Melbourne Summer Preview

With Team Immunity taking the first ACNC autobirth with relative ease and with Melbourne’s second qualifier fast approaching (November 3rd - 4th), dice sits down with some local teams within the community to check their status. Unfortunately, due to the fact that there’s an increase in mix teams we only managed to get a hold of some teams - if we missed you, sorry in advance! These local updates have been long overdue as it creates a competitive hype prior to the match and provides some light reading for those bored at work/study.

#sharpeye

krimn - jeng - smasher - brokenbuddha - hellraiser

dice: Sharpeye didn’t do too bad for the first lan comp and bowed out on the second day with a loss to TF8, what happened?

SE|krimn: They out aimed, had better strats etc. It was also some of our players 1st lan comp and playing together as a team at lan. TF8 played well but we’re keen to give them a go @ 2nd Qual.

dice: You replaced two players from your lineup after only one competition, why?

SE|krimn: bzh got kicked due to the lack of keeness and rage, bl4nk left to play with Kevin, dchoi, shadz & iceman.

dice: What is your current lineup for the next qualifier?

SE|krimn: krimn(jack) jeng(taylor) smasher(rob) brokkenbuddah(ivan) hellraiser(chris)

dice: Do you see sharpeye sticking together and improving within Melbourne in the near future?

SE|krimn: Hopefully we will stick together and get better as a team, and for the 2nd qualifier, if we get some strats going we hope to do better than the 1st. It just depends on everones timing, lately it hasn’t been the best ><

#xgh

ftrunks - jase - lafa - kicksome - jnop

dice: XGH have been around for quite some time in terms of how long Melbourne teams usually stick around, has the lineup changed since the last competition you won? (ZAM 1.6 Amature)

flamejON[xgh]: Ftrunkz(Pinder) Jase(jason) Lafa(Kristian) Kicksome(Dean) jnop(Jon)

dice: Are xgh attending the 2nd qualifier for ACNC since you guys missed the 1st one?

flamejON[xgh]: Umm nar. Which is gay coz of exams -_-

dice: ok bye

flamejON[xgh]: wtf

#redux

fizz - rav - beast - hanuk - fakejameh

dice: So lets get right into it. What happened to imminent?

rX`FizzLTD[gn]: Well basically rize decided to make an allstar team in source with havoc and huk from imminent source and he went inactive in 1.6 for a bit and this killed the imminent 1.6 team, shortly after he stopped playing source and joined sql anyway so it was kind of unfortunate.

dice: What about redux? Did you approach them for sponsorship or were you offered?

rX`FizzLTD[gn]: Well I don’t know too much about this because I was kind of inactive for a few weeks during the time after imminent 1.6 died but I was still in touch with rav and he told me that he was approached by redux who asked him if he wanted to form a 1.6 team under the redux name which was good timing as we were just forming a new lineup and considering new players for us to try and we’re really happy with the support we get from.

dice: That sounds great. A lot of players have never been backed by a real organisation such as redux, what exactly is the arrangement you have with redux for you to play under their name?

rX`FizzLTD[gn]: They pay our competition entry fees, CS servers, vent servers and all those other little things that make life expensive, prior to our 2nd place at the ACNC qualifier #1 we were in a huge slump and werent pushing the redux name because of it but now that we’re are back to where we should be we hope that redux will be helping us out and advertising us even more.

dice: Redux placed a solid 2nd at the Melbourne ACNC qualifier pushing Immunity to the edge. There was a lot of controversy that this would not have happened without GazR. Do you agree at all with that statement?

rX`FizzLTD[gn]: It was still a team effort and everyone needed to play great to come close to them.

dice: Speaking of GazR, what was the reason behind his early departure from redux? How do you think fakejameh will fit in the team?

rX`FizzLTD[gn]: GazR left because he received an offer to play for SG with davio, fez, kurandus etc. I’m really upset that he had to go but I don’t blame him at all, people call him a dog and stuff but he really does deserve to play for a top level team. With fakejameh playing, I hope this lineup doesn’t affect us too much and if everyone keeps playing well it won’t.

dice: Like clubdice, redux declined the ACNC invite to try and win the autobirth at the 2nd qualifier. How do you think you will place in the 2nd qualifier, and will you still trek up to Queensland if you don’t win the autobirth?

rX`FizzLTD[gn]: As soon as the first qualifier ended we have been talking about this, half of the team wanted to take the invite and half the team wanted to attend the second qualifier, personally I wanted to take the invite but in the end it was rav’s decision and we’re going to the 2nd qualifier and I’m really confident that we will come first or second at this next qual because we have alot to prove, We need to show the haters that we can do it without gaz. Also ever since I attended WCG nats with mEx I have wanted to go to every nationals possible because I had so much fun so whatever happens I’m sure ill be in queensland next month.

