EuroCup wraps up, Overload takes home silver - 217 views
The second Grand Final of the ClanBase EuroCup XIX has just been finished, with
Afterlife taking home victory against 
Overload Gaming for the second time.
It has been a really interesting season for both teams, but Afterlife stand out the most as they have grown from an outsider to a definite Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory top team. The team started off with a different name,
MASCULINE MANS, in a qualifier match which put the team against a foe composed of countrymen, known as TurboApinat.
Naturally the qualifier was won by Afterlife, who took home both maps played. The Finnish team entered the groupstage together with Crossfire Challenge 5 winners
H2k Gaming as well as 
royalblood and TAG.ET. It was predicted the Finnish team would end second in their group, and they did, but not after playing a very decent match against H2k Gaming, in which a decider was needed to keep the teams apart.
Ending second in the group stage meant the team would have to face the number one team from another group, in this case Crossfire Challenge 6 winners
ButtonBashers. While Afterlife tried hard, they failed to make the necessary impact in their match versus ButtonBashers and dropped to the lower bracket. Things were looking quite down for the team at that stage, as it would take a tremendous amount of effort to proceed from that point on.
However Afterlife did not give up hope, and when they faced
Impact Gaming in the first round of the lower bracket the Finnish team did make quite an impact, beating their opponent, which were considered among the EuroCup favorites, in two straight maps. Afterlife were still in the game, perhaps more than ever now.
In the second round of the lower bracket, Afterlife faced their early groupstage foes,
H2k Gaming, who just got kicked out of the upper bracket by Overload. In a very entertaining match, the Finnish team proved once again they really deserved to have reached that point, taking home victory in the match after winning the deciding map.
The third round of the lower bracket was against another team which was pushed into the lower bracket in the early stages of the playoffs, and once again by Overload. The opponent for Afterlife was
Team YoYoTech, and once again a decider was needed to decide who would enter the lower bracket finals of the ClanBase EuroCup XIX, and once again the decider was taken home by the Finnish team.
Afterlife had done something which can only garner utmost respect. From a team playing in the qualifiers, to ending second in their group, to dropping down in the first round of the upper bracket to climbing up to the lower bracket finals. The Finnish team already took revenge on H2k Gaming which were the ones who beat them in the group stage, and in this match Afterlife got a chance to take revenge on another team: ButtonBashers, who were responsible for the Finnish team to drop to the lower bracket so early on in the competition.
Afterlife were not interested at all in giving away this chance of revenge, and took down ButtonBashers in two straight maps, resulting in a unique happening; two teams would face each other in the grand finals who had never played each other in any official competition.
The ClanBase EuroCup XIX was upon us and Afterlife had grown out from one of the teams expected to do well but not great, to become this years biggest surprise. While Overload had the option of losing in the first ground final match, as they came from the upper bracket, Afterlife did not have that option, and even if they did, they did not take it anyway. A victory on a straight two maps lead to Afterlife becoming one of the few teams to ever force a EuroCup winner bracket winner to play a second match.
At the beginning of the second grand final match it seemed like Overload had everything under control, almost fullholding on Bremen and then setting quite a good time on the attacking side. However Afterlife were not about to give it up, and gave Overload a run for their money on Goldrush and Adlernest.
Afterlife takes home well deserved gold, Overload will need to settle for less, but taking home silver is still quite an accomplishment.
Posted by: 
Sainted in category Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory at 28 June 2009 23:28
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