Lights are on, big screens are queued up, the finals of the Summer CPL 2004 have now started. Both teams are set up on the stage in front of a sea of spectators sitting, standing and chatting. You can hear a dull roar from all the people telling the person next to them about their CS knowledge.

“Man SK is insane. They have the best roster I have ever seen.”

“Who are these EYE guys? Where do they come from?”

You hear a lot of these quotes from players and non-CS fans alike. With another all Sweden final at this CPL, one has to ask themselves what makes these teams so special. What do they do that makes them one plateau higher than the rest?

The match started off normal. Three restarts. LIVE LIVE LIVE floods across the screen and the mayhem has begun. EYE looked very strong winning their terrorist pistol and the ensuing save round and then nothing. Everything froze. Everyone disconnected from the server only to re-enter the server moments later. What caused the freeze? A cameraman accidentally stepped on the router that was used for the stage. You could hear audible displeasure from the crowd as the match would be restarted under the five minute rule.

SK got another chance at pistol round and capitalized on it. Boo’s erupted from the crowds as the last EYE player was killed. What happened was definitely unfortunate for EYE, but CPL never wavered in the decision. Even with the loss of the second pistol of the first half, EYE has been continued to play like they have all tournament long. Dominant. They work through bombsite A and do their magic, only to fall back and fake back to bombsite B. It seems to do a number on SK as their numbers are diminished and can’t do much to stop them. And it’s not to say that SK hasn’t played like the same SK we have known to completely obliterate all the competition they have faced in the past year. HeatoN and the crew are playing with that fire in their eyes. They WANT to win this.

With vigor and determination both teams have fought to almost a dead heat. 7-5 EYE in the first half. What will the second half hold in store for us? Will we see a change in the counter-strike guard if SK should lose? Will this usher in a new era of a faster paced, individually skilled counter-strike game? We’ve seen matches that completely change the face of how everyone plays counter-strike. Will this be one of those matches?

The second half of the match has started and SK started strong, securing bombsite B with a 3-2 man advantage. Awesome play by IsKall on the pistol round getting 4 frags and the defuse, secured the round for EYE. IsKall who recently stepped into to play with EYE for this tournament, has completely dominated the first half. SK bought AK’s second round to try to catch EYE off guard. It failed as every EYE member had m4’s and couldn’t get outgunned. SK kept pushing the limit for themselves throughout the half, but fell short with great team play and individual skill clinics from each member in EYE. You could sense desperation in the air as SK was in a must win situation. They NEEDED to win. Each round dwindled away SK’s confidence until there was none left and EYE pulled through with the win. All said and done looking back EYE just beat the most dominate team in the World for the last year and made it look like a walk in the park.

EYE has proven that beating SK in the shootout match wasn’t a fluke or luck. EYE is here to stay as one of the best counter-strike teams in the World. It was the breakout tournament for EYE as they have players who are considered some of the best in the
World but never brought it together in a world class event such as CPL. EYE now has the title of world champions and everyone will be gunning for them at any tournament they attend. Hopefully EYE will get the sponsorship they need to travel around to the major tournaments all around the world.

Congratulations to EYE and SK for their superb performances here as well as everyone who has watched any of the matches and cheered your favorite team on. You guys are the people who really make this game what it is.

First Place : EYE – $30,000
Second Place : SK - $21,000
Third Place : Rival - $14,000
Fourth Place : D-Skyline - $9,000
Fifth Place : DiE - $6,000
Sixth Place : The Titans – $5,000
Seventh Place : mouz - $3,000
Eighth Place : g3x.intel – $2,000
9-12th : mibr, NoA, TSG, EG - $1,500
13-16th : 4Kings, GoodGame, 3D, rSports - $1,000

The CS tournament is now complete as teams clear out from the award ceremony, watching teams collect their prizes and fame. I for one really enjoyed watching these matches firsthand and could not think of a more competitive tournament. There we so many matches that went into overtime, double overtime and who can forget the triple overtime between Rival and SK. Upsets galore as well as extremely close games between teams you wouldn’t think had a competitive bone in their body. Even after winning or losing matches, both teams joked about previous matches or tournaments with each other and showed real sportsmanship and friendship. The people involved is what make tournaments like CPL so special but the money doesn’t hurt either ;P Who knows what CPL has in store for their attendees at Winter 04.