20. This machine was a bit of a token gesture in the PC world, in fact it seemed so rare that to get any games on it i had to find someone in the US who even had one.
So this was abandoned and instead i spent my time trying to recode this without much success. This lead into my high school days where computers still didnt excite me much either, i was a bit of a know it all and i found the classes on how to type word documents boring and easy. The irony was that i failed computers, not because i didnt know how i just didnt do the work that was asked of me, i was too busy making midi sound clips while everyone else was writing word documents. I was still determined to be a carpenter at this stage but as i came to the close of my high school days things were about to change.
I walked into safeway and talked to the store manager and within about 10 minutes i was offered a job. I worked pretty hard and did some pretty epic overtime so i was bringing in a decent wage for back in those days. It was for some unknown reason i decided to get a computer, i went down to melbourne in my car and $3000 later i had a pentium 166. It was at this stage that i started to notice that computers didnt really challenge me, i would take the case off pull it apart and put it back together and it wasnt difficult. I didnt worry i would break it because there is something about computers where i look at them and they just made sense.
I was soon on the internet with my 33.6 modem and when i joined the local internet provider which was run by the local paper i got to know the network admin who ran the service. Back then an ISP was powered by 4 64k ISDN internet connections, real powerful stuff. So i soon learned that the network admin from that newspaper played this game called quake. I soon went out and bought that and i started playing, one of the first things i learned was +mlook it was revolutionary to me as a guy who played wolfenstein and duke nukem that i would run around aiming with my mouse, it wasnt moving me around the screen it was moving my crosshair.
From there i spent hours playing each night against other local users, i graduated to 56k v2 modem technology and i felt like a "lpb" or low ping bastard as they were called in the day. I was getting a 90 ping on my ISP's server which was very rare back then and i really was starting to take the game serious dueling other people. My most memorable moment was dueling a quake player called reload, this guy was meant to be the king of dueling, although i think history may say differently now as i havent heard the name since. He thrashed me 22-2 and i got a glimpse at the world of proper comp gaming.
I progressed through till i heard about some mod called team fortress, this was my golden day where i spent years playing that game in matches on "ozemail" who dont even exist anymore and was well before gamearena. So i found the first true FPS and the first strategy based team game in quake and i think like most in the world who played those games we were starting to see esports emerge as a word. It was in those days that rocketjumping was born, bunnny hopping and strafe jumping was born and many other strats that you almost see now in modern FPS games the only difference being the maps and games played. Split strats or hard strats they all existed back then and i wish for the most part that the younger generation had got to experience that.
So thats how i connected to this article and for you old timers i think you will also completely understand. From there i progressed after a long exodus from gaming, to return to a bit of counterstrike, day of defeat, then on to battlefield 2. I dont play comp games anymore short of the odd scrim with my fellow team mates but this article took me right back 15 years to those days when 150 ping was good and everyone were mates.
Have a read of this and learn a bit more about the true history of esports and the emergence of FPS games.
Article here: Why Quake Changed Games Forever
Okay so back in 1996 i was fresh out of high school and looking at what to do with my life. I had always wanted to be a carpenter or cabinetmaker but as im sure my teachers would attest i was literally the WORST at woodworking. It was something of a blow to me as i really wanted to do that but fate had other adventures for me.
I grew up on a little hobby farm literally in the middle of nowhere, i had ventured with my dad to an army disposals store and dug up something i wanted to tinker with. We had only just started using computers in schools back then and while i didnt have much money i managed to buy an appleIII for $20. This machine was a bit of a token gesture in the PC world, in fact it seemed so rare that to get any games on it i had to find someone in the US who even had one.
So this was abandoned and instead i spent my time trying to recode this without much success. This lead into my high school days where computers still didnt excite me much either, i was a bit of a know it all and i found the classes on how to type word documents boring and easy. The irony was that i failed computers, not because i didnt know how i just didnt do the work that was asked of me, i was too busy making midi sound clips while everyone else was writing word documents. I was still determined to be a carpenter at this stage but as i came to the close of my high school days things were about to change.
I walked into safeway and talked to the store manager and within about 10 minutes i was offered a job. I worked pretty hard and did some pretty epic overtime so i was bringing in a decent wage for back in those days. It was for some unknown reason i decided to get a computer, i went down to melbourne in my car and $3000 later i had a pentium 166. It was at this stage that i started to notice that computers didnt really challenge me, i would take the case off pull it apart and put it back together and it wasnt difficult. I didnt worry i would break it because there is something about computers where i look at them and they just made sense.
I was soon on the internet with my 33.6 modem and when i joined the local internet provider which was run by the local paper i got to know the network admin who ran the service. Back then an ISP was powered by 4 64k ISDN internet connections, real powerful stuff. So i soon learned that the network admin from that newspaper played this game called quake. I soon went out and bought that and i started playing, one of the first things i learned was +mlook it was revolutionary to me as a guy who played wolfenstein and duke nukem that i would run around aiming with my mouse, it wasnt moving me around the screen it was moving my crosshair.
From there i spent hours playing each night against other local users, i graduated to 56k v2 modem technology and i felt like a "lpb" or low ping bastard as they were called in the day. I was getting a 90 ping on my ISP's server which was very rare back then and i really was starting to take the game serious dueling other people. My most memorable moment was dueling a quake player called reload, this guy was meant to be the king of dueling, although i think history may say differently now as i havent heard the name since. He thrashed me 22-2 and i got a glimpse at the world of proper comp gaming.
I progressed through till i heard about some mod called team fortress, this was my golden day where i spent years playing that game in matches on "ozemail" who dont even exist anymore and was well before gamearena. So i found the first true FPS and the first strategy based team game in quake and i think like most in the world who played those games we were starting to see esports emerge as a word. It was in those days that rocketjumping was born, bunnny hopping and strafe jumping was born and many other strats that you almost see now in modern FPS games the only difference being the maps and games played. Split strats or hard strats they all existed back then and i wish for the most part that the younger generation had got to experience that.
So thats how i connected to this article and for you old timers i think you will also completely understand. From there i progressed after a long exodus from gaming, to return to a bit of counterstrike, day of defeat, then on to battlefield 2. I dont play comp games anymore short of the odd scrim with my fellow team mates but this article took me right back 15 years to those days when 150 ping was good and everyone were mates.
Have a read of this and learn a bit more about the true history of esports and the emergence of FPS games.
Article here: Why Quake Changed Games Forever
EBEXPO 2011 - Boomser
EB Expo was on this weekend for the public but on friday for vendors, EB staff, gaming reps, marketers and a few pro-gamers like myself it was a day to explore and the expo with a much smaller crowd. Nick and I headed out to the EB Expo on Friday afternoon with a swarm of EB staff who get a chance to get freebies and learn about their vendors booths for products and the latest games that are on offer. Thanks to Razer we were given exclusive passes to be a part of the experience and walk around without having to worry about a que or mass public traffic. I managed to speak to and visit the Vox Eminor sponsor's booths (CM Storm, Cooler Master, Western Digital, and Razer) to get an insight into what products they had to offer for the general public.
Other than visiting the Vox Eminor sponsor's booths I wasn't really interested in visiting all the other booths during the weekend due to the fact that it was only PS3 and Xbox that were on showcase for the games that are coming out. The PC world was non-existent at the event and if you wanted to test any of the new up-coming titles you had to do so on a controller. Other than visiting the booths to use the odd pc on there, it really had nothing for us PC Gamers to get involved with so it was basically just looking which goes for the Booth babes as well I guess =P .
I must say I saw all sorts of different people at this event as you had couples, geeks, kids, adults, cosplay, parents, dad's, mother's, models, and gamers I have known for ages it definately was an experience to be a part of for a gamer. It just goes to show that gaming is really breaking out of stereotypes and becoming more of the norm as I saw at EB Expo this year. What I took out of the EB expo was that Vendors and game developers really want to listen to the public and pretty much care about what they have to say about their product, they were all there to impress and interact with the gamers.
Battlefield 3 pretty much took most of the limelight and was set right in a perfect spot for all to see with their bright shiny massive enclosed BOOTH! There was constantly a 30-60 min wait just to get inside it. As for MW3 I think if you looked hard enough at the back corner you might be able to see a small line as they were only taking in booked sessions to be able to play the game. No gamers or visitors were able to see the game behind the curtains unless you booked a 10 min time slot which basically got filled for the 2 days within the first 3 hours of the venue opening its doors on Saturday.
During each session of the day the coolest thing would have to be the Crusty Demons performing live inside the venue at the EB Arena, it was fantastic. I am looking forward to hopefully being at another EB expo next year and being able to see the interaction of gamers and vendors.
Oh did I forget? There was WCG there I think with a small crowd of gamers desperately waiting for their games to be played near the corner of the venue. I don't know the results and to be quite honest I don't think many people do with the outcome of this year's WCG. I saw no information and no coverage of WCG and I think that is about as much recognition it should get because of it. I must say congratulations to the teams that did win and wish them the best of luck overseas!
I would like to thank Razer again for the passes for myself, Nick and Jaydee who visited on the weekend and also a shout out to the people we got a chance to meet!
Check out the ebexpo gallery and 3 video blogs the team submitted from the expo under the media section.
Other than visiting the Vox Eminor sponsor's booths I wasn't really interested in visiting all the other booths during the weekend due to the fact that it was only PS3 and Xbox that were on showcase for the games that are coming out. The PC world was non-existent at the event and if you wanted to test any of the new up-coming titles you had to do so on a controller. Other than visiting the booths to use the odd pc on there, it really had nothing for us PC Gamers to get involved with so it was basically just looking which goes for the Booth babes as well I guess =P .
