Michael 'Rickeh' McGhee brings you part 2 of the Battle Of The Ages series.

After writing an article on the Battle of the games last month we bandied about some ideas on what else we could do with the series, in a meeting with myself, Dr. Gonzo and DuRuS we decided to could have a regular feature using the same idea, only it would be the Battle of the ages. Time and again people ask the question "Who would win?" as they compare teams from different eras. Not only in CS:S, or in eSports for that matter but in almost every single sport the idea of pitting two greats who never got the chance to play at the same time against each other is talked and fantasized about constantly.

You can find the first article in the series Here.

In the first installment I had decided that after giving you the facts and the histories of both teams I would write a fictitious match report based on how I thought it would go. That idea didn't seem to go down to well with a lot of people as they found it rather silly. This time around I'll pitch the match, bring you the facts and allow you to decide for yourself on who you think would win. So without further ado, lets introduce the teams.

EFG	vs.	fnatic
Laurent 'Warmach1ne' Keoula Trevor 'p0s' Randolph Yazan 'ClowN' Ammari Moe 'mOE' Assad Ryan 'pham' Pham		Quint 'Blaze' Spierenburg Milan 'xertion' Veeger Sandor 'proph' de Munck Mark 'AirRaid' Koks Luuk 'darky' Verink

EFGaming

Team EFG, previously known as PowersGaming - not to be confused with UK side Power Gaming - played at the top of their scene for years. The core of the team formed in the early days back in 2005 and swiftly rose through the ranks to cement their place at the top of American CS:S. At the teams first event, the CPL Summer 2005 they managed to beat teams such as Devastation, Check Six and Upper to first place taking home the prize, it proved a taster for things to come for the team as they dominated their opponents at almost every event they attended.

When American CS:S began to hit its prime in 06/07 the team were always up there at each event. Normally trading wins with the likes of verGe, Hyper! and Forbidden. In Moe 'mOE' Assad they had a player thought of as the best AWPer in the US, consistently leading his team to wins in seemingly impossible situations with his determination and skill, even now he is fondly remembered as one of the best players to ever come out of the states. Two other key members Yazan 'Clown' Ammari and Laurent 'Warmach1ne' Keoula helped to make the core of the team the most feared in the states. Warmach1ne was well known for his sometimes one man shows, an inconsistent player but when he was firing on all cylinders very few people could stop him, on the other hand ClowN was one of the most stable and consistent players around, always performing well no matter the situation.

One of the many incarnations of team EFG.(Image courtesy of Gotfrag)

Trevor 'p0s' Randolph is a big personality both inside and outside of the game, never one to mix his words a lot of people paid more attention to his persona than to his in-game prowess. He was a hugely under rated player and constantly proved why he deserved to be in such a strong lineup. The fifth spot in the team was filled by a host of different names including sunman, r0ckst4r, dominator and deppy. However the player I feel helped this team progress the most is Ryan 'pham' Pham, a seasoned 1.6 player he made the switch just before the first season of the CGS and quickly got to grips with CS:S as he became one of the most talked about players around, with sometimes unreal aim it was little wonder why.

During a glorious spell in 2006 team EFG dominated the US LAN scene, with consecutive victories at Gigabits, Lanfest, TXGF and Ryu LAN. This propelled the team into the #1 spot in the country and 2007 started in much the same fashion as they began their quest to be drafted into the first season of the CGS with a win at the Championship Gaming Invitational event, as well as 2nd place in season 5 of the CEVO-P league, losing out to Dallas Venom in overtime in the final. They also managed a second place at the NewEgg LANfest, ahead of almost every other prospective CGS team, knocking fan favourites coL into the lower bracket in the process. When the combine for the CGS came around they were underdogs to be drafted even though they were considered one of the best teams there, most people believed that the franchises would stick to the 1.6 teams who had made the switch.

On draft day the team watched as each franchise selected a 1.6 team to represent them in the CGS, however on the last pick for the San Fransisco OPTX franchise Kat Hunter went for them. They were the only true CS:S team to be drafted in the first season of the CGS and didn't fare too badly in the regular season, finishing a respectable 7 wins to 6 losses with the franchise finishing second overall. Sadly the franchise didn't make it to the world finals of the CGS as they lost out to Caroline Core and Chicago Chimera. That was the end for that incarnation of the lineup as Trevor 'p0s' Randolph and Ryan 'pham' Pham both departed the lineup soon after the end of the first season of the CGS.

fnatic

fnatic are a team that really need no introduction. Like PowersGaming(EFG) they formed in 2005 with the players proph, xertion, vivid, Blaze and Gigre under the name Northern Darkness. The team played with the core of this lineup for some time before bringing in AirRaid as their ingame leader. It was under this tag that the team rose to the forefront of European CS:S, coming second in ClanBase's EuroCup XII - one of the major events back then. It was in July of 2006 that tragedy struck the team as one of the founding members Frank 'vivid' Leenaars was killed in a car accident, having been great friends with some of the team for years it was a huge blow for them as they not only lost a great player but a great friend.

