YANNO INTRO

Everyone pretends the group stage matters, but let’s be honest. Seeded first, second, or third…well… it’s all the same. What matters is the here and now, when it’s actually time to perform. We’ve all spent six months scrimming, stratting, arguing, VOD reviewing, playing four to five nights a week (and some even six or seven, sorry Goons), and all of the grind, the sweat and the tears, come down to these ultimate matches. This is where legends are made. Thirty-five-year-old legends, but legends nonetheless.

Would Janitors finally live up to LAN expectations?

Would Bricked UP put everyone back in their cage again, or was the Polo and DG a one-time cinderella story?

Would +Forward actually deliver on all the prophecy and foreshadowing we’ve been force-fed by Panther?

Would a dark horse appear, or is everyone exactly who they’ve shown themselves to be?

Would Check Six finish second?

And last but not least… would Awakening collapse in their expected fashion? Within the next 12 hours, all these questions would be answered, and only excuses and coping would remain. Essentially, whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep better at night.

Upper Bracket Quarterfinals

The final 8 took to the maps bright & early on Sunday morning. Janitorz took on Empyrean and started on thier map, Matmata, taking it down 13-2. Toujane was a close contest, but Janitorz took the series 2-0.

With Awakening taking down x6 in the group stage and coming out of Group B in second, this meant that two of the big boys were going to take each other on earlier than expected. In what ended up being a rematch of the Upper Bracket Final from Dallas, +forward got their revenge on x6 in a 3 map series. +Forward won x6’s pick, and x6 won +forwards pick, leaving Dawnville as the decider. +forward took that one easily, 13-2.

After a less than ideal group stage, Nemesis had a date with Dallas Champions Bricked Up. After a 13-5 victory on Breakout, Bricked Up made it a 2-0, winning Carentan as well.

Unknown Players vs Awakening came into the playoffs as a tale of two group stages. Awakening went 5-1, beating everyone except Bricked Up. UP went 2-3, and were only able to defeat Roll The Dice & Regicide. Awakening was able to pick up right where they left off, taking Burgundy 13-7, before taking UP’s map as well.

Lower Bracket Round 1

After an impressive group stage, the bracket luck simply did not align for empyrean. After matching with juggernauts Janitorz in the UB, they got x6 in LB1. After x6 took Toujane 13-3, Empyrean needed their fortunes to change on Burgundy, or they were going home. Unfortunately, it was time to pack their bags.

What ended up being one of th emost shocking storylines of all of LAN potentially was UP’s matamta performance. Coming into LAN, UP had taken matmata off some of the top teams in the league & cups. It was their rock, the one they could lean on. At LAN, UP went 0-3 on Matmata, including both of their playoff matches. This one hurt bad, as Nemesis took them down 13-1. Sixxer tried his best to save Dawnville, but it was not to be.

Upper Bracket Semifinals

In a groupstage rematch, +forward took on Janitorz in the first UB Semifinal match. Janitorz had won matmata on Saturday, but Sunday was to see two new maps. +forward won Burgundy, 13-8, before the two teams moved on to Breakout. In what was a full team effort, +forward moved on to the Upper Bracket Finals for the second straight LAN.

Awakenings run up to this point had a fairy tale start. A combined 7-1 map score to this point, they had a rematch against Bricked Up who was a perfect 8-0, and was the only team to beat them. Bricked Up had to work for it, but improved to a collective 10-0, after 13-9’s on Burgundy & Carentan.

Loser Bracket Quarterfinals (LB2)

It was to be another group stage rematch for Awakening. After taking down x6 13-11 on Saturday, once again we had two new maps to play. Matmata was never close, as x6 ran away with it 13-6. Toujane was looking like an Awakening win, as they started Axis up 5-0. x6 didn’t give up, and were able to take it in the end, sending Awakening home, 2-0.

Janitorz, after a tough series vs +forward, looked to rebound quickly vs Nemesis. In what is almost an inter-org battle of sorts, with many of these players having deep-rooted history, this one had the hype potential, but ultimately didn’t deliver. Janitorz won easily, 13-6, 13-5.

FINAL FOUR

It was always going to be these four teams. The same four cores from LAN1 repeated in Columbus. The only thing left to determine was the order. +Forward, who finished 3rd in Dallas, were able to repeat and make it back to the Upper Bracket Finals and guarantee third place. This time, they faced Bricked Up. Bricked up stayed perfect, now 12-0, after taking down Touajne 13-8, and Carentan 13-9.

With Bricked getting a direct placement in the finals, it was time to run through the last two LB matches. Check Six & Janitorz started us off in the fourth place, LB Semifinal match. These two teams faced each other in Dallas, where x6 was able to narrowly escape defeat in overtime on 3 maps. This time was much different. Janitorz won breakout 13-11, and matmata 13-6

Janitorz had now earned themselves a chance at redemption in a rematch against +Forward. And while, Janitorz won the group stage battle, and +Forward got revenge in the UB Semis, well…. this is where the loser would be sent home, in 3rd place.

After a 13-10 victory on Carentan, Janitorz closed it out in two maps, 13-11 on Dawnville.

Grand Final

The two teams most had predicted to make finals, other than delusional teams with delusional perspectives, made it through. No one really knows how the ban/pick phase went, as the last minute bo5 threw a wrench in the schedule and Magnum got both teams on board regarding rulesets. As far as we know, Bricked had the pick for the first two maps. But with recent success on Carentan, Janitorz felt confident on it, even against a seasoned team like Bricked. And with very close rounds and an exciting match, Janitorz almost proved it. They fell short but went into Toujane with confidence.

On Toujane, it was more of the same, and Janitorz duked it out in heroic fashion against the defending champions. It all came down to a 1v2, with Mylo (a pro, who doesn’t fake), capitalized on miscommunication between Gl4d and Nytrix, to steal a sure round from them. And then, in typical Blake fashion, he had a round-losing tag on a Bricked member to lose the map 13-11, essentially crushing all our dreams of witnessing a relatively close finale.

Matmata had DG being DG and living up to his legacy. He crushed the souls of a mentally exhausted Janitorz squad with clutches and key kills, and even a ridiculous mp44 one-tap. The stream caught most of it, and Bricked members would tell you the same. John hammered the last nails in the Janitorz coffin to close out their ridiculous run at GameArena Columbus.

YANNO OUTRO

Bricked did not just win. They took care of their side of the bracket like it was controlled demolition. Not a single map dropped. All weekend ! They showed up, played, collected their paycheck, and left. Apparently, the Polo and DG aura survived the stress test, and even though Janitors made their run and earned their spot in the finals, they fell short.

They looked composed, locked in, and ready for the moment. But then the grand finals happened and the energy just flatlined. The comms slowed. The confidence wavered even though the matches were ridiculously close. You could see the weight of the day hit them in real time.

And then came the Janitorz starvation arc. No time to eat. No fuel. Running on fumes. Which would be understandable if the venue did not have a restaurant three meters away that delivers food to your station. You can literally order chicken strips between rounds. Who would’ve thought that Woody and his oreos would be the missing factor on Sunday?

Factors are factors, but the results speak for themselves. After running a worst loser’s bracket gauntlet at GGEZ, Bricked Up took it home in dominating fashion. And this time, they went the easy way and just decided not to drop a single map.

In a sea of smelling salts and adderalls, the kings were crowned and the curtain fell on another successful Call of Duty 2 LAN, the second of its kind in modern times. And the community is already craving for another one, giving themselves just enough time to rekindle marriages and relationships, until we’re right back to going to bed in the wee hours of the night, for a chance at glory in a twenty year old game.