Now this was an exciting match! A five mapper where some maps were incredibly close, and I personally couldn't be any happier than sitting on the sidelines watching the game with my fellow admins ohyeah and __d34d.

Let's take it from the beginning, it all started with the standard mapchoosing and serverpicking process. Somehow we all ended up playing on the harva server located in Sweden, allthough originally the Estonians preferred the cool.hot server. Not really sure how they ended up agreeing playing there as I was a bit in and out at the time due to some unfinished business with my laundry. Finland picked q2dm7 and q2dm1, while Estonia decided to go for q2dm1 and q2dm6. Looking on the lineups of both teams, it was apparent that the Estonians had gathered about the best team they could gather, while the Fins had put together a bunch of real life friends for the game. Xircuit making his big return to the NDML for this season, and replacing the happy fragger Provi who is currently residing in the Finnish army. The lineup for all the maps were as following:

Finland: Damiah, Dimmo, Foen and Xircuit
Estonia: Shugg, Hirzu, 4ever and Wreck

Ok, after chasing away all the deadweight from the server, meaning the players who hadn't anything to do with either of the teams or being admins of NDML, the first map was about to begin. Before starting, just let me thank ohyeah for great support the whole games through, allthough I think he was very enthustiatic about the whole game from the get go, so I didn't need using force to keep him by my side. And of course to __d34d for providing the #NDML channel with the scorebot (after we successfully kickbanned a wannabe scorebot from the same channel) as well as giving me the adminpass for the server if I happened to need it. Which of course I never did cause Foen seemed to run the server pretty much singlehandedly.

First map - q2dm7 (FI choice):



For this map I chose to follow Damiah, mostly cause I was pretty confident he would be a good pov to follow on this map as he has the role of running the ssg and hyper. Besides Finland has quite a reputation on q2dm7, so I thought they had the best chances winning this one. It started out as expected, Finland immediately gathered at RA. Think 3-4 fi players were continously staying near that red armor room the first minute. While I noticed that the Estonians were holding the RL as well as sticking to the hyper area for a bit. Finland seemed to have Foen and Xircuit glued to the RA spot, while Dimmo kept fighting over rl. When it comes to the Estonians I can't say for sure where each were positioned, but Hirzu was probably at RL, while Shugg certainly were all over the damn map. Damiah as usual with a very confident ssg and hyper aim did do a good job on the map, but he was having a hard time running the weapons as he wanted, rarely did he manage to pick up both ssg and hyper and get out with his health in order.

([NDML]OhYeah): xircuit is totally inactive in q2 i think
([NDML]OhYeah): and owning like shit
([NDML]d34d): who wouldnt own his 100+ armor and ssg

Xircuit did hold RA for a long time, and seemed to be doing good on the scoreboard, despite his inactivity he seemed to be holding his ground against aggressive Estonians. Dimmo struggled at the beginning, suffering from a low score, but eventually got into the game. Allthough the Fins started out strong, the Estonians didn't let them get away with too big a lead, and actually took over RA for shorter periods forcing Xircuit and Foen to regroup elswhere on the map. From then on Xircuit had a harder time getting frags, but still had a nice game coming from inactivity. As always, loads of blaster attacks, low ammo and low health battles, as well as loads of teamkills. It was seemingly chaos for 20 minutes, then Finland came out on top.



Second map - Q2DM1 (EE choice):



Ok, this was the first of the really exciting maps. Q2dm1 is always hard to predict as that map is fairly well known by all teams. The way I saw this was that if Shugg managed to dominate rail, Estonia could win this map vs a Finland team that didn't have its strongest lineup. Anyway, the beginning of the map was anything but Estionia's, the Finnish players just totally dominated with the railgun. Xircuit held rail really well, despite Shugg and his teammate's attacks. I specced Shugg the whole game, and to begin with he was having a very hard time.

