Richard Lewis goes through the real winners and losers at the Copenhagen Games 2011.

Well, it took some recovering from that one… The most competitive LAN event of the year, compressed into two days, tournaments still being played in the small hours and a hotel situated in the red light district of Copenhagen. Safe to say I was absolutely blitzed by the time I returned and needed some time to recover from the never-ending LAN cycle I find myself trapped in. Finally, after having all my bodily fluids replaced and a brief period in a decompression chamber I now find myself able to analyse the event as a whole, if I can only just remember. It’s the moment every one of the competitors waits for…

Did they do enough for a thumbs up? Are they getting the dreaded thumbs down that has ended many a career? All very important stuff but before we come to that, let me just add the event was one of the greats, as I have come to expect from the team behind it, and the plethora of players, admins, press and spectators who all contributed to that can’t be listed here. They know who they are and I can safely say that anyone who wants to attend an event like this in the future will not be disappointed. 30P excluded, Denmark does indeed host the best events. Rest of Europe step up your game.

With that out the way it only leaves us to now have our traditional cursory look at the real winners and losers from Copenhagen Games 2011.

VeryGames

Can we get all the VeryGames plaudits out the way up front? Anyone who appreciates the finer points of Source invariably ends up hanging out the back of them, as Richard Keys might creepily put it. They are the benchmark of European CS:S and have been for so long it is near impossible to even remember the time before they came in and dominated the game in one incarnation or another.

VeryGames.. The Very Best.

Here, they came to Copenhagen after a defeat against 3DMAX in the final of MaxLAN gave everyone in Europe that glimmer of hope that it was over. Turns out it isn’t, not by a long shot, and they rolled their way past teams that were all in the top ten of Europe as if they were group stage games, the best opposition coming surprisingly from a beleaguered Reason Gaming and even setting the record straight against 3DMAX.

They took the final with ease leaving the Finns of CKRAS shellshocked and pondering exactly what it is they would have to do if they were ever to dethrone them. It’s a question that every team has been asking… The answer, supposedly, was simple and was presented by VeryGames in an interview I conducted – “practice”. Go figure…

mTw

Yes, let it begin here… The first thumbs down has to really be awarded to the team that seem to have everything they need to be successful, yet find it constantly eluding them in the cruellest of ways. Take for example their run of results in the second group stage that saw them crash out in their hugely disappointing 9th/16th position… Their 15-15 draw with Reason put them on the back foot, before XAYA repeated their feat from 30P and beat them again. However, a heavy win against Alchemists should have seen them through on round difference. Reason Gaming needed a massive win to leapfrog the German team and incredibly got it, leaving the mTw squad dejected and confused by what had happened. The team that had arrived at the event the picture of togetherness was now clearly disjointed and before they travelled home there was clearly an air of discontent emanating from both players and management alike.

It depends what side of the fence you are on… There’s always the argument of luck, although I tend to subscribe to the philosophy that in this game you make your own luck. There’s also the argument that this team should be doing a lot better, but of course one or two events can always go against you. Whatever you believe the likelihood is that changes will be incoming of some sort, which is also arguably part of the problem. Still, whatever you argue you can agree a team of this calibre should not be finishing level with the likes of ZET Gaming and VALUE.Raptors.

Gaming.dk

Massive thumbs up for our Danish brothers in arms that don’t just report on the events they attend but also look to proactively enhance them. A guest in their press tent all weekend, I watched their dedicated, but drunk, team organised the fantastic “knife a celeb” competition in the first round of group stages, help the organisers where possible, and share food and beers with anyone and everyone who approached them.

Indeed, despite me being a physical and mental wreck, it was them that managed to drag me through and enabled me to deliver the usual brand of Cadred coverage that everyone knows and loves. While we waited for our photographer to make the journey to the event they even provided us with video content and acted as translators for the entire duration, like the Danish branch of Cadred.

Much respect to these guys and hopefully I’ll get to repay the favour if they make it to a UK event.

Reason Gaming

Two very distinct schools of thought on this performance, the one that would inevitably turn out to be the last one under the Reason name. On the one hand they acquired results against some top opposition, managed to show incredible character to ensure qualification to the knockout stage with a 16-2 victory over Alchemists, took the most rounds off VeryGames and ultimately made their seeding. On the other, they finished 5th/8th at an event that last year a not dissimilar roster had won, a finish that came off the back of a fairly dismal showing at 30P LAN.

It was a strange event for 3k2 and company

Clearly the team were under tremendous pressure going into this event and most people believed wholeheartedly they had to make top three to even have a chance of retaining their sponsorship. The format of the tournament didn’t do them any favours because despite heroics against the French masters, there was no second chance to show they had hit their stride. It leaves a lot of what-ifs, but it is clear that they had found their strength of character at least.

A fitting send off in the end, if not the one that could have ensured one more LAN.

CKRAS

Will people start taking this team seriously. Last time out I had heard a member of a UK team proudly declare that they were just a bunch of average players, running around with no tactics, who get by on the fact they’ve put a tremendous amount of hours in. They didn’t look like that here to me, but what do I know… The evidence suggests differently too as they beat CPH Wolves, Team TargetDown, Lions and XAYA Gaming en route to the final where they met the clear best in Europe.

