In a major move in the Australian esports industry, Melbourne-based organisation Order has confirmed a partnership with computer hardware giant Alienware.

As part of the new agreement, Alienware has promised Order a suite of new Alienware Aurora personal computers, as well as m15 gaming laptops.

The Melbourne esports club’s League of Legends and CS:GO rosters will also receive a mix of AW2518HF and AW3418DW monitors, Alienware Wireless Gaming Headsets, Alienware Pro Gaming Keyboards and Alienware Elite Gaming mice.

It’s a partnership that Order chief executive Chris Derrick has welcomed with open arms, especially considering the enterprise’s meteoric rise since its foundation in late 2017.

“Order is thrilled to have Alienware join us a major partner in 2019 to support our teams,” Derrick said. “This year we established ourselves as being highly competitive in the Australian esports scene, winning the club championship of Gfinity Series 1 and 2, won our first international tournament and established ourselves as a destination club for esports players.”

“High performance and professionalism is at the core of the Order team, and we’re excited to have Alienware powering our League of Legends and CS:GO teams with their powerful gaming machines.”

As well as the hardware that the Order stars will be kitted out with across their 2019 seasons, fans of the Melbourne organisation will also see new content spawned from the partnership.

Alienware and Order have also announced they plan to create “exclusive content to help [fans] take their gaming to the next level”, including ‘how-to’ guides, player and game statistics and behind-the-scenes access which will all be available to esports fans through both the esports club’s and hardware giant’s social media accounts.

The support of developing players, avid esports fans and the general gaming community is something that is close to Alienware and its parent company Dell’s hearts, general manager for consumer and small business Ben Jackson said after the announcement.

“Australia’s esports scene is well established and has incredible potential”
Ben Jackson, Dell ANZ/Alienware

“We’re incredibly proud to continue Alienware’s long history of supporting esports and we are excited to be partnering with Order not only because they are an outstanding team with impressive runs on the board already in their first year – they also have a vision for the team and their business that complements our own,” Jackson said, speaking for Dell ANZ and Alienware.

“We are whole-heartedly committed to the Australian esports industry and gaming community pushing forward both in national and international competition. We are fostering and nurturing new talent and cultivating an environment for all gamers – professional and amateur – where they can strive to improve, learn new skills and be equipped with what they need to level up.

“We look forward to working with ORDER as the Australian esports industry and local gaming community grows.”

Alienware, operating as a subsidiary of Dell, has previously been involved in Australian sponsorship, when they signed on as presenting partners with the Gfinity Elite Series for 2018. At the time, the investment was heralded as one of the largest commercial partnerships in Oceanic esports history.

“I don’t get amped up playing them specifically anymore” @JaykeLoL, @SwifferOCE and @SpookzOCE are set for an important week two of the @OPL when they play against former team-mates on @ChiefsESC and @GravitasOCE tomorrow and Saturday! Let’s go lads ? #ORDERUP?? pic.twitter.com/UILlzbfIbp

— ORDER (@ORDER_army) January 24, 2019

Order, operating as Melbourne Order due to the localisation of the Gfinity teams, won the Counter Strike competitions in Series 1 and 2, beating out the Sydney Chiefs 3-0 and 3-1 respectively to secure $80,000 in prize money across both competitions.

The Melbourne organisation’s League of Legends roster recently bounced back from a poor start to their Oceanic Pro League campaign, recording a 2-0 weekend with victories over the Chiefs Esports Club and Gravitas. The team’s jungler Samuel “Spookz” Broadley was named in Snowball Esports’ Team of the Week for his performances.

You can support Order at @ORDER_army on Twitter. Follow Alienware on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Alienware.TV.

When your established fan base is a continent away from your live matches, getting fans through the door can present a challenge. We met up with Perth’s Ground Zero at the Gfinity Elite Series to talk about their innovative approach to building a fan base.

In esports, being ahead of the curve is a pathway to success, whether it’s finding an unknown talent or finding ways to get more fans through the door.

While some may go all in on a player, organisations that have a focus on their fan base tend to survive and thrive in a cut throat industry where everything can be lost in a matter of weeks.

Especially for newer orgs, an early impression is vital to any hope of success. Even if you’re in one of the most publicised tournaments in the region, fan interaction is crucial element and ultising that interaction can uplift the tournament and further help the esports scene.

Ground Zero, a rising organisation from Perth, has grown over time to become one of the fastest growing orgs in the country. It has participated at multiple LAN events since its inception in 2016 and recruited talent that has propelled it further into the esports scene.

While they are still dwarfed by the likes of ORDER, the Chiefs, and Avant Gaming, they have made a name for themselves, building a reputation as the banner for esports in Western Australia.

It was no surprise then that when the Gfinity Elite Series came to life earlier this year, Ground Zero took the opportunity to fight for the west of the nation.

But they had a small issue. With the Elite Series being played out of Hoyts at the Entertainment Quarter in Sydney, it was always going to be hard for them to get fans to the Arena.

