GGL Wire

Months of intense competition came to a conclusion with Monday night’s CGS World Final match between the San Francisco Optx and Birmingham Salvo. These two teams were all that remained of the original eighteen that began season two of the Championship Gaming Series. It has been a long road for both franchises. San Francisco barely got into the semi-finals. It took a dramatic win over 3D.NY in the wildcard qualifier to secure their place in further competition. Meanwhile, Birmingham earned its place in the final only after a narrow one-point, overtime victory against the Carolina Core.

Tonight’s climatic match began with Forza 2. Birmingham’s Daveyskills took the lead after slamming into San Francisco’s Sackamonjaro at the start of the race. A determined Sackamonjaro kept close and attempted to knock Daveyskills out with a collision early in the second lap. Daveyskills nevertheless managed to stay ahead and finished the race in first place. Sackamonjaro followed in second, with Birmingham’s Picaso and San Francisco’s Miximup finishing in third and fourth respectively. Birmingham now held an early 5-2 lead over San Francisco.

Birmingham’s player Bazza scored two goals early in the first half of the FIFA 08 match. He knocked the ball into Stermy’s net for a third time, but the goal was declared invalid because Bazza’s player was off-sides. Stermy finally got on the board after scoring a goal with only seconds left in the first half. Despite strong vocal support from San Francisco’s fans, Stermy could not tie the game in the second half. As a result, Bazza won the match, 2-1. Continued…

Wednesday night’s Championship Gaming Series quarterfinal matches would determine the ultimate make up of next Monday’s semi-finals. In the first match, the Birmingham Salvo faced off against the Mexico City Furia. In the second, North American champions the Carolina Core fought the Wuhan Dragon. Of these four teams, only two would join the San Francisco Optx and Berlin Allianz in the semi-finals.

Birmingham Salvo vs. Mexico City Furia

Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) male opened the night with a match between Birmingham’s Messy and Mexico City’s player El Divino Xmas on the DWA Coliseum stage. The match began competitive, but things quickly went downhill for El Divino Xmas. His 2-5 loss to Messy was the result.

Mexico City’s Zerocero scored the first goal in the subsequent FIFA 08 game. The first and second halves flew by with neither player earning another point. As a result, Zerocero beat Birmingham’s Bazza, 1-0.

Birmingham led 5-3 going into the night’s first Forza 2 race. Any immediate hopes Mexico City had of taking the lead were quickly dashed as Birmingham’s racers, Picaso and Daveyskills, sped into first and second place. Birmingham now led 11-4 with two games remaining. Continued…

Birmingham Salvo vs. London Mint

The night’s opening Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) female match featured a bout between two real-life sisters, Birmingham’s Sarah Lou and London’s Strobe. Sarah Lou’s liberal use of Kasumi’s agility prevented Strobe from landing many hits. As a result Sarah Lou decimated her older sister, 5-0.

London needed to score some serious points in FIFA 08 to catch up with is rival. Unfortunately for London, its player ChrisyB embarrassingly shot the ball into his own goal. This gave Birmingham’s Bazza the first point of the match. Bazza followed this by earning a point of his own making late in the first half. London finally got on the board with a goal late in he second. However ChrisyB was unable to score the tying point, resulting in a 2-1 win for Bazza.

Birmingham now held a sizable 7-1 point advantage going into Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S). London’s CS:S team needed to perform remarkably well for the franchise to remain competitive. This did not come to pass as Birmingham’s counter-terrorists annihilated London the first half, 7-2. Birmingham then replicated their 7-2 score in the second, bringing the final CS:S score to 14-4.

This brought the overall score to a whopping 21-5 in Birmingham’s favor. Even with perfect scores in the remaining two games, there was no way London could make up its huge point deficit. Ironically enough it was at this point that London really began to shine. The intense DOA4 male match pitted London’s Padaman against Birmingham’s Messy on the Kyoto in Bloom Stage. The match was close, as both rivals were tied 3-3 going into the seventh round. Padaman won the next two rounds, winning the match, 5-3.

The final Forza 2 match was even more frantic. Birmingham’s Daveyskills acquired an early lead over the other three racers. London’s Stune and NT 101 knocked Daveyskills into third. However Daveyskills managed to make it to second by the end of the race. Stune finished first, Daveyskills second, and Birmingham’s second racer Picaso brought up third. London won the race 4-3, but lost the overall match by a devastating 27-14.

Continued…