Multiplay i38 MW2 Preview

This Friday, the Multiplay i-Series will be returning to the Newbury for the first time since March 2008. After the previous four editions were all held at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire, UK's largest LAN event will once again take place at the Newbury Racecourse, this time no longer featuring Call of Duty 4 as one of its main games.

With Activision supporting the Modern Warfare 2 tournament, Call of Duty 4 has been reduced to a side tournament. Despite the negativity surrounding the release of Modern Warfare 2, several recognized names will be present in Newbury and are looking to get some last minute practise going with just three days before the event.

The Swedes from fnatic will be returning to the UK as reigning champions with a completely unchanged roster, consisting of KyoChi, odyx, LINQAN, rivve and Stevy. Just yesterday, the OOF3 finalists and The Experience champions were present at the Webhallen store in Stockholm, Sweden for the launch of MW2, which included a meet and greet with the team and the opportunity for visitors to challenge the fnatic players.

At Multiplay i38 the British top teams of Team Dignitas and Reason Gaming will be making their first public appearance after changing their roster back in October. Dignitas, who won four editions of the I-Series in Call of Duty 4 alone, have recently parted ways with the two brothers Daniel "SoCLoN" Perez O'Connor and Jason "lookzor" Perez O'Connor, bringing in Mark "phantasy" Pinney & Chris "nreo" Mead, formerly of Team CoolerMaster and ButtonBashers respectively.

Reason Gaming on their turn have gone back to a fully British based line-up, welcoming Dignitas player Daniel "SoCLoN" Perez O'Connor and Ryan "dUffER" Duffy, previously known for his time in Button Bashers. No longer a part of the Reason Gaming side are Samuli "sLWx" Kettunen, who will be attending i38 with Epsilon, and Jyri "kAMMYz" Hogman, current member of the Reason Gaming Quake Live team.

Representing Team Infused at Multiplay i38 in Newbury is the former The Imperial (InTheZone) line-up, who joined the organisation the end of October. Infused's complete roster will be present with the exception of the the team's Irish addition Darren "wannabe" Borrow, who was unable to attend the event and will be replaced by David "ono" McConnell, until recently a part of Team Infused.

As one of the three non-UK teams attending the event, Epsilon Esports will be attending their first LAN outside of Finland. Looking to get rid of their 'onliner-tag' (as they put it), the Fins have come across a number of problems, one being Multiplay's decision to choose Modern Warfare 2 over Call of Duty 4. With MW2 being rated 18+, Epsilon are awaiting Multiplay's announcement with regards to parent consent forms, which will determine whether or not the team is actually able to enter the tournament (despite having already booked their trip). Three of their players are currently under the age of 18.

For the first time at i-Series, we will see a French Call of Duty team make their appearance at a UK LAN event. With the exception of Dimension4 player Leonard "rukkae" Alzeto, who will be joining the team for i38 and replaces David "dudek" Zydron, oXmoze.VeryGames will be present with their most recent line-up. Like Epsilon, the French team has stumbled upon a number of problem, this time involving the availability of TUP pc's at the event. With all 'turn up and play' slots sold out, oXmoze will be forced to bring their pcs to LAN and are still looking to secure a pc and monitor for Leonard "rukkae" Alzeto. If anyone would be willing to help out, leave a comment and I'll make sure to get you in contact with the team.

About Modern Warfare 2
The general consensus is that most players will wait a few weeks, possibly until Dreamhack (26/11 - 29/11), to see what happens. Currently, several still feel that the i38 MW2 competition has been organised a little too early. The majority still have faith in Modern Warfare 2, but the game will need a solid competition mod in order to make teams switch. None however seem to have a problem (or would even prefer) playing Call of Duty 4, although the game could use a few new maps.

Here are what one would expect to be the top contenders, although with a new game you never know.

Conney "KyoChi" Sjöberg Marcus "odyx" Nilsson Johan "LINQAN" Lindqvist Robin "rivve" Holmén Stevy "Stevy" Verheyen

"It's too early to make an MW2 tournament in my opinion, in the end the players who have managed to play it 2 hours more than the rest will win. We could see the SAS3d team picking up the gold at this event. It will probably be fun tho! We're gonna keep playing MW2 for Dreamhack, we'll see what happens next after that." - by Conney "KyoChi" Sjöberg

Chris "Lighters" Lightburn Tim "revoltz" Denton Tom "D1ablo" Newman Danny "SoCLoN" Perez O'Connor Ryan "dUffER" Duffy

