Michael McGhee looks back at some classic encounters in a new series of features.

I've been putting off writing anything for a few days now as I relax in sunny Glasgow but watching the maddeningly dull Carling Cup match between Man City and Liverpool earlier - a match which could only have been less exciting had it been commentated on by Peter Alliss and played in slow motion - has spurred me into action. The sporting debacle that took place earlier this evening has left me itching to reminisce on the good times, times when sporting events have left me gagging for more; Liverpool vs AC Milan; Arsenal vs Barcelona; Shogun vs Henderson; Tyson vs Lewis; Germany vs England. Being in the mood to reminisce gives me the perfect opportunity to drop the second part in a series that I started a few weeks ago.

Originally "The Best Match I Ever Saw" was penned in as a one-feature piece coinciding with our Nostalgia Month, but the reaction was positive so what the hell. Last time I featured the intense and earth shaking battle between Danish side Magnitude and the Dutchies of fnatic at LAN79, a match I believe is the absolute best this game has seen. There have been others though and one is the TeX 09' fairytale between another Scandinavian team Vitriolic and their Eastern European opponents Reason Gaming; a match that should be shown to anyone who doubts the intense passion that competitive gaming creates in all parties involved.

Vitriolic had come into the tournament not long after forming and with a few weeks of solid practice - including a week bootcamp in Copenhagen - they were eager to show the world that they could still compete with the very best in Europe and boy did the best in Europe turn up in their droves. The eXperience is an event that's renowned for pulling in big names and big numbers (and then not paying out for big lengths of time, but we'll skip past that for now) and the 2009 edition was no different. Held in the dangerously grey city of Copenhagen among a raft of stony buildings it was considered the best event this side of the Atlantic.

Teams from all over flew in to the tournament in the hope of being crowned champions, and two of them came head to head in the quarter finals. Having come through the group stage unscathed Vitriolic had a tough elimination opener against their countrymen Kuwait, a mix-team which featured some dangerous players. The extra few weeks practiced clearly helped Vitriolic and they steamed past their opponents on de_dust2, winning 16-3 in one of the most one sided matches of the tournament. This result gave them a huge confidence boost, which is just as well given their opponents in the next round.. The one team their star AWPer wanted to avoid. In an interview he said:

As per usual I don't like playing Reason, because they are the number one LAN team in my opinion, I'm not sure, I think RedLine might be hard to play against also. I'm not sure about mTw right now, but I think they will step up when it's time for brackets, so they could be a team to look out for.

Unsurprisingly they were paired up in the next round after Reason unceremoniously dumped another Swedish team into the lower bracket and were riding high on confidence. The Eastern European side were considered one of the pre tournament favourites and had their eyes set on gold after numerous solid performances in the months prior to TeX. It was going to be tough for Vitriolic and they didn't make it easy for themselves once on the server. Once more being played on de_dust2 the match got off to a frantic start, with Vitriolic taking up the defensive duties and their opponents working as the aggressors.

Losing the pistol round is always a mood dampener but when Vitriolic gave the opening buy round to Reason as well their heads began to drop. The vocal and anxious Chris 'Helblinde' Nilssen tried hard to motivate his beleaguered troops but with momentum going the way of Reason it proved far too difficult a task. Surprisingly it was the normally calm and reserved opponents who were making all of the noise in what would have been the dream opening for them as they rattled off round after round.

The weird thing about the first half was that Reason Gaming didn't appear to be doing anything special, simple pushes up short catwalk would throw Vitriolic - who later admitted to trying to antistrat their opponents - off balance and the on-fire Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovacs would solo push long with his AWP, successfully defending the bomb on numerous occasions. Vitriolic got their first round on the board half way through their stint as CT but they were pegged back instantly by Reason, a regular occurrence in a first half that would see the Swedes pick up only three rounds.

Not a sound was made when the team chalked up the final round of the half and going into the terrorist side they looked all but beaten. Over on the other side of the building the Reason Gaming team were buzzing, their excitable faces barely containing the joy. As is the case in most sports it's easy to get too confident when things are going well and Reason Gaming had every right to be confident but even now they will be cursing the day they got carried away. The Swedes went into the second half with the goal of simply saving face, making the scoreline a bit closer than it was and scraping back some of the confidence that had been sapped in the devastating first half.

They kicked off the pistol round slowly, with everything on the line they were taking no chances and the cautious approach paid off as the team split on the B bombsite to pick up the pistol round. After winning the two eco rounds the vital buy round came down to the wire; the Swedes once again pushing into the B bombsite and winning a vital 2v3 situation. As the confidence grew so did the noise levels from the now loquacious Swedish team as they snapped back into action, with one man in particular standing out. For Chris 'Helblinde' Nilsen TeX 09' was another chance for him to prove that he could keep up with the best in Europe - something many people doubted when he didn't make it into the CGS - and when his chance came along he made it count.

In a one on one duel with arguably the best AWPer in Europe (the until then untouchable GuardiaN) he was making all the right moves. His picks with the AWP began to open up the rounds for his team who would then swarm onto the gap left by their opponents, it speaks volumes when the first round Reason Gaming won in the second half was when it was GuardiaN who won the battle in middle. Still, it wasn't enough to stop the Scandinavian train from plowing into the semi finals of the tournament, leaving Reason Gaming completely stunned.

The defeat proved too much for the favourites to take and their tournament came to an untimely end with a loss against the eventual finalists Dignitas. Vitriolic went on to beat Finnish upstarts DiamondZ in the upper bracket semi final and the confidence boost that brought left them dreaming of bigger things, as detailed by Fifflaren shortly afterwards:

I think we have a fair shot, I know RedLine is a really strong team, we knew that Reason were a really strong team and we came in with no hopes, we were underdogs, we just told each other to play like we know we can play, let's do our best and see how it goes. RedLine I've heard a lot about, I've never played them myself, I think we might cause an upset but I wouldn't say too much until after the game.

Sadly they were unable to overcome the frighteningly good RedLine and they also suffered the same fate as Reason Gaming when up against Dignitas in the consolation final. Still, a third place finish at their first international event together and a spot in the heart and mind of everyone who watched that match isn't too bad, is it?