Event


Event:	Results	Prizes
MLG's 50k3 -write-up by DragoNSpeaR	FFA: 5th 2v2: 5th 4v4: 4th	$800 cash

It's Ironic that PS actually formed because of the Halo 50k series and that PS has never actually gone to one of them. It all Started in the summer of 2002 when the Halo 50k website first launched. Now this was back way before AGP1 and just after the igames Halo National Championship. This would be the very first national halo team tournament. PS consisted of myself, corrosion, and overkill. I was the only one on the team with an x-box and we basically spent every other weekend playing halo bg ctf on gamespy. We heard about a halo team tournament at my college, Michigan State University. The tournament was being hosted by Clockwork. Anyway, we were pretty much undefeated at Blood Gulch CTF 3 vs. whatever so we decided to bring our team of 3 to the 4v4 tournament. Long story short, PS lost to Clockwork's team 3vs4 and thus started a rivalry between us. So after school was over and I ran by the 50k site it popped into my mind that if we teamed up with Clockwork we would have an unstoppable 50k winning team. One night during summer 2002 I sold out to the devil and teamed up with Clockwork and Luk. Halo 50k1 wound up getting pushed back months and months and eventually because of other things going on PS wasn't able to attend until now.

Fast forward two years later and 3 different PS rosters and we come to MLG hosted Halo50k3. PS had picked up Tupac and Slim right before MLG Chicago. For Halo 50k3 Tupac and Slim would make their second appearance and our 4th would be Sergio. Tupac and Slim's strength was Team Slayer. They were great slayers but weren't really great at the other team strategy oriented settings. The PS roster at MLG Chicago was brand new and we had never played together before. Surprisingly myself, Pac, Slim, and Scythe found a rhythm together and pulled out a 4th place finish. This time around we were going to invest more time practicing as a team. We lanned with team FFA for about week straight. From when we started to the end I saw PS transform from a mediocre team to an absolute great team at oddball, hill, and ctf. Pac and Slim picked up my ball, hill, and ctf strategies so quickly it was amazing. The team was playing better than any PS roster we've ever had. Through the week long LAN with FFA practice we basically split the games 50/50. Not to mention Pac and Slim were winning a high percentage of the ffas. I went into halo50k3 with extremely high expectation of this ps team.

FFA
Sergio had placed in the top 16 at his last two national tournaments. Slim was one the of the best ffa players at practice lans but seemed to come up short at tournaments. Given these facts I was a bit shocked when I discovered both of them had been eliminated in the 2nd round of the ffa. Only placing in the top 128. Our focus in practice and our focus in tournaments has always been in the 4v4 team events. With the added pressure of seeing two of my teammates being eliminated so early I fought my way through the 8 man ffa. I made it to the 5th round where I met up with walshy, ogre1, and a few other top ffa players. My pistol just wasn't on and I got eliminated finishing in the top 32. Like I mentioned before Pac was one of the best ffa players I've played with. Of the 4 or 5 national tournaments he's played in he's never really placed near his ffa skill level. I'm not sure if it was nerves or what. Finally at halo50k3 Pac put his nerves behind him and he placed top 8 in the ffa. Even with Pac's great performance and My decent performance in the FFA we were still in bad shape for a top seed. Next was the 2v2 that would determine our final seed.
2v2
Like I mentioned PS's main focus was 4v4. It appeared this had already hurt is in the FFA portion of the tournament and it cost us again in the 2v2. Pac and Em had been 2v2 partners for a long time but hadn't played together in a while. This seemed to cost them as they lost to Ryu and Eleven placing top 16. Dragon and Sergio were the other set of 2v2 partners. They hadn't actually played a game of 2v2 together ever. This didn't seem to hurt them as they played well together and made it through 5 rounds of 2v2 play. They finished 5th losing to Walshy and Gintron in a rough game of chill out ts.

4v4

4v4 Bracket

After PS's disappointing performance in the ffa and the 2v2 we were stuck with the 8th seed. This was the lowest seed PS had ever had since AGP1. PS knew it was going to have a long uphill battle facing them in the 4v4 because of their low seed.

We had a first round bye and in the 2nd round we were to face team Fear. It was late Saturday night and the team was extremely tired. Just like in Chicago we lost 1 cap blood gulch ctf to them. Everyone knows how much newbs rape at BG ctf and how bad we are at it nowadays. After that one game loss we won the next three and won the series 3-1. That was the end of the 4v4 games we needed to play Saturday night.

Next was the side State vs. State tournament. I went to bed and didn't play in it but Team Michigan was represented with mostly current and ex PS members. Michigan destroyed the competition beating ogre led Ohio and Florida to be crowned the BEST HALO STATE in the country.

VS SA

Our next match was vs. SA. I have to give SA props for being the team that taught me how to play a great game of oddball way back summer 2003 at the Playerz Choice tournament.