So they created something no one else had thought of in the Elite Series: a fan club. Created for Season 2, it brings GZ’s Sydney-based fans together to support their teams as they look for glory. It promises a thriving atmosphere where fans can cheer on GZ during Counter Strike:Global Offensive (CSGO), Rocket League (RL) and Street Fighter V (SFV).

We were fortunate enough to spend a match day as a part of the Ground Zero fan club, experiencing first hand hype of the Gfinity Elite Series and the the fan engagement that Ground Zero have been able to build up in the esports haven of Sydney.

During the game, the fan club members are the most vocal part of the crowd, cheering and chanting on the Ground Zero CS:GO squad. This week was the final week of the regular season, and first place was on the line against the Melbourne Avant with the winner taking the coveted spot.

Getting Sydney-based fans to cheer for the western team is surely no easy feat, with state pride being one of the surest ways to ignite passions in any Australian competition. Alongside the Ground Zero staff, Katherine “Kitty” Crea was brought in to mastermind the fan club and according to her, it has been a great success so far.

“I’m really happy and somewhat overwhelmed with how well the fan club has gone.”

The popularity of the fan club is evident to those who have attended Gfinity during the regular season, with a sizeable section of the crowd supporting the Western Australians. Which is fair to observe as a slight surprise, since they face off against east coast teams every week.

“It has been such a challenge to find Ground Zero fans in Sydney,” said Kitty, “so I’ve done a lot of building through social networks and finding people online and so far it’s been successful.”

While the few Avant fans tried to cheer for their team, the Ground Zero fans responded by drowning out their opponent’s fans, asserting dominance in the crowd.

For the players, the chanting is a welcome sound, as Ground Zero’s Cal “bURNRUOk” Henderson said. “You definitely hear it on the stage,” Burn said.

Clip: The crowd cheers as ‘bURN’ sprays down 3 Avant members. Source: Gfinity Elite Series

As the rounds went by, it was obvious that Avant were on the back foot, but they had a shot at coming back at half time. However, GZ quickly put the game to bed, losing only one round in the second half to take away both the win and first place in the regular season.

Just like the game that unfolded that day, Ground Zero considers the fan club a successful venture.

“Seeing the fans come, get really excited and be happy to see their favourite players and even meet the teams afterwards is great,” Burn said.

As for other teams, like the Brisbane Deceptors have a similar fan base at the Arena every week but Kitty believes that when Gfinity starts back up in 2019, “we’re going to see a lot more fan clubs from each team.”

But with GZ able to claim that they got theirs in first, they have a massive advantage over the rest.

Ground Zero and their fan club will return for Season 3 of the Gfinity Elite Series. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live when the Gfinity Elite Series returns in Season 3.

Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

This site was named after what a lot of people consider to be one of the ideal ways to win in League of Legends – eke out a small advantage and snowball your lead to victory. Never did I envisage our journey as a content platform following a similar path.

Esports is a strange place. It’s an industry that has such a large global exposure but is simultaneously in its infancy. I know that term is thrown around quite a lot especially in a region like ours, but the reality is the region is still developing platforms outside of viewing esports.

How close are we to getting player agents, how close are we to a players union, when will we see commercial broadcast rights? These are crucial services that take a serious amount of investment and time to establish, but we’ll get there.

Snowball was born out of frustration due to a lack of content relating to the offseason changes in the OPL heading into the 2018 season. Just two mates, an off the cuff blog on a bare bones WordPress site, and many opinions. After all, both of us had close ties to the Oceania League of Legends scene.

In the span of less than 12 months, that small blog between two mates now covers three esports and one major tournament – three of them with regular content cycles. Snowball now has 20+ team members regularly developing content for us, a sleek website and 2019 is set to be even bigger.

However, 2019 can only get bigger for us by the effort put in by all of our hard working contributors in 2018. Inero’s Pick 6 was the first post to make the front page of Reddit, generating over 10,000 hits.

We took the leap into Overwatch – thanks to our now Overwatch Content Lead Andrew Amos’ constant pestering – leading us to cover two international events.

We had one of the largest media representations at the inaugural Melbourne Esports Open, with six contributors covering three different games over the two day festival. We also appeared at Rift Rivals, the University Esports League finals, League of Origin and Supanova Brisbane.

But there’s always a strive to better and make the snowball smoother, faster, and bigger.

In 2019 we’re going to diversify our content platforms, you’ll be seeing us a lot more on Twitch and YouTube. While we love written content and it will always be at Snowball’s core, there’s a high chance a lot of our readers also watch the likes of Thoorin and Travis Gafford, and we want to fill that void in the oceanic region, so we will look at expanding into video content.

We spent the latter part of this year adding the Gfinity Elite Series to our regular coverage schedule, and from that we are looking forward to branching out into more CS:GO and other game coverage.

It’s also time for us to start working better together. Everyone in the region has been incredibly supportive of our work but we want to push the boundaries of esports content together. We’ve started this in our collaboration with Riot Games, getting the OPL Roster Tracker off the ground and even having it and other OPL content featured in the League of Legends game client.

