In Epic Fashion, San Francisco defeats Carolina 23-20, OptX in Third Place

Wow....just wow. In probably the most intense CGS Franchise match of the season, San Francisco not only returns to .500, but is now in third place, half a game ahead of Carolina (4-5), after a 23-20 victory that, quite honestly, deserved its own day of analysis. After some close losses, San Francisco's DoA duo stepped up to take it home for the Optx, so let's get right into the action!


The first game in this rematch was Forza 2, pitting General E Live and Phantom versus San Fran's SACKAMONJARO and Miximup. The track was Maple Valley Short, and for probably the first time in a Forza match, the running order wasn't determined by a monstrous crash early in the race. Sack was able to get to first by taking advantage of some rubbing between the General and Miximup, with Phantom hot on his heels. Sack would end up taking a turn too wide, allowing Phantom to drive into first, with Mix in third and the General in fourth. Sack went for a last-ditch takeout of Core's veteran, and would succeed, but he couldn't recover fast enough, and the final running order became Phantom, Mix, and Sack, resulting in a 4-3 victory for Carolina.

The second game was Counter-Strike: Source, with the 2-7 Optx squad starting on the Counter-Terrorist side. The map was another strong one for San Francisco, Inferno, and San Francisco showed it early on. GRT was especially key to the early 7-2 lead the Optx enjoyed, as he scored 12 frags on Carolina. Switching sides, San Francisco would need just 3 more rounds to score their 3rd victory of the season. However, Carolina was able to do San Francisco one better, outscoring them 8-1, and coming back to win the CSS matchup 10-8. At this point, Carolina led 14-11 overall.

FIFA would feature stermy^ going for a victory versus Anomaly. This match was one of the better FIFA matches this season, as defense ruled the day. And for the first time, at the end of regulation play, neither player scored a goal. That's right, both players headed to the penalty kick shootout with a 0-0 score. After three chances for each team, Anomaly had one.....but stermy^ scored two, giving Optx the 2-1 overtime victory in FIFA. The franchise match score now stood 15-13, Carolina up by two.

The men of DoA Male stepped up next, as NinjaCW took on Offbeat Ninja in their Ninja Battle. Each used their main character, so on the map Gambler's Paradise, Ein took on Gen Fu. The first two rounds were very close, as Offbeat would grab the first, and NinjaCW would patiently work his way to victory in the second. NinjaCW would get a second round, and with both at low health in Round 4, he would get a lucky hit in by a stray car knocking out Offbeat, and giving him the 3-1 lead. Offbeat gave a most valiant effort, but was unable to complete a throw before the time ran out, and NinjaCW would clinch it one round later, giving the big 5-1 upset to San Francisco, as well as the overall franchise score 18-16, heading into the final match: Dead or Alive Female.

This season, besides a shocking upset, if the match was on the line and Vanessa was due up, it basically was a done deal for San Francisco. And before this match started, there was no reason to believe to the contrary. Vanessa played Mystik on the map Kyoto in Bloom, and in a surprise turn of events, it was a Hayate mirror match. Vanessa, however, seemed off her 'A' game early on, and Mystik won the first three rounds in convincing fashion. They would trade the next two rounds, and Vanessa and the Optx were pushed to the brink, down 4-1 in the game, and 20-19 overall. Then came Round 6, and Mystik had Vanessa to a mere sliver of health. But Vanessa was able to score two amazing counters to clutch the round. Mystik had another chance in Round 7, but Vanessa clutched that as well, and then proceeded to dominate Round 8, giving San Francisco the franchise victory. But there was still one round to play, and now Vanessa was doing it to protect her #1 standing, which she did in comeback fashion once again, defeating Mystik 5-4, and closing out the best match CGS has seen this season, 23-20 in favor of San Francisco.

San Francisco can now rest a bit easier, as they sit in third place in the CGS standings, one half game over Carolina. Their next battle will be with the LA compLexity LIVE on DirecTV channel 101 this Wednesday. 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, and GO OPTX!