I must say I saw all sorts of different people at this event as you had couples, geeks, kids, adults, cosplay, parents, dad's, mother's, models, and gamers I have known for ages it definately was an experience to be a part of for a gamer. It just goes to show that gaming is really breaking out of stereotypes and becoming more of the norm as I saw at EB Expo this year. What I took out of the EB expo was that Vendors and game developers really want to listen to the public and pretty much care about what they have to say about their product, they were all there to impress and interact with the gamers.
Battlefield 3 pretty much took most of the limelight and was set right in a perfect spot for all to see with their bright shiny massive enclosed BOOTH! There was constantly a 30-60 min wait just to get inside it. As for MW3 I think if you looked hard enough at the back corner you might be able to see a small line as they were only taking in booked sessions to be able to play the game. No gamers or visitors were able to see the game behind the curtains unless you booked a 10 min time slot which basically got filled for the 2 days within the first 3 hours of the venue opening its doors on Saturday.
During each session of the day the coolest thing would have to be the Crusty Demons performing live inside the venue at the EB Arena, it was fantastic. I am looking forward to hopefully being at another EB expo next year and being able to see the interaction of gamers and vendors.
Oh did I forget? There was WCG there I think with a small crowd of gamers desperately waiting for their games to be played near the corner of the venue. I don't know the results and to be quite honest I don't think many people do with the outcome of this year's WCG. I saw no information and no coverage of WCG and I think that is about as much recognition it should get because of it. I must say congratulations to the teams that did win and wish them the best of luck overseas!
I would like to thank Razer again for the passes for myself, Nick and Jaydee who visited on the weekend and also a shout out to the people we got a chance to meet!
Check out the ebexpo gallery and 3 video blogs the team submitted from the expo under the media section.
Good Lan, Bad LAN RCG Brisbane - Boomser
Good Lan / Bad Lan !
The Long Long Long............Long day of the brisbane RCG Brisbane qualifer is over and after spending time filming and supporting my Voxe members i had the pleasure of spending 12 hours in total at the event and decided i might try and give you a highlight of the days play.
This is the sole opinion of myself and not by the COD or Voxe organisation as i give what i thought were the highlights , the good , the bad , ups and the downs of the event.
Haymo (Thumbs Up)
Have to start off giving the TLS repersentitive a shoutout for his fantastic work at the event. There is alot of things i did not agree with for the event but as i whinge about being there for 12 hours he wouldve been the first one there and last one to leave. His tireless efforts all day made it possible to always talk to an admin and get the event rolling and sorted. Every moment of the day we knew what was happening and always ask the players/teams for advice on the tournament. So thanks Haymo!
Ian (thumbs up)
By far the best dress at the event i think he was the only that one that got the memo about the fancy dress at the Lan. In all seriousness he invited the voxe boys over for beer and abit of kick of the footy at his place which only lasted one kick due to Nicks first attempt at a drop punt. This isnt the only reason i gave him the thumps up , its because players like these turn up to lans and make a team for the sole purpose of playing the game and getting numbers at the tournaments. So good work ian! ta 4 the beers
Bo3 Double elimnation Finals (Thumbs Down)
First time i have heard of a tournament being ran like this but apparently it was something players were interested in having due to most of the teams at the event were Interstate teams and nothing is worst then traveling all this way to play 3-4 games. Still this caused massive delays and the 3 times 3 triple over times we saw Exile5 face didnt help the time schedual on the day. After Voxe's 3-4 hours wait for the lower bracket games to finish fray would of had to win 4 maps against voxe just to take the 1st place spot after Semi Finals went to Vox Way. Only advice for future is to delay the winner bracket final when all the Lower Bracket games are done.
GameStah B-Ray! (Thumbs Up)
Being a pass caster i know whats its like to Solo cast a match , this guy did it for 12 straight hours with over 10 games with a smile on his face. Never Whinged once and was always keen to talk to the players at the event. Thumbs up mate and gamestah!
Brisbane Weather (Thumbs Down)
Well the weather was fantastic but not perfect gaming conditions at the lan event where they seem to have trouble keeping a cool tempature at Elysium. It sucked staying in that event for most of the day with 50 other gamers.
Exile5 vs Voxe (Thumbs Down)
Was a shame that the game never seem to take place. I know personally the boys were keen to play the X5 lineup at the event due to their recent Draft Competition matches which saw the teams both finish extremely close to each other with voxe finishing the game off 16-14. Thought Exile5 lost to Fray 3-1 and voxe defeating fray4-1 it was a shame to see what the difference could of been in the event enviroment. Wouldve made for an intense encounter
Brisbane Players (Thumbs Up)
The cod4 scene for brisbane seems to be going strong with a total of 9 teams showing up on the day. Compared to the other events getting a showing of 4 teams max it goes to show that COD4 is strong in Brisbane. Another note it seems like the lan community is alot stronger in means of sportsmanship and general knowledge of the players as i saw many having strong bonds even after some friendly banter in matches this will be mostly due to events like GGF lan for the scene here. COD4 lacks alot of lan time
Managers/Supporters (Thumbs Up)
Being one of these at the event i saw most teams bring friends or managers who sat behind their respected teams taking photos and footage all day.Its great to see at any event and As being one of them expect to see some Vlogs and Photos of the Voxe's progress over the weekend on our page!
Omen (Thumbs Up) (Thumbs Down) ( i dunno LOL)
I thought i should just give him a mention, After being the loudest player in his matches or even the room it was hard not to notice the intensity and his passion for the game. Althought after all this we saw many handshakes and hugs come from the man regardless of his results which just shows you its a Game that we all enjoy and nothing is wrong with abit of Friendly banter as long as that is all it is....Harmless Friendly banter
Fray (Thumbs Up)
I dont know much about cod4 and i havnt followed it for long but i am positive if these same 5 players stay together with their proven lan expirence i have no doubt they are going to be surpising alot of teams with results especally on LAN.
mr12 (Thumbs Down)
Dont rate the mr12 i think we should be moving forward and using the same game format for everything rather then randomly changing in scrims/matches/events. I think mr15 is a more universial Game format and makes for fair gameplay for possible comebacks. As we had serval overtimes i wonder how many of them wouldve been if it was mr15
Summary -
The brisbane community and its players made this lan great, Regardless of the event and its PC's everybody had to play on the same conditions and it was worth wild because players got something out of it. Plenty of games to play and spectate with quality teams turning up and playing. This is something COD4 has been lacking and i think this gives abit of hope for the TLS event in Sydney. I also think COD4 CG-I teams are closing the gaps and i think we will probably end up having 4-5 teams contending for the title or challenging those going for it. Shout outs to everybody i met and thanks for making the time more enjoyable because at the end of the day Lan is better when you can actually socialize and see how teams perform under certain circumstances.
Stay tune in the coming days for the Vlogs and pictures that were taken at the event. Congratulations to my boys and badluck to fray it was differnently an intense game to watch.
The Long Long Long............Long day of the brisbane RCG Brisbane qualifer is over and after spending time filming and supporting my Voxe members i had the pleasure of spending 12 hours in total at the event and decided i might try and give you a highlight of the days play.
This is the sole opinion of myself and not by the COD or Voxe organisation as i give what i thought were the highlights , the good , the bad , ups and the downs of the event.
Haymo (Thumbs Up)
Have to start off giving the TLS repersentitive a shoutout for his fantastic work at the event. There is alot of things i did not agree with for the event but as i whinge about being there for 12 hours he wouldve been the first one there and last one to leave. His tireless efforts all day made it possible to always talk to an admin and get the event rolling and sorted. Every moment of the day we knew what was happening and always ask the players/teams for advice on the tournament. So thanks Haymo!
Ian (thumbs up)
By far the best dress at the event i think he was the only that one that got the memo about the fancy dress at the Lan. In all seriousness he invited the voxe boys over for beer and abit of kick of the footy at his place which only lasted one kick due to Nicks first attempt at a drop punt. This isnt the only reason i gave him the thumps up , its because players like these turn up to lans and make a team for the sole purpose of playing the game and getting numbers at the tournaments. So good work ian! ta 4 the beers
Bo3 Double elimnation Finals (Thumbs Down)
First time i have heard of a tournament being ran like this but apparently it was something players were interested in having due to most of the teams at the event were Interstate teams and nothing is worst then traveling all this way to play 3-4 games. Still this caused massive delays and the 3 times 3 triple over times we saw Exile5 face didnt help the time schedual on the day. After Voxe's 3-4 hours wait for the lower bracket games to finish fray would of had to win 4 maps against voxe just to take the 1st place spot after Semi Finals went to Vox Way. Only advice for future is to delay the winner bracket final when all the Lower Bracket games are done.
GameStah B-Ray! (Thumbs Up)
Being a pass caster i know whats its like to Solo cast a match , this guy did it for 12 straight hours with over 10 games with a smile on his face. Never Whinged once and was always keen to talk to the players at the event. Thumbs up mate and gamestah!
Brisbane Weather (Thumbs Down)
Well the weather was fantastic but not perfect gaming conditions at the lan event where they seem to have trouble keeping a cool tempature at Elysium. It sucked staying in that event for most of the day with 50 other gamers.