However, if you are a publisher, team, tournament organiser – anyone involved in esports in Oceania – let’s collaborate. If there is content you need help building, let’s open the conversation. We depend so much on your rights and players, allow us the chance to give more back.

Of course, there is the elephant in the room – the strain in any organisation’s running – financials. Snowball currently has no other revenue than our loyal and valued patrons on Patreon. Building this out will be a major focus in 2019.

We’re hoping by working closer with key stakeholders and producing more quality content across multiple platforms that we will be in a position to further grow and support our community through this next year.

Last of all, but most importantly, I have to thank all of you – the readers – for interacting with our content. It’s what drives us to do better day by day.

We are extremely open at Snowball Esports, and if you would like to become more involved please let us know – we have no shortage of opportunities. This can range from content creators, to marketers, established business people looking to mentor our project or even tournament organisers needing experience.

On behalf of the staff and our team of contributors, thank you for joining us for the ride thus far, we hope you’ll stay with us as we look forward to another year of producing great content for the Oceanic region.

Follow us on Twitter and other socials for the latest updates and content releases. If you’d like to support us further, consider checking out our Patreon for more ways to get involved, exclusive perks and more!

Two weeks ago Melbourne ORDER defeated the Sydney Chiefs 3-1 in the Gfinity Elite Series Season 2 Grand Final.

ORDER were heavy favourites before the game to take down the $40,000 first prize, as most experts only gave the Chiefs one map in the Best of Five series.

ORDER lived up to the predictions, flying out of the gates thanks to an unfortunate post-plant from the Chiefs, as they quickly galloped to a dominant lead on Inferno.

The Chiefs didn’t help themselves, with multiple mistakes on executes across both sites and an interesting play at top Banana allowing Order to get to ten rounds without impediment.

ORDER’s run was also built off of individual plays as well, as ORDER player hatz explained.

“We had quite a bit of momentum coming off big individual plays from emagine and ins earlier in the game”

Emagine holds strong from pit with 4 kills pushing back the Chiefs

They then continued with their blitzkrieg with only one minor hiccup on round 14 before ending the half 14-1, a near impossible score to lose from.

While the Chiefs did pick up the second pistol, it was too little too late, as ORDER quickly wrapped up the final two rounds to end the map 16-2.

After the break, ORDER continued with the push into Overpass, running to another dominant lead early on the T side as they cruised to an early 8-2 lead. While the Chiefs did find some sort of footing towards the end of the first half, ORDER were able to respond, getting to double digits as the half ended 11-4.

After a technical pause for the Chiefs during the break, they were able to find some light, winning the first three rounds in the second half to retrieve some semblance of hope.

But with the gun rounds came the AWP of Alistair and with it the end of any hopes for the Chiefs on Overpass, as ORDER stormed home to win 16-7 and with it a 2-0 series lead.

With their backs against the wall, the Chiefs needed to fight back. Mirage provided them with such an opportunity.

An early lead gave them some breathing room, but ORDER responded, wrestling the lead away from their opponents to take the lead at the halfway point of the half. A late surge from the Chiefs saw the half end 8-7 and gave the Chiefs a golden opportunity to try and take Mirage.

But ORDER wanted to go home, and when the second half started, they turned on the afterburners, quickly running to eleven before the Chiefs could respond. But with their backs against the wall, they found their second wind, finding dominance with the rifles to regain the lead on round 23.

From that point on, they ran away with little further difficulty, taking out their first map of the series 16-13 and continued the series to Train

The loss shook the ORDER lineup.

“I think we were all a little disappointed since we have high expectations of ourselves” said hatz. “But overall the mood got reset on the next map.”

The Chiefs continued their good run on train, picking up the first three rounds to have a small lead. But with the gun rounds bringing back ORDER, the deficit vanished they took the next eleven unopposed to get them back into the driver’s seat once again, taking the half out 11-4, losing only on round 15.

Hatz connects a nutty spray transfer, picking up 3 kills and the Gfinity Elite Series as he completes the post-plant on tournament point.

And from that point on, ORDER were too dominant, as hatz explained.

“I think we knew once we had a good CT side we were confident we were gonna take it out since we know overall our T sides are usually strong.”

Their T side was strong, was they only dropped one round to the Chiefs as they cruised to an 16-5 win on Train and with the Grand Final as they clinch their back-to-back titles 3-1.

ORDER made it two straight in the CS:GO division, toppling Chiefs in both events. They close the year with an important win that they’ll look to build from into 2019 while the Chiefs will be keen to get back to their main roster and continue their run.

We look forward to what the next season of the Gfinity Elite Series has in store, and if anyone can take down the Melbourne juggernaut.

While the ORDER main squad was over in Odense getting upset by Natus Vincere, here on the home front the Gfinity Elite Series was doing its best to match the level of upset we saw on the international stage.

