If the CoD community could even become a quarter of what the Starcraft 2 community is, I guarantee you good things will be in-store for Black Ops.

And we’re back! I’d like to begin by wishing everyone a happy New Year and hopefully the promise of many good things to come for eSports in 2011! It pains me to say the Black Ops community is currently in a state flux right now. Between various issues surrounding different leagues and the gametypes to be played I am very concerned about the future of Black Ops. Combine the various antics on certain members of the community and things could certainly be going better. Since I was on break last week, let’s break it down league by league, issue by issue:

National ESL

ESL recently concluded their CTF Invite Cup last night and needless to say it did not go as planned. I won’t bother with an entire dissertation of exactly what happened because phear did an excellent job of that over on CoDSource so I recommend heading over there the particulars. More importantly coming out of ESL is the announcement of their Black Ops league structure. I have to say, I am continually impressed with how well ESL has approached Black Ops thus far after being somewhat skeptical when they first ventured into CoD.

ESL thus far has offered more Black Ops events than any other league up to this point and has done so with the game in less than desirable conditions. Combine the pointless and unjustified crap they have received from the community, I’m half surprised they are still offering Black Ops events. If anything this community should be EXTREMELY greatful for everything ESL has done and should be working to support them grow our community instead of continuing with juvenile acts like what took place in the CTF Invite Cup finals.

CyberGamer

CG’s first ProvingGrounds tournament is almost over as Pure and eMg are waiting for Nicholas to return from holiday. In the meantime, CG announced their own league structure and besides several Black Ops events, they will also be offering CoD2 competitions as well. I personally think this is an extremely unwise decision on CG’s part as I only see something like this hurting the community. I know Hill has remained adamant that CoD2 will not see major prize money and that the competition is just for fun, but even when you have a “fun” competition offered it detracts time away from other competitions. I’ve already begun to see a plethora of people playing CoD2 over Black Ops recently despite clearly knowing there will be many more Black Ops events and prizes offered. Regardless, I do think CG will remain a strong competitive outlet for Black Ops in the future.

CEVO & Alienware Arena

The Alienware Arena Black Ops event is still allowing teams to register so I highly suggest anyone who has not done so head over and register. Currently there are a total of 170 teams registered, but only about 60 of them are full teams actually ready to compete. I can’t stress how important it for the community to put a good foot forward in these large events. Additionally, CEVO announced their own Black Ops Alpha Tournament last night so I highly suggest everyone head over there and register as well. CEVO chose to hold off after Black Ops was released before offering their first event in order to give the game time to mature, and now that things seem to be at least a little more stable I think the community can certainly look forward to a really solid event from Ian and Co.

Yea………..

The Gametype Issue: CTF vs S&D

In my eyes this is a huge issue in Black Ops at the moment. I’ve talked with numerous people on both sides of the spectrum here and I honestly feel the continued gametype divide is going to end up ruing the game’s future competitive potential. While many people are embracing the CTF gametype (it is also my personal preference) there are still many more who remain attached to S&D. What I think is most disturbing about this whole situation is the fact many S&D teams cannot give a good reason they won’t play CTF and will not even give the gametype a chance. In my eyes, we need to do what is best for the longevity and success of the Black Ops competitive community. I don’t know if CTF is the correct gametype of choice, but I do know fighting against change for the sake of change is not good for any game.

The two biggest arguments I hear for S&D is that all the previous Call of Duty games were played primarily S&D competitively and that the gametype most commonly mirrors Counter-Strike, a highly successful eSports title. Despite being very good points on the surface, there are numerous issues we have to realize in their regard. First, while CoD games have continually been played competitively as S&D, it has never enjoyed anywhere near the success other eSports titles have. I reference back to the old adage – “if you keep doing the same thing over and over again you’ll keep getting the same result.” Secondly, people in this community have to come to understand Counter-Strike is NOT the most successful eSports game at the moment – that honor belongs to Starcraft 2 (and perhaps SF4/fighting games ahead of CS).

As much as this community does not want to admit it, Starcraft 2 will be the primary PC eSports title (and perhaps the primary overall eSports title) in 2011. Combined with Counter-Strike, Quake Live, and Street Fighter IV/fighting genre, these four games are the core of eSports at the moment. This does not mean that other games cannot succeed competitively, but rather other titles should be built around these to foster a healthy and unique competitive environment.

Again, I’d like to reiterate I don’t know if CTF is truly the right direction for Black Ops over S&D. From my personal experiences I believe it is, however, until the leagues’ full competitions kick in we simply cannot know for sure. My only request is for everyone to keep their mind open – CTF and S&D teams alike. This community does not need to be split any more than it already has become.

The Community: A Final Thought

In conclusion, I’d just like to say a few things about the biggest problem plaguing Black Ops – the community. As much as I hate to preach, many of you need to grow up. We can sit around and talk all day about the many flaws within Black Ops as a game, but at the end of the day this game will only go as far as we take it. Why do you think Starcraft 2 is so successful? Yes, the game itself is awesome, but the community is even better. We should be working together to foster competition and grow our user base instead of continually flaming away on forums and IRC channels. So I urge you – take a look at the Starcraft 2 community as an example. If the CoD community could even become a quarter of what they are I guarantee you good things will be in-store for Black Ops.

Wrapping Up

I’d like to thank all of you who have supported this blog over the past couple weeks. Like many great ideas, things have not gone exactly according to plan, but I’d like to think I made good on my initial promise of providing coverage and an unbiased approach to the Black Ops community. I encourage you to be on the lookout (hopefully) Sunday for a special announcement that will affect the future of this blog. Until then…Happy New Year!

A minute to learn, a lifetime to master.

