#1 GameWyze [8-0]

Feature Match Analysis by Peter Harlan
Interview with Justin "kaeXo" Johnson
Interview with Tyle "lucci" Brewer

#2 Strive [8-0]

excidium: Coming off only a 3-2 win over duality in the final week of regular season action, how do you feel you match up to NGW on Sidewinder for the first round of playoffs?

Strive|vespillo: Well we always tend to go into our matches confident and as of late have been really surprised at the quality of teams since the CE switch, so while we still have the confidence we are certainly moving things around and compensating for this new rash of skill that alot of teams have developed and practicing more then we have in the past, but overall we feel we are certainly ready.

excidium: Do you think your team can maintain control of the cliffs much better than it did against duality?

Strive|vespillo: Certainly, so far we've played against alot of teams and feel comfortable about our map control and ability to put the points on board when it comes down to it. But with the randomness of sniping it can truly go either way, in a recent scrim I started out with 4 perfect sniper shots only to come back with about 6 deaths without a single kill so we'll see which way the game dictates the winner of this one.

excidium: Will konsept have another big match, putting up a solid four teamkills on the board once again?

Strive|vespillo: If he didn't I'd be truly disappointed, it's become our comic relief at this point.

excidium: Being the defending "next-best" from season 1 of CAL Halo, how does your team feel about making a run for #1 this time around?

Strive|vespillo: Well we have certainly seen a shake up this time around and are looking for that top spot just like everyone else is. So with other teams showing a loss or two up on the board it shows us there is more of an opening then ever, so that only makes us feel better and better about the opening in the top spot.

excidium: Has the strive practice schedule increased from more than one to two weekly scrims for the playoffs?

Strive|vespillo: Since the Gale brothers have been back in town we have done more around 10-13 scrims a week taking a night or two off when some have had work or sports. For us it's crunch time for CPL and we are taking our online play serious untill it's time to convert to LAN play.

excidium: Who is the team to watch in the playoffs?

Strive|vespillo: I think GameWyze has shown that they are here to play and have stepped up so we are certainly looking for them after a surprising 8-0 season. It'll be interesting to see how they fair when mixed in with all the teams from each of the divisions, It's one of the best things about our small community is the true mix of teams from everyone and having 1 champion rather then 2 others who don't deserve to be.

#3 Formula 1 [8-0]

excidium: Being the lowest seeded 8-0 team, how do you feel about F1 receiving the #3 seed?

|F1|McClellan: we dont really care about the seed, we know we had an easy schedule and we didnt prove much, but we also havent disproved anything, i think the seed is fair because GW took out 2 teams real strong at the end of the season.

excidium: What kind of preparation have you been doing for the playoffs thus far?

|F1|McClellan: we have not been practicing as much as we like to lately due to the fact that Vio moved and Werd has been busy, so we haven't got the team practice that we wanted to get but i believe individualy we have been preparing ourselfs. Hopefully we will be able to prove ourselfs better then our current gotfrag seeding of #7.

excidium: Your team has always been very controversial, what makes you the team everyone loves to hate?

|F1|McClellan: This F1 hate thing has calmed down due to some talk with the teams that might have not liked us for 1 reason or another--mostly stupid incidents but people hate what is easily hated i mean we got the easiest schedule out thier and people hated on us for it is it our fault that all of west division halo sucks besides us?

#4 United 5 [7-1]

excidium: You've been relatively quiet all season long, are you hoping to make a little noise during the playoffs?

u5-chr0me: We will show up to play the playoffs no different than the rest of this season. Online play really doesnt mean much to us and we are focusing on the CPL and the bootcamp prior to it.

excidium: How do you think you fare on Sidewinder, coming off your week eight loss to GameWyze on the same map?

u5-chr0me: I dont believe we have ever played goochers on sidewinder and this should be an advantage. With so few teams to practice against in the community you come to learn who does what both sides of the map and what their style of play is. Either way, goochers will use their ACTUAL CPL lineup and come to play with all they've got. Good luck fellas!

excidium: You have yet to play the Goochers this season, what strengths of theirs are you going to be looking out for?

u5-chr0me: Like I said before, this should be an advantage not only to us but to both teams. What each team does in the first few minutes is crucial to the rest of the map, so we are looking for them to have string pushes on ridge.

excidium: Recently, your team added roach from NoX to your online and CPL roster. How will this affect your starting lineup, and how does he help you improve as a team?

u5-chr0me: Roach brings some solid play to the team. I personally know him in real life and his passion is gaming. He loves to compete in anything he does and brings some character to this team. We are all very happy to have him onboard and welcome him.

