The GM's Thoughts on Week 2 Training Camp

Posted by: MarkDolven

Written by Mark Dolven, GM of the Carolina Core

Well the second week of the first ever Training Camp is in the books. In the first week, we got dominated by the Optx so we were looking to rebound this week, but it wasn’t meant to be. Complexity came out gunning for us and was able to take us down with relative ease. Just like the previous week, we were only able to win one of the five matchups, however this time our win came in Dead or Alive 4 Female. Again, I’m disappointed, but it’s still no time to panic. This is after all just online with little to nothing on the line for the members of the Core. They all know their jobs are secure which may have been a mistake on my part, but it’s too late for those mind games now. It’s time to get ready for LA. We leave in less than a month and we’re now moving into hardcore preparation mode.

Dead or Alive 4

The one bright spot of our week was Katherine’s domination of Belle. I was a little worried after the strong start by Belle in the first round, but something must have clicked because Kat almost came back even in that round. She then rattled off five rounds in a row and that’s always a good thing. After Belle demolished Coolsvilla in the first week, all the pressure was on Mystik to end her momentum. Thankfully for us she did just that. When Belle knocked Kat down into the water, I was a little worried because in the past Kat’s defense in water has been shaky, but she’s done a complete turnaround from last year. She kept Belle stunned almost the entire time and it really impressed me how far Kat really has come in the offseason. Next week she will play her arch-nemesis in Kasumi Chan and I’m sure she’ll be taking this just as serious as the Belle match. I don’t think the same will be said for KC because last week she played as Ryu Hayabusa. If she plays Ryu again, Kat’s Hayate should make quick work of her.


Well.. For the first time in the history of my association with Offbeat Ninja, he received a “straight beating” as the DOA community puts it. He’s never been 5-0’d in an official CGS match and the stars had to align for this one to happen. Perfect Legend was on fire. Ryan busted out Ein for the first time in the Training Camp, but it wasn’t enough. Either Ryan guessed wrong or Carl guessed right in every neutral situation, but the bottom line is that Offbeat got whooped. What does this mean and how do I feel? I’m neutral. People are worried about Ryan because he played poorly at last year’s World Final and they see this as an extension of that, but that thought hasn’t even crossed my mind. Ryan is still the franchise player of the Core and will continue to be so until someone takes it from his dead hands. I know he’s going to dominate this year and these preseason matches don’t change my opinion on that one bit. He lives for the CGS stage and he will truly shine there was again. Perfect Legend is definitely stepping up his game and will be a challenge every time they play, but I think the results will be a little more even when the real matches start.

Next week Ryan meets up with his good friend Mr. Black Mamba and I haven’t heard what characters they’re using yet. I expect Ryan will use Ein if Mamba uses Helena, but who knows. I’m looking forward to another match between these two no matter the characters. They are always close and come down to slivers of health.


» Click Here To Read The DOA4 Recap

FIFA 08

Another week and another loss for Anomaly, but like Offeat, I’m not worried at all. I don’t know what team Andy plans to use as his primary team in the CGS Season, but I will be surprised if it is England. Both of Kreegan’s goals in this matchup were on counter attacks where the English defense was just too slow and Brazil got behind them. Andy again won the possession game, just as he did against Stermy, but he’s having a difficult time translating this into goals. Obviously with a big goose egg on the board in the goals column, I’m a little concerned about Andy’s ability to finish, but at the same time this is online. I watched the video that Kreegan put online and I saw a few plays where Andy would have gotten a strong shot on goal at the very least if the match were on LAN, but due to the lag of online, he was unable to get a shot off. It was also really weird when Rooney missed the entire goal at the beginning of the match where Brock got free. Regardless, I know he wants to get off the snide of not scoring and get off it fast. I think he’ll have a strong showing against Eafra this week. Originally Kabe, our taxi player, was scheduled to sub in for this match, but he will be unable to, so we will see him against the Dallas Venom in the final week of the Training Camp.