([NDML]OhYeah): dami is going mad with rail
([NDML]daelmun): shugg is having a rough start
([NDML]OhYeah): all of ee is

He managed to steal the 3 first chaingun spawns, but to no avail. All the Fins had rail, and dominated the first 5 minutes or so. Getting a 20-30 frag lead or so, before the map even had started for the Estonians. However, as soon as Shugg managed to get rail locked down, the game suddenly turned around.

([NDML]daelmun): k, shugg at rail now
([NDML]daelmun): shugg is owning a bit

Not only did they have rail, suddenly they had the mega as well. What looked like a map that Finland would win, suddenly turned into a very nice display of mapcontrol by the Estonians. Hirzu and Shugg dominated with the rail, and when most if not all the Estonian's had the railgun out, the map was lost for Finland. They couldn't do much, just prepare for the next map, which happened to be q2dm1 all over again.




Third map - Q2DM1 (FI choice):



Now this must be one of the most exciting q2dm1 games I've watched in a while. I chose to spectate Damiah again for this game, as I felt that he wanted to get revenge for the suprising defeat in the previous game.

([NDML]OhYeah): EE got the base
([NDML]d34d): chain vs rail
([NDML]d34d): ;>
([NDML]OhYeah): been like that for quite a while

It soon became clear that this would be the classic battle between rail/water and chain/mega. Thats where most of the action happened, as Finland seemed to hold rail to begin with while the Estonians held mega with an iron grip. Damiah did his battling all over the map as usual, but certainly had the most luck when using his railgun delivering damage on the mega camping Estonians by running up towards mega from the ssg, and dropping down to the yellow armor while firing off a couple well placed rails. It looked oh so easy, and even though the rails didn't kill the opponents right away, they certainly kept the Estonians on the defense for a while. 4ever and wreck did some impressive fighting in there though, and hirzu showed some nice railing throughout both the q2dm1 games.

([NDML]d34d): hehe 4 rails

At times all four of the Finnish players were positioned at rail, but they didn't manage to take over mega easily, nor did Estonia manage to get rid of them. Anyway, the game was close, allthough the Estonians had a 5-10 frag lead for most of the game, but nothing more. The control of the mega and rail switched back and forth, and the game was wide open. While enjoying the teamkills and suicides, the game was soon entering its final minutes.

([NDML]daelmun): dami got rail
([NDML]daelmun): he just cant miss
([NDML]daelmun): well, he hits all the important ones
([NDML]d34d): yeh fi is all damiah now

And then suddenly he rails about 17 estonian players and hitting countless others in the deciding part of the game, turning the game around. Not saying it was his railing that did it all, but it was really nice spectating Damiah in that period, as you saw how fast the frags kept coming Finland's way.

([NDML]daelmun): crazy game
([NDML]OhYeah): very intense

And it was, very exciting to watch. And it definitely could go either way. And knowning q2dm6 was next, I'm pretty sure the Fins were pretty damn happy winning this one.



Fourth map - Q2DM6 (EE choice):



After a brief wc-break announced by ohyeah, the fourth map was about to begin. Ohyeah was pretty confident that Estonia would win this one, as they already had beaten Ukraine on this map the previous round, and we all know Ukraine knows this map pretty damn good (they beat Sweden on this map). Finland on the other hand had been practicing this map in earlier rounds, so I wasn't entirely sure. So, I decided to spectate Dimmo in this game, knowing he would focus his game on the quad, and he also is someone I enjoy spectating as he has a enjoyable playingstyle.

([NDML]daelmun): poor dimmo, first he got his gun stolen from him, then he got shot by a teammate :)

It didn't start out too well for our dear Finn from the get go, he was denied the railgun by a teammate, then was delivered quite a powerfull ssg blast by another teammate the next second. He did survive but was then railed by Hirzu, and followed it up with a very nice dive into the lava. Great start.

([NDML]daelmun): ee got the map under control it looks like

It wasn't long untill Estonia really had the map under control, think Hirzu had rail and wreck was at bfg had bfg, and shugg and 4ever ran the quads. But not entirely sure, but they all did a great job for sure.


