Recap: CaDF vs. 2Cool - APL Finals Fall 2001
Written by: Fordus on 01/01/02

Winter 2001 APL Finals - CaDF wins series, 2-1. [Best of three games]

It was a late Friday night, and lobby grew of more and more people. When CaDF and 2Cool met each other for the first time, both teams knew that this series was for all the marbles, and that it would be a very good thing to get the early lead.

CaDF's notorious lineup of Mage, Parrotman, Cutler, and Toshi was present for this game and each of the other games. For the first game, 2Cool sported Astrok, Access Denied, Technique, and LoboNetwork.

The game started out fairly even, with both teams struggling to get an edge. After a bit of fighting, the server crashed! It was a frustrating thing to have the APL finals interrupted, but everyone just got back in the server and we restarted.

This time, CaDF was able to pick up some momentum. 2Cool was able to hold them off for a short period of time, but the CaDF attack was relentless. Mage is a monster that attacks your base and all its vulnerabilities from every which way, and even when you get him under control, it opens the door for the other CaDFS to make you pay. It's like in a basketball game, Mage would be a super huge center who you have to double team, and he simply passes the ball out to an open three-point shooter. Parrotman, Cutler, and Toshi are those three-point shooters. And so it wasn't 2Cool's day as CaDF had 3 caps on them shortly before regulation would have expired. Mage had a strong game as usual and Toshi scooped up 2 caps.

CaDF had an easy time capping by pushing the conflict line farther along the map until one CaDF was close enough to get behind 2Cool lines. At this point, 2Cool was threatened on both fronts, and if a 2Cooler died, it opened a hole on either the top or the bottom for the flagger to get through.

The 2nd game wasn't exactly like the 1st one. 2Cool came out with its old school lineup of Astrok, Access Denied, elDAZo, and Chinadian. Almost immediately, 2Cool takes to the offensive: China cuts high with Astrok not too far behind, and they have Toshi smoked in the CaDF end. What looks to be a potential flag run is stopped by Parrotman who looked to be on his game this afternoon.

Toshi counters with an attempt of his own in the 2Cool base, but the Dazzler was there to stop him. 2Cool seems to have the upper-hand in momentum, as China continuously attacks the CaDF base. With a 3v3 on the side of the Confederates, Parrot clears out all enemies.

As some time went on, Access Denied, or should I say, Bunny_AD, grabbed the flag by himself an headed low. As the 2Cool squadron comes to help him, again Parrot zaps the intruders.

The birdman then goes for a solo attempt, which would be CaDF's only flag attempt in the game by someone other than Toshi. As he kills Daz, 2C is forced to drop back, and a 4v4 in the 2C base ensues. After the run is halted, 2C makes a dangerous break for the flag. Dazo gets to mid-map with cover from the great China, who kills a bunch to make a 2C flag run look imminent. But Mage from behind kills 3 in a row to somehow stop the run. The tension rises. AD makes another sneak attempt going high this time, but the old DeF duo of Mage and Tosh are there to stop him. Toshi remains the single force of CaDF's offense, this time going for a solo attempt on Ast, but being promptly denied.

The game goes on with the same general pace; pressure from 2Cool with occasional threats by CaDF. Excitement picked up as Toshi headed to the 2Cool base all by himself, with AD spawning. The placement of AD's spawn would be critical. On the other end, Ast makes a flag attempt but it is smothered before he can get out of the CaDF base. AD gets a bad spawn and Toshi works some great positioning to get towards the top with the flag, with only the spawned China to do anything about it. Through some maneuvering, patience, and old-school tricks, China sees the other CaDFs coming from behind. He charges Tosh, kills him, and picks up the flag though he is now smoked from the effort. As he brings his own flag safely to his base as if it were the enemy flag, a 4v4 in the 2Cool base occurs, but 2Cool is able to clear.

