The dust has settled on the E-Sports Entertainment Association’s LAN Finals event and one team has emerged victorious

Once again North American Team Fortress 2 has managed to pique European curiosities, as the fans tuned in to streams and SourceTVs in their droves over the weekend. The diehards amongst you battled against your need for sleep to catch some of the late action on Friday and Saturday and were not disappointed.

Whether you enjoyed the frantic action or the heated debates on European vs American play styles, there was definitely something for everyone.

The fixtures served as a good showcase for unlocks, maps and game modes not used in the European scene, with some of the more staunch “vanilla” fans warming to the weird and wonderful American game. We were thoroughly tickled by the spectacle of Manny “SoLIDSnaKE” Sy’s four man decapitation spree on Granary, leaving a decimated Blight team scratching their heads and the macabre Sniper dance of death captivated us on King of the Hill map, Viaduct, with insatiable Daniel “carnage” Sturdivant facing off against the infamous Justin “justin” White. Good times!

With a sizeable cash prize pot at stake the standard of the games themselves was quite good; three of the six matches were ended on a tiebreaker map, keeping the excitement levels high. The Grand Final turned out to be the pick of the bunch as Blight Gaming emerging from the Lower Bracket to face the team who had sent them there, complexity Gaming. Tables were turned and turned again as both teams managed to lose on the maps they had picked; compLexity putting in a domineering Kritzkrieg powered performance on Yukon, and Blight bringing the aggression on Granary.

There could be only one winner though, and complexity managed to clinch it in a 5-4 overtime victory on Badlands that went back and forth more times than an umpire’s head at centre court on Wimbledon. Although all four teams that attended will walk away with a slice of the prize pie, it is compLexity Gaming who walk away with the lion’s share and here’s what their suave front-man had to say:

Statement from Brad “PYYYOUR” Ross

Like we always do we saved our most effective styles for LAN. We were happy we only dropped one map during the whole playoffs. It was interesting that on Badlands we went to mid every round like turtles, yet, we used that to our advantage during the golden cap round by everyone focusing and pushing the point like madmen. We are looking forward to next season and our recently green-lighted European conquest.

The Final Standings

Overall things ran pretty smoothly for a LAN event once you got used to the quirky “two halves” format. It was great to see them updating the fixture details so quickly and the wealth of articles and interviews on ESEAnews.com; shout-out to the excellent Everett “rk-“ Wells.

Keep it on Cadred for all your LAN action needs: it’s just over two weeks until Multiplay’s i39 event in Newbury and you know we will be there!

ESEA LAN Finals: Brackets & Fixtures
ESEA SourceTV Demos