There we were. The best Benelux CSGO event since the game was released, a chance for us to test the worth of our newly-crafted team. The Frag-o-Matic series had been a big enough challenge in the past, but with the huge turnout of teams, and very capable ones amongst them, this FoM proved to be the most competitive one so far.
Having arrived at the hall we were immediately greeted by familiar faces from our management and League of Legends team. Together we wandered to the hall and slowly settled ourselves at our seats, before returning to the usual tour of the LAN in search of familiar faces. We didn't have long though, seeing as the first CSGO matches were to start on the Friday evening of the LAN.
Slowly everyone in our team was arriving and we were getting ready for the first match of the group stage. We'd already known the group compositions up front, so knew which opponents to keep in mind. The major opponent in our group would be the German Eyes On U, but they weren't the first on the list. Our first game was a swift 16 - 0 swoop to victory, and gave us an easy sleep the first night in.
In the morning, we had to get ready early for the remainder of our group stage. All games up till the game versus the Germans went relatively smoothly, so we were definitely ready for the game. We entered the game prepared and managed to pull off a ridiculous 16 - 0 against a team that would turn out to prove worthy of more. We had definitely set the mood for our team and the rest of the CSGO matches.
After wrapping up the group stage finishing first in our group, we entered the upper bracket against DRGN.Naturals. We decided since the bracket was where we would really be testing our worth, we had to go into each game prepared as best as possible. Making sure to flatten out any hiccups in our plays before the game started and going over them in person. It definitely helped improve the structure of our team play.
Whilst we were kicking off the CSGO event smoothly, our LoL team was also standing strong. Most of the time when we weren't playing CSGO, we'd be watching the LoL team. #support.
Anyways, we went into our first upper bracket match strong and locked it down 16 - 8. The next rounds would be bo3 instead of bo1, and our first enemy was RUZ3-Gaming, some of which were old teammates of Joey's. Another lockdown, wrapping it up 16 - 7 and 16 - 11. Next up was the mainly-French InetGamer. It seemed not all of them were very well known amongst the French scene, but in our games they definitely proved noteworthy. We ended up losing against them 2 - 1, and were knocked down to the lower bracket at the end of the day. The next round would only be the next morning, against fellow Benelux team Granted, but before that Victor had to make sure everybody congratulated him on his birthday.
We all got a couple of hours of sleep before getting up to prepare for the next game against Granted. Going in strong we finished the match 16 - 5 on de inferno, another good start to the final day of the LAN. The next round would be against Brussels Guardians, the team that had won the previous Frag-o-Matic. A very strong opponent to face, and a win would guarantee us a place amongst the top 3.
Going into this match we knew what we had to accomplish, and we managed to hold true to our goal. We stood strong and ended the match 16 - 12 against last FoM's winners. Next up was InetGamer, the team that had knocked us down to the lower bracket in the first place. It appeared they were not strong enough against the only other German team, Druckwelle. Again we played against the French team on de inferno, and again they proved to be the better team on that map, which meant the end of our FoM journey.
Nonetheless, we had attained our minimum goal, a place in the top 3. Especially at a LAN with as many capable teams as this, it was a nice way to end the event. With our eyes set on more, we are definitely coming back for Frag-o-Matic 17.0 to claim the first prize. cu off
