Thanks to our Affiliate GamerHold, the past, present and future of gaming, we have this brilliant writeup of the recent Australian incision in the MLG Columbus tournament. The main banner is by his awesome brother BossLogic.
The second major MLG this year just passed through Columbus, and while all MLG events are special, this one was just a little more special then usual. You see, this MLG event there was a full Australian squad in the Halo 3 tournament. Australia’s best Halo 3 team at the moment, Frenetic Array (Fray) made the long trip to the states to compete.
Not only did they compete, but they also made history in the process. Fray is the first Australian team to compete at an MLG event, and Fray was also only the second team from outside the US to ever make the championship bracket.
There were plenty of Australian support in the stream all night. Many didn’t sleep while following Fray’s progress. Here are some of the comments that were posted in the official MLG stream.
“In the Open Bracket, our top seed has already fallen to the Losers Bracket. 49 Yellow Dragons was defeated 2-0 by Australian sensations Frenetic Array, the 128th seed.”
“After a 50-40 win in Game 1, Frenetic Array took Game 2 3-2.”
“Frenetic Array are looking to prove that Australia is on the same level as US teams, and they have certainly gotten off to an impressive start. We’ll be following their progress through the night as they fight for one of the four spots in the Championship Winners Bracket. ”
‘Frenetic Array is attempting to join Power as the second team from outside of North America to play in the Championship Bracket.’
And fight for one of the four spots they did, and did in style. Fray ripped through the bracket beating all the teams in front of them without dropping a game.
It was a little different in the championship bracket though. They came up against Warriors who proved to be their toughest opponents yet. Fray went down 0-3 against the Warriors but a few better decisions in the last Guardian Ball game and who knows what would have happened.
Warriors went on to face Str8 in round 2 of the winners bracket where they lost 1-3. Though they did beat Illuminati in the losers bracket 3-1 giving them another chance against Str8. This was one of the best series of the night. It came down to basically the last kill of the last game. Check it out if you haven’t seen it yet. So Warriors take out Str8 6-5 which must be a huge blow to Str8 and Str8 fans alike.
Warriors could not beat Believe the Hype though and their run ended and got a final placing of 5th in a top effort. So Fray should be pretty pleased with how they went against the Warriors.
As for Fray and their adventures in the losers bracket. I did not get to watch this and I’m not even sure these matches were even on stream, but Fray took down Take Respect 3-2, then ran into Ambush and lost 1-3. Fray’s fairy tale run ended here.
There was a great chance of Fray placing even higher then they did, but Fray went to the US to compete in MLG and to prove that Australian teams can run with the best of them, and they proved it big time. Most, if not all the teams there took notice. Fray gained respect for themselves and for the Australian gaming community in general.
So congrats to Fray on a magnificent effort in their MLG event, with many more to come hopefully. It has been a long time coming for an Australian team to compete in MLG and I’m glad it was a successful and memorable run. Thanks for a great weekend Fray.
Now I’m sure many people here in Oz and around the world would like to see Fray and many teams like Fray compete again at another MLG event. I’m sure every team would be more then happy to go and compete. The 20+ hour flight is not the problem, it’s the funds.
(Note: Ali has been to EVO: APAC recently and even then they had to drive hours and hours, as the cost to even fly to Sydney was high)
Sponsorship in Australia is no where near what it is in other developed countries, so how would Fray and others like them be able to compete? Well, personally I’m hoping Fray would pick up a few major sponsors. Heck, I would sponsor them if I had the funds.
Another idea is something similar to what EVO did. If you don’t know what EVO is, it’s the Evolution Championships. The worlds largest fighting game tournament. This year was a special one for EVO. The had multiple EVO qualifiers around the world that gave the winner (Sometimes top 2: Check EVO APAC HERE), a free flight and placement at EVO which will be in Las Vegas on July 9th-11th.
It would be an amazing move to see some MLG qualifiers around the world. Maybe 1 in Australia, a few in Europe, 1 or 2 in Asia. The winners of the events get paid flights to compete at an MLG event that is coming up. Just a thought. Think about it Sundance! =P
Anyway, it has been a great weekend. I look forward to the next MLG event, with or without an international team participating in it.
Related Links
MLG Halo 3 Full Results
Halo 3 Championship Bracket (Winners)
Halo 3 Championship Bracket (Losers)
Halo 3 Open Bracket | Section 1 (Winners)
ALCPro Website
MLGPro Website
Evolution Championship (EVO)
