Another recap of all the action from fnatic PLAY league 2012 is here, this time for round three. Two matches were postponed, three matches were completely one-sided, but Lemondogs and KerchNET made up for all of it with an exciting clash that ended in a draw. Not a whole lot happened in the fnatic PLAY league since the last time we updated you a week ago, partly due to the Intel Challenge by Inferno Online that took place during the weekend. ESC Gaming and Wikipediots (who in the meantime joined eSrael) postponed their match due to preparations for the Swedish tournament, and the same thing happened with the match between fnatic and ex-WinFakt who were supposed to meet Tuesday night. The Finns were dropped by the WinFakt organization the day before and even though their further participation in the league is now in question, the match was actually postponed by fnatic as they were unable to play. In the four matches that were played, we saw three extremely one-sided battles, most surpsingly the one between SK Gaming and Moscow Five where the Swedes demolished the Russians. In the only interesting match of the round, Lemondogs somehow managed to pull out a draw against newcomers KerchNET. Group A
Group B
Match report After a great victory over ESC Gaming on de_dust2, Alternate defeated E2G in their second match of the fnatic PLAY league. The French team E2G also played against the Poles in their previous match and they put up good resistance by taking 13 rounds. However, now as they welcomed back their in-game leader Steeve "Ozstrik3r" Flavigni, they never really had a chance in this match, even though Alternate didn't play spectacular themselves. The match started of quite one-sided with Alternate going up 5-0 without facing much resistance. E2G's best player so far in the league, Michel "mshz" Nguyen, stepped up in the round that followed and his 3 AWP frags brought the French their first round for 5-1. However, Alternate broke their opponent's resistance quickly and brought the half to a close with a 12-3 score. Just as the first pistol-round, the Germans also took the second one in a flawless manner which eventually gave them a 15-3 lead. The French then took the first buy round of the second half, which prompted Alternate to go on a double eco, but after that it was game over, as the Germans secured the needed round for a 16-6 victory. After adding these 3 points, Alternate climbed to the top of the table in Group A, and with having a match less than the rest, they will be very happy with their chances of advancing further. Match statistics
Individual performances Even though no one excelled in particular, every player from Alternate made some contribution to their victory. Their main AWPer and Man of the Match from their ESC encounter didn't delight this time, but the fans still gave him the honors with 50% of their votes. Manuel "Tixo" Makohl was once again a solid backup, especially in the early rounds of the match when the lead was still being established. Their best rated player was Roman "Roman R." Reinhardt, but more than half of his kills came in anti-eco rounds (12 of 20), and right behind him rating-wise was the top fragger of the match, Navid "Kapio" Javadi, who had 22 kills. The French team's best players perhaps impressed more than the winning team's, as Michel "mshz" Nguyen's 14 AWP kills, including one excellent round and a few other difficult shots in the first half were E2G's only bright spot. Fabien "KIOSHIMA" Fiey also put himself on the map by getting 21 kills and winning the last round of the half almost on his own with 4 kills. Also worth mentioning is that E2G's in-game leader, Steeve "Ozstrik3r" Flavigni, who returned after missing their last match, had a particularly disastrous performance. He only recorded 2 kills in the entire match, being unable to win a duel for the first thirteen rounds, which practically gave Alternate the advantage in numbers throughout the match.