#5 Indigo [7-1]

excidium: Last week you had a rather large win over TAU on Bloodgulch, 6-1, on a usually low scoring map. How were you able to dominate TAU and get so many caps in?

Indigo|cob: We practiced so much for that match, and found a strat that we thought worked. We got two caps off the first run, and after that you could tell they didnt have any fight left in them.

excidium: Do you think your strategy for Sidewinder will yield results as good as that of Bloodgulch against TAU?

Indigo|cob: So far we have yet to lose a scrim on Sidewinder this week, so i guess our strat is pretty good. Our main key is really in coordination and defensive control of the maps main positions. Mainly we are good because we do 2 or 3 scrims a day.

excidium: TAU had an impressive win over the now dead Grassroots on Sidewinder in week 8. Do you attribute this to their skill on the map, or was it just the straw that broke the camel's back for the already dying Grassroots team?

Indigo|cob: Grassroots was practically dead, and doesnt really have the sniper ability to hold down sidewinder. 5-2 is still impressive though.

excidium: With d0ss now being put on the back burner to further concentrate on your CPL lineup, how do you think your team will be able to compete without him?

Indigo|cob: We are a better team without doss. d0ss was a good sniper but just made dumb mistakes. We picked up mmptr who really fills in the role d0ss was supposed to play much better.

#6 Wat¿ [6-2]

excidium: In the final week of the season you suffered a disappointing 4-2 loss to Undefined Status on Sidewinder, the map you face the European zP! on in the first round of the playoffs. How did uS manage to pull out the upset?

Wat¿Gryp: uS played an excellent game. I feel we beat ourselves as the frag ratios on both sides were about even indicating a rather solid game on both sides. Certain breaks didnt happen for us and uS took advantage of the few they got. uS is a solid team on sidewinder and they capitalized on the few mistakes we made.

excidium: With your performance last week fresh in your mind, what have you done to make sure you are not upset yet again this time around on Sidewinder?

Wat¿Gryp: We have changed a few things around on sidewinder, moved people around to new spots to try new combinations and try some new pushes/pulls. I think we can shake it up a little with some new ideas and the old. What will be more important is adapting to zP's strategy and playstyle.

excidium: This week you play the European TEAM zeroPoint! I'm sure you've had some chances to play some Euros in the past, so what do you think of the European play style? How will you deal with the differences in ping?

Wat¿Gryp: Wat? actually hasn't played any euro teams. We have played against a few pugs with euro players, like the pugslut nRg, but never a full team. Our only other match vs a euro team was unfortunately cancelled when they had internet connect problems. I think it will be a good experience but nothing of what either side should expect come CPL.

excidium: Some teams like GameWyze had an amazing season this year, but who do you really feel will stand out in the playoffs?

Wat¿Gryp: With the map list for this seasons playoffs, i think teams that are more strat oriented may do better than aimers. With that said, i think a team like Indigo has a chance to run the table. Another team that could utilize the more strat oriented maps could be uS. I think either of those teams might break into the semi's depending on reshuffling after the first round.

