12. 3D over mibr – (13-11)(13-9) - WCG 2003 – October 12th - 18th, 2003

"Controversy will always surround Brazil vs USA"

HLTV Demo (de_inferno)
HLTV Demo (de_nuke)

3D Roster

moto
ksharp
Rambo
boms
Bullseye

mibr Roster

KIKOO
Corassa
pava
eduzin
pred

While the score looks pretty close, it doesn't show anything crazy beyond expectations. The match though was well beyond anyones wildest expectations. 600+ comments on the first map demo plus an additional 250+ comments on the second map demo. Another 300+ comments on the Melee and 130+ on an interview conducted with Dave “Moto” Geffon. Not to mention all the forum posts related to the match left GotFrag buried in a mountain of American against Brazilian flame wars.

What triggered all of this intrigue over one match? Controversy.

In the most public display of a bug in the game affecting the outcome of a match, the battle lines were drawn between the second biggest country in the World of eSports, USA, and an up and coming power, Brazil. In between were the referees from WCG. To their credit this was a first in eSports, at least on this scale.

At the time Nuke, the map for the first match, had a major bug in one of the choke points, the ramp room. This choke point was often attacked with flashbangs and would cause serious problems. A flashbang that found its way under one of the boxes inside of the ramp room would cause not only the entire room but players in other parts of the map to become blind. Obviously this created a huge advantage for the offensive team and so leagues and tournaments outlawed throwing flashbangs near this area even if it was by accident.

The intent of the rule is what came under debate as Brazil fans of mibr claimed that without intent to throw the flashbang under the box it wasn't their teams fault and shouldn't be punished. The American's take was one of simple punishment: the act was committed and no matter what it changed the outcome of the game. WCG sided with the latter approach but not before a long drawn out debate and review session.

The funny part is, the match itself was amazing. The Americans lost the first map in triple overtime before the ruling changed the final score to 13-11 in their favor. It was a stunning game that finished even more stunningly.

With a chance to push the second map, Inferno, into overtime, mibr was late in defusing. The bomb exploded giving 3D the victory and allowed them to advance. 3D went on to finish second in the tournament behind SK.swe. Most importantly they went on to win the next two WCG tournaments giving them two victories and a second place finish in their history at WCG. If the flash bug hadn't been enforced and the second map could have been pushed to overtime, a little luck could have seen the Brazilians move on and destroy the future of 3D at WCG by knocking them out of the tournament.

The impact for the Brazilians is unknown but they did manage to become a very good team in their own right. Last year mibr pulled of two CPL victories in South America. While this match didn't bring about the rise of South American CS, it did prove that the following in the Brazilian scene was just as strong as any other country in the World.

One interesting story about the match involved 3D's Canadian member, Ognian “Steel” Gueorguiev. After winning the first WCG and attending the second one for the Canadian team LnD, Gueorguiev didn't qualify for that year's event losing to EG. With the event being held in Seoul, Korea; 3D's team manager Craig Levine joked with me that Gueorguiev would be stormed at his house by crazy Brazilian fans driving up from South America. In jest, he called his Canadian player to ask him if he had to fight off any crazy Brazilians yet. Gueorguiev respond with a witty comment of his own.

“I haven't seen any soccer balls fly by yet,” said Gueorguiev.