» Click Here To Read The FIFA08 Recap

Counter-Strike Source

Well.. At least we didn’t lose 15-3 this time in Counter-Strike. The guys actually played a really good match against Complexity, but they were unable to close things out when it mattered. They got plenty of offensive rounds in the first half to win the match and they started off their defensive side with three quick rounds, but the guys aren’t well versed on Tuscan enough. We were playing a very aggressive defensive side and it worked for the first three rounds, but LA started to hold back and get pick-offs on us and we were unable to adjust to a passive style quick enough. Before we knew it, we had money issues and it was game point. We played with the full lineup this week and despite the map being Tuscan, I really like the communication of this lineup. Just sitting on vent listening, I can tell our communication is at another level this year. We’ll have to play Tuscan more to so we can adjust mid-game faster, but overall I love the overall flow of this map. It creates quick action and it’s easy to follow for the spectator. If they ask my opinion, I’ll vote for Tuscan to make the move to the actual season. I would love to see it a part of the league.


The Training Camp wasn’t the only Counter-Strike action we had for the week. On Sunday night, we opened up our CEVO-P season with a double-header against Gaming Revolution and the 94 Knicks. Both of these matches were kind of sentimental games for me and I’m really glad the guys stepped up their play. In the first match, we played Gaming Rev who is managed by my good and close friend, Kevin Strzelecki. I don’t ever want to lose to one of Kevin’s teams in any circumstances because of personal pride, so the win felt good. Deciple played strong for gRev, but Devour is just too insane for any opposing AWPer to make a difference against us. In the second match, we played the 94 Knicks who are led by Grant Hall who was a long-time CS player for me in Pandemic. I know Mark really wanted to win the match too because Exodus, one of his former teammates, was on the team. The guys played absolutely lights out in this match and the Knicks were unable to get anything going. Unlike the Training Camp, these CEVO matches mean a lot to us because half of the season takes place before we head out to Los Angeles. We would like to get a good cushion heading into the second half of the season because our preparation will be limited once we’re in LA.

» Click Here To Read The CS:S Recap

Forza Motorsport 2

There’s not much to say about the Forza 2 race. Joe and Eric prepared with at least fifty scrims on Maple Valley against other duos for this match, but it didn’t even matter. The online collisions were acting funny for both teams for some reason or another, so the match wasn’t that important of a result. Joe ended up slaughtering his control and putting it to rest because of the loss, but I’m trying to tell him to quit taking it so serious. I would have liked to see them win the race, but even they know they can’t win every race in this format, so losing 4-3 is not that hurtful. If we never lose worse than 4-3 the entire season, I will be a happy man. Getting blown out in Forza is one of the most devastating things that can happen to a franchise, especially with how competitive DOA is going to be this year. Watch the video of the race below and you’ll see Chavi bounce of Phantom on the first turn and then see GTO return the favor when GEL bounces off of him. Those collisions will be more accurate in LA and I know both teams eagerly await the rematch on LAN. This week is Diamond Back and from what I’ve seen we are really fast here. It will be nice to get back to the TVR tracks.


» Click Here To Read The Foraz2 Recap

Final Thoughts

Like I said before, another week and another loss doesn’t bother me any. I still consider us one of the teams to beat and if you injected any player in the CGS with truth serum and asked them who they were most afraid of this season, I bet the Core would come up quite a bit. We know we’re good; we’re just ready to get to LA and prove it. Next week we play our rivals the Chimera and I expect the entire team to step up a notch. The last two times we’ve played them were the two bitterest defeats of our lives. Obviously a Training Camp victory won’t erase that hell, but hey it would be better than losing our third match in a row to them.

My player of the week is any easy choice this week. Mystik won our only match of the week, but not only did she win, she dominated Belle. Both of these ladies were trying and using their main characters, but truth be told there was a little lag. I am proud of Katherine for how hard she worked in the offseason and winning the Combine did a lot for her confidence. If she continues to win Training Camp matches, the other girls better watch out when we get to the season. I’ve seen what happens when Katherine plays confident and it’s a good thing for Core fans worldwide. This week was hers and I don’t expect this to be her last player of the week award.