#7 duality [6-2]

excidium: In your final match of the season you took strive to a surprising 2-3 score. How were you able to keep it so close and do you think you’ll be able to execute again this week against Eminence?

|2|tok3n: The Sidewinder match against Team Strive was one of the most fun we've
had all season.  Sidewinder is one of our favorite maps and during the week
we trained extremely hard, scrimmaging as much as possible, and breaking
down our games to see what we could improve.  That certainly helped us keep
the score close.  As for how well we will perform against Eminence, that
remains to be seen.  Eminence is a fine team and I expect it will be a very
good match.

excidium: Your match against Team strive was scorebotted in IRC, and from watching it seemed as if basic was raping almost single handedly. How big of a role does he play on Sidewinder, and your team as a whole?

|2|tok3n: Basic certainly is an important member of Team Duality.   Everyone on my
team, however, is vital to our game and the way we play.  Basic brings a
good frag count to the table but so do our other teammates.  As he would
put it, one player does not make the team and I agree with him.

#8 Kensai [6-2]

#9 Undefined Status [7-1]

excidium: uS has been coming up big lately with wins over Check six and Wat in the 7^th and 8^th weeks of the season. How do you plan on carrying over the momentum into the playoffs against Devastation?

uS-Akilae: We are really excited about our win over Check-six (formerly Xeno) and Wat. We practiced really hard for both matches, coming up with some really great strats.

We made roster changes right before our United 5 match, and it took some time to get used to the changes, but it's finally showing through. We're really happy with what we're doing, and will continue to prove ourselves, through playoffs and CPL.

excidium: What do you attribute to this almost "sudden success"?

uS-Akilae: I would have to say our new roster. MoCt is an awesome capper. We never really had a "definitive" capper before. Ended up being mostly who we thougth could do it, and MoCt has definately shown he is more than capable of doing that job.

We also have a Morter, he's a very interesting guy, but very skilled. I'm extremely happy with him joining us along side MoCt.

Our other Member is PSG-1. He's been with us a long time, but just wasn't interested in Halo. I finally convinced him otherwise and he decided to join us and we're really glad he did.

Other than that, we've just been practicing like crazy and trying to keep our skill up and developing some strats that nobody has seen, which so far seems to be working quite well.

excidium: How do you think this "unseen" strategy will pay off against Kensai this week on Sidewinder? Are any of these strategies going to be held back for CPL?

uS-Akilae: There are some we are working on that we are holding back. Our most brutal loss (against United 5) is one to note, which inspired us to start thinking of new strategies, which has Timberland our fist for this task.

If we make it to the end of the playoffs, we'll probably start there. Mostly waiting for the bootcamp and the LAN environment.

As for Devastation, we'll just have to wait and see. I, myself, am not big on predicting my own matches. I'm more quickly to say we'll lose than win.

Makes things more exciting when you do achieve victory.

#10 Eminence [7-1]

excidium: A highly controversial addition to this season's playoffs, can you tell us your story of make-up matches, the sort of "rebirth" of ]aD[, and your quest for the playoffs?

e45|Scace: These few issues has brought us much unwanted controversy, but to set the record straight once and for all I will explain it again. As for the "rebirth" of ]aD[, Eminence in no way in the beginning had anything to do with After Domination. In fact, Eminence was formed before After Domination lost to High on Danger Canyon, it just so happened that when ]aD[ died, Cda and Cnoe came to BG and I looking for a team, and i figured Hawk would want to join as well considering he was their old teamate. This gave us our starting 5, then later adding Animeman. This was in no way a "rebirth" of ]aD[. Our make-up matches is what caused the most trouble, though. I went to CAL admins asking them if we could makeup the week 1 and 2 matches since our team was formed late. Hammett told me i could find them, approve them through him, then play them. We did this, and Hammett recorded the matches, giving us two extra wins and 20 caps for and 1 cap against. Other teams with playoff hopes were outraged that we were allowed to play these matches, and Joseph took them away from us saying he never OK'd them. During make-up week, Joseph decided to give them back to us, making us 7-1 (even though for some reason CAL almost refuses it seems like to post our 2 wins as they have twice in the past, taking them away both times) and giving us the #10 playoff seed.

excidium: How do you feel your team matches up against duality, a team that took strive to the wire with a close 2-3 loss in the final week of CAL on the amp you play this week?

