3D.NY vs. Carolina Core Match Preview

Posted by: bootman

Match Overview

In tonight's match of 3D.NY vs. the Carolina Core, it will be putting 3D's #1 ranked lineup vs. Carolina who barely squeezed into the playoffs over the Chicago Chimera. The fourth seed came down to the head to head scores between Chicago and Carolina since they both sat at the end of the season with a dismal 4-8 record, but fortunately Carolina was 2-1 versus the Chimera. Although Carolina had a rough season, they are one team in the league that has the potential to take down any opponent with the lineup that they have this year.

3D.NY had a near flawless season in 2008. They started the season with a very nice run being undefeated until, their opponent tonight, Carolina was able to grab the first win off of them by a rather large margin with Carolina's Source team stepped up to the plate. After that match, 3D was taking no prisoners as they started a new winning streak to finish the season, or so it seemed. On the last day of the regular season, 3D.NY was sitting 10-1 and their last match was against the team on the opposite end of the rankings, the Los Angeles compLexity. Just when this match looked like it was going to be an easy win for 3D, coL took the momentum from beating Carolina on the previous night and managed to take down 3D in the final match after a big win from their Source team, which also knocked 3D's Source team out of the running for the spot at the individual world final.

The main reason for 3D's great run this season has been the heart and dedication from each member of his team. 3D has the number one spot, but only has a +25 point differential. To put that into perspective, the second place Dallas Venom team has one more loss than them and have a +52 point differential. This means that 3D had a lot of extremely close matches. Most of their matches came down to the last game where it was put on the shoulders of on player, or one team to bring home the win, and they almost always did. 3D has been very clutch this season, and they will be looking to carry that straight into the playoffs.

Carolina managed to make it to the playoffs, and it seems as though it was an act of a higher power. The last two games of the season became a race between Carolina and Chicago, which ultimately came down to the very last match after Carolina gave coL their first win of the season. Luckily, for Carolina, in the last match of the season Chicago fell to San Francisco which locked in the playoff spot for Carolina. As mentioned above, don't let Carolina's record fool you, they are an extremely dangerous team. They're Source team won the combine, OffbeatNinja had a rough start but finished the season off strong, it was the opposite for DoA 4 Female Mystik who had a very strong start and started to fall towards the end of the season, their FIFA player has been able to take down WiZaKoR consistently, and their racing team is arguably the best.

Let's also not forget that Carolina was the first team to take down team 3D during the regular season when 3D seamed as though they were unbeatable. Not only that, but OffbeatNinja was the first and only person to give Venom's Master a loss in the last match of the season. If every division of Carolina steps up their game, it's possible we may see a huge upset in the first round of the playoffs.

Dead or Alive 4

Men: Cardell “Cheppelle” Thomas (2-10) vs. Ryan “OffbeatNinja” Ward (7-5)

Many people have been a little disappointed in Cheppelle's performance this year, but then again many people are extremely proud. Cheppelle is everyone's favorite player that can lose to win the match by getting the right amount of points just to put it out of reach for the other team. Whether it be getting four rounds on BlackMamba, or one round on Master. It was quoted by Cheppelle that he would be “kicking ass” this year, but we have only seen various sneak peaks of it. The biggest win Cheppelle had this season though, was against his opponent OffbeatNinja the last time they played, where he had a very respectable 5-3 victory. The last time these two played, it was on a very close quarters stage which played into Cheppelle's fast paced play style much more than Offbeat's passive turtling style, and that played a huge factor in his victory.

