Article by Bobby "weenus!" Hicks


---

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Completing Championship Gaming Series’ first North American regular season in dead last place is a hard fact to come to terms with. Even tougher though, is building a successful team out of the ruins of that high potential, low performance roster. Last year’s “worst” Counter-Strike: Source team, the Dallas Venom, approaches the 2008 season with two new recruits, and a reinvigorated hunger for success.

The Venom has faced nothing but challenges since their first week in the CGS. After ending the season with a devastating 3-9 record, the team competed at NewEgg LANFest, the first non-CGS event to feature all six sanctioned CS:S teams, and continued their losing streak by not emerging from group play.

Shortly thereafter, the controversial release of Kevin “azn” Wang left a hole on the roster that would go on to serve as a welcomed opportunity. The Venom called taxi player Eric “brawwr” Neer into active duty, and went on to capture the CEVO Season 5 Counter-Strike: Source Championship. Unfortunately their progress didn't continue into the 2008 CGS Combine -- a fact that spoke loudly to General Manager Alex Conroy.

“The Combine was the final straw for me. My lineup was amazing, but they weren't playing to their potential. Finishing last place at the CGS, getting knocked out early at LANFest, and losing the second match of the Combine as well as the challenge match... It raised alarms,” explained Conroy. “I am by no means saying it was exodus or kam's fault, but they were a unit, and when your coming into the draft in last place, winning is the only thing that matters.”

The day of the draft, Conroy had his protected players feeling out eventual draftees Kyle "Mustang" Cummings, Carson "Classified" Holt, Erik "da_bears" Stromberg and Nick "nicKn0iT" Nowakowski. Cummings and Holt would go on to take photos wearing Dallas’ official red and white colors before the night was over.

As far as rifle players available in the draft, Cummings was about as good as it could get. His dominant play with Pandemic had caused many to predict an early exit from the player pool for the Counter-Strike: Source veteran, but few had guessed that it would have been Conroy to bring him into the league.

“I first noticed Mustang at the 2007 Combine when he played for Forbidden. I stood behind him as he demolished team after team. He wasn't only dominant, but he could communicate, and handle the pressure of having a General Manager stand directly behind him,” said Conroy. “Kyle is the total package. He is humble, extremely skilled, dedicated to the team, and a great overall person. I am extremely pleased to have him on our 2008 roster.”

Venom CS:S team captain David "zid" Chin was also impressed with how well Cummings fit into his system.

“Mustang brings some pretty good Counter-Strike: Source experience which has improved the team,” said Chin. “He's also a great team player and contributes just as much to the team as myself.”

Dallas’ second pickup, Holt, a former taxi player, came pre-packaged with chemistry as he played on competitive teams with Neer for more than three years.

“Classified has three very strong attributes: Raw aim, adaptability, and hunger. He also has previous experience with brawwr,” said Conroy. “At the end of the day it was his pure desire to prove himself, combined with the talent to accomplish that goal, that made him my fourth round draft pick.”

Conroy's selection of Holt at the top of the fourth round was somewhat of a surprise, considering the tested talent still on the board at that point included marquee players like Justin “Sunman” Summy, Griffin “shaGuar” Benger, and the aforementioned Nowakowski. Still, Conroy went with a player that had something to prove, and a hunger for success. That hunger was what seemed to be missing to Conroy and members of the Dallas Venom last season. As a whole, the previous team had seemed to grow complacent, stagnant, and generally held themselves back.

“We ran into problems like laziness, not adapting well to different situations, a general lack of team input, and a lack of self improvement,” said Chin. “There was a ton of talent in the draft, and it enabled us to look for improvements in all of these areas.”

With a pair of fresh faces on his CS:S squad, Conroy hopes to right all of his wrongs from the previous season. Still, saying goodbye to his former players wasn’t easy for the Venom GM.

“Changing my 2007 lineup was probably the hardest decision I've made in eSports to date,” said Conroy. “I had a long history with both of those guys, and I thought they were great people in and out of game. However, as I have said before, winning is the only thing that matters.”

In a few short weeks, we’ll learn if the roster changes were for the better.



Digg This Stumble This Post to Del.icio.us