Astrok, a master of clutch moments, again makes a flag attempt and gets to mid-map. Again 2Cool seems to have the game won but Mage kills a load of 2Coolers to stop it. China comes right back with a clear path out of the CaDF base, but Mage denies for yet another time. The game is deep into overtime, and China once more picks up the flag with all 4 2Coolers in the CaDF base. As China heads high across the map, Toshi and Mage get into the 2Cool base desperately, and there was a large scramble. AD did some damage and when the smoke cleared it was 4 2Coolers with both flags against Mage in the 2Cool base. As 2Cool prepared to charge him simultaneously, Ast picked up the flag from Chinadian's bones and got the cap to tie the series at 1-1. China had the MVP for an outstanding performance, as he was able to get into the CaDF many times, while Dazo was busy neutralizing Mage on the other end. 2Cool finished with 16 flag attempts and CaDF with 5 (4 of which were by Toshi). Mage finished with 17 frags, with China behind him with 15. It all came down to the next game. =)

The game started with the same lineups as last game. AD made an early attempt for the flag, going low, with Cutler attacking the 2Cool base on the other end. Both attempts were unsuccessful, but AD came back to try again with a solo on Toshi; this also failed. CaDF regrouped and were showing the same kind of life that beat TBWA, and a run looked certain as Mage picked up the 2Cool flag, forcing AD to come back. As the CaDF platoon tried marching high out of the base, Astrok destroyed the Confederate attackers.

After some more mid-map fighting, Cutler was the 2Cool base alone with Ast, and he killed "The Strok" and headed low. The other CaDFs came to help but AD and Daz displayed some brilliant defense to stop the run.

About halfway through the game, CaDF makes a strong attempt for the flag. After pushing the line of conflict far enough, Mage grabbed the flag and went high, while 2Cool spawned low. CaDF kept a chain of people to prevent 2Cool from getting high to cut off the flagger, and CaDF got the strong cap to take 1-0 lead.

Immediately following the CaDF cap, 2Cool made one of the strongest charges I've seen by a clan. SN-like, they won the mid-map battle and proceeded to kill CaDF upon its spawns, between rape and barraged of mortars, and it turned into a 4v2 in the CaDF base. However, Parrot spawned low in front and CaDF was able to stop the run from even getting out of the CaDF base.

As CaDF comes to attack, it is obvious that 2Cool is playing with more risks, being that they need a cap to tie it up before time runs out. So Ast and a smokey Dazo went to flag against Tosh, while CaDF seemed to have sure run on the other side. China and Mage were battling mid-map with China smoked, but China managed to emerge victorious! Ast and Daz seem to be stopped by spawners, however they kill a CaDF through some great crossfire and grab the flag and start heading out of the CaDF base. But CaDF, determined for the championship, are all playing defense at this point, and Parrotman and Cutler through some extremely patient play stop the run on the outskirts of the CaDF base. With 4 minutes left, Daz and Ast push high. It surprised me when I saw two 2Coolers high and 1 2Cooler low, with CaDF painted into the red base, and Ast went high and instead of low, forcing a 3 man rush at the top and turning into a heavy attack with all 4 2Coolers in the CaDF base, but Mage clears out the opposing 2Coolers.

China, like a mayfly in its last moments before death, kills Cut and goes to solo on Tosh. He heroically kills Tosh and none other than Astrok picks up the flag with just a few minutes left. China is killed by the entire CaDF army all guarding the outskirts of their base, and it turns into just Ast and AD in the CaDF base with the flag near the long bunker facing towards the left. Knowing that there was no time left, they tried pushing the flag low through some miracle but Parrot was able to nail them both. CaDF are the new APL champions.

For the first time in APL history, TBWA was stopped from making it to the finals, and Astrok lost a playoff game and was prevented from winning it all. Is this the dawn of a new era? Half of TBWA's top 6 have quit ARC. Astrok and Xeromos will be unable to ARC in a short while; what will become of the top H-Fronters? To me, it seems that the wonites of this APL would compare to how the tenites of APL a few seasons ago were. And this year, for the first time, a team of all Tenites have won APL.I don't know, just some food for thought.

Just for the record, the all-star game took place as well, with Acolyte, GodsHand, Cutler, Wizard, and Smack participating for Vechey and myself, Siphon, Teck, elDAZo, and Korrupt for Fiete. Vechey won 2-1 in OT, and I think everyone had a great time. =)

One final note, I have to extend a special thanks to Dave for everything that was made possible, including this aspect of Coverage itself. He takes the heat and blame from so many people when things go wrong; he should get the credit for so much that has gone right. Thank you! This concludes Winter 2001 APL; GG!

Written by: Fordus