PS got a few hours of sleep the night before and took the game very seriously. We beat SA three games to zero and moved on to the next round.

VS STK

Because of our low seed we had to face STK early on in the winners bracket. Going into the match vs. stk we were confident. I knew this PS squad was on of the best we've ever had and we could beak stk if we played our game.

WR4G1-CTF Pro-Longest
WR4G2-Team Slayer-Derelict
WR4G3-Team King-Battle Creek
WR4G4-CTF Pro-Hang ‘Em High
WR4G5-Team Slayer-Rat Race

game 1 / stk's host / CTF Pro Longest

This was one of PS's weakest settings. We hadn't spent any time to practice this setting and it showed. I made the mistake of running up to my room. When I came back down everyone was on the main stage warming up for the match. I didn't get a warm up in before the game started. I think PS really just needed this first game to shake the nerves off. This was our first game on stage one and we were playing vs. STK. We played really messy and never really had a shot to win the game. We lost it three caps to zero.

game 2 / our host / Team Slayer Derelict

After the first game I was warmed up and PS had the nerves shaken off. We started off spawning down low on Derelict. We all charged up top and by winning a few key battles we were able to take top control. PS was just dominating for the first few minutes. We managed a 10+ kill lead and still had top control. One key mental error we had was we were only holding one top side. By only holding the Rocket side we were an easy nade target and we gave the other team an opportunity to spawn up top on the opposite side. STK did a great job focusing their nades at us and because we were only clustered on one side we eventually weren't able to protect the top very well. STK naded down the cammo and with this they were able to retake the top. We still had a decent lead but now that STK held the top they managed a great comeback. STK won the game 50 to 45.

game 3 / stk's host / Team King Battle Creek

After losing an extremely tough game vs. stk we were ready to win one. In the previous games we had put ourselves in the position to win but had just barley come up short because one poor strategy lapse. Team PS was really solid on Team King and had a great strat that everyone on the team understood and fallowed. PS not only out strategized STK in this game but they outslayed STK. PS dominated nearly every hill and every 1v1 battle. PS wasn't going to lose this game. We won the game 5:00 to 3:30.

game 4 / our host / stk with blue base on hangem ctf

This was your typical hangem ctf game from red base. The entire 15 minute game was a struggle from red base. We did our best to keep STK from capping and getting all of the powerups. I'm not sure why but we forgot one of our main red base strategies of nadeing away the rocket launcher. Because of this and the sheer advantage of having blue base STK won the game 2 caps to 0.

stk with red base on hangem ctf

The tables were turned when PS had the good base. STK was smart enough to nade away the rockets every time they spawned. This slowed us down a bit but with 5 minutes left in the game PS was up 1 cap to 0. At this point we could feel a win coming. Three minutes left in the game we finally got the cammo and rocket combo that we needed for another cap. Pac, Dragon, and Sergio all got key kills to keep STK spawning at their base while slim picked up the top power up. At this point Dragon was at blue pistols, Pac was sniping from third level blue, and Sergio was on the ground ready to get the flag toss. Slim had overshield, cammo, and rockets on top of red base. The rest of the team continued spawn raping while Slim grabbed the flag. STK had snuck a guy around by the open ramp who started shooting at slim. Pac promptly killed this last alive STK member. But in slims panic he messed up the flag toss and the flag didn't fall down. On top of that he fell off the base all the way to the ground. With this almost guaranteed capture blown the only thing we could do is try again. Slim made his way back up the base and we continued to spawn rape. Slim got all the way to the top again but a spawned got in his face and slim rocketed him. At this point there was only about a minute left in the game. The only thing we could do is go all out and try to get one last desperate capture. Our last desperate attack failed and we the game 1-0 but lost the overall cap total 2-1. Losing to stk like this was truly heartbreaking. When you play a great game one when one single mess up costs you the game its really hard to forget the loss and move on.

We lost to STK 3 games to 1

vs. NT, VGA, PR

Now ps was playing in the loser's bracket. We won the next three rounds fairly easily losing one game to NT and one game to PR.

Our loss to NT was the craziest game I've ever played in. With the recent STK loss hanging over our head Sergio and Slim must have been on crack during our NT match. The game type was Team Slayer at chill out.

Here is a rundown of how the game started from my eyes:

Game starts of good with slim getting rockets. I come out of the ffa spot into the rocket room. Slim turns and points blanks me with a rocket. Betraying me and dieing. I spawn and slim back jacks me betraying me again. I spawn again and walk into the rocket room and this time Sergio has the rl. Someone starts shooting at Sergio so Sergio turns and rockets me betraying me the third time and also dieing. I spawn again and teleport to the needles and Sergio backjacks me and betrays me for the 4th time.

