Pretty freaking mad...

instinct vs. virtuoso:
Well once again youtube has decided not to work. I spent all night uploading my video and woke up to this screen:

Naturally I was pleased and clicked on the link to make sure it was done processing and the quality was fine.
Instead I got this:

So I guess I'll just have to re-upload tonight. Sorry about the extra delay guys. Trust me though these games are worth it.

iTwAsLucKCF Facebook Page

Hey guys, just thought I'd let everyone know we now have a iTwAsLucKCF facebook page which is up and running. If you'd like to check it out this is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/ITwAsLucKCF/267874209934142

We will still be making plenty of blog posts, the facebook is just a way to make quick updates and other minor stuff.

Thanks guys (:

Instinct vs xTc thoughts

Hey guys, LucK here. Casted a bo3 today between instinct and xTc and it was kind of sad. xTc is a clan I'd never heard of before but who are supposedly new, whereas instinct have been around forever. I was really hoping for a close match but that was not the case :( Anyways, I caught up with slaya after the game for an interview, here it is:

[22:06] iTwAsLucKCF: Hey "slaya", aka Kayden. How long have you been playing with the instinct squad?
[22:06] patrick jane: Just started playing with them a week ago as they decided to come back and needed a 5th
[22:06] patrick jane: after their 2 month break from cf
[22:07] iTwAsLucKCF: So you plan to stick with them, or are you just filling in for the extra scrimming practice?
[22:08] patrick jane: Yeah I do plan on sticking with them for a long period of time, as we're preparing for ESG as thoroughly as possible
[22:09] iTwAsLucKCF: Well hopefully we can look forward to some more instinct casts with you on the roster. About the match vs xTc today on port though.. were you expecting such an easy time with it?
[22:10] patrick jane: To be honest I thought they were going to put up a fight considering it was the map they chose, caught me by surprise that we won by such a large margin
[22:10] patrick jane: but I knew we would of taken the map regardless
[22:10] iTwAsLucKCF: Anything else you'd like to say to your countless fans and admirers?
[22:11] patrick jane: just like to give a few shoutouts to team xtc, hopefully they stick together as a team, the two casters (luck and dren) and dellz
[22:11] patrick jane: and I hope we get casted again sometime in the near future


Thanks for watching guys, look forward to more casts in the the near future! :)

Instinct! vs. frag eSports Cast Tomorrow!

Hey guys, LucK here, just thought I'd write a quick blog post before bed. Had this conversation with Slaya earlier which looks like we have a cast for tomorrow :D

[00:36] patrick jane: found a team
[00:36] iTwAsLucKCF: who
[00:36] patrick jane: hammertime wasnt available and dreamteam suck, but we can play hammertime later on when we can
[00:37] patrick jane: uh frag esports asked me
[00:37] patrick jane: havent played them much but they're better than dreamteam
[00:41] iTwAsLucKCF: oh
[00:41] iTwAsLucKCF: whenwhen?
[00:41] patrick jane: 7pm good?
[00:41] iTwAsLucKCF:sounds good

So at 4 PST tomorrow I'll be casting and hopefully uploading Game 1 tomorrow night! Should be a good match so I'm looking forward to it. Not sure what maps yet but I'd kind of like to see a factory game :o

My Microphone Issues

So as I'm sure a lot of you guys know my mic has a lot of "Static" or "background noise". I finally realized this is because it is a Sennheiser pc300 headset which has an open mic and picks up EVERYTHING in my room. Including my super squeaky chair that I have :P  So... I'm going to be switching back to my astro a40's which should increase my overall microphone clarity / background noise. Also, I'm trying to work on making my mic a bit louder (fraps is so badly un-customizable it's annoying) but I can't make any promises there. The best bet right now is turning the game volume down a lot more and having you guys turn the youtube volume up. But hopefully I'll find something better. Anyways, all future video's should have better sound quality :D
Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!