e45|Scace: We have played Duality many times in the past and I personally feel they are a very underated team. Their teamwork is superb and with basic sniping they can't go wrong. Sidewinder, as we have scrimmed them on it in the past, seems to be one of their stronger maps and we have been taking all means necessary to prepare for this match. Luckily for us, sidewinder is one of Strive's weaker maps, but no less credit to Duality, this match could go either way.

excidium: Devastation capped three times against your base defense - or lack thereof - in the final week of the season on Sidewinder. What do you plan on doing different this week to keep duality off the scoreboard?

e45|Scace: The three caps Devastation earned on us in the second half were earned with solid heart, not so much pushes :). Two of the caps we were still on a high from the first half and let down our guard a bit, breaking down communication. All three of the caps were made without pushes. Looking back on that half, it's actually lucky it did happen to us because now we know that no matter what happens in the first half, the second half could always go completely opposite. Much better communication and keeping Duality from pushing past mid portal with heavies is what will keep them off the scoreboard this week.

excidium: You seem to be one of the most active teams in Halo right now, how do you find the time to dedicate so much, and do you believe this will be enough to carry you through the playoffs?

e45|Scace: As a newly formed team in Halo we're kind of playing catch-up. We take playing at CPL very seriously and we plan on at least making some of the money back that we will be spending to get there and stay there for a week and a half. We are usually all on early afternoon and early evening, making our practice schedule a little easier than other teams in halo, with only Cnoe having an every day job and Animeman having every day school. We try to plan what time to be on the next day so we know when to show up and more importantly when we can finally leave :).

excidium: What are the teams you are watching out for during these playoffs?

e45|Scace: Really, any team could come with an outstanding performance to beat any team in the playoffs, although, many teams are favored much more heavily. Gamewyze and Check Six are to be watched out for on nearly all maps, watch out for a MOTW for Check Six EVERY WEEK if they keep winning with that #16 seed (sorry guys :\ ). Strive is to be watched out for on more aim and frag based maps such as blood gulch, ice fields, and danger canyon, as that is what they rely on more. United5, Indigo, Formula1 can be dangerous on any map with their above average strats and heavy aim and teamwork. Goochers, Devastation, and Texas Area Untouchable's (from what's been shown so far) aim is to be watched out for, not much else. Wat and Duality's heavy teamwork and strategery are definately to be watched out for in these playoffs. From Eminence, definately Cnoe's capping and BG's rapping abilities (or lack thereof in both situations) are probably the biggest threat to competitors. And last but not least, UPSETS are to be watched out for from Undefined Status :).

#11 TEAM zeroPoint! [7-1]

excidium: As the top seeded European team in the playoffs, how do you feel about making the cut period?

zP!BuRn3R: When we entered CAL Season 2 we had our ambitions high and our goals were to reach the playoffs, we are here now and I don't think we've gone through the season in a cheap way, we are here due to our performances throughout the season, the team's motivation is on top for sure, that's all I can say.

excidium: How well do you feel you stack up to Wat, a central team, considering your geographical differences and high ping?

zP!BuRn3R: We've only played Wat? one time and that's not enough to get an overview of their qualities, besides they have added secLusion since then.

The american scene seems to already have made their decision, that Wat? will take this match and advance in the playoffs in a very easy way. I can only say that we're not hailed as one of the best european teams in Halo, just because of, it's due to our performances. We will do our best, as this will be one of the most important games ever, for us and then we will see how long it takes us.

excidium: Undoubtedly your match will have to be played on an east coast server. Do you think this will be to your advantage, seeing as how this is typical for you and you are used to the high ping?

zP!BuRn3R: To play on an east coast server would be the absolutely best in this case, we are used to the ping and I think that we already have shown what we can do, with our match against Indigo earlier this year. Of course it's hard to perform you're absolute best when playing in this ping, but this is how it is and I think it will be 50/50 when we're out on the field. We're looking forward to a great and intensive game.

#12 Texas Area Untouchables [6-2]

excidium: TAU has been questioned about their seeding and even placement within the playoffs due to their low but advantageous PF/PA ratio. Do you think this flak will hurt your team in any way, or only add fuel to the fire to win?