In the first vs fourth match, we saw ladder leaders Perth Ground Zero take on a Sydney Chiefs squad that have been bolstered recently by the return of the main Chiefs squad. They’d first do battle on Dust 2, which looked like it should have been fairly comfortable for Ground Zero because the Chiefs main squad has looked poor on it in recent weeks.

Chiefs started on a tear though, putting the opening 4 CT rounds away thanks to 8 frags on a rampaging Moeycq. GZ battled back to trade the next six rounds evenly, but the Chiefs accelerated away and gave away only consolation rounds to finish their CT half up 10-5.

The Chiefs roared out of the blocks early on their T-half, getting to 15 rounds before Ground Zero had even reached double-digits. However the boys from the west were not done, fighting off map point five times en route to eventually falling 16-13. It was an impressive show of resilience by Ground Zero to not simply fall over, but equally impressive by the Chiefs to hold their nerve and close out a map that most of them have struggled on.

The series then moved to Train where it started in a back-and-forth fashion, with the Chiefs opening with the pistol round, trading their way to 4-3 up, before falling behind 5-4. Eventually Ground Zero held serve and secured their T-half at 9-6, with NikkeZ the chief destroyer (pun intended) for the half. Ground Zero pushed it on through into their CT half. With BURNRUOk joining NikkeZ fragging out onto the Chiefs, and they closed the map 16-10 winners thanks to a massive BURN 3k in Ivy.

And so the series headed to the hallowed sandstone, arguably the MCG of Oceanic Counter-Strike. That’s right, it was Mirage for the decider.

Again we saw a tightly contested, back and forth affair as the map opened up. They traded rounds throughout the CT half of the Chiefs until Ground Zero pulled ahead, thanks once more to NikkeZ who was having a barn-burning performance on the big stage of the semi-finals.

Eventually, with Ground Zero still trying almost stubbornly to prevent NikkeZ dragging them across the line at 15-12, the Chiefs finally stepped up and delivered like the LAN kings we know them to be.

Their two best performers on Mirage, Pecks and Infrequent, stepped up when they were needed the most and delivered a monstrous 14^th round to the Chiefs from down two picks early, and then they promptly secured overtime.

The Chiefs opened Overtime with a win but dropped the next two to close their T-sided overtime half down one. They held strong on their CT side, claiming the first two victories right back into GZ to go to match point where the established vets of their main lineup in Moeycq and Infrequent picked the Perth boys apart with AWPs to secure overtime, Mirage, and the series in a thrilling 2-1 win.

Chiefs continue their LAN dominance, even in their Gfinity form, while the ladder-leading Ground Zero fall disappointingly in the final hurdle before the big dance. They’ll be disappointed based on the form they were showing, but on paper these were two well-matched teams. A good team losing a close series to another good team is no shameful display. On another day the overtime goes their way, and I’m writing a Very Biased Perth Preview of the final, but on this day the kings overcame the would-be kingslayers.

Following this barn-burner of a series was the spicy Melbourne derby in the other side of the bracket. The Melbourne Avant Gaming took on the draftee squad of Melbourne ORDER. Avant were heavily favoured on paper, being the regular teammates and stronger players overall, but the thing about this Avant squad is that on their day they’re capable of losing to anyone so it was by no means a sure thing – especially according to Gfinity caster Geordie “Mac” McAleer who picked ORDER to take the series.

ORDER were able to secure arguably Avant’s weakest map in Inferno for the first game and promptly staked themselves to a 6-2 early lead, with RaZ being the main instrument of chaos while the two usual guns of Avant in pan1K and ju1ces trying their best to keep Avant in rounds.

Some might have credited pan1k drinking a Dare Iced Coffee instead of his beloved Red Bull for their struggles but make no mistake, ORDER were sharp in the opening. To Avant’s credit they managed to take a little control back and keep it to a respectable (after the opening) 9-6 half on the ORDER T-side.

Avant continued to ramp it up as they moved into their own T-side, a 6-1 opening of their own saw them sitting on a 12-10 lead with a strong chance to really break the ORDER economy. However, ORDER stood firm and re-took the lead thanks to an excellent clutch from Jabbo. From here they closed emphatically, winning a final gun round that put the Avant lineup onto a gross buy on match point and duly dispatched them, winning 16-12.

Avant would have taken the recovery there as a positive – they’ve basically evenly split the last 20 rounds of the map and were in a winning position on what they’ve identified as a weak point of theirs. Especially as they were headed to their preferred playground as we once again entered Mirage.

ORDER posted the pistol and secured the anti-eco with two bomb plants on their T-side, but pan1k was able to save an AK from round 2 and used it to secure a huge 3k and put Avant on the board. ORDER immediately hit back, savaging Avant’s money and one gun round later they had set themselves up with an intimidating 7-1 lead. Avant managed to carry an AWP through two rounds on a sole survivor, and they used that to get themselves an important second round as they looked to keep the halftime score respectable.

Avant made it to half time at 10-5, which was a reasonable effort but still left them a mountain climb which somehow felt insurmountable when ORDER took their 11^th round. However Avant showed remarkable resilience and mental toughness to peel off three in a row to bring it back to 11-10.