Exile5 vs Voxe (Thumbs Down)
Was a shame that the game never seem to take place. I know personally the boys were keen to play the X5 lineup at the event due to their recent Draft Competition matches which saw the teams both finish extremely close to each other with voxe finishing the game off 16-14. Thought Exile5 lost to Fray 3-1 and voxe defeating fray4-1 it was a shame to see what the difference could of been in the event enviroment. Wouldve made for an intense encounter
Brisbane Players (Thumbs Up)
The cod4 scene for brisbane seems to be going strong with a total of 9 teams showing up on the day. Compared to the other events getting a showing of 4 teams max it goes to show that COD4 is strong in Brisbane. Another note it seems like the lan community is alot stronger in means of sportsmanship and general knowledge of the players as i saw many having strong bonds even after some friendly banter in matches this will be mostly due to events like GGF lan for the scene here. COD4 lacks alot of lan time
Managers/Supporters (Thumbs Up)
Being one of these at the event i saw most teams bring friends or managers who sat behind their respected teams taking photos and footage all day.Its great to see at any event and As being one of them expect to see some Vlogs and Photos of the Voxe's progress over the weekend on our page!
Omen (Thumbs Up) (Thumbs Down) ( i dunno LOL)
I thought i should just give him a mention, After being the loudest player in his matches or even the room it was hard not to notice the intensity and his passion for the game. Althought after all this we saw many handshakes and hugs come from the man regardless of his results which just shows you its a Game that we all enjoy and nothing is wrong with abit of Friendly banter as long as that is all it is....Harmless Friendly banter
Fray (Thumbs Up)
I dont know much about cod4 and i havnt followed it for long but i am positive if these same 5 players stay together with their proven lan expirence i have no doubt they are going to be surpising alot of teams with results especally on LAN.
mr12 (Thumbs Down)
Dont rate the mr12 i think we should be moving forward and using the same game format for everything rather then randomly changing in scrims/matches/events. I think mr15 is a more universial Game format and makes for fair gameplay for possible comebacks. As we had serval overtimes i wonder how many of them wouldve been if it was mr15
Summary -
The brisbane community and its players made this lan great, Regardless of the event and its PC's everybody had to play on the same conditions and it was worth wild because players got something out of it. Plenty of games to play and spectate with quality teams turning up and playing. This is something COD4 has been lacking and i think this gives abit of hope for the TLS event in Sydney. I also think COD4 CG-I teams are closing the gaps and i think we will probably end up having 4-5 teams contending for the title or challenging those going for it. Shout outs to everybody i met and thanks for making the time more enjoyable because at the end of the day Lan is better when you can actually socialize and see how teams perform under certain circumstances.
Stay tune in the coming days for the Vlogs and pictures that were taken at the event. Congratulations to my boys and badluck to fray it was differnently an intense game to watch.
First two days in Dallas - zlr
Firstly I just want to say this is the first time I've been out of Australia so it's something I've never experienced before. My initial thoughts were that I wouldn't sleep at all on any of the flights, which did turn to be right, and I'd spend the next two days recovering from my sleepless journey.
I went with V Australia from Brisbane > Sydney > LA > Dallas. Total flying time for all the flights was about 18-19 hours if I remember correctly. For some reason I just couldn't make myself sleep sitting on those chairs, even after I'd been up a lot past the 24 hour mark. I left the Dallas airport feeling like a zombie and arrived at the hotel where Ventz and Rigz had a room booked for the 3 of us. The front desk actually gave me the wrong room number and key, and I ended up walking into a room full of about 15-20 bags of shoes,makeup, jewellery and women's clothes. In my sleep deprived state it took me a minute or so to come to the conclusion I was given the wrong room number. I was standing in the doorway trying to think of why Ventz and Rigz would buy all that stuff before I went back to the front desk and said I was given the wrong room.
The internet in the hotel doesn't function very well. It's mostly unplayable, with 5 or 10 minutes of playable time available here and there. Ventz and I both have our laptops which we've been using to have a few games. I managed to get a game of CA and a few duels this morning between 5-6am. No one else in the hotel must have been up to lag me! After 6am it started to lag really bad and I had to stop though.
It's not the best experience playing duels on a laptop, especially with 60hz refresh rates. But at least it gives the opportunity to have a few games and generally practice a bit of timing/item control and see how the Americans play. I haven't had the opportunity to play any of the 24 players invited to Quakecon yet.
There is supposed to be an open area in the Quakecon venue which has LAN functionality for use after 4pm this afternoon (Wednesday). So Ventz and I will be trying to get in there and have some decent practice before we have to play in the tournament tomorrow afternoon.
It's currently 10am here on Wednesday 3rd August, and I haven't had much sleep so I'm going to try and get some rest before heading into the Quakecon venue this afternoon. I will try and do another blog tomorrow night detailing how the tournament actually went.
Thanks for reading.
I went with V Australia from Brisbane > Sydney > LA > Dallas. Total flying time for all the flights was about 18-19 hours if I remember correctly. For some reason I just couldn't make myself sleep sitting on those chairs, even after I'd been up a lot past the 24 hour mark. I left the Dallas airport feeling like a zombie and arrived at the hotel where Ventz and Rigz had a room booked for the 3 of us. The front desk actually gave me the wrong room number and key, and I ended up walking into a room full of about 15-20 bags of shoes,makeup, jewellery and women's clothes. In my sleep deprived state it took me a minute or so to come to the conclusion I was given the wrong room number. I was standing in the doorway trying to think of why Ventz and Rigz would buy all that stuff before I went back to the front desk and said I was given the wrong room.
The internet in the hotel doesn't function very well. It's mostly unplayable, with 5 or 10 minutes of playable time available here and there. Ventz and I both have our laptops which we've been using to have a few games. I managed to get a game of CA and a few duels this morning between 5-6am. No one else in the hotel must have been up to lag me! After 6am it started to lag really bad and I had to stop though.
It's not the best experience playing duels on a laptop, especially with 60hz refresh rates. But at least it gives the opportunity to have a few games and generally practice a bit of timing/item control and see how the Americans play. I haven't had the opportunity to play any of the 24 players invited to Quakecon yet.
There is supposed to be an open area in the Quakecon venue which has LAN functionality for use after 4pm this afternoon (Wednesday). So Ventz and I will be trying to get in there and have some decent practice before we have to play in the tournament tomorrow afternoon.
It's currently 10am here on Wednesday 3rd August, and I haven't had much sleep so I'm going to try and get some rest before heading into the Quakecon venue this afternoon. I will try and do another blog tomorrow night detailing how the tournament actually went.
Thanks for reading.
Duel and TDM finished
Right from the get go I knew it was going to be an extremely difficult day for me. The first practice game which I had as against dahang, where I got completely destroyed, was my first taste of how the top duelers play. I'd never encountered that level of positioning around the map and item control before against anyone in Australia.
In the first group stage match I played chance where I lost the first map (lost world) 7 - 2 and the second map (toxicity) by a large margin. After that I played rapha and lost each map by large margins also. The third match was against cl0ck, and they were a lot closer than the previous games, but he managed to come through with the wins in the last two minutes with better positioning and item control.
I felt I could have performed a little better on the day. The night before the games I'd only had 1 hour sleep and needed to have a can of red bull at lunch time to keep myself going. However I don't think it would have made too much of a difference as my positioning/timing skills aren't nearly as good as someone like rapha. I think if I'd been feeling better the best I would have done is possibly take a map of chance and cl0ck and generally playing a bit more alert and smarter.
Although I am disappointed with not winning any maps, there is a lot that I've managed to learn about my own game that will help in future competitions, and it has given me something I know I can practice and continue to improve. I also wasn't nervous at all in any of the games and played each player the same way I would play anyone, so that's a big improvement for me as I used to get very nervous at lans or big online competitions and my aim would fail me a lot. This time my aim was strong, and I was able to keep up with all the players I played with on the day.
As for the TDM, a team was formed with me, ventz, scoot and zero4. We managed to win our first group stage match against "im prteyttyy easted" which had the following players: FienD, dkt, adrenal1ne, KLAOVhwn. I struggled a bit with some of the maps as I've hardly played tdm in quakelive, and all my tdm teamplay experience is from Q3. I learned a lot in the 3 matches we played on the day however. Scoot and zero4 have played a lot of tdm and were the backbone of the team.
We lost our next games fairly easily against iCE cLIMBERS (Stermy, fox, l1nkin, tox) and BallerSsS (strenx, draven, Cypher, Cooller) which was expected as we were just a quickly formed team of duelers.
One of the biggest things I've noticed since being at Quakecon is the standard for duelers. Most of the non-pro duelers in America would be easily considered top 5 in Australia, and the same for the European players. Even though I didn't perform as well as I would have liked to in both tdm and duel, it has been a very good learning experience and I hope that I can continue to compete overseas and improve as a player.
I'd just like to say thank you to team Voxe for everything they have done for me. I'm very proud to be representing the team for Quake Live and I hope I will get to see more overseas action soon! All that's left for me now watching the rest of the duel and tdm games and hopefully get some good practice in the mean time.
Thanks for reading.
In the first group stage match I played chance where I lost the first map (lost world) 7 - 2 and the second map (toxicity) by a large margin. After that I played rapha and lost each map by large margins also. The third match was against cl0ck, and they were a lot closer than the previous games, but he managed to come through with the wins in the last two minutes with better positioning and item control.
I felt I could have performed a little better on the day. The night before the games I'd only had 1 hour sleep and needed to have a can of red bull at lunch time to keep myself going. However I don't think it would have made too much of a difference as my positioning/timing skills aren't nearly as good as someone like rapha. I think if I'd been feeling better the best I would have done is possibly take a map of chance and cl0ck and generally playing a bit more alert and smarter.