So in the first 4-5 minutes of the game I get betrayed 4 times not to mention my teammates suicide twice and give up two rockets during that period. Slim is laughing the entire time. So we wind up barely losing that game to NT 50 47. The next series vs. NT that was close would be battle creek ctf. Yet again PS is playing like a bunch of newbs and we lose 2 caps to 3. The first thing you want to do after losing a game you know you should have one is to start the next game up right away and win. From extensive tournament history I knew this wasn't the way to go. I took my team outside for in order to talk it over. Basically just figuring out what we're doing wrong, focusing everyone back on our main strat, and getting everyone back on track. Like magic we walked back into the tournament and won the game three caps to zero in a short five minute game.

So after winning three more rounds we were playing team FFA for a spot in the finals of the Losers bracket. FFA had just been swept 3 games to 0 vs. STK. From our better performance vs. STK and our week long lan with FFA we felt we had a good chance to win the series.

VS FFA

LR8G1-CTF Pro-Damnation
LR8G2-Team Slayer-Sidewinder-Sniping Weapon Set
LR8G3-Team Ball-Longest
LR8G4-CTF Pro-Wizard-Pistols Weapon Set
LR8G5-Team Slayer-Hang ‘Em High

game 1 / FFA's host / CTF Pro Dammy

Game one PS had the bottom base. PS was playing a great game for 14 minutes. We were tied 1 to 1 with only one minute to go. We had accomplished our goal of keeping FFA from holding down control of red room and holding complete cammo control. With one minute to go we were so close to ending the game 1 to 1. This is were we made our first mistake. Instead of continuing our aggressive play we all held back and tried to hold our base for he last minute. This plan backfired when FFA took over red room and took over all of the powerups. With this spawn rape control FFA pulled out two fast caps and won the series 3 to 1.

The next game PS had the top base. We played even better this game. We had great powerup map control and were spawn raping ffa with ease. We lost two easy caps when FFA had been able to sneak a guy in the port and ambush our flag carrier. Even with this being said we were still winning two caps to 0. With one minute left we went all out for a last cap attempt. We came close but FFA had players positioned at our base. Dragon dropped down tried to avoid the enemy but the flag stayed up top. Eminem was dropped by a guy through the port and in seconds our base was overrun and the game ending with a win 2 caps to 0.

Because the total flag count was tied 3 to 3 we had to play a tiebreaker of longest ctf. The game was rather short. Dragon was milliseconds from returning the flag when a FFA member picked it up and was swarmed by the rest of the team. Sergio joined the Luk club with 0 kills in a ctf game :) and we lost longest ctf 1 cap to 0.

game 2 / PS's host / Team Slayer Sidewinder Snipers

This was one of PS's best settings and one of my personal best settings. The entire game was very close. The game was tied 2-3 times but PS usually held a few kill lead the entire game. The turning point of the game was when PS had spawned all separated over the map. FFA was holding down the powerup caves and with the fear of letting FFA tripple powerups PS moved into try and take the caves back. Dragon managed to sneak into the caves and three shot snipe gintron who had a full ovi. The rest of the team hurried into the caves and were able to hold it the rest of the game. With the score at 49 to 46 PS tripled on a cammo and went out hunting for the last kill. Sergio wandered outside and found zyos hiding behind a rock. Apparently all of FFA planned on hiding out for the rest of the game. Sergio hit him twice with a pistol when zyos jerked and snipe headshotted him. With the score at 49 to 47 we saw gintron wandering into the powerup caves and Dragon killed him for the last kill. Dragon led the team with 17 kills and a positive ration. Pac also had a positive ratio. PS won 50 to 47.

game 3/ FFA's host/ Team Ball Longest

The game started out great. This was one of the worst settings to play in the mind of PS and FFA. It really was a lame nade fest setting. But even so the game was going back and forth. The game was tied 2:40 to 2:40 when Team PS came unraveled. Just as dragon was about to pick up and overshield Slim tossed a nade at the powerup which betrayed him. Moments later Pac was about to grab the ovi and the same thing happened. At this point Pac was just plane pissed and the team was pissed and we basically stopped working together. Teamwork broke down and we quickly fell behind and lost 5:00 to 3:40.

game 4/ Our Host/ CTF Wizard

Still reeling from our loss we didn't play the last game very well. We managed the first cap and led 1 to 0 for the first 5 minute of the game. After that we lost map control and never recovered it. We played like a team that had already accepted our fate and wound up losing 5 caps to 1.

We finished up in 4th place winning $800. This was the minimum we were shooting for and were fairly disappointed with this result considering we only lost to the 1st place and 2nd place team and how close we had come to beating one of them. Ultimately the main problem with our team was not playing up to our potential. Some members of the team just didn't play like they usually play day in day out in practice lan games. A few mental mess ups stood btwn 4th and top 2. Hopefully next time around we can play at the tournament just as good if not better than we do in practice. Most true championship teams step up into another zone of play for tournaments rather than playing worse than they do in practice games.