The GM's Thoughts on Week 2 of the Regular Season

Posted by: MarkDolven

Written by Mark Dolven, GM of the Carolina Core

EA Studios is finally over. On Monday, we entered week two as the second place with our only loss being to New York. Subconsciously we blamed CS for our lone loss, so no one was worried about the overall franchise. No one thought they could play that poorly again. We were wrong. Our cocky and confident attitudes got the better of us to start week two and I promise you it won’t happen again. The CS team lost both of their matches at the beginning of the week which cost us two more franchise matches. So heading into our second showdown with New York on Thursday, we had a 2-3 record and things were looking grim. The entire franchise played lights out once again against New York, but this time so did the Counter-Strike team. We went on to dominate the match and get our season back on track. Last night, we played well again as a franchise and defeated Chicago again to end our EA Studios run at 4-3. It could have been better, but it damn sure could have been worse.

The turnaround in Counter-Strike was not coincidental. They lost focus of how they got as good as they are and we had to get back to the basics. On the day before the 3D match, I called a 10 am practice for the CS team. We haven’t ever practiced that early and I don’t even know if they’ve been awake that early in a while. Regardless, we did that all week and it definitely paid off. The losses popped the guys’ egos and now we’re better than ever. If the formula is as simple as practice equals winning, then we’re going to be in great shape.

So basically our season so far hasn’t been spectacular, but we’ve shown how damn good we are. We’ve also lost some matches that thankfully didn’t ruin our season, but rather made us reassess some of our fundamentals. I’m actually glad we lost some of these matches. I might not be saying that if we start to lose again and narrowly miss the playoffs, but I feel pretty good about things right now and the losses made us stronger.

The one thing about our season that is starting to bug me however is that poor Anomaly keeps losing shootouts. He has four losses now and all four tie games that results in shootouts. He is playing great and deserves to win his games, but it’s just not happening. Last night against Eafra, he had so many quality shots on goal that were all probably 75% success rate shots, but none of them went in. Andrew is starting to get frustrated because he has yet to lose in regulation, but he’s in the bottom half of the standings none the less. I don’t know what to tell him because he’s playing great and things are bound to improve. I hope things turn around soon because he works so hard and deserves to be rewarded.


Dolven’s Top Five Performances From Week 2

#5 - Mystik Only Loses 5-3 To Vanessa
When the schedule was released, Mystik circled Monday on her calendar because that would be the first time she would be playing Vanessa. She really wants to prove herself as the second best female this year and a legitimate threat to Vanessa’s reign of dominance. The two ladies faced off and for the first time, Vanessa looked vulnerable. Mystik was able to control some of the rounds and keep them all very close. At one point, the score was 4-3 in favor of Vanessa, but the two players were both below 10% health with 15 seconds left. Kat had a slight health advantage and she should have let Vanessa make the mistake, but instead she was the one that got impatient. Realistically, she should have had that round and that would have made the match 4-4. Vanessa has never been at 4-4, so who knows what would have happened at that point. Regardless, Mystik played great in this matchup and it definitely set the stage for the next time these two ladies play. She got more rounds than she ever has on Vanessa and no longer is Vanessa unbeatable in her mentality. I can’t wait for their next match.


Mystik Is Still Looking Strong
#4 - General and Phantom Outrace 3D Again

The top two racing teams in 2008 are probably New York and Carolina. In their first race last week, the Core controlled the race from beginning to end and went on to win 5-2. On Thursday, they met again on the same track as last week Tsukuba and the result was the same. This solidified the Core’s position as the top racing team in the entire league. Another thing to note in this match was that it was another Phantom victory. He is not just the support of this team; he can flat out race also. The one negative of the race is that General lost the battle for third against ComebackDan, but Eric did his just earley (get it?) to spring Phantom free. A win is a win, but it could have easily been another 5-2, but General wasn’t able to shake Dan.