Although I am disappointed with not winning any maps, there is a lot that I've managed to learn about my own game that will help in future competitions, and it has given me something I know I can practice and continue to improve. I also wasn't nervous at all in any of the games and played each player the same way I would play anyone, so that's a big improvement for me as I used to get very nervous at lans or big online competitions and my aim would fail me a lot. This time my aim was strong, and I was able to keep up with all the players I played with on the day.
As for the TDM, a team was formed with me, ventz, scoot and zero4. We managed to win our first group stage match against "im prteyttyy easted" which had the following players: FienD, dkt, adrenal1ne, KLAOVhwn. I struggled a bit with some of the maps as I've hardly played tdm in quakelive, and all my tdm teamplay experience is from Q3. I learned a lot in the 3 matches we played on the day however. Scoot and zero4 have played a lot of tdm and were the backbone of the team.
We lost our next games fairly easily against iCE cLIMBERS (Stermy, fox, l1nkin, tox) and BallerSsS (strenx, draven, Cypher, Cooller) which was expected as we were just a quickly formed team of duelers.
One of the biggest things I've noticed since being at Quakecon is the standard for duelers. Most of the non-pro duelers in America would be easily considered top 5 in Australia, and the same for the European players. Even though I didn't perform as well as I would have liked to in both tdm and duel, it has been a very good learning experience and I hope that I can continue to compete overseas and improve as a player.
I'd just like to say thank you to team Voxe for everything they have done for me. I'm very proud to be representing the team for Quake Live and I hope I will get to see more overseas action soon! All that's left for me now watching the rest of the duel and tdm games and hopefully get some good practice in the mean time.
Thanks for reading.
Kstrifes thoughts on the CEVOP semifinals
Hey guys just giving you all a brief run down on my thoughts on how we as a team entered the semi finals. We had Quixotic as our competitors and as a team we didn’t know what to expect from these guys even though they are not as seasoned as us they have a lot of young sharp players who can individually blow up and have great games. A good example of this was them beating our main competitor ArchaicMSI earlier in the season. Our over all preparation for the game lead us to focus on improving CT setups and T defaults as our disappointing CG grand final results has been a kick to our face making us only more motivated to improve. First map up was Tuscan, we lost knife starting T, we had a lot of momentum as T’s winning pistol and various gun rounds. At first we were unsure how Quixotic would play, I made alot of awp picks opening up spots in their armour for us to charge in. Although Quixotic caught us off guard a few rounds with agro CT pushes, never the less we had a 11-4 half finishing comfortably. CT side we won pistol instantly giving us the confidence that the game was over and the end result being 16-5.
Moving on to the next map train was selected, I had no doubt in my mind we are possibly the best train team in Australia so with crushing results from the first game and our home map up and starting CT we felt there wasn’t much room for failure. We bested them 14-2 on CT finishing the game on T’s 16-2. Personally from my team I think DimoJR played exceptionally well he was consistent and kept his awping up, Sai was right up there with him creating a lot of opening frags and locking down inside.
My final comments are is that we are entering the grand final as a different team than what we were at the start of the season. I’m looking forward to vs’ing archaic our friendly rivals again unfortunately due to roster locks they couldn’t use their preferred 5th but none the less it looks like it will be a great game.
Moving on to the next map train was selected, I had no doubt in my mind we are possibly the best train team in Australia so with crushing results from the first game and our home map up and starting CT we felt there wasn’t much room for failure. We bested them 14-2 on CT finishing the game on T’s 16-2. Personally from my team I think DimoJR played exceptionally well he was consistent and kept his awping up, Sai was right up there with him creating a lot of opening frags and locking down inside.
My final comments are is that we are entering the grand final as a different team than what we were at the start of the season. I’m looking forward to vs’ing archaic our friendly rivals again unfortunately due to roster locks they couldn’t use their preferred 5th but none the less it looks like it will be a great game.
KiRa's thoughts #2
Hello to everyone again… what a hectic few months it has been since I last wrote a blog. So much has happened – my team had our week long bootcamp and partook in a LAN competition in sunny Brisbane. We got placed into CyberGamer Western Digital Amateur finals which are set to commence early next week and also were placed in Sublime PC Gear’s MWave Invite competition set to start the week after. It’s an exciting start and so far very successful new beginning in Counter-Strike: Source after swapping from Counter-Strike 1.6 and I couldn’t be happier with our progress thus far.
Our bootcamp was interesting to say the least. Once we all arrived at our amazing house on the Gold Coast there was a lot of serious strategising and practicing going on. We ran through all of our maps that we were to play in our up and coming competitions and prepared ourselves as well as we could for the LAN event on the following Sunday, staying up all night and sleeping all day. Any gamer knows the drill. It was a great chance to iron out any issues we had in any situations and to improve our teamwork by 10 fold. However, put 5 girls into a house for a week and we’re bound to get up to some sort of mischief eventually. But you know what they say… what happens on bootcamp stays on bootcamp. PS: If you haven’t seen the bootcamp bake off I suggest you head over to our Facebook page and see the pictures (http://www.facebook.com/voxeminor). My CM Storm cake was definitely the best .
Rocking up in our Razer gear to LAN on Sunday was a daunting experience. We were to be the first all female team in Australia to actually WIN a game on LAN for Counter-Strike: Source. Not only did we win a game but all of our practice during the week paid off as we left LAN on the Sunday with 2 wins and 2 losses only narrowly missing out on finals. Not bad for our first LAN as a team. It was great to put names to faces and get involved in the community, cheers GotGames and all the people at Elysium on the day it was an awesome experience and we hope to do it again soon.
After an exciting time with all the girls it was all too soon that I had to see them off at the airport and head back to reality.
We’re all back at home and getting ready for the CyberGamer finals and the beginning of Sublimes new MWave Invite league and are keen to prove that all the effort we put in at bootcamp has paid off. Be sure to support Voxe and keep up with our progress through the Facebook page!
Thanks to all the support from Vox Eminor management (RICHARDD!!), members and sponsors. We couldn’t do it without you guys. You’re our family.
Gabrielle ‘kiRa’ Benn.
Our bootcamp was interesting to say the least. Once we all arrived at our amazing house on the Gold Coast there was a lot of serious strategising and practicing going on. We ran through all of our maps that we were to play in our up and coming competitions and prepared ourselves as well as we could for the LAN event on the following Sunday, staying up all night and sleeping all day. Any gamer knows the drill. It was a great chance to iron out any issues we had in any situations and to improve our teamwork by 10 fold. However, put 5 girls into a house for a week and we’re bound to get up to some sort of mischief eventually. But you know what they say… what happens on bootcamp stays on bootcamp. PS: If you haven’t seen the bootcamp bake off I suggest you head over to our Facebook page and see the pictures (http://www.facebook.com/voxeminor). My CM Storm cake was definitely the best .
Rocking up in our Razer gear to LAN on Sunday was a daunting experience. We were to be the first all female team in Australia to actually WIN a game on LAN for Counter-Strike: Source. Not only did we win a game but all of our practice during the week paid off as we left LAN on the Sunday with 2 wins and 2 losses only narrowly missing out on finals. Not bad for our first LAN as a team. It was great to put names to faces and get involved in the community, cheers GotGames and all the people at Elysium on the day it was an awesome experience and we hope to do it again soon.
After an exciting time with all the girls it was all too soon that I had to see them off at the airport and head back to reality.
We’re all back at home and getting ready for the CyberGamer finals and the beginning of Sublimes new MWave Invite league and are keen to prove that all the effort we put in at bootcamp has paid off. Be sure to support Voxe and keep up with our progress through the Facebook page!
Thanks to all the support from Vox Eminor management (RICHARDD!!), members and sponsors. We couldn’t do it without you guys. You’re our family.
Gabrielle ‘kiRa’ Benn.
KiRa's thoughts
So I’ve decided to write my first blog for Voxe about my take on some recent events that have happened within my team and in the community in general. One of these things include why my team and I decided to transition to Counter-Strike: Source after our initial formation in Counter-Strike 1.6. There were a lot of things that sparked our decision to make the move but mostly it was the appeal of frequent competitions and events that would keep our team active and interested in improving. The transition for me was actually a lot easier than I expected because source is like coming home to familiar territory, I was glad to see my prior 4 years experience with the game hadn’t completely failed me.
In all but one circumstance though, our first CyberGamer league match. It is of my opinion that my performance was less than what I expect of myself. However, there were a few contributing factors to my lacklustre game play such as the DDOS attack that affected all competing players and my dying mouse which decided to cut out for 10 seconds at regular intervals. All disruptions aside, I was proud of my team regardless of the loss for bringing it back to a 16:14 score line after a crushing beginning score 15:6 in favour of Kings of Kings. I’m really glad we get to compete in the league supported by our newest sponsor, Western Digital. It shows their passion and commitment to the advancement of eSports in Australia and I couldn’t be happier with their contribution.
Our next CyberGamer match is on de_inferno which was recently updated by Valve. Personally, I love the update and the way that it makes Source look more like 1.6, in a funny way it makes the last years effort on 1.6 sort of worth it. I think that the update will make the game play more even once all the little glitches are fixed. It’s nice to see a developer updating their game and trying to improve it.
Something more exciting that I’m really looking forward to is another team bootcamp in Brisbane. Flights have been booked and our accommodation is being finalised (but being kept secret at this point to my own annoyance). It’ll be a great opportunity for all of us to nail down our strategies and communication. Plus I’m really looking forward to getting to see all of my team mates again We will have a much better chance to get everything done and actually improve with all the support and help from Voxe management and members.
