Michael 'Rickeh' McGhee continues his "Battle Of" series, this time? That battle of the ages.

In one of our many weekly meetings Dr. Gonzo, DuRuS and myself got the chance to pitch our ideas to each other about various articles or features we could do that would interest the readers of the site. One that was brought up was the battle of the games piece, in which we would write about a fictional match between the two best teams from both 1.6 and CS:S, on CS Promod, with the added bonus that it would be entirely possible the match could take place. When on the subject another idea came up, what about a battle of the ages? Time and again we have seen various fictional bouts between great teams or athletes played out on our TV's. From the great "super fight" between Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano, to the brilliantly made Celebrity Deathmatch - an absolutely genius program in which we got to see various celebrities, both dead and alive, fight to the death in play-dough form.

Since the beginnings of competitive CS:S there have been a select few teams that have been a cut above the rest. Teams that won almost everything they entered and teams that were a joy to watch. It's the same with every sport or game, at any one point in time there is a team that is that little bit better than anyone else. Something various writers, tacticians and spectators have fantasized about for years is the chance to pit these teams and players from different eras against each other, and decide the winner. I don't know how many times I saw commentators and pundits drool over the possible bout between Brett Favre and Peyton Manning at the superbowl, or compare the Brazil team of the 70's the Argentina's world cup winning squad in the 80's. So for this article I'll be taking two of the great source teams that didn't get the chance to play each other in their primes, and doing a run through of what I think the outcome would be. So in true Celebrity Deathmatch style; LETS GET IT ON!

If only we could see this for real...

Pandemic	vs.	Birmingham Salvo
Kyle 'Mustang' Cummings Jon 'juan' Mumm Nick 'nickn0it' Nowakowski Mike 'paradox' Stanowski Grant 'Griff' Hall		Sam 'RattlesnK' Gawn Elliot 'wez' Walsh Pete 'pt' Wright James 'wilzOOO' Wilson Marc 'Mangiacapra' Mangiacapra

Team Pandemic:

As many people know competitive CS:S across the Atlantic is huffing and puffing through its final remaining days on its way to a slow but dignified death, however it wasn't always like that. Before the days of the CGS there were as many American teams capable of winning LANs as there was in Europe. Boasting a huge amount of world class players teams such as Hyper, verGe, EFG and x3o constantly caught the attention of us Europeans with their inventive style of play as well as raw talent. When the CGS came around the talent pool was boosted tenfold as everyone wanted a piece of the pie. Teams would put crazy hours into the game harboring the same dreams as hundreds of others, alas when the first season draft was over it was quite apparent that very few of these teams had a shot of being picked up by a franchise.

One of those teams who missed out were verGe, having won a number of events in the run-up to the combine they let themselves down by under performing when it mattered. The largly intact lineup would then go on to join the Pandemic organisation where they quickly established themselves as the best team outwith the CGS. The team managed to win the summer CPL in 2007, beating teams such as Turmoil and Hyper in the process, they finished a very respectable 4th at the NewEgg LAN - an event that was also visited by almost every CGS franchise and considered to have the best turnout in American CS:S history - after losing out to team 3D in the lower bracket final. The team also managed to consistently punch above their weight in the CEVO-P league, finishing 4th at the playoffs.

A year later at the second CGS combine the team tried again, this time they did themselves justice beating Check Six and coL and narrowly losing out to Carolina Core on their way to a 3rd place finish. Four of the team would later be drafted into teams 3D, Venom and OPTX. The decision to split them up was frowned upon by many who thought the team deserved to be drafted as one, considering the length of time they had played together, and just how well they worked together.

In Jon 'juan' Mumm they have one of the most intelligent players and best callers in the game, he was so good at it he made his very own website. Kyle 'Mustang' Cummings is a player who, when on form, can tear apart any team and is devastating with a rifle in his hands. Mike 'paradox' Stanowski has played at the top of the scene for years and is a true all rounder, capable of using both the AWP and a rifle to an awesome standard it is no wonder he was swiftly picked up by OPTX for the second season of the CGS. Add do them Grant 'Griff' Hall, another supremely intelligent player who can pick apart teams defenses at will and Nick 'nickn0it' Nowakowski - who is in my opinion the best AWPer in the history of the game - and you have a formidable lineup. To this day the are considered by many as one of the best American CS:S teams ever, which makes them a perfect candidate for this article.

Michael 'Rickeh' McGhee continues his "Battle Of" series, this time? That battle of the ages.

Birmingham Salvo:

Where do I start with this team? When the core of the team switched from CS 1.6 for the first season of the CGS they demolished every team they came across at the draft - xcept one! - and were drafted into the Salvo franchise without much hesitation. When they attended the UK championship they were humiliated by London Mint, however when they flew out to the states the team went through the first season undefeated, beating both Singapore and Chicago Chimera - a match the franchise lost overall even though the CS:S team won by a large margin.

During the off season some changes were made to the lineup that did so well in the first season, in came Elliot 'wez' Walsh and James 'wilzOOO' Wilson in place of Stuart 'Harriman' Harriman and Adam "AdY" Brown in time for the second CGS combine. They went through the combine undefeated beating g4h and fnatic on the way and were re-drafted into the Salvo franchise. At the world finals they got off to a losing start against Mexico City Furia, although the franchise as a whole progressed giving the team another chance to prove themselves. They did that by beating Carolina Core in the semi final, and San Fransisco OPTX in the final, becoming the first, and only European team to win the CGS in its history. The team also put in a sterling performance in the individual finals finishing second after a closely contested final against Dallas Venom.

