Challenge Smackdown South Europe

Final
AntraX	VS	defs

It had been a while since the semi finals had been played in the South European division. Both teams made good use of the pause however and could be found playing practice games on an almost daily basis.
This resulted in two teams very eager to finally figure out who is the best QuakeWorld squad around in the Mediterranean region. They both had plenty of players ready thirty minutes before the scheduled time of the game, and had already decided on a server. This server (BarrysWorld) didn't provide great connections for either team (pings 70 to 100) but was, and that's more important', on average, very fair. Having the game on BarrysWorld had the nice side-effect of being close to a public Qizmo. That Qizmo was put to good use as a relay point to send the game to live specators either side of the Atlantic.
The final would be a best of 5 series, with Antrax picking the first map, defs the next one, and the rest depending on the outcome of those. Both teams reasonably decided to field their best pinging players and keep the others in reserve. For Antrax: Torx, Kang, KaRRaS and DarKonS and for defs: Zip, Crow, Sl4sh and Dre34d. But let us get with the actual games now.

First map was E1M2; Antraxs choice, as I said earlier.

Antrax takes first YA, RL and Quad although the latter is killed soon. They secure the Quad-YA zone and take the next Quad too. 4 minutes in the game the score is 26-9 and Antrax is firmly in control. This lasts a few more minutes until defs manage to steal the 6th Quad. Antrax holds on to the YA and legahealth and regains control soon after with scores at about 60-16.
With 9 minutes remaining, the score has gone up to 88-32, but Antrax are in trouble the second time in the game. defs obtain several Quads and give the Antrax guys haging on to the YA a good fight.
This phase doesn't last too long either however and Antrax takes over all important positions again. With five minutes remaining, the score is 118-46. defs gets two more Quads, but lacking armour can't put them to very good use.
The final score (177-66) reflects the clear victory of Antrax in this rather one sided game. defs only managed to take over the Quad and YA areas twice, and never long enough get armor and weapons for all players.

defs choice for the second map was DM2; their home-map of this season.

This time, defs has the better start, taking Quad and both RocketLaunchers. Scores stay pretty even however (24-16 for defs) and Antrax manages to steal the 4th Quad. Antrax keeps the water area clear for a while and secures the next Quad as well. From than on, nobody has real control over the level for a long time.
At mid-game the frag count is about 60 for both teams. In the next minute defs finds itself behind in the scores for the first time on this map, but Antraxs lead never exceeds 15 frags.
The situation stays pretty hectic with Antrax taking Quads but numerous defs finding their way to the upper RL . With seven minutes remaining, defs gains control of the water area and quickly takes the lead again. History repeats itself however and one of the next Quads is for Antrax.
With just 5 minutes remaining, the scores are tied once again at 99. Antrax makes a few quick frags but loose control yet another time. When they manage to get another Quad, the score is 113-113 with 3 minutes remaining. The last few minutes are for defs however, and they manage to win with a 17 frags difference in the end.
defs was obviously better prepared for DM2 then they were for the first map, resulting in a very close game.

Since both teams won their own maps, map 3 and 4 would be picked by Antrax and defs respectively again. Antrax confirmed their love for episode maps and picked E3M7.

defs get the first Pentagram but can't really make any difference with it since they lack the weapons. Antrax take the castle with the RL in their possession, quickly disposing of any spawning defs. defs gathers at the other RL but can't manage to make many frags.
The RA is fought over a few times, but positions remain the same until the second Pent is about to appear. Two Antrax players rocketjump up to the Pent spawn, and attack the RL area, which ends up under Antraxs control right before the second pent appears. Positions have switched and with 7 minutes played, the score is 69-9 in favour of Antrax.
Using Quads, Antrax invades and temporarily takes over the castle with the RL as well from time to time, further depriving defs of direly needed weapons.
About one minute before the third Pentagram should arrive, defs abruptly gains control over that area, but they loose it just as suddenly. The third Pentagram ends up in Antraxs hands again.
With eight minutes remaining, Antrax has 130 frags while defs is at a stellar 16. Their situation being pretty hopeless, defs still fight hard and take up position at the castle from time to time.
Antrax postion at the RL on the bridge is never in danger anymore, and the last Pent is easily theirs.
defs still somehow manage to make a few frags in the last few minutes, but the final score of 215 for Antrax and 45 for defs is pretty clear nonetheless.

DM3 should be next, according to defs.

defs get first RL, but the Quad, Eyes and Pentagram are for Antrax. The second Quad is Antrax too, while defs are busy gathering some weapons in the bridge area. With these, defs manages to defend the third Quad.
The fourt Quad is for Antrax again, but defs has gathered at the Red Armor and quickly kill it.
Five minutes in the game, the score is 27-26 in slight favour of Antrax, but the Pent is well defended by defs so that ends up in their hands. Not a single frag is gained by it however; the Quaded Antrax player takes four neigh direct rocket hits and happily bunnies away.
In the next few minutes, control over RA and Quad switches a few times, not unlike what happened in the DM2 game earlier.
Around mid-game, defs has established firm control over both however, and are leading with 20 frags difference. Antrax manage to steal a few Quads, but defs margin steadily grows.
The final Pent is forgotten about for a few seconds, and its already there when 2 defs and one Antrax jump out of the window. Antrax has the most luck and grabs the powerup.
This gives Antrax the momentum to start fighting back, resulting in hectic final minutes.
Antrax efforts are to no avail however, and the final score is 131-83 in favour of defs.

NOTE: torXs demo ends after 10 minutes

With both teams winning 2 maps, the 5 the game would be deciding. Since all other maps in the league had been selected by the teams already, DM6 would be the tie-breaker.

After a bit of a fight near the central teleport, defs gets to the Eyes first. Antrax has the first Red Armor.
Antrax defends the RA and the Grenade Launcher area very well, as their score of 65 frags (vs. 16 for defs) after 3 minutes clearly shows.
About one minute later, the keepers of the RA are in trouble for the first time however. The second set of Eyes are for defs who manage to establish some control over the RA now too. This doesn't last very long however, and with 13 minutes remaining, Antrax is in charge of the most important areas again and the score is about 115-75.
Around half time, RA is back in defs hands, but that doesnt last 30 seconds; too short to gather enough armour. The frag difference remains pretty constant at 50 frags. With 7 minutes remaining, defs keep control a little longer, but still don't manage to make the score any closer. Control keeps going back and forth, and the score is 250-180 in the 16th minute.
The last few minutes are for Antrax again, and they win the game with 318-209.

This final game of the South European division was every bit as exciting as anyone could have hoped for. Connections may not have been the best, but both teams dealt with that aspect very well.
Antrax and defs were both worhty finalists, but this time Antrax came out on top and can rightfully call themselves champions of the South European division of Challenge Smackdown.
I think it is fair to say that, had either team put some more practice in the other teams maps of choice, the outcome would have been even more unpredictable. Whether they will do so or not, we will hopefully find out in a few months time.