The first round of action at the 2007 digitalLife CS:Source tournament featured the German mTw squad and the CGS Region 1 CSS giants, compLexity. While mTw was entering the event as the 8th seed and a clear cut underdog, as the first European team to play against compLexity in Source, the match had some added undertones.

"With CSS being a new game, and most 1.6 players not making the switch over, the European CSS community is filled with new players, most of which are well mannered and not arrogant like some of the 1.6 players. Especially in Germany, everyone knows each other, so when we go to events, they are filled with familiar faces." - Nils "litchblade" Koch


Each team picked one map to eliminate from the pool of tournament maps, with mTw taking out train and coL removing nuke. With coL having the top seed, they then had their choice of the remaining maps, picking inferno. "We've been playing a ton of inferno lately," said warden. After winning the coin toss, mTw elected to start on defense.

Complexity took control right from the start. After winning a fairly close pistol round, with rambo coming up with a huge flank to pull the round back under control, coL picking up the first five rounds. For the most part, coL stuck to faking sites, with rambo and warden usually selling the fakes before the others took the opposite site. With tons of over rotating from mTw, coL often found themselves walking into sites unopposed.

"We always try to feel teams out. Ron's flanking was just instinctual. We don't have any set strats where he does that, rather our strats are setup so that while we have some definite roles for each player, everyone has the freedom to make their own decisions during the round. If you are off doing your own thing, and you didn't throw a flash that you were supposed to, yeah, it is definitely a problem, but as soon as we have taken a site, everyone is able to do their own thing. We mainly just focus on working as a team, and playing smart individually. Ron probably saw an opening with how they were playing A, and decided to flank." - Matt "warden" Dickens

After piling up the first five rounds, they hit a speed bump, dropping two rounds due to well timed counter flashes from mTw and some dominant fragging from lb. Complexity made an adjustment, deciding to simply walk into sites to prevent mTw from counter-flashing. Ron "rambo" Kim continued to make a huge impact with well timed flanks which dismantled the mTw retake.

"They were very well prepared tactically, but they weren't able to adapt. While they had some really creative flashes and 'nades, but we were able to catch them off guard by going into sites without flashing. We even caught one of their guys holding a flash in his hand just setting up for the counter-flash." - Matt "warden" Dickens

Complexity was able to finish out the half winning eleven rounds. After switching sides, mTw seemed to understand the urgency of the situation. After taking the pistol round, they appeared to be poised to try and fight their way back into the match. However, like many times in the past, compLexity bought up deagle armor, and went on the offensive. After some great shots from frod and rambo, coL took the second round, losing only one player in the process.

"Winning the second round was pretty big. They had a very nice pistol round, and we really wanted to take back the momentum right then and there. While I think we would have been able to win once we got to the first gun round, taking that round was pretty key." - Matt "warden" Dickens

After a successful second round, where some mTw players had AK/armor, mTw's money situation was in bad shape. Without money for nearly the rest of the half, coL breezed their way to a 16-5 win, sending mTw to the lower bracket.

"We definitely need to work on some things and make some changes. During the first half they did a ton of fakes, and while we knew what they were doing, we still did not play right. We were over rotating and our site retakes were really bad." - Nils "litchblade" Koch

Mortal Teamwork will only have a few moments to make those changes, as they will be playing Hyper in the lower bracket momentarily.