This week, GGL’s Michal “Carmac” Blicharz gives his take on the Championship Gaming Series mediocrity… on the Quad-Damage randomness… on Blizzcon’s results…
- CGS IS A WRAP
We have survived another eventful week, and what a week it was! The Championship Gaming Series opened it up with the Region 1 finals between Chicago Chimera and Carolina Core. I have mixed feelings about it. To me, it was the final of mediocrity.
I am used to watching finals where you see gaming at the highest possible level, but in the CGS it was average all the way. Thank the system: for each player that truly rocks in his game, a CGS franchise has a player that hardly does so in another. Because of this, we mostly got to see great players playing against mediocre ones, or mediocre ones playing against each other.
Granted, we did see very good teams overall, but something is wrong when a player plays a match and his or her main goal is to suck as little as possible. It is wrong to see Nicholas “Peekay” DePalmer, one of the very worst players in the league, playing in the very final of “the future of esports.” (Considering that he had only won once in thirteen attempts prior to the final, his arrogant behavior was remarkably grotesque, by the way.)
The best players of the league belong in the final. The weaklings belong at the end of the table. In the CGS, it can be the opposite.
Before I go on to something else, one word to Jason Lake, the author of the following statement from the column on the compLexity site:
Forums across the globe seem to have CGS haters who either a) don’t have a clear understanding of what’s going on here, or b) don’t have the mental capacity to tie their shoes.
Insulting people for disagreeing with you is unbecoming of a gentleman.
- QUAKECON WAS A COIN TOSS
As I predicted, QuakeCon’s Quad Damage tournament came down to random luck, but was interesting nonetheless!
It’s a bit of a shame that Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel did not attend QuakeCon, since he could have added one “World Championship” (*wink*) to his twelve, and not one but three different games to his infamous list. All in one go.
I may make fun of his marketing, but I truly regret that the business side of his life is beginning to take over the gaming side. He can’t afford to show up at a competition and play for fun. Love him or hate him, it was good to watch him play.
Back to randomness. I talked to Johan “Toxic” Quick and he did not hide that he came to Dallas with hardly any practice in QuakeWorld or Quake 2, but knowing no one would be a match for him in Quake 3 and Quake 4. That is a sure win against anyone in 50% of games and a sure loss (against a good player) in the other 50%.
One coin flip the opponent’s way and Toxic is out.
The fun part is that the coin went Toxic’s way all the way. What if the coin flip decided that the Swede was to play DaHang in QuakeWorld, not Quake 3, as a decider? What if he had to play QuakeWorld, not Quake 3, as a decided against Tim “naymlis” Bowes? What if his decider in the grand final was Quake 2 or QuakeWorld against Mange “fox” Olsson?
In Poland, we have a saying that in sports luck helps the better player. We have seen fortune help Anton “Cooller” Singov a countless number of times. Now it’s Toxic’s turn. There really is some truth in that saying. Your chance to win three coin flips in a row are 12.5%.
There must have been at least four players, not only Toxic’s opponents, that left Dallas thinking they simply got unlucky.
- BLIZZCON WAS A SHAME
Olav “Creolophus” Undheim played a very ugly joke on us all by winning Blizzcon’s Warcraft 3 tournament. The Norwegian got second place at the Electronic Sports World Cup a month ago. Last weekend, he took it a step further and won his first major event, only to smile and say that his school starts in a week and he will no longer play WC3 professionally.
Having reached heights never reached before, but probably not his peak yet, he retires. What a bastard! Would another gap year make that big a difference considering the world of possibilities that now opens up for Creo? Invitational tournaments in Korea and China, money, glory and so many cool replays…
I bet I am not the only one that feels like Prof. Gerald Lambeau in “Good Will Hunting” after Will decides not to be his genius. Well, Creo is not my genius either.
Creo was one highlight of Blizzcon. Another was the StarCraft tournament. Watching that and then Warcraft 3 right after really made the game with heroes and creeps look bleak and dreary.
Maybe it is the game or maybe it’s Nick “Tasteless” Plott. I am not sure. But the combination of both almost made a real life friend of mine piss his pants when watching sAviOr play Nal_rA, for what it’s worth.
One more thing. Not even Leeroy Jenkins can make watching World of Walking enjoyable.
- ANGEL AND HIS INTERVIEWS
Something to wrap it up… The CPL president and founder, Angel Munoz, gave an interview about Severity to PlayStation Universe.
The interviewee asked whether Angel could give him details on weapons and vehicles in CPL’s game. The answer was: “No. We are keeping that entirely private for now. Although we may announce some details on the unique shield system at the 2007 Summer CPL Championships which will take place Labor Day weekend in Dallas, Texas. At that event we are using F.E.A.R. on the Xbox 360 and World in Conflict on the PC. Total prizes for the World Tour will be $500,000!”
As much as I admire Angel’s savvy with interviews, I couldn’t help but smile this time.
