Richard Lewis, in the first part of a bumper Good LAN / Bad LAN, selects the teams that were the real winners and losers.

This article is the sole opinion of the author and does not reflect that of Heaven Media or any other affiliates. So, we survived another LAN and there’s yet another event to add to the book of lore surrounding CS:S, a new page in the game’s history that will be all but forgotten in twelve months. Still, it was good while it lasted and why not bask in the reflected glory of others’ success and laugh at the misfortune of the abject failures? You know the process by now… Despite being their to report and to deliver the usual range of amazing e-sports coverage, my eyes are always on the main stories surrounding the event. The bullet points of the big stories, if you will. At i43 there were many for sure so without further ado let’s take our usual look at the real winners and losers at Telford last weekend.

VeryGames

Yes, may as well get this out the way early doors because it’s apparent everyone is sick of reading about how good VeryGames are. Indeed, the assembled crowd for the final, bar maybe one or two, barely made a sound unless mTw were in the ascendency. It’s fairly typical though. Success in short doses is always going to be met with approval… When it becomes sustained it’s only natural that the people who once cheered you now will you to fail.

VeryGames reigned supreme once more..

Not that there’s been much sign of that happening over the last twelve months and here at i43 was no different. They swept aside all the opposition with their usual competency, not giving away more than three rounds in any game they played until the final where they did give away nine. No doubt the detractors will point to the fact that suggests they could be beaten if they didn’t play on their own set-ups… We’ve heard it all before and yet like the best teams in any pursuit they always find a way to win.

People say things like “they’re not the five best players” (they probably are, or aren’t far off) or that “if another team would just practice they could be beaten” (the ease through which they defeated the more than settled CKRAS / Virus Gaming suggests otherwise) but it is uttered out of hope for change rather than having any basis on facts. The only fact worth mentioning here was that VeryGames did not look at all like relinquishing their stranglehold on CS:S. TLR

It seems the team that were exceeding people’s expectations when they were free agents – because BBoMM can never truly be considered an organisation – have returned to their status as everyone’s favourite 9th/12th finishers. Of course maybe it’s something with finding themselves within the organisation that seems to be cursed when it comes to CS:S. Indeed, the only end for a TLR CS:S team is to either achieve and then leave the organisation for pastures new or to underachieve to the point where their management decide to take a gamble on some other team destined for the same fate.

While those wanting to defend TLR will point to the fact that it wasn’t their full line-up as Tom “Quiver” Griffiths was not in attendance, the fact is that his replacement, Jack “Callisto” Mason, was the team’s best player and is indeed a much more accomplished player than Quiver when it comes to LAN performances. Indeed it was him that nearly earned them a famous victory with an incredible performance against Epsilon that must have left them wondering if they’d picked up the wrong player.

Still, the embarrassing nature of their 16-3 defeat to TP.OVH, a team that they should be beating any way you look at it, suggests that the days of competing in finals could be well behind them. The only good news is that the players will be indifferent to this fact as they have adopted the admirable outlook of bros before pros. BEASTS

“Who the fuck are beasts?” Tom “D1ablo” Newman kept asking me as we spectated their match against mTw. It was then and still is a good question. The mix of Swedish, Irish and Scottish players punched well above their weight when it came to the competition and somehow managed a place on the podium.

Quite how they did it is anyone’s guess. They can’t say they were particularly well drilled, their full time caller having dropped from the team prior to the event to enjoy a holiday. They certainly can’t testify to being the biggest talents in the game, the core of the side coming from the Neckbeards mix that only just about set the Gamerbase hmv Cup alight by the fact that it was being used by the usual bunch of UK underachievers and cheaters to try and earn the tag “LAN proven”. Yet here they were, beating the likes of Targetdown, LiNK and FM Sapphire in the lower bracket to set up their judgement day against mTw.

Detractors will say that they had an easy run through the lower bracket, which is arguably true, but no game is easy when you know it can be your last. Credit then to the character of the team who show that sometimes mixing hours and VAC bans really are all you need to succeed. Epsilon eSports

While their TF2 team showed the CS:S boys how it was done by making it to the final, the CS:S team managed to be the most disappointing of the big boys. It’s not just their 5th / 6th finish that points to failure but the manner in which they stumbled to it. Struggling to overcome TLR showed things were not well early doors, before they then lost to mTw in embarrassing fashion 16-2 and then knocked out altogether by one of the LANs big surprises, Fragmasters Sapphire.

