Winter months rarely delight us with large Lan championists, but 2013 was a pleasant exception. Throughout January and most of February, we patiently counted the days before the start of the championship Esports Heaven Vienna , or, as the organizers later called him, Madcatz CS: Go Invitational. The first large LAN in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive In the new year he intrigued the entire game community, and we had no right to pass by.

[Bullet]] large Counter-Strike tournaments in the Austrian capital are very rare, especially in winter.

Previous, Prague, tournament Esports Heaven I was remembered by a good organization, as well as the fact that all participants played and lived in an excellent five -star hotel in the historical center. In Vienna, the organizers prepared the teams no worse – or even better.

Austrian debut Na’VI

The sixteen strongest groups of the Old World settled in Imperial Riding School Renaissance Hotel, And in one of the spacious halls of the hotel, a gaming zone was equipped. Next, it was necessary to find several dozen powerful computers, because CS: Go is much more demanding on the iron than the old woman Counter-Strike 1.6. The company helped this Alienware , providing everything necessary.

Gorgeous conditions, beautiful Vein and the prize fund of ten thousand euros prompted the best virtual shooters to get out of warm and cozy dwellings and go to the nearest airports. What is interesting, there was not a single Austrian team among the tournament participants, although in CS 1.6 Austrians played.

[Bullet]] Game Hall of the Austrian Championship. After a couple of hours, a bunch of teams will justify here, and some of them will yell, have fun and twist the “crack”.

We go to the main favorites Madcatz CS: Go Invitational. We will not open America if we say that the vast majority of spectators put NIP on the Swedes. Patrick Lindberg ( F0rest ) and the company in 2012 won all CS: GO championships in which they participated, including ESWC And Dreamhack Winter. Moreover, notice, for six to seven large ninja tournaments, they did not lose to rivals and cards.

This state of affairs did not suit either spectators or rivals, and in winter all the leading teams in Europe seriously trained. Tested Polish five ESC Gaming (Kuben, TAZ, Neo, Loord, Pasha) settled for several days at its base in Cologne, and the French Verygames intensified by the Belgian Adil https://harry-s-casino.co.uk/ Burnlitom ( Scream ).

[Bullet]] The fact that the VeryGames team sponsor Razer cannot but notice – the French play their products and bear the form with a snake logo.

Did not sculpt snowmen and Ukrainians from Na’vi (Edward, Markeloff, Zeus, CeH9, Starix). “Born to win” at first in the new game of stars from the sky, they didn’t grab it, but over time they fit in a noticeable. The tournament in Vienna was supposed to be their first Lan championship in CS: GO, and the team fans did not even know about what to expect them.

The Germans are going home

Above, we have listed real CS-scenes, but there were other groups that could “shoot” on a good day. We are about Anexis (MSL, PIMP, Nille, GLA1ve, Nico), Lemondogs (Berg, Zajp, Twist, Cype, Waver) and n!Faculty (Kirby, Asmo, Disruptor, QK-Mantis, SMN). The first two teams stably beat Fnatic, Mousesports, Alternate and others, and the latter were overcome NIP (Get_right, F0rest, Xizt, Fifflaren, Friberg) on ​​one of the online tournaments. The Austrian championship promised to be very interesting and unpredictable.

[[Bullet]] Yaroslav Yarzhabkovsky (Pasha) used to CS: Go faster than his comrades in ESC Gaming.

The first stage of the competition has traditionally became the group stage. The organizers of the championship quite competently scattered all participants in four groups, and in the end we received the next four quarters.

Group a : NIP, Imaginary, TCM-Gaming, Nostalgie

Group b : Verygames, Anexis, Alternate, Logix

Group C : Natus Vincere, ESC Gaming, N!Faculty, Teamcrg

Group D : LDLC, E-SPORTS.RS, Lemondogs, 3DMAX

Throwing a first glance at the group C, we realized that the struggle for the exit here is a serious. True, later it turned out that in the next stage they were not two, as usual, but three teams, which means the British Teamcrg recorded in obvious outsiders. The last group seemed the last – the last – Lemondogs Weaker than others, and Serbs E-sports.RS And the French LDLC For some reason they did not inspire much confidence.

