Team Pandemic - News - Pandemic strong in big weekend

This weekend Pandemic tackled a host of tournaments in a bid for domination in three of the world's biggest eSports competitions – Electronic Sports League (ESL), Major League Gaming (MLG), and the World Cyber Games (WCG).

A total of eight Pandemic competitors and two staff traveled to Los Angeles for E4All and its ESL and WCG offerings while a team of four headed to Dallas for the MLG event.

In the end, a championship eluded the list of all star players, but that doesn't mean a weekend filled with so many strong results was a failure.

Both World of Warcraft teams showed just how competitive they can be, with the Black team at MLG Dallas, lead by vocal leader Joe “NoktyN” Romano, knocking off tough competition on their way to a 3rd place finish amid his cries of “We're not washed up!” With victories over Gravitas Gaming and GotGame West, they showed they deserve to be listed among the best teams once again despite a nailbiting end to the event in what proved to be the most popular WoW match of the weekend, a rematch against Gravitas.

Pandemic Black at MLG Dallas - 3rd Place $3,000

Joseph "Nokytn" Romano

Chris "Douja" Cossey

Greg "Ecilam" Risselada

Mason "Nitrana" Groendal

The Pandemic Blue team in Los Angeles held the distinction of being the only team to challenge the European Regional winners, Spanish wizards x6tence. Pandemic took them to a fifth and final round not once, but twice, even taking a 2-0 lead in one series before falling prey to x6tence's versatility and mind games. In the end, Blue could not overcome Nihilum's Warrior, Warlock, Druid, but overall the event was a success and showed the team is on the verge of something great.

Pandemic Blue at ESL GC LA - 4th Place $2,400

Nathan "Kintt" Quinn

David "Ohnoes" Atz

Brian "Caal" McPharlin

In the World Cyber Games National Qualifiers, both the Guitar Hero II and FIFA teams met with heartbreaking ends.

Michael “Priest” Holmes narrowly avoided an early exit in the group stage to rebound and find himself in the finals. With the GH2 match format, allowing each player to pick one song, Holmes found himself at a disadvantage all tournament long due to the popularity of DragonForce's Through the Fire and Flames. In the Grand Final, he had to play it twice, leading to a match that went down to the final note – literally. Holmes lost by less than the value of a single note, ending his run for a spot in Germany.

Pandemic GH2 at WCG Nationals

Michael "Priest" Holmes - 2nd Place $1,500

Kelly "Tipperqueen" Law-Yone

Pandemic's newest division, the FIFA team, had their first big tournament this weekend at WCG. Lead by Michael “Michs09” LaBelle, the team featuring Nicholas “Peekay” DePalmer and Isidro “Novusnaim” Sifuentes met with tough times early as LaBelle and DePalmer faced each other on stage to determine who advances from their group. LaBelle proved victorious over his teammate, moving to bracket play where he dominated the Upper Bracket, surpassing LA CompLexity's Felipe “Kreegan” Stoyne, Chicago Chimera's Yfran “Eafra” Garcia. In the Grand Final, though, Dignitas' Juan Carlos “Juanqui” Alvarado would play the game of his life, taking out Michs09 in two best-of-threes with the second going down to a final decisive match.

Pandemic FIFA at WCG Nationals

Michael "Michs09" LaBelle - 2nd Place - $1,500

Nicholas "Peekay" DePalmer - 5th-8th

Isidro "Novusnaim" Sifuentes - 5th-8th

With so many events going on, Pandemic owner Chris Lemley and website editor Samuel Lingle were there to record all the action, so in addition to the photos already available, expect some video content from E4All in the coming weeks!

Pandemic Staff at E4All

Chris Lemley

Samuel Lingle

Overall, things may not have gone as everyone hoped, but the weekend proved a successful one for Pandemic as a whole.