Day 15

15 days into GCCL and the semis are getting closer. Two matches were played, and one walkover was given today.

Elite Cr3w failed to show up for their match against the Coffin Crammers, earning them -1 points. This failed to upset any predicted results since CC were expected to win against EC either way, and the fact that EC has now mathematically been eliminated from the tournament with 3 losses. CC gained 3 points from the walkover which put them into a race between One Blood and Reikan. CCs match against One Blood would decide on whether CC, OB and Reikan will tie for a place in the semis, or whether One Blood will move with only 1 loss.

Ferrari Vs. Reservior Dogzz
The top two teams of Group A faced off in their 4th and final match each, but it failed to live upto spectators expectations as Ferrari convincingly beat RD with a score of 16 - 2. Ferrari and RD have sealed their places in the GCCL semi finals on the 21st of February regardless of what todays match worked out to be - Ferrari with 4 out of 4 wins, and RD getting 3 out of 4 wins.

One Blood Vs. Coffin Crammers
Easily the best match of the day - and the match that would decide the fate of the three teams vying for a place at the semis. A win for Coffin Crammers would put Reikan, One Blood and Coffin Crammers with equal points, in which case the winning team would be calculated by rounds won during group matches.

de_nuke was the chosen map and One Blood opted for CT. CC played a strong first few rounds as Terror, with swift and decisive strats being put into play. After 3 rounds were added to CCs score, OB managed to pull back a few rounds in their favor with some quick bomb interceptions. The first half ended with a nail biting score of 8 - 7 to Coffin Crammers. CC were not as effective on CT as they were with the bomb. They slowed down considerably and let OB move ahead a few rounds. 12 - 10 on the board and the match could go either way - precision is paramount, and that is what CC lacked under pressure. A few easy bomb defusals were missed owing to bad team work, and that saw OB move onto clinche the game 16 - 12.

What does this mean for the other teams? CCs chances for the semis are dashed with 2 losses. One Blood have played all four of their matches, and won 3 putting them in first place in the points standings at the moment. Reikan have 1 loss and 2 wins - if they are to have a chance at the semis, they have no choice but to win their match against Determinato on the 20th. If Reikan manage to pull off a win, Determinato, One Blood and Reikan will be tied for a spot at the semi finals.

Group B is definitely heating up now with a lot resting on how Reikan performs in their matches.

Upcoming matches (19/02/09)
Determinato vs Elite Cr3w
AJ vs [FD] Eien

Day 16

Two games were scheduled for today - [FD] Eien vs Adrenaline Junkies and Elite Cr3w vs Determinato. Elite Cr3w failed to show up for their match thus giving Determinato a walkover.

[FD] Eien vs Adrenaline Junkies
This was the last match of GCCL for both teams since they don't have the required points to move onto the semi finals. The knife round went to Eien who chose to play Terrorists. Veto choice resulted in de_dust2 as the map of choice. AJ started the game with a bang, foiling two bomb site A rushes by Eien and bagging 2 rounds. That was as far as Eien let the AJ kids go. Subsequent rounds had only a handful of close shootouts as Eien charged ahead. Archangel from team Eien had this to say:

"Going into the match, I along with the rest of EieN, were eager to get back in the groove after the disappointing performance against Ferrari. And AJ are known for being a competent team so I was hoping for a good match.

Started out that way which pleased me - although also got me a bit worried ^_^. Heh, Spoons incident with the "robbers" was amusing, although it did get the guys a bit on the edge too! But we got past it and the match really picked up as we settled down and began worknig our way through the rounds.

Unfortunately, half way through the match, a member of AJ suddenly disappeared after a very confusing message. Naturally EieN got a bit annoyed to say the least but there was nothing we could do. We asked AJ if they would like to continue which they agreed to, despite the missing player. That was a very respective move by AJ for which Im grateful for.

Overall, the match wasnt what it could have been which was disappointing, but we were pleased nonetheless at our victory."

Eien won the match 16 - 2.

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Group A matches have been completed and as predicted, Ferrari and Reservior Dogzz have moved onto the semis. Team A1 will play Team B2, and Team A2 will play Team B1 in the semi finals to be held on the 21st Feb.

