This past weekend saw the semi-finals and finals of the Xbox SA hosted Gears of War: Judgment tournament. Up for grabs for each winner was a prize hamper which included a 40″ LED 3D Samsung Smart TV, Samsung 3D Smart Sound Bar, 1 Year Nag Subscription and a PCFormat G3AR 12 month subscription.
The Lone Wolves were up first on Friday night. The last 24 players played on Rig for a place in the top nine final. A number of familiar names in the SA Gears community made it to the finals on Haven, which included three members of the clan FLS. The night had its own fair share of drama both in game, after game and for players who struggled to re-join the lobby after dropping from the game. Some complained about lag, while FLS_Destroyer was kicked from the lobby, and could not re-join. By all accounts, a small war of words erupted on Twitter and Xbox LIVE following the finals, souring what was meant to be an effort to grow competitive Gears of War in South Africa.
In the end the winner and the Gears of War: Judgment champion for 2013 was Shadow Vaatjie who also stood a chance to brab a podium finish in Saturday night’ s clan tournament.
The finalists of the Lone Wolf tournament:
| Time | Ref Gamertag | Gamers |
| 9:00pm | xbrefza1 | Bull3tsaint |
| 9:00pm | xbrefza1 | FLS Legacy |
| 9:00pm | xbrefza1 | Ryperior |
| 9:00pm | xbrefza1 | BULL3TST0RMZA |
| 9:00pm | xbrefza1 | Gaaty |
| 9:00pm | xbrefza1 | FLS Sovereign |
| 9:00pm | xbrefza1 | Supanov4 ZA |
| 9:00pm | xbrefza1 | FLS Destroyer |
| 9:00pm | xbrefza1 | Shadow Vaatjie |
On Saturday night, the clans got down to the shotgun shuffle. Well, a combination of shotgun shuffling and chainsaw carnage (I mean come on guys, it’s there for a reason…). The six teams which kicked off the night were CMR Flashback, High 5 Synergy (a wild card qualifier), Capital Punishment, FLS Legion, Enter Team Name and Judge Dredds (even though there can be only one… *flexes*).
The teams were whittled down to four for the next round with High 5 Synergy facing FLS Legion, and Enter Team Name playing CMR Flashback. In results that probably didn’t really surprise many, FLS and CMR made their way into the best of three final.
With some tensions already apparent between the two clans, the finals would always have an added edge to them. FLS Legion however proved to be the stronger over the three maps (whether mind games played any part in it is unknown) and took the 2013 Champions tag and the prizes, as well as making the team to beat over some upcoming months of Gears of War Judgment tournaments.
Our congratulations to the teams who won, the teams that played and Xbox SA and their band of assistants for making it all happen.
You can see the recorded matches from the tournament here.
