In this week’s match on de_train, Hardfought found itself in a scenario that usually spells disaster, as it lost both the Terrorist and Counter-Terrorist pistol rounds. Instead of being derailed, however, Hardfought moved forward with a full head of steam against their opponent, WaXeD clan.
In a post-match interview, Hardfought | Shade stated, “Going into the match, I was concerned with our play on Terrorist — T side on train can be pretty overwhelming. We practiced and scrimmed several times this week and tried multiple variations of things. The mixing and matching in practice payed off and it showed.”
Hardfought started off as Terrorist by delaying a rush on the main yard, smoking it heavily and timing multiple flashes. Unfortunately WaXed timing was perfect and their nades hit HF hard. The strat called for the fake rush on yard A, running clear across to the middle ladder and going to B. By the time HF got to B and planted, they were outnumbered and lost the round.
After saving a round then picking up some AK’s, HF was able to get back on track though. “We really attacked them heavily on IVY/ALLEY with nades, damaging/killing and backing them off,” observed Shade. “Most of the strat called for Predator awping middle while the rest of us worked the flanks.”
Hardfought’s strats were working well, and the rotations and bombsite takeovers were fierce. There was alot of great play from everyone involved. Hardfought | Sandbox was on fire with his headshots and Hardfought | Predator was on the money with the AWP. A great team effort and clutch rounds won by Hardfought | Loki and newcomer Hardfought | Doubledown were the icing on the cake to give Hardfought an 11-4 lead following the Terrorist side.
“Going into CT side, I was worried about the guys getting ahead of themselves with the huge edge of winning big on T-side. I put an emphasis on keeping focus and winning 1 round at a time” said Shade.
To begin the Counter-Terrorist side, HF again lost the pistol round, but they were able to bounce back and win a save round. After buying colts and awps, Hardfought laid down the smack and began firing on all cylinders. While Shade and Loki held down trainyard B and Sandbox and DoubleDown did their thing on trainyard A, Predator took the middle with his AWP. They were able to get the initial kills in most of the rounds, and muscled WaXeD with the man advantages. HF clan was heated up, and all five players were kicking ass and taking names to go on top of WaXeD 11-4 as CT.
- This week’s starters: Doubledown, Loki, Predator, Sandbox, and Shade
- MVP of the night: DoubleDown for stepping up and making a solid contribution in his freshman appearance with Hardfought
- Final score: Hardfought over WaXeD, 22-8
Overall, Hardfought delivered another consistent performance. Look for the clan to keep their win streak going as they move on to Week 6 of CAL League with a 4-1 record.