Two Races, Two Victories For Carolina Over New York
#3- Anomaly Score Three Goals Against Wizakor

Win once and it could be considered lucky, but win twice and that’s just the way it is. In his second game against Wizakor in 2008, Anomaly won again. This time it was a phenomenal match between the players as they both scored a plethora of goals. There is a slight dark cloud over the match because the power for the entire venue went out in the 80th minute of the FIFA match. The players were then relocated to their practice room setup where they played the final ten virtual minutes of the game. At the time of the power outage, the score was 3-2 in favor of Anomaly. I would be lying if I didn’t think the power outage was just another sign of Andrew’s back luck this season. I thought it would give Wizakor a chance to right the ship, but when they finished the match out, Andrew held on strongly to the 3-2 victory. The match itself was lights out though. Both players showed that when the game is played right, FIFA08 can be a high scoring affair. I hope the video of this match is released soon because there were some sick goals.


Anomaly Has Wizakor's Number This Year
#2- Mystik Upsets Phoenix

The battle for second place in the DOA Female is well underway and there are three main candidates. One of the three is Mystik and she went a long way in proving her case when she convincingly beat Phoenix of the Venom 5-3. Gen Fu is a tough matchup for Hayate, but Mystik was able to keep the pressure on Phoenix and control the match. This win goes a long way for Mystik not only in the standings, but also in her personal confidence. Because of this win, Mystik currently sits in second place and is right where she needs to be for the Core to be a strong team. Dead or Alive is so important in the CGS and when Mystik plays well, the Core is tough to beat. Her performance against Phoenix was incredible and would have been the top performance of the week if it weren’t for the CS team finally getting a little revenge.


#1 - Counter-Strike Answers Back With Blowout Win Over 3D

It’s about time the Counter-Strike picked their game up. Heading into the 3D match, the team was in disarray and was looking poor. There was even a little inner turmoil between the players for the first time in a very long time. As they say though, winning fixes everything and it did just that. The guys worked hard in the two days prior to the match and it paid off when they demoralized 3D. They won the first half on de_nuke as the offensive team by an incredible 7-2 score. They followed it up with a 7-2 on defense to win by a blowout score of 14-4. It will be interesting to see the two teams face off for the third time later in the year because both teams have a blowout win under their belt now. One of the most important signs from the 3D victory though, was that DAFF had his A-game. When the strat caller for the Core is on, they are nearly impossible to beat. He plays a very unique style of game and if he’s giving the other team hell, they usually don’t find an answer soon enough.


The Boys Fixed Their @#$%
Dolven’s Player of the Week For Week 2

The player of the week this week is an easy choice for me. Mystik is playing great and a huge reason for our success. She showed that Vanessa is human in a narrow 5-3 loss. She rebounded with an incredible victory over Phoenix. She lost a showdown to Coolsvilla only 5-4 and she finished her week with a 5-1 domination over Kasumi Chan. She has emerged as the second best DOA female in the league and because of that she is easily my player of the week. We need her to keep kicking some female booty, but I expect nothing else. She loves the stage and has played more matches than any other girl on the big stage. She’s ready and this might not be the last time she gets my award. I wonder where she will make me take her to dinner, but since she has a car, it doesn’t matter to me. Congrats Katherine on being my player of the week.


Mystik Is An Emerging Superstar
On Monday, we play Chicago in our first stage match. It’s been a while since we’ve been on the big stage with the bright lights and loud crowd. I cannot wait to be back. That stage is our home and this team is built for it. We survived EA without putting ourselves out of it and that’s all I can really ask for at this point. In this marathon that is the Region 1 season, making the playoffs in top form is all that matters. The seed helps, but doesn’t make or break you. We made the World Final last year from the North American #3 seed, so I’m not really worried about it.

Chicago is on the outside looking in right now and if they lose to us on Monday, their season is probably over. So the World Champions will have their backs against the wall and that could be a scary thing for us if we don’t step our game up. If we do win though, we’ll have some momentum and a strong 5-3 record. Realistically I don’t think we’ll lose again this season if we play OUR game, but as this season has already shown us, anything can happen. Regardless, stay tuned because the stage is where the real action is.


Go Core!~