TGX 2024 — Saturday Night Lights

Sports have their own drama on Friday Night but Esports have theirs on Saturday. A one day LAN with 12 teams, 2 groups and a round-robin system. Sounds like a tough task, right?

Indeed, it was as a 1 hour tech pause made that mission even more challenging to do on the first day. Fortunately, everything was resolved and the Bo1s started swimmingly.

Until someone tripped over the server cord while Arcade were up 5v2 at 2–0. The round had to be replayed as per the rulebook which Arcade lost after the replay. It was a hard task for the admin team but the players were here for a bit of fun and prac for LAN so it wasn’t an issue.

Let’s get onto the groups shall we

Group A — Chaos is a ladder…

Group A had a lot of big teams in it. Arcade, Bandits, Vantage, Bad News Kangaroos, Boosted Asians and KZG.

You’d think that Boosted Asians would get bullied and that’s it. They did have some good players such as rodizzle and a few others. But no, the story is just beginning.

The first few games went as expected. KZG beat Arcade (in an epic OT thriller), Vantage beat Bandits and BNK beat Boosted Asians.

However, the chaos went from 0 to 100 pretty quickly. While another game was being shown on the Main Stream from Group B. Vantage were in a close duel with Bad News Kangaroos and were starting to get away. Vantage did the unthinkable and beat Bad News Kangaroos (13–8) on Nuke.

The favourites might have to go through on the number 2 seed and Vantage could be the number 1 seed via head to head. Now, Bad News Kangaroos couldn’t drop a single game otherwise they would have to go through an absolute tangle of tiebreakers and potential elimination.

However, remember that team, the Boosted Asians? We mentioned them a while back. Well, Vantage proceeded to lose 11–13 to them. The entire division was now chucked in a blender. 5 teams for two spots and the permutations made my head spin. Vantage were ahead on round difference followed by Arcade, BNK then KZG then Boosted Asians.

Vantage would take on KZG where tournament life was on the line for both teams. If Vantage lost, they were out since KZG had beaten Boosted Asians and Arcade at this stage. If KZG lost, they were still in it but had to work on their round differential (since BNK literally dismantled them).

Vantage’s misery continued, KZG ran rampant but a strong stand from Drox gave Vantage some pride. However, KZG won an important nailbiting hold in a critical 1v1 to make it 13–9. Vantage were eliminated but this stand was very important to Arcade. Arcade could make the distance with a win over the eliminated Vantage and KZG lost to Boosted Asians.

Arcade would take on Vantage which not only did they have to win. They had to win by atleast 4 rounds and KZG would have to lose to Boosted Asians. This would lead to a three-way tie therefore they would book their ticket. Boosted Asians would be 3–2 as well but their RD was worse than KZG and Arcade.

Vantage came back with a vengeance and absolutely slaughtered Arcade which eliminated them (13–2 btw). The game between KZG and Boosted Asians was now for 2nd Seed. KZG won a tight game and got themselves into the playoffs.

Now where did BNK end up? Well, they didn’t lose another match and went 4–1 and got first seed. They were struggling at one point being 12–0 up against Bandits. Struggling hard as I had to tell Deb, Hazr’s mother. Struggling with success.

Group B — Running as expected…

Group B was a bit boring and standard compared to Group A. Well, let’s say it was a bit easier given that the big threats in this group was DXA, Vexx and Golf Club.

The key games were between DXA, Vexx and Golf Club. I didn’t report or view these games as much as Group As. A few scrappy matches here and there.

DXA beat both Vexx and Golf Club as expected. DXA were incredibly happy with their group stage. Motion was looking sharp but lucas was looking sharper who nailed a lot of key clutches. DXA are definitely getting better under the guidance of motion.

Now for the second seed, this was decided in the Foggers Cup (Vexx v Golf Club). If you don’t know, Foggers used to play with Golf Club before defecting to Making History.

Golf Club were decimated by Vexx which not only hurt their Head to Head Tiebreak but tore up the Round Difference tiebreak as well.

In Group B though, there was one upset. Vexx lost to a PUG team. However, this had no impact on their positioning because the only teams that could catch them were a Pug Team as Knows Beers and Golf Club. Both had lost to Vexx. Vexx would win in the 3-way tiebreak based on H2H.

Golf Club and Vexx would end 3–2 and Knows Beers would lose their last game to DXA. It turns out that the last streamed game was a dead rubber from the beginning.

The playoffs loomed — it was DXA v KZG and Bad News Kangaroos v Vexx

Semi-Final 1 - KZG v DXA

It was quite late and the semi-finals started at about 6pm. I would tweet about the other Semi-Final since it wasn’t being shown which was DXA v KZG. The mood was tense, the banter/trash talk was pushing boundaries and fortunately, nobody had any water bottles nearby.

The Map Picks were Overpass (KZG), Mirage (DXA) and Inferno.

1st map, DXA had a surprisingly great CT side as they were able to hold off multiple initial pushes from KZG. However, DXA blunted KZG’s T side harshly with only 3 times that the bomb was planted.

The second half was just more of the same but DXA winning pistols, winning the follow up, winning the gun round and that’s game. 13–3 to DXA. Mingovi was finally beaten on his favoured map, Overpass.

2nd map, DXA and KZG were locked at 7–5 with KZG holding a slight advantage specifically being able to blunt DXA’s attack. KZG’s T side was dealt a harsh blow as DXA won pistols but with a plant, a force buy and a dream. KZG forced DXA to save.

