Desire. Discipline. Dedication.
Article Written by: James "Fiend" Schnieder

At MLG Orlando, a national Halo 2 tournament, the crew of Ogre 1 (Dan Ryan), Ogre 2 (Tom Ryan), Walshy (Dave Walsh), and Saiyan (Ryan Danford), showed up wearing Team 3D sweatshirts instead of their customary StK (Shoot to Kill). Some were surprised, some had heard rumors, a few even knew before the official announcement, but everyone was delighted to watch the spectacle as they continued their undefeated season. That is, except their opponents, whose crushed dreams lied in their wake.

Team 3D is well known to the Counter-Strike and Painkiller communities as a professional video gaming team based out of North America that boasts sponsorship agreements with NVIDIA, Sennheiser, Steelpad / Icemat, PNY, and Xfire. Halo 2 is a fairly new game and sponsors from major CS teams like Check Six and now Team 3D are noticing the popularity of the Xbox First Person Shooter.

“Before we add any player or team we have a pretty intense screening process,” explains Craig Torbull, Managing Director of Team 3D. “The StK guys met all of our criteria as the best of the best and overall a professional team.” Sportsmanship and character, he notes, are essential traits in Team 3D members. But let us not forget about their legendary teamwork and their exceptional shooting skills.

“Being part of the most respected gaming team in North America opens a whole new world of opportunities for us,” explains the enigmatic Saiyan in between World of Warcraft quests. “Many would otherwise dismiss console gaming as not competitive, but hopefully this will change their minds.”

Walshy agrees with his teammate, adding: “I think that that some of the top gaming teams are starting to realize that console gaming is competitive and professional. Although we have a bit more of a casual and laid back community, the competitiveness is still there. Plus, there is a huge fan base surrounding consoles outside of the competitive community”

Ogre 2 says finding a sponsor was more difficult than most people think, even for the top team. As students, they lacked the connections to secure sponsorship. The team's first meeting with their current sponsor was through Walshy. “We initiated the contact with Team 3D,” he explains. “I've known of them for a long time from CS and met Torbull and the CS squad at WCG in San Francisco October '04.


“3D was definitely our first choice and we wanted to hear from them before we talked to anyone else,” Walshy continues. “We started talking in mid-January before the first event.”

StK was ostensibly trying out for their sponsorship every time out, but, this never fazed them. “We are such a competitive bunch that it didn't matter,” Ogre 1 says. “Signed or not signed to Team 3D, we wanted to win.”

They have won and won handily. They admit weakness in only a “couple game types.” Otherwise, their main weakness is in scheduling conflicts. Team 3D feels that not playing together is the only way that other teams will catch up to them. “I feel like if we can practice a certain amount of hours per week as a team we are unbeatable,” Walshy explains. “But if we slack or have conflicting schedules we leave ourselves open for people to catch up.” In a perfect scenario, they will play four to eight hours per night together. Sometimes, however, it will be three days before they practice together again.

Currently they are overwhelmed, as Walshy puts it, with exams, multiple online leagues, practicing and flying out to all the tournaments. Next year, when the Ogre twins begin their first year at Ohio University they hope to match schedules with Saiyan, currently a Sophomore at UNC, and Walshy, who is attending Grand Rapids Community College and transferring to Grand Valley State University.

“I feel in the future we will get better at organizing everything and open up a lot more time that we could spend practicing,” Ogre 1 says.

That future involves many more tournaments and in all likelihood many more first place checks. They plan on attending every MLG Tournament and the WCG, certainly, but are also excited about the CPL. “CPL can do big things for the game, I hope the Halo community capitalizes on the chance that CPL is giving us,” Walshy says. “CPL is one of the most (if not the most) respected leagues for professional gaming and them adding Halo 2 is such a big deal for us. It doesn't seem like the community is realizing how big of an opportunity this is for us console gamers.”

At Orlando, the foursome took home first yet again. It is just another day’s work for these Halo gods. Currently, the team is in a league of their own, something well known to their PC counterparts.

“Hopefully it can turn into somewhat of a career instead of just spending cash,” Saiyan says. “Before signing with 3D we were just barely profiting from winning these events. A lot of people think we're making loads of money but that isn't the case. Yet.”