i38: MW2 Final Preview

So here we are. 2 days of problem-ridden gaming has at last given us a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 final. To many observers, the two teams facing off won't come as a suprise. Swedish powerhouses fnatic.MSI took the last few months of active CoD4 by storm, winning almost every major tournament (including the last iSeries, i37). Team Dignitas have a newly revamped lineup, which on paper is one of their strongest ever. Even before the event started people were calling the Dignitas vs fnatic final an inevitability.

Sure enough, the two teams made their way through the disaser of a tournament without too much difficulty. Both teams seemed to ease their way through the groups and the early stages of the knockout, only to meet in the Upperbracket final. The brits came out on top and so carry the 1 map advantage in the best of 3 final.

Let's have a look at the two rosters:

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

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

Unchanged since their huge successes last summer, fnatic have experience as a team on their side. However, Dignitas have a lot of motivation for the game. In addition, their new team has great individual talent and due to their short period together can be very unpredictable and hard to read as opponents.

If you look at the two teams' roads to the final, Dignitas seem to have the advantage.

fnatic.MSI 12-05 oXmoze 01-00 Team Dave 18-01 ikymo 20-00 Infused Female 29-01 Rush Gaming 01-00 EMPATHY 05-10 Team Dignitas 11-01 oXmoze Total Flag Captures (exc. Defaults): 75 Total Flag losses (exc. Defaults): 18 Ave. Captures per game (exc. Defaults): 12.5 Ave. Losses per game (exc. Defaults): 3

Team Dignitas 24-00 Mercy 15-05 XBreach 01-00 aTEC 01-00 Element 13-02 Reason-Gaming 06-05 i.QPAD 10-05 fnatic.MSI Total Flag Captures (exc. Defaults): 68 Total Flag losses (exc. Defaults): 17 Ave. Captures per game (exc. Defaults): 13.6 Ave. Losses per game (exc. Defaults): 3.4

Dignitas are averaging more flag captures than fnatic in a game, but are also seem to concede more. This highlights a difference in the teams' playing style: Dignitas like to play very aggressively, which is unsuprising since they have 3 players very adept with the SMG class. On the other hand, fnatic take a more measured tactical approach and very rarely leave their flag exposed. Dignitas have won every game they have played, but not all with ease. Their toughest game was against i.QPAD, a side which has shown great promise at this event, only losing to Dignitas, Reason and oXmoze by one flag each time.

To conclude, I think that Dignitas will take this. Their opponents relied on Stevy's excellent sniping capabilities and their well-worked tactics to win in CoD4, and seemed to have transferred ths over onto MW2. However, they have not had time to properly "strat-out" the maps, nor is the sniper class allowed in this tournament hugely effective. Dignitas, on the other hand, relish the oppurtunity to run around with 5 SMGs and cause huge damage to their opponents by getting right up close and personal. Their weakness is that their aggressive nature can sometimes leave their flag open to capture. Given that this is the final, though, Dignitas will have ODEE breathing down their necks making sure they don't do anything too stupid, meaning they might reign it in a bit. So for those reasons I think Dignitas will score heavily, but also concede a fair few.

Final  Predicted Score: Team Dignitas 10 - 6 fnatic.MSI

There will be a match recap after the final, so watch this space for more news on the Modern Warfare 2 tournament! Stay tuned to TEK-9 for all your LIVE coverage straight from Multiplay's i38 LAN event here in Newbury, including news, articles, interviews score updates and coverage posts!