GGL Wire

3D.NY vs Carolina Core

Forza 2 opened Wednesday night’s North American semi-finals.  Carolina’s racer, General E Live, quickly took the lead that he would maintain for the rest of the race.  His first place finish was followed by New York’s team, ComeBackDan and Dark Storm, coming in second and third respectively.  Carolina now held a small 4-3 lead.  By comparison, the Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) female match was much more one-sided. Mystik began the assault on New York’s Coolsvilla immediately and didn’t let up until she had won a comfortable 5-0 lead for Carolina.

As has been the pattern with FIFA 08 this season, neither player scored a goal going into the second half. However things changed dramatically from there, as Carolina’s Anomaly was the first to get on the board. WiZaKor then responded with a goal of his own.  Aomaly scored a final point, winning the match, 2-1.

With Carolina in the lead, 11-4, New York really needed their Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S) team to shine for any hope at achieving the franchise win. Unfortunately for New York, Carolina won the first half on de_inferno, 6-3.  New York came back 5-4 in the second half,  but ultimately could not win enough points to prevent Carolina’s win.

Even with a perfect 5-0 run in DOA4 male, there was no way New York could earn enough points to counter Carolina’s nine point lead.  Hypothetically if this situation were not the case, the outcome of the match may very well have placed victory in Carolina’s hands regardless.  OffbeatNinja soundly defeated New York’s Cheppelle, 5-1.  This 26-13 win is huge accomplishment for Carolina, and an equally disheartening loss for New York.  It is the second time in a row that the first place franchise has suffered defeat by a last place team.

Dallas Venom vs. San Francisco Optx

The second competition opened with a close DOA4 male match between San Francisco’s NinjaCW and Dallas’s Master. After a tough fought competition on the Temple on the Mountain stage, both players were tied 4-4 with one round remaining. NinjaCW won the subsequent round, thus giving San Francisco a slight 5-4 lead. This outcome marks Master’s second defeat of the season.

The FIFA 08 competition featured a similarly close match. Neither player was able to score a single goal throughout the match. This resulted in shoot-out in which San Francisco’s Stermy defeated Barmoa, 3-1.

San Francisco lead 8-5 going into the second Forza 2 race of the night. Almost immediately Dallas’s Muffinman jumped into first place. His teammate Chaos helped him secure this lead that he would maintain the rest of the race. Sackamonjaro finished second while his partner Mixmiup emerged victorious over Chaos in their battle for third. Nevertheless, Muffinman’s first place finish won the race for Dallas, 4-3.

Dallas still trailed behind by two points. Clearly their strategy was to gain a hefty lead with CS:S. Although Dallas won the first half, San Francisco kept the score incredibly close, 5-4. When San Francisco switched to counter-terrorists, the results was the same 5-4 total with Dallas in the lead. As a result, Dallas won the match 10-8. With only DOA4 female left, both franchises were tied 19-19.

Most objective estimates would give Vanessa an advantage going into DOA4 female.  However on this occasion she faced Phoenix, the only player to defeat her this season. As expected, the match was close with both fighters tied 3-3 going into the seventh round. From here Phoenix repeated history and scored two straight wins. This gave her yet another victory over Vanessa, 5-3. Dallas’s 24-22 win here, coupled with New York’s earlier loss, creates a tie for first place, as both franchises now hold 10-3 records.