dice: There were rumours of bribary between the two qualified teams. Can you confirm that rav was offered around the vicinity of 7 dominos pizzas by peki if he took the invite?

rX`FizzLTD[gn]: ROFL I was not aware of this but peki was nagging us to take the invite quite abit, and he nearly fooled us with talk about $30 return flights to QLD which turned out to be a ridiculous lie.

dice: Thanks for your time Fizz, any shoutouts?

rX`FizzLTD[gn]: Thanks alot to the redux organisation for sticking with us and supporting us still, thanks to scott and alex for keeping this core alive through everything and a BIG thanks to schift_ for making my cs movie which will be released by the end of the month

#infinite.au

dan - calvo - huan - spec - xrey

dice: Your IRC topic states you guys have been around for more than 4 years, why has Melbourne not seen more of infinite in terms of local competitions?

infinite`calvo: We only lasted one comp at n2c and quit the lan scene. I started the clan with dan and decided to reform only recently.

dice: Why did in infinite only last one comp? Was it due to work, study, etc?

infinite`calvo: Inactivity between players and not keeping a consistent lineup. Teamwork was lacking because of this.
dice: Infinite will be attending the second ACNC qualifier for Melbourne, who is in this lineup and what are your expectations for this event?

infinite`calvo: Our linep for the second ACNC qualifier will be Dan(dan), Keith(calvo), Huan(huan), Jarrod(spec) and Rey(x-rey)

We are hoping to gel together as a team and work with each other, as we have some new players recently added to our lineup which. This will prevent us from being seeded accurately at the ACNC qualifier but it will be a starting point ni this newly developed team.

dice: What made infinite come back to the LAN scene?

infinite`calvo: Dan asked me if I would like to reform infinite and thought it would be a great opportunity to get back into the LAN scene. I am friends with Jarrod, Nick and Ross who were the addition to the team in the first ACNC qualifier.

dice: Well that’s about all the questions since I don’t know much about you blokes, but hopefully in due time that will change.

infinite`calvo: No worries, cheers

#tf8

dvs - jastone - jimeh - jnsie - ?

dice: In reflection of the first ACNC #1, you guys had GenX as a 5th from Sydney. Will you bring the same lineup to the second qualifier?

tf8jimeh: We’ve thought about changing the lineup, but we have such a good chemistry inside of the game. We will most likely use a ringer for the next qualifier however and see how we go from there.
dice: Who may this ringer be?

tf8jimeh: No one has been decided yet, we’ve been considering a few options but have yet to all agree on one.

dice: What went wrong at at the first qualifier for tf8? And how do you think you’ll do at the second quals?

tf8jimeh: It was the first time we played with genx so it was a little difficult at first because we had only played online. I think on the day the games we lost to redux and snaps, we just got outplayed. Whatever we threw at them we couldn’t seem to break them.

To be honest we’ll be disappointed if we don’t qualify at the next event and hopefully we can pull together some big shos on the game day in order for us to achieve our goal of qualifying.

dice: The words “online” crosses my mind when I hear tf8, do you agree at all with that statement?

tf8jimeh: For us we don’t really care if people think we are online, most of us have played lan long enough to prove ourselves and show that we’re not onliners. Our chemistry is amazing and we’re just trying to sort it so we can convert it into lan. It’s just a matter of experience that we need.

dice: We’ve all seen the way JNSIE behaves in some shape or form. Tell us honestly how you feel about being in a team with him.

tf8jimeh: By the time this article has been published, John won’t be in the team, haha. Nar John is a good player. His agro style catches people off guard a lot of the times and he’s a mad bloke in real life so he’s alright.

dice: If tf8 miss out on the autobirth, will you guys pay your way up?

tf8jimeh: Yeah of course, I think the autobirth is out of our reach. We’ll be really happy with ourselves if we can get an invite.

dice: Peki, a former member of jnsies team for WCG told us stories of jnsie running around the apartment nude. Are you at all worried for your safety?

tf8jimeh: haha well if we qualify we will be playing paper scissors rock to see who has to sleep in the same room as him.

dice: Looking forward to see you play at the next quals (I know Kram will). Good luck, thanks for your time.

tf8jimeh: No worries mate anytime.

