Print Article: Gamer's Open MOHAA Championship



		Gamer's Open MOHAA Championship May 26, 2004 Jakub Wojnarowicz

Summary: Well, the Gamer's Open Medal of Honor Championships have finally arrived, with the competition from around the world being whittled down to the last 4 teams - one each representing Brazil, Europe, Taiwan and of course the USA. We came to cheer everyone on and give the event the coverage it deserved. Huge, Huge, HUGE thanks to our sponsors for making this incredible worldwide event possible. Antec, Biostar, ATI Technology and Sapphire Technology, we thank you once again for supporting Gamer's Open!

Big Time Page:: ( 1 / 3 )

Thank you Event Sponsors!

This event simply could not have happened without the tremendous generosity of our sponsors, Biostar so famous for their quality motherboards, ATI Technology and Sapphire Technology who are responsible for some of the fastest and quietest DX9 video cards ever and last but first in our hearts, a mighty boost from Antec, makers of quality power supplies and cases everywhere.

The Tournament

After 6 months of continuous international play in 10 countries, the highly anticipated finals were at last upon us! You know tournaments are getting huge once you start importing players from around the world to fight it out in the finals - and that's exactly the situation the Gamers Open Medal of Honor: Allied Assault competition faced. With teams from Europe (specifically, the Netherlands and Belgium), as well as Brazil, Taiwan and the good old USA fresh from their E3 experience and dealing with the new-found pleasures of American immigration authorities, we were finally ready to finish the MOHAA tournament.

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All the teams came to the show just happy to compete, the MOHAA tourney will probably go down as the friendliest international competition in recent history. It also proved to be an interesting contrast of cultures - with the Americans being the token wacky crowd (represented by Team Fusion and featuring Tyson, who never faced a stick of butter he couldn't chow down), the Brazilians seeming sane and normal until competition started, the Taiwanese calm, quiet and precise, and the Europeans coming in extremely young and organized.

Nowhere were these differences more evident than on the battlefield. The Americans quit the joking and hunkered down for two solid efforts against the Europeans in Bizerte, sadly losing both against the more organized Euros, 76-49 as Axis, and 88-63 when the home team played as the GIs.

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The next match provided the most startling difference in cultures, with the Taiwanese playing a careful, ranged rifle game on Monte Battaglia, communicating quietly just as the Brazilians exploded onto the scene. Previously seeming rather shy and friendly, the Brazilians burst out from the word go, yelling at each other, to each other and with each other in their native Portuguese. Their high-energy, high-tempo, hyper aggressive tactics and fantastically entertaining play style drew even the hardcore CS players from a nearby CS tournament to the scene. Yet, the Taiwanese were almost able to hold their own, losing by a close three frags - 88-85, with the Brazilians as Axis on the first round. The second round proved equally undecisive, with Taiwan taking 99 frags to 96 for the Brazilians. It was a clear disappointment for all spectators, since this was the most fantastic and interesting match of the series thus far, and we were all sure nothing could top the experience.

More matches Page:: ( 2 / 3 )
The teams had little time to rest as the round-robin continued, this time with Taiwan taking on the EU on Bizerte Fort. The teams both decided to play gentlemanly before the match started, with no rockets and no shotguns on either side. The Europeans generally preferred SMGs, while the Taiwanese stuck to their rifles, displaying remarkable accuracy. The first round of the match, with the Euros playing as Axis, was a quiet, tense, defensive affair - ending 41-29 in favor of Europe, which adapted splendidly to the Taiwanese tactics. Anther0's sniping proved decisive this round for Europe, but the next round had the automatic weapons and clever flanking tactics clearly dominating the Taiwanese rifles with a 72-45 win for the Low Countries team.

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At this point, the tournament organizers conferred with themselves to guess who the likeliest tournament winner would be, and while my fellows chose the remarkably adaptive and organized Europeans, I picked the loud, ruthless badgers from Brazil, citing the Euros' unfamiliarity with rocket launchers and guessing that Brazil would take early leads that Europe couldn't catch up to after adapting.

Regardless, the Brazilians and Americans were at it like two rabid, starving wolves on yet another Bizerte Fort match. This was a game more to the American liking, wild, frenzied and absolutely packed full of offense, a complete contrast to the defensive battle that the Taiwanese and Euros were waging. Brazil took a hard-fought 100-83 win as Axis in the first round, in a battle that was closer than the score indicated as the American team made several rallies to get within 3 or 4 frags before running out of steam in the end. The next match decidedly in favor of the Brazilians, ending 100-75, and ending all chances of an American or Taiwanese bid for the finals. However, their good humor was hardly diminished, and we're sure that Nick "ap0stle" Clark, Eric "frost" Laye, Christian "alkorn" Alcorn, Tyson "frogman" Kollewe (aka "butters"), Trey "trey" Spisak" and FusionNetCenter owner Kevin "CupCake" Kordes are all happily betting each other to chow down on items usually not meant for human consumption (at least in such quantity).

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The last match of the round-robin was a non-event, other than being a preview of what was to come for the finals. Brazil and Europe fought a close first round, with our Old World friends scraping by an 87-85 win as Axis, before trouncing the Brazilians 100-64 in the second. The second round was the most dominant performance by any team thus far, a damning 36 frag victory, but would it mean anything for the finals and my prediction?

MOHAA Finals Page:: ( 3 / 3 )
The highly anticipated finals were at last upon us! Yet after the manhandling the Brazilians received from team Europe in the last match of the round-robin, it seemed like the day's best action was still the Brazil vs Taiwan tie early in the tournament.

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That was all forgotten after the first map of the finals - Anzio. The Euros drew Axis to start and waged a back-and-forth battle with the Brazilians before pulling permanently ahead with 6 frags and taking the first round of the first map. The Brazilians, after some remarkably entertaining yelling and recriminations, regrouped and fought back viciously, chasing the Euros and racking up a strong lead before hunkering down to hold their lead. Europe wouldn't give up though, and got within 9 frags before the time buzzer sounded. In the tally for the first map, Brazil squeaked out with a victory by virtue of 3 frags.

Round two, inexplicably, took place on Stuckguter - which all teams had avoided thus far. Europe wanted a change of pace, but would it work for them against the rocket-heavy Brazilians in such close quarters? Time would tell, but the first round see-sawed violently back and forth with the European Allies taking a 100-95 win. We'd all grown accustomed to such razor thin victory margins by now, but there was no getting used to the constant lead and momentum changes. When playing as Axis however, Europe dictated the tempo and frustrated the Brazilians with a 100-85 victory, re-asserting their earlier dominance. Was this the death toll for the boisterous Brazilians or the beginning of final triumph for the cool and collected Euros?

It was down to the tie-breaker, the Battle of Battaglia, 5 minute sudden death and all those deadly exciting words which put it all on the line. Europe drew Allies and fell behind by a substantial five frags at one point, only to whittle the Brazilian lead down to none and tie the first round of the map. The next round saw Brazil as Axis exploding out of the gate again and not permitting Europe to take back the initiative at any point, though the Europeans tried, growing more aggressive by the minute until the timer ran out, and the score decided in favor of Brazil: 20-15. Let me tell you, it was good to be vindicated, but nobody walked away as happy as the Brazilians after the win. The other teams were remarkably magnanimous and friendly, an epitome of good sportsmanship.

Thank you Event Sponsors!

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