Dreamteam - Who you should have had in your team
Match report The only interesting clash of this round took place between Lemondogs and KerchNET. Even though the halves were one-sided, the match ended in a draw after an excellent second half comeback by the Swedes who will in the end feel more satisfied with this outcome. It was the first outing for the Ukrainian team in the fnatic PLAY league, seeing as they are newcomers having replaced Natus Vincere last week. Lemondogs on the other hand played their third match, after a victory over E2G and a loss to Wikipediots. The map choice of de_tuscan was the same for the Swedes as in their previous matches, showing that they feel quite confident on it. KerchNET are also known to be successful on this map, having taken several scalps of top teams on it in the past. Therefore it was not too surprising when they opened up the match impressively with a flawless T-side pistol round. Lemondogs' eco rounds after that were quite productive as they stole two rifles and took them into the first buy round, significantly boosting their own economy. However, KerchNET was unaffected and they stringed a few excellent attacks which brought them 7-0 ahead before Lemondogs were able to reply. Despite finally getting on the scoreboard, the Swedish team was unable to repeat that and KerchNET took complete control of the match, winning every close round and ending up with a commanding 12-1 lead. As Lemondogs were saving up money for the last round of the half, with one of their players lagged out of the match at that moment, they managed to surprise the somewhat complacent Ukrainians with a head-on rush, which ended by Jim "zneel" Andersson and his famas being the quickest in a 1vs2 situation. That boosted the Swedes' confidence and they took the last round of the half as well to end it with a 3-12 deficit. They brought that play into the second half, winning the pistol round and starting their comeback. KerchNET took the first buy round thanks to excellent play by Vladyslav "bondik" Nechyporchuk inside the A bombsite, making the round after that a must-win for the Swedes if they wanted to stay in the match, with the score standing at 13-6. After a big battle in that important 20th round, it all came down to the wire with Niklas "niko" Johansson defending a bomb-plant in a 1vs2 situation. Even though Johansson was by far the worst player of the match until that point with only 5 kills, he kept himself calm and with two excellent headshots brought his team their 7th round. That broke the economy of the Ukrainians who even after saving up money, couldn't stop Lemondogs from taking away another close round from them, eventually reducing the deficit to 10-13. KerchNET then finally found a way to stop the Swedes, and with two consecutive rounds they were on the verge of closing the match, having a 15-10 advantage. But Lemondogs once again stepped up when they had to and pulled of a couple of excellent attacks which, combined with a few eco rounds by KerchNET in the meantime, brought the match into its last round with the score 15-14. The final battle, same as most of the match, took place in the A bombsite. After a couple of exchange kills, Roman "z1" Poltavchenko used his AWP to take out two opponents through lots of smoke, which put KerchNET in the driving seat with a 3-on-2 situation in their hands. But Frej "kHRYSTAL" Sjöström showed incredible composure in that moment, taking out all of the remaining Ukrainians and handing his team a hard-earned draw. Match statistics
Individual performances With such a close result, during which both teams excelled in one half, all of the players had to make some impact in order for their team not to lose. KerchNET had an amazing first half in which they led 12-1, and their best player in that period was Vladyslav "bondik" Nechyporchuk, who had an 18-9 score. He had a number of excellent rounds in which he brought his team the advantage in numbers and he ended up as the best entry killer of the match (5-1 entry score). Roman "z1" Poltavchenko's influence as the best AWPer of the match (15 AWP kills) was also very valuable to KerchNET, especially when he used the big green to win a 1vs1 situation that brought his team a 15-10 advantage. The rest of KerchNET also had their moments, mostly in the first half, and Igor "Maloy" Marien is perhaps worth singling out. As the newest name in the team, he had his debut in front of international audience in this match, and even though he ended up as the worst rated player, he actually didn't disappoint due to having excellent impact while his team was building up the advantage. On the other hand, Lemondogs had a horrible first half, but they all stepped up in the second and made an impressive comeback. Leading the charge was Frej "kHRYSTAL" Sjöström, with a 19-6 score after side-change, closely followed by Niklas "niko" Johansson's 15-6. After being unable to get anything going in the first half, Johansson woke up and made great contribution with his clutch play in the important 20th round, as well as in the rounds that followed. Emil "FYRR73" Karlsson, who has become the star of the team in the last 6 months, had an inconsistent performance, getting entry killed on 7 occasions, but he also pulled off some important rounds for his team.