#king-gaming

inactive

dice: You guys have often interchanged between KING & Xposed quite regularly, what’s the deal with that?

nezza: Yep two different clan names but the same team, I guess we just like to hold onto our original clan names.

dice: #king-gaming’s topic lists itself has having a team in both USA/Australia, do you receive any sort of financial backing from the organisation?

nezza: Don’t think so.

dice: So it’s purely for vanity purposes then?

nezza: I got no idea lol, I just play =]

dice: Well you guys have always been at the top end of Melbourne CS in the recent years, why have you chosen to miss out on the more recent tournaments?

nezza: Well with Sime “bumeh” and Dylan “hynican” not being able to play due to work/sport we are not in the recruitment status. Soon to make a return!

dice: Having spoken to bumeh earlier, I was informed that he left redux as there was a spot in KING but got dogged. What do you have to say about that?

nezza: First I’ve heard of it lol

dice: And in regards to Rickeh, was he removed from the team or did he leave?

nezza: Rickeh left on good terms but ensured us he will be back once we find an active lineup =]

dice: The core of your team has been around for quite some time, coming from an iBisQ league div3 team now, how do you think the scene in Melbourne is progressing compared to the past in terms of skill?

nezza: In the past there seemed to be a lot more competitive teams and players and due to this I think there was a lot more skill and effort that was put into play.

dice: You have personally been labeled an onliner due to the standard of teams you’ve played for in the past, online. How do you think that affects your gameplay? Is there pressure for you to perform to all the naysayers? (Probably more of a destiny question)

nezza: Well I guess I started off at lan and that’s where I got known, maybe a little pressure at lan but I think it makes me play better =]

dice: Alright thanks for your time and hopefully we’ll see you guys return to your former glory

#snapsandorcash

ali - forge - stylus - denrico - rumeboy

dice: First things first, how do you think Snaps will go up in Queensland?

rumeboy: Well to be completly honest, I think we’re looking at a pretty good finish.. we’ve already planned on praccing a fair bit before the competition so even though a lot of teams will underestimate us we definatly have a chance to upset teams.

dice: How do you feel about the state of Snaps right now? Do you think they are underperforming given the wealth of experience all the players possess?

rumeboy: The state of snaps at the moment is pretty good, we’ve just started getting our teamwork down pat and we’ve really started playing to our strengths within the team. The experience definitely helps the team, since everyone in the team has performed at nationals we can all contribute on how we can better ourselves in the future.
However I defintly can see room for improvement and it shouldn’t take too long for the improvement to start showing.

dice: Wow I have to rethink my questions. I expected you to say “yes, we’re shit and it’s because of this and that”.

rumeboy: ROFL you piece of shit

dice: You tagged along with the dice team up to Sydney for WCG, and from what pictures show you had a great time socialising with the teams around australia. is this part of the reason why you personally wanted the invite?

rumeboy: Personally one of the reason why I wanted to play with Snaps is because we all get along socially and we can all play counter-strike effectively. Personally though, I made a great bunch of friends with the AGC guys when they came down to Melbourne for AINC.

Mik/Stajen, Chris/Cheeko and Dan/forge already being friends with them and that being where most of them are situated is one of the main reasons why I personally wanted to goto Queensland.. and because it’s summer and queensland is the best.

dice: All the best at nationals you never really qualified for

#snatch.au

davest1zl - focus - gamz - funboy - coop

dice: Snatch have improved quite dramatically over the last few months. What do you hink is the main reason behind your recent success up the Melbourne counter-strike scene?

snatch`coop: The reason for our recent success has been praccing hard and playing seriously. Our breakthrough was when we qualified for nationals @ WCG Vic quals #2 placing second with a close win over remote. It’s the best of mothtrap/beyond with no dyn and we’re all extremely addicted to CS. Also davestr1zl no longer has distractions from little boys.

In short it’s our teamwork and prac that have gotten us this far as our skill is lacking LOL

snatch`davestr1zl: It’s mothtrap in disguise but we kicked dyn

dice: LOL. Do you see snatch securing an invite at the second qualifier?

snatch`coop: I think we can definately. We’ve been playing well recently and we should be able to deliver on the day. That being said we are good at caking and there’s a lot of hungry teams out for the invites.

dice: Being a lower tier team not too long ago, do you think it’s hard for new lan teams (not mix teams) to succeed with all the ego’s that fly around?

snatch`coop: Not really, you get a lot of that online but not really on lan. Most people are gnerally nice IRL even when they lose dodgem cars (athletico). Online you get a lot of that shit but thats basically what happens to everyone.

snatch`coop: Any more questions?

dice: Yep, How does it make you feel that jnsie swindled into this picture?

http://www.dicevip.com/wp-content/gallery/wcg-2007-finals-geo/25082007074.jpg

snatch`coop: LOL dirty and aroused at the same time.

dice: I’ll let you get back to scrimming, thanks for your time

snatch`coop: No worries