Fnatic - A profesional gaming team

With a total of $1,800 up for grabs, the FnaticMSI PLAY BEAT IT tournament for Call of Duty 4 has been the talk of the town (or should I say the community), seeing all major teams signing up and taking part for a shot at the cash.

We have now navigated our way to the semi-final, and with only four teams left in the competition, we felt a preview and a small prediction on the outcome would be more than welcome. First up is the match of British team Reason Gaming versus the consistently strong Russian side of RAGE Multigaming, not to be mistaken for the Benelux roster formerly of TLR.

Reason Gaming versus RAGE Multigaming

The Preview

Out of the two semi-final matches, I'd certainly pick this one as my favourite when speaking from a spectators point of view, alas I am divulging my knowledge of this game from a journalist's perspective, and unfortunately, this renders the match-up a lot less enjoyable for my timely self, as I have to stick my neck on the line and call a winner between either one of the most consistent LAN teams of the last 12 months, or one of the most unpredictable mix of talent and unbelievable bullshit known to man and the Call of Duty 4 scene.

Reason Gaming, a team which has been around for as long as Call of Duty 4, and has been built around one core member: Lighters. The team have been through thick and thin over the months of LAN events and online competition, but finally started to make a real impact on the scene in late 2009, where they took home the silver from the Crossfire Intel Challenge 7, closely followed by a respectable fourth at the SteelSeries Esports Challenge. Admittedly the team has shuffled their roster a bit since then, losing their original ingame leader Tim 'revoltz' Denton and adding Jason 'lookzor' O'Connor (That's right, SoCLoN's brother!), then replacing him with Michael 'Trigger' Sowa in under a week, and then substituting him with former Team Dignitas star Chris 'nreo Mead' just the other week; all certainly taking their toll on the team.

So where are we now? The semi-final of a tournament between two sides, one team packed with years of experience and the other team exploding with raw talent and just waiting for the right opportunity to prove themselves. I would call this one right now if it was earlier in the tournament and still in the single map stage, however we're in the best of three format now, where raw aim and speed is not the only deciding factor, meaning RAGE Multigaming (who I would of called as the winner in a single map game), will certainly have one tough-ass battle on their hands if they want to defeat the mighty Brit's at Reason Gaming.

Conclusion

I'm a true believer that experience in the long run always prevails over outright skill. So my choice is effortless and somewhat predictable despite the previous four paragraphs of text. I call Reason Gaming to win the best of three with two maps to one, with the first map being their downfall due to not knowing what to expect of RAGE Multigaming.

Reason's only enemy in this game will be themselves ultimately, if players such as D1ablo are not performing to their usual 110% percent,  the Brit's will struggle and quite possibly lose. On the contrary, if Newman is on form, we could even possibly see a two maps to nil victory and an absolute white wash of the Russians. Over-confidence could also effect the second place CIC7 team.

Prediction: Reason Gaming win, 2:1

Power Gaming versus zeroPoint! Gaming

Power Gaming	vs	zeroPoint! Gaming
Jan 'paradox' Duchon  Lubomir 'Luboshmir' Pesak  Erik 'Froster' Biggelaar  Nick 'toxjee' Hol  Petr 'king' Elbogen		David 'Stormy' Fezler  Attila 'boco' Árvai  Gábor 'sT1ng3R' Szakál  Thomas 'kZstaR' Adamski  Csongor 'FUTUREEE' Beder

The Preview

Bah.. maybe I spoke too soon when saying that Reason against RAGE would be my game of choice from a spectators point of view, especially seeing as this game certainly has all the factors that you would want and expect from a semi-final of a $1,800 prize tournament. We have two top 10 European teams, third and seventh respectively, both having their fair share of LAN achievements, both being notably strong online, what's wrong with this game? Nothing quite frankly, but once more my logic of experience over talent comes into play.

Let's take a look at Power Gaming, the Dutch and Czech mixed team. Firstly, their most predominant player is certainly paradox, their sniper. Duchon is also without a doubt their most aggressive player, nothing wrong with this ofcourse, but I do feel PwR have for a very long time now lacked an aggressive SMG role, which is something zeroPoint! Gaming in that respect will excel in, and could be a very big deciding factor in this match. However you cannot take anything away from Power Gaming in this late stage of the tournament, no one can deny the fact that they are one of the most consistent European sides since their time under the eSuba name, having placed a multitude of top eight finishes over the years, certainly packed with experience.

zeroPoint on the other hand are the complete opposite of Power Gaming in my eyes. Power do have the ability to get to locations and bomb-sites fast if they choose so, but zP! will, regardless of the situation. You can expect to see Boco at the enemies spawn, causing havoc, before the initiation of strat time, and you can expect Stormy to be giving Paradox a real challenge in the early scope battles. Ofcourse, pre Crossfire Intel Challenge 7, I more than likely would of been singing a different tune regarding these Hungarians, but they did prove me, and a lot of other teams wrong when they placed 5-8th behind the likes of Power Gaming, albeit both with different rosters.

Conclusion

As I said in my previous conclusion, I believe that experience always prevails. In this case, Power Gaming certainly have the upper hand, and with their recent addition of King, I feel that they are a marginally stronger side than their months with Mazarini. For this reason, I predict a two maps to one victory for PwR, but both their maps being closely fought (and possibly going into overtime), as zeroPoint! Gaming can and more than likely will surprise the Czech based team out of the blocks.

 Prediction: Power Gaming win, 2:1