Countdown to CPL London

It would come as no surprise to me, if some people had detected a self-congratulatory note in my last report. I thought we deserved to give ourselves a pat on the back for the way our World in Conflict line-up had evolved. That assessment was suddenly looking a little hasty this month, however, when Apollo informed us that he would immediately stop playing World in Conflict.

With only three weeks to go before the London leg of the CPL would bring a prize of $20,000 within our grasp, this news was nothing short of disastrous. We had been pulling in excellent results and looked on course for a top two finish, at least. Given such circumstances, I have to admit that I was dumbstruck by the decision and particularly frustrated by the timing. Only a few weeks earlier, Zaccubus had left the team but that change had been reasonably well planned and was mutually beneficial. Now I couldn't help feeling our CPL aspirations were spiralling away from us.

A week may be a long time in politics but two months is an eternity in e-sports.

Fate has been kind to us, however, and sent us salvation in the surprising form of two Swedes! To replace Zaccubus and Apollo, we have brought in Energetic and Cleric. Both of them are new to the competitive gaming scene but they certainly possess the required skills. Almost immediately, they settled into the team and helped our results to quickly surpass those achieved by our old line-up!

So our new line-up is ready, just in time. As I write this, only two days remain until CPL London. I will shortly leave to rendezvous with the rest of the team in the city. We intend to spend one day boot-camping, fine-tuning our strategies and getting comfortable with the venue; on the 30th we go into battle!

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Team Dignitas Darwinism

Over recent months I have touched upon various themes that I hope have shed some light on the allure of professional gaming, as well as the sacrifices required. Now is an appropriate time to discuss an issue that effects most teams, especially those challenging for top honours… the line-up!

When Dignitas first formed a World in Conflict team back in April, for the CPL World Tour in Italy, the game was so new (Alpha build) that our objective was to simply fill the ranks with professional gamers. We had hardly any experience of WiC, and some of us had never met before, but our combined experience ensured that we walked away with the win.

Since then, with more tournament success, web articles and videos under our belt, the composition of our team has been evolving subtly all the time. After both CPL World Tour stops in Sweden and America the decision was made to bring in new blood, as some members of the original line-up would be unable to commit to the team's long-term objectives.

It takes time to integrate new players, especially into an already very successful side, so a period of rebuilding followed. Unusually, Pureball and Apollo were both given the opportunity to join the WiC squad without having had previous game experience. Their excellent track records and personalities were enough to give us the confidence that they would fit into the team quickly.

Such line-up changes can be a ‘sink or swim' moment. The evolution of our team has been difficult but well managed overall. With a number of our ‘younger' rival teams currently thinking about, or undergoing a similar process, it will be interesting to see how effectively they respond to the challenge.

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Team Dignitas sweeps the board

i32 has drawn to a close, and after a magnificent effort Team Dignitas secured over £8000 in prize money across seven different events. And yes, we're not ashamed to admit, one of those included the pub quiz!

The World in Conflict team, or rather teams, were at the forefront of this success. Our event was a 4 v 4 format and we decided weeks ago to split our main line-up and mix in a couple of ‘raw recruits' for the weekend, all in a bid to secure 1st and 2nd.

All went to plan and the final pitted Dignitas A (Apollo, Pureball, Flickstrr, Dogbert) against Dignitas B (Moyes, Lowlife, Odee, Zaccubus). We had already agreed to divvy up the prize money evenly, but with bragging rights and pride on the line, neither side wanted to trudge off losers! After a good contest, fortune ultimately favoured Dignitas B. We even managed to find just enough time to entertain the crowd with a carpet bomb (game 1) and a nuclear missile (game 2).

Unfortunately the final coincided with the first Intel InCup, and we missed the opportunity to compete. Needless to say we'll be entering next week and looking to qualify for the grand final as quickly as possible.

As for the rest of i32, with the WiC trophy secured, I went about enjoying myself. This entailed plenty of celebratory drinks, a massage from some gorgeous XFX girls, a Dignitas poker bracelet (ok, no bracelet, just bragging rights!), ‘schooling' World Cyber Games gold medallist Apollo in the art of Starcraft, and to top the event off, I even won a water-cooling kit as a raffle prize!

Roll on i33!

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