We have the Group B match [FD] Reikan vs Determinato tomorrow that will either put OB, Determinato and Reikan in a tie position, or push Determinato and One Blood into the semis. This is ofcourse assuming Determinato will win their match against the Coffin Crammers.

Both semi finals will be held on Saturday the 21st February, and the finals on Sunday the 22nd.

Day 17

Friday the 20th brought an end to the group stages of GCCL season 2. Determinato played the Coffin Crammers in the final group B match. Determinato beat CC losing only 1 round, making the score 16 - 1. The Reikan vs Determinato match was not played due to the terror attack fiasco. Later Reikan conceded a walkover since the two teams were not able to set a suitable date for the match.

Determinato and One Blood move on to the semi-finals.

The semi-finalists are Determinato, One Blood, Ferrari and Reservior Dogzz.

Determinato will play Reservior Dogzz and Ferrari will face One Blood in their semi-final matches.

The semi-finals, 3rd place playoff and the grand finals have been pushed one week back due to the current situation in the country; the dates are as follows -

GCCL Semi-Finals
Reservior Dogzz vs Determinato - Friday 27th February 2009 at 6.00 PM
One Blood vs Ferrari - Friday 27th February 2009 at 8 PM

Third Place Playoff
Saturday 28th February 2009 at 6.00pm

GCCL Grand Finals
Saturday 28th February 2009 at 8.00pm

Check back here next week.

Interviews


As the match between Determinato and Reservoir Dogz draws nearer, we take a moment to talk to both leaders and learn of their opinions on this season of GCCL.

FBI of Reservoir Dogz

1) What are your opinions on this season of GCCL?
GLK is doing a great job by organizing GCCL. It helps many clans and gamers to show their skills out. So keep it up GLK   

2) Were you surprised at which teams managed to make it into the Semi Finals?
Yea a bit. We thought that clans like Mcpots and FD had a chance to the semis.
But unfortunately it was our season.

3) How did you and your team prepare for GCCL?
We always get together twice a week and play as a team.We always watch demos and steal some good stats.   

4) What expectations do you hold of your match against Determinato?
Determinato is a good clan all knows that. But we are practicing harder and we will give a good game for Determinato.

5) What advice can you give to the teams that did not make it this time?
Try again and again. Practice as a team. Get together at one place as many time as you all can. Watch demos of your clan matches and see what are the mistakes did you all make and try to get right next time.   

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Dark Youth of Determinato

1.) While you were in the US, did you participate in any tournaments?   

 Not really no. I had 6 months of doing nothing so I spent most of my time on the PC   practicing CS with friends and would just scrim at night now and then on a friend's  server. During the last month of my stay I would be just constantly scrimming with  people getting all the practice I could. Overall that helped me become a better team player which is key in competitive CS.

2.) If so, what ideas/suggestions do you have to help improve future seasons of GCCL?

    Since I have not participated in any tournaments over there I would just suggest that a proper anti-cheat client be used in future online tournaments. Well it's a suggestion 

3.) What are your opinions on this season of GCCL?

    As far as this season goes I must say everything was well organized and had a pretty decent response and participation from the gaming community. Overall credit goes to GLK and LCGZ not forgetting the admins that organized and made this tournament  possible. (Other than the walkovers and LTTE Attacks, Damn those b*****ds xD)

Good Work  .

4.) Were you surprised at which teams managed to make it into the Semi Finals?

    Definitely a shocker seeing RD the underdog team in this tournament making it so far in this tournament is surprising. Ferrari was expected and One Blood played well all along and deserved to be in this stage of the tournament. Well as for determinato, no comment xD.

5.) How did you and your team prepare for GCCL?

    Even though we had our own server to practice on at any time (Thank You Dilshan!!! <3 Azian xD) we mostly spent time practicing late at night when our coach Pubudu 'zhkR' Gunasekara would get online every single night after he gets home from school in the afternoon (Time Difference xD) and would help us practice and get better at this game. We owe a lot to him for he spends so much time helping us and we appreciate it alot. We would practice almost every night with Pubudu which would pay off for us in the end. I would also like to thank my team mates Roshan 'Mombu$$$$$$$' Perera, Thilina 'xTAz' ****yawasam, Dilshan 'xxazianxx' Navin and Mohammed "SpawN" Safran for all the support and dedication they put towards this team.

