Day two of NERV LAN #2 is now over and I sit here barely able to put my thoughts together as to what even happened today. Needless to say, I woke up around 5:30AM and have been awake, driving back and forth between the LAN center and my hotel, since then. Enough about me though, on to what actually happened today, the competition of the group stage matches, the upper bracket and round one of the lower bracket.


Group Breakdown & Winners

Group 1
Pandemic (3-0)
Minutemen (2-1)

Although minutemen may be a hijacked pug team full of all star players put together at the last minute (no pun intended) they are hardly pushovers. In the group stage, Minutemen was the only team to even stand next to Pandemic shot for shot, and despite losing 5-13, Minutemen proved they were definitely a force to watch in the later rounds of the upper bracket.

Group 2
Team EG (2-0)
Its Over(1-1)

Coming to LAN for the first time is always fun, getting seeded into EG’s group isn’t. Not much to say here as EG was easily able to defeat both its over and my control pug team while its over stood no match against EG and sufficiently beat the control pug team.

Group 3
Rebels Gaming (2-0)
Seraphic Gaming (1-1)

Again, another three team group with a pug team and two established talented teams, no surprises here either.

Group 4
MoB Gaming (2-0)
Ionic Gaming (1-1)

While Team poop may be a little better of a team and actually a group of guys who play together, it really didn’t matter much. Easy wins for both advancing teams.

Group 5
X3o Gaming (2-0)
Sinister (1-1)

Despite the fact this group had only three teams, we saw some of the closest matches of the entire group stage. X3o may have had some people paying close attention to their rough start against Assisted Suicide, but my boy Rob “grim” Koster and crew got things down to advance.

Group 6
Dynamo Gaming (2-0)
Internal Revolution (1-1)

Today must have been a disappointing day for many people, specifically those people who are convinced Nicolas cheats as he was able to perform on LAN. Although Dynamo swept through group with scores that look relatively like blowouts, their matches were hardly anything of the sorts. All I can say is that Dynamo is completely a different team without frzg is good health.

Group 7
Focal (2-1)
MainGear (2-1)

This group probably received the most mention amongst IRC goes and forum trolls throughout the day as MainGear defeated Focal, Focal defeated enhanced pug and then enhanced pug defeating maingear. I honestly have no idea how this happened, but it shouldn’t have, so we can leave it to that. Fortunately, the two best teams from the group advanced regardless.

Group 8
MoBdeep (3-0)
Dynamic (2-1)

I know I had originally posted in the Day 1 Recap that there was a lot of talk going around about MoBdeep, which is true, but I have to say, I was less impressed with them during their group stage matches, and eventually lost hype during the bracket play. Dynamic also hasn’t had the greatest luck as I’m sure losing to MoBdeep wasn’t something the CEVO-A champs had in mind for their group stage plans.


Storylines

Pandemic MM2 Binds - You would never guess it, but a lot goes down in Pandemic MM2, most of which, however, does not have anything to do with screaming profanities after dying or talking strategies. No, on the other hand, Keith would rather spam his smiley face binds.

Lack of tech problems - Fortunately, there haven’t been too many technological problems during the event as we have yet to have a whole computer just crash or a monitor just turn off during a match. Let’s hope this lasts.

LANs run on schedule? - It’s hard to say whether this has anything to do with the fact there hasn’t been a lot of tech problems, but the entire event has been moving relatively smoothly and almost on schedule. Not having an 11 hour blackout does help I guess.

Hotels - I really have no idea where all the teams are staying. If you aren’t at the Hojo, Holiday Inn, Days Inn, or Hampton Inn, you may as well not be here.

LAN Dodgers - The list is pretty long but I think we all know one or two. A lot of people have been saying frzg from dynamo is dodging, however, from what I hear he has some medical problem or whatever. Two more important figures missing in action include E-REV shoutcaster anger, who was supposed to be coming and, of course, Ian “ian” Tannehill who spent the entire weekend saving kittens from trees.

Cheatz? - There were a number of teams who did not perform up to their usually standards, most notably, Dynamic. Although I doubt any of these teams cheat online, it just goes to show how much of an importance LAN experience really is. Look at procore’s match against Dynamo in group stage. Dynamo won 13-7, but ProCore was making each and every round close not only due to their skill, but also their experience competing on LAN.

shoutcasters losing voices - Poor wantsome has been casting all day and night and began to lose his voice. Fortunately we had some guest casters step in and give him a break, one even being Pandemic’s very own Keith "keith" Hullenaar, who casted EG’s match against MoBdeep.

glad’s girlfriend - Besides the fact everyone at the LAN center has been staring her down intently, Josh “gladiator” Adam’s girlfriend seems to have a fairly good grasp of CoD4 competition.

Other females? - Rumor is some Lost Prophets kids were at the Hojo’s pool and managed to score some random females last night. Whether or not that is true we cannot confirm or deny, however, you can sleep easy at night to know the hot chicks at TGI-Friday’s do not care if you are a pro gamer, or the fact that you brought CoD2 to the WSVG.


Hot or Not

EG and Pandemic
The weather
Minutemen defeating MoB Gaming in UB
The chicks at TGI Fidays
E-REV’s ability to continue to deliver awesome live content

Dynamic
Only in PA – enough said
Crazy old ladies trying to run pro gamers over in the parking lot
Waking up Sunday morning
Air conditioning in rooms (never seem to get it right).