Hey guys, LucK here. Just want to say Merry Christmas to you guys and thanks for being so supportive and great to Dren and I. We really look forward to more awesome vids and continuing on in the new year. We had originally planned to do a ChristmasEM dual-commentary special but then my cousin Derrick (DAC1337) came over all day so that never happened. Anyways, I'm currently uploading a 1v1 between dren and gonz that I commentated earlier today, it's a decent match and even though my mic background noise is really frustrating (I found out how to fix it) it's still a good vid imo. Anyways, I love you guys, thanks :)

Mick Interview

I caught up with Mickfly (aka Mickeyes) after the series and asked him a few questions, this is what he had to say:

[18:49] iTwAsLucKCF: so you guys just pugged it out? no real strats?

[18:49] 3$s`mickey: yep

[18:49] iTwAsLucKCF: what did you expect going in? win? loss?

[18:50] 3$s`mickey: uhhh figured it'd be somewhat close. they aren't very good and we suck

 [18:50] iTwAsLucKCF: who would you say their best player is (or player that played the best this series)

[18:51] 3$s`mickey: is this an interview? LOL

[18:51] iTwAsLucKCF: ya

[18:51] 3$s`mickey: i'd have given more serious answers if i knew lOL

[18:51] 3$s`mickey: harvey is by far their best player

[18:51] 3$s`mickey: but no one really stood out to me during those games

[18:51] iTwAsLucKCF: would you say anyone on your team stood out or kinda took on the role of carry?

[18:52] 3$s`mickey: everyone probably had their moments, i think i saw fresh clutch atleast a couple times

[18:52] 3$s`mickey: didn't he?

[18:53] iTwAsLucKCF: yeah he had a few great 1v1 wins that I saw, and that 1st round site hold on port was fantastic

[18:53] 3$s`mickey: word

[18:54] iTwAsLucKCF: one last question: If you guys were to rematch and take the matches more seriously do you think the outcome would change?

[18:56] 3$s`mickey: cf is pretty random, it's hard to say. it'd probably still be a close game, but i think we would take it. we could have probably taken it tonight, just had a few too many fail rounds

Anyways, both teams played decent in my opinion and it was a pleasure to watch / cast.

Memory :(

Hey guys, just got done casting a best of 3 between 3$S and #DreamTeam. Games were actually sooo good, and I wish Dren hadn't been sleeping so we could have done it together. Anyways, here's a screenshot of what 3 games worth of files looks like: (my poor computer..)

My FPS starting chopping quite badly near the end of the second game which is really unfortunate but I think it's because of the huge size of the files. Needless to say I need to render these out and delete them right away :p

Unlisted..

Just a random unlisted video I wanted to upload before I deleted. I know it's not that impressive or anything but I was doing AWFUL in this FFA and then I just randomly had back to back decent 3k's and it felt nice :p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIwNM6yQc5c

Lifeline has agreed to be casted!

Hey guys, just woke up but last night I had an xfire chat with malte and lifeline has agreed to do a bo3 sometime this week. I'm looking at getting Hammertime to be their opponents but I'm open to other teams so if you know a team that WILL give lifeline a decent series then let me know! I don't know if I will have any casts up before that but I'll try get some other vid's like gameplay ones, etc.

:)

Failed Casting Opportunities :(

Well today (Sunday the 18th) I've already been approached by two people wanting me to cast, one the EU pug draft finals, the other a best of 3 exhibition match. I really want to do both but I can't actually do either :/  I work from 6-11 EST today but the good news is I have the rest of the week off so I'll undoubtedly be doing some casts then. Anyways, I'll try and get a gameplay commentary uploading since I won't have any casts to share, sorry guys.

IzGvs.H1N1 Game2 Tragedy Strikes!

:(

Uggg.. so I got some bad news when I woke up this morning. Apparantly the game 2 which I uploaded last night didn't work.. so I'll be re-uploading tonight. Here are the screens:
It says it is 100% uploaded...

But somehow this happens..

Sorry for the delay guys, I hope it works tonight :S

IzGangster vs. H1N1

Hey guys, Luck here. This series was a bit of an odd one as I hadn't casted any games in a few months and Dren had never casted before and we only had about an hour to get ready for it (played LoL and didn't talk about it haha) so it's probably not the MOST exciting cast ever. However I thought it went pretty good and Dren did a great job considering it was his first time. We had originally planned on a best of 3 map rotation of Izgangsters pick (Mexico), H1N1's pick (Ceyhan), and a tie-breaker on my pick (Ankara) but after game 2 H1N1 only had 2 players who could play as it was getting late for the East-coast players. Anyways, I'm looking forward to a possible rematch of these teams and would like to see them play on some less played maps like Santoria or The Mine. As I'm currently writing this Game1 on Mexico is uploading and so when I wake up tomorrow morning I will set it to public, and tomorrow night I'll upload Game2.

