Article by Richard "Dr. Gonzo" Lewis, Senior Writer TheCGS.com


As one by one the region finals are played out throughout the CGS the matter of who is the greatest within that continent and country is resolved in the only way that counts; head to head, gamer to gamer. While this is undoubtedly the pinnacle of the playing careers of the participants to date, there is even bigger to come. A clear opportunity to prove that they are the best on a scale that they have never done so before, in front of the kind of audience they have never had prior to the Championship Gaming Series. The World Championship approaches and the chance to present themselves as the best globally will all too soon be here.

This will refresh in people’s minds a lot of classic rivalries, not least the old one between the United Kingdom and the United States, certainly united in many aspects, but when it comes to sports of any kind it stirs up the kind of passion you would expect to see between nations that once were at war. Yet this is less American Revolution and more Gaming Revolution, the American teams felt by many to have a huge advantage when the games begin in earnest due to the increased amount of time they have had to get used to the way these inter-franchise skirmishes work. Yet whenever the UK teams arrive on foreign soil tasked with the necessity to win against the odds, it is impossible for them to ignore the fact that they now represent their countries as much as themselves and their teams.

Will such emotions, coupled with the time spent training, be enough for the UK to emerge victorious against the highly skilled US teams? I spoke at length to some of the key players in this fight as they dust off their redcoats and prepare for battle once again.

London Mint

Sujoy “Sujoy” Roy, General Manager

I'm looking forward to a showdown between a UK and US team. The Americans have had more time to work on their team strategies and practice, but I think the Brits have the talent needed to win. We've got great players in all the games, and we're practicing hard to make sure we do the UK proud. The US franchises have a few key players that are strong. For example, Offbeat Ninja in DOA and Chompr in PGR. But there are a few Brits who are also going to give them nightmares, such as ChrisyB in FIFA and the Mint Counter-Strike: Source team. As a team we haven't had the kind of practice that the Americans have enjoyed over the course of their regular season this year, but despite that I'm confident that our team is good enough to beat any of the others put in front of us.


Christopher “ChrisyB” Bullard, FIFA 07

The American Franchises are very tough. Great DOA players, Great PGR players. They will be very tough to beat. I suppose if you look at stats and points the two FIFA players are the weak links in the American teams. No doubt they have been training hard though and come LA time they should be playing to a very good standard. I don't fear anyone, it goes with out saying, but I expect Mint to do well against the US teams; I think we have a better squad. However the US has invaluable experience of having a full season whilst Mint has only experienced one game. That could be a deciding factor.


Tom “url” Chenery, Counter Strike: Source

I believe all of the players in the London Mint team are capable of bringing home a lot of points to our franchise, we have ChrisyB who is the number one FIFA player in the UK, he had a close game with Kreegan in the WCG and we believe with the right amount of practice he can beat the best there is in America. Then there are our DOA players, Snuggles and Paddaman. Snuggles was outright the best UK female and we know she will be a great competitor versus the top USA players... I have spoken to Padda, and he feels that he can beat anyone on his day, which is great for confidence within the rest of the team. Our PGR3 players have essential teamwork and we think they can bring back the needed amount of points. We will be going into the World Championship with great confidence. Our team definitely has the pedigree to do well, and I believe it was beneficial that the CS;S played poorly at the combine to make us the second pick for the GMs since now we get to be in the same franchise as the top gamers in the UK and we know that we are able to pull it out of the bag. Yeah, with the right practice the UK could win the whole thing!


Avtar “Paddaman” Padda, Dead or Alive Men’s

I think the US franchises may be getting complacent, seeing how they have had the experience and glory of a full regular season and because the finals will be on their home soil. I think America has perhaps the best DOA players in the world. I’m going to have to bring out my A-game. I’m training and coming up with different strats and tricks, something they haven’t seen before. Due to the nature of the game the result isn’t certain till the last bit of health is drained, but I always aim to win, and the World Championship will be no different. For the teams as a whole they have their relevant strengths and weaknesses and we know what they are.

Birmingham Salvo

Michael “ODEE” O’Dell, General Manager

It is really hard to say as of course the Americans have had longer to prepare for the finals and they have had a full season of play. So I guess yes they probably have the advantage on everyone else there. I would say for the UK and Euro teams our players have all been practicing for the past two months leading up to the combine in Birmingham. I think it is going to be a case of lets get there and see how it happens, but for sure my team will be ready when we get there.


David “Daveyskills” Kelly, Project Gotham Racing 3

As for my thoughts on the CGS pitting UK against the US, I think it’s a cool idea. Online in the gaming community there are always arguments between UK and US players for several reasons. Most of them revolving around things like who has host and latency issues, and which nation is better than the other. I'm hoping that the CGS will help to show everyone that the UK produces some of the best gamers in the world and come the World Championship in December I'm definitely going to be giving it my all.


Sam “RattlesnK” Gawn, Counter Strike: Source

In terms of experience our squad in Counter-Strike has some of the most experienced players in tournament situations. Now that we have time to prepare even more for LA I think that we can become an even better team than we showed at the live event. In the run up to the draft we had to quickly adapt our style of play and tactics to accommodate playing a new game like Source and obviously it was quite hard to do in such a short space of time. If we practice hard and continue to progress like we are at the moment I can see us becoming a challenge for any Source team at the world finals. As for the rest of our franchise I'm confident that with ODEE's guidance our franchise will have the greatest improvement once we head out for the World Championship. At the moment we've been focusing on the media attention that all of our players have received for being drafted into the CGS but in the next few days I believe our plan is for everyone to begin practicing for LA. The US teams will obviously have an advantage over especially the EU/UK franchises as they have been able to practice the match format over an entire season but hopefully before we head out to LA we can get some franchise game practice in against the London Mint. In my opinion once it comes down to it we're going to really be able to challenge the US teams and they certainly won't find us a roll-over as we're strong in all games.


Samantha “Ricochet” Whale, Dead or Alive Women’s

US will have the edge in some games but overall as a franchise we should be better especially since the US has six teams and the UK only two. The talent is definitely more concentrated in certain games as a result of this, so I think there are certain games we have a big advantage in. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t take anything for granted so we shall have to see how Salvo do and I am looking forward to taking on the US female players.



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