Thanks again guys!
Gabrielle ‘kiRa’ Benn
In all but one circumstance though, our first CyberGamer league match. It is of my opinion that my performance was less than what I expect of myself. However, there were a few contributing factors to my lacklustre game play such as the DDOS attack that affected all competing players and my dying mouse which decided to cut out for 10 seconds at regular intervals. All disruptions aside, I was proud of my team regardless of the loss for bringing it back to a 16:14 score line after a crushing beginning score 15:6 in favour of Kings of Kings. I’m really glad we get to compete in the league supported by our newest sponsor, Western Digital. It shows their passion and commitment to the advancement of eSports in Australia and I couldn’t be happier with their contribution.
Our next CyberGamer match is on de_inferno which was recently updated by Valve. Personally, I love the update and the way that it makes Source look more like 1.6, in a funny way it makes the last years effort on 1.6 sort of worth it. I think that the update will make the game play more even once all the little glitches are fixed. It’s nice to see a developer updating their game and trying to improve it.
Something more exciting that I’m really looking forward to is another team bootcamp in Brisbane. Flights have been booked and our accommodation is being finalised (but being kept secret at this point to my own annoyance). It’ll be a great opportunity for all of us to nail down our strategies and communication. Plus I’m really looking forward to getting to see all of my team mates again We will have a much better chance to get everything done and actually improve with all the support and help from Voxe management and members.
Thanks again guys!
Gabrielle ‘kiRa’ Benn
Trains and Planes to Brisbane
The Australian band “tonight alive” blasted through my iphone speakers at approximately 5am on the early Friday morning of June. Waking out of a sleep that to me, seemed to be 2 minutes long, I dragged myself out of bed and began the ritual to make myself at least half presentable to the public eye. Of course, I am not an early person like most gamers out there – the only way I see the sunrise is if I stay up all night! But, before I know it the time has flown by and Gabrielle “kira” has arrived to take us both to the transport center in the heart of Brisbane city.
After twenty minutes of sitting waiting for the bus to take us to casino in NSW, I decide it has taken too long and go to ask the lady when the bus will arrive. She took one look at my ticket and calmly stated, “You’re on a train all the way there love. And you better hurry.” The ticket stated the train left at 7:30 – after looking at the time we were startled to view an ominous 7:25. We started running. Huffing and puffing we nearly jump into the “first class” carriage before another transport officer suggested we go to our actual carriage at the front of the train – damn, thought I was going to travel in style! As soon as we take our seats the train starts moving – phew! Close call, hello Sydney!... in 14 hours.
So after experiencing some very interesting people on the 14 hour trip we arrive in Sydney to be greeted by Ella “grumpybear” and Maddy. Unfortunately a bad judgment call made me think it was a good idea to eat dinner on the train – which lead to no other sickness than food poising when we arrived at Ella’s apartment. So after an eventful night and half a sleeping tablet to knock us all out, I wake up at 6am to Gab kicking me in the head and as a result, I fall out of bed. What a way to start the day!
Nevertheless I cannot control my excitement as I remember the importance of the day. World Cyber Games!
After getting ready we call a cab to take us to City Hunter in Burwood. The taxi driver claims there is bad traffic on the easiest route there, so he takes a detour which just so happens to be a closed road (we are under the impression he planned it!) so after feeling our day isn’t getting off to a good start we finally tell the cab to pull over and we pay the ridiculous fare and enter the LAN venue.
After being greeted by friendly and helpful staff we are ushered into one of the private gaming rooms to meet team Carnage, who turn out to also be our first match of the day. Unfortunately that means as a caller, I have to be sneaky and we had less communication than usual because we could hear everything they said and visa versa.
After losing the game 16 – 9 we shake our worthy opponents hands then get ready for our next match against Team Immunity on Inferno.
We found out vanq lost to team immunity 16 – 2 so our goal was to get at least one more round than vanq. And guess what... we got… 16 – 3! We were probably the only team to be excited to lose, but for us it’s all about the rounds, especially as our last LAN event as a team left us with an embarrassing 16 – 0 against sublime, so to gain 3 rounds on immunity was nothing other than visual improvement.
The day continued on and we versed vanq on nuke after a somewhat disappointing game we lost 16 – 9. Our morale was shot down after losing every game; we start packing up to find that we have another 2 games in the finals against no other than Team Immunity again. Great. So we just let it go and decide to have fun.
The crowd around us grew large as the 1.6 teams started arriving for their event that started at 3pm that day. It was our final game against Immunity on de_dust2. We had a total of 5 rounds then Maddy’s keyboard cut out for the last four rounds and on the final round Gabs computer died. Our luck had run out for the day but I felt alright about the loss because at least I got a knife kill against one of the Immunity players, which made me feel like we already won the entire game haha! After meeting some really awesome people and gaining unmeasurable experience we finished the day on a high note, we all felt happy for attending the WCG Sydney event.
Especially for me and Gab it was our first time traveling for a Counter-Strike Source competition. In our families gaming isn’t exactly well respected so it was a big thing for our parents to agree to let us go (even though we’re almost 18 they still could have said no). It just proved to us that they must trust us and Vox Eminor as an organization. I can say with confidence it was the right idea and I have grown as a person from that experience. I’m not even going to go into detail on all the misfortunes that happened on our way home to Brisbane via domestic airport. All I can say is a big thank-you to our awesome manager and organizer Richard Lawes, and all the sponsors of our team that has made this, and many more, opportunities available for us.
I cannot wait for the next adventure.
Until next time, thank-you for reading this!
- Jayde “jaydee” Elizabeth.
After twenty minutes of sitting waiting for the bus to take us to casino in NSW, I decide it has taken too long and go to ask the lady when the bus will arrive. She took one look at my ticket and calmly stated, “You’re on a train all the way there love. And you better hurry.” The ticket stated the train left at 7:30 – after looking at the time we were startled to view an ominous 7:25. We started running. Huffing and puffing we nearly jump into the “first class” carriage before another transport officer suggested we go to our actual carriage at the front of the train – damn, thought I was going to travel in style! As soon as we take our seats the train starts moving – phew! Close call, hello Sydney!... in 14 hours.
So after experiencing some very interesting people on the 14 hour trip we arrive in Sydney to be greeted by Ella “grumpybear” and Maddy. Unfortunately a bad judgment call made me think it was a good idea to eat dinner on the train – which lead to no other sickness than food poising when we arrived at Ella’s apartment. So after an eventful night and half a sleeping tablet to knock us all out, I wake up at 6am to Gab kicking me in the head and as a result, I fall out of bed. What a way to start the day!
Nevertheless I cannot control my excitement as I remember the importance of the day. World Cyber Games!
After getting ready we call a cab to take us to City Hunter in Burwood. The taxi driver claims there is bad traffic on the easiest route there, so he takes a detour which just so happens to be a closed road (we are under the impression he planned it!) so after feeling our day isn’t getting off to a good start we finally tell the cab to pull over and we pay the ridiculous fare and enter the LAN venue.
After being greeted by friendly and helpful staff we are ushered into one of the private gaming rooms to meet team Carnage, who turn out to also be our first match of the day. Unfortunately that means as a caller, I have to be sneaky and we had less communication than usual because we could hear everything they said and visa versa.
After losing the game 16 – 9 we shake our worthy opponents hands then get ready for our next match against Team Immunity on Inferno.
We found out vanq lost to team immunity 16 – 2 so our goal was to get at least one more round than vanq. And guess what... we got… 16 – 3! We were probably the only team to be excited to lose, but for us it’s all about the rounds, especially as our last LAN event as a team left us with an embarrassing 16 – 0 against sublime, so to gain 3 rounds on immunity was nothing other than visual improvement.
The day continued on and we versed vanq on nuke after a somewhat disappointing game we lost 16 – 9. Our morale was shot down after losing every game; we start packing up to find that we have another 2 games in the finals against no other than Team Immunity again. Great. So we just let it go and decide to have fun.
The crowd around us grew large as the 1.6 teams started arriving for their event that started at 3pm that day. It was our final game against Immunity on de_dust2. We had a total of 5 rounds then Maddy’s keyboard cut out for the last four rounds and on the final round Gabs computer died. Our luck had run out for the day but I felt alright about the loss because at least I got a knife kill against one of the Immunity players, which made me feel like we already won the entire game haha! After meeting some really awesome people and gaining unmeasurable experience we finished the day on a high note, we all felt happy for attending the WCG Sydney event.
Especially for me and Gab it was our first time traveling for a Counter-Strike Source competition. In our families gaming isn’t exactly well respected so it was a big thing for our parents to agree to let us go (even though we’re almost 18 they still could have said no). It just proved to us that they must trust us and Vox Eminor as an organization. I can say with confidence it was the right idea and I have grown as a person from that experience. I’m not even going to go into detail on all the misfortunes that happened on our way home to Brisbane via domestic airport. All I can say is a big thank-you to our awesome manager and organizer Richard Lawes, and all the sponsors of our team that has made this, and many more, opportunities available for us.
I cannot wait for the next adventure.
Until next time, thank-you for reading this!
- Jayde “jaydee” Elizabeth.
History of CS1.6
Having been involved with the Counter-Strike scene for a while, I’ve known, played with, and watched just about everyone who has been anyone. Of course not everyone has been around as long, and a lot of the names have either retired or faded from the public consciousness. So in light of that, I’d like to take you down the memory lane of Australian Counter-Strike from 2002 to 2009 where in my opinion were the strong periods in Counter-Strike.