Developing competitive rulesets is challenging. It becomes even harder when faced with the numerous performance issues currently plaguing Call of Duty: Black Ops. Despite this, building a competitive structure is not just important for the community, but also for Black Ops’ potential to succeed. One of the best the ways to think about how Black Ops should be play competitively is to look at the most successful franchise in eSports history: StarCraft. StarCraft follows a very simple axiom – A minute to learn, a lifetime master. This concept is something that the community should try to foster within Black Ops: that any gamer can quickly pick it up and play in our events, but truly mastering the game takes great skill and teamwork.

Finding such balance can be difficult though. Changing settings – such as gun damages to make the game require more skill – is dangerous simply because no matter how objectively we look at the game, our view is biased. Just because something is extremely powerful within the game, should we modify it or take it out of the game completely? StarCraft has numerous builds and strategies that are extremely powerful, but at the end of the day there is always a counter strategy and build available and thus winning comes down to an individual player’s skill and ability to execute in the clutch.

This past week, CyberGamer and National ESL released details on their Proving Grounds Tournament and CTF Kickoff Cup respectively. With this information, the three major North American competitive leagues have officially begun the process of developing their individual Black Ops rulesets. While I already briefly touched on CEVO’s settings in my previous entry, let’s take a moment to compare the three announced settings.

Apologies in advance if I incorrectly labeled a league’s rules as I had to parse through each league’s announcement individually to create this table.

CyberGamer
Of all the leagues, CyberGamer’s first Black Ops event will be played the closest to the stock version of the game with the inclusion of both select perks and attachments. Addressing perks, CG has decided to allow all perks – with the exception of Second Chance – as well as their pro versions. While I do agree the inclusion of perks makes the game more dynamic, this presents numerous problems. First and foremost, such a ruleset essentially requires teams to unlock the pro version of all perks in order to compete at the same level.

While this should be generally easy to accomplish – just jump into an empty ranked server with your team and complete the objectives – it hinders newcomers from competing on a even platform. Furthermore, several pro perks offer advantages I’m not sure are suitable for competitive play, namely Marathon Pro. Having extended sprint is definitely makes the game faster, but unlimited sprint is just one step too far in my opinion when we cannot assume everyone competing will have the pro version.

Additionally, because the ruleset will include so much of the stock game, how will the CyberGamer admins officiate violations of the rules? If I “accidentally” use Rapid Fire because I “accidentally” switched to my AK-74u custom class, how will that be handled? Will every round I play with that particular class be forfeited? Officiating under this honor system requires very clear and strict rules such that those who might try to cheat the system are punished appropriately. While these issues are not necessarily at the forefront of our minds, they do create problems when presenting Black Ops as a competitive eSports title.

National ESL
Although National ESL was the last league to release their initial competitive ruleset, they did not disappoint. I find the inclusion of attachments and the exclusion of perks to be quite interesting from a competition standpoint. While attachments do offer several in-game performance advantages, they also offer the added bonus of customization. Additionally, without the Warlord perk, players will only have one attachment to choose from. I actually find this to be a good thing as it really puts pressure on the individual player to think about his chosen attachment.

One of the more interesting aspects to the ESL rules is the exclusion of the Dragunov, PSG1, and WA2000 Sniper Rifles. I never use these sniper rifles so I cannot speak firsthand, but I find their exclusion odd. Another interesting element of the ESL ruleset is the inclusion of the Inferred Scope. CEVO seems to be torn on whether it should be allowed, but CG has excluded it from their initial ruleset. Truthfully, I don’t have a strong opinion one way or another on whether Infrared Scopes, but that’s most likely because I have yet to see them used effectively in scrims firsthand.

This week’s video comes to us courtesy of bagel who originally posted it one TheTZ.net forums. While Yahtzee’s review Call of Duty: Black Ops does not include the multiplayer or PC performance issues, I believe it to be a fairly accurate overall review.

Recapping the Rulesets
Let me start off by saying I have no personal opinion as to which league’s ruleset is necessarily better than another. Frankly, I don’t even believe that is a subject that should be addressed as these are only initial rulesets for the league’s initial Black Ops events. Developing competitive rulesets take time, and rushing towards the finish line for the simple claim of “first” can be dangerous when the game and the community is not ready.

Fortunately, I don’t think any of the leagues above are going to make this mistake as they all seem to be approaching Black Ops the right way. Whether or not it was on purpose, I do find each league using the three distinct rulesets (1. no perks/attachments 2. yes perks/attachments 3. no perks/yes attachments) to be a good thing as it allows the community to fully test every aspect of the game in a competitive environment.

Wrapping Up
Ultimately, the ability to develop a lasting successful competitive eSports structure does not solely rest on the community’s shoulders. As organizers and players, we can only do so much with the tools provided to us within the context of the game system. Even competitive StarCraft required the assistance of Blizzard to help balance the various aspects of the game. Likewise, for Black Ops to succeed as a competitive eSports title it will also need support from its developer, Treyarch. In my next blog entry, I’ll be addressing this issue of developer support and have an interview with someone who currently works within the video game development industry.

Stay frosty…

we’re going deep and we’re going hard…

Welcome to “Callsign Bravo Six!” I’ve received a plethora of inquiries over the past few weeks about my plans for the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops and after surveying the current scene I have decided to continue producing CoD eSports content here on this blog for the time being. To separate this content from the other non-CoD content on ths blog, I have decided to call this mini-blog “Callsign Bravo Six.” Those of you wondering where this name came from, Ian Tannehill originally suggested it to me as “Bravo Six,” the callsign given to Captain John Price in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and needless to say he’s pretty awesome.

Now, on to how this blog will work. There are numerous sites that will be catering to the competitive CoD community and by no means is this blog meant to be a replacement to those platforms. This blog will be my own personal take, analysis, and opinion on the various happenings within the CoD competitive community, think World of Ming for Call of Duty. At the moment, this blog will run weekly on Friday or Saturday although this schedule and frequency could change based on competition schedules. I cannot promise to cover everything happening within the community, but I hope you find the content on this blog unbiased, both objective and subjective at appropriate times, and more than anything entertaining.

Let the fun begin…

Initial Game Thoughts
To start I think it’s important I let everyone know I do not have a good computer. In fact, I have terrible computer. I purchased a new laptop 4 years ago when I started college and have yet to upgrade or buy a new computer so here are the specifications for the machine I currently use play Black Ops:

Operating System: Windows 7 Enterprise 32bit
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.00GHz
RAM: 2.048 GB
Video: nVidia Quadro NVS 140 866MB

With every tweak currently available I am able to get roughly 20-40 FPS and less on certain maps as well as during fire-fights, smokes, and flashes. Despite these unfavorable playing conditions I have to admit I have been enjoying my time playing Black Ops. In fact, I’ve spent too much time playing and not enough time handling final schoolwork for the end of the semester. I’ve played free-for-all, team deathmatch, capture the flag, domination, demolition, and search & destroy in various pub and scrim servers and have had fun playing all of them.

Although the developers spent most of their time focusing on the console version of the game which left the PC version riddled with problems, the game is still enjoyable.

If I had to pick my overall favorite gametype to both play in pubs and scrims, it would have to be capture the flag. Perhaps I’m biased when it comes to CTF since the first video game I played online was 5v5 CTF in Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, but overall it’s a really solid gametype. Domination is extremely fun in public servers with all the players, perks, attachments, and killstreaks. I’ve only done a handful of domination scrims so I can’t speak too well from experience, but there is definitely potential if handled correctly.

Now, addressing search & destroy, there seems to be a very mixed sentiment in the community about whether search & destroy is a viable gametype for Black Ops. After playing it both in pubs and scrims I definitely think there is potential for the gametype to succeed in Black Ops, however, I don’t think it will remain the only competitive gametype.  Simply put, search & destroy is too varying across different maps and with different rulesets. Certain maps, such as WMD, are fantastic for search & destroy while others make you want to fall asleep. Demolition offers an interesting competitive dynamic as it keeps the basic elements of search & destroy, bomb planting, while mixing them with a faster game style. I have scrimmed demolition the least, but the one concern I’m told is that leagues are unable to change the respawn settings such that players respawn individually instead of in waves.

Overall, I think Treyarch did an excellent job with all of the gametypes. Some of these gametypes have problems that could present issues if they are to be played competitively; however, without adequately seeing enough scrims and/or matches it’s hard to make a definitive judgment on which gametype(s) are best. More than anything, I think the community needs to realize this fact and continue to play all of these gametypes and test various settings.

Leagues and Rulesets
In case you haven’t heard yet, CEVO announced the initial rulesets they will be using for the soon to be announced Alienware Arena event. You can check them out here from E-Rev TV. In addition the post, E-Rev’s Erick “Wantsome” Pauley got a chance to talk briefly with my good friend and head CEVO CoD admin Ian Tannehill.

For the most part, I generally like the individual gametype rulesets. The respawn settings look to mix a nice balance of fast play and competitive tactics. Additionally, I love the shortening of search & destroy round times to 1:30; I think that will definitely help speed the game up. What I am most concerned about, however, is the use of barebones settings – no perks or attachments.

I understand why this decision was made, because the current rcon server tool does not allow us to limit individual perks or attachments, but removing them right away could be dangerous. Another potential problem with going straight to barebones settings is that if/when we do get the ability to limit individual perks and attachments will they be put back into the game? If they are, how will the community react?

Moving on, ESL has pushed back the start of several of their community cups, but from what I understand they will most likely be starting soon. Although no official ruleset announcements have been made, like CEVO, I expect them to use multiple gametypes. As for whether they will also use barebones, I have not heard anything, but it would be interesting to see if they left all perks and attachments in the game. Additionally, I have not heard any official or unofficial word on CyberGamer’s plans, but I also expect they will consider using multiple gametypes.

In an effort to make this blog fun and interesting, I’ll be incorporating different elements each week, one of which being a video of the week. I’ll try to keep this CoD related, but I can’t promise this will always be the case. Since this is the first Callsign Bravo Six blog entry, I figured we’d get started with one of Captain Price’s epic speeches from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Community & Media
Over the past couple days since the launch of Black Ops there has been numerous strides made to improve the media coverage and overall Call of Duty community. Reverence has launched CoD-Central, my good friends from E-Rev have announced the E-Rev Network, GameAche has added CoD coverage, and Prince from TheTZ has begun plans to build a community hub.

While diversity in the community is definitely good, I am concerned about splitting gamers across too many “community” hubs. Back when I was working at Amped eSports, the CoD community was able to get news and features from both Amped and GotFrag. While the overall news found on our websites were essentially the same, the features and additional content we produced gave the community additional coverage of the scene. This situation is akin to being able to watch either the ESPN, CBS, or FOX, NFL pre-game shows on Sunday.

The difference in this situation is that Amped eSports and GotFrag were independent news platforms, not “community” hubs. Community hubs cannot function without a critical mass of users contributing and engaging in active dialogue. With so many potential community hubs, how will I know where is the best place to start a discussion such that it will reach the most competitive gamers? Despite this, by no means am I slanting any of these efforts as more CoD competitive content is always better. My only suggestion is that the community and these organizations proceed with care.

Wrapping Up
A new patch is going to be released within the next two hours according to PCDev’s Twitter, which will hopefully improve performance. While I expect some of the stuttering to be fixed, I doubt we will see any major performance increase. Earlier in the week I had a chance to talk about Black Ops and its competitive outlook with Ian Tannehill and Jock Yitch on the latest episode of BASHandSlash, I highly suggest you check it out. As for some technical details, I’m looking for a separate banner for this whole Callsign Bravo Six blog section. If you’re fairly good with graphics and want to help, you can find my contact information on the About Me page. Also, please let me know if you guys like the Disqus comment system. For those wondering how to post without logging in, just type your message, click the “Post as…” button, and then fill out the form. I’m personally a fan, but I’d be willing to change.  If you have any thoughts, comments, or suggestions about this blog, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me another way, I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time…

Apologies for my microphone quality.