"I'm looking forward to i-series this coming week mainly because its back at Newbury and also due to the fact its nice to meet old faces again. Gaming wise I'm indifferent as to which game will be played. I see MW2 as something that is (more than likely) not going to last past this event and Dreamhack unless Infinity Ward decide to bring out a patch within a months time that fixes crucial issues such as: ability to support a promod, ability to record demos, enabling console and all that comes with it. CoD4 is far from dead, activity wise its dropped significantly due to the lack of events announced and people wanting to take a break after playing solidly for a year. With the steady online competition coming out of sites such as esports heaven then it will pick up again, especially as soon as more events are announced. As a team I see us sticking together regardless of i-series or what game will be played. We have EPS next year that will support a CoD (probably CoD4) and hopefully events run by Crossfire, Gamevibes and the-eXperience all supporting CoD as a minimum. The game can keep prize purses if the community supports it, thats a fact." - by Tim "revoltz" Denton

Chris "chenson" Henson Robbie "robzje" Heaton Lee "PukKa" Martin George "RAIVZ" Marsh David "ono" McConnell (Stand-In)

"Intially we were abit disappointed that MW2 was the game of choice for i38 however sometimes things work out that way.The guys have just accepted that whining and moaning isn't going to change anything so we are really just getting on with it. At worst it will be a fun weekend for the guys. Personally I am still hoping that the game is playable but i highly doubt  it. We will definitly be sticking together after iseries and hopefully playing CoD4 as we have made loads of progress recently. Also I'd like to say a big thank you to chavy scottish dude ono for coming along and agreeing to merc for me! Much love hombre <3!!" - by Darren "wannabe" Borrow

Sasu "saruz" Salakka Jani "Filter" Ylenius Niko "nipazki" Rauhamaa Ville "rEplan" Ijas Samuli "sLWx" Kettunen

"We were pretty much shocked and very sad when we heard that its gonna be MW2. It felt like we were stabbed in the back. Its our first lan abroad, we were ready to fight against the topteams in Europe, and finally remove our famous(?) onliner-tag, but then something like this happens. We cant even enter the MW2 tourney, because we have underaged players in our team. And whats is the point to play a game that no one has played before, with great stuff like 2x juggernauts, shields, airstrikes + the 800 bugs that are still in the game, as there are no patches released yet. It feels like we are coming for nothing to i38. Whats happens in the future, no one knows for sure, but I'm hoping that we would get 2-4 new maps to keep cod4 going. I think we dont need a new promod, if you compare to for example cs 1.6. They have played the same maps and version of the game many years, and not complained about it. I think it would be better to keep the game as it is, and maybe we could get a stable game of it, and see it in such events as WCG. When it comes to Epsilon: we will not start playing MW2 if it doesn't get a decent mod. We would rather play Serious Sam seriously than MW2. - by Sasu "saruz" Salakka

Kevin "frenchy" Heraudet  Antoine "JooKzZi" Dumontet  Guillaume "risky" Plassier Yann "glory" coumes Leonard "rukkae" Alzeto

"With regards to i38, I think playing it on cod6 is really retarded and stupid because the game is just … well… without any mod, no dedicated servers, no /record.. And I also think that its insane to play a game that we hardly know on the esport scene. That’s why in my opinion, CoD4 would have been more appropriate for this event. Concerning Call of Duty 4, it seems to be a bit inactive, even dead, because of the release of CoD6. However, I think that CoD4 will be back, and hopefully will be considered in a way that CS 1.6 is, in the esports scene. Making a new game every year is very disturbing for the stability of the community. Currently, I think that its better to stay With CoD4, to have an opportunity to be selected for the most prestigious competitions in the world. Whatever happens, we are pleased to attend this LAN, even if its not Call of Duty 4. When it comes to our team, dudek has stopped gaming, which is why rukkae, one of my old teammates, will join us for the event. I would to thank Verygames, uNk and teemu for supporting us and allowing us to attend i38 in Newbury. And of course I also would like to thank tek9. - by Kevin "frenchy" Heraudet

Jonathan "raz" Baker Chris "blackmane" Kinnair Mark "mark" Horner Mark "phantasy" Pinney Chris "nreo" Mead

www.TEK-9.org will be bringing you live and up-to-date coverage from the event, with Steven "dfb" Leunens, Matt "wargasm" Hazell and Will "wizinium" Hunter on site. For the latest scores and updates, check out the Multiplay i38 coverage page (HERE).