TAU|pookin: We don't give a shit because its online play… we are the new bad boys of halo.

excidium: TAU just came off a rather large loss to this weeks match-up in Indigo on Bloodgulch, a make-up match from week 7. How does this affect moral, knowing you got stomped only a week before?

TAU|pookin: We are not playing on Indigo’s lan server… should be an equal server this time… even pings own. We aren’t too scared while at the same time not being too cocky… they tried to get a forfeit win on us when we were all practiced up and would not play us when we had our starting 5 on at match time. We didn’t get in much any practice time before that match due to circumstances outside our control and we were not able to have our starting 5 either. We just are planning to open up a can of whoopass and rape some noobs!

excidium: The now dead Grassroots fell to the TAU wrath in week 8 on Sidewinder in a rather surprising showing by TAU, who won the match-up 5-2. Do you think this experience will help you this week against Indigo?

TAU|pookin: Even though we lost to Indigo on one of our best maps, blood gulch, and now are matched up against them on one of their stronger maps, we are still confident in our abilities on a semi-equal server (they will always outping us due to our 2 west players). Beating a team as skillful as Grassroots gives us a confidence boost since that was our first 2 halve game on sidewinder with our starting 5. I’m just hoping we can get in a couple scrims with our 5 before the matchup vs. Indigo who I have seen has been getting plenty of practice as of late.

#13 Goochers [6-2]

excidium: Your team made a stir early in the season with a big win over [cG] and the addition of mmptr, but your success was short-lived, as was your pickups career as a Goocher. Could you give us some insight into your up and down season, and what made mmptr's stay turn sour?

Goo`Roo0: Well we were really active after season 1. Basically we were not known to the halo community, we finished pretty strong with determination to do better. Cooked gamers was our last match played on halo pc we were really on our game. When ce hit its like a whole new game to learn over again. We practiced alot, After the cooked gamers match and ce came out, we pretty much went inactive. Personal reasons, school, cant get everyone on to scrim got really frustrating. MMPTR is a great player but we didnt gel together well at all the way we played wasnt working with what he tried to introduce. Just to say we were 3-0 without him 0-2 with him and 3-0 to finish off the season without him. We basically came to the same understanding it was best that he should go and there were no hard feelings

excidium: Recently Goochers has been laying low as a team, with a noticeable drop in activity and scrim time. What does this mean as far as playoffs this season, and your practice schedule going into CPL which is only weeks away?

Goo`Roo0: Playoffs should be intresting. Although we arent as scrimming as much as i would like we have picked it up. I really want a strong showing at the playoffs so we can move forward into the cpl. We are bootcamping and hope to work out the kinks at the bootcamp.

excidium: Earlier in the season you suffered a 2-0 loss to Formula 1 on Sidewinder. You now face United 5 on the same map in your first round playoff match. What have you done to make sure we don't see a repeat of that disappointing match?

Goo`Roo0: Well im not gonna make an excuse but when we played f1 we were suppose to be attacking first. I didnt check and they insisted on playing first half on thier server. We all pinged 100-133 and they capped twice. We switched to ours were they consistantly pinged 66-99. We died several times on the cap point but hey thats how halo goes. We have never played u5 so we know nuthing about each other. Over the last few days we have been preparing, but u5 is real solid should be an uphill battle. I predict the winner by 2 whomever it may be

#14 e-Star [6-2]

excidium: Being the second most controversial team to make the playoffs this season, how do you feel about your chances for success, especially being a UK team?

e|nRg: If I’m honest, I’m not expecting to go on any magnificent run and reach the CAL finals. Now its playoff time, competition is very stiff and any team can beat anyone in my opinion. The fact we are from the UK could be a very big disadvantage but I believe the map cycle has been kind if we do progress, as DC is good on east servers and Icefields can be no problem. The problem would lie with the final on Timberland.