This article is slightly outdated as not being published before but still a great read for those interested in the Australian 1.6 community.
Pantheon
Winners of CPL Pacific (kalgo, grim_chicken, BiggD [aka. Dimitri], outbreak, RasE)
Tournaments didn’t exist in the format we have them today, and national events were even more uncommon. Most of them were based around BYOC LAN parties, like MPU or QGL. Prizes were minimal at best; many offered bragging rights for the winners. But there was fierce competition. SGL, for example, had two divisions of 16 teams battling for nothing but pride. And Pantheon fought the hardest of them all.
Pantheon was the first truly dominant team, unstoppable in state competitions and a tour de force online. But like all Counter-Strike teams, kalgo and co. had a powerful opposing force in Victorian goliath 12m. In the end, Pantheon travelled interstate to take the CPL Pacific event, the first major tournament down under, as well as establishing the Pantheon website which became the central hub for the Counter-Strike community and electronic sports in Australia.
iCHOR
Winners of WCG.AU 2002 (kalgo, VenoM, Corefighter, seanske, 7.62)
Dominant online but a little weak on LAN, iCHOR squeaked into the WCG.au 2002 finals through a last chance qualifier. It ended up being a blessing for the Sydney team who went on to defeat function zer0 13-7 in the finals “on the boat”.
But the victory was soured by the loss of Corefighter who was unable to play in the finals. His replacement, Haz, coped admirably, and a favourable draw with only one internationally known team bode well for the rest of the tournament. That luck was reciprocated in good results: Australia dominated the South African (a team featuring Deathsbane, who would later join Australia’s elite in function zer0) and Bulgarian representatives before securing qualification to the top 16 via a draw with Mousesports.
But the well of luck ran dry past the group stages. iCHOR put in a sub-par performance against Belgium and dropped to the lower bracket. A horrifying run of bad form threatened to derail the next match against Portgual, but a spirited comeback from the Sydneysiders secured the win in overtime. Heart wouldn’t do it against their next opponents, Team 3D, and the Australians were sent packing.
Shortly after their return the team died, although not before their campaign was filmed and broadcast for a documentary on ABC television. While there’s no footage online from that, you can view a piece covering the national finals over on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy7XNP6-r1s.
23
Winners of WCG.au 2004 (Sastrooper, Diablo, Wizzamabob, Mole, HBB)
When you play with double the ping of your enemies, you’re guaranteed to be underestimated. It’s the fortune and curse of any team residing in Western Australia; online practice is infinitely harder, but you fly under the radar at LAN. And to this day, no team has flown under the radar harder than 23 did at Redfern.
It’s also not too much to venture that no tournament has been dominated so hard by a single player. From the group stages to the grand final, Diablo completely and utterly dominated. He won just about every clutch and hit just about every shot with his AWP. On top of that, Diablo displayed the value of movement in Counter-Strike, something that had been neglected.
I was playing for naughty Kommandos at the tournament, and we came up against 23 in the semi-final. On the last round of the second semi-finals map (de_inferno), 23 were up 15-14. Dark Force called a B strat and we took the site losing only one player. 4v3, final round holding B on inferno – you’d think we had it in the bag.
Well, not really. With a sensitivity of 5 and an AWP, Diablo charged into snake, no-scoped two players and retook the entire site by himself. Imagine someone playing that well for the entire tournament.
Besides featuring illegible players, that WCG would also be remembered for “doing a Kurandus”. Before then, most people had fallen from the rafters at one point or another in a match. But probably not on LAN. Or in a grand final. Where your teammate is defusing and desperately needs your cover. And there are plane tickets to San Francisco riding on that round. But that’s how life is sometimes; Diablo has since faded out of the spotlight, but doing a Kurandus has lived on.
Unlike the national finals, the Western Australian’s representation overseas was totally forgettable. Already undermined through the forced replacement of Diablo, 23 announced that they were using the trip as a holiday and practiced accordingly. But then the omens kept getting darker: 23’s group was cut short to three teams where only one would qualify, and they drew MIBR on de_aztec for what would be the deciding match. Unfortunately, they drew MIBR first, along with de_aztec and the pleasure of starting as Terrorists.
After losing 13-0 to the Brazilians, 23 then lost to Kuwait which was milked as the most embarrassing result of all time. But the West Australians had already made their point: after all, it was a holiday, and no matter how much people complained – they still won the right to go there in the first place. Put it this way: if Australia couldn’t beat Diablo, what chance would you have running out the double doors on Aztec against cogu? Probably none.
Function zer0
Winners of: CPL.AU 2002, ESWC.AU 2003, WCG.AU 2003, ESWC.au 2005, ACON.au 2005, ASUS.pES 2005, ESWC.au 2006 (various lineups)
The most dominant team in Australia, function zer0 have been overseas more times than people can dream about. Even when the team wasn’t overly successful they still earned a podium finish: f-zer0 played in every major grand final from 2002 to 2006.
Overseas, however, was a different proposition. They started off brightly, beating 3D on de_cbble in the CPL thanks to the use of a smoke over a wall which covered the entrance to the B bombsite without any risk to the players. The Queenslanders then made some good inroads at ESWC, beating 2004 winners The Titans in group stages and drawing with 4K, but that was the extent of their achievements. From that point on f-zer0 continued with a mix of poor performances and even worse luck, drawing teams like SK-Gaming or Complexity and often getting outplayed.
Despite all that, f-zer0 was the best team Australia has put forward to date. They set a standard for the rest of the teams in Australia and they introduced a solid period of stability that saw roster changes only when absolutely necessary. But above all, f-zer0 were consistent. Only time will tell, but for now, function zer0 is, without a doubt, the best team Australia has ever had.
Sequential Gaming
Winners of: AINC Gamerthon 2007, WCG.au 2007, ACNC 2007
AINC Gamerthon 2007 - Boomser , Apoc , Pupajon , Soren , Rize
WCG.au 2007 - Apoc , Pupajon , Soren , Rize , Messi
ACNC 2007 - Apoc , Pupajon , Soren , Rize , Diggity
When SQL took out the first Anything Interactive National Cup, nobody expected them to dominate as hard as they did. Since 2002 to 2006, 2004 was the only year where three states took home the top prize (23, You Got Served and XR). But f-zer0 resumed their reign on the country the year after. And Stensgaming had recently been formed only a few months prior with some of the strongest players around, including Spitty from Singapore and Turkish representative Rumil Talarom. But at AINC, SQL destroyed them – and everyone else.
The group stages were a precursor to how SQL would play in Melbourne. Despite the upsets and intense matches happening around them, SQL breezed through the tournament bracket. After winning their first match 16-11, SQL kept winning their games by larger and larger margins until they dominated XCN in the grand finals 16-4. It was the footprint that SQL left on the event: nobody was going to beat them on the first day, the second, or any time soon. And for a while, no-one did.
The World Cyber Games event later that year was a case in point, although one wouldn’t have noticed from watching the qualifiers. It took a last chance competition for SQL to actually attend the finals following their loss to Monks at the second Sydney qualifier. But once they got to Luna Park, it was time to win. It was like the team had installed a secret button; Press Here To Win. And they used it time and time again.
Their final victory came at The Bunker, in dire circumstances: the prize pool had been limited to keyboards and mice for the winners, so it became a struggle for SQL to be motivated for the event. It showed, for a time, with Immunity and SQL trading maps in the finals. But the third map looked as if it was a certain win for the Victorians. They went 9-0 up in a flash, completely shutting down SQL at all the chokepoints on de_inferno, and there seemed no hope of a comeback.
Until SQL flicked the switch. And like a lightbulb, the team simply lit up – and everyone watching Immunity felt the momentum completely drain away from the back-end of The Bunker. Out of nowhere, SQL began taking rounds, and it was as if the first eight rounds had never happened.
Sadly, their magical powers down under didn’t translate to any rabbits out of the hat at Seattle. Their first and only trip overseas, WCG 2007 offered up the usual rubbish luck that Australians have come to expect: emulate and NoA, the two teams who would later battle it out in the grand final, and highly-rated underdog k23 from Kazakhstan were all thrown in SQL’s group. Nevertheless, SQL managed to finish 4th in the group; still a long way from qualifying, but a respectable finish all the same.
iM
Major Event(s) Won -
AINC GameAthon 2008 - Benor Gazr Destiny Yaman Steel
WCG.AU 2008 - Benor Gazr Destiny Yaman Steel
Kode5.AU 2009 - Benor Gazr Destiny Ferg Kram
International Events Attended
WCG.Germany - 8th/9th
Bio
I have always said ill choose expirence over skill , but obviously that didn't mean much to the team immunity players in 08. Gazr and Benor quickly started to crawl up the community ladder really quick by joining high profile clans within Australia like immunity with coke , edision and jac whom went on to win gameathon with the two new rising stars . Soon a new immunity lineup was announced nothing like the lineup we saw winning ESWC 2007 in Perth but instead a very young and skillful team who weren't exactly the most feared team there. The team proved to everybody in the community with a little be of dedication and practice a team can be made from the ground up and be a dominate team in the Australian community . immunity went on to win WCG.AU 2008 against a strong encore team and were given tickets to Germany to compete against the worlds best with all of them bar Yaman being their first time . Destiny and the team had some problems and saw him replaced for an experience international player Ferg from Perth who at that time was a bit inactive but was given a chance to keen up for Germany , but with this mix of experience , young blood , dedication and a boot camp in Sweden saw the team become extremely well bonded in a short period of time. The team went on to give one of Australia's best results for Counter-strike 1.6 coming 2nd in there group just losing to the Norway team on nuke , The team got out of groups and faced Game play in single eliminations taking out the first and losing the last two games . The result obviously gave hope that Australians teams can match it against some of the worlds best and maybe with a few more trips with this lineup could see an even better result . Shortly after the team had some roster changes which was unexpected with the great result they achieved over seas , but the team was still confident with the pick up of their old team mate destiny and the old iM veteran Kram . The team had a much harder fight at kode5.au struggling against most teams in the best of 3 single elimination with all games going 2-1 to Immunity but the experience paid off for the team and they never backed down even with a 13-9 scoreline against them in the finals to bring it back and win 16-14 over Encore once again . The last map was a easy victory for the team and saw them once against travel overseas to not make any impact unlike the last trip.
