Playoffs Open With Core Against 3D In Round 1

Posted by: MarkDolven

The Core's run for a World Championship continues as they take on the top seeded New York 3D team in the first round of the North American playoffs. Despite losing five games in a row to end their season, the Core snuck into the big dance for North America as the fourth seed. The last time these two teams met, 3D bettered the Core, but in the match prior to that, the Core handed New York their first loss of the season. The key matchups within the overall game will be Dead or Alive 4 Female and Counter-Strike Source. Whichever team controls these two games will likely move on to not only the North American Final, but also the World Final. The Core is the veteran team as they made it all the way to the Grand Final last year, but they have their work cutout because New York 3D has looked strong this year and they are very hungry. The one thing Carolina does have going for them is that they are starting with a clean slate in the playoffs. They may not have deserved to be in the playoffs at all because of their losses, but it doesn't matter now because they can win one single game and erase all of the bad.

The action begins right at 10:00 PM EST, the match will be streamed live on CarolinaCore.com.

CGS Region 1 Semi-Finals

Carolina Core [#4]

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3D New York [#1]

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CSS:

Core

(--)

3D

(--)

Forza:

Phantom

(--)

Comebackdan

(--)

Forza:

General E

(--)

Dark Storm

(--)

DOA M:

Offbeat Ninja

(--)

Chepelle

(--)

DOA F:

Mystik

(--)

Coolsvilla

(--)

FIFA:

Anomaly

(--)

Wizakor

(--)

One of the most important games of tonight's playoff match will be the showdown in Dead or Alive 4 Female between Mystik and Coolsvilla. In their first two games of the season, they were closely contested, but Coolsvilla pulled them both out. In the most recent matchup, Coolsvilla dominated Mystik from beginning to end en route to a 5-0 shutout. Mystik will need to do better than that if the Core wants to stay in this game and earn themselves a playoff berth. Coolsvilla enters this match with a four game winning streak and she has been playing lights out. This run included 5-0 victories over Phoenix and Mystik, her two contenders for the second spot in the DOA Female division. Mystik has since made some adjustments to her game and is looking for the big upset victory. This is definitely something she is capable of if she gets off to a strong start.


Coolsvilla Has Been A Huge Performer For New York This Season
Mystik will be playing the character Hayate.

Coolsvilla will be playing the character Christie.

2008 Matchups:
Coolsvilla defeated Mystik 5-3 [6.6.08]
Coolsvilla defeated Mystik 5-4 [6.11.08]
Coolsvilla defeated Mystik 5-0 [6.23.08]



Carolina Core - Counter-Strike: Source:
Cyrus "org" Habibi
Sam "Devour" Chamma
Chad "DAFF"White
Mark Torrez
Hoang "s0nNy" Tran

3D New York - Counter-Strike: Source:
Kyle "ksharp" Miller
Jon "Juan" Mumm
Nick "nickn0it" Nowakowski
Sal "volcano" Garozzo
Mikey "method" So

This match will be taking place on Inferno.

The games between the Carolina and New York Counter-Strike teams have been anything but consistent. In the first game of the year, 3D not only defeated the Core, but they set a new CGS record for scoring margin behind a 15-3 victory on Season. The Core returned the favor in their second game by blowing 3D out 14-4 on Nuke. With two blowout victories to start the season, the third match of the year was yet another anomaly. This time the two teams fought tooth and nail before 3D ended up winning 10-9 in Overtime. Tonight, the two teams will face off on yet another new map for the rivalry, Inferno. The Core will be entering the match coming off a loss to the Venom on Inferno in their last match of the regular season. 3D also enters this match with a loss in their most recent memory as Complexity handed them a 12-6 defeat in their last game of the year. The keys to this match will obviously be Devour of the Core and Nickn0it of 3D. Whoever can dominate the AWP war will give their team a huge boost and likely a victory.


Org Plays A Key Role For The Core On Inferno
2008 Matchups:
3D.CSS defeated Core.CSS 15-3 [6.6.08]
Core.CSS defeated 3D.CSS 14-4 [6.11.08]
3D.CSS defeated Core.CSS 10-9 [6.23.08]



Chepelle and Offbeat Ninja are no strangers to each other as they have faced off a total of six times in the two years of the CGS. The Core's fighter holds a 5-1 edge in the series, but that one victory for Chepelle was in their last match. Offbeat Ninja is finally starting to show some of his 2007 form however behind key victories over Perfect Legend and Master in his last two games. His victory over Master was actually the Venom's Franchise Player's only loss of the season. With the momentum in Offbeat's favor, the Core will be looking to him to not only win the match, but win by a decent margin. The stage for the game is Crash, so maximizing wall damage will be a vital part for both fighters. If Chepelle can muster another upset for 3D, the Core will be in trouble, but Offbeat will be doing his best to prove that was just a fluke.

One additional thing to note in this matchup is that these two players actually met up in the North American Semi-Finals last year as well. They were the final game of the Optx against Core showdown that literally came down to the final game. Offbeat Ninja stepped up his game and won the match 5-0 which finished off the Core comeback and ultimately sent the franchise to the World Final.


Chepelle Beat Offbeat Ninja For The First Time Last Match
Offbeat Ninja will be playing the character Ein.

Chepelle will be playing the character Ayane.

Previous Matchups:
Offbeat Ninja defeated Chepelle 5-2 [7.25.07]
Offbeat Ninja defeated Chepelle 5-2 [7.23.07]
Chepelle defeated Offbeat Ninja 5-3 [6.29.07]



The Core's new striker, Anomaly, has had an interesting year to say the least. He has played remarkably well in regulation, but he just can't seem to win a shootout. On the year, he has lost all six that he has played in, but his one bright spot has been that he defeated last year's individual World Champion Wizakor all three times that he played him. This time around, Wizakor will be switching up his team choice and rolling with France. Anomaly will again be playing his traditional Brazilian national team. New York's franchise player will definitely be playing with a vengeance against Anomaly, but this isn't always a positive thing in FIFA. Playing calm and calculated is usually the key, but in FIFA08 anything can happen.


Anomaly Beat Wizakor All Three Times This Season
Anomaly will be playing Brazil.

Wizakor will be playing France.

Previous Matchups:
Anomaly defeated Wizakor 1-0 [6.6.08]
Anomaly defeated Wizakor 3-2 [6.11.08]
Anomaly defeated Wizakor 2-1 [6.23.08]



The first game of the night and subsequently the first game of the 2008 North American playoffs will be Forza 2 Motorsport. The Core's Phantom and General E led the league for the majority of the season before being caught in a three way tie with the Chicago Chimera and tonight's opponent, the New York 3D. The Core edged both teams out in a tiebreaker and will be headed to the individual World Finals, but that doesn't matter in the least tonight. The race will not only give their respective team a huge points boost, but it will also set the tone for the entire night. Getting off to an early lead is important to both teams and the momentum will play a huge factor in the overall franchise match. The Core leads the season series 2-1, so this will be a huge thing for Carolina if this continues tonight with another victory. 3D's strategy will likely be their standard move of Dark Storm clearing the way for Comebackdan, meanwhile the Core have a more balanced attack as both Phantom and General E have won a plethora of races.


Core's Rookie Racer Needs To Step Up His Game For The Playoffs
The race will be played on the track Inland Taipan.

Previous Matchups:
Core.Forza defeated 3D.Forza 5-2 [6.6.08]
Core.Forza defeated 3D.Forza 4-3 [6.11.08]
3D.Forza defeated Core.Forza 5-2 [6.23.08]

The action starts at 10:00 PM EST tonight!!!

Go Core!~