Note: If you or your team would like to be featured in a shoutcast contact either Dren or myself on xfire (drenvc or deadmoo). Also, please have an opponent in mind and being flexible in terms of time would be best.

iTwAsLucK's Birthday!!!

Hey guys, LucK here and it's my birthday :)

Anyways, going to be uploading an Ankara commentary before bed (I hope) and game one of a shoutcast later on so look forward to that. In the meantime check out Dren's amazing rendition of happy birthday to me hahaha, laughed so hard when he posted this on my facebook wall lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8YcPu78uUg&feature=youtu.be

How about some League of Legends

Well dren and I have the idea of frapsing a few LoL games and uploading them. We are going to be uploading only ranked games but our first test games are just normals so don't be too mad that the people suck :p

Anyways, we are going to have tons of CF / LoL / Other game videos coming out so keep updated :)

Getting things back on track

Hey guys, iTwAsLucKCF is back and ready to go for real. We have some fresh talent coming in from Solid and Dren who have both agreed to help me out and so I'm really looking forward to getting out more vids and improving the quality of them. Also I'm going to start Shoutcasting some scrims and get those up because I know a lot of people liked and missed them and I have a good time doing them. Anyways, stay tunes to the channel and this blog for updates :)

Gameplay Tuesday ~ Mexico TDM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-v4Avy3YRs

Just doing some missions and I started to nail some really nice shots. I love rickbangs, they make you feel so pro (even when all you are doing is standing there spamming :p)

Anyways hope you guys enjoy this video, and look forward to more in the future!

Shoutcast Sunday!

Hey guys this weeks shoutcast is just a few FFA's that I spectated in echo 8 the other day. I mainly just did it for fun / practice and I'm currently looking for some actual teams to cast in a real match as I know a lot of people really liked / miss my casts.
Anyways, hope you enjoy this game :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtHpACB1P8k

New video preview

Here is a quick snipet of my next gameplay video which will be released probably sunday morning, or maybe saturday night if I'm not too lazy (I'm uploading it tonight while I sleep).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PQc2nOfZZo

Anyways, it's basically me just having a few nice shots in some mission games (mexico TDM) and then the second game (Right before going to work) I landed a bunch of rickbangs and it was super random. Definitely going to start shooting walls more often.. lol.

I'm back!

Hey guys, sorry about my long hiatus from CrossFire but I am now back and ready to upload some games and maybe some shoutcasts. I'm looking to get 2-3 videos uploaded a week and get back into the swing of things. Anyways, here is my latest video and I know it's nothing special but I was just testing fraps halfscreen and making sure it looked all good and wasn't too pixelated:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPgE94vZBKY



Also I'm looking to do a series of 1v1's vs solid which should be fun as we just joke around and occasionally get a few nice shots. Our idea was to have dual screen so you can watch both of us at the same time :)

YES FINALLY!!

Hey guys, I finally figured out the password to my blog after weeks of being unable to remember it :)

Expect some more posts coming up, probably 3-4 a week with videos to go with them as well!

Awful 7k's...

Refer to this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_lSP34PzpM

There comes a time in everyone's life when they are recording clips for a montage and they just simply CAN'T seem to get anything good going for them.
Ideally what you want in a clip is an amazing 8k spree but that hardly ever happens.
The main two things you want in your clips are "lots of kills", and "nice kills".
Well... these clips have a lot of kills.. but none of them are nice :/
Lets break it down.

