The ESL Release cup for MW3 was the first real Cup on MW3.
This cup also gave us the opportunity to test the Electronic Sports League (ESL), as this was our first attendance on ESL.
Although this Cup was released to test out the new rule set of ESL, as always, Lotus gave it their best shot!
The first cup on MW3 surely started out huge, with a stunning amount of 256 teams wanting to participate.
The majority of Lotus mainly played public during the first weeks after the release of MW3, simply to get known with the maps.
Because of this we weren't very familiar with all the different play styles. This shouldn't give any problems when playing against a random team, but it was surely something to watch out with when playing against some of the more experienced teams. As the cup used a system of knock-out this was our main concern.
Our first match was against the Spanish team W7H Original, a former MW2 team. The chosen maps were Resistance and Arkaden. They played it very slow on Resistance, giving us the opportunity to use some standard tactics and try out some spots. Trough consistent gameplay we managed to secure the win on the first map with a score of 23-1.
Knowing we only needed 2 more points on Arkaden to win the match, W7H didn't struggle back any longer which gave us a quick 2-0 lead. 1st round: Lotus eSports 25 - 1 W7H Original
The second match had to be played against the Israeli Galaxy eSports. The chosen maps were Seatown and Resistance. Again we played against a team who took it slow, but this time the overall skill was a tad better. Overall we did quite well, but there are still a lot of things which can be improved. We won Seatown with promising 16-8 numbers. On the attacking side of Resistance we did well, but yet again with much space for improvement. First half went to Lotus with 8-4. Seeing the defending side as the easier one we only needed 2 rounds to get the match point. 2nd round: Lotus eSports 25 - 13 Galaxy eSports
As we proceeded trough the tournament the opponents were getting better and better, which would lead to more tense matches and also, the chance to lose a match. In the 3rd round we had to play against AlmasChildren (AcE). They had already beaten the well known team (NOVITAS) in the 2nd round with a score of 25-11, so we knew we had to play against a tough opponent. The chosen maps were Bakaara and Resistance. As said in the beginning, we weren't very familiar with the different playstyles, especially not on Bakaara, a map we only played before once during a pcw.
We took it slow on the attacking side, trying to analyse the playstyle of the opponent and getting some easy picks. We managed to take it to an even score, meaning 6-6. AcE played it very aggressively on the attacking side. They clearly played this map a lot before, knowing where to smoke/flash and look. Unfortunately we didn't adapt well enough which gave them a deserved 8-16 lead.
We came back strong on the defending side of Resistance, with the first half going to Lotus with
8-4. Unfortunately this also meant AcE only needed 5 more rounds on defense to win the match. Luck wasn't on our side and we went down with a score of 2-5, giving AcE their final points to win the match. 3rd round: Lotus eSports 18 - 25 AlmasChildren
This loss also meant we were knocked out of the tournament. We are kind of disappointed, as we felt we could actually win against AlmasChildren. But with the low amount of training we had before the Release Cup we couldn't really expect much more.
Lotus eSports will now continue training to get a better result in the next tournament. You better watch out!
After some reschedules due to member absence both GSF.4not and Lotus finally found a date on which both teams were able to set up a 5 man line-up for the Final of the Call of Duty: Blacks Ops 5v5 Clanbase Opencup. This date turned out to be the 22th of November. Since the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 nobody of the team didn't really have the urge to keep on playing Black Ops, to stay in shape for the big final. But seeing our previous matches being won so confident, we started the match with our heads held high.
The knife round was played on Summit. After 4 players of Lotus had been taken down quickly by the opposing team, Hanya pulled out a nice knife ace against GSF.4not, giving us the right to choose the first map. Seeing us always having performed great on Summit we picked that map.
We started on the attacking side. Unfortunately we quickly gave out a 0-3 lead to GSF.4not. After some adaptations to the opposing team's tactic we managed to only give away 1 more round on the attacking side, resulting in a 6-4 lead for Lotus in the first half of the map. The second half we had to play on defense, being seen as the easier side. We played very consistent, by either pushing the enemy or letting them come on the right moments. This gameplay resulted in a stunning 10-0 win on defense.
First half: Lotus eSports 16 – 4 GSF.4not
We chose Jungle as the second map, knowing this is a very defense-sided map and we only needed 5 more points. As expected, we could quickly secure the 5 points with ease.
Second half: Lotus eSports 5 – 0 GSF.4not
Final standing: Lotus eSports 21 – 4 GSF.4not
We can now call ourselves the winner of the CoD: Black Ops Clanbase Opencup (Second League)!
A quick resume of the matches we played during the Clanbase Opencup:
Match 1: Lotus eSports 43 – 5 Russion Vodka
Match 2: Lotus eSports 20 – 0 inside (noshow)
Match 3: Lotus eSports 21 – 8 Minit
Match 4: Lotus eSports 20 – 0 Sharks (noshow)
Quarter Final: Lotus eSports 35 – 5 Keppana Gaming
Semi-final: Lotus eSports 21 – 4 neXion Gaming
Final: Lotus eSports 21 – 4 GSF.4nothing
We're all still disappointed we couldn't participate in the Premier League due to the name change of our team. I think we can all agree we are on the same level as the teams in the Premier League. Surely it would have been much more of a challenge playing against those teams. But with the scores of our matches during the cup we clearly showed this wasn't the league where we belonged.
We are glad to announce that Higher Purpose has won the 2on2 opencup CODBO second league.
Sadly the final was an easy match, but we are glad with the results.
The players in the tournament where
-Titanium
-Lampje
-Dizz3h.
Groupstage
HP vs AEF 0-1 forfeit (UAC3 problem)
HP vs #sNp 24-4
HP vs ib 21-0