Unfortunately for the Avant faithful, ORDER put away three of their own on the bounce to go to 14, and despite one last gasp for Avant, the ORDER subs sealed the map 16-11, the match 2-0, and a date with the Chiefs this week where they’re aiming to go back-to-back. Presumably though, it will be the last we’ve seen of the sub squad.

This was really a remarkable win for the ORDER subs in my opinion. They’re not terrible players by any stretch but despite Mac’s prediction I think they were massive underdogs on-paper and this was a highly winnable match they’ve let slip away. They were slow out of the blocks in both maps and it really cost them here – and, as we’ve seen in other events, it’s cost them elsewhere as well. They’ve recently added a new coach and I hope we can see how their true form once they get their structure organised.

Moving ahead to the final, we’ll see a cracking match involving two fierce city and organisational rivals in Melbourne ORDER and Sydney Chiefs. For much the same reason as I saw them as underdogs against Avant, I rate ORDER to be the favourites as they come in against 3/5ths of the main Chiefs squad.

This match is still highly winnable for the Chiefs though, and after the year they’ve had one would be a fool to count out the LAN Kings. Be sure to check out what promises to be an excellent final on Saturday!

The Gfinity Elite Series returns with CS:GO tomorrow from 3pm AEDT. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

The Sydney battle for the final playoff spot was resolved in dramatic fashion, as Perth clinched first seed in the final week of Gfinity Elite Series action.

The first cab off the ranks would tell so much of the story today. The Sydney Roar were on the outside, looking in for the playoffs and needed a win and a favour from ORDER to knock off Chiefs in order to make playoffs.

Sitting across from them were the Brisbane Deceptors, who thanks to a swag of consolation points could tie the Chiefs in fourth, but being 0-4 to this point, had no head-to-head tiebreaker. This left them playing for pride and maybe to play a little spoiler.

The Deceptors started sprightly, but the Roar fired back turning an 0-2 opening into a 5-3 lead early. The Deceptors would break back into the game, taking the first half 8-7 and then trade rounds early into their T side until the Roar took an element of control, holding a 13-10 edge which gave them a sniff of hope that their playoff dreams would come alive.

Brisbane hung tough though, as they have all season long, putting away five straight rounds to be on match point. The Roar, who had been struggling to find gotzema anywhere that he could have an impact, got two huge impact frags from him as he held down the B site in the 30th round, allowing the Roar to force overtime.

OT started with a win for the Roar after a big 3k from Del but they could only go 2-1 up from there, making the first round of Sydney’s T half massively important. YetiBacon held down the A site, and Doom closed out the tying 17th round.

A big round from Jamie put the Deceptors onto match point once again but zorboT and souLjah came up huge, forcing the map into second Overtime. Once again gotzeMa found a rare clutch round, getting two frags early which allowed topguN (from 1HP) to find the last two to open up 2OT, and the Roar rode this out to a 3-0 half, which put them on three match points to close out the match. They sealed it on the first, claiming the match 22-18 and for the time being at least, putting one hand on the final playoff spot.

Perth Ground Zero took on Melbourne Avant Gaming in the second match – both teams were locked for playoffs as both Sydney sides could not catch either squad, but the winner would have pole position over first place. A win for Perth would clinch first for them as they held the tiebreaker over both Chiefs and ORDER, and Avant had the edge over the Chiefs as well.

The Perth boys came out firing onto Inferno, hanging the first four rounds up on Avant’s T side in fairly short order. Avant battled back strongly through pan1k and lushbadger to restrict Perth’s halftime lead to 9-6. But when Perth found the pistol round on their T side, it signalled the beginning of the end for Avant’s Saturday.

They were able to secure their first round of the half in the first buy round, but Ground Zero shut them out from there. BURNRUOk fell agonizingly short of dropping 30, and NikkeZ ably supported him through what ended up being a convincing victory for the boys from the West.

The win secured them first seed, locked Avant into the 2/3 matchup and set the scene for an all-or-nothing closing match of the day.

That match would see Melbourne ORDER’s sub squad, with the main squad off preparing for international competition, take on a Sydney Chiefs unit that featured all their eligible main squad members. With these players back, JD would be the sub player rounding the squad, with fan favourite Prodigy (among others) staying on the bench as the teams took to AU CS specialty map Mirage.

ORDER opened with the first two rounds, but the Chiefs imposed their class on their CT side once the gun rounds game to play, with the next eight rounds on the bounce before ORDER halted the run with two straight rounds. The Chiefs re-established their dominance with the last 3 rounds of the half, closing out their CT side with a commanding 11-4 half.

ORDER didn’t have a lot of room left for error, and thankfully they won another pistol round. This time they really put the boots into the Chiefs first eight of the half up on the Chiefs to take a 12-11 lead, leaving the Chiefs visibly frustrated along the way before they finally halted the run to tie things back up again at 12-12.