Clip 1:
Alright so we are going to start things off with a nice AWM / Deagle combo here on Factory with a quick push up mid... nothing special, lets see how it plays out.
OH BABY, a quick 3deag to the knees, and then keeps pushing.
Second frag coming up right now, looks like it's going to be an AMAZING quick scope onto an AFK. Gnarly double kill!!
Going to pick up two more frags while they are busy fucking each other in spawn... NONE of them turn around rofl.
Here we go.. looking for this 5k unbreakable... can he get it? OF COURSE NOT. Doesn't know who to shoot at.. and chokes the easy 5 :(
But don't worry! 4 deag shots.... + reload then JUAN DEAG!!!11!
Looking for the double kill... AMAZING 3 deag onto the guy standing still and not looking at me :D
Turning back around, looking to get the 7th kill... it's going to be another 3 deag shot... + reload... ONE DEAG!!!

Definite montage material.

Clip 2:
Now it's time to kick things off on the new map compound. Looking like some pistol only match so naturally I'm rocking the deag... lets see how steady my aim is.
Going to be getting the nicest flank of all time off onto all 8 of their players, and spotting 3 of them with their backs turned looks like I'll use 3 clips of ammo just to pick them up.
Grabbing the reload and heading towards A-machine room I'm going to spot 4 more and with AMAZING accuracy I'm going to press my mouse button as fast as I can and spray down 2.
THEN, another beastmode 2k, making it 3 double kills in 1 round like a huge boss animal.
Looking for the LAST frag, 8k possibly? Just kidding... DAC (who is sitting right next to me) is going to pick up the amazing 6 deag headshot.


PS - These are obviously outtake clips... but don't worry I have real clips and I'm planning on using them :)

Mini Tournament

Hey so on July 4th (Yeah I know that was a while back) Slaya and I decided to do some casting but instead of just 2 teams we brought it to the next level and got 4.

We had a kind of mini-tournament with single elimination bo1 round 1 and bo3 round 2.
Needless to say we had a good time casting, and I was pleasantly surprised with Slaya's casting abilities. Would definitely like to cast with him again sometime.

Links are here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yacMPYXf6ho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9bYWfcbi9s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thQs8xAB8Mc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jm3itTK2_8

Also, I'm currently looking into plans for an 8 team invitational tournament, so I'll try get some information about that public in a bit.
- LucK

xfam0usx bust video

Refer to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3k1rEfDIig

Here is the situation for all the unintelligent people.
It was like 1am PST and I was talking to famous on xfire and we were both bored so I invited him onto my mumble and we were just talking and hanging out. After a while we loaded up CF and deathstrike, solid, famous, and myself started messing around in pubs. On mexico we decided it would be fun to put our sensitivities to 100 and try get 360kills.
Therefore: IN THIS VIDEO FAMOUS IS NOT CHEATING!!

However... lets take some time to examine the horribly stupid comments my video received.

1. "retard, he is obviously training 360's second flip kinda proves that." which was posted by pr3pr0

Now, while it's true that he was intentionally doing the 360's on purpose.... I cannot understand why anyone would EVER possibly "train" doing 360's...

You should understand your mouse sensitivity enough to know how to do a 360 on your very first try. 

 

2. "wheres the prove that this is famous?" which was posted by ClanProStarZ

 

Look at his IGN above his head... which you can cross reference with his player profile page OR any montage he has ever made...

Don't see how the basis of "this isn't famous" would work to dispute this "bust vid".

 

3. "lol so then i could bust you for all the 360 you did in CFFA 2011? (your entry)" posted by ProxMaxHD

 

Well the thing with my video is that it had several 360's.... all of which were shown in the first person frapsed perspective. I don't think anyone (who has been playing a video game for more than 2 months) would ever think that my video contained any evidence of "hacking".

 

 

4. "NOOB!!! xFam0usxx isnt cheater -.- Hes pro,like itWasLuck said,he was practicing something...I UNSUBSCRIBE you because of this shity video...Fck off haters...xFam0usxx is PRO!!!" posted by skyman1609

 

While it's nice to see fans be loyal to their idols/hero's it's also disheartening to see (a) such flaming, and (b) such blatant disregard for a joke.

 

5. "rofl man, he's not cheating. thats just an high sensivity in the mouse -_- i know it is a joke u made to him, but u will destroy his reputation lol" posted by EasyStyle96

 

First off let me start by asking how "high sensivity" would make you do 360's? It would make your model movements faster.... but it wouldn't show your character doing 360's... wtf.

