UKTerrorist

[9].esu win Clikarena

Posted by Dev at 03:55 21/4/2003.

After what I believe was the best CS final in the history of the game [9].esu have been crowned Clikarena 2003 winners. Here is an account of the match taken by UKT's Gryff:

The Grand Final first map was 11-1, 11-1 and went into overtime, with some stunning performances. The overtime was simply awesome. Team 9 took the pistol and the second round and eoLithic took the third. eoLithic lost their pistol round but took the eco to keep them in the game. Team 9 bought up but couldn't keep eoLithic down.

Overtime was tied at 15-15 and double overtime commenced, this time eoLithic took the early lead. eoLithic took it to 17-16, and managed to win the next pistol. Team 9 couldn't pull back and eoLithic won what will surely go down as one of the greatest matches of all time 19-16. By this time it was 4am at the venue and both teams were surely feeling the strain.
A short break was allowed and then de_dust2 was loaded and both teams joined the server.

Team 9 made a good start by taking their CT pistol round ensuring a close match. eoLithic made the 3rd round stick and took the 4th.
Team 9 then made a brilliant comeback and took it 6-2 in their favour. element put in an amazing 9th round to take 4 of Team 9 out, leaving knoxville to take the 5th. They took another in quick sucession and then Team 9 took the 10th and 11th. Some very clever play on the final round made it 7-5 to Team 9 as CT. The second half started and it seemed eoLithic gambled on Team 9 attacking B. It failed and Team 9 proceeded to take the next 3 rounds. The critical 5th round eoLithic pulled back to keep them in the game. They lost the 6th which meant it was overtime or victory for Team 9. Team 9 made a slow push down long A and managed to plant. With the bomb ticking down eoLithic made a desperate attempt taking 3 of 4 remaining terrorists. Unfortunately they couldn't finish it and Team 9 won 13-7 on dust2.

Its a shame dust2 wasnt a little closer but I think extreme tiredness took its toll with the game ending at almost 5am.
This is one for the history books.

On the whole we have learnt a lot from the Clikarena tournament. Day 1 – how NOT to run a tournament, Day 2 – how TO run a tournament. With no hltv, shaky score bots and only half of the Saturday schedule complete by Saturday night peoples fears of Clikarena being a shambles were becoming true. Day 2 was a completely different story however with consistent hltv and decent coverage all round. Here is a breakdown of the final top 8 and their prize money:

#1 – [9].esu - 30,000 €
#2 – GoL ! EoL - 10,000 €
#3 – SK.swe - 5,000 €
#4 – level
#5 / #6 – eu4ia / SoA
#7 / #8 – nEph / 3D

The player of the tournament for me was Element from GoL ! EoL. The irony of the final and its events couldn't really have been written it was that good. EoL left eSports United and a week later they face their old friends one of the best finals of all time, and don't forget it was gone 4:30 in the morning when they had finished playing. I hope more Euro teams make it to the CPL Summer event / WCG 2003 as I believe this tournament has highlighted the quality that is out there in the likes of surprise packages such as level and eu4ia. Expect a lot of after event coverage over the next few days but in the mean time do what I'll be doing… relaxing!

/me sighs a big heavy sigh of relief.