Flashback: 1st place win at CGS pan-asia 2008 after losing final previous year 10-0.
The score is 3-6, opposing team
winning and its half time. You've traveled across the globe to
compete against the team who put you out of the final last year.
Playing them again was a chance to show them what your really about.
Nerves are running high as your team huddle up in an effort to talk over game plan for the remaining half
and get everyone confident and fired up.
Times up and you're back in your seat.
They only need to get 4 more rounds to send you home. The loser inside you
starts trying to use logic to predict the outcome of the match. "They
beat us last year and already have an advantage, they will probably
get a few more rounds, we might draw at best". The loser-self doesn't start talking because
your better self shuts it out, you're fully confident you're
going to win and before the first round you're already
visualizing the state of mind required, the type of player you need to be to pull off the winning plays.
What happens? You win the first round
playing a fast strategy that catches them off guard. Our caller Scott "
Boomser" Bednaski, a fantastic player,
strategist and leader, predicts that a fast strategy on the first round
gives you some advantages to work with.
The other team is probably calming their nerves in the first round and we know their aim
might be suffering from nerves. Keep in mind you're
competing in Wuhan China in a stadium filled with hundreds of
spectators. The other advantage we had to work with was that after we
won that round, we knew that they would still be guessing as to what our style was on
the offensive side. Keep the other team guessing, this causes them to make mistakes you can capitalize on. Generally when you win at a game at the top level, its always because the other team made more mistakes.
Having this to work with and now having
momentum on our side, we throw in a strategy that deceives the other
team. Some miss communication on behalf of the other team is all it
took to catch some of their defenders off guard and we were able to
secure the round flawlessly. Making the half score 2-0 to us.
Having nearly evened up the score we
decide to run a unique strategy designed to catch a team off guard early, then capitalize on any error the opposing
team makes by utilizing teamwork, communication and on the fly
calling. We used a series of smoke grenades and
flash bangs to get someone behind enemy lines and
remain completely hidden. Knowing this is
completed, we systematically move into the next part of our strategy
which is to fake another bombsite to draw their attention, and
hopefully draw their players to that part of the map... running
straight past our hidden player and having no idea hes there. In
this instance, our hidden played was in their spawn and that's
exactly where 3 of the other teams players have to pass through to attempt winning the round.
Smokes down, flashes going off, lots of
foot steps and gun-fire. Presumably the microphones on the other team
are going wild and what they saw was that we were taking that
bombsite, completely oblivious of our master plan. Within 10 seconds
of entering the site, we kill the two defenders of that bombsite and
as the rest of the team rotates for back up. Needless to say our hidden player (me) :) took
all of them down.
We continue to gain momentum. A feeling
described as a snow ball continually building up speed and size.
Ultimately force and power. The effect of a giant snowball racing
downhill towards the other team starts eating their moral, confidence
in themselves and their team mates and the whole energy of the team
diminishes to the point where they have already accepted defeat and start making bad decisions more frequently.
We knew that some of their players were
starting to become frustrated, disappointed and already considering
the possibility of failure.
The score is even now at 6-6. We run
one of our default strategies that just relies on passively
approaching the map and via strong communication and team work
figuring out the best plan of attack. On this occasion we knew we'd
be able to swing the round in our favor.
As it happens, we crushed the other
team. In spirit and by score, half-time score was 9-0 to us. We came
back from 3-6 down looking at a flight home, to a 12-6 victory. We managed to overcome
our fears of losing, we didn't accept the possibility of losing and
only envisioned the victory at the end. We couldn't have asked for a
better result.
What helped swing our momentum in our
favor was our ceaseless cheering and support for each other and a
loud cry after every round. Not only does this annoy the other team when your losing round after round. It crushes
their will to put up a game changing fight.
If you found this helpful showing other team mates and gamer friends is hugely appreciated.
Huk_!!!!
