As had been billed this was a game that both teams would want to win, for differing reasons.

The Imperial’s Danish side have only recently joined their new organisation and have proven themselves to be the premier Danish team in recent months following Roccat’s decline. A win against a big team such as mTw would be a clear statement of intent and another reason to take them seriously.

For the German team the reason was a lot simpler… After their underachieving and poor performance at TeX09, an event where they were billed as one of the favourites, the usual accusations started to be bandied about, peppered with liberal use of the word “onliners.” Recent results also show Team Alternate in the ascendency in their native Germany. The new mTw line-up clearly has to get back to winning ways and dispel any notions that they are a spent force.

mTw

Patrick 'mEiJin' Kriebus
Philipp 'osirisbash' Kaczmarczyk
Andre 'nooky' Utesch
Florian 'puRit' Dobberphul
David 'dav1d' Kelling

The Imperial

Henrik 'FeTiSh' Christensen
Kristoffer 'gravity' Søholm
Jesper 'purityy' Larsen
Bo 'wantz' Vestergaard
Victor 'v1ctor' Neergaard

First Half:

I pick up the action just after the sixth round is over. As I’ve come to find out obtaining accurate Source TV IPs in any sort of timely fashion is rare, and sometimes the ones you do come across don’t work. After managing to connect, to be greeted by the glorious phenomenon that is STV Chat (amazing how many celebrities seem to watch CS:S) I noticed that the score was 4-2 to The Imperial starting on the terrorist side of de_inferno. Not a huge surprise to see them in the lead I thought… I’d expect Henrik “Fetish” Chistensen to have some sort of wily pistol strats. However I did also notice that mTw were on an eco, and despite an insane USP spam from nooky – that resulted in two headshots – The Imperial closed out the round to take a 5-2 lead.

I also noticed that dav1d from mTw was having a bit of a stinker being sat on 0 – 6 on the Counter-Terrorist side. A colleague informed me that the only mTw player pulling his weight this far was Purit and a glance at the scoreboard confirmed this. He was the only one in double figures, and the only one with a positive score. It looked like mTw were in for a long and difficult afternoon.

The following round confirms it. The Imperial take a slow build up in mid and second mid, just holding the standard angles, waiting for any peeks. mTw start using their flashes to enable them to try and spot where people are. Purit decides on some early reconnaissance in apartments and is greeted by an incredible one bullet to the face courtesy of wantz. With the entry pick made there comes a fast, co-ordinated push on B. Wantz is in for a quick bomb plant and all of a sudden the round seems hopeless, the despairing late rotators unable to break through the defence.

With each passing round it also becomes clear that in the newly acquired v1ctor they have someone who seems to be one of the best entry fraggers I’ve ever laid eyes on. No, I’m not joking. I haven’t received a bribe in bacon, beer and butter either, although the likelihood is I would tell a pack of lies for such a hamper. Every round he decides to run up banana aggressively he gets the first frag. It is a truly incredible display and one that must be infuriating the German team. Once the picks are made onto A the weight of numbers just make it impossible for the CT to retake. Quickly it’s 7-2, a dominant performance whichever way you slice it.

The next round Fetish even throws in a fake. After picks again on banana mTw are forced into the rotate. With time running down on the clock they have to presume that the plant will be going on to the site they have secured. Fetish, with the bomb is holding mid however and with approximately fifteen or so seconds left makes his move to plant on an empty B site, just as he sees a string of kills appear in his top right hand corner. With the bomb planted for apartments, he takes to the high ground. In a 1v2 situation, where really he should have been at the disadvanatge, he makes a peeking headshot on one and then just waits until he knows the CT is on the defuse. He makes it look easy, when really he had no right to win it. Dav1d is now on 0-8, Imperial are 8-2 to the good and running away with it.

At 9-2 it is Victor’s turn to be put in a 1v2 situation. With the bomb down at quad he still has work to do with his opponents rotating from A looking to “crab-claw” him. One is coming from library, the other from mid, but their timing is way off. Victor makes one frag, gets the plant completely uncontested and then simply peeks out for a crisp one bullet. mTw are making it easy for the Danes, but don’t underestimate what a game v1ctor is having.

