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…

Berlin Allianz vs. Sydney Underground

Berlin’s player Liefje opened the night with a decisive 5-1 victory over Sydney’s Eileen in Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) female. The first FIFA 08 match of the evening followed this victory. Both players were tied, 1-1, at the end of the first half. Berlin’s Manyna scored his final point in the second. Despite his best efforts, Sydney’s Haroutig10 could not tie the game and as a result Manyna gave Berlin another win, 2-1.

With the score at 7-2 in Berlin’s favor, Sydney could not afford to lose badly in any of the remaining games. Unfortunately for Sydney, its player Berzerk experienced a sobering 0-5 loss to Berlin’s THE_TACTICAL in DOA4 male. Sydney’s bad luck continued with Forza 2. The Berlin racing team showed why they won the individual title on last Saturday by beating Sydney, 5-2.

Berlin now led by a dramatic 17-4 lead. The only hope Sydney had of winning was the long-shot chance that it could pull off a near perfect showing in Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S). Berlin dashed these hopes after beating Sydney in the first half, 5-4. Sydney performed better in the second half as the counter-terrorists and won the CS:S game by a narrow 10-9 margin. This was, however, a bittersweet victory for Sydney for the franchise had lost to Berlin, 26-14. Berlin now goes on to compete in the semi-finals.

Continued…

The outcome of Thursday night’s matches would determine the ultimate make-up of the World Finals. First up was the Latin American Final, where the Mexico City Furia faced off against the Rio Sinistro.  This bout was followed by the Pan-Asia Final between the Wuhan Dragon and Sydney Underground.

Mexico City Furia vs. Rio Sinistro

The first franchise match of the night opened with Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) male on the DWA Coliseum.  Both players chose Ninja Gaiden star Ryu Hayabusa, as their fighter.  Rio’s SnakeJorge took the first round.  The Rio player however would not score another point as El Divino Xmas won the next five rounds in a row.  His win gave Mexico City an early 5-1 lead.

Rio managed to prevent Mexico from pulling further ahead after Patan won FIFA 08, 1-0, over Zerocero. This was followed by DOA4 female on the Kyoto in Bloom stage. Mexico’s Hitomi1 and Rio’s Yo Succubus traded the first and second rounds respectively. From there Hitomi1 defeated Yo Succubus four rounds in a row, winning the game for Mexico, 5-1.

The total score was now 10-3 with Mexico in the lead. Rio would need to perform extremely well in the last two games in order to have a chance at making it to the World Finals. Unfortunately for the Brazilian team, Mexico City’s Forza 2 racer, LEGITRACER, managed to get a significant lead on the competition. This resulted in Rio only managing to take second with its racer UFO-79ERN. Mexico’s other racer, mEtAlX, came in third, giving Mexico a 5-2 2in.

With the score at 15-5, Rio would need to play a virtually perfect game of Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S). This actually seemed like it might be a reality. After the first half as the terrorists, Rio led 6-3. This meant that the team would need to dominate, 9-0, in the second half to win the game outright. Rio only came in 5-4 in the second half as the counter-terrorists. Although the team won CS:S, 11-7, Mexico won the overall match 22-16.

Continued…

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.

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Dallas Venom vs. Chicago Chimera

A rather uneventful Forza 2 race opened Sunday’s first franchise competition. Chicago’s team of crack racers, Jason X and Ch0mpr, almost immediately sped into first and second place respectively. Dallas’s players, Muffinman and Chaos, made a few futile attempts to knock Ch0mpr out of his second place position. Ultimately they were unable stop Chicago from finishing in first and second place. These standings gave the Windy City franchise an early 6-1 lead.

Next up was a Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) female bout between Phoenix and Kasumi Chan. Using Gen Fu, Phoenix schooled Kasumi Chan, 5-2, on the Seaside Market stage. This win allowed Dallas to close the score to within two points, 8-6. Undefeated DOA4 male powerhouse Master then pushed Dallas over the top with his 5-2 defeat of Black Mamba. Dallas was now winning, 11-10, after this pair of DOA4 victories.

With two games left, it seemed Counter-Strike: Source would be the remedy to this near deadlock. Dallas was first up as the counter-terrorists on the de_nuke stage. After the first half, Dallas led by a dramatic 7-2 margin. While the side playing counter-terrorists typically holds the advantage, this phenomenon seemingly did not apply to Chicago in the second half. As a result, Dallas won 5-3 as the terrorists. The overall CS:S score pushed Dallas to a whopping 24-15 lead. Even with the FIFA 08 game in the hopper, Dallas had effectively won the franchise match.

Despite their foreseeable loss, Chicago’s player Eafra managed to win FIFA 08, 2-0, over Dallas’s Barmoa. This win brought the overall score to 24-17 in Dallas’s favor. Chicago’s loss makes it extremely unlikely that the 2007 champs will regain their prestigious status in the second season.

Continued…