The nature of a Counter-Strike critic is, traditionally, a propensity to mention the games’ inherent randomness-factor that might/might not rear its ugly head at any given point in a round. Supporters claim that this “5th element” just might be what makes the game so agonizingly interesting to watch, year in and year out - despite conservative attitudes to changing the few tournament scenarios that are in use and the lack of a state-of-the-art graphic interface.

In Dallas, the week before Christmas saw the most intense, competitive tournament in the history of the game unfold before the eyes of the world. E-journalists and e-media from all corners of the globe added fuel to a fire which really didn’t need extra motivation to burn by predicting seeds and announcing “world rankings” based on democratic- or result-driven models.

Complexity - arguably the best performer of 2005, Mousesports - the most menacing force in e-sports this last year, Team 3D - the most hyped team in American e-history and Team EG - the most unlikely 4th ranked team ever. They were all casualties of the dreaded #9-12th placing, usually reserved for the good teams that never quite got their stuff together.

How can so many extremely skilled, experienced and sponsored teams fail their potential to this extent? Can we blame this on bad preparation, a foul map cycle or the randomness this game brings to the table?

If your answer is a resounding yes you are not only in error as a bearded British professor would put it, your opinion is most likely based on air and not the e-sport reality 2005 brought with it. 05 will go down as the year when everything changed.

History fanatics will recognize 2004 as the year when it all started, the reign of the dominant Swedes in SK came to an abrupt end and low-profile teams started getting decent placing at major events. Between 2004 and 2005 we’ve seen an intense increase in the overall level of Counter-Strike, while the first years of the games competitive history featured a select few individuals with skills rivaling those Michael Jordan outplayed his opponents with time and time again - the rest basically lived on another planet called no-chance-at-all.

This winter CPL showed that nearly every team at this level is able to compete with quote/end quote the best.

With the skill gap narrowed down or even closed, games will keep getting closer and closer, not only because of mistakes made by different teams but because of their abilities. The frequency of the term upset will increase, but given the opinions expressed in this article we might need to find a new term for it, at least for a few years when even more teams will reach the level of play needed to compete at events like the CPL.

The Swedes regained their throne for once, instead of just retaining it in a timely fashion as tradition would have it in those early years. They fought hard, played their hearts out and won because they were the best team when they were on the ropes. That quality won them the world championship but it does not guarantee them another one as they now know better than anybody.

2006 is now going to be THE year for e-sports and competitive Counter-Strike and I hereby strike the word “random” from my vocabulary while I wait, as a competitor and e-sport fan, for the announcement on the CPL World Tour. Did you think Dallas was burning up? My guess is you ain’t seen nothing yet…