Their display in the final on de_nuke wasn’t so bad but de_dust2 was fairly comprehensive. Still, it’s another podium finish for a team that most people thought would last two weeks, if their organisation could get them to LANs at all, when they first were announced. Since then their run of achievements would make most teams proud and they have gone on to be the undisputed most successful Finnish team of all time, eclipsing a lot of names remembered with reverent fondness.

Whether they can be the team that knocks VeryGames off their pedestal is one question, but before we answer that it also has to be asked who knocks CKRAS off theirs?

Team TargetDown

Tipped by many to be the surprise package, the surprise was probably in how hard the team found it to adapt to a game that they play regularly, despite assertions from outsiders otherwise. They had come a long way and were hoping that they could replicate their 1.6 success, or at least come close. In truth though their preparation was hugely disrupted by the split in the team prior to this event that caused them to lose the compLexity sponsorship, as well as the addition of a last minute replacement that didn’t live up to expectations.

Their 9th/16th finish won’t go down on their list of proud achievements but it’s not as if the long journey from Brazil was a complete waste. Certainly their willingness to give CS:S a go potentially opens doors to new sponsors for them and also suggests that there are 1.6 players out there who would make the switch if the competition and prize money made it sensible to do so. That’s a far cry away from the rest of the community, but one senses that if a few names did jump ship the rest might follow.

FalleN

Sure, his team might have crapped out and he wasn’t quite as spectacular in CS:S as he is in 1.6, but I’m inclined to give him a thumbs up for coming out and having the balls to voice his opinions about CS:S and 1.6. His assertion that CS:S was a “more tactical game” than the one that fathered it certainly didn’t go unnoticed and caused a furore in certain circles that only just seems to have died down.

When you see people who have the words “FalleN Fan” next to their name on an internet forum calling the same player they supposedly idolise a “retard” or a “piece of shit” (you can go find this for yourself) you would have expected that maybe he had done something wrong, like feed their kids the wrong kind of medicine when babysitting for them, or gave their dogs chocolate… You can safely wage he didn’t sleep with their girlfriends because gauging from the outrageously puritanical reaction none of them actually have any, nor even care to. They love 1.6, not e-sports, not even Counter-Strike and certainly not a player that has lit up every tournament he has played at, deserving of respect at the very least.

He’s not alone in his opinions and I think I can safely say that if the 1.6 community don’t want talented, intelligent and articulate players to represent their e-sport, I can certainly think of a title that would welcome such people with open arms.

Team Russia

Another team that travelled from afar, some even coming out of semi-retirement, only to have an unpleasantly tough time of things. They were comprehensively crushed by the Norwegians of Lions, brushed aside by VALUE Gaming and then managed to show some glimpses of what they were capable of by achieving a draw with 3DMAX. Alas, too little too late and they were out of the competition in the second group stage and left with little to reflect on but a long and difficult journey home.

The Team Russia press officer, Mad Lee

Ultimately a shame because, with the exception of the Brazilians, this was probably the team that most people were looking forward to seeing compete in a LAN environment after having been denied that for so long. What they got was the merest glimpse of what they could expect and the all round showing of Russian rustiness shows that talent alone isn’t always going to win out in CS:S.

They vowed to be back at another tournament in the future. Let’s hope that not only this is true but that next time they come prepared.

Fo0x

Despite coming with a team of names familiar to people with an appreciation of the history of the game, this player was not overshadowed by the stars that people were watching instead of him, and was probably the team’s most consistent player across all their matches. Certainly in the game against 3DMAX he was in lethal form, performing some of the most audacious doorbangs at LAN since GuardiaN sparked the whole vent.exe debate with his flamboyant AWPing at LAN79.

Yet this wasn’t just a performance that contained some spectacular moments worthy of a movie clip or two. This was a performance of startling maturity and one that came amidst the pressure of many speculating that he might be the weak link in the Russian chain. Instead he was the stand-out performer and had some of the other players not been quite so lacking in match practice, results might have gone very differently, not least of all in the 3DMAX game.

sliNK

I’ll be honest… I don’t really care how he did, how he played, how well the team did. The fact is that there’ll now be a raft of moronic fans that will swear blind he’s the same player at LAN that he is online. He’s not, and never will be… Why top German players would embrace the efforts of him and his buddy kRYSTAL (not to mention the countless other sub-standard players that want to make a name for themselves by recording hours and hours of footage of them cheating in PCWs) is beyond me and yet they are not alone. The large amount of fans that they seem to have – even to the point of supposedly impartial ESL casters cheering on Alternate against mTw – is bewildering given that it is individuals such as these that have completely run the reputation of German players into the ground.

The one game I watched him play, from my vantage point of directly behind him, he looked decidedly average. It was the experienced heads of players like Osirisbash – someone I watched go head to head with the great fnatic team way back at i30 – that looked like the real article. Even players I knew little of seemed to be a lot more comfortable against the top teams than, dASH1 in particular.

