The final is underway and we will soon know which one of the two teams, both of whom have been operating at below their potential at other events, will step it up and take home a welcome victory.

For Dignitas winning became so much of a habit I think they started to take it for granted and are as befuddled and bewildered when they don’t win as anything else. Crack Clan on the other hand are a team that really should have more tournament victories to their name and will be looking to end their time with Crack Clan on a high.

First map of the game is to be de_nuke, one that has seen Crack Clan blow both hot and cold in terms of their tactical set-ups. Dignitas have also had a mixed time on it of late and what will likely decide it will be who can hold their nerve and take advantage of as many rounds as possible on the offensive side. Dignitas start as the red team and quickly get off to a good start picking up the pistol with an aggressive upper push that catches the Crack players out of position.

Dignitas sound well up for the match and greet the win in the pistol round with a lot of noise. It is as focused as they have looked since they announced their new team. This could be interesting if they can use this aggression to blast through the early first rounds. And they are merciless on the eco rounds, cutting down the well drilled Crack Clan, even if there was a heart in mouth moment when they gave up more frags than they would have liked to.

One thing Dignitas do extremely well as terrorist on de_nuke is to synchronise their push on to upper with the skylight flashes that will render any defending players temporary Stevie Wonders. It is one of those tactics that when it is done right is very hard to defend against and Dignitas keep working it until they are in a 4-0 lead.

After Crack pull a round back at the game is at 5-1 Dignitas slow down their play, holding lobby area and outside while waiting for Crack clan pushes. But this change in pace suits Crack Clan more, allowing them to get into position and their discipline pays off when Dignitas have to peek and push and are met by a solid wall of resistance. That said, even with a more solid set-up and a few rounds on the board they are still ahead after 10 rounds, with the score at 6-4.

In the eleventh round Richard “ritch” Gibbs is in a 1v1 situation against Elliot “Wez” Welsh who has shacked up in hut with the bomb ticking. He fakes the defuse, fakes again but Wex just won’t peek. On the third defuse attempt and with time running out he peeks marginally causing ritch to come off the bomb again. Knowing he has no time left to win the round, ritch just turns to face the forklift truck and stares in disbelief at his screen, while Wez happily accepts the easy frag with a hail of bullets into his back.

Beta and RattlesnK, the team captains, interviewed before the final started

And let’s give a mention to Chris “Blackmane” Kinnair who is actually playing as well as anyone in this match. He has made some aggressive pushes that have caught Crack off guard and given him a few unsuspecting frags, allowing Dignitas to work areas more effectively thanks to a weight of numbers. He has certainly impressed in this first half and is looking very much like a player that can expect some opportunities to come his way after this event.

Crack Clan rally to win out the half, but at 8-7 at half time it is certainly more rounds than they would have liked to have given away. This despite Lewis “hughsy” Hughes’ best efforts with some consistent rifle frags, but they know the second half pistol round is vital to get a foothold in this map. It comes down to a 1v1 between the already impressive Blackmane and Mx. The bomb is ticking away in lower and after a couple of fakes Mx still doesn’t peek in what plays out like an echo of the ritch versus Wez situation. This time it goes in Crack’s favour. Game on.

No surprises then when Crack take it to 3-0, but they win the first buy round as well and you have to wonder about the mutterings of the phantom M4 bullets that have been talked about in between matches by players. Four rounds to the good and Dignitas on an eco in the next round it quickly goes to 5-0. So far the halves have played out pretty much as a mirror image of each other and you have to start thinking that this map is going to turn on either one wretched mistake or one moment of brilliance.

Momentum shifts to Dignitas though, Sam “RattlesnK” Gawn reading his team the riot act in criticism audible even as far as the press desk. Those Colts seem to be loaded all of a sudden and wherever Crack Clan work their pushes they are chopped down by a well positioned crossfire by Dignitas. Before you know it the game is at 5-5 in the second half, hanging on a knife edge and there is nothing to pick between the two sides.

Amazingly this half goes to 7-7 and with Dignitas at match point Crack Clan have the chance to get the save and force an overtime. This is the round where someone can make a name for themselves... With the bomb ticking away and the site smoked there is a 2v1 situation and Hughshy is tucked up at the window side door. A quick peek gets the defuser, a second spray down gets the final frag and the UK squad player clutches the round to force overtime.

In an overtime situation like this you could forgive Dignitas for maybe thinking negatively, with victory so close, and perhaps losing focus of the fact that the game is still there to be won. Instead they come out like a freight train and go straight back to how they started, working aggressive terrorist tactics that catch Crack Clan cold. They take the first period of overtime 5-1 and surely they can’t throw this away now?

Crack Clan finding their motivation to win during the match

Despite Crack Clan trying to offer some vocal intimidation, it was asking too much for them to save this one and Dignitas come out with a 21-17 victory. Expect de_inferno to be close too.

Dignitas win the knife round and of course elect to start as CT, but the curse of the pistol rounds strike again and go in favour of the terrorist team. So quickly we do the three for three round exchange we’ve seen so many times in the past to tie it up in this first half of the second map. Dan “Re1ease” Mullan is really starting to find his form now though and he looks comfortable and capable with any gun. He can alternate between AWP, rifle and deagle all to lethal effect and looks like he might be pushing his team forward as they take the lead for the first time in this second map.

But then they are immediately pegged back and you can see we are in for another, to paraphrase Jim Ross, “slobberknocker”. The match is playing out tit for tat and at five rounds a piece you could already argue that Crack Clan have done enough to feel satisfied with their innings. Of cours,e I was thinking that in the first map, so it’s probably best you don’t even try and bother to predict the action.

In the end it’s Crack clan that break away and put some daylight between them and their opponents, taking the half 9-6. And after what could have been a close pistol round perhaps if Dignitas didn’t have a player stuck in the door in second mid, Crack breathe a sigh of relief as they pick up both pistols in a game and might well be thinking they can look forward to a decider.

But this game is ridiculous, simply ridiculous. It’s as gripping a final as I’ve seen and I just wish my bleary eyes were a bit fresher so I could appreciate it more. How Dignitas are still in this is beyond me, it should have been a third map by now. Instead they are in the lead in the second half at 5-4 and the game stands at 13-11 to Crack Clan overall. And it still doesn’t end. 14-13 and there’s still the possibility of a third map. I can imagine the demo of this game will be a popular download. How do you even pick MVP nominations from two teams where each member has contributed something special across a game that has truly delivered as a special final.

At 14-14 no one wants to call it. There’s a hush in the crowd that is only broken by Luke “Kritikal” Green going absolutely bananas in his own game, but as the crowd awaits something special it is Crack Clan that take it to game point and 15-14 with a flurry of decimating kills and the final round is a carbon copy, another 16-14, a third map and it’s going to be de_dust2, a map you would expect to be as close as the other two.

The way the game has gone it takes going 4 or 5 rounds down before the other team gets going, so I wander off to try and find some coffee. The TV camera does an extreme close-up of wilzOOO’s eyes that look much like my own. How he’s coping having to play the game is beyond me. By the time i come back Dignitas, starting as the much desired terrorist side on this map, are 4-0 down to Crack Clan, but it’s no surprise they start pulling the rounds back. There are a few uncharacteristic errors starting to creep into their games, but Re1ease and Wez are both fine examples of consistency.

For the first time I have seen today though we are seeing close to a CT side shut-out and it goes to 7-4 in favour of Crack. In both games, being played simultaneously, you can tell who is the ascendency based upon the noise levels. Crack have somehow found the energy and focus to push through and they go into the final half of an epic final 10 – 5 up with another pistol round to look forward to.

It doesn’t start well for them though, Dignitas making three frags and looking like they are going to set themselves up for a run of rounds, but they have some kind of inexplicable collapse and somehow Blackmane is left having to try and clutch a 1v2, which he fails to do. So again the game swings 3-0 to Crack Clan and even I’m starting to hanker for the days of MR9 which would at least rub out these dead rounds. I don’t see any way back from this for Dignitas so I want to pre-empt some of the excuses people might make. I know that they’ll say Blackmane was a factor in the defeat, but I don’t think that’s entirely fair and he did make as decent a contribution as any merc, outside of some super-sub or Salvo old boy, would have made.

In the end Crack Clan just had something about them this event. Coming back from a map down against a Dignitas side with momentum was no mean feat. Winning their first event, as the last one they as Crack Clan and already I’m hearing that some of them might be changing their mind about impending retirement. In truth, they were worthy winners of this event and there are no excuses or factors that detract from that.