indeed. the Russians played cooly and with great confidence in their final match against Canada. very impressive - they were just clearly so much better, both individually and as a team. that's not to say the Canadians played badly, but they were in over their heads.

the Russians started as the Terrorists, which is by far the tougher position. they made the long-term strategic decision of intentionally not advancing to place the bomb, waiting out the Canadian team, preventing them from scoring kills and therefore from winning enough money to buy the good weapons for the next match. and then, in the third round, the Russians suddenly sprang into action, rushing past the Candian defenses. They almost scored - and they scored in the next round. And three more times after that.

As the Counter-terrorists, the Russians easily held the Canadians at bay, letting them plant the bomb only once. Final score: 4:8, 9:1

Fantastic play by the Russians, good game by the Canadians. It's exciting to see team strategy at work like this.

Yes! It was exciting to watch the match unfold. It was much more exciting to watch this than baseball, for example (probably because I've played a lot more Counter-Strike than baseball).

Here's some more team and nation analysis, with commentary on the nature of game-training in Russia, from Matt Huey at Shack E.S.

Good to hear the Canadians were representin'.

Dear Director,

My name is John Saraki and Mary are the children of
Late General Ramond Saraki the former Director of
military inteligence and special acting General
Manager of the Sieria Leone Diamond mining coperation(
SLDMC ). I am contacting you to seek your good
assistance to transfer and invest USD 28 million
belonging to my late father which is deposited in a
bank in Abidjan. This money is revenues from solid
minirals and dimonds sale which were under my fathers
possession before the civil war broke out. Following
the brake out of the war, almost all government
offices, coperations and parastatals were attacked and
vandalized. The SLDMC was loothed and burnt down to
ashes, and diamonds worth millions of dollars was
stolen by the rebel military forces who attacked my
fathers office.
Many top government officials and senior army
officers were assasinated and my father was a key
target because of his very sensitive military
possition and appointment in the SLDMC. Regreatably,
my father was captured and murdered along with half
brother in cool blood during a mid-night rebel
shoot-out when our official residence in freetown was
armbushed by Fordey Sanko the notorious rebel leader.
My mother sustainded very sever bullet injuries which
resulted to her untimelyand painful death in a private
hospital here in Ivory Coast. Now we are alone in a
totally strange country without parents, relatives or
any body to care for us at our tender ages.
Before our mother died, she told us that our father
deposited some money which he made from diamond sales
and contracts at this bank here in Ivory Coast and
that we should pray and find a trustworthy foreign
business partner who would help us to transfer and
invest this money in profitable business venture
overseas. She told us to do this quickly so that we
can leave Ivory Coast with our cousin brother-Arthur
who is here in the camp with us and, then settle down
abroad. She gave us all the bank documents to prove
the deposit and then told us that my father used my
name as the only son to deposit the money in the
bank.She told us that this is the reason why we came
to Ivory Coast. My mother died afterwards. May her
spirit rest in perfect peace.
I have gone to the bank to make inquires about this
money and I spoke with the director of International
remittance who assured me that the everything is ok
and promised to help me transfer this money to my
foreign partners bank account as soon as I provide my
partners foreign bank account for them. However, the
director is very concerned because of my age, I am 21
years and as such promised to help me and he would
like to speak with my partner to ensure that this
money is invested wisely in only profitable business
because of his personal interest and sympathy for me.
If you are will to assist us, please let us know
immediately and provide us with your following
information for bank here:
1. Your full names and address, tel/ fax/ mobile
2. Name of Bank and addres, Tel/fax/telex
3. Account name and numberand
4. swift code etc.
Please note that I can only offer you 25% of the
total money as compensation for your noble assistance
in accodiance with my mothers advise. I am interested
in any profitable commercial venture which you
consider very good in your country and you would also
get a school for me, my little sister and cousin so
that we can finish our colledge education.
I am hoping to hear your urgent response so that I
can stop look for another foreign partner.
Thank you and may God blss you and your dear family.

John And mary Saraki.

Ok, I'm from Russia and i can reveal you the secret of russian pro's training. Most of them are university students who skip their studies and spend like 12 hours a day in clubs. Our clubs are quite cheap - from $0.4 to $0.8 per hour. If they are real pros, they play for free - 'to entertain the visitors of the club'. I'd also tell ya those are not the toughest players. Most skillful CS players are like 12-13 years old children who have tons of free time and learn things quite fast - they play like 15/7 but since they are too young and their parents dont know they visit school only once a week they cant participate in any really large events. Thats my 5 cents.

Thank you!

fascinating - thank you, yamaneko. we were very impressed by the Russian entrants, but now i think we should go to Russia to watch the really good players - the kids - in action!

lol! that would be a mob of lil kids who - i really wonder how - hold mouses and stand up to press buttons. =P If you wish to come to Russia - always welcome ^__^

Thank you!

woah.. canada in the finals!? Way to go canada!! woo~!

Think simple. Learn different. Macinstruct.net

Think simple. Learn different. Macinstruct.net