DuRuS Previews the MW2 tournament at i38

The Modern Warfare 2 tournament kicks off tomorrow and with it being the first ever one around, writing a preview has been quite tricky. It is not going to be that easy to predict and seed the teams for the tournament, due to the obvious nature of the new game.

However the game is based on the same CoD4 engine and it is a very similar game so the players and teams who were "good" in CoD4 will most likely be the same here. I have taken a look at all of the major teams in attendance to see how they may fare in the MW2 tournament.

Remember we have not yet been given the exact nature of the tournament, whether it will be on the usual Search and Destroy or if it will use one of the formats that the UK scene have been asking for, namely Capture the Flag or Domination. The maps that are going to be used have also not yet been decided and this could play quite a key factor. However, I do know that the admins at multiplay are working hard to try and make sure that they get a good ruleset out in time.

Will they be able to do the same job that morg did when CoD4 came out and come up with a ruleset that is good enough to use properly? We will have to wait and see. As for now all I can do is take a look at each of the teams to see how they look on paper.

Fnatic

Conney "KyoChi" Sjöberg
Marcus "odyx" Nilsson
Johan "LINQAN" Lindqvist
Robin "rivve" Holmén
Stevy "Stevy" Verheyen

The current i-series champions after beating Team CoolerMaster in the finals of the i37 CoD4 tournament are coming back to Newbury to play in the MW2 tournament. They were the team of the summer, winning two of the three big tournaments and coming second at the other one narrowly losing out to dignitas at OOF3.

Though this is a new game, they are still my firm favourites to take the tournament. They are the only team that haven't changed their lineup and have still got a solid 5 players. They have the team work that the other teams will be lacking after making changes to their lineups. They know how they each play and even if it is a new game, they will still work well together and make any man advantage count.

Though the sniper probably won't be as effective as it was in CoD4, by the looks of things it is still going to be a good gun to use, and Stevy could have some great fun picking off people especially as no one will know exactly where they can hide away from the sniper.

Tek9 caught up with KyoChi to see what he had to think of the tournament:

It's too early to make an MW2 tournament in my opinion, in the end the players who have managed to play it 2 hours more than the rest will win. We could see the SAS3d team picking up the gold at this event. It will probably be fun though!

We're going to keep playing MW2 for Dreamhack, we'll see what happens next after that.

Expected finishing position: 1st

Team Dignitas

Jonathan "raz" Baker
Chris "blackmane" Kinnair
Mark "mark" Horner
Mark "phantasy" Pinney
Chris "nreo" Mead

Dignitas have made a few changes since there relatively successful summer. Back then they showed the world that they were a strong team, beating fnatic in the Grand Final over 2 maps to win that tournament. They however, weren't as strong at TeX where they lost to eSuba and TCM to knock them out of the tournament. Finishing 3rd at i37 was also not that great a result considering the number of big teams that were present.

This prompted some changes in the team, with the two brothers, Danny and Jason leaving the team.
In their place were two of the best players around, namely Phantasy from the brilliant Team CoolerMaster and also nreo from ButtonBashers.

On paper this team is very strong. Raz is superb armed with a smg, and BlackMane is BlackMane, he can single handily win a game, but he can also lose one. He and Phantasy are going to be the key players for me, as both of them have been playing a lot of MW2 so far from what my Steam Friends has been saying. If they have managed to find the good spots in the game and learn which are the best guns then this could help dignitas move along a lot as well.

However, the one thing that the dignitas lineup always had was brilliant teamwork because they had stuck together for so long. They never really practiced but they still were able to constantly win. They were able to easily adapt to situations, and were just superb at clutching. Morg once said to me that the reason these players were just so good was because they were able to clutch situations, be it a 2on4 or a 1on3, they still stood a good chance of winning the round.

Now though they have lost the two brothers who had always played with each other. They have brought in two players from two different teams, neither of which has played in the dignitas lineup before. This could be costly for them as they won't have had time to "stratt" it up at all so will rely just on team work.

Unfortunately we were unable to get hold of anyone to speak to about this event, but we will endeavour to bring you a statement from one of the players or management during the event.

Expected Finishing: 2nd

Reason Gaming

Chris "Lighters" Lightburn
Tim "revoltz" Denton
Tom "D1ablo" Newman
Danny "SoCLoN" Perez O'Connor
Ryan "dUffER" Duffy

Reason had a very disappointing summer. They had moments of sheer brilliance, but were just not able to convert some of these games into victories. The biggest turning point for them was their game against fnatic at OOF3 where they had a silly amount of match points. Players such as kAMMYz were just not able to handle the pressure, losing a very easy 1on1 clutch that should have been his to take Reason to the Grand Final.

This was the same for their young player sLWx. He played brilliantly during some of the earlier stages, getting some brilliant rounds, but he was just not able to replicate this form later in the tournament when it really mattered.

Recently they have decided to change their lineup and make it an all UK one, removing kAMMYz and sLWx and bringing in Duffer and SoCLoN from ButtonBashers and dignitas respectively. This new lineup could be quite promising. They have a lot of individual talent and by the looks of things they have also been playing quite a lot of the game.

D1ablo has really been putting the hours in on publics, and is determined to walk away with a victory at this event. It is players like him that could help them win, with his very aggressive play style. The maps have yet to be properly learnt and if D1ablo is able to get behind his opponent then he certainly has the aim to make sure that it counts.

What will let them down is being a new team. Both SoCLoN and Duffer are great players but they haven't played in this Reason lineup. If they are able to work well together then I think they could challenge for that first place, but they are going to struggle against the likes of fnatic and Team Dignitas.

Tek9 caught up with Revoltz from Reason Gaming in their preview to see what he had to say about the tournament:

I'm looking forward to i-series this coming week mainly because it's back at Newbury and also due to the fact it's nice to meet old faces again.

Gaming wise I'm indifferent as to which game will be played. I see MW2 as something that is (more than likely) not going to last past this event and Dreamhack unless Infinity Ward decide to bring out a patch within a month's time that fixes crucial issues such as: ability to support a promod, ability to record demos, enabling console and all that comes with it.

CoD4 is far from dead, activity wise it's dropped significantly due to the lack of events announced and people wanting to take a break after playing solidly for a year. With the steady online competition coming out of sites such as esports heaven then it will pick up again, especially as soon as more events are announced.

As a team I see us sticking together regardless of i-series or what game will be played. We have EPS next year that will support a CoD (probably CoD4) and hopefully events run by Crossfire, Gamevibes and the-eXperience all supporting CoD as a minimum. The game can keep prize purses if the community supports it, that's a fact.

Expected finishing: 3rd

Epsilon Esports

 Sasu "saruz" Salakka
Jani "Filter" Ylenius
Niko "nipazki" Rauhamaa
Ville "rEplan" Ijas
Samuli "sLWx" Kettunen

The first of the European teams to be previewed is the Finnish team, Epsilon. This was the team that people accused of cheating on quite a few occasions back before the summer LANs started this year. sLWx left the lineup to join Reason Gaming but he is now back.

Before I even start to look at how they are going to cope, we have to look at the likelihood of them even playing. Multiplay have announced that the tournament is going to have an 18+ age restriction on it, which would stop the Epsilon team from entering as some of their players are underage.
They have been looking forward to removing their famous onliner tags and actually being able to show everyone that they can play at an event. However, until Multiplay gives the all clear for them to play with parental consent, the chances of them even being entered into the tournament are slim.
However, let's assume that they do get allowed in. They are going to be one of those teams that you don't really know what to expect. They are a very aggressive bunch of players, who were very capable with the SMGs in CoD4, and could use that to good effect in MW2. They have kept the same core group of players for a while as well which will help their teamplay.

But this is the first time that the players have come to an event away from home, and the pressure of being abroad might get to them. Will they be able to cope with the pressure or will we see another serving of LAN crumble? We will have to wait and see.

Tek9 spoke to saruz from the team about the tournament especially the decision from Multiplay to make it MW2 rather than CoD4:

We were pretty much shocked and very sad when we heard that it's going to be MW2. It felt like we were stabbed in the back. It's our first lan abroad, we were ready to fight against the top teams in Europe, and finally remove our famous(?) onliner-tag, but then something like this happens. We can't even enter the MW2 tourney, because we have underage players in our team. And what's is the point to play a game that no one has played before, with great stuff like 2x juggernauts, shields, airstrikes + the 800 bugs that are still in the game, as there are no patches released yet. It feels like we are coming for nothing to i38.

What is going to happen in the future, no one knows for sure, but I'm hoping that we would get 2-4 new maps to keep cod4 going. I think we don't need a new promod, if you compare to for example cs 1.6. They have played the same maps and version of the game many years, and not complained about it. I think it would be better to keep the game as it is, and maybe we could get a stable game of it, and see it in such events as WCG. When it comes to Epsilon: we will not start playing MW2 if it doesn't get a decent mod. We would rather play Serious Sam seriously than MW2.