Discounting the teams success in the CGS they managed to win just about every event they attended with their revised roster. They managed to win the PC Gamer showdown, beating London Mint, TCM and Reason on the way to picking up the £5000 first prize. They won i33 - albeit with RED in place of wez - which was considered one of the most competitive events of the year, they then went on to win both i34 and i35 with relative ease, defeating Reason Gaming in both finals. Only IG5 alluded the team thanks to a narrow lost to London Mint in the lower bracket final.

The Salvo team won the biggest prize of all(Picture courtesy of the CGS)

When the CGS went into liquidation the team took on the Dignitas moniker but struggled to really find the form that saw them crowned CGS champions. Their first I series loss in over a year at the hands of Reason Gaming was the beginning of the end for the team as they were slowly torn apart by motivation problems and roster changes. Sam 'RattlesnK' Gawn was the only remaining member of the old side still playing for team Dignitas before they decided to call it a day only weeks ago. Players Europe and Worldwide still remember the team fondly though as they were without doubt one of the best ever.

Pete 'pt' Wright was one of the most dangerous rifle players in the CGS as he showed in both seasons, constantly picking up vital kills against the best players in the world. He was, in my opinion the best and most consistent rifler ever. Elliot 'wez' Walsh was a close second to pt when it came to rifling, always known for having superb aim I have never seen a major frag movie without this player popping up and him along with wilzOOO could pick apart any team when they were on form. Sam 'RattlesnK' Gawn, the teams talisman, caller, AWPer and all round star man was one of the most deadly players in the CGS. It eventually got to the stage where teams would create strategies just to avoid him and his AWP. Completing the lineup was the hugely underrated Marc 'Mangiacapra' Mangiacapra, he was the "holding midfielder" of Dignitas, never one to pull off spectacular shots or carry his team to victory he always did just enough to get his team the win, you could call him the eSports equivalent of Niel Lennon.

I'll be doing a fictitious match report on how I think the game would pan out. In the interest of fairness it will be using the CGS ruleset as both teams excelled under that ruleset.

de_inferno

First Half:

We get underway with the typical knife round, it is always vital but on a map like de_inferno it carries extra importance due to how bias it can be towards the CT side. It is won no problem by Salvo and they choose to start on CT. The first round begins and the Pandemic side start at a slow pace, weighing up the Brits before they make a move, nickn0it opens up the round with an early pick at banana dropping RattlesnK who had used a good spawn to get to the car. The team capitalize with an A rush, there is little wez can do to hold off all 5 of Pandemic and he drops after picking off 2, with the bomb down Pandemic secure the first round with some smart play by paradox, doing enough to keep pt off the defuse and allowing the bomb to blow. Round 2 starts off in much the same fashion with Pandemic controlling the pace of the game, nickn0it isn't quite as lucky at banana however as Salvo switch up to a more defensive playstyle, using 2 rifles on the A bombsite. This time it is RattlesnK who draws first blood on Griff as Pandemic set up for a split on the B site, they shake off the early delay and send 4 men through the apartments, taking out Mangiacapra and wilzOOO without reply. With the bomb down on B site and 4 men set up in position to defend it Salvo decide it would be better to save and take the next round.

With Salvo trailing 2-0 they decide to switch up the play a bit and go aggressive on the Americans to change the pace, it works perfectly as pt and wez combine to take out 3 oncoming Pandemic players at banana, the round is wrapped up by wilzOOO who shuts down the remaining two players in mid. This shifts the balance in favour of Salvo as they begin to take a run of rounds without any comeback from Pandemic, with the score at 5-2 it takes a brilliant clutch from Juan to win the round, taking down 3 players on A before getting the bomb down and finishing off the 4th, it is sloppy by Salvo who decided to chase the kill and it gives Pandemic enough money to buy guns for the last round. On the final round Pandemic decide to go for an all out rush on the arch side of mid. Waiting for them is RattlesnK who swiftly shuts it down with 3 kills before he is taken out. Pandemic manage to make it a 2v2 thanks to some great play by Mustang but confusion on where the remaining players are cause them to run straight into the two rotators in middle, pt gladly puts and end to the round and the half with some crisp deagle shots.

First Half Salvo 6-3 Pandemic

Second Half:

The second half kicks off the same way the first half ended as Salvo storm into the lead with a brilliant split on the A bombsite, with 3 heading through mid arches and two pushing banana. Pandemic manage to right a few wrongs in the next round though as they prevent the same happening again by stacking 2 in archside, with mustang picking up the 3 kills and winning his team the round. The match continues in that fashion as Pandemic seem capable of dealing with everything this Salvo side throw at them, both Griff and nickn0it stand out for the Americans as both manage some big plays in the 3rd and 4th round, nickn0its AWP proving just too strong for the Salvo team.

On the 5th round with the score at 4-1 it takes an awesome pick by Mangiacapra in apartments to open up the B bombsite, the Salvo players swarm on it before Pandemic can adjust and they lock out the round wiping out every CT. Before they can get on a roll however a push through the apartments by Juan sees him take out 3 unsuspecting Terrorists in second mid, much to the anger of the Salvo captain RattlesnK who rallies his troops in time to win the next round guaranteeing his team the draw. At that point the heads of the Pandemic players drop, although they put up a valiant effort in the last round taking it down to a 1v1 wez does enough to secure the round and the match.

Final Score Salvo 10-9 Pandemic

Obviously this is a relatively new concept and any feedback on the idea or execution would be appreciated, if you like the idea then there will be more done in the coming weeks. This article is what I feel the result would be between these two teams, the poll below will let you decide what you think it would be.