Listen Here: E-Rev TV Roundtable

For those of you who don’t want to login to E-Rev’s website to listen, I’ve embedded the roundtable below. For some reason, it isn’t sizing right so my apologies for the overflow.

Finally, to wrap things up, ETS LAN in Montreal took place this weekend, so all in all not too bad. Now on to the real news…

With great sadness I unfortunately have decided to discontinue the regularity of this blog.  Now, I know what you’re thinking, WHY!?!?  I have made this decision not because of the amount, or lack, of the site’s traffic.  This has absolutely nothing to do with the declining state of competitive CoD4 nor does it have anything to do with gaming or eSports in general.  I will continue to volunteer my time with CEVO, so I will not be leaving eSports entirely.  I love eSports, I don’t think I could ever just walk away and never come back, but at this moment in my life I need to take a step back.  This blog will continue to stay up, however, its posts will not be the weekly coverage you are used to.

Until then, game on.

-Ted

CEVO-Professional Week 7:1
Pandemic > x3o
MoB Gaming > Hostile Faction 16-5
MoBdeep > ptL
Pure eSports > BackSlash Gaming -MOTW

Probably on any other given night I would tell you we have a number of exciting matches to look forward to, but tonight, I can’t. For starters, MoB Gaming quickly dispensed of Hostile Faction last night with a convincing 16-5 stomping. Although Hostile Faction had to play the match without CoCo, the result would have likely been the same with the only difference being more rounds won on Hostile Faction’s end as Crash is arguably MoB Gaming’s best map. Moving on we have Pandemic taking on x3o, which assuming the match even takes place, will be just a mess to watch as Pandemic advances to 7:2 with ease. On the side of MoB pond we have MoBdeep clutching desperately for their playoff position. Fortunately, their upcoming match against PtL should give them a much needed win after their loss to Pandemic on Monday as PtL is pretty much a sunken ship with the departure of former captain kun to backslash yesterday.

Closing out the night we have the only match really worth mention: Pure vs BackSlash. In all honesty I don’t see BackSlash winning this one, but it’s the closest thing we have to an interesting match. Although Pure may have looked shaky on Strike you might want to take a gander at their team page and their latest addition. That’s right kids, rob-wiz himself. Carter is taking a step back for more leisure activities and Pure won’t be content with any replacement, they need the best. Although BackSlash just picked up Kun from PtL, Rob and the rest of Pure will most likely come for blood and for tonight at least BackSlash will be a hemophiliac.

CEVO-Professional Week 7:2
Pandemic > Dynamic
PtL > x3o
Pure eSports > MoBdeep -MOTW
MoB Gaming > BackSlash

Closing out week 7 we have a few more interesting matches with finally one that should be quite interesting to watch. Pandemic should top Dynamic with relative ease while I’m predicting PtL to pick up their first win over a dying or by that time already dead x3o team. At the bottom half of the list we have our match of the week, Pure vs MoBdeep. If you recall, MoBdeep stomped Pure earlier in the season on Crash 16-9. Fortunately for Pure, it’s not earlier in the season now and the addition of rob-wiz is sure to give them a much needed boost in performance. Pure’s biggest problem in both their week 3 Crash losses against both MoB teams was their offense. They simply were unable to get into the bombsites or put any preasure on the defense. Pure will need to make MoBdeep’s defense work to get rounds so the rounds they do win don’t build too much momentum. If they can keep pick up a few rounds on offense, Pure should be able to hold out of defense and clinch the win.

Closing out week 7 MoB Gaming will be taking on BackSlash. From first glance this should look like a fairly close match that will most likely go in MoB’s favor. Unfortunately for BackSlash, MoB is nothing short of spectacular on Crash. In week 3, MoB was down 3-12 at half against Pure and switched to defense to eventually win the match 16-13. Enough said. Their offense is appropriately aggressive, rotates correctly, and generally makes the defense work to win every round. Their defense is nothing short of spectacular as getting into a bombsite is an accomplishment against MoB and if you actually get a plant off you should be given a cookie. Most likely if BackSlash starts on defense they will keep us entertained for the first half, but once MoB gets a crack on defense it’s pretty much game over and another W for MoB Gaming on Crash.

GotFrag ???
So apparently Pure is scheduled to play x3o in some best of three set. Cool. To be honest I really have no clue what’s going on in the GotFrag tournament anymore. First I thought MoB was playing versus Pure, and then they didn’t. Then, I thought x3o was forfeiting to Pure, but it turns out they did in fact play. So where exactly does that put us again? I’m personally thinking the grand finals with a best of three map set between Pandemic and Pure, but who knows. Maybe they will just call it and go bowling or something?? Seriously, for all the hype the GotFrag tournament got in the early rounds, things certainly have gotten boring, FAST. Hopefully, Pure vs Pandemic is actually confirmed a match and a date is set so I can make a prediction that will most likely be completely wrong.

CEVO-Professional Week 6:1:
Pandemic > PtL
MoB Gaming > x3o
Pure > Hostile Faction –MOTW
Backslash > Dynamic

Tonight we have an interesting set of matches with the exception of MoB vs x3o which will be delayed to Monday. At the top of the list, Pandemic should be able to move through PtL without too much trouble as their last match against Pure ended 16-9 in their favor. Needless to say, Pandemic looks at the top of their game, and it’s going to take more then what PtL has to bet them, especially on strike. This MoB vs x3o match is hard to call because it’s being delayed, but also because both teams haven’t really finalized their rosters yet. I’m going to give the edge to MoB, however, while x3o still tries to rebound. Pure vs Hostile Faction should be quite the interesting bout, especially considering where each stand at the moment.

