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In Response to "Let's Make A Deal"

This week's Soapbox was submitted by GotFrag user Jeff "AlphA" Lada and is solely his opinion.

As a foreword, I have had the pleasure of playing with two members of Devastation, Classified and Sauce, in my past CS:S teams (Amplify and Zomblerz). I have also had the pleasure of playing against compLexity in scrims/matches a countless number of times since they switched over to source-- from the day they announced it (and were miserable) and up until just a few days ago. As a side note, I have also been an avid compLexity fan since Bullseye played with them in who-knows-what season of CAL 1.6.

That being said, the situation, as Warden so eloquently put it, is sh***y. It's really that simple. Let's break it down, shall we?

Complexity is known for winning, making playoffs, and usually finishing first or within the money. It's no secret, and everyone knows this. However, now that CGS is over, the money has been pocketed, and the coL CS:S players are essentially locked into next years season, they have been playing much less than they were accustomed in the past few months (a fact they will admit). So, they're losing. All fanboyism, excuses, and nonsense aside -- coL is losing, period-- and far more frequently than they have in recent memory, whether it be 1.6 or Source.

In addition to the aforementioned facts (and in case you didn't get the memo) -- CEVO-P is very competitive, save for a few teams that, admittedly, shouldn't be there anyway. So, this inevitably creates the dilemma of coL being a "bubble" team to make playoffs for the first time since _______ (any coL historians in the crowd)? So, the pressure is on for coL to make it and win, as is expected of them by Jason, their fans, and, of course, themselves.

So, once again for the first time in a LONG while, you have a situation in which a single match determines whether coL will go to playoffs. Thus, it's coL vs. Devastation on the not-so-popular 1.6 map de_contra to see who gets to go to playoffs. Long story short, Devastation is taking it to compLexity in the second half, Dev's up 5-0, and the score is 8-6 in Dev's favor ... and the LAN'ed coL players get packeted, lag out, pull the plug, Al Gore shuts off the interwebs, or whatever you choose to believe.

In an absolute worst case money situation for Dev (assuming each player had exactly $0 dollars the last round they won, and negating $300 for a the frags of that round), each player would have a total of $3250, considering they did in fact win the round. As common sense would dictate, that clearly wasn't the case, and compLexity was obviously hurting in the money comfort department. Thus, Warden offering 3k and 5k startmoney situations is absolutely, 100%, undeniably, completely ridiculous. Sorry, Dino, been a fan of you forever, but both you and I know it's not fair given the circumstances. Fourth grade math and a slight to moderate knowledge of the game clearly indicates that Dev has quite a bit of money while coL has, at best, moderate amounts.

This means coL is hurting for money and has to win four of the remaining six rounds to make playoffs. Ouch, anyone? Sure, it can be done, but !8ball says outlook not so good.

So, is Dev correct for wanting proper money given the outcome of the match determines who gets to play for quite a bit of cash in playoffs? Absolutely. Did Sasquatch not have a portion of his demo so the CEVO admins could give the players their proper money? Yes.

Should CEVO use common sense when allocating the player's individual money if the demo isn't available? Yes. Is there a rule about not having demos in CEVO? Of course, but Sasquatch wasn't cheating, as everyone already knows -- the only question is his money, which, at worse, as I stated, would be 3250.

Did coL get packeted, pull the plug, etc etc etc? Who knows.

Did coL make a questionable and underhanded offer to Dev? I'm gonna go with yes, as Warden has already implied that he did, and that's not something Sasquatch would make up. Was coL wrong for making that offer? Absolutely. Was Sasquatch "right" for posting the log (two wrongs don't make a right)? I suppose it depends on your morals and where your loyalty lies.

Would coL have lost had the match been played out with proper money? Probably. Would coL have lost had the match been played out with no pauses? Probably. Complexity offering up half of their POTENTIAL, not guaranteed, winnings on a bribe for a forfeit is an incredible risk that only indicates that they were scared of losing to begin with. If they believed they would win in a fair money format restart, they offer wouldn't have been made, period. Essentially, it's a slap in Devastation's face because the underlying connotation is that compLexity fears they're going to lose, but believes they will do better than Dev in playoffs (plus it's coL!!! Aren't they SUPPOSED to be in playoffs?). So, they might as well offer half their cash to Dev instead of missing playoffs altogether and getting nothing.

I can tell you this, though. It's simply a business decision for both teams. Both teams play to win, but who's going to get their return on investment, and what risk value do you assess to "probablies"? Unfortunately, there is gray area to business that there are no rules for. I hope that CEVO uses common sense for the gray area when making a ruling; it's very simple and doesn't take a Ph.D in CS to figure out. Reset the match with the correct money amounts to each player that has demos available, if they aren't available, give that player the "worst cast scenario" amount. Start the half 5-0 Devastation, and play out. Good luck, have fun, and oh ya... don't allow yourself to be in the middle of a sh***y situation if you don't have the resolve and determination to clean it up.