Article by Max "Goodeh" Silver, Editor in Chief Cadred.org


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LONDON, United Kingdom -- During the World Final, when you looked at the back of Berlin Allianz DOA Men’s player Rudolph “THE_TACTICAL” Fischer, you wouldn’t find his name or his jersey number (11).

Instead, you would have seen a German flag wrapped around his entire six foot frame.

For Fischer, there was no better honor then representing his homeland in a country abroad, and although he won only a single game during his stay in Los Angeles, the German native managed to show the world what his country was capable of.

By misfortune of the draw, Fischer’s World Final started off a 0-5 loss against Carolina Core’s Ryan “Offbeat Ninja” Ward in the Individual Championships. However, in a true turn of events, Fischer would go on to later defeat Ward in the official World Final tournament, only a few days later.

His resilience aptly portrayed the essence of Germany.

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The World Final performance for Allianz DOA Women’s player, Livia "Liefje" Teernstra, told a slightly different tale. Although she did not manage to win a game, Teernstra put up a pair of rounds for her team when they needed it the most.

As a former professional FPS player, Teernstra came into the league knowledgeable about the nuisances of high level gaming; however, she lacked the same familiarity with consoles -- and in particular competitive fighting games -- that she possessed with the PC.

Ignoring this setback, Teernstra was determined to make the switch.

In the time between the European Championship and the World Final, Teernstra spent what seemed like every waking moment of every day practicing in her room.

“At the European Live Qualifier I was very new to the game, so I had to learn the basics first,” said Teernstra. “After I was drafted, I played a lot more to just up my overall game knowledge.”

In Berlin’s second round World Final match against the Mexico City Furia, Teernstra was given her first opportunity to prove that all of her practice had paid off. Unfortunately for her, the opponent she would be facing was Mirlet "Hitomi 1" Delgadillo, a player so highly regarded that she was taken as the first overall pick in the Latin American draft.

Teernstra failed to get a single round against Delgadillo.

“I didn't realize it at the time, but I wasn't interrupting her flow enough. She had so many opportunities to just throw me into a combo. I really can't remember what I was thinking during that match except that,” said a dejected Teernstra. “I guess I panicked a little when she got the beginning hits in every round and I totally lost composure.”

Following Teernstra’s loss, the Allianz looked toward their captain, Fischer, to get them back into the game.

Despite starting off with an early lead, Fischer failed to close the game out and lost 4-5 to the Furia’s Israel "El Divino Xmas" Navidad.

With the team down 11-17, Berlin General Manager Jonas Alsaker Vikan put the pressure on his star-studded Counter-Strike: Source team to make up the near insurmountable difference.

They would do that and more, eventually giving Berlin a 25-21 victory.

Instead of celebrating the win afterwards, Fischer thought long and hard what had gone wrong for him in his DOA Men’s game.

“I think was under too much pressure. At the beginning of the game, in my mind, I was clearly the better player,” he said. “I was too nervous -- it was my first match on the big stage, and the first time is always difficult.”

If Berlin was to succeed in the remainder of the tournament, Fischer would have to adapt to the bright lights, and play at the highest level possible.

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With a win over Mexico City, Berlin advanced to the semifinals where they would face the Carolina Core.

Known as an exceptional all around team, Carolina boasted a very talented DOA squad that had proven its strength over more than a dozen matches. For Berlin to advance to the World Championship, both Fischer and Teernstra would have to bring their “A” game… Counter-Strike would likely not be able to bail the Allianz out two matches in a row.

Going into the match, Teernstra was optimistic about her chances against Core DOA Women’s player Kat "Mystik" Gunn.

“I trained like mad in the days between and before the game [against Carolina]. I was nothing but focused,” said Teernstra, “There was no way in my mind that I could get 5-0’d again.”

She was right.

In a gut wrenching game that saw multiple rounds go down to the wire, Teernstra scored two rounds against Gunn. While the result was far from a “W”, the Berlin bench was satisfied with the result. Teernstra on the other hand was not.

“Some of the rounds were kept quite close but it still isn't a point on the board for the team,” Teernstra explained. “I feel disappointed every time I lose, so whilst some may have seen it as a good score for me, I personally was not happy with it because a loss is a loss no matter what.”

In a situation similar to the previous match, the Allianz once again looked toward their captain for guidance in a particularly difficult situation. This time around, however, Fischer would not let them down.

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“His reputation precedes him. Everybody knows how good he is, so when you have to play against him, you think about it too much,” said Fischer, on the skill of his semifinals opponent Ryan “Offbeat Ninja” Ward. “During my match against Offbeat in the World Final, I didn’t worry about that. I just played my game and did my best.”

His best was a 5-2 victory, something almost no-one in the arena -- bar Fischer’s teammate and GM -- expected.

“I was thrilled to see we could turn Rudolf around in two days. It was a mental thing,” said Vikan on Fischer’s performance against Ward. “He did not have six weeks of regular season preparation like the American players, so for him to be able to defeat his own demons in such a short amount of time was phenomenal.”

Although Fischer won his game, in the end, Berlin lost by a single point, and failed to advance to the World Championship.

The loss cost the team a minimum of $80,000.

It took Teernstra a week to watch the replay.

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With a handful of stage matches now under their belt, Berlin’s DOA players look to play bigger roles for the team in 2008. Their GM is confident that each of them will have a great second season.



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