OffbeatNinja is second place in the league, not too bad when you consider that he was first place last season. Offbeat had a fairly rough start to this season, and I don't think anybody would argue that fact. He was losing to people he really shouldn't have, and was at the bottom of the rankings until the last few matches of the season. If anyone watched his first match against Master where he only lost 5-4, you were probably saying to yourself, “That's the OffbeatNinja I remember”. In the last match of the season he was able to squash Master's dreams of an undefeated season, and at one point he was even up 4-1, but closed it out 5-2. It's hard to say whether or not Offbeat will have a little stage fright after losing to Cheppelle the last time the faced off, but don't count on it 3D fans.

bootman: 5-2 OffbeatNinja
weenus 5-2 OffbeatNinja

Women: Tanya “coolsvilla” Underwood (7-5) vs. Kat “Mystik” Gunn (5-7)

I don't know what Dave Geffon has been feeding coolsvilla, but in here last four matches she has gone absolutely insane. Coolsvilla has honestly looked like Vanessa in her most recent matches. What do I mean? Let's put it this way, in here last four matches she has gone 20-2...TWENTY AND TWO. She 5-0'ed both Mystik and Phoenix, and only lost one round a piece to KasumiChan and belle. Last season coolsvilla floated under the radar a bit, until at the end of the season when everyone realized that she was the second ranked female, at the end of this season she's playing like #1 even though she has a 7-5 record. Something clicked with coolsvilla and it must scare the hell out of any of her recent opponents.

Mystik had a great start to the season, but hasn't been performing to her highest potential as the season wound down coming into the playoffs. She started off with a great record, and was even able to beat Phoenix, which many saw as an upset. Not only that, but Mystik also looked as though she was going to be the first one to take down Vanessa, but came up short. Since then it's been a rollercoaster ride for Mystik as she has lost her last four matches straight, and became the only female in the CGS to lose to belle during the regular season. If there's any time for Mystik to become the player we all know she is, it has to be right now. If Mystik plays like she has been lately and coolsvilla is able to grab another 5-0 against her, it could be the sole reason why Carolina loses the overall match.

bootman: 5-1 coolsvilla
weenus 5-3 coolsvilla

FIFA 08

Matt “WiZaKoR” Underwood (6-6) vs. Andrew “Anomaly” Brock (5-7)

FIFA has been a bit of a random event between these two players. On paper, WiZaKoR should easily be able to take down Anomaly, but he is currently 0-3 for the season against him. Anomaly is 5-7, and for some reason the only person that can consistently take him down is Venom's Barmoa. Both of these players are extremely solid, especially when you take into consideration that WiZaKoR was last year's individual world champion, and Anomaly was on the Wold Championship team. It's really hard to say what to expect in this match except for the fact that it should be extremely close. Both of these players really need to step it up for their team though, because anything more than a 2 point spread can be detrimental to their franchise.

bootman: 4-3 Anomaly
weenus: 2-1 Anomaly

Counter-Strike: Source

3D.NY (8-4) vs. Core (5-7)

Up until Monday night, 3D's Source team was neck and neck with Dallas for the spot at the individual World Final. In a very surprising turn of events, 3D's source team not only lost to coL on Monday, but that loss also cost them the match by one point. Speaking of, when 3D lost their first match to Carolina, it was also due to a big win by Carolina's Source squad, and that makes for a very interesting match. All season long, Core's Source squad has been a team that hasn't been performing as consistently as we all would like to see. Despite their 5-7 record, Carolina has been able to keep a +3 point differential due to blow out victories. This can play a huge factor in the match tonight as well. 3D set a record by having the highest point spread in official CGS match by beating Carolina 15-3, but Carolina later returned the favor with a 14-4 win. If we see those kind of scores in either direction, it's going to play a very big role in the final score of the match.

bootman: 10-8 3D.NY
weenus: 10-9 3D.NY

Forza Motorsport 2

3D.NY (8-4) vs. Core (8-4)

This is a race between the top two teams in the league. Both teams are sitting with an identical overall record, but the Core actually have a 2-1 record versus 3D's racing squad. When these two teams race each other, it is always an epic struggle for the first place position. Even with Core having the winning record over 3D.NY, they are only +1 in points against them. Expect nothing less than 4-3 race between these two, but a great starting grid in either team's favor can let them get a much better score.

bootman: 4-3 Core
1st: GEL
2nd: Comebackdan
3rd: Dark Storm
4th: Phantom
weenus 5-2 3D.NY
1st: Comebackdan
2nd: GEL
3rd: Dark Storm
4th: Phantom

bootman's overall prediction: 23-22 3D.NY
weenus' overall prediction: 23-21 3D.NY