After an action packed GameArena season, the competition has finally come to a close. With 83 teams battling it out for a shot at a cool $2500 worth of cash and prizes, the season was foot to the floor action from the word go. Team eXile5 were in the mix with their revamped BC2 team which saw some familiar faces from eXile5’s past, combined with a few fresh faces that were keen on the game and ready to smash face. The tournament was set up in a single elimination style which put teams head to head against each other, with every game being the decider for who moves on in the competition, and who packs their bags. With eXile5 being one of the seeded teams for the competition, they were due to sit out the first round of games while the less experienced teams battled it out for a place in the next round.



In round two, eXile5 made quick work of their opponents Online Combat Battalion, demolishing them 277 tickets to 0. Rounds three and four continued on in much the same fashion, with the boys overcoming Deadly Combination 182-0 and Togz 139-0. The first real challenge for Team eXile5 came in the form of Bush Rangers, who were widely considered a top side in BF2, and were undoubtedly well prepared coming into this game. However, the x5 boys fired up on the night and took it home convincingly, 102-0. The next opponent, [MOS] were unexpectedly in the semi finals, after a forfeit win over Team Uprising. Team eXile5 however, managed to play the game just as if it was any other, and defeated [MOS] 92-0 for a spot in the very first GameArena Bad Company 2 Grand Final!

On the opposite side of the format seedings, the number 1 seeded Anarchy Krew who were widely tipped to take the comp easily at the start of proceedings. aK were also making light work of their opponents, and the stage was set for what looked like a great matchup!



The final game was due to be played on Laguna Presa, which was a more comfortable map for x5 compared to some of the others, and we knew that Anarchy Krew would be bringing their A game to this match, as there was over a $1000 difference between first and second place. The game started extremely well, everyone was hitting their shots, the calls were perfect and the pre-game Yolanda bomb was deployed. The first round saw eXile5 ahead of aK for the majority of the game, and aK struggled to adjust to our agressive play style. the first half ended in an upset favour to, x5 ahead of aK by 33 tickets to 0. In the second half however, Anarchy Krew managed to hit some sort of second wind, and their game vastly improved with the snap of a finger. x5 were down on tickets almost immediately, and whilst eventually brought the margin back, we just didn't quite even the tickets enough.The frustration could be heard in ventrilo, and x5 were fighting to hold on and cause a fantastic upset win, but eventually went down 46-0, losing 13-0 overall.

However, it was a great season for us all, learning the game and working through the different maps, and eventually being rewarded with $500 and some other gifts for our efforts. Second place out of 83 teams, not a bad effort for the first BC2 tournament since the game has gone retail!
Congratulation on a fine effort BC2 team, and a big shout out to Forged hosting! www.forgedhosting.com.au

Written by: "Jezr"