AINC South Australian Qualifiers

Written by none other than RVGaming's very own Kermit!

Well, well, well this weekend sees the South Australian Anything Interactive National Cup Qualifier held at the Arena on Rundle Street. With 12 teams currently registered for the event it’s shaping up to be an extremely competitive day of Counter-strike Source. There are 6 or so teams that could give any other team a run on the day for first and second place for the paid trip and invites to the national event in Melbourne. Teams such as Sequential Gaming formally known as euphoric and being the powerhouse of SA CSS, as well as the newcomers Revived Gaming, the 1.6ers Alternate along with kLaus, vertex and many more should make the event very close.

The following is how I’d personally expect the seedings to be done, however after the top 3 I believe they could change in many ways (don’t flame me if you think your team should be higher, just my opinion). I also know little about the bottom 4 teams so once again they could probably be seeded in a number of different ways.

1. Sequential Gaming
2. Revived Gaming
3. Alternate
4. Klaus
5. Vertex
6. EqualLast
7. Homebrand
8. Alpha Legion
9. 2s2p
10. FoD
11. n00b international
12. Unrevealed Skill

I’ll now write my thoughts on each separate team and how I think they will go on the day as well as where I believe they will place.

Sequential Gaming

Dblstr, Coffex, Ver, Semper, Ozi

This team has been around an extremely long time, however the lineup has changed quite a bit over the years with dblstr being the longest standing member. There is skill everywhere in this team but expect the big frags to be coming from Semper or dblstr. We all know they can do it on lan as they have shown at the Valhalla comps however this is a different lan, its not BYOC. It’s hard to tell how this will affect sequential but I’m sure come the end of the day they will be somewhere close to the top of the standings. Coffex and Ver while having slightly less experience then the rest of the team will make up for it in raw aim and generally shut down majority of the spots they hold. Lastely is Ozi who has a lot of experience in CSS after his long stint with (cp) I expect Ozi will do considerably well at the event purely because of his experience.

Players to watch: Semper, dblstr or Ozi.

Expected placing: 1-2

Revived Gaming

Kermit, Snook, Racs, Voodz, yobobo

RV Gaming has formed recently picking up star players such as Racs (iCHOR, Encore) Voodz (cp, iCHOR) Snook (cp, iCHOR, euphoriC) Kermit (euphoriC, induced) and Yobobo (euphoriC). Something in common with these players is they have all played together at some stage in the past, which will really help build chemistry. With Racs and Voodz coming in from interstate they are sure to put a fair bit of practice and scrim time in, and I’m sure there will be a little rivalry between RVGaming and SQL so I’m going to go ahead and say that’s the match to watch! If this match doesn’t happen until late in the finals it is definitely going to be a high intensity game and one everyone should be watching (if sourcetv is available). Very capable team with strong awps guaranteed to get some of those early picks needed to turn the round in their favour.

Players to watch: The mother fuckin KermDAWG!!!!

Expected placing: 1-2

Written by Dablaster

Alternate

mayhem, burst, rish, ghost, nautique

Alternate have played a lot of CS in their time, while majority is the 1.6 version their skill carries over to source. Having attended and placed well at a lot of the Valhalla events and earlier this year the Reloaded event, I’m expecting alternate will place well at this qualifier. They have travelled interstate and played in qualifier before for CS and it will be this experience that helps them on the day to place somewhere in the top 4. While I’ve never actually played with or against the lineup they have down for this qualifier I’d expect mayhem, burst and rish to consistently hit the big shots. I expect this team to have relatively good teamwork, but it’s just a question of whether they can match it with the teams who would have put a lot of prac and effort in for this event. I’m sure they will place well but just not sure if they would be pracced up enough for source compared with other teams.

Players to watch: Mayhem, burst and rish.

Expected placing: 2-4

Klaus

f0nt, pod0087, paul, gaara, element

Having formed quite a while ago now and being regular attenders of local events they have show that they can put up a fight on lan. Having performed extremely well at the Reloaded event as well, I expect Klaus to be extremely competitive and may even cause some upsets. The only thing that might let them down is long-term experience and hence may lose them some clutch situations. However overall with some prac that I’d assume they’ve been putting in they will definitely be a high-ranking team at the end of the day. Also they are an evenly spread team so I couldn’t really pick any player that will go large on the day, rather expect them to work well together and produce the rounds won on an evenly contributed basis across the team.

Players to watch: take your pick

Expected placing: 3-5

Vertex

Cloudstrike, Godz Gift, Laes, iRoffle, Solymr

This team is another one that consistently attends the local lans in Adelaide. Also expect them to have an all round team effort just as Klaus do. My guess is that between Klaus, Vertex, EqualLast and Homebrand there will be some extremely tight matches, some even going to OT. They have surprised a lot of people at lan and tend to do very well considering I don’t really see them praccing or warring a great deal online. As I stated early pick any player as to watch, as it will be an all-round team effort on the day. Hopefully they can take it to the top teams but once again the one thing that will let them down is long-term experience.