At this point, you had to spare a thought for the Roar players, whose dreams had been crushed, reborn, and then clamped again as the Chiefs put two more up to take a strong 14-12 lead, and Moey got the opening pick of the 27th round to boot. ORDER would once again return fire, taking the 13th and Keeyto holding strong on the A bomb site to re-tie the match at 14 apiece.

However, the Chiefs that stood firm. Two straight plays onto the B site would deliver them the last two rounds they needed, a spot in the playoffs, and the broken hearts of their Sydney rivals on a platter. The Chiefs had done it, as they always find a way to on LAN, and booked themselves a semi-final date against Perth Ground Zero.

This leaves the semi situation tantalizing. On one side of the bracket, we have the Sydney Chiefs and Perth Ground Zero who have probably the two strongest on-paper squads available to be fielded this weekend.

On the other, we see an incredibly spicy Melbourne derby between the Avant and ORDER squads. With the main team on international LAN, I expect this to be the ORDER’s sub squad, so this match will be very winnable for an Avant team that plays together regularly.

The Gfinity Elite Series returns with CS:GO tomorrow from 3pm AEDT. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

With the penultimate week of the Gfinity Elite Series done and dusted, three teams have secured their spot in the finals while one is all but confined to the basement for another season.

It was a week of heartbreak and glory that could have serious implications for the finals, so let’s go down memory lane to see what happened in Week 4.

Melbourne ORDER vs Melbourne Avant

With Avant securing their spot in the playoffs last week, it was now ORDER’s turn to keep their back to back championships hopes alive. In a massive bonus for the army, their main squad returned to Sydney to fight for this battle for Melbourne.

The change in lineup immediately paid off, quickly taking the lead 3-1 after losing the pistol round.

However, Avant did well on their T side, pinching rounds off ORDER to bring the half to a respectable 9-6 at the half. With AV picking up the first two rounds after the break, things seemed good for the boys in blue. I say this like there was a catch.

That catch was hatz.

A dominate performance from him saw ORDER rise from the trenches to pick up the final seven rounds in a row as they took the win 16-8 and provisional first place along with it, putting them in a good spot for a high seed in the finals.

Perth Ground Zero vs Brisbane Deceptors

The Deceptors’ hopes of having any realistic shot of playoffs relied on this game, but with GZ still riding high off the 16-0 against the second ORDER lineup, it was never going to be easy for the Queenslanders.

It looked good for them at the start, gaining a respectable 4-0 lead and forcing Ground Zero onto the back foot early.

But the boys from Perth pounced, taking the lead just before the half as they headed into a 9-6 lead. While the Deceptors continue to look to take rounds, they could almost never convert, as GZ locked Brisbane into the basement once again with an 16-8 win.

Sydney Roar vs Sydney Chiefs

For the Chiefs, a loss in the Sydney Derby would see them miss the playoffs, an idea most would of thought foreign at the start of the season.

Meanwhile for the Roar, a win would of see them secure a upset playoffs spot turn the final week into a full blown dead rubber/tank bowl week.

The Chiefs started off the game picking up the first two rounds.

But then, just like Sydney’s weather this Wednesday, gotz’s and co slammed into the Chiefs, knocking them over with a surprising display of dominance on T side Train, something said as often as ORDER winning a title since season 1.

While the Chiefs were able to tie things back up to 5-5 at one point, the Roar secured the final five rounds in the half, securing a 10-5 half. At this point, only a brick wall could stop the Roar from securing a playoffs spot in week four.

That wall was the Sydney Chiefs.

In another display of T side Train dominance (insert sharp chills through spine), the Chiefs ran over the Roar like Dylan Napa on the wing and stormed home with an 16-13 win over their Sydney counterparts, keeping the 4th spot in playoffs open for one more week.

The Playoffs Situation

For the Chiefs, if they win, 4th is theirs. They can also claim their spot in the playoffs if they lose by less than six (Bonus Point) and Sydney Roar lose.

If the Roar win however, they would sang 4th if they defeat the Deceptors and if the Chiefs lose by more than six.

While it may seem like a two horse race for the final spot, there is a slight possibility that we may see a 3 way tie for 4th.

How can this happen?

If the Chiefs lose to ORDER and the Deceptors defeat the Roar by less than six rounds, then we would see the teams tied on six points.

This is where things get tricky.

At the time of publication, there are rules for when *TWO* teams are tied, but not a three team situation currently available in the rulebook we have. Snowball is currently seeking clarification on the tiebreak rules in a three way situation and will update this section when possible.

Meanwhile at the top of the ladder, with GZ and AV fighting in the twilight game, an ORDER win would mean a tie in the top.

If this happens, then head to head is used to figure out who is higher. Meaning that if GZ win, they come out of the regular season in first, while for AV, they would come second to ORDER.

The Gfinity Elite Series returns with CS:GO tomorrow from 3pm AEDT. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

The third week of the Gfinity Elite Series have come and gone with a mixture of close games and disaster. For some teams, their playoff hopes are still alive but for others they’ve crumbled into dust as the season advances. Welcome to this week’s Gfinity CS:GO recap.

