Entropy Gaming (eG) were certainly taken by surprise in the Battle of the Clans CoD4 Grand Final after they lost the first game to Brazen and were pushed into extra time in the second game.
Hayden ‘PoOks’ Huntington, from eG, says it was one of the closest finals they have played although one would be hard pressed to find a closer game.
It was Brazen who shot out the starting blocks. The clan clearly had something to prove after their loss to eG earlier in the competition when many pundits had tipped them as favorites. Do Gaming tipped eG to win, but such a close final was never expected given that Brazen had to win two games in the double elimination tournament.
Stephen White, Brazen captain, says they really felt that they had let themselves down in the earlier loss to eG and they wanted to get it right this time.
And they almost did it too, as it came down to the wire with eG holding their heads in extra time in a final game that could have gone either way.
White says Brazen won the knife round and chose the Crossfire map. eG chose the easier side. “We had practiced our strategy on this map and we had our game plan set out. We went at them hard and it paid off,” White elaborates.
Huntington says the rampart Brazen forced eG to call a time out after Brazen stormed to a 5 – 0 lead in the first half.
“We were on attack and they really rattled us. We needed to pull ourselves together and managed to pull it back to six all at the half. It was not great, but we were glad to be even given we were 5 – 0 down early on,” he says.
Brazen then controlled the A bomb site in the second half and Huntington says the defending eG was just not able to get them out.
“This allowed Brazen to move through and take the round 13 – 8, something that really surprised us. We weren’t too worried though, we knew we had another game and we believed we could adjust and pull it off – we just had to step it up, be tighter and work together a lot harder,” he says.
White says the difference between the two sides in the first game was Max “fAiTh” Mclaughlin, the brazen sniper.
“He was on fire last night and really made it difficult for the eG team,” he says.
White admits that the knife round did not go well for them in the second game.
“We lost the knife round and they eliminated our two better maps, we eliminated one which left us with Crash, which is a map we were not really that strong on,” he says
eG changed strategy on Crash moving up the middle strongly. Brazen had chosen to defend after eG won the knife round. It worked well at first for eG, but then Brazen picked up on the strategy and countered. It was a see-saw till the half, with eG leading seven to five.
“We were feeling pretty confident. We’d taken the A bomb site at the end and had our heads in front,” he says.
Brazen appeared to change strategy in the second half, looking to pick off one eG player and then rush the area where they had created the gap.
“It’s something we do often and it is hard to defend when you have lost a player and then they come streaming through at that point,” he says.
Ivan “Kelynt” Dias, who was commentating on the map, says eG always appeared to have the upper hand in the second game.
“Brazen kept repeating their attack every round and they were lucky not to lose more,” he says.
Again eG must have thought they were there at 12 – 10 up, but once again Brazen rose to the challenge and came to 12 – 12 to push the game into overtime. White admits it was really a case of just throwing everything at them in an attempt to pull off the win.
However, a draw it was and they moved into overtime.
“We lost the first round in extra time while on attack, but managed to win the next two to lead 14 – 13 at the break. On defence, Brazen took the first round again which left us at 14 – 14. At that point it was anyone’s game. We tightened on defence and managed to win two rounds to take it 16 – 14,” Huntington says.
The two teams appear to be as close to each other as South Africa and Australia were in the cricket test series across the two countries. Huntington says the win could have gone to either team.
“In a situation like that, it comes down to luck or the smallest of mistakes, which allow the other team to capitalise,” he says. “Brazen played extremely well and we were very impressed with them. From now on, an eG vs. Brazen game will require hours of preparation.”
White says eG deserved the win and he is just happy Brazen has proven themselves.
“We wanted to show people we could compete with the best. Now it’s time to work on our consistency,” he says.
Looking ahead:
We try to stick to what works, while mixing it up at the same time to keep the opposition guessing. We focus on our defence and attack hard when we can.” Hayden Huntington, eG player
Huntington says eG are very interested to see if Brazen make it into the Do Gaming CoD4 Premier League.
“We’ll be dissecting the two maps from the final to see what we did wrong, work on timing on the maps as well as new strategies. We need to mix things up for the Do Gaming league because we’ve now finished two competitions on top and are heading into the closing stages of iGame. We need to stay ahead so we don’t get into a rut and allow guys to capitalise on our gameplay,” he says.
Preparation for eG involves at least one clannie a night and a lot of talk about strategy and gameplay discussion.
“We try to stick to what works, while mixing it up at the same time to keep the opposition guessing. We focus on our defence and attack hard when we can,” he says.
Many teams have commented that eG are hard to take down and then they seem to pounce when the tides are turning in their favour.
And yet Brazen seemed to get under their skin, which shows they are not invincible. The iGame league will be an interesting pre-cursor into the Do Gaming CoD4 second leg which promises to be the most hotly contested leg in competitive CoD4 history in this country.
It is likely that eG and Brazen will battle it out for the top spot with UbS Saints, First Squad Alpha, All Star Personnel, and =BFB= Lard hot on their heels. Borg Cybors will be up there as well if they can maintain form after the loss of Emile “GG” Haughton and Nick “Solo” Lock. Pantheon who finished third in the Do Gaming league are also desperate for two more strong players to make up their core team. If they find them, they will no doubt be a challenger for the top three.
Article supplied by DoGaming
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