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The VaN vs GBG Results

Well, it was an unfortunate turn of events.  GBG lost Risen, and had to replace him with another member.  Risen was one of their best players, whether he had good practice or not.  Anywho, here is a quick breakdown of the series.

Game 1 (5-Flag on Warlock):  We had not anticipated playing this particular gametype, and therefore had no strategy.  Our start was intended to slow down their players pushing on the sides of the map, but they pushed everyone over top mid and pulled our flag in the first 20 seconds.  GBG did not have map control though, and we quickly stopped them.  For the first couple minutes of the game, we were running around slaying trying to figure out how we were going to set up for objective.  Eventually Ryan set himself up on GBG’s flag spawn, which allowed us to predict their spawns correctly every time.  From here, we were able to rotate positions and flag running and cap 5 straight times to end the game.

Game 2 (TS on Countdown):  This game was decided on position and power weapons.  The fact that we never left our top mid positions and got every set of rockets is what gave us a very quick victory.  Steaktacular.

Game 3 (3-Flag on Sanctuary):  At this point, it was pretty obvious that we were much more prepared in every aspect, and this game type is our favorite.  The score ended 3-0, and the slaying stat ended at 37-5.  Top mid control was ours all game, and we had GBG on spawn trap all game.

The rematch is being organized as we speak, with a good amount of time for both squads to properly prepare this time.  Good games with GBG!

The VaN vs GBG Part 3

Two slow days have passed.  Wednesday night I played some social games with Kyle and Josh (Egg).  Later in the night Gabe joined us.  We tried to relax, have some fun, and build chemistry.  Thursday night I played MLG with Risen, who is a member of the GBG squad.  We did some work in the playlist, had some good teamshot.  He has not fully adapted to the game, and he is out of practice.  It shows in his DMR shot.  That would definitely be an advantage to us.  Unfortunately GBG will be playing with Cichlid Keeper as their fourth.  That guy is not only a beast in every Halo game, but he tends to pull host in most games.  The good news is that he hasn’t been gaming much lately.  We’ll see what happens on Saturday.  I hope to have a good practice tomorrow night, see how everything goes.

The VaN vs GBG Part 2

An unfortunate computer accident caused this next post to be late.  I now have to days to write about.  Here we go:

Monday:  The first night was interesting.  I set my roster for the series:  Renegade, Voodoo, The Dizz, and myself.  I ultimately went with Gabe because his high energy and aggressive play is exactly what we need to do well.  I hope there are no hard feelings with everyone else.  But I feel good about my roster.  Our first night of practice was brutal.  We continuously were matched up against full squads who have been playing together for a while.  Trying to develop team chemistry and strategies against top opponents does not work.  We were completely dominated in a couple games, and not much work was done.  Consider it a learning experience, but we were not on the same page during any point of the night, even when we won.  Individual slaying power got us through a couple games.  Teamwork and strategy was nowhere to be found.

Tuesday:  A much much better night.  We decided to try and stick with only a couple gametypes throughout the night and work out strategies and cohesion.  We are pretty confident on 3-Flag Sanctuary.  Most of the night we were able to control Ring 2, which is the top middle of the map.  From there, we were able to control the flow between our side and our opponents’ side, and the enemy had their backs against the wall much of the time.  These two nights have shown me our strengths and weaknesses thus far.  Our biggest strength is our slaying power.  We love to slay the enemy and we are good at it.  But this ultimately leads us to our biggest weaknesses: lack of teamwork and focus.  We can have amazing teamshot, but once we grab a good lead, we tend to stray away from the pack and try to slay as individuals.  This causes us to lose map control and then our opponents stage a comeback.  We also have a difficult time regrouping after falling apart, which helps our opponent in their comeback bids.  We need to stay focused from start to finish.  Finishing games right away will be our ultimate goal.

I am not sure when we will get everybody online again, but I know the next couple days I will work on my individual gameplay.  I am excited to see how we can grow as a squad.

The VaN vs GBG blog

On Saturday, May 14, my Halo: Reach team The VaN will be playing a 5 game series against one of our friendly rivals, Gaming by Grace.  Two of the players on their squad are Red Baron and Risen.  I have played both of them countless times in scrims, and its always amazing competition and good games.  I am greatly looking forward to this.

I thought it would be a cool idea to blog everyday this week after practice leading up to the scrim.  To look back and see if we actually accomplished what we set out to during the week would be extremely helpful for future scrims.  It could also be a good read for teammates to see my thought process in this game.

The roster for this particular scrim is not entirely decided upon yet.  I know that GBG will put together a strong squad.  Red Baron is running the show, and he knows how to get a team prepared for a good series, no matter who is on his squad.  In order to compete, my team needs to have good chemistry.  Knowing how each other play will make this a lot easier.  For that, I will need Kyle (Renegade) and Ryan (Voodoo) for sure.  I have logged in an enormous amount of game with these 2, including the months leading up to our 2010 MLG Chicago Combine run.  We have good chemistry, and are typically on the same page with our gameplay.

The only issue I have is whether I want Gabe (The Dizz) or Chris (Aneurysm) as my fourth.  There is a stark difference between Gabe and Chris.  Gabe is a slaying driven player who is extremely agressive, sometimes over aggressive.  Chris is a good support player who is somewhat passive at times.  Gabe has the better DMR between the two, but Chris has much more MLG experience and better knowledge of map positioning.  Chris also has been with The VaN for a long time, but Gabe has logged in a ton of games with Kyle and Ryan.  Tough decision right now, and I will announce it tomorrow.  Leaning towards Gabe right now.

We are choosing 2 gametypes for the series; 1 objective and 1 slayer.  After speaking with Kyle, we are leaning torwards Sanctuary 3-Flag for our objective game.  Our particular style of play of scrapping at the objective seems to work well for us on Sanctuary.  Our choice of slayer is up in the air.  Maps like Element, Countdown, and Sanctuary we can work well on.  Its gonna be a conversation we need to have this week.

Anywho, this week should be entertaining.  I am definitely excited to scrim GBG again.

So……..

…… is everyone happy now that Obama’s birth certificate has been made public?  No other president this century had to provide their birth certificate.  Ridiculous.