Expected finishing position: 4th (if they enter)

oXmoze

 Kevin "frenchy" Heraudet
 Antoine "JooKzZi" Dumontet
 Guillaume "risky" Plassier
Yann "glory" coumes
Leonard "rukkae" Alzeto

oXmoze are the second of the foreign teams to make the leap from across the water to come and play in the tournament. They are also not very happy with the decision to play MW2 as they claim it is simply not ready for competitive play.

Chances wise I don't think these players are going to be able to compete for the first place, but I think with some big games they could possibly take a podium finish. There have been rumours that these players have been playing quite a bit of MW2 and have "keened up" a few of the maps. Even though the maplist has yet to be published, this could prove useful if they do know where the best positions on the maps are etc.

As for the individual players, they have had to replace one of their normal line up, dudek who has decided to stop gaming. They have replaced him with rukkae who has played with some of the players before. They could use this to their advantage again and possibly affect some of the other teams. We will just have to wait and see.

oXmoze member Frenchy spoke to Tek9 about their chances and the decision to have MW2 at the event:

With regards to i38, I think playing it on cod6 is really retarded and stupid because the game is just, well, without any mod, no dedicated servers, no /record.. And I also think that it's insane to play a game that we hardly know on the esport scene. That's why in my opinion, CoD4 would have been more appropriate for this event.

Concerning Call of Duty 4, it seems to be a bit inactive, even dead, because of the release of CoD6. However, I think that CoD4 will be back, and hopefully will be considered in a way that CS 1.6 is, in the esports scene. Making a new game every year is very disturbing for the stability of the community. Currently, I think that it's better to stay With CoD4, to have an opportunity to be selected for the most prestigious competitions in the world. Whatever happens, we are pleased to attend this LAN, even if it's not Call of Duty 4.

When it comes to our team, dudek has stopped gaming, which is why rukkae, one of my old teammates, will join us for the event. I would to thank Verygames, uNk and teemu for supporting us and allowing us to attend i38 in Newbury.

Expected finishing position: 5th

Team Infused

Chris "chenson" Henson
Robbie "robzje" Heaton
Lee "PukKa" Martin
George "RAIVZ" Marsh
David "ono" McConnell (Stand-In)

Infused have been another one of the UK teams that have been really playing the game quite a bit over the last few days since it has been released. This is going to be their biggest strength going into the tournament.

Individually they are a good bunch of players but not the best. They will not be able to rely on their team work and 1on1 ability to win all their matches against the big teams. For these guys to walk away with a podium finishing they will either have to get really lucky or have done a lot of preparation on the maps and made sure they know exactly how to use all the weapons they are given.

I think they will struggle to match the team work of some of the bigger teams as well as trying to match them on individual skill. However, this is a new game, and people keep saying that CoD is a random game, so maybe they will get the random factor and cause a few upsets. We will have to wait and see.

Tek9 spoke to Wannabe who can't come. He is being replaced by ono who has played in Infused before:

Initially we were a bit disappointed that MW2 was the game of choice for i38 however sometimes things work out that way. The guys have just accepted that whining and moaning isn't going to change anything so we are really just getting on with it. At worst it will be a fun weekend for the guys.

Personally I am still hoping that the game is playable but i highly doubt it. We will definitely be sticking together after iseries and hopefully playing CoD4 as we have made loads of progress recently. Also I'd like to say a big thank you to chavy scottish dude ono for coming along and agreeing to merc for me! Much love hombre <3!!

Expected finishing: 6th

101st Airborne Battalion

This isn't exactly a team as such, but rather it is the "random" factor. With it being a new game and aimed at the public players, it could be a great chance for teams that would usually get destroyed by dignitas and co to put up a good fight.

Most likely these guys have been playing for hours on the public servers to try and get their ranks up and unlock their nice new shiny red dot site. They will have got the hours in, and as people have been saying, an extra couple of hours on this game could make all the difference. Who knows what the random teams are going to be like, or if they will be able to match the strength of the others, but I don't think any game is going to be a walk in the park for the big teams.

Previously the group stages had always been a walk in the park for the big teams, but now I think it could be a lot more interesting, with the big teams underestimating just how much the lower teams know about this new game.

Expected Finishing: anywhere from 4th/5th to last