DSRack: Whimper Detected, Bang Not Present

No need to wax lyrical here, the final is over and in truth it went with a whimper rather than a bang. As the map started the internet crashed after TCM took the opening round, an error that affeted everyone in the building with no exceptions. The players looked around for an admin but none could be found. Then they looked on me. I made some broad statement, a noble speech about sportsmanship, while pointing out convention would see us simply restart the game. In the end as I walked back and forth between the two teams like a gameshow host after a stroke it was agreed that we’d restart but Power Gaming would type kill… It was a sporting gesture from a team that are often demonised.

Everyone seemed happy. Good. I don’t like to get involved. I’m a reporter, not one of these people who actually want to be involved. They got back to playing the game and it passed without any further incident. It was something of a sad sight in a way; a final not on a stage often is but there was something more to it… Many players had left already and only a handful remained, a contrast to the days of SeC where even cold and miserable in a tent, people stayed in their droves until some drunken maniac cut the power with a pair of scissors.

The previous meeting between Power Gaming and TCM was an instant classic, something that shows the mettle of both teams. This final was less entertaining and seemed to have some manifest destiny to the outcome. The Swedes had flirted with winning in the past but never sealed the deal. Here nothing would stop them, even if they had to drug the drinks of their opponents.

No measure so desperate was needed though as they comfortably won 13-6. When they crossed that finish line they froze as if they couldn’t believe it. They’d won an event but it didn’t come with fireworks and explosions, just a slow golf clap from those behind them and a few slaps on the back from their friends in fnatic.

Power Gaming came over and shook their hands in defeat again and it was similarly good humoured. "What was first prize anyway" they ask. When told it was three thousand euros they stare at each other before joking "why the fuck didn’t we win?". Credit to them, even if sadly they couldn’t stick around for the prize ceremony absent of novelty cheques. Misunderstood? It seems it… Especially after they later decided to not complain about some of their prize money being split between third and fourth, a move that ensured that  Blight Gaming have something to show for a fine tournament.

A strange old tournament this one folks but plenty of good games to remember, which is the main thing. The love of the game, the purest of motives. As I watched TCM sat around looking at each other with dumbfounded stares, telepathically transmitting the thought "so that’s what all the fuss was about" to each other, I recalled what kyoChi had said about winning become dull and him praying to lose. Will that fate befall TCM? Let’s wait and see how they feel when it sinks in.

Business as usual at the top, the stories of this tournament lie in the lower echelons. We saw one team come of age but most importanly a new generation that could shake up the jaded status quo in a scene that thrives on resets. To the future guys, if such a thing exists.