Dreamteam - Who you should have had in your team
Match report A match between two last placed teams in Group B didn't promise much and it didn't deliver much, as Anexis overran myRevenge 16-1 on de_tuscan. The German team once again wasn't in full composition, but this time it seemed that having Roman "roman" Ausserdorfer as a stand-in, along with André "Kirby" Kempa, will actually be of some help to them. However, instead they showed their most disastrous display yet, recording their third loss in a row and practically losing all chances at reaching the playoffs. The new lineup of Anexis showed a lot of promise in their losses to fnatic and SK Gaming in the previous rounds, so they entered this match as favorites. From the start they took control and easily thwarted every attempt by the EPS Germany runners-up, completely outplaying the Germans in every aspect. myRevenge took their first, and as it turned out their only round at 6-1, and although they didn't give up at any point, even after being stomped on 14-1 in the first half, they were unable to close a 4-on-2 situation in the second half pistol, which ended their misery quickly at a 16-1 scoreline. Match statistics
Individual performances The entire Anexis team obviously played great considering the nature of their victory, and this time it was their experienced players that stood out a little more. The team's in-game leader Danny "BERRY" Krüger was the top rated player of this entire round of matches, and was also the Fans' pick for Man of the Match. His moments of excellence were condensed to a period late in the first half, when he recorded 12 kills in four rounds. One of those was particularly impressive when he flanked the opponents to take out 3 of them and later win a 1vs1 situation. Nicolaj "Nuggi" Larsen is considered Anexis' best player, so it's not surprising to see him play well in a match like this, as he was a big nuisance for myRevenge throughout the clash. Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer was also impressive, especially at the beginning when he built up a 13-3 score and shut down the Germans repeatedly at the B bombsite. No one is worth mentioning in positive context from the myRevenge squad, as they all severly underperformed, including the big star Roman "roman" Ausserdorfer despite the fact that he was their best fragger.
Dreamteam - Who you should have had in your team
Match report SK Gaming came of a fresh victory at Intel Challenge by Inferno Online, while the Russians overran WinFakt in their previous match, and furthermore were now strengthened by the return from vacation of their star Mihail "Dosia" Stolyarov, which all promised us an exciting clash. However, all we got from this match was a display of dominance by SK Gaming, as Moscow Five was unable to put up even a decent fight on de_forge, losing 16-2. The match reminded of the "glory" days of the map's predecessor, de_cbble, as SK completely dominated on the CT-side, not allowing the Russians to win a single round. SK closed out the B bombsite completely with Marcus "Delpan" Larsson's AWP, and when M5 tried to change their tactics to focus on A, SK players were either waiting, or rotating perfectly. Even slow rounds when Moscow Five tried to fake at one bombsite and go to the other didn't work, as the Swedes were simply ready for everything and every player was hitting his shots. The Russians ended the half with only being able to plant the C4 on one occasion, which speaks well enough about their play in this match. With the halftime score standing at 15-0, Moscow Five managed to save some pride by winning the second pistol round and the following eco by SK, but the Swedes easily won the third round of the half to clinch the match 16-2. Match statistics
Individual performances A 15-0 halftime score is rarely seen in any match, let alone between two top teams, so that meant that SK's players played extremely well and at the same time, Moscow Five's players completely underperformed. The top rated player of this match was once again SK's big reinforcement Marcus "Delpan" Larsson, who also had 15 AWP kills and 6 entry kills to his name. After this performance Marcus "Delpan" Larsson established himself as the best player of the league so far, topping the charts in statistics as the best rated (1.57), the best entry killer (15-2 entry score) and the best AWPer (57 AWP kills). The rest of SK's stars were also in a great mood, as Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg, Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund and Johan "face" Klasson all played great, with numerous multi-kill rounds in their bags. The team's in-game leader Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström was perhaps overshadowed by them, but he didn't disappoint in the slightest either. Regarding Moscow Five, the only one who even tried to make something happen on a few occasions was Mihail "Dosia" Stolyarov with a couple of entry kills in the first half, but that still wasn't enough to secure even one round.
Dreamteam - Who you should have had in your team
So far we have seen Marcus "Delpan" Larsson be selected as the Best player of round 1, and Morten "coloN" Johansen of round 2, but let's see who is your pick this time. [playerpoll=27] In case you missed the recap of the first round, you can check it out here, while the second round recap is here. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below about any of these matches, teams, players and of course, your Dreamteam progress. Stay tuned to HLTV.org for full coverage of the league, as we will keep you up to date with matches, demos and statistics. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Alternate
Lemondogs
eSrael
ESC Gaming
KerchNET
E2G
WinFakt
Moscow Five
Alternate