In one of the first real upsets of CPL winter, 50|cal defeated a much hyped Rival in round two of the winner’s bracket. 50|cal, comprised of counter strike source players and 1.6 players, is very little known on the 1.6 tournament scene. Nobody thought a Counter strike Source pug would even be able to contend with the likes of a top CPL team. 50|cal includes Justin "Tricky" Valuoche -- a former member of Visual Gaming, CAL Invite Source season two champions. The team also includes Ryan "Trance" Miller, a current member of CEVO Pro Source team D!E. After winning a CPL qualifier, 50|cal picked up a couple of players and headed for Dallasl.

After advancing easily over Fabricated X in the first round, 50|cal got a real chance to prove themselves. As the number 28 seed, 50|cal would face 3rd seeded team Rival.

50|cal started on the defensive side, and after winning pistol round, took a commanding seven round lead before losing their first round. They seemed to loose momentum a bit after one of the 50|cal players crashed and did not reconnect until two rounds later. They then proceeded to give up six rounds, winning the half 9-6. The second half started the same. 50|cal won pistol and both ecos, extending their lead even more. They lost a couple more rounds that half, but overall controlled the match tempo, winning the second half 7-3.

After the match, Justin Valuoche told GotFrag that the team had maybe two weeks together before CPL and had a chance to scrim twice. This did not seem to faze the team as Garret called strats and 50|cal took the lead in the match and seemed to fluster Rival on the way to an upset. Justin told GotFrag that the win may have been in part to the team scrimming Inferno in the BYOC before the match and the fact he thought Rival may have been looking ahead to Cbble instead. Whatever the reason, this win is certainly a big one for 50|cal and has lifted the team’s confidence as they head into the third round against Begrip.