iM(first)
Major Event(s) Won -
Pes.Nationals 2006 - Coke Jac Kram Sokjin edison
ESWC.AU 2006 - Coke Jac Kram Sokjin edison
International Events Attend
ESWC.Paris 2006 - Didn't not make out of groups
Bio - This team shot out of the blocks with a lineup unheard of from Melbourne , The team started out as team v300 who were seen coming to events like pes.nationals as the dark horse team that gave any team a run for their money . The v300 squad was picked up by immunity after having a 2nd place finishing to f-zer0 at a pes.nationals in 2005 , The team had a lineup changed and recruit Singaporean player jac and Australian local player kram to their lineup . The team went to win the following pes.nationals against team Style in the grand final which then sparked a team that would become extremely strong in the scene. They then went on to becoming the Australia's best team by easily winning ESWC.AU in Perth but were put up against some strong teams in the global finals . The team didn't make much of an impact internationally but were very fear in there own country , The team went on to win everything they played with ease for a year until they had to replace certain players in their lineup for the WCG Rule set and were never as strong.
Teams that were up there
nK - Lineup - Kon , Boomser , battlelord , Denz , Force
Known for being able to challenge f-zer0 in their own state but when it came to nationals their best result was a 3rd placing
YGS Lineup - Diggity , Wsted , Mte , Jaydon , Rase
The team won ihs 2005 against team f-ze0 which gave them their first lost in along time , every one expected big things from them but with lineup changes and an influx of new lineups being made in this time the team went on to finish 3rd at ESWC
Sublime/Progamer Lineup - Apoc Boomser Tegs ShuanR Midway
The team with allot of sponsorship backing (same sponsor as f-zer0) they were able to finish 2nd to f-zer0 at eswc 2005 and were sent to CPL World Tour stop in Singapore but made no impact in the international scene nor the Australian scene since ESWC
Style Lineup - Davio , Kurandus , Boomser , Snake , Messi
The team EG.Style merged with f-zer0 disbanded lineup and were immediately sent to WCG.Pan Asia Championship where they went undefeated to the grand final against wNv losing 16-12 . The team was spoken highly of and was expected to win WCG.AU 2006 with ease but were stepped out of the competition in the finals against nR , The team ceased straight after
v300 Lineup - kram c0ke dchoi 592 and sokjin
The team finished 2nd at Pes.Nationals and then was picked up by the organization team Immunity who then went to win the next Pes.nats . The team then went on to have two players replaced and was seen as being one of the strongest teams Australia had seen in along time .
XR Lineup - (dont have the infomation)
The team won CA.leet Competition against f-zer0 in 2004 . Coupled with YGS it was their only loses in Australia for along time.The team also went to place 2nd at Acon5 but were unable to play the grand final against f-zer0 due to citizenship rules giving f-zer0 a free uncontested matchup for a overseas trip.
What we can see -
* F-zer0 Were the most dominate team in Australia for the longest period of time
* All teams that won two nationals in a row had at least three players from the last event won
* Somus , Boomser , Messi , Apoc were in serval grand finals at Australian nationals but with the sheer dedication and never give up attitude they were able to find a title by sticking with it
* Lineup changes are imminent , the longest lasting winning lineup was 4 players for 2 years which was f-zer0 .
* Giving rookies a chance can work out big , Players like Destiny , Soren , Pupajon , Benor , Gazr , Skz were all players that weren't highly thought after players till their team won nationals and have all been multi title winners
* The dark horses can win , 23 would probably be the only team that wasn't predicted to come top4 and were able to win nationals and represent Australia
* International players help ! , Daiblo , Deathsbane , jac and Ferg ,were all players from overseas teams that helped there team win nationals
* Every Successful team bar F-zer0 have changed their rosters after an Australian Nationals and could be a reason to why f-zer0 were the best for the longest time period
I hope you all enjoyed the Article it was one that myself (Boomser) Held onto for a very long time and never posted. A lot of information and rewriting was done by Dippa who helped with the article for posting ages ago.
This article is slightly outdated as not being published before but still a great read for those interested in the Australian 1.6 community.
Pantheon
Winners of CPL Pacific (kalgo, grim_chicken, BiggD [aka. Dimitri], outbreak, RasE)
Tournaments didn’t exist in the format we have them today, and national events were even more uncommon. Most of them were based around BYOC LAN parties, like MPU or QGL. Prizes were minimal at best; many offered bragging rights for the winners. But there was fierce competition. SGL, for example, had two divisions of 16 teams battling for nothing but pride. And Pantheon fought the hardest of them all.
Pantheon was the first truly dominant team, unstoppable in state competitions and a tour de force online. But like all Counter-Strike teams, kalgo and co. had a powerful opposing force in Victorian goliath 12m. In the end, Pantheon travelled interstate to take the CPL Pacific event, the first major tournament down under, as well as establishing the Pantheon website which became the central hub for the Counter-Strike community and electronic sports in Australia.
iCHOR
Winners of WCG.AU 2002 (kalgo, VenoM, Corefighter, seanske, 7.62)
Dominant online but a little weak on LAN, iCHOR squeaked into the WCG.au 2002 finals through a last chance qualifier. It ended up being a blessing for the Sydney team who went on to defeat function zer0 13-7 in the finals “on the boat”.
But the victory was soured by the loss of Corefighter who was unable to play in the finals. His replacement, Haz, coped admirably, and a favourable draw with only one internationally known team bode well for the rest of the tournament. That luck was reciprocated in good results: Australia dominated the South African (a team featuring Deathsbane, who would later join Australia’s elite in function zer0) and Bulgarian representatives before securing qualification to the top 16 via a draw with Mousesports.
But the well of luck ran dry past the group stages. iCHOR put in a sub-par performance against Belgium and dropped to the lower bracket. A horrifying run of bad form threatened to derail the next match against Portgual, but a spirited comeback from the Sydneysiders secured the win in overtime. Heart wouldn’t do it against their next opponents, Team 3D, and the Australians were sent packing.
Shortly after their return the team died, although not before their campaign was filmed and broadcast for a documentary on ABC television. While there’s no footage online from that, you can view a piece covering the national finals over on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy7XNP6-r1s.
23
Winners of WCG.au 2004 (Sastrooper, Diablo, Wizzamabob, Mole, HBB)
When you play with double the ping of your enemies, you’re guaranteed to be underestimated. It’s the fortune and curse of any team residing in Western Australia; online practice is infinitely harder, but you fly under the radar at LAN. And to this day, no team has flown under the radar harder than 23 did at Redfern.
It’s also not too much to venture that no tournament has been dominated so hard by a single player. From the group stages to the grand final, Diablo completely and utterly dominated. He won just about every clutch and hit just about every shot with his AWP. On top of that, Diablo displayed the value of movement in Counter-Strike, something that had been neglected.
I was playing for naughty Kommandos at the tournament, and we came up against 23 in the semi-final. On the last round of the second semi-finals map (de_inferno), 23 were up 15-14. Dark Force called a B strat and we took the site losing only one player. 4v3, final round holding B on inferno – you’d think we had it in the bag.
Well, not really. With a sensitivity of 5 and an AWP, Diablo charged into snake, no-scoped two players and retook the entire site by himself. Imagine someone playing that well for the entire tournament.
Besides featuring illegible players, that WCG would also be remembered for “doing a Kurandus”. Before then, most people had fallen from the rafters at one point or another in a match. But probably not on LAN. Or in a grand final. Where your teammate is defusing and desperately needs your cover. And there are plane tickets to San Francisco riding on that round. But that’s how life is sometimes; Diablo has since faded out of the spotlight, but doing a Kurandus has lived on.
Unlike the national finals, the Western Australian’s representation overseas was totally forgettable. Already undermined through the forced replacement of Diablo, 23 announced that they were using the trip as a holiday and practiced accordingly. But then the omens kept getting darker: 23’s group was cut short to three teams where only one would qualify, and they drew MIBR on de_aztec for what would be the deciding match. Unfortunately, they drew MIBR first, along with de_aztec and the pleasure of starting as Terrorists.
After losing 13-0 to the Brazilians, 23 then lost to Kuwait which was milked as the most embarrassing result of all time. But the West Australians had already made their point: after all, it was a holiday, and no matter how much people complained – they still won the right to go there in the first place. Put it this way: if Australia couldn’t beat Diablo, what chance would you have running out the double doors on Aztec against cogu? Probably none.
Function zer0
Winners of: CPL.AU 2002, ESWC.AU 2003, WCG.AU 2003, ESWC.au 2005, ACON.au 2005, ASUS.pES 2005, ESWC.au 2006 (various lineups)
The most dominant team in Australia, function zer0 have been overseas more times than people can dream about. Even when the team wasn’t overly successful they still earned a podium finish: f-zer0 played in every major grand final from 2002 to 2006.
