“Bromance in the Theatre of Doom”

Bromance in the Theatre of Doom

That about sums up the finals of the first Ultiduo cup hosted by 16Bittf for South African Fortress. It is a combination of two thoughts I got from John “Agro” Irwin. He described this competition as “TF2CSA Bromance” on the KritzKast website. If you read all the lovely comments on the TF2CSA match thread, it really seems like, well, a whole lot of ‘bromance’ going on. The second part was his observation of the final map, koth_ultiduo_r_b7, he called it “the theatre of doom.”

I’ve asked some of the players to write about the competition itself, and one of the spectators was so inspired he sent in a piece about the first round of the finals. The matches itself therefore being covered by our community, indulge me as I direct your attention elsewhere.

This competition has seen some extraordinary moments that I would like to share with you.

• It was South African Fortress’ first Ultiduo competition. The response from a seemingly dead community has been so positive, that it seems it has raised itself from the dead 😉
• Hearing the familiar voice of Lazar “Comedian” Jovic from VanillaTV shoutcasting our ‘lil comp made my heart smile. His schedule is so busy, yet he finds the time to support the TF2 community in Dark Africa. You have our eternal thanks and admiration.
• We also got to hear another famous voice, John “Agro” Irwin from KritzKast. All I’m going to say is that I will pay good money to hear this man talk, even if it’s just him reading the newspaper to me. We are looking forward to a long standing friendship with all the people from KritzKast. They set a standard in all their work that makes a person proud to be a Team Fortress fanboy.
• We saw an entirely pub team progress to Round 3. Team Ultiduo 2 with  Jacques “¼” Schutte and “stiXz_”.  This was their very first TF2 competition and a special well done goes to them. Read more about their experience a bit later.
• Then, perhaps the most extraordinary moment of this whole comp. As I wrote the last comment on the match thread, smiling at all the bromance going around, it hit me. THERE HAS BEEN NO DRAMA. For this, I want to thank you all. The respect, light hearted banter and overall sense of fun made this a pleasure to be part of. I am looking forward to floggin this seemingly dead horse called South African Fortress till it drops. Then I will kick it and make it get up again.
• That brings me to the last special moment. This comp has basically been done entirely by two wimminz…yea, put that in your pipe and smoke it 😉

Take a look at the soon to be home of 16Bittf here, and remember, it ain’t over till the fat lady sings, we have a lot more TF2 coming your way soon.

Community Feedback

Team Ultiduo 2: ¼ and stiXz_

Entering the competition a few weeks back, ‘stixz’ and I were incredibly excited. We were counting down the days and practicing as much as possible. This being our first competition (and having some really good players in it), we were nervous but determined. First round had a couple of hiccups with alltalk, but it went smoothly for us. Second round was quite tough, and had a couple of hilarious situations because of Nucleus’ design. In the third round, we were completely beaten by ‘Alien’ and ‘Silencer’ and tensions ran high in our final match against ‘Synergy’. All in all, it was an amazing experience and I’m glad that we participated.

From my side (stiXz_), I couldn’t agree more with my awesome teammate, ¼. It was definitely an amazing experience, and all the more fun as it was competitive. As he said, the first match was quite easy, feeling a bit sorry for them at the end, but the 2nd match was by far the most fun out of the bunch, apart from being completely destroyed in the semi-finals by the OH NO!’s and the Synergy’s. It was really fun, and we both hope to see, and participate, in more comp’s with TF2CSA. Thanks for all the fun.

Jonte “K@mA” Da Silva on koth_badlands: finals map 1

Wasabi on Badlands: "There were moments where Synergy got it perfect." Lolita's observation on Synergy's game.

“In these screenshots we see Wasabi’s first rocket hitting Alien square on his feet. This bounches him straight up. He then shoots a second rocket but it’s the third well placed mid air that finished Alien off.” Lola

Round one of this gory affair began with team OH NO! dominating right off the bat showing why they are the favourites to win this competition. With some very aggressive play by Alien, which paid off immediately with him gibing team Synergy in a few rockets and going on to capture the point. Round two was very much a different game, with team Synergy regrouping somewhat. Unfortunately not enough to hold off more of Alien’s aggressive play and surrendering the point.  After initially losing the point team Synergy regrouped, built up an uber and pushed team OH NO! off the point with some inspired play by both Wasabi and Pacif1st  to take the point for the first time in the game.  Team OH NO! came back with some pressure by Alien forcing Pacif1st to use his uber before Silencer used his and destroying team Synergy’s defense. Round three was the most even of the three rounds with the point going back and forth between the two teams with some brilliant soldier play by Wasabi, playing with more aggression peppering Alien with rockets before ending him with a well placed shotgun round before hunting Silencer. Silencer, with some brilliant survival skills, held off this assault and escaped while team Synergy took the point.  Team OH NO! held off the point  to take the first map 3-0 thanks to some very good teamwork and aggressive play.

 Bradley “Silencer” Robinson on koth_ultiduo_r_b7: finals map 2

Alien causing havoc in the theatre of Doom. Agro commenting on how he saw this map.

“I’ve captured a moment here that in my opinion is one of Aliens strengths. His ability to project where his opponent will be and the skill he has to deliver a rocket right in that path is what enabled him to dominate throughout this competition.” Lola

The second map to be played in the finale was koth_ultiduo_r_b7, which was a late addition to the competitions map list. This fast paced death match styled map allowed for some intense action and full on attack game play, which was entertaining for both spectators and competitors. Although this map was unfamiliar to both teams, Synergy did have some prior game time during the preliminary rounds on this map, where as OH NO! did not. A battle of map knowledge and familiarity verse competitive experience was going to clash. After team OH NO! had won the first map, team Synergy had everything to play for and surely showed in there hunger to win performance. With many intense moments for both teams, which was being eagerly watched by spectators, after each capture of a control point team OH NO! came out on top over Synergy to grab the map win and the 16Bit TF “Frags & Affection” Ultiduo title.

Closing Thoughts

Firstly a special thanks to Xterminator and IS Gaming for their continued support in providing the servers we need and for their excellent service. I would also like to thank Lolita for her dedication to South African Fortress. This will be her second year of giving us competitions, and I’m still buffled as to her reasons why. I know it can’t be for money or fame, since TF2 SA has none of those to give her. It can’t be because we such a fantastic bunch of people either. I still get the shivers when I recall some of the drama we’ve had. Whatever her reasons, we are grateful, and we look forward to another year of competitions hosted by her. Keep an eye on the 16Bittf website for next months exciting competition.