When this site was launched, one of our goals was to record results from around the world which Australian teams had participated. We felt some teams weren't given enough credit or the exposure they deserved for their accomplishments to keep them motivated as many of the 'recorded results' were found only in forum posts.

Now that 2009 has come to and end, we have scoured our archives to bring you a (hopefully) complete list of results for the entirety of 2009.

International Events

In the global arena, Australian team's results haven't been too impressive, but at the same time have repeatedly been drawn into the 'group of death' such as at ESWC Masters with all 3 of Fnatic, SK-Gaming and AGAiN (former WICKED/MYM/PGS), arguably the three best teams in the world. Likewise at ESWC Masters - where the tournament featured a BO3 single-elimination format - Australia was matched up against Alternate Attax in the first round.

While Australia has only sent two teams abroad; Immunity for ESWC Mastes and KODE5, and Sequential for WCG, the difference between advancing out of groups or onto the next stage has only been a matter of one round.

For example at KODE5, Immunity faced Alternate Attax in a best of three but fell short by one map (2-1). The difference between them possibly advancing lied on the first map where Immunity failed to capture matchpoint until the last round despite finishing the half 11-4 in their favour. Had Immunity won a single round more in that map, they could have potentially advanced forward to play mTw.

WCG Finals was much the same when Sequential lost four matchpoint opportunities against PowerGaming, which had they won they would have finished second in the group and advance onto the playoffs, and placed by default in the top 9-16.

While it could be said that Australia has had bad luck in this regard in 2009, it should be noted that this luck can go both ways, which can be seen when compared to in 2008 when Immunity progressed past the WCG group stages by a mere 3 rounds from a 3-way tie.

National Scale Australian Events

2009 was notorious for each National event being plagued with many problems, postponings, and even cancellations. The year started off with some potential uncertainty, with many presuming that the previous year's WCG event to be the last National-scale tournament Australia would see for quite some time, if not ever. The community was quickly relieved, however, when the announcement of a new international qualifier event would occur - KODE5. The event was unfortunately not without its hiccups - such as concerns with the venue, staff, administrators, and funding - but turned out to be a successful competition in the end after being postponed to sort out many of these issues.

The next announced event was to be AINC, but a very long 6-month break was seen before the next Nationals actually happened after KODE5. AINC faced major problems, mostly with funding, and after months of debates and delays the organisers announced that the tournament was officially cancelled (while in the middle of running state qualifiers). The community as a whole was very disappointed, and as such many volunteers and groups (such as DICEVIP and B1GLeague) stepped in to 'take over' the event to ensure it still ran, by completing all of the remaining state qualifiers and organising a worthy National event. In little time a replacement tournament was organised, renamed to the DICE National Cup, and despite missing thousands of dollars from AINC's previously-ran qualifiers the competing teams were able to battle it out for a cash prize of $2,500 while being filmed and broadcasted from the B1GLeague Studio at RMIT.

The 3rd and final Nationals for 2009, WCG, was also plagued by problems and drama, and for many months appeared that it would not even go ahead. Initially planned to take place in August at Sydney's Olympic Park, it was eventually postponed to October, while the venue was changed to the Beyond Internet Cafe. In what seemed like rushed planning, the qualifiers were squeezed in during the very few remaining weeks prior to the Nationals, which also meant that the number of competing teams had to be reduced to 10. Much drama was also raised after banned cheater steel was allowed to play for Immunity, a decision which left the community generally displeased. In the end CBN Media ran a very successful event, which featured great Samsung prizes and side-competitions, and an intense tournament thanks in part due to the limited team numbers which ended up working in their favour.

All in all it was a great 2009, continuing on tradition of previous years with having on average 3 National events per year, that all ended up being very well-ran (in the end) and exciting tournaments. Hopefully the organisers are able to learn from mistakes made and improve upon these great tournaments for an even better 2010!

Statewide Events

When tallying and comparing the results, it was surprising to see how close each of the Eastern states were in terms of cash prizes and the number of competitions ran throughout 2009.

In terms of cash prizes given away, Victoria was the clear leader, totalling $3,925, while Queensland and New South Wales totalled nearly identical amounts of $2,950 and $2,900 respectively. It is also interesting to see that there was almost no additional or sponsored prizes on offer during competitions in 2009 (not including National autoberths and invites). Victoria had a few months of free lan time at MC Internet's first competition up for grabs, while Queensland were able to win 5x 1TB Western Digital HDD's at the Battle 4 Brisbane.

The number of competitions ran in each Eastern state was also very close, with Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales each averaging roughly 1 per month - with 12, 11, and 11 competitions ran respectively. This tally, however, is not including the 10 weeks of Queensland's EPGL Season 1, so Queensland was the clear winner in terms of number of competitions in 2009 when this is factored in.

It is also quite clear where the action was for Counter-Strike in 2009, with the LAN scene dominating the online scene in every aspect, while also showing that there still is a scene, however small, in both South and Western Australia.

Victoria

Total cash pool: $3,925

Queensland

Total cash pool: $2,950

New South Wales

Total cash pool: $2,900

Western Australia, South Australia & Online

Total cash pool: $1,800

Credit

While it's easy to take for granted (and forget) the amount of competitions that have taken place, hopefully this reminds everyone on how lucky we are to have talented organisers in each state. Shoutout to Jimneso (QLD), Incuban (QLD), Ghost (SA), Fishballz (WA), Pacman (NSW), ZPR (NSW), Davestr1zl (VIC), Shadz (VIC), Peki (VIC) for stepping up and meeting the challenges of keeping Australian LAN scene alive.

See you all in 2010!

Article by Dave & George