The presence of the Russian-Ukrainian hodgepodge Nostalgie (Hooch, Dosia, Ed1k, Overdrive, Ange1) In the first group, great attention of domestic fans focused on it. This is not the first time a veteran of the Russian CS scene Alexey Biryukov ( Overdrive ) gains experienced children, pays for them and goes to a major European championship.

[[Bullet]] Captain Virtus.Pro Kirill Karasev (Ange1) was one of the best in Nostalgie, although other players of the national team also tried to keep up.

It happened that the national teams of Alexei performed weakly, but most often they pleasantly surprised our spectators. This time, expectedly losing NIP on de_dust2 (8:16), "nostalgia" prevailed over strong Imaginary (16:10 on de_mirage) and, despite the defeat of hands TCM – Gaming , I went to the next stage. In the last place, by the way, was finished Imaginary, who did not recover after leaving Scream V Verygames.

This is strong: Alexey Biryukov (Overdrive) very well played the group stage, despite the fact that in CS: Go, only thirty to forty hours were played before the tournament. This despite the fact that NIP has already approached a thousand hours.

The next quartet gave us the first sensation – champions Eps Germany Alternate suddenly crashed and took the last place in the group. And the day before, in an interview, they talked about falling into the four of the strongest … Anexis’s crushing victory over the favorites from Verygames on de_DUST 2 (16: 4).

Avoid delays? Impossible!

The first match Na’vi against n!Faculty In the third group, he turned into a last nightmare-the teams played several rounds, and then one of the Germans had something happened to the computer. And it went and went … For three or four hours, the game was shot from a pause and stopped again, and later they were allegedly postponed.

[[Bullet]] champions of Germany – not authority for Lucas Rosander, player Anexis

Shrugging their shoulders, the Ukrainians went to win Teamcrg (16: 6 on de_train), and the Germans – win at ESC Gaming (16:14 on de_mirage). After that Na’vi and N!Faculty crossed the machines again, and the Slavs on the day of the defender of the Fatherland symbolically produced a convincing victory – 16: 4.

The devastated defeat was demoralized by n!Faculty, and those in the last round, sensationally lost to little -known British (13:16 on de_inferno). Later, watching the game Teamcrg , We noticed that their tactics are radically different from the usual ones: they rush headlong out of the map, forgetting the Shift button. A similar style was in fashion at the beginning of the two thousandths, now you can hardly see this.

Well, in conclusion, we will talk about the failure Lemondogs. Before the championship, the Swedish team was considered the third most powerful in Europe after NIP and VERYGAMES, but in Vienna it did not even fall into the top three in her group. Perhaps the main reason for this was the Serbian team E-sports.RS (Kassad, Ynk, K1ng0r, EMI, Nikolinho).

[[Bullet]] Serbs sensationally beat the favorites of the group and do not hide their satisfaction

Voice guests from the Balkans every raun taken accompanied with such cries that they were heard far beyond the gaming hall. The young Swedes were not ready for such a noise attack and faded after the very first rounds (8:16 on de_mirage). In the next match with LDLC Lemondogs went to the leg with the opponent, but at the very end they were a little lucky, and they lost again (13:16).

It was still possible to fix the situation in the last game against the Czechoslovak five 3DMAX (Guardian, Oskar, Sneix, Kap1, .PHP), but, having given the first key round, the “dogs” simply “sprinkled”. Three lemondogs lesions became the main sensation Madcatz CS: Go Invitational.

The end of the Serbian fairy tale

Having finished with the first group stage, the quarters of the quartets went straight to the playoffs, and the second and third places to play among themselves in the second group stage. There were no more sensations here, and those who were supposed to come out. What is pleasant, the next barrier was overcome by the Nostalgia, which first lost Verygames (3:16 on De_nuke), and after confidently dealing with upstarts from Teamcrg and E-Sports.RS.

True, rejoiced Dmitry Bogdanov ( Hooch ) and the company is not long, because in the playoffs they got into the rivals Ninjas in Pyjamas. Our guys did not have chances against repeated champions of the world and Europe – 16: 2 and 16: 5, and the Swedes walk on.

