OK, so it shouldn’t really be called the ‘Trenchtown’ LAN but that’s how it was originally announced. It’s actually the MWEB GameZone Mcave LAN, but names aren’t that important are they? It’s all about the activity itself surely?
The Good
Group Phase
13 teams came ready to battle at the Mcave. The 2-player teams were split into four groups where combat was set for a best of three (SnD, HP and SnD). The top two teams per group proceeded to the main playoffs while the remaining faced of in a single elimination ‘Shield’ Cup.
The majority of matches went the way of the victor 2-0 but 50/50 Esports got themselves involved in two nailbiters that eventually went the way of their opponents 2-1 after an 11-round SnD.
By the time the group phase had settled, the eight teams that proceeded to the cup playoffs were:
- 50/50 Red
- Astra Youth
- Energy
- LuNa Gaming
- OG Duo
- Soutie en die Boer
- Ventus
- Ventus Blue
The teams that headed to the ‘Shield’ playoffs were:
- Awaken Militia
- Insidious
- Nature valley granola bars
- team Nova
- Popeyes
Cup Playoffs
The best of three matches continued into the single elimination bracket which saw the first round of matches relatively easily negotiated by the winning teams.
With the semifinals, the matches got closer than ever on the day. Astra Youth and Energy won their respective matches (against Ventus and Soutie en die Boer) 2-1, and it was generally not one sided.
The finals saw old foes Astra and Energy face off in yet another epic match. On the day it was the Energy duo of Mikail Latib and Kyle Nortje that held the edge and took the final 2-1 to secure the champions title.
Placings:
- Energy
- Astra Youth
- Soutie en die Boer
- Ventus
Tournament bracket can be viewed here.
Shield Playoffs
The five teams who failed to make top two in their respective group got the chance to continue their day with the single elimination ‘Shield’ tournament. In the end, it was the team of Popeyes (and their spinach we assume) that overcame Nature valley granola bars 2-1 in the final.
The Shield playoff bracket can be found here.
The Bad and the Ugly
While well over 16 teams had originally signed up for the event, three of the original teams did not actually grace us with their attendance. This has prompted a rethink on how we handle registrations in the future, as well as a potential blacklisting of teams or players. To simply not show up to an event that you have secured a spot for is disrespectful to everyone involved – attending players, organisers, spectators and sponsors. It is something that can no longer be tolerated if the community expects things to grow.
In fact, we feel it is time to name and shame these players who failed to attend after taking spots from other teams who were on the waiting list and could have happily attended had they been notified of spots being made available:
- TQ: Jared Levy | Ben Edelberg
- sTaTiiCs: Quintin Geyer | Jaco Meyer
- BattleField: Cameron Barthus | Tatenda Tunduwani
Photos from the event will be available via our Facebook Page as soon as the internet minions allow us to upload them.
We would like to extend our thanks to all the players and spectators for their support, as well as the crew on the floor for making sure everything ticked over. A massive thanks to MWEB GameZone for letting us make use of the Mcave for the tournament. A thanks to our sponsors and partners:
Our headsets are supplied by:
Our networking solution is supplied by:
Our PCs for streaming is supplied by:
Our retail partner is:
