DuRuS hands out some Good LAN/Bad LAN tags

OutPost on Fire 3 has finished, and we are moving on to TeX. But before we start the coverage of sunny Denmark it is time to reflect on some of the major incidents from OOF3.

Yes the final 4 were all top seeds, and teams that we expected to see up there, but it was the middle placings that really showed a few major holes in certain teams. I have taken a look at certain teams and accessed whether they have had a good LAN or a bad LAN.

CubeSports.AMD

These guys had an absolutely brilliant event. Never in their wildest dreams did they expect to be finishing just outside of the money. All be it, they did get a relatively easy run through the group stages, but even still, they managed to win games they needed to win.

Probably the biggest game they won was against Pure. The Americans looked strong and could have gone a long way. But CubeSports played a great game against them to knock them down in their tracks.

So Cube had a good LAN, not just competitively where they did great, but also socially. They were one of the first teams there and the last to leave. Always watching the other games, and there to have a laugh with.

H2K Gaming

Wow, what a bad LAN these guys had. They didn’t win a single game, and were knocked out of the groups, by a TLR/Pure combo. What went wrong for these guys? Well who knows,  maybe the pressure got to them?

If you have a look at the way the scores went, you can see that Vazy was doing quite well but the rest of his team just seemed to crumble. From the way he reacted to the loss, it does show that this meant a lot to him. The fact that the team were out of Belgium and back in France within the hour shows just how much they were devastated with their early departure. Definitely a bad LAN for H2K.

YoYoTech.NL

I don’t think anyone can say these guys didn’t have a good LAN. Unseeded but they finished 5th/6th. Work that logic out. These guys played some simply brilliant CoD4. They were playing as a team, with some brilliant individuals but as a team.

The introduction of Aerox to the team really helped as well. They managed to knock out both imex and eSuba in the UpperBracket before losing to fnatic and then dignitas in successive rounds. But they also played a part in the mTw crumble, as they drew with them in the group stages. All of these teams were ranked miles ahead of them, and people weren’t expecting YYT to probably even make it out of the group stages.

But they did, and for that I commend them. These guys definitely had a good LAN.

mTw

Another obvious one, another Bad LAN. It was their first major LAN tournament as a team, the first one under their new name, mTw, and they crumbled, they crumbled big time. To come away finishing 13th/16th without a single win to your name, only drawing 2 games in the group stages is definitely not something you want to report back to your managers at mTw.

What went wrong I don’t know, but they will definitely need to improve on it if they are going to stand a chance at TeX. Their leadership needs to step up and they have to make sure they don’t suffer from the pressure. OOF3 is a little basement, and TeX is a hell of a lot bigger and different.

eSuba

The Czech players were wanting to come to this LAN and show they could do what they did at Lan79. They came to this LAN and showed that they couldn’t. Another Bad LAN goes out. A top tier team, finshing 9th/12th is never going to be a good thing. But these guys didn’t play any big teams.

Not once did they sit down ready to face one of the top tier seeds at any part in the groups or the playoffs. They lost to YoYoTech in the UpperBracket and then to NCS Gaming in the LowerBracket, definitely not something they will want to watch again.

They have another chance to redeem themselves here at TeX but for now they are definitely going to be left with the Bad LAN tags.

Dignitas

The winners of OutPost on Fire 3, obviously are going to have to get a Good LAN. But that isn’t the reason I am giving them this. I saw a real transition in dignitas. They wanted to win a competition more than I have seen in a long time. They came here with BlackMane who hasn’t been playing CoD4 that much recently after leaving the main dignitas lineup.

But they played extremely well. They had one bad game in the competition losing to fnatic, but straight away they went away, sat down, and worked out what went wrong. Though it may have been more of a publicity stunt in some cases, but for a few of them, they came out and sat behind the players and watched what they were doing. They wanted to make sure that they got things right for their next game.

And it worked, they were playing brilliantly in the final and the Consolidation final. As raz said in their interview, their motivation was also really high. When was the last time you saw dignitas REALLY shouting every time they won a round? They hardly ever show any emotion in game. These guys have really stepped it up again. Well done dignitas.

Reason Gaming

Reason are going to earn a Good LAN and a Bad LAN award. At moments they were simply brilliant, especially sLWx as they rushed around the map and completely ripped apart their opposition. Their game against ButtonBashers brought out the best of them, as they were able to work together as a team, have great comms, and more importantly clutch situations that they probably shouldn’t have been able to get.

But there was a different light to the 3 Englishman and 2 Finns. Things weren’t all perfect and this is why I am also awarding them the Bad LAN tag. At times they looked distinctly average. D1ablo was rushing around the map and dying within the first few seconds, and then kAMMYz would try and hit a scope shot and miss. They just weren’t consistent enough.  They started off badly in the group stages throwing away far too many rounds and then they also played afew bad halves in the playoffs. The most noticeable was when they threw away an 11 round lead against fnatic. They had a silly number of match points but they just couldn’t get one. Not even with 4on1s, 3on1s and more sprouting out of their ears could they find that one round to win the round and guarantee themselves a top 2 finishing. This definitely earns them the Bad LAN tags.