Secondly, it was never my intention to "destroy his reputation". Famous and I have been friends for well over a year now and I wish him no ill or resentment. It was merely a joke, and I made sure that after I had "Trolled" a few people I posted about how it was a joke. Jeez :|

 

6. "I guess LucK was just kidding and didnt ment this vid serious" posted by kick2faceman

 

It's nice to see people actually able to use their brain and understand a situation, before jumping in and making false (and generally harsh worded) assumptions. Thank you for not being an idiot kick2faceman.

 

 

 

Anyways in closing, this video is 100% a joke, famous doesn't cheat, we are friends, and I apologize if my video offended you in anyways. Thanks for reading :D

The "LAN-party" Continues

So, DAC has been over at my house the last 2 nights for some latenight gaming sessions, we stayed up until 8:30 AM today which was kind of weird.. but fun. Been playing some LoL and CF, having a good time. We both work tonight, and afterwards we are going to make it 3 nights in a row. I don't have any pictures yet because I can't find my camera memory card, but I'll try find it and get some pics... DAC's monitor base broke so we are holding it up with books and shit, it's so ghetto rofl. Anyways, in video news I have a random PUG game I commentated that's about to upload so expect that sometime in the next 30ish hours (not gunna upload while we are gaming cuz that would be no fun). Ps - you wouldn't believe how funny "fail-compilation" videos can be when you haven't slept for like 28 hours :)

My lack of activity :(

Hey guys, I'm sorry this blog has been dead the past 2-3 days, I've just been super busy with work, and rendering vids.. got caught up teaching a few people how to play League of Legends, etc.
Anyways.. I just woke up (at 9:30am) and I had been having a LAN party with DAC (diiizzard) at my house and we were up until like 6:30am so I'm tired as fuck. I'm about to drive for 2 hours up-island to visit my Aunt, but after that I'll be back with nothing to stop me making at LEAST 1-2 blog posts a day :)
Anyways, Just uploaded a new series of shoutcasts so make sure you check that out on my channel ( www.youtube.com/user/iTwAsLucKCF ).
- LucK

My Fraps Settings

Well since a lot of people have been asking for them here it is:

http://i51.tinypic.com/2d9r9zt.png

I use "\" to record because it's a key I never use (unless I misclick enter while typing which can get annoying) and I've used it for so long that I'm just used to hitting it with my pinkey when I need to.
I cap at 80 frames because while I can get higher... the fps spiking isn't worth it to me so 80 is fine.
Full-size is so the quality isn't disgusting like a toilet-ugly.
I only record my microphone with mouse5 because that is my vent/mumble PTT so that's the only time I would be talking anyways.

The only drawback I can find to these settings is that the files are HUGE and take up multiple GB worth of space :(

How My Blog Works

Alright well I've had a few questions as to how this whole blog thing works so here it is:

I DO get money from it, but not how you would think. I get nothing for page views, etc. I only get money for add clicks. That means all the adds you see on the top/bottom/right will give me small amounts of money per-click. However, it only counts if it seems "legit". AKA someone doesn't just open it up and close it 1 second later. They have to keep it open for like 30ish seconds. Also, it can't be the same person (ip) multiple times in a short period (like 48 hours).

So, while I am earning money, it's a very small amount but I hope I'll get more traffic and be able to sponsor events like editing contests, drafts, matches for zp, and other such good things.

Anyways, if you feel like helping me out then just link all your friends and check back daily (I usually get 1-2 blog posts a day so check back ^^).

~LucK

A Good Place To Start (Fraps)

As many of you know, the first video I ever made/uploaded was... awful.
If you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch just to see how bad it really is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_KmS1PYzko
Now, editing aside (I used WMM so there wasn't too much I could have done better), the quality of the video is simply disastrous. I used 2 different recording programs and they were both complete failures. The first was camtasia studios. This is a program that is good for recording things like windows programs, your desktop, and flash games. However, it is NOT a good recording program for FPS games like CrossFire. I was getting about 8 fps using it (I was playing at about 20, but recording at 8). For this reason I don't recommend it, as your video comes out choppy, and the video quality isn't even good!
The second program I tried was Hypercam (unregistered hypercam2). This program is purely meant for desktop recording and I regret ever trying to use it in conjunction with such a large program/fast moving screen like CF. Needless to say, the fps/quality is not worth it at all... AND there is a watermark on the output files lol.