[[Bullet]] Most NIP players have recently released their beard. Isn't that the secret of their success?

Saying goodbye to Nostalgie , We switched all the attention to Na’vi, which were about to start a match against Verygames. By and large, it was he who was the first serious test of Ukrainians in the new game for them. The opponent is perfect: if not beat Verygames , You can not even dream about world leadership.

Best match in CS: GO?

The first card was de_mirage – an unexpected choice of Verygames. Having lost the “knives”, the French began to attack a weaker attack and in the first round rushed into a quick rash on point B. True, they were already waiting Starix And Zeus , which are calmly shot and shot.

[[Bullet]] Captain Na’vi Daniil Teslenko (Zeus) tells comrades on the command, what tactics to apply and what to expect from the opponent.

The capture of the "gun" greatly pleased Na’VI, and multiple champions CS 1.6 increased their advantage to 6: 0. The French went well to dots, but could not gain a foothold on them and competently play situations after exchanging. The first half ended with a score of 12: 3 in favor of the "born to win", and then for the three VG rounds they should thank Scream.

Changing the parties, the teams have changed and places. The French began to catch up rapidly, and the meager tactical supply Na’vi did not allow to hack the defense Verygames. Ninety percent of playing time Zeus and the company to no avail stormed an open point. Well, at least not lost – in the main time a draw was recorded 15:15.

Nobody wanted to yield. The teams played as many as six overtime. In the end Verygames turned out to be more successful and won with a score of 34:30. A logical outcome, given that in additional rounds they have always been one step ahead.

[[Bullet]] In the Na’vi match against Verygames on de_mirage, real passions boil!

The next card was De_DUST 2 – the choice of Na’VI and one of the strongest cards of the team, as in Counter-Strike 1.6 , So in Global Offensive. Open maps of the map and its similarity to the classical early version gave Ukrainians a small advantage. In favor Na’vi played and accuracy of sniper Yegor Markelov ( Markeloff ).

Starting for the attack, our guys, like on de_mirage, rushed off the quarry and won the first half with a score of 11: 4. It remained only to take their rounds for protection and equalize the score in the series. The French, to their honor, performed well in the attack, and who knows how it all ended, do not have Na’vi a significant advantage after the first half. And so the seven rounds taken was not enough, and the epic confrontation was transferred to de_inferno.

There was already an advantage on the side of representatives CS: S , After all, de_inferno, unlike de_Dust2, is visually much closer to Counter-Strike: Source. The passages are closer, the boxes are placed in a completely different way, and the “carpets” are not at all like those that were in Counter-Strike 1.6.

[[Bullet]] Record of the epic confrontation of champions from CS1.6 against champions from CS: S

Unfortunately, we could not fully see this match – with a score of 4-0 in the hotel, for unknown reasons, the Internet disappeared, which means that the main broadcasts were also interrupted. We later learned that Edward And the company led in the account, but in the end they were insulting – 14:16. Anyway, Natus Vincere stood out at their first championship, although they did not get into the four strongest.

Give another finale!

Two other semi -finalists became ESC Gaming And the Danes ANEXIS. The former are not without problems, but still won LDLC (16:13 on de_mirage, 22:19 on de_inferno), and the latter passed the TCM-Gaming (16:12 on de_TRain, 16:12 on de_DUST2). Thus, we have formed two semifinal couples – NIP Against ESC Gaming and Aneexis against Verygames.

The first to the final was expected to get the "ninja". The first map of their confrontation with the Poles (de_DUST2) ended with a score of 16: 8, and the second (de_inferno) was held in a rather stubborn struggle, and NIP won with a score of 16:12. In these games he showed excellently Robin Johansson ( Fifflaren ) – according to many, the weakest player in Ninjas in Pyjamas. And here is one of the best shooters in the world F0rest let down and killed only thirty enemies on two cards, while dying thirty times.

[[Bullet]] Outwardly, Fifflaren during important matches is calm as a boaver, although in the game it often performs hard -explained acts.

