Venom vs. OPTX World Final Preview

Posted by: bootman

CGS World Final Season 2

Dallas Venom

19

San Francisco OPTX

23

CSS:

Venom

(7)

OPTX

(11)

Forza:

CHA0S

(2)

miximup

(0)

Forza:

MuffinMan

(1)

SACKAMO

(4)

DOA M:

Master

(5)

NinjaCW

(3)

DOA F:

Phoenix

(3)

Vanessa

(5)

FIFA:

Barmoa

(1)

Stermy

(0)

Match Overview

These two teams just can't get away from each other. That's right ladies and gentlemen, it's everyone's favorite matchup, the Dallas Venom vs. the San Francisco OPTX in the first round of the World Final brackets. It's been days since the World Final brackets have been posted, and the big question on everyone's mind is how these two ended up playing each other in the first round. With the Venom being the 2nd place team in North America and OPTX barely making it to the playoffs by snagging the wild card spot, with everything we all know about sports, this still doesn't make sense. There is one thing for sure though, it was written in stone and these two titans will be colliding for the last time tonight as one of them will be going home.

The Dallas Venom are going to be coming into this match hungrier than ever and out for revenge after losing to Carolina in the North American Final by one point. Most saw this loss as probably the biggest upset of the season with Carolina coming out to a huge lead starting the match 11-3 after a 5-2 win in Forza and an even more devastating 5-1 win in Dead or Alive male. The Venom truly showed how much heart they do have in this match as Phoenix went on to win after being down 5-2 and the Source team won 12-6, where a 13-5 would have won the overall franchise match for them. The world was given a sneak peak of the Venom's hunger for this win at the individual World Final that took place just two days ago as the Source team took home the title, as well as Master who only gave up two rounds vs. two of the top players in the world.

The OPTX are going to be coming into this match with a lot to prove to the world. After getting knocked out of the playoffs, but then making a huge comeback by taking down 3D.NY and the London Mint in the wild card race, they want to show it was no fluke. Not only that, but this team currently has a 1-3 overall record vs. the Venom this season, and they want to prove that they are the top dogs in the western division. Towards the end of the season, the San Francisco OPTX really kicked it into high gear. Their last place Source team started winning, NinjaCW took down Master in a close match, and Vanessa is the second time female Dead or Alive 4 world champion. They proved they have the potential, but can they step up to the plate tonight?

Dead or Alive 4

Men: Manny “Master” Rodriguez vs. Chris “NinjaCW” Harris

In recent weeks, Master has been on the roller coaster ride of his life. He went from a near flawless season, to losing three matches in a row, to going on and winning the individual World final in a very big way. Master losing to Carolina in the last match of the season may have been a bigger blow than most people thought. It really seemed as though after his perfect season was gone, he lost that heart and soul that we saw all season long as he went on to lose to NinjaCW in the following match, and get blown out 5-1 by OffbeatNinja in the North American final. In the CGS it's hard to point fingers at one division for losing a match, but you could tell Master put a lot of blame on himself when the franchise match was lost by one point, especially after he lost by four points to a player he knows he can beat. The story was repeated more times than I could count at the individual finals that Master told JaX to hang on to his MVP trophy until he felt the he deserved it. Even after his huge win at the individual final, Master won't be satisfied until he leads the team to a World Championship like a true franchise player should.


NinjaCW is coming into this match off of a little bit of a break after his team won the wild card spot just weeks ago. If he has been practicing as hard as ever during this down time, he will definitely be giving Master a run for his money, if not upsetting him once again. The last time these two met, NinjaCW was the only other person to defeat Master this season, after going 0-3 in the head to head with him. NinjaCW then carried that momentum to dominate 3D's cheppelle, and take a very satisfying victory over London Mint's trash talking Paddaman. This match could be the deal breaker between the two teams as it can snowball into either direction. Either we'll see another close win in NinjaCW's favor, or Master is going to take Ninja back to the beginning of the season where he was unable to get more than two rounds on him.