Great movie editor? Undoubtedly (if you like that sort of thing)… Stick to that though and stop masquerading as a top player.

3DMAX

It was a good LAN indeed, getting third place after a roster change and virtually no preparation, and yet it would prove to be the straw that broke the rooster’s back in terms of longevity. Just when we all thought that maybe we could have a new French team on the block, maybe one that could even rival VeryGames too… But no, they are dead and gone and this 3rd place is pretty much their epitaph.

Not a bad way to go out though… They rolled past the teams you’d expect them to, with the only blot on their copy book being the draw with Team Russia and then they brushed aside the surprisingly impressive Copenhagen Wolves. Next in line was VeryGames and what should have been a mouthwatering rematch was in fact a huge anti-climax, their lack of a first choice AWPer clearly impacting on the team’s ability to break down the French titans. Still, they did claim third with a win over a hugely impressive XAYA Gaming on home soil.

n00ky

And could this be the paragraph that ended a friendship? More than likely, more than likely… Is being free to express opinions not more important than all of that? Not when they’re about me obviously, but you know, other people. Anyway, I gave Andre a thumbs down at 30P because of the way he played and he responded by saying that the team problems and the set-up were factors in the performance.

This time there could be no excuses though, driving as he did from Germany with his own computer and hardware. Yet still, he failed to deliver when his team needed him. Whether or not it is because the internal harmony of the team is failing, whether it is because as mTw’s longest servant he feels an extra pressure to do well and turn it around, whether it is because there have been changes in who calls… Ultimately, much like the team itself, where do we stop making excuses and simply say this level of performance isn’t to be expected?

XAYA Gaming

As I had predicted before the tournament began XAYA did indeed prove they were the best team in Denmark… Although they didn’t really do that when it came to the Danish championships and for a moment or two I was made to sweat about my predictions. Fortunately once the tournament got into top gear, so did they and they managed a string of great performances to show that, despite erratic form, they are still a formidable line-up.

Wins over Reason Gaming, mTw, Speedgaming before hitting the wall against CKRAS should prove to everyone exactly where they are in terms of the best in Europe. Yet, this doesn’t tell the full story about a team that don’t just put together wins but generally tend to do it in style or not at all. Comprised of players that have all had their critics in the past, XAYA have turned that all around and hopefully can buck the Danish trend of roster changing to build something that Denmark can be proud of.

Ruggah

No, he didn’t play bad. Far from it in fact. This is probably the first LAN I’ve seen him play and drop 20s with an alarming regularity, meaning that he may be another Dane who has finally shook off the onliner tag. Yet, those of you have regularly followed our coverage – especially of Danish events – will know only too well that Casper is a man afflicted by a curse every bit as tragic as the werewolf or Narcissus.

Strangely his CS:S skills are even worse than his dress sense...

For one of the pantheon of CS:S gods has decreed that he shall never get out of the x/8th bracket in a LAN, his career replete with 7th/8th finishes no matter who he plays with or what organisation he represents. Sometimes, in order for that to happen, he is temporarily blinded and given the woeful aim of Larry Hughes. At other times he is given the even temperament of John McEnroe coupled with the sobriety of a George Best when he was still on his first liver. Yet here, he played well and was just given the finish just for the sheer sake of it.

The curse, it seems, will never be lifted no matter what he does. Extend your pity, pray for him but feel safe if you ever play a team with him in it at LAN if you meet at that stage.

JOKERN

Denmark’s favourite dancing Cristiano Ronaldo lookalike didn’t get a fair shake when it came to breaking down the performance of XAYA Gaming. His colleague socN was deemed to have been the MVP, despite it being him who didn’t buy the kit that potentially cost them third place. In reality JOKERN played at his best and while the whole team was awesome, it was his solid and reliable performance that was at the heart of everything they did right.

He’s not arrogant… Well, maybe a little, but he was genuinely shocked when he heard no-one had thought he was worthy of a mention. He sat shaking his head as we sank our last few beers before I got on my plane in the early hours of that warm Copenhagen morning, wondering what it was he had to do to earn the respect of his beers. Then, in one of his typical mood swings, he went hog wild, slammed his drink down, started shouting something I didn’t understand in Danish and danced off into the night.

Norwegian CS:S

The two Norway teams who came over could have easily been dismissed as fodder for the stronger nations, but instead they both gave a solid account of themselves. Since the question marks surrounding the Hellfragger League have raised their head, it wasn’t quite clear what would happen to the local scene, with not much in the way of LAN events it appears those sides who want to gain some true LAN experience will have to search overseas.

The problem with that though is that most international events are filled with all of the European elite - or at least most. As such, gaining that LAN experience is costly to both the wallet and to the team morale. At Copenhagen Games the sides took a risk but it paid off as they discovered that they had the potential to hold their own against some of the best teams in the world. Let's just hope they show their bearded faces at more events in future.



Richard Lewis is currently on holiday until the 16th and will make his return with his regular featured column "Gonzorreah".