Unfortunately for stingeR this is as close to first place as his team got..

It was clear that the balance in the team wasn’t right going into the tournament but what couldn’t have been predicted was the level of disharmony within the team once the competition began. Henry “HenryG” Greer criticised Luke “KritikaL” Green’s contribution, while he accused the team of being passionless, stating he’d have been better off sticking with LiNK Gaming.

Still, there were so many problems with their performances it was clear that they weren’t going to set the world on fire and, in truth, even with the return of Elliot “Wez” Welsh, there’s plenty of work they need to do between now and the next tournament. Fragmasters SAPPHIRE

Expectations were low for the Portuguese given the fact that they are not even the best team in their country and have struggled to find both results and stability. Still, some teams will always perform better at LAN than online results suggest… Who knew these would be one of them?

It probably shouldn’t have come as that much of a surprise really. In the form of Mario “fyx” Rodriguez and André “paradyze” Horta they have two of the best players their country has produced (sorry Roadwolf) and they have performed well at several LANs before this one. Still, it is doubtless that with the other players they had in tow they could have imagined they would be toppling the likes of Rasta xD and Epsilon Gaming and were two rounds away from a guaranteed podium finish.

What they will end up doing at future events will remain to be seen but certainly given the consistent disappointments that Fragmasters teams have produced down the years it will be a welcome surprise to see one actually go above and beyond what anyone thought was achievable. eXelon Gaming

Ah, you crazy Swedes… Big drinkers and erratic CS:S players, you can never be certain what you’re going to get with them. Here at i43 this team managed to considerably underperform given that they are a team with two former CGS players on the roster and have actually emulated compLexity by most of the team living together in the glorious setting of Dublin. Still, perhaps a prolonged spell of sobriety was the answer before this event as they were for the most part woeful.

After being comprehensively bashed by LiNK Gaming, they immediately were hit with another body blow as they were knocked out the tournament by Rasta xD in a match that wasn’t as close as the 16-10 scoreline suggests. They should have been dark horses for the event and they will look at the teams that have finished above them and wonder exactly how and why they ended up languishing in mediocrity.

The finish doesn’t seem to have been without impact, prompting talk of retirement for some players and there are already rumours abound that the team will be making changes in the coming weeks. mTw

While it seems that not even a second place finish will get them the credit they deserve, the reality is that mTw have had a good event. Despite some of their players clearly not firing on all cylinders they managed to come through the upper bracket with performances that ranged from the gritty (their overtime win over Targetdown) to the sublime (their precision demolition of Epsilon) and they managed to take nine rounds off VeryGames on the big stage, something that hasn’t happened at an I-series before.

Despite the teams best efforts, it wasn't to be

And there’s the rub for mTw… Hated for their perceived underachievement at almost any other time, when they play VeryGames they are suddenly the potential saviours when they take on the might of the French, the reaction from the crowd in the final a stark contrast to the reaction the organisation received when they beat fnatic at i30.

They’ll likely never be the most popular organisation. There hasn’t been a German team that has performed well enough at a LAN event to shake the “online” stigma since that upset in the i30 final, and certainly this team have their own crosses to bear when it comes to that. However, it can’t be denied that with the talent on the roster (even if the stand-out players are from the UK) and the support they have this is the team closest to dethroning the French if they can maintain some semblance of stability. Targetdown

I’m loathe to give a thumbs down to the Brazilians. In short bursts they were brilliant. They destroyed Rasta xD, took mTw to overtime and then somehow came unstuck against the Beasts. Still, there’s no other way to slice it… If you come from another continent, to a place that probably makes the barrios look not so bad after all, and then only manage 9th/12th, you’re going to be disappointed.

Quite what happened is anyone’s guess. They were prepared and it showed, their week long bootcamp in Brimingham getting them into shape. Their tactics were unorthodox, which worked in their favour. They had more than solid aim, especially when it came to wielding the desert eagle on those all important deco rounds. Yet in the end they lost to a team that ultimately they could have beaten.

It’s always nice to see teams come from far afield to compete and anything that bridges the gap between Europe and the rest of the world is welcome. Let’s just hope this experience hasn’t put them, or indeed other Brazilians, off attending future events this side of the water.