This article is the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Los Angeles compLexity or its parent companies.

CGS Week in Review

Written By: Michael “Peawok” Fleming
Hey everyone. Sorry this one is a tad bit late; I had quite a number of problems going on this weekend. Everything's settled in those areas, however, so it's back for yet another Week In Review.

I'd add a bit of meat to this introduction, but we have a lot to cover and I don't want to bore you with unneeded paragraphs. Let's start at the very beginning...

A very good place to start!... It's cold..Can you get me a pair of S0cks?

S0ck and Sony @ CPL 2004

Our very old and now very fit S0ck came out not once, but twice this week. For all the "oldschool" coL fans, it was a tear to their eyes. He played in both the Devastation match and the 50cal match, and even snuck into the x3o match for one half. Forum threads, demos, signatures, and interviews have all popped up with his name and picture.

Now I'm starting to think S0ck might be psychic. If you go browsing the forum threads, you'll find one about a month or two old where S0ck says "[CompLexity] needs more S0ck". Now, he's played 2.5 matches with them. Hmm...

Either S0ck bribed Jake, or S0ck is psychic. I'll leave it to you to choose...

coL loses against EG, x3o, 50Cal... someone call Smoky to stop flame threads!

To start back at the beginning, coL dropped a game to 50Cal. While 50Cal is a solid team it's still extremely surprising to see coL lose to them. Then, coL loses a 12-10 lead against x3o. Then, to top it all off, CompLexity loses against EG 16-8.

It's no surprise people are upset at CompLexity's recent struggles. I'm both upset and surprised too. While I thought EG and x3o this early would be tough, I never expected them to lose to 50Cal and both EG and x3o. Never would have guessed...

Obviously this has led to the flame threads. Take one look at the front page of GotFrag and even the coL site and you'll see threads saying players are washed up, bad because they went to "sauce", or whatever. It's amusing reading the comments and flames, yet still upsetting.

I can tell you this though. CompLexity has been playing Counter Strike 1.6 since - at best - the start of July. They play against the best of the best, namely x3o and EG.

coL.cs at ESWC

They are putting everything into their 1.6 play, and while results might not show it, I believe they can and will soon. It may not be in CEVO, or it may be too late to even place well in CEVO, but I don't think their goal is to win CEVO anyway.

E-Sports has always been about LAN's. Sure, an extra couple grand is fantastic, but big name teams live and die at LAN. If you don't play well there, you might as well go home. Would you rather win a 40,000 Lan tournament, like WCG, where the prize money is better and the publicity is three times the size, or would you like to win a 5,000 online league? I don't think many of you would select number two.

That's not an excuse for their poor play. I doubt their hiding strategies or their play. But I can say that "keeping the faith" still stands true. While CompLexity is supposed to bring in championships, it doesn't always happen. You can't win everything, it makes you complacent. But you have to win something, or it makes you bad.

Still, though, stand with the team. If you ever switched games, you know it's a struggle. Not playing a game for 1.5 years is rough. Give them another month before the threads start. You've heard it time and time again, but give them time. A few more weeks and I expect their fighting EG and x3o for number one.

For now, listen to Smoky. Only you, can prevent Forum Fires...

Optical Illusion? Optx makes the Finals!

All right... I really tried with the title.. Bear with it..

If you haven't heard the news, the Optx has made the Finals! They took down the Berlin Allianz an impressive 27-14.

Many likely remember that I was a big critic of San Francisco. I called them average at best, with only one truly strong division (DOA). In fact, I believe most people never saw them coming.

Kat Hunter gets behind Stermy

They are the Giants of last years' NFL playoffs. They got hot just when they needed to, especially in Source. They have silently went 2-0 in Source. While the game against Dallas was close, they still clutched the victory for the franchise. They also played well enough to hold back the European version of themselves, the Berlin Allianz. With their final match against the second best team in the World, they need to continue to play how they have.

Their other divisions, too, have gotten hot just when they need to. It seems like the whole team has elevated their game to a whole new level that wasn't them only a month and a half ago. While I haven't looked at their match against Salvo too closely quite yet, I'd consider them a small favorite. They've taken down some of the strongest teams in the league - 3D.NY, London Mint, Dallas Venom, Berlin Allianz - on their way to the Finals.

Needless to say, we might see a Cinderella story. Almost out, but not quite yet. It seems like that loss to Dallas in the North American finals sparked the beast inside.

Salvo gets Core all Messy.

Lame pun, plus one...

If you haven't heard the news, our first competitor outside of North America has made the Finals. The Birmingham Salvo took down the North American Champion, the Carolina Core in overtime.

To spare you a full blown recap, I'll give you some cliff notes.

Anomaly remained undefeated in World Final play by beating Bazza 1-0.

The Salvo Source team picked their game up and destroyed Core 11-7, 11-8 Salvo.

Mystik fought back to win 5-4 over underrated SarahLou, 15-13 Salvo.

Core's backbone, their Forza team, loses 5-2 to Salvo's DaveySkills and Picaso, 20-15 Salvo.

Messy the Core killer

Here comes the comeback of the year. Down by five, Dolven and the Core franchise looked to Mr. CGS, Ryan "Offbeat Ninja" Ward, to win not only 5-0 but then take the overtime round. Essentially, he had to win 6-0, something nearly unheard of at this professional level. What's even more shocking than the Core being down by five going into the final game is the fact that Offbeat Ninja won the five straight.

Did you ever see the movie "Angels in the Outfield"? If you haven't, the movie basically is about a group of terrible professional baseball players who receive help from angels to make the playoffs. It honestly felt like that. Just when Offbeat was down and nearly out, he caught a lucky punch or counter, or random car hitting Messy, or just plain good luck.

Sadly for Core, the luck ran out and Messy took the overtime round to clutch for his team.

Just after getting on the right side of the one point loss, the Core are back again on the wrong side of the road. For them, it's an early exit to what looked like their championship. However, I think Core is the most consistent team in the CGS, especially come playoff time. I'd be very surprised to not see them in the North American playoffs, and will likely take the wildcard for the Worlds. Mark Dolven is, in my opinion, the best North American GM when it comes to building a winning franchise - currently, of course. I think he'll find a way next year to not only get into the North American playoffs but likely the Worlds.

For Salvo, it's another victory in the bag and their first World Final. They match up well against Optx and it is a tossup. I wouldn't be surprised to see the first European World Champion, but it won't be easy. Their game against San Francisco will be extremely close, as they match up against each other well. In my prediction article, I'll go more in depth on both franchises. For now, I can say their evenly matched up, and it will be a squeaker.

Conclusion

I'll leave you at that for this week. Next week we'll once again review coL in 1.6, and the World Championship match. Hey, maybe we'll even get an awesome forum thread or the CGS will announce a major event. In fact, I believe CGS Pro-Am opens up next week! I'll probably cover that as well.

For now, keep up with the news, or wait for the next Week In Review to get caught up.

See you next week!