Train: NoA vs SK.swe (Nollelva)

The final map of the four pack is Train. If 3D’s Achilles heel is Cbble and Mouz’s worst map is Nuke; NoA’s is Train. Their lifetime record on Train is 5-4. Three of those wins are against aN (EverLAN pool play match, 21-3), TDG (Opening round match of CPL Summer 2004, 16-0) and GloriousMind (Early OsloLAN match, 16-3). If you toss out those scrub matches, NoA is 2-4 with wins against 4Kings (in OT) and e7 (13-10). Their losses came to TSG, u5, SK.swe and Zero Respect (Rival pug). This is not the impressive record of a CPL Champion.

The most recent of these matches is the loss to SK.swe at Nollevla. Not to imply that NoA wouldn’t have won CPL Winter 2004 if they had played on Train, but they did go the whole tournament without playing it. At Nollevla, they weren’t so fortunate.

Nuke saw NoA look tentative on offense; that was nothing compared to Train. At least three rounds NoA attacked the outer bombsite and every time they got stuck behind the electrical box waiting as SK.swe rotated and laid down fire and flash bangs. Their 3-5 score in upper bombsite attacks is misleading, with a few of those attacks really looking sloppy. Excluding the pistol round and save round they would have been 1-5.

The only positive for NoA was Benger, whose impressive AWP seems to fit on Train. He was the only player on NoA who looked comfortable on the map. His style of play could be a reason why NoA isn’t as effective on Train compared to the old TSG teams featuring a roster full of accomplished and effective AWP players. All of NoA's Norwegians seem unwilling to use an AWP and that hurts their ability to gain entry frags when attacking the upper bombsite.

Without gaining upper bombsite entry frags teams can stack the lower bombsite and wait for the upper defenders to call rushes. Since no pick-offs are occurring, the rotators have plenty of time to surround the attackers. This one lacking piece of their offense creates problems for all the rest of their offensive strats on the map, almost like a tidal wave. The only answer was Benger, who had limited success grabbing a few entry frags, opening up the rounds they did get against SK.swe.

Defensively, things were almost worse. NoA preferred to play back in the upper site, again without AWP’s, making it so they couldn’t cover the site effectively. Even a team like SK.swe that doesn’t use many AWP’s will still use an AWP at upper. Abdisamad “Spawn” Mohamed lit up NoA, taking out many players on initial attacks of the upper site, creating massive problems for NoA.

Even the lower bombsite seemed terribly defended as NoA did spawn based rushes of the high ramp or default defense by Olaisen and Moum. The first three rounds saw SK.swe roll up NoA, setting the tone for upper rushes that they had no answer against.

Still, NoA has managed to avoid Train and could do so at WEG. They have the skill and the teamwork to win WEG but they’ll need Johanessen to continue to play effectively while leading the team, something he did impressively at CPL. It’s going to be interesting to see how they match up against GamerCo, but the pressure will be on NoA completely and any slip will be seen as dramatic. NoA hasn’t played well with the pressure on before; ESWC 2004 anyone? Regardless, they look impressive enough against the teams attending to be more than a clear-cut favorite.

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Player photos by Andy Arato