When the team returned to the scene they brought in top Dutch player Kevin 'neonice' Dumans and began to play under the tag temp.css. It was under this tag people began to realize just how good they were, they attended i29 with the team and made their way into the finals in convincing fashion, defeating UK stalwarts Zboard and thrashing Reason Gaming, they topped it off with an overtime win against Reason Gaming again in the grand final. The most notable difference between this team and most others was just how close they were, each round won was greeted with cheers and hugs and each match won caused them to go berserk, at the time it was like nothing anyone had seen before. Whilst they were loud inside the game and in the moment, outside they were some of the most friendly and humble people to grace CS:S, they liked to socialise at events and were rarely disrespectful to anyone, within months they became the favourite team of almost every fanboy.

Quint 'Blaze' Spierenburg was known as the most experienced player in the lineup in the early days as he tried to pass his knowledge onto the certain talents that the rest of the squad were, regularly voted as the best player in Europe he was key to the teams success and dominance in 2007. Mark 'AirRaid' Koks was also vital to the teams success thanks to his intelligence in game, he became known as one of the best callers in Europe, he was also deadly with a rifle in his hands. The clan AWP spot fell to Sandor 'proph' De Munck, the youngest player in the team. When in game you couldn't tell he was the least experienced as he sometimes turned fnatic into a one man show, dominating with his AWP, he lacked consistency though which was perhaps his only flaw. Milan 'xertion' Veeger was the loudest player in the team and his personality carried them through a lot of tough situations, he could also use both the AWP or rifle to an immensely high standard, something rarely seen in the game. When Luuk 'Darky' Verink was brought into the lineup the final piece in the puzzle was found, known as probably the best support player ever he did the dirty work for his side, always there when needed to pick up the big rounds.

Team fnatic, the closest CS:S will get to professional?(Image courtesy of fnatic)

The teams performances and style caught the eye of the fnatic organization as they were picked up in time for the next I series, they also made a change to the lineup bringing in Luuk 'Darky' Verink to replace Frank 'neonice' Dumans. It was then that they would begin to dominate to such an extent they are still remembered today as one of, if no the best team to ever play the game. A second place finish at i30 was followed up by gold at LAN79, a gold at The eXperience and gold at i31, the I series became somewhat of a home from home for the team who always managed good placings at the event and regularly advertised their love for the it.

When the CGS combine came to town the team were clear favourites to be drafted having dominated all of Europe for almost the entire year beforehand, they showed up to the combine without Sandor 'proph' de Munck as he was too young to play in the CGS, instead they took Rutger "ylSs" Smeding. They finished second to EYEBallers, defeating team NoA on the way yet controversially they weren't drafted into either Berlin Allianz or Stockholm Magnetik as they went for NoA and EYEBALLERS respectively. Many people accused the GM's of being bias towards their countrymen as they just couldn't believe why arguably the best team ever failed to be drafted. The team took the news as graciously as one could though and quickly got back to winning ways as they went out to prove why they should have been drafted. They won Slap #13 followed by 2nd at Digitalsace, 3rd at i32 and 3rd at LAN79 before the next combine.

They went into the second combine as underdogs this time as the team had been struggling to show the dominance they had in 2007, they managed some excellent performances though as they finished second place again, beating Stockholm Magnetik and London mint, only losing out to Birmingham Salvo in the final. At the draft both Quint 'Blaze' Spierenburg and Milan 'xertion' Veeger were drafted into the Berlin Allianz franchise, effectively putting an end to one of the greatest teams to ever play the game. After the CGS the team reformed but failed to find the same spark they had before it, at the beginning of this year they finally called time on their illustrious careers. They will go down in history as one of the best, most humble and most friendly teams ever.

The Match:

Although Berlin Allianz - featuring Blaze and Xertion - met San Fransisco OPTX in the second season of the CGS both teams were largly different to the ones discussed in the article. The match would be a true clash of the titans as both teams had long spells at the top of their respective scenes. If both were playing in their prime I could see no outcome other than a fnatic win as they were quite simply the greatest team ever in my opinion.