Brisbane Deceptors vs Sydney Chiefs

The Deceptors were still hunting for their first win of the Gfinity season after a 16-13 defeat at the hands of Melbourne Avant and an unfortunate but undeniably epic 22-20 double overtime loss against Avant’s Melbournian counterparts in ORDER.

However, for that win to eventuate, they had to go through the Chiefs, who coming into the tournament had looked like a title contender but had fallen in two horrid performances against Perth Ground Zero and Melbourne Avant, and now were also hunting for their first win.

It would be tough however, as the starting squad was unavailable and MoeycQ stepped in to fill the breach in the secondary side. They were weakened but weren’t going to go down without a fight as it was now do-or-die for both teams.

Starting on CT, the Chiefs played well enough to bounce out to an early lead against the struggling Deceptors side, moving into the half-time break with a 9-6 lead. Nothing to sneeze at, but not insurmountable for the Deceptors either.

However, the Deceptors’ CT side couldn’t handle the Chiefs’ prowess on Cache as bombs blew up again and again for the Sydneysiders. The second half was close, coming to 7-6 in favour of the Chiefs, but those 7 rounds were enough to push them to a 16-12 victory and leave the Deceptors holding the wooden spoon with a Week 4 matchup against the winners of the next series.

Melbourne ORDER vs Perth Ground Zero

ORDER had emerged as frontrunners in the competition after a dominating win over Sydney Roar and the aforementioned double overtime win over the Brisbane Deceptors, and were hoping to continue that run into Week Three.

Their opponents would be Perth Ground Zero, who’d dispatched the Chiefs in astonishing fashion, with a 13-2 CT side before a clean 3-0 T side before going down against Sydney Roar 9-16. They would come into the match both favoured to win by the fans and the bookies, as ORDER were using their secondary lineup with sonic replaced by peachy, a relatively unproven side.

It’s not often that we see an utter shellacking in competitive CS:GO, with 16-3, 16-2 and 16-1 victories few and far between. In this season of Gfinity, only the two teams taking on each other here could claim a feat like that, with ORDER beating Roar 16-3 and Ground Zero taking down the Chiefs 16-2.

And if you had to pick a team that would be on the receiving end of the shellacking, you wouldn’t have picked the undefeated Melbourne ORDER, especially against Ground Zero who’d lost to a team that ORDER had smashed 16-3 earlier in Week 1. But I suppose we can let that slide due to the inexperience of the substitute squad.

But that’s what happened as GZ put on an absolute clinic on Mirage, led by a phenomenal performance from BURNRUOk to take a 16-0 victory over the hapless ORDER. They first won 15 rounds in a row on the ostensibly favoured CT side before a pistol round put ORDER out of their misery.

Ground Zero now eagerly await the Deceptors this week, knowing that the team could be at an all time morale low heading into their date with deStiny and the GZ squad. ORDER, on the other hand had an opportunity to get their championship run back on track against the on-form Melbourne Avant.

Melbourne Avant vs Sydney Roar

Before the season started, most people had written off Sydney Roar as a team that would languish at the bottom of the leaderboards, and Week 1 certainly lent credence to that theory. However, the young squad bounced back to take a win over Ground Zero and set themselves up for a fairytale run with a win over Avant.

However, Avant had easily looked the strongest team in the tournament and would have no hesitations about laying the smackdown down onto Roar given the opportunity. They’d dispatched the Deceptors 16-13 before shutting down the Chiefs 16-8 to take first place on points.

Playing on Dust II, it was the unproven Roar who sped out to the early lead, and then resorted to trading rounds back and forwards with Avant to win their T-side half 9-6. The boys from Sydney had the makings of a performance that would show that their previous win was no fluke and they were a contender.

However, you have to remember that this is the until-now undefeated Melbourne Avant, and they weren’t going to lead a 6-9 deficit stop them from claiming the now wide-open first place position. Now playing on T-side and facing down an eager Roar, Avant flexed their muscles and got to work.

Roar took a round here and there, but over time Avant claimed victory after victory to first catch up to the Roar, then surpass them to finally take the win 16-13 after a 10-4 second half.

With the win, Avant have an opportunity to put away one of their closest competitors, fellow Melbourne team ORDER while we have the Sydney derby with Roar doing battle against the Chiefs.

The Gfinity Elite Series returns with CS:GO tomorrow from 3pm AEDT. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

The second week of the Gfinity Elite Series has come and gone with a week filled with comebacks, dominant performances and up-and-comers we don’t get to see on LAN as often as their T1 counterparts.

Melbourne Avant vs Sydney Chiefs

With both starting rosters at the ESL AUNZ Championship Finals in Brisbane, both teams fielded their subs as they played in a game that was more reminiscent of a game in FPL.

Avant took the early advantage, quickly racking up a 10-1 lead as all five AV players played their part on the CT side.