KZG then won the resulting gun round and started turning the screws on DXA putting them up 11–6 at one point. DXA with their backs against the wall and barely any money in their pockets as they completed 5 2v1 retakes.

KZG finally ended the drought and claimed 1 match point and DXA’s economy from constant 1 to 2 people alive were putting them at their brink. DXA won with another grueling 2 v 1 retake. Another mirage Overtime.

DXA continued to hold on their CT side winning the first 2 rounds but KZG finally were able to slide one through DXA to end the half at 14–13. However, the wheels fell off and DXA won back to back rounds to win 16–13. KZG seemed exhausted after their day of Bo1s.

Semi-Final 2 — BNK v Vexx

Meanwhile with BNK v Vexx — The Damyo Cup. Vexx picked Anubis, BNK picked Vertigo and Nuke left over.

It was close but you always had that feeling the Bad News Kangaroos were in control. It seemed to be a question of when BNK would win not how they would win. Vexx got extremely close on both maps but were definitely outdone by class by Bad News Kangaroos.

Vexx started poorly with a 9–3 T Side start by BNK and to make matter worse, BNK won pistols and the following gun round. This made it 12–3. However, Foggers and his merrymen didn’t give up. They reigned it in bit by bit.

Unfortuantely, as I said before… it was a matter of WHEN BNK were going to win not if. BNK snuck one through to make it 13–10. Very impressive comeback from Vexx.

Vertigo started the same way with BNK winning the half 8–4 but there was a change in the air. Vexx had won the pistols and then fumbled the following round.

A brave force buy kept them in it and started a little streak of their own tying the scores at 9–9.

However, Toby Brace Barnes with his new weapon in Damyo could unveil his new bag of tricks. The already exhausted Vexx couldn’t keep it going as their attempted takes were held off. BNK won 13–9 and the series 2–0.

The 3rd Place Match — KZG v Vexx

Yes, there was a 3rd place match. I didn’t know this was happening and I had left the venue (hence no updates) in regards to this match. Apocdud probably had snuck in his menulog driver past the Great Wall of Chi- I mean, Andrew.

XL and Apocdud had games of their lives basically but Vexx just didn’t have enough in the tank compared to KZG.

KZG were able to lead a 6 round blitz on Ancient to win Map 1 and a 9 round comeback on Vertigo to win Map 2.

The resiliency on KZG was absolutely massive to see and can only get stronger going forward.

I’m not sure whether it was Vexx just being out of oompf towards the end of the day or the lack of composure to end matches.

I’m going with the resiliency because winning 6 rounds in a row especially at that stage in the day is hard. Completing a comeback to win 13–10 after being down 8–4 is even more difficult especially in the dead of the night.

Grand Final — DXA v BNK

The Roflko Cup, The Kicked v The Kicker, Best Friend v Best Friend. Anything goes in this final Bo3.

The story here is that Brace had to kick BFFL Roflko from Vertex (now BNK) which he will never recover from ever. (This is obviously played up for clicks).

The friendship is scarred but at least we get the raw emotion and skill put into the server. Roflko seeking revenge and Brace seeking justification for kicking Roflko.

This is also played up for clicks too — these two love each other and can you imagine Roflko getting angry at someone? I haven’t seen him NOT smiling.

The Maps? Overpass (DXA), Vertigo (BNK) and Nuke. BNK banned Mirage so DXA would have to find a back up plan.

Indeed, the back-up pick did work out with a weak CT side from BNK who lead 7–5 at the half. Remember, Overpass is a CT sided map, a 7–5 lead is not strong given that you have to get 6 T rounds. Roflko howling with vengeance showing that he should have never been kicked.

However, DXA’s CT side started well, they won the pistols, the gun round and the two anti-ecos. BNK were losing 9–7 to DXA and another upset was brewing. Roflko was rising but fate had a different course. DXA said they had a Roflko but Brace responded well, we have a Portelli (Damyo).

BNK won the next 6 ouf of 7 rounds to claim the map 13–10 to leave DXA absolutely stunned. A perfect start on the CT side undone by a table-turning comeback by BNK. Roflko still was the MVP on Overpass but was overwhelmed by Damyo, PZ and Brace.

Now with their map pick lost, it was pretty much “yeah, well BNK are winning this on Vertigo”. DXA’s entire win condition was probably get it to Nuke and hope they get CT side first. However, with the loss on Overpass. It was a mercy kill on Vertigo.

BNK started the rampage with a 10–2 half on T side Vertigo. DXA started to make a comeback winning pistols. However, Brace called a brave force-buy which bought them to the brink of series point at 12–3

DXA made one last stand to get their 4th but immense plays from hazr and Addict sealed the deal making…

Bad News Kangaroos, the champions of TGX 2024.

DXA fought valiantly but as I said, the moment they lost Overpass. The series was over.

Final Thanks

Thanks to all the admins who worked tirelessly to get all the tech issues fixed (including Roflko’s tech issues every 2nd round in the Grand Final). Thanks to the observers as well.

Thanks to all the players for providing such a great atmosphere and entertainment.

Thanks to some of the players who came down to support the teams too. I had no idea that I met cheeseball until today LMAO.

Thanks to the org owners, Hoackz and Monitor for being there.

Lastly, we’re going to make sure that ESL renew our league for another year and given the success, we might even see some more CS2 LANs too!

Signing off
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