MLG Dallas Halo 3 Finals Game-by-Game Breakdown
By subtheorist | Published: October 7, 2008 11:32pm EST
Now that the momentum had shifted heavily into Triggers Down’s favor for Game 5 on Construct Team Slayer, Str8 Rippin started off noticeably more aggressively than expected. However, this would turn out to be their fatal flaw. Although it made for an exciting way to end the series, going toe-to-toe in raw slaying against Hysteria, Karma, FearItSelf, and SK would prove to be something Str8 would regret. Everything they attempted would fail, and gave TD complete control of the power-positions and weapons. With a 50-42 win on Contruct TS, TD had successfully evened the odds by extending the match into a second best-of-five series. Having a clean slate to work with, Triggers Down looked relieved, refreshed, and determined to take home their second title of the year. But as Game 1 on CTF Narrows began, it became apparent that obtaining it wouldn’t come easy. Tsquared brought in Str8’s first flag of the game, followed by a sneaky play from Hysteria that involved throwing the flag over the mancannon to FearItSelf. who promptly caught and captured it. Legit then ran Str8’s second flag in, stopping midway to return a near-certain capture from TD. With the help of T2’s 17-8 ratio, Snipedown eventually brought in the third flag to give Str8 the 3-1 victory. Game 2 took place on Guardian Team Slayer. With the thought of the previous two Team Slayer games in mind, Str8 Rippin took a very cautious approach to the map. Roughly halfway through the game, Snipedown pulled off arguably one of the best sequence of kills of the tournament. Although there were no big multi-kills, the way in which each individual kill was gotten was nothing short of amazing. Despite his best efforts though, Hysteria’s 21 kills, and Tsquared’s -10 K/D was simply too much for Str8 too overcome. Triggers Down went on to win Guardian TS by way of 50-46. The third game of the series, Construct King, started off in a power struggle that neither team seemed to be winning. Hill time was exchanged back and forth until TD was eventually able to inch their way ahead of Str8. Although he’s regarded as one of the league’s top slayers, Hysteria accounted for more than 50% of TD’s hill-time with two minutes left to play. This incredible display of versatility boosted Triggers Down to a 228-160 win in Game 3. Heading into the ninth map of the match, both teams were showing signs of stress-induced exhaustion. Str8 Rippin was just one loss away from defeat, and the final two games of the series would reflect the situation’s urgency perfectly. The last time TD and Str8 met on Onslaught CTF was in the MLG Orlando Finals - which is widely regarded as one of the most intense games we’ve witnessed in 2008. Tsquared set the tone of Game 9 by bringing in a capture within the first minute of the game. Directly following T2’s capture, Triggers Down banded together to capture two flags of their own within a 30 second time span. TD then began to out-slay Str8, which resulted in a third capture and a 3-1 lead. Unfortunately, this would be their last as Str8 realized the tournament was slipping through their grasp. It was then that Legit and Tsquared brought in two quick flags to tie the game at 3 flags a piece. Str8 then pulled off Double Kill after Double Kill, leaving TD to continuously fight 2 vs. 4 at a crucial time. This allowed T2 and the gang to bring in two more flags for the 5-3 win. |