Meanwhile on the Chiefs side, a horrid start by multiple players saw their T side fall around them as they staggered to a woeful 12-3 score at the break.

The hope of a comeback was ignited for a brief moment as they were able to string together five rounds near the end, but it was all in vain as they fell to Avant 16-8 in a performance some would want to forget quickly.

Sydney Roar vs Perth Ground Zero

With the main GZ Roster playing for Australia at IESF, a who’s-who of T2 talent was brought in too hold the banner for the west.

They would face the Roar, who were looking for their first win after last weeks’ drubbing.

GZ took the early momentum, gaining a respectable 7-3 advantage and looking set to take out a critical win for the org.

However, a clean pistol 3k from topguN saw the start of the near-unstoppable Roar train, storming to nail GZ for the half (8-7) before charging into double figures.

GZ could claim only two more rounds as the Roar quickly ended the map with a 16-9 win and crucially denying Perth a bonus point that could mean everything when seasons’ end comes.

Melbourne ORDER vs Brisbane Deceptors

If you were the Deceptors, you must have been thinking of an easy win over the secondary Order lineup.

And at 6-1 up early, you would think they would cruise to victory and put themselves in a box seat for the playoffs.

Unfortunately for them, there cruise became to feel like six months in a leaky boat, hoping just to keep afloat as ORDER took the next 13 rounds unopposed, surprising nearly everyone as they jumped to 14-6.

The Deceptors then mounted a huge comeback, losing only one round in the final ten as they somehow forced the game into OT.

Another comeback from 18-15 down saw the Deceptors stay in the fight, but ORDER were able to eventually deal with the Queenslanders as they took the win 22-20 to stay at the top of the ladder.

Looking forward to this week, seasons could be ended while others can book their tickets to the playoffs.

In the first game, it’ll be both the Chiefs and Deceptors trying to salvage their season and keep their playoffs hopes alive as a loss here could be enough to deny any hopes of finals for either of these teams.

Meanwhile in the twilight game, ORDER look all but set to confirm there 2nd Gfinity playoffs as they play against Ground Zero who could sneak into the top 3 with only a bonus point.

Finally, Avant look to keep up with ORDER at the top as they take on the Roar in a match where after this week, doesn’t seem as clear as it once was.

Catch the Gfinity Elite Series CS:GO teams battling it out from 3pm AEDT on Saturday to see who can make playoffs and who may be saying goodbye to their hopes.

Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

The defending champions Melbourne ORDER comfortably brushed aside the Sydney Roar 16-3 on Inferno. The champs were on-point in all facets, as both aliStair’s hair and Hatz’s rifling were in fine form. The latter provided us an answer to the age-old question of “Who would win: Five Roaring Sydneysiders, or one hatty boi?” INS also had big rounds to close out a dominant T-side start that the Roar couldn’t recover from.

TopguN played a near lone-hand while zorboT may have lived up to the last half of his name a little bit for the red and white side of Sydney. In their defence, the Roar wouldn’t have been walking into the match expecting a win against the ORDER, given that their roster remained intact into Gfinity, and so they’ll take the lessons and look to build from what’s a rough week one draw.

If we thought that series was a curbstomping, the Sydney Chiefs showed us that Sydney had not yet *begun* to disappoint on Inferno with a 16-2 loss at the hands of Perth Ground Zero. These Baby Chiefs don’t yet compare to the LAN stompers of the day-to-day Chiefs roster, with Moey and Iyen looking to bring up some youngsters like JD and prodigy who had some encouraging moments, but overall struggled.

The mix of youth and experience wasn’t enough this time around in the face of a very strong Perth unit led by Void in a starring role and ably backed up by a surging bURNRUOk. In a reversal of fortunes from the first match, the western boys delivered a strong CT half and closed it out emphatically. The pistol round of the second half going West meant that Chiefs just didn’t have enough rounds or enough guns to come back from the disastrous opening half.

After two matches where it looked like the strongest performing Sydneysider was Geordie “Mac” McAleer on the caster desk, we moved to a much closer affair between the Melbourne Avant and the Brisbane Deceptors, which went the way of Melbourne, 16-13 on Cache. Avant’s pan1k is probably the biggest name on the server but it was his teammate Ju1ces who put the squeeze on Brisbane early. The teams traded blocks of rounds through the first 10, settling on 5-5 until Melbourne edged the first half narrowly, 8-7.

Pan1k took over through the middle portion of this map, staking his side to a commanding 13-8 lead before the Deceptors would take two of the next three rounds to score themselves a critical tenth round. From 15-11 they would defend map point twice but, in the end, Melbourne put them away for the result. A consolation point for Brisbane is an all-too-familiar theme for them from Season One, but at least 13-16 is an improvement, and they can build from that.

Coming up this week we see two sub squads battle it out with the Melbourne Avant Gaming taking on the Sydney Chiefs, the Roar will look to bounce back against the Perth Sub-Zeroes (heh) with the main squad over at IeSF, and the Deceptors will try and take on what is expected to be Melbourne ORDER’s sub squad.