On Pure’s end, they are sitting behind the likes of MoBdeep, definitely not a desirable place for such a talented and experienced team. On Hostile Faction’s side, a few more losses for them and a few more wins for BackSlash could easily send them down to 7th in the standings and out of playoff position. Whether or not kpwnage uses the scope is going to be a factor as in their past few matches on Crossfire, he spent most of his time without it. On Pure’s side, however, Carter will be busy causing all sorts of trouble for kpwnage and the rest of Hostile Faction, and for that reason, I’m giving the edge to Pure. Finishing off the matches tonight we have Backslash vs Dynamic, where both teams are currently sitting out of playoff position. Both teams really need a win to save face, but unfortunately I just don’t see Dynamic coming away with this one. Backslash’s latest victory over x3o might have been when x3o was down, but a win against the 2nd seed team is still a win and will be more than enough to move them past Dynamic.

CEVO-Professional Week 6:2:
Pandemic > MoBdeep -MOTW
MoB Gaming > Dynamic
Pure > PtL
Backslash > Hostile Faction

Thankfully, we have two very exciting matches on the plate for Monday, first between Pandemic and MoBdeep and a second between BackSlash and Hostile Faction. MoBdeep is probably turning a number of heads currently sitting 3rd in the standings, but their match against Pandemic could be a make or break for them to remain in that position. Unfortunately, even with their most recent additions, I just don’t see it happening. Strike is arguably one of Pandemic’s strongest maps and MoBdeep just won’t be prepared to handle the adapting style of Pandemic’s play. On the other side of the river, we have BackSlash taking on Hostile Faction. BackSlash already beat Hostile Faction once and while they claim it was simply an upset, I’ll roll against the odds and predict another win for BackSlash as jtf2 and company once again come out and surprise Hostile Faction. Unfortunately the remaining matches scheduled for Monday shouldn’t be too difficult to predict. Dynamic will put up a half decent match against MoB, but Andy and whoever is playing for MoB by Monday will be more then able to skate by with a win. Closing out the matches on Strike, Pure will most likely stomp PtL into oblivion.  Unfortunately for PtL it’s like trying to shovel snow while it’s still snowing.

GotFrag Tournament LB Semi-Finals:
Pure > MoB Gaming

MoB might have beaten Pure in CEVO, but in a best of three map set, I like Pure to win. Disregarding the importance of this match in advancing to the LB Finals, it also will serve as a good test of which of these two teams will get the unofficial #2 spots in North America with x3o dropping out due to recent roster troubles. My guess is Pure will try to keep the match off Crossfire and Crash where they lost to Pandemic and MoB respectfully on each in CEVO. Fortunately they are the higher seed, so it shouldn’t be too hard to steer clear of crash. Besides getting to eliminate a map first, Pure also will be able to pick the 3rd map of the set out of the two remaining maps left at the end. In a match between two teams as talented as Pure and MoB, the match is almost guaranteed to go onto a 3rd map where Pure will most likely pull through their victory.

North American Top 10

Via Fnatic.com:

Only a few days after announcing several roster modifications, the TCA staff of the North American branch decided it was about time to build a top 10 for this side of the pond since it’s hasn’t been done for almost a year! This will be the first of monthly sequel where the five members will be voting on their thoughts about who deserves to be in this prestigious ranking.

Our panelists are: Ian “ianLP” Tannehill, Ted “sang” Ottey, Kyle “HackettLP” Feeley, Tim “TimL” Lampman and I J-C “Se1Ko” Gaudet. These respected names in our community made their decisions and were able to build a reliable list for our top 10 teams of CoD4 in North America.

The result has been made by using the usual points system where the first place earns 10 points, the second 9 points and so on.

You can check out the full rankings as well as my breakdown over on Fnatic’s site here.

CEVO-Professional Week 5:1 & 5:2

The big news in CEVO-P at the moment besides Panemic narrowly hanging on to the 1st place standing with a higher CPI is the current mod situation.  If you haven’t heard, there are a number of people who don’t like DAMN mod.  In fact, Pandemic and MoB have threatened to forfeit their matches if they have to play on DAMN.  Cool huh?  I think the most interesting thing about the whole situation is the community as a whole generally wanted to try to DAMN and now there is this whole notion CEVO and CAL forced it upon them.  Anyway, it doesn’t really matter if they forfeit their matches or don’t play them, because that’s what they do anyway.  Seriously, for CEVO-P matches to actually be scheduled before 6PM EST on the deadline day someone must have parted the red sea, seen the second coming of Jesus, and finally played the released version of Dukenukem Forever!  I don’t know why professional teams can’t schedule ahead of time as it would make everyone’s lives a lot easier, especially the casting companies, but they can’t or won’t.  Moving on, however, these are the matches and my predictions pending they ever get scheduled and played.

Week 5:1
MoB > PtL
x3o > Hostile Faction – MOTW
Pure > Dynamic
MoBdeep > Backslash

We have an interesting 4 matches supposedly scheduled tonight whichwill probably end with Pure and MoB both claiming fairly comfortable wins over Dynamic and PtL respectively and two closer matches between MoBdeep and Backslash.  Starting with MoBdeep and Blackslash, I think we’re goingto see a close match on both ends with the advantage going to the more prepared team.  MoBdeep just came off a pretty solid win over Hostile Faction where Backslash narrowly managed to pull the win over PtL.  While Backslash could definitely pull out the win here, I think Gomez and the rest of MoBdeep will take it.  Moving on, the match between x3o and Hostile Faction would look to be a simple one to predict, x3o should take the win.  For some reason, however, Hostile Faction likes to play all over the place.  They go from beating MoB and narrowly losing to Pandemic to then losing to Backslash and MoBdeep.  I don’t care if you’re “underestimating” your opponent or not, it’s bad and it makes predicting matches harder.  I’ll go with my gut and say x3o still manages to pull out the win against a Hostile Faction team that will actually look on their game.