THE SOLUTION?!?!? Fraps :)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SRNQJW0L

Backupfile:
http://www.mediafire.com/?6c5y48wsox6on5l


Fraps is a screen recording program made specifically for games, and comes with the ability to record full or half screen, choose your desired FPS, and take screenshots. Whether you are looking to get into editing, or just want to record some footage for later use (or even just to see a fps bar in the top of your screen ^.^) then Fraps is a must. Use one of the above links to download, extract, and install (both links are the same).

Closing comments:
The reason I use THIS version of fraps is because it has a feature which only lets my mic be heard if im pressing a certain hotkey (which I macro'd to the same as my vent/mumble PTT key).

Hope you kids enjoi this.

- LucK

Frusteration

Hey guys, I just finished casting a best of three series between Dimentia and Vex and it was honestly an amazing series of games. First game Dimentia won both halves, taking the game but not by much. The second game dimentia won the first half 7-4, but vex battled back winning map and forcing a game 3. Game 3 was a hard fought 14-12 battle on castle with Vex barely winning, and thus making the monstrous comeback a reality.
After the cast I hopped on mumble where people were saying they couldn't hear me so I check my mic plugin... and it was halfway unplugged. So basically I have 324gb worth of HD fraps files with amazing games/gameplay and NO commentary. Almost 2 hours of straining my voice for nothing. I'm so mad right now :(

June Patch Discussion (Part 1)

Heyy guys, so as you know Crossfire patched last night and after all the dust settled we were left with (in my opinion) one of the best patches this game has ever seen. I'm going to be breaking this blog post into two sections. The first (this one) will be about the new usable content added such as weapons, equipment, etc and the second (which I'll have up in a few days) will be about the amazing new map "Compound".

So lets start it off by looking at the weapons. Z8 usually introduces weapons in every patch in order to secure profit, and more often than not it's simply a repackaged version of a gun already in the game (p90digital, scar light dragon, etc.). However this patch we receive FOUR new guns!! (only 1 of which is a repackaged version).

Weapons:
The first, and most widely popular, is the MK23 pistol. (38,000gp)
For a long time crossfire has has only 2 dominant pistols: the deagle, and the anaconda. However, after purchasing and playing a few games with it, this pistol packs a decent punch, with a HIGH rate of fire. You can literally spam the shots from this gun and make it seem automatic if you can click fast enough. I wouldn't be surprised to see this become a competitive gun (and possibly even banned by a few leagues). The gun costs gp, which is rare for z8, and definitely a step in the right direction. Giving players something to grind up to and while it IS expensive, so is the glock... which is way worse than this gun.
Check out this video my buddy exOH made last night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCRTNT6Y-6I&feature=feedu


The second, and in my opinion a pointless gun is the m14ebr. (permanent ZP crates)
This gun is good, that's for sure. However it's "Good" as in the way the baretta is "Good". What I mean by this is that while it's a great gun, it wont be allowed in competitive play, and therefore it's useless to have/own. It's good that z8 introduced it, and it will help them earn some revenue, but for me (and other scrim players) it's pointless.

The third, and even more useless weapon is the SR-2m smg. (temporary ZP item mall)
I haven't used or seen this gun used but any gun that isn't permanent isn't worth getting. It will most likely be like the dual-uzi's... fun to use, but not viable to purchase for long, and definitely not league-legit.

The last weapon is a GREAT idea. The m4a1-USA. We already have both the m4-silver, and the m4-adv (which are basically the same gun with different skins) and now z8 has introduced the m4-usa which is... the same gun, with a different skin! However, I think it's good.... it's themed perfectly for independence day, and the gun is fairly nice looking. But.... it costs 25 coupons... and it's not permanent. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT purchase this weapon. It is an immense waste and 30 days for 25 coupons is honestly such a horrible deal...
The introduction of the gun was a great idea... but the cost wasn't.