bootman: 5-2 Master

Women: Michelle “Phoenix” Pleet vs. Vanessa “Vanessa” Arteaga

Time and time again, Phoenix has proved her worth to the Dallas Venom this season. She was the only rookie female to enter the league, and she ended it with a second place finish, only to Vanessa. Phoenix had been a very strong competitor all season, and even handed Vanessa her first ever loss in the league, but was then given a huge wake up call by 3D.NY's coolsvilla when Phoenix lost 5-0. From the Phoenix realized the kind of target she was, and not only went on to win the rest of her matches, she beat Vanessa for a second time in the playoffs. Phoenix proved that she was no fluke as she is still the only female on the planet to give Vanessa a loss, and not just one, but back to back losses. Tonight is going to be huge for Phoenix as a win over Vanessa would take a lot of pressure off the rest of her teammates for the night.

Vanessa and Master must be drinking the same sports drinks or something, because they have very similar stories. After two losses to Phoenix, Vanessa decided it was time to take no prisoners and have zero mercy on her opponents once again. It seemed as though after Vanessa lost to Phoenix the first time, she played other opponents with a little fear in her heart as she realized she wasn't invincible. Since the second loss to Phoenix, Vanessa is not only on a winning streak, but won the individual finals. If anyone was watching the finals, it looked as though Salvo's SarahLou had what it takes to beat Vanessa, but Vanessa showed her that that was not the case at all. After extremely smart play from Vanessa, she came back from a 3-1 deficit and took the match 5-3. Watch for Vanessa to play an extremely technical game tonight against the Venom's Phoenix.

bootman: 5-4 Vanessa

FIFA 08

Bardia “Barmoa” Moayedi vs. Alessandro “stermy” Avallone

Stermy has been extremely dominant all season long and taken on virtually every top player in the North American regioin. His opponent Barmoa has had the opposite results. Barmoa has been a great player on defense all season long, but has not had a strong offense. The only player that has beaten Barmoa by more than one point in regulation play in 2008 is Eafra of Chicago. The last time these two faced each other, Stermy was able to get a big 3-1 win over Barmoa, but this was when the match was taken into the dreaded penalty kicks. If Barmoa can come up huge in regulation play and and find a balance between his offense and defense, he can pull a huge upset tonight. Word on the street is that he has been putting in long hours of practice with all of the European players who have a much different play style than the American's, and this may help him out a lot tonight.

bootman: 2-0 Barmoa

Counter-Strike: Source

Venom vs. OPTX


The Venom Source team has looked unstoppable since the second week of the season, and they have been. They are currently on a 12 game winning streak from their fifth match of the season, to the playoffs, to winning the individual finals. These guys really solidified that they are the best in the world when they were able to defeat the Birmingham Salvo who was thought to have the best team in the league this year. The OPTX finished out the season a lot stronger than they started season with a few wins, and very close losses to both 3D.NY and the London Mint. The OPTX have seen what the Venom are capable of though with the Venom having a 12-6 blowout over the Core, a 13- 5 win over Rio, and a 11-7 win over the Salvo. The OPTX are going to have to come in to this match 150% if they don't want to suffer a blowout loss from the Venom that could seal the deal for the overall franchise match.

bootman: 12-6 Venom

Forza Motorsport 2

Venom vs. OPTX

The Venom racing team has had their ups and downs this season, but most recently lost 5-2 to the Core in the North American final. It seems like it was a huge loss for the team, but in reality it was very close. CHA0S, the muscle of the duo, actually proved to everyone that he is one of the fastest racers out there as he kited GEL for two and a half laps until finally being taken out. The OPTX team however, is coming into this match with the momentum. They have two back to back 5-2 victories, one was over the London Mint, and the second was over 3D.NY who many thought to be the top racers in the league. It's always hard to predict the outcome of the race between these two teams, but one thing is for sure, it's always an exciting race.

bootman: 4-3 Venom
1st: MuffinMan
2nd: miximup
3rd: SACKAMO
4th: CHA0S

bootman's overall prediction: 27-15