We Team Determinato would like to thank Pubudu for all his help and for him never giving up on us and always pushing us to play better. Thank You!!! <3 Budu...

6.) What expectations do you hold of your match against Reservoir Dogzz?

    Well we expect to have a good match with RD as they have been performing well in this tournament and we will give our very best to win. Good Luck...

7.) What advice can you give to the teams that did not make it this time?

I am not that great to give advice to others xD...But just practice and don't give up.
Don't listen to what others tell you. They all want you to fail so they can succeed.
Prove them wrong. If you really want something go get it xD...

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Great advice from both teams On behalf of the GLK community, we wish Reservoir Dogz and Determinato Good Luck and Good Hunting in tonight's match!

Interviews


As the match between On3 Blood and Ferrari draws nearer, we take a moment to talk to both leaders and learn of their opinions on this season of GCCL.

Rasty of On3 Blood

1) What are your opinions on this season of GCCL?
GCCL S2 is our first tournament! It is well organized although it would have been better if we could have semis and finals in LAN situation.

2) Were you surprised at which teams managed to make it into the Semi Finals?
Well, actually I am not surprised about my team and I am really happy about it. The determination we had clearly payed off Never heard of RD before so I was interested about their performance. Ferrari and Determinato - no surprises there


3) How did you and your team prepare for GCCL?

As I mentioned earlier this is the first tournament that we are participating in as a clan and we only 2 matches before the GCCL S2. But I think the our players are skilled, learn fast, following orders and have the team spirit.
We started practice a day before the first match in GCCL

First what we did was found some good demos and planned how we should play.
And we played some matches with some good clans like Determinato, Ferrari and CC..
And our fried Zhkr helped us a lot, and he is a very good teacher, and I would like to take this chance to thank him.
Anyhow, we didn’t have much time to practice, most of the time we practice the map two three hours before the match..hehe. 
Believe it, [FD] Reikan is the first match we played in de_inferno map.

Apart of training the team my major concern was building the confidence in the team members.
It was very hard. But I think I could do it, and now the team is in very high moral.


4) What expectations do you hold of your match against Ferrari?

Ferrari is obviously a good team with national level  players, but we still think that we also can do something.
So we hope and we want to give them a good fight.
Hope this wold be a nice game.. 

5) What advice can you give to the teams that did not make it this time?
Stick to the plans. Calling is more important than taking frags!

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Mario (Holy Crusade) of Ferrari

1) What are your opinions on this season of GCCL?

GCCL this time was I think pretty well organized.. Most matches started on time.. and we had lots of people watching the matches and the Sri Lankan gaming community was very interested to know what happened in the matches with many of them posting on GLK immediately after matches… During a few matches I think HTLV stopped working
suddenly if this could be made I think next GCCL will be even more better

2) Were you surprised at which teams managed to make it into the Semi Finals?

Yes  I think this season’s surprise package is easily RD, many people expected FD Eien to make it considering as they had an ex liquid player and a current team liquid player in their ranks.. However RD seems very organized and have played well to reach so far.. I think Determinato as everyone expected came to the semis

On3 Blood is another good team and many people thought second place would be greatly fought between them and Reikan with one blood just edging them..
 
3) How did you and your team prepare for GCCL?

Well actually we hadn’t practiced at all, just our usual pugs on GLK, Ferrari is just a clan so we aren't taking GCCL so seriously .. No practice sessions as such

4) What expectations do you hold of your match against Determinato?

I think if we play to our potential we can beat them, but they are a team with great potential, i really havent seen them practicing as a team but when i saw them playing the match against FD Reikan i was surprised to see their great teamwork.However CS is unpredictable!

5) What advice can you give to the teams that did not make it this time?

Practice makes perfect. Practice harder for next time..

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Great advice from both teams  On behalf of the GLK community, we wish Ferrari and On3 Blood Good Luck and Good Hunting in tonight's match!