Championship Gaming Series Season 2: Week 2 finale

Friday night’s franchise matches were the last two held at Electronic Arts development studios in Los Angeles. Next Monday the Championship Gaming Series begins the broadcast portion of its season on DirecTV’s Channel 101. The evening’s first contest between San Francisco and Dallas would determine which of these hitherto tied franchises would go into the broadcast season ranked second behind New York. The second match was a repeat of the season’s first contest between 2007 champs Chicago and Carolina. In their previous meeting Carolina defeated Chicago, 30-13. Tonight was Chicago’s opportunity for revenge.

San Francisco Optx vs. Dallas Venom

The match got off to a hectic start with Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) female. The fight was unique in that it pitted the number one player in the league, San Francisco’s Vanessa, against the second highest ranked, Dallas’s Phoenix. Vanessa solidified her position as number one by dominating Phoenix, 5-1, on the Gambler’s Paradise arena. This meant Dallas needed to place first and second in the subsequent Forza 2 race to take the lead. As it would happen, Dallas’s racers Chaos and Muffinman would move up from third and fourth to place first and second on the Atlanta Short track. This 6-1 victory gave Dallas a one-point edge over San Francisco.

A team’s performance in Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S) often decides the outcome of a match. Such was not the case with tonight’s first contest. Both teams were tied 9-9 at the end of the second half. The 10-9 victory ultimately went to Dallas after its meagerly armed players won the overtime round. Dallas now led San Francisco by two points going into FIFA 08.

Both FIFA players scored goals in the first half, tying the game 1-1. With no goals in the second, the game defaulted to a shoot-out. San Francisco’s Stermy carried the day, 4-3 over Barmoa. San Francisco had narrowed Dallas’s lead by one point. The franchise now had to do well in DOA4 male to secure a win. San Francisco’s fighter NinjaCW managed to tie Dallas’s Master going into the fifth round. Master then started living up to his moniker by winning the next three rounds and thereby securing a 5-2 victory. This outcome gave Dallas the win, 25-21.

Carolina Core vs. Chicago Chimera

Gambler’s Paradise made a return as the battleground for the night’s second DOA4 male match. The match started close and by the sixth round both player were tied, 3-3. Carolina’s OffBeatNinja then stepped up his game and defeated Black Mamba twice more, giving his team a 5-3 win.

Down by two points, Chicago had to play catch up to remain competitive. The franchise gained some ground after its star FIFA 08 player Eafra made up for his loss to New York’s WiZaKor the previous night by defeating Carolina’s Anomaly, 5-4.

The match seemed to be going well for Chicago. However, things started unravelling starting with DOA4 female. In it Carolina’s Mystik decisively defeated Kasumi Chan, 5-1, on the Waterfall Valley stage. Carolina then sealed the deal with a devastating CS:S match where its team scored twelve points compared to Chicago’s six.

Carolina led 26-15 after CS:S. Even if Chicago’s Forza 2 team placed first and second, the franchsie could not catch up to Carolina’s lead in points. Carolina had won. The racers were playing for themselves. Unfortunately for Chicago, insult was added to injury as Carolina’s team, General E. Love and Phantom, placed first and third, bringing the total score to 31-17. As a result Carolina is now tied with San Francisco in third place. Chicago begins next week in fifth.