Weenus' Preseason Preview 3:3

Posted by: weenus

With a welcomed departure off of Tuscan, it looks like the teams will be competing on one of my favorite maps of all time, Nuke. As of this point, things are now in full swing. The teams that will allow the Internet to hurt their abilities are letting it, the teams that are using the Training Camp to its potential are using it, and the teams that are just soldiering through are goose stepping their way into Los Angeles this summer for the regular season. On the bright side, I think we'll see a few surprises tonight, and I don't mean surprises as in good teams sandbagging it, I mean genuinely good matches with some interesting outcomes. Heh, imagine that.

Chicago Chimera vs. Carolina Core

Its been a hell of a Pre-Season for both of these Counter-Strike: Source squad. On one hand, you could be Chicago Chimera, in which case you've struggled to live up to the team that you will have to be in Season Two, a returning World Championship Franchise that needs to be firing on all cylinders. While the matches have been close, we're still a way off from dominance. On the opposite side of the spectrum, you are Carolina Core, an up and coming team that I personally think benefited from the underdog – bad guys in the black and yellow – persona. Worst of all, you've squandered the opportunity to use the Training Camp as a tool, and instead you've looked at it as a bothersome speed bump towards the season.

The good word is that Chicago will be having Ryan Pham play for Albert Hahn again, which I find reassuring for both Pham and Hahn. On one hand, Chicago is giving themselves an objective opinion on both of these players, even if Brian Flander decides to protect his original decision and stay with Hahn. On the other hand, Pham is getting a considerable amount of play in which will only help his case in finding a way back into the CGS full time. I sincerely doubt that Carolina will use this opportunity in a similar fashion. We wouldn't want to be forced to discuss it objectively through the press and have Dolven fire off an angry blog missile at any third world countries or websites.

Still, for some unknown reason that I can only attribute to sleep deprivation and sugar enriched kool aid fueled madness, I'm picking Carolina in this match. Chicago has caught two back to back over time matches, both of which ended badly for them. This seemingly never ending stream of bad luck just won't translate well to a Carolina team that is hopefully looking to shut people like me up and actually play to their high potential. Then again, as I've been explicitly told over the past few weeks, it seems like my predictions against teams help them motivate themselves to actually PLAY Counter-Strike: Source, so who knows.

Dallas Venom vs. 3D New York

Well take a look at this. Both of these teams have recently ran away giggling with overtime wins against Chicago, and now here they are, facing each other's 2008 lineups for the first time... “officially”. My only problem here is, I don't know if either team is using taxi players. At this point, I don't think 3D is looking to dip their feet in the waters of the player pool, but I have no guarantee that Venom won't.

Looking at the immediate positives of this match up, we get to watch zid and brawwr tee off against ksharp and nickn0it in what should be a regular highlight reel of ridiculous shots, so I'm already on board. From a Dallas Venom viewpoint, we get to see how Venom fares against a well organized team with what I consider a lineup of sleeping giants. For 3D, we'll see if the Chicago match was a fluke. 3D struggled in the first week against compLexity, and while I don't think that Venom is a fair equivalent at this point of LA, it would be a good indicator of where exactly the 3D team is skill and comfort level wise.

Here in Week 3, I'd be interested in seeing Dallas begin to start playing with a few different names. While I think 3D's lineup is about as good as it will get, and their big hurdle will be unlocking their potential, Venom has room to work with as far as the roster goes, and the team feels largely unfinished to me when I watch them play.

If I had a gun to my head and was forced to pick a winner, I'd be forced to say Dallas, because I'm just feeling something big from Mustang today for some reason, but I wouldn't be shocked if New York pulled the win out. I wouldn't even be mad, I'd be pretty intrigued... a successful New York lineup... imagine that.

San Francisco Optx vs. Los Angeles compLexity

Well, finally, a good indicator for BOTH teams as to where they are on the competitive ladder heading into the second season. For the compLexity camp, this will be the opportunity to attach themselves to the top of the Counter-Strike: Source ladder, as subpar performances in the CEVO Playoffs and the Combine have placed a question mark above the heads of idiots like me. For the Optx, this is the perfect team to really convince idiots like me that they have made a significant improvement and are becoming the team to beat in Season Two.

I've gone back and forth, flip flopping on the Optx issue like a conservative politician on a call girl's phone records, but I'm slowly but surely becoming a believer. Above all, because the new recruits are performing. The big concern I had for the team was that they wouldn't mesh well, and based on a number of personal conversations I've had, that just isn't a problem. I guess that is something we will have to take a look at after these guys have lived together for a few days.

Los Angeles took a piece out of Carolina last week with Sunman playing, but Sunman isn't the kind of player who will hurt your team for implementing him into the lineup, even as a favor or formality. So far, I've yet to see them entirely checked in this Online competition, but tonight will probably be the first signs of compLexity's fall from grace, if such a problem exists. I'm going to do Kat Hunter and the Optx a favor by predicting compLexity to win. Predicting against the Optx has been the nicest thing I've said for the team yet, and it seems to be working in their favor, lets just remember to send me my check, Kat, and we'll be sitting pretty.