A lot of people were sceptical at first about this whole $10,000 Call of Duty 4 online cup. Surely, they added a zero somewhere that shouldn't have been, right? Right? With all of the game's top teams signing up, the massive tournament got underway little over one month ago, Wednesday all of it will come to a halt when LowLandLions and Anexis eSports face each other.

The biggest ever Call of Duty 4 online cup saw none of the best teams miss out and gave us a great number of interesting games as the Bracket progressed. There was never any rumour of cheating allegations, because all of the favourites took up their role in the usual style and there were no shocking results in the final stages.

What could be construed as an upset, even though a justifiable one, was the Team-Dignitas versus Anexis eSports game in the Upper Bracket Semi-Final a couple of weeks ago. There's no denying that Team-Dignitas were the team in shape back then and were doing their best to build up a team that was formed weeks earlier.

Anexis eSports had been doing just fine up until then, confirming their strong reputation as being the best team in competitive Call of Duty 4 with somewhat simple wins over LUXON, myRevenge, eMpathy and the French BLAST!. They seemed unstoppable once more, but ran into the refreshing tactics of Team-Dignitas who made good use of their unpredictability to offset the mighty Hungarians.

The Quarter-Final should have been a win for Anexis eSports, but in a thriller of a three-mapper, the Brits and Swedes decided another fate would befall Anexis eSports and they were sent into the Lower Bracket, where a loss would mean an early tournament exit on their behalf. With nothing but good teams still left in the tournament, it was surely do-or-die time for Attila "Boco" Árvai's troops.

Immediately they faced easily one of the best four teams in the game right now, TCM-Gaming and would have to bring their A-game to secure their continuation in the Corsair Vengeance Cup. 13-09 was the score and they progressed one round further and seemed to have found their winning form, once more. 13-09 vs KnightS*, 13-06 vs Team Redlink and 13-07 vs eSuba. Before they knew it, it was time to face Team-Dignitas for a bout of rematch.

This time the experienced team knew what to expect from the novel team and had studied their opponent well. In full-blown LAN preparation, they took on the task of securing themselves a spot in the Grand Final and with two tight map wins on mp_crossfire and mp_citystreets, they had done what few expected was still possible.

LowLandLions on the other hand had some remarkably easy games in the opening Bracket rounds but managed to step up their game together with the skill level of their opponents. Teams that have the flair of online label stuck to them were defeated and now it was time for the big boys.

A match-up versus the legendary name of FnaticMSI was expected to carry a lot of pressure, but in the end, the game went relatively fluently in favour of the newly reformed LowLandLions side. Up next was perhaps the biggest surprising team of the tournament, Team Redlink who had pushed themselves past teams such as TCM-Gaming and EMPIRE in the previous rounds. Yet again, they were no match for the very dominant AK work of Roe "froz" Langaas and the game ended with the same 02-00 final score in maps.

Not long after and the Winner Bracket Final would determine who would have a mental leg up in the Grand Final and was the first team to be assured of at least $3,000 with a potential $6,000 up for grabs. Team-Dignitas were hoping to continue their miracle streak and pick up admiration from the scene all over. Even though they managed to secure mp_strike by the smallest of margins, they had to concede both mp_backlot and mp_crossfire in an incredibly close match.

Ever since, LowLandLions had the good fortune to sit back and await their challenger. The advantage is not purely psychological, as LowLandLions will be rewarded with a 01-00 headstart because of winning the Winner Bracket. Anexis eSports' morale will be riding high after winning yet another big, international event and should not be underestimated, even though they had the more bumpy track record in this Corsair Vengeance Challenge.

For the sake of tension and excitement, I would hope this goes to the full length of the Best-of-Three and some Team-Dignitas v LowLandLions-esque overtime situations would not be frowned upon. Both teams have what it takes to win and to some extent, deserve it both equally. The form of the day will be the decider, though.

xx		xx
Maps: tbd
LowLandLions Thomas "cHoObiE" Mead David "ono" McConnell Jasko "cozje" Berbic Roe "froz" Langaas Adam "Mumma" Timle-Händel		Anexis eSports Tamás "kZstaR" Ádámszky Dávid "Stormy" Fézler Csongor "FUTUREEE" Beder Roland "z1koX" Kosztyu Attila "Boco" Árvai

 

KaoS TV Will Stream The Grand Final Wednesday, December 7th from 21h00 CET onwards.

So is QuadV with Mennace as their caster.

Related
TEK9 Corsair Vengeance Challenge Coverage