(GotFrag) August 25, 2008 - Unfortunately, it was a short day for one of America's biggest hopes in the CS competition as EG fell to Emulate 16-13 and then were run over by Roccat 16-5 in group one play. A quick out for this team dashed many Americans hopes of placing in the finals. MoB faired a little better, taking out the Chinese 16-10 in their first match, Portugal's Defining Stars 16-12 and losing a tough one to SK 16-10. MoB was quickly eliminated in the second group stage however, leaving x3o as the sole representative of the US with a chance for reaching the finals.

x3o dominated their first group with two impressive wins. Against the German squad of n!faculty, x3o started the day off well with a 16-11 victory. Although the Korean squad of e-STRO would go on to second place in group one and dominate their second group over Roccat and SK, x3o steamrolled the team 16-6 in a group one match.


Much to everyone's surprise and wonder, ESWC chose to put the two remaining American teams into the same group in the second set of groups. Apparently the ESWC rule states that two teams from the same country cannot be in the same group in the first groups but is allowed in the second. Not only was x3o and MoB placed in the same group, they were placed in that group with the top two teams in the world. Unfortunate for them to say the least. It would be a rough road ahead for the Americans.

MoB Gaming fell quickly to the top two teams in the world in the second stage of group play. MTW defeated MoB in convincing fashion, 16-7. MoB would also fall to the number one ranked team in the world, MYM, 16-8. Next up, x3o would make the play that would put them in a strange situation with a chance to advance to bracket play. In what could only be considered as an upset, x3o took the number two team in the world to the wire and beyond, defeating the Danish squad in a "down to the last shot" nailbiter, 16-14. The stage was set for a very strange finish to the group and an end for the Americans that would eventually be out of their control.


With MTW losing to x3o, this would give them one loss and with a win over MYM the group became a three way tie. That's where things got really interesting. With a three way tie between MYM, MTW and x3o, there were two matches left to play. The first match would be x3o versus MoB Gaming. With MoB already out of the running and x3o's advancement seemingly depending on this match, it would appear to be a slight conflict of interest for MoB. Would MoB play hard and to win, which would effectively knock fellow American team x3o out of the running, or would they opt for a little less energy and drive, helping fellow Americans to bracket play?

The answer to the preceding question was answered quickly as MoB began attempting knife kills as MoB owner/manager "the Godfather" could be heard coaxing his team to "get me a knife kill". The match was an easy win for x3o as they built up round wins with a 16-1 victory over MoB. There was only one hitch to this "plan" as ESWC quickly reminded everyone that ESWC rules state that in the case of a three way tie in group play, the rounds won over the fourth place team would not count towards a teams overall round count. This would make the easy win for x3o not a deciding factor in the tie breaker.


x3o's fate was then handed over to the other two teams in the group as they were to face each other in the last match of group play. The importance of the match became immediately apparent. To add to the importance of the match between the number one and number two teams in the world, the match would be played on the main stage of the venue and x3o's future in the event hung in the balance.

Also to add to the importance and tension of the match, MYM would need at least 6 points to advance but a win by MYM would mean x3o would advance. This would put the fate of x3o clearly on MYM. The team could win and send MTW home or they could just get 6 points and advance, not being concerned with winning the overall match.

It looked as though MYM would hand the advancement to x3o as the team came out of the gate with 5 unanswered rounds as offense. Incredible play by Neo with a two frag pistol clutch at bombsite A on Inferno would have the Americans hopes running high in the first half of the match. It was not to be however as MTW answered back with a run of their own. Sunde lit MYM up with the Awp and x3o's chances were dashed in the second half as MTW would go on to a 16-10 win.


In the end, the Americans faired a bit better than their original seeding would indicate but unfortunately they were not able to control their own destiny. It was an anticlimactic ending to a great run down a hard road for the American CS teams at the 2008 ESWC Grand Final.