Name:
Jon Corley

Position:
Writer

About The Author
Jon Corley is a long tenured Team 3D writer who currently heads 3D.NY's Website Staff

Like it or not, whichever team makes it through the Region 1 playoff system will ultimately go on to win the World Championship while the other American team will more than likely place in the runner-up position. At least that's what I think will happen. I wrote an article to this effect about a year ago and it still holds true today, little to nothing has changed since then. Having sat in the stands for a couple of franchise matches between European teams I have come to the conclusion that they are still not on the same level as their American counterparts as of yet, although they vastly improved since last year.

The only teams that pose a threat to a Region 1 franchise this year are Berlin and Birmingham. One exceptional division can do wonders for a franchise, but this is a team game and one division can't win the overall match no matter how talented they may be. Region 1 franchises have a clear advantage of having a month long regular season while the Europeans receive only about two weeks. Also, many of the global franchises are just that, global. It is often times difficult to get scheduled and stable practices in when your CS:S team is spanned across multiple countries not to mention the language barrier which surely rears it's ugly head from time to time.

I'll give a brief example of how a franchise stacks up to a Region 1 team and use 3D.NY as an example. Let's start with DOA4 Male. Even though Cardell often time struggles to get successive rounds on his fellow Region 1 players or even win matches for that matter, he is in a whole different league when compared to his foreign competitors. The only way I see Cardell losing is if Asia spits out some crazy button mashing 11-year old prodigy and I don't think those odds are very good. DOA4 Female is all but a 5-0 lock for 3D. Coolsvilla ended her season as one of the best DOA4 Females and that was against Region 1 players who are more skilled and experienced than anyone else. As long as Tanya doesn't play with her feet, a perfect 5-0 is attainable and the same goes for nearly any other Region 1 Female. Forza 2 is getting a little bit better for the world competitors, but not by much. Although they may have fast lap times, this is a team game and is a whole lot different than running time-trials. I have seen some impressive racers in the practice rooms but they are lacking experience with their new partners. Collisions often time decide the outcome of the match and I can all but guarantee that the Region 1 Franchises have become better versed in collisions than their foreign counterparts.

Next up is Counter-Strike Source and unlike 1.6, this should be a lock for any American franchise. Region 1 has a huge advantage of having a source community which is unrivaled by anything Europe can offer and the results will speak for themselves. If this were 1.6, I would easily give Europe the advantage but since it isn't I think Europe will be playing catch up this week in hopes of tweaking their game to counteract the American style. 3D.NY should be able to easily defeat any competition thrown in front of them and by a substantial margin every time.

The only division that poses a threat to a Region 1 team in my mind is FIFA. Some of the European FIFA players such as ChrisyB and Manyna could easily tip the scales in their favor if they get a couple early goals in. The European FIFA community is larger than the American Scene and they have spit out a lot of top players of the years. However, since this article is looking at how 3D.NY matches up against a European player I would have to give the edge to Wizakor against whomever he plays. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if he went to shoot-outs or even lost to a European FIFA player.

On paper, no matter which Region 1 teams advance into the World Finals they have a clear advantage heading into any match. If a global team manages to win the World Finals are negate everything I just said I will be both thoroughly surprised and at the same time excited. One of my biggest gripes last season was the skill gap between the different regions and I would love nothing more than to see that gap closed and see some competitive matches. However, I am a realist and I have seen no indication that the gap has narrowed at all and predict another sweep by Region 1.