Week 5:2
Panemic > Pure – MOTW
MoB Gaming > MoBdeep
Hostile Faction > Dynamic
x3o > Backslash

Monday we will again see two relatively easy victories coming out, this time in favor of Hostile Faction and x3o while Panemic, Pure and the MoB’s duke it out.  Without beating around the bush too much, I’ll give the edge to Pandemic and MoB Gaming respectively.  MoB Gaming just recently defeated MoBdeep in the GotFrag LB semi-finals, and although this match will be on crossfire, the new addition of tm to MoB Gaming should prove enough to hold off their Italian counterparts.  Pandemic and Pure finally get a rematch from their Wk 1:1 match where Pandemic narrowly pulled out the win.  Sadly for Pure, however, I think Joe and company will do so again.  While Pure did manage to defeat x3o last week, Pandemic has the potential to be very deadly on crossfire given their preparation.  The key for Pure is going to be their offense, whether or not Carter scopes, and how effective he is.  If carter does pick up the scope, Pandemic will need to make it difficult for him to open rounds or keep him busy by allowing Prank to scope as well.  Either way, I see Panemic narrowly coming out on top.

GotFrag Tournament

UB Finals
x3o > Pandemic 2-1

I will be brave and predict the upset here.  Both teams will win their matches respectively, but I like x3o at the moment to win the tiebreaker map.  I don’t know why and I can’t explain it, but something tells me x3o will come more prepared, and when playing a best of three set, preperation is essential.  Expect to see close matches on all the maps, but x3o should once again narrowly squeeze past Pandemic into the Finals.

LB Semi-Finals
Pure > Dynamic 2-0

Dynamic did an excellent job making it this far in the bracket, but unfortunately they will be exiting this round.  Pure has way too much talent, experience, and momentum at the moment to be upset here.  It would be like Nalzy not trolling the CAL forums looking like an idiot.  It just ain’t gonna happen baby.  Anyway, Pure should win this in two maps and advance to take on MoB Gaming in the LB Finals.

x3o Media: state of the community

Via x3o-gaming.com:

The Call of Duty community has always had its ups and downs, but with the recent cancellation of NERV LAN 3, it is now becoming apparent that the competitive scene has come to a boiling point. X3O-Gaming.com has taken it upon themselves to investigate the recent events leading up to what amounts to be a time of crisis for the competitive Call of Duty scene.

Hosts Travis and Justin brought together prominent members of the North American CoD eSports community. Important topics ranging from the what’s and why’s of NERV 3 LAN’s cancellation (and a special announcement from Matt Gomez), to steps being taken by community leaders to right the sinking ship are covered in length with top personalities and players in North America.

Guests Include:

Stephen “Mav” Groat – X3O CoD 4 player, and creator of DAMN Mod
Matt “Chimpae” Gomez – Captain of MoB Deep, and organizer of NERV LAN 1 and 2
Ted “Sang” Ottey – CEVO administrator and writer of www.div3rse.com
J-C “se1ko” Gaudet – CoD 4 writer for Insider eSports and organizer of the upcoming LAN ETS in Montreal, Canada

Hosts/moderators:

Travis Hezel & Justin Knutson – On-Air Personalities for the X3O Professional Gaming Media Division

Download the roundtable here.

Round 3:1 Recap
Pandemic > Hostile Faction – I predicted this to be a close match and indeed it doesn’t get any closer than 16-14, except maybe in overtime. The only tragedy was the match unfortunately was not casted. While Hostile Faction may be upset they lost in such a close match, you have to give the props to Pandemic for pulling out the narrow victory.

MoB Gaming > Pure – MoB did an amazing job downing Pure last round as their defense was simply outstanding winning 13 rounds for a win. Pure, on the other hand, are now in all sorts of trouble as not only did they lose to MoB Gaming, but also to MoBdeep for their week 3-1 match that was played Monday evening as well. Pure, along with MoBdeep, MoB Gaming, Hostile Faction and Dynamic all sport the less then desirable 3-3 record. Not to make the situation worse, Pure now sits 5th in the standings behind both MoB teams.

X3o > MoBdeep – Before pulling off the upset win over Pure, MoBdeep almost pulled off an upset over x3o. If my memory serves me right from what I was told, x3o was down something like 8-15 and managed to tie the game and eventually win in overtime. Despite the loss, MoBdeep played extremely well and x3o once again proved why they are still the team to beat at the moment.

Dynamic > Pushing the Limits – My prediction the frenchies would come through with their first win was destroyed Monday as Dynamic edged out the narrow 16-13 win over a demoralized PtL team. Hopefully PtL can find some magic and pull out a win in the next few weeks as another team dying in CEVO-P would be very problematic for the standings.

Round 3:2 Preview
Prediction Standings:
Ted: 5-4
Se1Ko: 1-2
siMpLE: 1-2
Sintax: 1-2

MOTW: x3o vs Pure E-Sports
Ted’s Prediction: x3o > Pure E-Sports
Se1Ko’s Prediction: x3o > Pure E-Sports
siMpLE’s Prediction: Pure E-Sports > x3o

Ted: How can I not call this the match of the week? What is perhaps only even more amusing is that both these teams will be playing each other a second time tonight in a best of three map set for the GotFrag tournament. Judging by Pure’s results last week one might be quick to dismiss them against x3o and assume Rob and the rest of the gang will sweep an easy win. This is hardly going to be the case. Pure knows they are in serious trouble. Sitting in 5th place in CEVO-P is not where they want to be at the moment, especially with a similar record to that of both MoB teams, Dynamic and Hostile Faction. This makes them very desperate for a win, and desperate teams are often the most dangerous because they have nothing to lose. Like Pure’s previous matches, this match will also come down to how many rounds can be won on offense. I expect to see a plethora of interesting and unique strats coming from Pure throughout the match but most especially on offense. If Pure can get aggressive instead of playing passive on offense like their matches against MoB, I think we’ll see a close match. Despite this, however, I’m still going with my gut and giving the edge to x3o in belief the momentum train will have enough fuel to carry them through to the next station.

siMpLE: These teams also face each other this week in gotfrag tourney so it will be interesting to see if one team will win both matches. This week’s map is backlot and having scrimmed x3o a few times on it, I know that they seem pretty prepared but still need to work some things out in their strat. I saw instantly after PURE’s 2nd loss on crash that they went straight into their server to practice backlot. This team wants to get back into the top 3 badly. Here i believe is where x3o will find their first loss.