([NDML]daelmun): dimmo having a hard time getting quad
([NDML]daelmun): he just hasnt got a gun when he gets there


Dimmo had a really hard time getting good quadruns, when he wasn't killed by an Estonian quad-player, he would often be there without a gun. He seemed hellbent on getting the SSG, and when he did he actually had some decent quadruns going, which made him end up as Finland's top fragger on the map. Nice battles down in the quadroom for sure.

([NDML]daelmun): haha
([NDML]daelmun): he killed his teammate to get shells :P
([NDML]daelmun): ruthless

My highpoint in the game was of course Dimmo's way of forcing his teammate to drop him shells when he had quad. As for the rest, Foen did some nice work by taking bfg I think for a while, and whatever happened in the railroom I wasn't aware of as Dimmo didn't hang around there too often. Shugg on the other hand had some really nice quadruns near the end, and did fight great throughout the map. Clearly a class player on the map. And allthough it was close to begin with, it soon became clear that Estonia would win this one, even getting enough frags to come out on top on the mapelimination process that were done on the server there and then after the map.

q2dm8/q2dm5/q2dm3 were eliminated, which resulted in Tokay's Tower - Q2DM2 being the deciding map.



Fifth map - Q2DM2:



([NDML]OhYeah): they are both very strong in dm2
([NDML]daelmun): yeah
([NDML]daelmun): gonna be great

This was gonna be a great game, and we knew it. It was all set, two really strong teams on q2dm2, the last deciding map in a 5 mapper, and three really happy and enthusiastic admins on the sidelines. I chose to spectate Xircuit for the whole game, as I wanted to see how the game looked from his pov. It was a struggle, no frags came for free and he never was left alone. He focused his play on the megalift as well as quad, he rarely travelled to the RA tower, and don't think he ever ventured up the RA lift at all.

([NDML]OhYeah): FI got RA
([NDML]daelmun): xircuit is at mega
([NDML]daelmun): he got quad
([NDML]OhYeah): EE got RL lift

It was soon apparent that Estonia would have the quad semi controlled, while the Fins with an eager RA camping Foen would hold the RA tower, and Damiah would use that as a base for his railstreaks and Dimmo use it for his bfg attacks on quad. Xircuit played pretty slow, not moving too far away from the megalift, and preparing quadruns up there. He did get quad quite a few times, but his ssg seemed to be really rusty this game.

([NDML]daelmun): xircuit looks a bit off with the ssg

That being said, Shugg seemed to be having some very nice quadruns for Estonia at times. Think he spawnraped xircuit 3-4 times in a single quadrun, which I though was kinda neat. Anyway, Foen dominated the RA for a long time and that was mainly the reason Fi managed to keep up with the Estonians, who were battling really well elsewhere on the map.

([NDML]OhYeah): EE got RA
([NDML]daelmun): gonna be intresting to see what happens now
([NDML]OhYeah): i think FI got RA back

At one point, the RA was taken over by Estonia, but soon afterwards Finland got it back, and held it quite well after that if I remember correctly. By halftime or so, the game was tied, and it could go either way. And the teams played like this for a while, untill the last couple minutes or so. That's when suddenly Finland just decided enough was enough,

([NDML]daelmun): fi in lead
([NDML]OhYeah): yea but only by3
([NDML]d34d): yeh theyll probably win
([NDML]OhYeah): last minute push
([NDML]daelmun): nice finish
([NDML]OhYeah): tie before 1.5min to finish
([NDML]daelmun): then suddenly 30 frag lead
([NDML]daelmun): well, 25

And that was that, think Dimmo got the last two quads, and Damiah again played a good game racking up frags with his rail. The score doesn't give Estonia enough credit though, it was extremely close for 18 minutes or so, they were reaally close.


Good games by both teams, the games were played without any problems or delays. Good luck in the next round for both teams! And again thanks to my fellow admins, who are so wise and helpfull.