Gear:
Canadian/American hats and backpacks were also put into this patch. These are GP, and provide literally NO effect other than to alter your characters appearance. They are all temporary which is why I won't be purchasing any, but overall they are cool looking, and not at all a bad thing to put into this patch (especially with independence day and Canada day approaching).

Character:
The Navy Seal was also introduced into this patch at 8200zp which is the same as all the other zp characters. I like the Seal as I think it's character model is roughly the same size as the starting 3gp characters and I think that the Seal WILL be league-legit.

If you would like to check out the Crossfire content update page you can find it here:
http://crossfire.z8games.com/new_content.aspx/


Well it's about time to wrap up this post. I left out talking about the new map because I want to do an in-depth analysis of it (with screenshots, maybe video clips) and discuss the implications for competitive play. I've currently only scrimmed on it once (played it several times though) and would like to get a few more matches on it before I make the post. Look for a large-indepth analysis coming either friday or saturday.
LucK

Quick Update

Hey guys, I was going to release my post about the new upcoming patch tonight but I have decided not to as instead I had the privilege to cast a match between Team15oL (my own team) and H1N1. So I will try finish up my post on the patch tomorrow, and in the meantime look for the cast to be up sometime around Thursday morning. I don't want to give anything away but I will say that it's definitely worth a watch. Extremely close match and some nice plays from both teams.

Stay tuned to this blog and my alt youtube ( www.youtube.com/itwasluckcf ) informed and up to date.

- LucK

jB- (Newest pSTUDIO member)

Alright, lets get down and talk about some editing. The latest member of Paradox Studios was kind of weird as he was one of those guys who I literally had never seen an edit from until the app clip. I got a message from him on xfire asking if he was in, and I hadn't even seen his clip yet lol. Anyways this is the app clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDqP_Tll_ow&feature=feedu

It starts off with a slow style, making me think it's going to be some type of orange-core media bullshit which I'm not a big fan of, and he uses text saying "paradox studios" instead of the intro which is odd as he is friends with XO, but looking at it now, it was most likely just that the elegant text fits better with the intro style. The intro smooths are standard, but nice, and the colours set the whole thing off perfectly.
Moving into the frags we have a nice 6k. Wait... 6k? Yeah I think this might be pub footage, however it's with a non-gay weapon and the effects / syncing is literally perfect. Colours yet again, stay great. The halo-esque smooth with the freeze in mid-air between mid doubledoors is great. I've seen very few CF editors use the halo style smooths but it almost always looks great and for some reason I'm just a huge fan of it. Very nice smooth for him to choose for the transition. The next frags are done very nicely as well, I particularly enjoy the audio of the slowed down gun sounds and the lightening colour effects used in combination. The ONLY thing I didn't like about this clip was the transition from 2nd kill to 3rd kill on the last awm clip. It seemed rushed / not overlapped enough. The ending smooth(s) weren't the greatest, but they were good in the sense that they were short, and to the point. Slowed down enough to make it interesting, but not too much to make it boring. Clip gets a 9.5/10 from me.

For more videos from jB check out his channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/iReviewEvreything


Now lets talk about FantasticOne's appclip and why it wasn't accepted. Here's the clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA8St61bw4U

The smooths at the start were nicely done, however they didn't go with the song at all. The newblue film grain that he used looks alright, but it was on too much, and it didn't end with the smooths, it went on throughout the entire edit which was way too much. The awm sync was alright, however I didn't like the cuts from the shots. It's alright to do but when its THAT noticeable it becomes a problem. The other thing that really killed it for me was the madly overused overlay. This is pstudios, not EM. We focus on gameplay / editing skill, not overlay abuse. The last thing that killed it for me was elimination in an appclip. I don't care if it was a clan server scrim, it's still elimination. The colours in the whole clip were nice, but the film grain wasn't, and overall it didn't have the flow that it needed. Clip gets a 4/10 from me.


With that being said pSTUDIO's is looking for a few more editors, and might be putting on some edit competitions in the future so watch out for that :)

 - LucK

[ESL-P] Facedown vs. Underrated

Well, as some of you guys know I'm an "official ESL shoutcaster" now, and as such I was given permission to shoutcast a great match between two teams that I both respect and am friends with.