With the half winding down the last round looms and it is a similar story. Gravity makes the early AWP pick on banana and when they decide to make their push onto B site wantz clears it up with a fast double kill. At 12 – 3 to The Imperial you’d have to say that mTw have been firmly embarrassed by their opponents and it is a half they will desperately want to forget, even more so since it has occurred at LAN.

Second Half:

With mTw desperately looking to save face and a game that looks like it is already over it is no surprise to see them pull out what you would call a classically European pistol strat in the opening round of the half. They hold T-stairs for what seems like an eternity but the Danes maintain their discipline with no peeking, before mTw make their move. It seems that they have made the right decision though, with some very good entry frags, before putting purity in an almost impossible 1v2 situation. With the pistol round in the bag they can at least get to making the scoreline respectable.

The eco rounds go the way you’d expect but The Imperial, whether it is down to overconfidence, or just a desire to finish this one as early as possible, go way too aggressive on the first buy round. After pushing right down banana and a push and peek at boiler room, they are quickly two men down and mTw capitalise as you would expect any team to. Even with good work from that man v1ctor in pit, mTw are free to take the round and go 4 – 0 and put their opponents on an eco.

Fetish had saved his AWP from the previous round and he is the only one who is armed for his team. He makes the decision to hold A while the rest of his team-mates congregate around B. mTw have been playing very slow and cautious, trying to confuse their foe with flashes and smokes before waiting what feels like an eternity before a meaningful attack. They nearly play into Imperial hands with some good deco kills, but in the end Fetish coming from A with his AWP isn’t able to kill the last two and misses a couple of difficult shots at quad before being killed for a 5 – 0 advantage and genuine talk of a comeback.

The next round sees the terrorists doing much the same, slow movement, no aggression and smoke and flash play to try and draw out the enemy. The delayed push onto B that ensues is locked down this time, wantz coming in with a great triple and with no time left on the clock the lone survivor saves his weapon. Imperial up and running – just three more rounds will secure it for them.

There had been a lot of abuse coming the way of mTw from the spectators, but that had abated by this point. People genuinely weren’t sure which way it was going to go and it was arguable they had shown enough character to fend off some of their biggest detractors by this point. However it was still The Imperial’s game to lose and as the half went 6-2, making it 14 – 9 overall, you felt that mTw were going to have to relent at some point.

But it wasn’t to be… Their excruciatingly slow build-ups were clearly as frustrating to play against as they were to watch. After the requisite smokes up mid and flashes onto B, they went back the other way, paused, then flashed and pushed onto A to devastating effect. With the entry frags made on the completely helpless and blind CT, they were in for an easy plant and defend to make it 7-2. Another eco for Fetish and company as well, made it 8 -2.

Gravity starts the next round well, with an early frag via AWP and nade, and mTw try and execute the same tactic with a man less. After faking B and hitting A, they have enough to get the plant, but the three players coming from B site have arrived nice and early and complete a textbook retake. At match point now with the game at 15 for 11.

Not to be perturbed by this mTw still stick to the same method that has been getting them rounds and under cover of smoke and flashes they work their way into B taking down the players defending the site. It leaves the captain, Fetish, with yet another crucial 1v2 situation. The bomb is ticking away with terrorists at both quad and apartments. It should be an easy win, however with rifle in hand Fetish makes the first kill at quad and then quickly moves on to the defuse after spamming a clip through the apartment wall. Dav1d has had many games for mTw, but perhaps none as bad as this. After a disappointing first half, he caps a wetched display by completely misjudging not only the amount of time a defuse takes but also the position of the bomb and runs out spraying hopelessly off target and too late. The Imperial did it… Eventually.

The Danish team go on to face a Dignitas side that have already defeated the young guns of Derailed. That is the team mTw will face on one of their better maps, de_nuke. Regardless, they will already know those that watched this game will have ammunition to fire at them. For The Imperial it reaffirms what we already know – that they are good, sometimes brilliant, but inconsistent. They will have to do better against the UK team.