Overseas, however, was a different proposition. They started off brightly, beating 3D on de_cbble in the CPL thanks to the use of a smoke over a wall which covered the entrance to the B bombsite without any risk to the players. The Queenslanders then made some good inroads at ESWC, beating 2004 winners The Titans in group stages and drawing with 4K, but that was the extent of their achievements. From that point on f-zer0 continued with a mix of poor performances and even worse luck, drawing teams like SK-Gaming or Complexity and often getting outplayed.
Despite all that, f-zer0 was the best team Australia has put forward to date. They set a standard for the rest of the teams in Australia and they introduced a solid period of stability that saw roster changes only when absolutely necessary. But above all, f-zer0 were consistent. Only time will tell, but for now, function zer0 is, without a doubt, the best team Australia has ever had.
Sequential Gaming
Winners of: AINC Gamerthon 2007, WCG.au 2007, ACNC 2007
AINC Gamerthon 2007 - Boomser , Apoc , Pupajon , Soren , Rize
WCG.au 2007 - Apoc , Pupajon , Soren , Rize , Messi
ACNC 2007 - Apoc , Pupajon , Soren , Rize , Diggity
When SQL took out the first Anything Interactive National Cup, nobody expected them to dominate as hard as they did. Since 2002 to 2006, 2004 was the only year where three states took home the top prize (23, You Got Served and XR). But f-zer0 resumed their reign on the country the year after. And Stensgaming had recently been formed only a few months prior with some of the strongest players around, including Spitty from Singapore and Turkish representative Rumil Talarom. But at AINC, SQL destroyed them – and everyone else.
The group stages were a precursor to how SQL would play in Melbourne. Despite the upsets and intense matches happening around them, SQL breezed through the tournament bracket. After winning their first match 16-11, SQL kept winning their games by larger and larger margins until they dominated XCN in the grand finals 16-4. It was the footprint that SQL left on the event: nobody was going to beat them on the first day, the second, or any time soon. And for a while, no-one did.
The World Cyber Games event later that year was a case in point, although one wouldn’t have noticed from watching the qualifiers. It took a last chance competition for SQL to actually attend the finals following their loss to Monks at the second Sydney qualifier. But once they got to Luna Park, it was time to win. It was like the team had installed a secret button; Press Here To Win. And they used it time and time again.
Their final victory came at The Bunker, in dire circumstances: the prize pool had been limited to keyboards and mice for the winners, so it became a struggle for SQL to be motivated for the event. It showed, for a time, with Immunity and SQL trading maps in the finals. But the third map looked as if it was a certain win for the Victorians. They went 9-0 up in a flash, completely shutting down SQL at all the chokepoints on de_inferno, and there seemed no hope of a comeback.
Until SQL flicked the switch. And like a lightbulb, the team simply lit up – and everyone watching Immunity felt the momentum completely drain away from the back-end of The Bunker. Out of nowhere, SQL began taking rounds, and it was as if the first eight rounds had never happened.
Sadly, their magical powers down under didn’t translate to any rabbits out of the hat at Seattle. Their first and only trip overseas, WCG 2007 offered up the usual rubbish luck that Australians have come to expect: emulate and NoA, the two teams who would later battle it out in the grand final, and highly-rated underdog k23 from Kazakhstan were all thrown in SQL’s group. Nevertheless, SQL managed to finish 4th in the group; still a long way from qualifying, but a respectable finish all the same.
iM
Major Event(s) Won -
AINC GameAthon 2008 - Benor Gazr Destiny Yaman Steel
WCG.AU 2008 - Benor Gazr Destiny Yaman Steel
Kode5.AU 2009 - Benor Gazr Destiny Ferg Kram
International Events Attended
WCG.Germany - 8th/9th
Bio
I have always said ill choose expirence over skill , but obviously that didn't mean much to the team immunity players in 08. Gazr and Benor quickly started to crawl up the community ladder really quick by joining high profile clans within Australia like immunity with coke , edision and jac whom went on to win gameathon with the two new rising stars . Soon a new immunity lineup was announced nothing like the lineup we saw winning ESWC 2007 in Perth but instead a very young and skillful team who weren't exactly the most feared team there. The team proved to everybody in the community with a little be of dedication and practice a team can be made from the ground up and be a dominate team in the Australian community . immunity went on to win WCG.AU 2008 against a strong encore team and were given tickets to Germany to compete against the worlds best with all of them bar Yaman being their first time . Destiny and the team had some problems and saw him replaced for an experience international player Ferg from Perth who at that time was a bit inactive but was given a chance to keen up for Germany , but with this mix of experience , young blood , dedication and a boot camp in Sweden saw the team become extremely well bonded in a short period of time. The team went on to give one of Australia's best results for Counter-strike 1.6 coming 2nd in there group just losing to the Norway team on nuke , The team got out of groups and faced Game play in single eliminations taking out the first and losing the last two games . The result obviously gave hope that Australians teams can match it against some of the worlds best and maybe with a few more trips with this lineup could see an even better result . Shortly after the team had some roster changes which was unexpected with the great result they achieved over seas , but the team was still confident with the pick up of their old team mate destiny and the old iM veteran Kram . The team had a much harder fight at kode5.au struggling against most teams in the best of 3 single elimination with all games going 2-1 to Immunity but the experience paid off for the team and they never backed down even with a 13-9 scoreline against them in the finals to bring it back and win 16-14 over Encore once again . The last map was a easy victory for the team and saw them once against travel overseas to not make any impact unlike the last trip.
iM(first)
Major Event(s) Won -
Pes.Nationals 2006 - Coke Jac Kram Sokjin edison
ESWC.AU 2006 - Coke Jac Kram Sokjin edison
International Events Attend
ESWC.Paris 2006 - Didn't not make out of groups
Bio - This team shot out of the blocks with a lineup unheard of from Melbourne , The team started out as team v300 who were seen coming to events like pes.nationals as the dark horse team that gave any team a run for their money . The v300 squad was picked up by immunity after having a 2nd place finishing to f-zer0 at a pes.nationals in 2005 , The team had a lineup changed and recruit Singaporean player jac and Australian local player kram to their lineup . The team went to win the following pes.nationals against team Style in the grand final which then sparked a team that would become extremely strong in the scene. They then went on to becoming the Australia's best team by easily winning ESWC.AU in Perth but were put up against some strong teams in the global finals . The team didn't make much of an impact internationally but were very fear in there own country , The team went on to win everything they played with ease for a year until they had to replace certain players in their lineup for the WCG Rule set and were never as strong.
Teams that were up there
nK - Lineup - Kon , Boomser , battlelord , Denz , Force
Known for being able to challenge f-zer0 in their own state but when it came to nationals their best result was a 3rd placing
YGS Lineup - Diggity , Wsted , Mte , Jaydon , Rase
The team won ihs 2005 against team f-ze0 which gave them their first lost in along time , every one expected big things from them but with lineup changes and an influx of new lineups being made in this time the team went on to finish 3rd at ESWC
Sublime/Progamer Lineup - Apoc Boomser Tegs ShuanR Midway
The team with allot of sponsorship backing (same sponsor as f-zer0) they were able to finish 2nd to f-zer0 at eswc 2005 and were sent to CPL World Tour stop in Singapore but made no impact in the international scene nor the Australian scene since ESWC
Style Lineup - Davio , Kurandus , Boomser , Snake , Messi
The team EG.Style merged with f-zer0 disbanded lineup and were immediately sent to WCG.Pan Asia Championship where they went undefeated to the grand final against wNv losing 16-12 . The team was spoken highly of and was expected to win WCG.AU 2006 with ease but were stepped out of the competition in the finals against nR , The team ceased straight after
v300 Lineup - kram c0ke dchoi 592 and sokjin
The team finished 2nd at Pes.Nationals and then was picked up by the organization team Immunity who then went to win the next Pes.nats . The team then went on to have two players replaced and was seen as being one of the strongest teams Australia had seen in along time .
XR Lineup - (dont have the infomation)
The team won CA.leet Competition against f-zer0 in 2004 . Coupled with YGS it was their only loses in Australia for along time.The team also went to place 2nd at Acon5 but were unable to play the grand final against f-zer0 due to citizenship rules giving f-zer0 a free uncontested matchup for a overseas trip.
What we can see -
* F-zer0 Were the most dominate team in Australia for the longest period of time
* All teams that won two nationals in a row had at least three players from the last event won
* Somus , Boomser , Messi , Apoc were in serval grand finals at Australian nationals but with the sheer dedication and never give up attitude they were able to find a title by sticking with it
* Lineup changes are imminent , the longest lasting winning lineup was 4 players for 2 years which was f-zer0 .
* Giving rookies a chance can work out big , Players like Destiny , Soren , Pupajon , Benor , Gazr , Skz were all players that weren't highly thought after players till their team won nationals and have all been multi title winners
* The dark horses can win , 23 would probably be the only team that wasn't predicted to come top4 and were able to win nationals and represent Australia
* International players help ! , Daiblo , Deathsbane , jac and Ferg ,were all players from overseas teams that helped there team win nationals
* Every Successful team bar F-zer0 have changed their rosters after an Australian Nationals and could be a reason to why f-zer0 were the best for the longest time period
I hope you all enjoyed the Article it was one that myself (Boomser) Held onto for a very long time and never posted. A lot of information and rewriting was done by Dippa who helped with the article for posting ages ago.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)