This week is the third of five Training Camp weeks in preparation of CGS Region 1 Season 2. We've already seen the potential there for some runaway victories, as San Francisco has emerged relatively unscathed from a pair of amazing franchise wins over World Finals Runner-up Carolina, as well as Dallas. This week they take on Los Angeles, a team known for its Counter-Strike squad, as well as their newest pickup, Dead or Alive 4 Male Carl "Perfect Legend" White. How does Optx stack up? Let's find out!

Dead or Alive 4 Male:

NinjaCW vs. Perfect Legend

My first prediction is that this is going to be a Gen Fu mirror rematch. Even if it’s pre-season, when going up against someone like Perfect Legend, one cannot give any less than their best effort. In his last match against Carolina's Ryan “OffbeatNinja” Ward, Perfect Legend (as Hayate) shut out last season's Number One 5-0, while NinjaCW (as Bass) fought an epic match against Dallas' Manny "Master" Rodriguez, losing by a very close 5-4. During the CGS Region 1 Combine in Austin, NinjaCW was shut out by Perfect Legend 10-0 in two matches when PL used Gen Fu. I should think that now would be the time that players started to drop alternate characters in favor of their tried and trusted bruisers. And as much as I want to give the upset to NinjaCW, Perfect Legend was considered the best non-CGS DoA4 Male for a reason last year, so the skinny is this:

Perfect Legend > NinjaCW 5-3

Dead or Alive 4 Female:

Vanessa vs. belle

Had this match come perhaps 8 months earlier, most people would have predicted an easy shutout by Vanessa. Belle did, unfortunately, go 0 for Season 1, the antithesis to the unbeatable, unstoppable, and undefeated Vanessa, who has simply steamrolled the competition during the first two weeks of Training Camp play. In both her matches, after giving up the first round, Vanessa has come back to dominate both Kat “Mystik” Gunn of Carolina and Michelle “Phoenix” Pleet of Dallas. On the other side, changing up from Helena to Kokoro has done belle real good, as she has been taking it hard to her first two opponents, a win over Tanya “coolsvilla” Underwood of 3DNY, and a loss to Mystik that was closer than the 5-1 score would make it appear. Her defense and countering has improved by leaps and bounds, but it unfortunately won’t be enough to unseat the Queen of DoA. It won’t be a massacre, and it won’t even be a shutout, but rebound predicts:

Vanessa > belle 5-2

FIFA 08:

stermy^ vs. KreeganBG

Kreegan has been doing quite well for himself since Season 1. He’s a WCG cyberathlete with strong finishes at the Pan-American Games, the USA Finals, and the World Finals in Seattle. He was ranked 2nd in CGS Region 1 for FIFA, just behind 3DNY's Matt “Wizakor” Wood. During the Training Camp, he dominated the defending FIFA World Champion 4-0, then followed with another shutout, this one a 2-0 victory over Carolina's Andrew “anomaly” Brock. Stermy, meanwhile, has also shut out anomaly by a score of 1-0, and is continuing to display his continuing prowess in FIFA. It's going to be a very close match, but this time I'm going to give stermy^ the upset. Final Score:

stermy^ > KreeganBG 2-1

CSS:

Optx.CSS vs. coL.CSS

San Francisco is currently riding a nice 2-game winning streak, dominating Carolina 15-3 and putting down the Dallas Venom 11-7. They've been running on all cylinders, and have looked more than ready to face down their latest challenge in LA, who basically won every Source tournament there was to win in 2007. LA's Source team has also had a successful Training Camp to date. Against 3DNY, they had a good Terrorist side on Inferno, on the way to a 10-4 victory, and against Carolina they played a good CT side to get a 11-7 victory. It’s still the same starting five Counter-Strike fans know and (maybe) love: Rambo, zet, Warden, Storm, and fRoD. This is a rematch of Newegg Lanfest 2k7, where San Francisco knocked LA to the Lower Bracket, only to see them storm back to take the title. I feel like San Francisco is going to be more prepared for this match, especially riding on a couple of big wins, so final score for this match:

Optx.CSS > coL.CSS 11-7

Forza 2:

SACKAMONJARO/Miximup vs. chavisan/GTO

It’s a fresh new look for Optx racing, as Sack (too lazy to write it) and Miximup take on the veterans chavisan and GTO. The Optx Forza duo has been in some tight races this season, the margin victory being a solitary point. Against Carolina, they couldn’t catch Joe “Phantom” Tackett and had to settle for a 4-3 squeaker, but against Dallas, Miximup was able to outrace Cha0s and 1st Overall Pick Muffinman, to give Optx the slim 4-3 victory. On the other side, LA’s gruesome twosome have had an equally wild ride, losing a tough, nasty race to 3DNY 4-3. In week 2 against Carolina, an early crash left chavisan out of the running, but GTO was able to capitalize and give LA the 4-3 victory. With the distinction that Forza 2 is considered more of a “driving simulator” than a “racing game,” the last couple of weeks have seen a real change in the style of driving as opposed to the PGR3 days. This is a close one to call, but if either team can establish position early, or use teamwork to give one of them a huge lead from the get-go, then that's the game right there. Rebound predicts another close one:

Optx.Forza > coL. Forza 4-3

Add it all up and...

This would give San Francisco a 25-18 franchise victory over LA. Stay tuned to #optx on the Gamesurge IRC network, as well as the official San Francisco Optx site, and the Optx groups on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, the Steam Community, and Youtube, for the latest in Optx news, features, and scores! Happy fragging!