But as I said before I don’t expect us to make it that far, and many don’t expect us to make the 2nd round. But I’m looking forward to trying to pull of an upset and I believe a few people will be raising their eyebrows if we beat or take F1 close.

excidium: Your first playoff match-up is against the western team F1. How do you think you will be able to overcome such geographical differences to make a good match?

e|nRg: From the 16 teams in playoffs, F1 is the team i most wanted to draw for the first round. Both halves are to be played on an east server so it should be an all even match up in terms of ping disadvantage so we are on a level playing field from the start which we wouldnt have been in the case of drawing any of the other playoff teams.

Both teams should ping around 130, with the exception of F1s player in alaska and our player on a 64k connection. So the team that wins will the team who has played better on the day, not the team which could use their advantage to the biggest benefit pingwise.

I believe it will be a lot closer than some people think if we bring our A game. Im hoping for big games from key players such as BeasT and myself, both of which hold important positions on the map (i wont say where). I have received help from a few members of the halo community on how to approach this game so i have an idea of what to expect from F1s play so im hoping we can overcome it. But if what they do is what they are good at then it may not matter if we know to expect it or not.

excidium: Seeing as how you’re no longer attending CPL, what does this playoff run mean to your team as far as leaving your mark on Halo?

e|nRg: My team is almost certainly going to be unable to attend CPL. I finally have gathered 5 eligible players for CPL, but funding is tought to come by in europe so unless we find a sponsor / company who come in with big money then we most likely wont be able to compete at this summers CPL tournament.

Unofficially e-Star had folded and we were planning on playing out the CAL season, whether that was before or after CAL playoffs we didnt know. Too manys surprise we did make playoffs and now its a case of trying our best and having fun, after all thats what the game is meant for.

But we are considering continuing in the game maybe into season 3 of CAL or at least until myself and Zenith go to University at the end of the year. We will be unable to give as much time to the clan when we attend university so maybe the clan will continue without us, but its unlikely.

All in all we may not have a CPL seed at stake, but we aim to try and make our mark and have lots of fun in trying. I hope to attempt to prove alot of our doubters wrong by upsetting F1 or even coming close may make people rethink our potential.

#15 NubZ GonE WilD [6-2]

excidium: You have been pretty quiet this season, having a close match to Team strive earlier this season on Ice Fields. What are you going to do to win this definite underdog match-up?

nGw|Lizardman: Allow me to elaborate on that biased question. It is true the match played during regular season was very close and it is true we have been quiet. They only beat us 1-0 which certainly does not classify us as an "underdog" like you so eagerly have expressed, however, we did lose and in this new opportunity to face them, we will bring new methods to this encounter.
As it is, this map is a hard map for everyone and we shouldn't be the exception. We nevertheless have worked on new tactics that will perhaps make you re-phrase the question next time we meet.
And the reason why we've been so quiet is because we were evaluating a very interesting merge that will ensure us the opportunity to great wealth - economic type, family type and business type. You will all find out soon enough what nGw is all about.

excidium: From your previous two run-ins with Sidewinder, you beat CBK 4-2 and lost to Indigo 0-4. How do you think you fare on this map against a team like Team strive?

nGw|Lizardman: Like I said before, this is hard map that favors no one. By winning once and losing once, we mixed both game-behaviors and came up with an interesting formula. Therefore, I think it is safe to say that our new tactics have been working very well for us and that should give us an edge.

excidium: Several people have questioned the map rotation that will be used for the playoffs. With the lack of Blood Gulch, Halo's signature map; they might have a legitimate gripe. What are your feelings toward Sidewinder being used back to back and how do you feel about Blood Gulch being left out?

nGw|Lizardman: Well, we really don't pay much attention to the map rotation as we know every map will be played sooner or later. I am assuming Blood Gulch was removed because it was a map that everyone got good on and/or bored of - sort of like de_dust in CS. And then again, I think CAL wants to keep the level of competition to an extreme and by having Sidewinder as the main map, they sure will accomplish that thought.

#16 Check Six [6-2]

Feature Match Analysis by Peter Harlan
Interview with Justin "kaeXo" Johnson
Interview with Tyle "lucci" Brewer