Last night Pandemic.CoD4 began what many are considering the last professional CoD4 competition, CEVO-Pro playoffs. After a mediocre season at best for the AEF champions, finishing with a 10-5 overall record and the 4th seed coming into playoffs, Pandemic looked like a shaky bet in their round one match against a 50 Calibre team who had beaten them only two weeks prior in the regular season. Against all popular expectations, however, Pandemic handed 50 Calibre a dominating 13-5 defeat in what many would consider a return to true form for Pandemic.
Following their return from their European tour this summer, Pandemic.CoD4 had been under a lot of scrutiny with mixed results throughout the season plagued by inactivity and ill-preparation. Fully aware of the situation, team captain Joe “nabore” Amorosa commented at the end of the season he planned on changing this come playoffs, however, with a tough opponent like 50 Calibre its tough to say how prepared and well played a team has to be. Fortunately, aiding Pandemic's cause was the return of long time starter Jason “crzg” Pielemeier who had essentially be inactive throughout the entire regular season due to various personal and technological issues.
With Pielemeier back in the lineup, Pandemic kicked things off strong against 50 Calibre, winning the knife round and thus taking the easier offensive side first. From round one Pandemic looked in full control with a coordinated and well executed A bombsite attack. With Keith “keithsu” Hullenaar and Pielemeier pushing through the A hallways, David “skinz” Patnode and Amorosa pushing outside the A bombsite hanger, and Justin “prank” DeMara's scope picking up the early important frags, Pandemic was played like a well oiled machine. Tearing through .50Cal's defense Pandemic managed to pick up an impressive 9 rounds on offense, leading into the second half with a six round lead.
As the second half began 50 Calibre tried to pick up some momentum on the easier side, attacking the A bombsite aggressively. After taking a few early rounds, Pandemic found 50 Calibre's weakness and rotated accordingly to put them in a very though situation. Unable to make adjustments to their offense to counter Pandemic's change of pace, 50 Calibre dropped the final few rounds to close the match 13-5 in favor of Pandemic.
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Box Score |
CEVO-P Playoffs UB Round 1 |
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 Pandemic
nabore - keithsu - skinz - crzg - prank |
13 |
50 Calibre
BOND - jtf2eh - limitless - gladia7or - Nicolas |
5 |
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This victory advances Pandemic to the second round of the upper bracket where, interestingly enough, they will face long time rivals Team EG on what is perhaps even more shocking, mp_strike. The history between these two teams is enough to make anyone jump with excitement as a Pandemic/EG match is always a close bout, but with the match on a map such as Strike, where both teams have beaten one another on more then one occasion, the stakes are higher. The winner of this match is guaranteed at least 3rd in CEVO-Professional this season, advancing to the upper bracket finals. Be sure to tune in LIVE! Thursday, October 2nd, at 9:30PM EST/8:30PM CST to Gamefire TV for all the action!
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