Pandemic vs BackSlash
Ted’s prediction: Pandemic > BackSlash
Se1Ko’s Prediction: BackSlash > Pandemic
Sintax’s Prediction: Pandemic > BackSlash

Ted: BackSlash has been playing quite well for a late Pro division moveup, but I’m still going to have to give the edge to Pandemic. Their dance with Hostile Faction last week left them a clear cut message that there are still plenty of teams left in CEVO-P that can tango so expect them to come prepared for Backlot with grenades that cause all sorts of problems for defenses as well as Justin “prank” DeMara switching between scope and SMG when needed. BackSlash will make a match of it, but Pandemic will pull out the win despite Se1Ko predicting against his French brother Nicolas.

Sintax: Backslash has pulled off a pair of nice wins so far this cevo season. They have a roster with some experienced people on it who want to win. I don’t see them downing Pandemic though. Pand’s smgs will take this map and the A bombsite nonstop. Backslash has to play smart and hit all their shots to take down their opponents on this one, there is not much room for error.

Hostile Faction vs Pushing the Limits
Ted’s Prediction: Hostile Faction > PtL
Se1Ko’s Prediction: Hostile Faction > PtL
Se1Ko’s Prediction: Hostile Faction > PtL

Ted: I don’t really have much to say on this one because as much as I would like to see PtL pull out a victory here, I just don’t see it happening. Hostile Faction might be upset about losing such a close match to PtL but unless they go off on another tangent like they did against BackSlash, I doubt they will have much trouble here.

Sintax: Ptl wants this win bad, but they’re going to need a miracle to pull it out. Backlot favors the close range game, which puts Ptl at a disadvantage. Hostile is coming into this strong and ready to take a winning record out of it. They had a good showing against Pandemic, which I expect to continue through to tonight for a W.

Dynamic vs MoBdeep
Ted’s Prediction: MoBdeep > Dynamic
Se1Ko’s Prediction: MoBdeep > Dynamic
siMpLE’s Prediction: MoBdeep > Dynamic
Sintax’s Prediction: MoBdeep > Dynamic

Ted: A very interesting match here against Dynamic and MoBdeep that is another match this week I see only ending one way, and this time in favor of MoBdeep. Dynamic is a very talented team that could easily win this match, but I don’t see MoBdeep losing the momentum gained from beating Pure on Monday unless they make some serious mistakes. It is those mistakes MoBdeep is going to have to watch out for, because Dynamic is a team that will punish you severely if you let go easy rounds. The last thing MoBdeep wants to have happen is have another 15-8 situation lost.

siMpLE: MoBDeep is riding off a high with their victory over PURE. On the contrast, we have dynamic barely winning over ptL, a score I’m sure they are not too pleased with. Dynamic is starting to slip into the lower part of the standings, while MoBDeep’s roster has improved with the pickup of sparx as their fulltime sniper. I do not see MoBDeep getting a dominating win, but them winning fairly convincingly.

Sintax: Mobdeep has been on a rollercoaster ride this season. Crazy wins and some painful losses can keep a team on its toes. Deep’s been constantly looking for a 5th to solidify their roster and keep the car on an upward tilt, and with the pickup of Sparx, they might have finally pulled it off. Dynamic, also in the search for a new 5th, needs a momentum boost. I don’t think it will be this match.

The Bottom Line
If you thought last week was important for standings, this week is even more so. You have five teams at the moment sharing a 3-3 record with the only thing separating them being their CPI, two teams continuing to distance themselves further from the competition, one team still trying to recover lost ground, and another team still fighting for their first win of the season. I’m not sure how much more interesting the season can get. Hopefully things start to get back to normal so I don’t look so bad with a current 5-4 prediction record.

Round 3:1 Recap

Pandemic > Dynamic – Despite the 12-16 loss to x3o on Monday, Pandemic bounced right back with a solid win over Dynamic. For Panemic, this victory simply solidifies their position behind x3o in the standings as pending the outcome of Pure vs MoBdeep, they are currently the only team with a 4-1 record. Unfortunately for Dynamic, sage and company are now sporting the all too common 2-3 record with both MoBdeep and MoB Gaming. Hopefully they can rebound this week and start to even things up as both MoB teams continue to have a rollercoaster of different results.

Hostile Faction > Frag Dominant – I guess FD finally decided enough was enough and to just die, which really sucks to be honest. Besides sporting a very talented and diverse roster FD was the only other team besides Pandemic remaining from season 2.

X3o > Pushing the Limits – My frienchies were again denied their first win of the season Thursday as the seemingly unstoppable x3o ran right over them. In all fairness though, x3o did just beat Pandemic on Monday so a loss here was kind of expected. What is really depressing, however, is that a team that qualified into the professional division by going undefeated in the placement tournament hasn’t even gotten a single win yet.

BackSlash > MoB Gaming – BackSlash pulled off the upset Thursday evening over a MoB Gaming team continuing to look more confusing by the minute. Despite having two players lagging throughout the match due to reliability of wireless internet, BackSlash seemed generally in control as they dominated the second half of the match to propel themselves to victory. In MoB’s case, the past is behind them, and their focus should be on tonight’s match.