Upon learning that NIP became the first finalists, most of the spectators were depressed, waiting for their next final against Verygames. But the young and very promising Anexis composition was against such a development of events. On the first map de_inferno, the Danes won several rounds in the minority and ended the first half with a score of 8: 7 in their favor.

In the second half, the course of the match did not change, and the teams took turns gaining rounds. However, this did not last long – with the score of 12:14 in favor of the Scandinavians Verygames lost the decisive round on point B. This devastated their wallets, and without money and expensive machines, the match is almost unrealistic to pull out the match. Anexis win with a score of 16:12, and the next card is de_nuke – choice NBK and companies.

Having won the “knives”, the silver medalists of all the major last year's Verygames tournaments began protection and won the pistol round. Then, however, the opponent managed to take the second round, but then the anexis did not work out. The main sniper VG Kenny Shrub (Kennys) I shot enemies from AWP throughout the map, and competent synchronous outputs were not successful.

[Bullet]] The abundance of gel on the hair and cries during games are the branded chips of the captain Verygames Belgian Kevin Drulanz (Ex6Tenz).

It was clear with the naked eye that the French on this map is much stronger, and Anexis after several unsuccessful attempts to “return” to the game abandoned this business and lost with a score of 9:16. The main goal of the red and white was the victory on the decisive third map De_DUST2, where ANEXIS was already smashed by Verygames with a score of 16: 4 in the first group stage.

It is hard to believe that five strong shooters poorly play a card that is perfect for aggressive shootings, but this is so. On de_DUST2, the French last year devastly lost NIP, and in this at all – every second more or less decent team.

[Bullet]] to twist the “cracker”, apparently, is a folk Danish fun, at first Karrigan from Mousesports was engaged in this, and now the time has come for the growing generation from Anexis.

The card was important, and VG played very collected, but the lame strategies with one concentration cannot be outweighed. Half -second delay in one place, the “curve” of the grenade in another – and Anexis take the first half with a score of 9: 6. After the shift of the parties, many were waiting for a miracle, but it did not happen – the Danes won 16:13, and we received the second finalist. The new finalist is always good!

Scandinavian derby

The finale, I confess, disappointed us. Either Anexis were so satisfied with themselves that they played relaxed, or NIP really so far outside the reach of reach, but a serious struggle did not work out. Yes, the first card (de_nuke) ended with a score of 16:13, but the fifteenth round in the piggy bank of the Swedes was already with a score of 15: 8. Everyone understood that Anexis would not reach the overtime, no matter how hard they tried.

On de_inferno everything was easier. A swift breakthrough in the first half provided NIP victory with a score of 10: 5, and in the second result was fixed. Ninja won the second pistol round in a row, and the score was 13: 5. The Danes recalled the events of the past card, when they almost made a Cumbek, but still gave the decisive round, and did not want to repeat it. NIP victory – 16:13, and F0rest and the company earn the next title. Predictable? Maybe. Interesting? Alas…

[Bullet]] The championships are different, but the champion is always the same – the Swedes of Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Last year, many complained that in CS 1.6 there is no intrigue, – in the final there is always na’vi and fnatic. From that time the game has changed, many updates came out and have significantly changed the “shooting”, and we have one champion again and again – again – Ninjas in Pyjamas. So, maybe the matter is by no means in the game?

This is incredible: A week after the Viennese tournament, the Anexis leadership parted with the Danish CS: Go-compound. The players have ended the contract, and renew on the same conditions Anexis They didn't want to. Such things ..

It has already reached the fact that the Swedes in an interview themselves agree that one champion is boring, and they reassure all of us, that someday they will lose. Survived, the best team of the world is already embarrassing to win the championships! No, you definitely need to change something. The next attempt will be Copenhagen Games 2013 in the twentieth of March.

The final location of the teams on Madcatz CS: Go Invitational:

Ninjas in Pyjamas (Sweden) – 6000 euros

Anexis (Denmark) – 3000 euros

Verygames (France) – 1000 euros

ESC Gaming (Poland)

When writing an article, photo materials of the portal HLTV were used.Org