The Intel CS:Source Invitational has come to a close, and it was definitely a crowd pleaser. The tournament was the most coordinated and well run event that source has seen to date. The fact that there were only four teams of course made it a bit easier, but it was also punctual, well advertised, and easily the most comprehensively covered event to date. With the influx of 1.6 players and fans we Sourcers also received a big boost from the experienced 1.6 media, tourney coordinators, and casters. Everything came together nicely and the participating teams more than held up their end of the bargain.

Tournament MVP: No stranger to tough competition, Jacob "Nightfall" Stanton really stepped up for his team in this tournament. The choice of MVP was a bit controversial because of the fact that many players really played their hearts out, but I don't think that anyone can argue that without Nightfall Hyper! would not have made the finals. His play in the first match against coL gave Hyper! the much needed win and allowed them to advance. Only fRoD had more frags, and Jacob had the most 3 frag rounds which is a testament to his performance in the clutch. He has also worked night and day getting Hyper! to where they are. Last season we would have seen a less organized team that had less of a chance at putting up this strong of a run.

Top 5 performances of the Tournament

1. coL|fRoD- with the most frags, top +/- and most two and four frag rounds, as well as an exciting 4v1 clutch against EFG, he is a definite standout
2. Hyper|Nightfall- 88 frags including some smart play, good clutches, and sick scout shots
3. coL|zet- zet may not have always gotten the kill, but he piled on the damage. He had the best DAR and most assists by a large margin.
4. coL|Rambo- Rambo had the 3rd best +/- but what stats don't show you is how many solid clutches he had throughout the tournament. You almost had to bet on Rambo when it was 1v2.
5. Team3D- For the most part 3D played very solid as a team, with their stats being similar. Only Lin was in the negative (-9)
Honorable Mention: coL|Storm- If Nightfall was the reason Hyper! beat coL, then Storm was the reason coL was still in it until the end. Only fRoD had a better +/- in the tourney.

Stat Awards

Top frag total: coL|fRoD (97)
Top Assist Total: coL|zet (26)
Top Death Total: Hyper|Nightfall (84)
Highest FPR: [3D]Volcano (0.910)
Worst FPR: EFG^Clown (0.419)
Highest DAR: coL|zet (96.7)
Worst DAR: EFG^Clown (51.5)
Best +/-: coL|fRoD (+28)
Worst +/-: EFG^Clown (-32)

Want more stats? Check GotFrag's Gamesense The Intel CS:Source Invitational http://www.gotfrag.com/css/stats/event/81/?p=overview

Surprises of the Tournament

1. Hyper! had a shocking 1st round defeat of coL, where coL seemed to buckle towards the end and did not put that last nail in the coffin. Hyper! came back strong and eventually won it.
2. After two rounds of play, 3D had a commanding lead over all competition with a positive 16 round differential, Hyper! was sitting at -2 and coL had +2. 3D saw this lead slip through their fingers as Hyper! improved their differential to +4 against EFG and they suffered a 16-3 loss to coL effectively giving them a +3. Hyper! beat 3D into the finals by one point
3. Rector played surprising well for Team3D throughout the tournament. Many skeptics had been bashing Rector as the team's weak link, but he out fragged Lin and method. He also had better DAR than Lin and Ksharp.
4. A surprise amongst the GotFrag patrons is that Hyper! made the finals at all. The vast majority of voters in the "who will win?" poll voted for compLexity and Team3D.

Disappointments of the Tournament

Lin, sunman, and badapples performed way under par for their teams in this tournament. These three had the worst stats of the tournament.