CS-Nation

Covering the future of Counter-Strike
cpl day 4
interview: cpl day 4
I got to the event this morning to witness the various matches, as revolution Sports pulled the upset on Forsaken. I scheduled an interview but for whatever reason never got it with them, unfortunately. Then some big games occured on the upper bracket of round 3, with the Swedish Eyeballers defeated 3D 13-5, D!E beating TSG, The Titans taking out Good Game, g3neration x taking out 4Kings and mouz defeating zEx. This was an intense bracket with all the matches, as really it was make or break for many teams.

The lower bracket round 4 is when things got very interesting, with United 5, TAU, Gatekeepers, TAG, E7, zEx and Alternate Attax all being eliminated. All of these teams were expected to make it even farther, but unfortunately just kind of fell out.

Lower round 5 was even more insane, with NoA beating 4K in double overtime. Quite the intense match, I got into it right after my Angel interview where I got the exclusive news that CAL was becoming pay to play. I got on TSN and broke the news after the NoA match finished to much surprise and chagrin. Meanwhile, 3D had already been defeated along with Good Game. revolution Sports, the masters of the upset, lost to TSG in overtime by a score of 16-13.

The upper quarter finals were pretty sick, as EYE destroyed mouz and D!E upset Rival, who would go on to place 3rd in the tournament. SK proved their worth by taking out underdog g3neration x, and The Titans took out D-skyline in overtime.

Lower round 6 was just as sick of a round, with Rival defeating NoA in double overtime. This really established Rival as the team to beat, because they eventually made their way to the lower finals. Mouz eliminated MiBR, EG was dropped, and TSG lost as well.

The match that everyone will be talking about, though, is the SK vs. Rival match:

SK's comments following win over Rival in triple overtime
bds: To be honest, I thought we were going to lose at least 2 times because mill is not a european map and rival played really good the whole tournament, so we knew it was going to be tough, so I don't know, we just made it and we were asking for rounds, and rounds took place, so I was really happy.

spawn: [couldn't talk due to voice being gone from yelling]

fisker: I can't describe the feeling you're going through when you do three overtimes, sometimes you think you've lost the game, it's intense...

HeatoN: I'm pretty bad with the scout, and I bought the wrong weapon, noone wanted to take the weapon! So I shot a guy without the zoom and it was pretty good.

CPL Team SK Gaming.
Interview with Rival
CS-Nation: Rival has had a tough road so far in the CPL. What's been your most challenging battle yet?
Rival Players: It was definitely versus NoA on dust2, we've played them at events before and they demolished us, this time we were a bit more prepared, it went into double overtime and we came out on top with good pistol round strats. It was probably the toughest match we've played; it's a bit of a rivalry with them living in Southern California now near us, but it's definitely really fun to beat them.
CS-Nation: You're definitely in the top 6. What's Rival's plans after this event?
Rival Players: Find a house to sponsor us? WCG is coming up, we're going to definitely try to get more sponsors, get more help from our current sponsors, and be a good team. Just get to more events, if we'd been at EverLan...
CS-Nation: Ph33r, why did you return to Rival after your hop to compLexity?
Ph33r: [team laughs] Basically I thought about it for awhile, and coL, of course I got paid a salary, but it's not as much as I could get playing for Rival and winning tourneys all the time, also they're my friends and a great group of guys.

CPL Team 3D's Torbull Watches 3D Play.
CS-Nation: How do you feel about the comparisons made between your original CAL-i winning roster and your current?
Exodus: I was on both teams, it feels good to be CAL-i champs again, the first one we played WEW and they didn't have their full lineup. This one we got to test out the tourney comps, we made a great comeback and it showed a lot of character with the team. It was really a good thing for the event itself and boosted a great mindset through the event.
CS-Nation: What are you feelings on the CAL-i finals being seemingly in "secrecy"?
Rival Players: The stage match aspect didn't bother us, I thought it was weird we played in almost secrecy, but hey we won and got prizes and did well.
CS-Nation: Are international tournaments in Rival's future?
Rival Players: Definitely, once we attain financial sponsorship we're there.
CS-Nation: Thanks for the interview and good luck in the tournament.

editor's note: Rival placed 3rd in the event.

Interview with D-skyline - digital and natu
D-Skyline proved their worth by taking out g3x. The upper bracket semi-finals consisted of SK beating the Titans narrowly in double overtime and EYE saying bye to D!E, sending them to the lower bracket. At this point I got a quick interview with D-skyline preceding their D!E match.

CS-Nation: I'm back with Digital and natu, I interviewed these guys on the first day, and I called it that they were going to go far and do great, and they've pulled through for me. They did lose to Titans in overtime on train, but they're doing extremely well and are about to play another upset team, d!e. Give me your thoughts.
Digital: We don't know much about d!e, obviously they are good since they got far, but nuke is a good map for us, so I'm optimistic, I'm looking forward to it.

natu: I haven't heard of the team either, I just know they're good because they beat U5 and other good teams, so we're not underestimating them at all.
CS-Nation: Let's roleplay for a minute. You guys win the CPL. Where do you go from there?


CPL Team D!E.
Digital: Probably back to the hotel and drink some beer.

natu: And take a vacation, probably take a vacation together, and then throw some chips on people who said we weren't going to do well.

Digital: We're beating the odds, Finnish CS is not known for it's teams and we're beating the odds.
CS-Nation: And you're already in the top 6.
Digital: And it hasn't even hit me yet! I'm thought we were in the top 30, top 20, and I ask the CPL admin "what are we now?" and was surprised.
CS-Nation: This is the first tournament that's had this many teams as well, so it really means that much more.
Digital: Especially with the changes, the changes to the money made it equal more skillwise, the change made it much more competitive. [halo players start screaming because they win some match] I don't know how you can be so happy about some [expletive]-up game [all laugh]. Anyways, as you can see, Titans just lost to SK on overtime, so it's much more even now.

Natu: Because of the money you get out of planting the bomb it's added a whole new element to play, and there's more weapon rounds now.
D-skyline made good on their worth by defeating D!E easily, and while The Titans put up a good fight, Rival convincingly beat them out. In the upper bracket finals, SK was defeated surprisingly by EYE by a 13-9 margin.

   

  

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