Round 3:2 Preview
Prediction Standings:
Ted: 3-1 (1 Match TBD)

MOTW: MoB Gaming vs Pure E-Sports
Ted’s Prediction: Pure E-Sports > MoB Gaming
Se1Ko’s Prediction: Pure E-Sports > MoB Gaming
siMpLE’s Prediction: Pure E-Sports > MoB Gaming
Sintax’s Prediction: Pure E-Sports > MoB Gaming

Ted: This is an extremely important match for both teams. For MoB Gaming, beating Pure would do wonders for their CPI (especially if Pure manages to beat MoBdeep) and put them at a more reasonable 3-3 record. For Pure, getting a win tonight would help them stay at the top of standings near the still undefeated x3o who they have yet to play as well as Pandemic who has given them their only loss this season. Expect to see the big name players on both teams step up their play when needed, however, the game breaker will be each team’s offense. MoB Gaming is a team that rides heavily on momentum, and if you can stop them from stringing rounds together and hold them to picking up a round or two here and there, their offense will be less effective. For this reason, I’m giving the match to Pure as their SMGs seem aggressive enough to get the job done on offense while causing all sorts of headaches for MoB on defense.

siMpLE: This will be an interesting match up to watch. MoB having recently losing to team backSlash on crash will surely want a win this week as they stand 2-3 in CEVO-P which im sure they did not anticipate this early in the game. I saw that they were practicing instantly after their lose in hopes of ironing out the wrinkles in their strategy. They have also made the addition of tm to their roster, so this will be a good test to see if he can still hang with the top dogs. PURE is currently in 3rd place with 3-1, still having not played MoBdeep on crash yet. PURE is defiantly a team to beat this season and they will want to make this known with another win solidifying them in the top 3. I predict an extremely close game.

Sintax: This one looks to be a damn good match. Both teams have solid lineups and can pull out tough rounds. I’m giving this one to Pure due to MoB’s recent inconsistant play, but if Pure isn’t careful, MoB will take this right out from them with clutch rounds.

Pandemic vs Hostile Faction
Ted’s prediction: Pandemic > Hostile Faction
Se1Ko’s Prediction: Pandemic > Hostile Faction
siMpLE’s Prediction: Pandemic > Hostile Faction
Sintax’s Prediction: Pandemic > Hostile Faction

Ted: Very interesting match here that I can only see ending in one of two results. One being Pandemic manages to beat Hostile Faction in a match closer than many expect. Or Two, Hostile Faction manages to pull the upset on Pandemic and we again see the community accuse Hostile Faction of cheating. What is for certain, however, is this match will not be a blowout, on either side.  Kpwnage and company will come extremely prepared as they didn’t have a match on Thursday due to Frag Dominant dying. Again, I see the key to this match being the offense of both teams. Knowing Pandemic’s offense as well as I do, I don’t expect to see them change things up too much from the last time I have seen them play crash, which could cause huge problems for Hostile Faction as Pandemic plays quite different than many teams on this map. I’m giving this one to Pandemic for a narrow win.

siMpLE: Pandemic is coming off a 16-11 win over Team Dynamic. It was much closer than many anticipated especially due to the loss of one of dynamics top players, jtf2. With Pandemic having that one lose against x3o im sure they will want to finsih the rest of the season undefeated and will cook up some strats to ensure a win. The community, on the other hand, has not yet seen what HF has to offer on this map due to them have a FF due to the demise of FD. This will not be a complete blow out but i do see Pandemic winning without breaking too much of a sweat.

Sintax: No matter what you think of Hostile, they’ve been outperforming quite a few people’s expectations in Cevo-P so far. On the other hand, this team occasionally plays like a completely different crew with some off play and matches. I don’t think they’ll get past their inconsistancies with Pandemic. P is filled with players who know how to find holes in their opponent’s play. Unless they tighten up drastically, Hostile will drop below the .500 mark.

Dynamic vs Pushing the Limits
Ted’s Prediction: PtL > Dynamic
Se1Ko’s Prediction: PtL > Dynamic
siMpLE’s Prediction: PtL > Dynamic

Ted: I’ll give this one to the underdogs! While Dynamic is certainly a skilled team and could easily take this match, I think we’ll finally see the frenchies pull out a win tonight on Crash. Call it a gut feeling or whatever, but PtL definitely has what it takes to pull the upset here.

siMpLE: Although this may not be the most hyped up match up of the week, this will prehaps be one of the more intersting matchs. Both teams have a lot on the line here, Dynamic sits at 2-3 on the brink of not making playoffs and ptL has their pride on the line sitting winless 0-5. Dynamic took a huge blow with the recent loss of jtf2, but still seem to handle pandemic fairly losing by 5 rounds. ptL wants a win more than ever and this may be their best opportunity. I will be very curious to see the results of this match up. I forsee yet another very close game coming down ot the wire, I predict ptL because i want to see them get this win, and I think that they will prepare a lot for this.

Sintax: PTL is looking to prove they belong in Cevo-P, and this is their week to do it. Dynamic is suffering from roster drama and I haven’t seen much out of them in terms of scrimming recently. They’re still a skilled group of players, but I’m not sure how into this match they’re going to be. If PTL is ready to take advantage on crash, they can put their first win on the board.

The Bottom Line

Despite all the shit that may be happening due to NERV being canceled and other situations occurring behind closed doors, teams can’t go on holiday. By the end of tonight, teams will have played 6 of the 15 regular season matches. This means the window for turning a disappointing start of the season is closing by the minute. Furthermore, teams like x3o, Pandemic and Pure can’t get too comfortable just quite yet either. You guys may still be the teams to beat, but a handful of losses now could spell the difference between entering playoffs as a top 3 seed or bottom 3 seed. Hopefully, everyone manages to keep their heads in the game so things don’t get any more screwed up then the current situation.