Now that the first CGS season is over, we can look back and start to see some team identities forming.  NY, for instance, is probably still defined by their Source team, even though Wizakor was undoubtedly their star player.

I’d say the same thing for LA, but compLexity actually didn’t create that much noise during the season. We expected them to win, and they did. The bigger story, by far, was their DoA 4 players. Belle and sWooZie went a combined 2-22 on the season. Ouch.

When I think of the Optx, I think of Vanessa dominating DoA 4, and their Source team placing second in “Rounds For”, despite being the last CS:S team picked. Chicago has their PGR duo, and they’ve been the frontrunners all season in the CGS, and in my opinion they’re probably favored to win the championship for Region 1. Dallas was the biggest disappointment this season. They finished in last place, and their Source team also finished there despite being the third team picked. They just never seemed to create much buzz, as a franchise.

That leaves us with Carolina, which I can sum up in one word: controversy. Say what you will about their draft picks, players, and general manager, but they’ve probably received more attention and coverage than any other franchise.

Here we go again.

First of all, I have to point this out. If you haven’t read Dolven’s most recent interview on GotFrag, do it. Do it now, or else you go to bed without dinner.

I’ll get to the rest of the interview later, but when I read it, the last sentence of the first answer jumped out at me.

... Number Two because while I wanted Pandemic, but I knew that whatever Source team I drafted, I could manage the proper way to get the most out of them, so it didn’t matter which team I got. 

Keep that in mind while I refresh your memory of something he said just after the CGS draft.

One of the biggest factors in managing a Counter-Strike team is learning what makes a team tick and how to maximize their results. With such a limited amount of time before the start of the season, the team that I already knew how to manage was Pandemic. Dave, Jason, and Alex had all chosen their respective previous teams, so by not having to focus on learning how to manage my Counter-Strike division, I didn't fall behind these guys early on.

So, he drafted Pandemic, in part, because he knew what made them tick, and he could get the most out of them. But he knew that whatever Source team he drafted, he could manage them properly so it didn’t matter which team he got. Is this really Mark Dolven speaking, or did he hire Tony Snow to do these interviews for him?

That being said, his team is in the Region 1 Finals, and they’ve got a berth in the World Championship. Overall, he did a pretty good job. I think their strategy is something like: cream everybody in DoA 4 Male, hang tight in PGR and DoA Female, scrape by in CS:S, and get blasted in FIFA, which isn’t worth as many points as the other games. Seems to be working.

And honestly, Dolven deserves some credit for that. Obviously, the players are the ones driving the team now, but he did a good job assembling the right parts. Could they have been better? Yes, absolutely, and I’ll cover this a little bit later. But at the same time, it’s not fair to rip him for the bad picks and ignore the good ones.

Even though it might be fun.