A Brief Glance at MPLD March

In a little under three weeks from now some of the best South African Counter-Strike (CS) teams will clash in the first big LAN tournament of the year, MPLD in Pretoria.

LAN Tournaments such as these are often looked at by the community as an accurate platform to base their mid-season rankings. The winning team will hold the number one spot until the next accurate ranking is released, such as the results from the Do Gaming league.

Unfortunately not all the top teams will be present, however there are enough teams taking part to gain a fair understanding as to who the teams to beat are.

The teams taking part are:

Team Plasma: trAumA, tiNyskapie, skirge, splurge, snipsnapsnoopy
Spectating Champions: CrAiGiSh, JoFlubber, Cranky, nod, qu1k_sh0t, Math1as
Saints Boys: JayJay, Domino, Leonne, Notion, M
Ominous Precision: m1ghty, slade, fox, graze, forester, jakmeister
Rampage Gamers: Slikker, freak, random, rhaynen, floorer
VintaGe: ACh3, Zeo, Golz, Shazzchk, Latency
Bravado Gaming: Cent, Detrony, Incin, Racno, VamoozE
c7e: Neut, Mut4nt, whaty, snake, warning, pointgirl
Maximum Precision: Spooki, ZiRaX, Nod, eXeCute, Retchet
501: boomy, mooncow, lag_beast, mataz, pacman
Pantheon: kustoM_, deviant, korupt, fOrce, Craan

Browsing over the teams and their respective line-ups it's clear who the favorites are, however there are a few teams who could definitely mix the results up with a little luck or hard work.

This will be the first real opportunity since early last year for a Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S) team to take on and beat Bravado Gaming.

It will be interesting to see which of the CS:S teams are given the opportunity to take on the living legends. Pantheon and Plasma have had the most experience playing against Bravado in the past which means they know the level of gameplay they need to deliver if they are to have any chance at beating Bravado.

Reigning MPLD champions, 501 (Calamity) have proven time over time that they are a force to be reckoned with at MPLD tournaments, often placing in a top three position. It will be fascinating to see how they compare to the larger variety of competition at this event.

Another team worth noting is Vintage, made up of players who previously played for many of the top teams, such as Pantheon, heAd and Eternal Conflict. If aim is anything to go by, Vintage might have a solid chance at victory.

A nice addition to the competitive community is some high ranking Call of Duty 4 (CoD4) players who have formed the team named “Spectating Champions”. Many eyes will be watching to see if they are able to adapt to CS in such a short time before the tournament.

If we had to take a guess at the top three teams taking part, they would be Plasma, Pantheon and Bravado. The top three mid-field teams would be 501, Vintage and c7e.

Tournament structure

Currently, the event will be run as a double elimination tournament. This means that each team has to lose a total of two matches in order to be knocked out. The structure is however dependant on the amount of teams which enter. If 16 or more teams enter, the tournament will change to single elimination.

The prizes up for grabs also depend on the number of teams who enter the tournament. Each team which enters the tournament contributes R250 to a combined pot of cash. With eleven teams entered, the pot is currently sitting on R2750, which will most likely be split between first and second place.

Registration details can be found in the previous MPLD March article. MPLD is taking place from 13 March at the Kiepersol Community Centre in Eldoreigne, Centurion. Things kick off at 9:00am.