Players to watch: take your pick

Expected placing: 4-6

EqualLast

Leo_, Bill, Godst4r, oXY, doublestar^

Having only formed recently its hard to tell what exactly to expect from this team. I’m also un-aware of how much prac they have been putting in but my guess is they might be flying under the radar a bit. Also having the masked madman doublestar (thereverend) will be a huge bonus to the team if he can provide the goods on lan. The Reverend will definitely be the player to watch in this team along with Leo. I’d expect even contributions from Bill, Godstar and Oxy who will play steadily and aid Leo and The Reverend in going large. Once again the skill level is there, its just the experience that could let them down but this team will definitely give it all that they have and shake up some of the teams that may be seeded above them.

Players to watch: The Revered and Leo

Expected placing: 4-7

Homebrand

phattZz, moo, Gruia, Wilby, The_Bear

This is basically a slut team for the event, however it definitely has some potential. The_Bear, gruia and phattzz have attended a lot of lan events in SA and will be steady contributers on the day. Wilby has lanned a bit also and is the dark horse, he may come out hitting the big shots or possibly not, it depends on if wilbs is fired up. Having never seen moo at lan before its hard to gauge how he will go, however he has been a long time member of fingerbang and should play well on the day. The impact players for this team will be The_Bear and phattzz, if these two can frag well on the day expect this team to go reasonably well and pull some upsets. This team will be at the event to have a good team, but they would be my dark-horse team and could place extremely well if they put their mind to it and get some lucky rounds.

Players the watch: The_Bear and phattZz

Expected placing: Could be anywhere from 3-8th

Alpha Legion

Sunie, Ewok, Aj, Sub Zero, Vippin, Sprayer

This is a team of decent 1.6ers along with some sourcers who thought they would try their hand at the SA qual. Sunie was in euphoric a couple of years ago so he has some prior knowledge on source. This team should put up a decent fight but I’m just not sure how much they’ve played source as a team and hence that will make it difficult for them to match it with the higher ranked teams. I’m not really sure who will go large for them as I know little about the lineup but I’m sure they will put in a reasonable effort as majority of them have been playing CS of some sort for a fair while. Hopefully they can put some pressure on some of the middle ranked teams and come through with some upset wins.

Players to watch: unknown, possibly sunie.

Expected placing: 6-9

2s2p

Gristy, Shredzy, CorZeh, reslol, se7en

These guys have all been to their fair share of local lans and play online regularly whether it be slut wars or pugs etc etc. It’s a fairly even balanced team with all players most likely putting in an equal amount of skill into the team. If they have been playing together and praccing a bit recently then they may have a chance at knocking some teams ranked above them off. However if they haven’t been then I’m not sure that individual skill and aim will get them over the line in most their matches. Once again hopefully they can prove me wrong and give some of the teams above them a good run.

Players to watch: Gristy, Shredzy or Corz.

Expected placing: 7-10

FoD

sam, davo, ben, mittens, alex

I have to admit I know next to nothing about this team besides the fact that mittens will be having problems not being on his personal PC. I can’t really comment much on the team but hopefully mittens can pull them through to get a few victories on the day.

Players to watch: Mittens as I don’t know the others

Expected placing: 8-12

n00b international

da bomb, butts, bourgeois, newman, darkone

I really know nothing about these last 2 teams however I ranked this team above unrevealed skill as I used to play a lot of 1.5 cs back in the day with da bomb and butts. Hopefully this long time of play CS counts in their favour and can help them to get some wins on the board for this event and make their mark on the qual. Will be interesting to see how this team and unrevealed skill go as they are somewhat an unknown element of the event.

Players to watch: da bomb and butts

Expected placing: 9-12

Unrevealed Skill

anthonii tony nerfz nautique ghost

Same as the n00b international writeup basically, I know next to nothing about this team but its good to seem them rocking up. Same deal, hopefully they manage to put some pressure on teams above them and even pull out a few underdog wins. I’m not sure who to watch but hopefully they’ve played some source lately and have a bit of understanding of the game as I think this team might have some 1.6ers.

Players to watch: unknown

Expected placing: 10-12


That’s all the teams, and I would write up what my personal expected standings will be at the end of the day however its to hard to tell. The matches that are going to be between the top 8 teams pretty much are going to be extremely close and good to watch. However as stated earlier the grudge match of the day will be Revived Gaming vs Sequential Gaming and hopefully there is sourcetv for this match as it is going to be huge. I’m sure there will be plenty of large plays and banter throughout the day but hopefully everyone enjoys themselves. Its also great to have Corona coming up to run the event and will be good to meet up with him. Hopefully the event runs smoothly and we have some tight matches and good plays throughout the day, then many pink cruisers to celebrate afterwards.

Hope you all enjoyed the preview!!