Here is the frapsed cast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skz5WwEJJMU
And the Match Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LCm22FQjaM

Anyways I'm going to break the match down as I saw it here. (Spoilers below...)
Team Rosters:

Facedown
- Blindhound - solid rifle, good support player, didn't impress me in this match
- Saucey - very good rifle, usually carry/main frag, played well this match
- Erick - main hybrid, did great this match with both rifle/snipe
- Jkeith - in-game leader, rifle, held site very nicely this match
- Dacbeitelite - rifle, played flukey this match (Fun to watch)

Underrated
- [R1] - solid rifle, top fragged this match, a few sniper frags
- Rockstarz - team leader, solid shot, nice site holds
- Phenatik - low ping, great rifle shot, decent gamesense, nice game-changing plays
- cl0ud - main awp, strat caller, poor showing this match, a few nice frags
- Guccii, amazing rifler, good site holds, struggled this match

Opening Comments:
I went into this match with an open mind, yet even so I expected facedown to win by a decent amount. I've watched games of both of these teams, and even scrimmed with / against both of them so I had a realistic understanding of their skill levels. With that being said I think that facedown is the stronger / more consistent team and so while facedown wasn't running their main5 roster I still expected a great showing from them. Underrated on the other hand had a few clan issues before the match, with R1 not wanting to participate, and spots being switched up from what they had practiced.


First Half:
Offense (BL) - Underrated // Defense (GR) - Facedown
Round 1 - Underrated came in super strong and while they were down 3v4 they took B site hard and won the round decisively putting them up 1-0.
Round 2 - Underrated pushed B again, and once more they completely dominate the site, making it a 4v2. Erick is able to trade a frag and make it 1v3 and it falls down to sauce who makes an extremely nice headshot long b and then doubles up with the bomb defuse as well making it a 1-1 game. This was truly a momentum changing round as Underrated should have had no problems winning. (Clutch at 1:39)
Round 3 - Once more Underrated pushes B site but instead of pushing hard they try to take it slow and play picks. Jkeith is able to grab 3 frags and knock it down to a 4v2 and then the last two are cleaned up in mid making it a 2-1 game in favour of Facedown.
Round 4 - Switching things up finally BL pushes a full A and Erick (With the help of some flashes) is able to pick up an extremely nasty 4k, winning the 3rd round for his team.
Round 5 - Another slow B / pick strat for Underrated and it works brilliantly, putting dacbeitelite in a 1v5 and he's only able to pick up 1 frag before Ur win the round making it 3-2.
Round 6 - Blindhound struggles with the B hotel hold once again and Underrated completely stomp into B site, tieing the match 3-3.
Round 7 - Bomb goes down at A site for the first time and cloud is left in a perilous 1v2 situation. He's somehow able to grab 2 frags and win the round, giving Underrated their second lead of the match 4-3. (7:10)
Round 8 - Playing picks doesn't work out for Ur and they are put into a 2v4. Erick peeks mid and grabs both frags (At 9:10) making it a 4-4 extremely close match.
Round 9 - Yet another 2v4 situation for Underrated and they lose the round after picking up 2 frags. Giving the lead and the momentum to Facedown, 5-4.
Round 10 - R1 is stuck in a 1v2 situation but he plays it perfectly getting behind 2 players and then completely chokes the double kill, giving Facedown the round, a serious blunder that no doubt led to them losing the match. (12:38)
Round 11 - With just 1 round left to finish off the half, Phenatik from Underrated goes huge and grabs himself a 4k, with a very nice 2k in the last 2v2 of the round. Picking up the round and a bit of momentum for his team.
Round 12 - Feeding off their momentum Underrated grabs yet another round, miraculously holding themselves in the match, making it a 6-6 game.
Round 13 - Trying to end strong Underrated pushes into B site quite aggressively but they are stopped short of site by an amazing AK spray by dac, picking up 3 kills and finishing the round with a deagle headshot for the ultrakill.(16:06)
Facedown wins the half 7-6.

Second Half
Offense (BL) -Facedown // Defense (GR) - Underrated
Round 1 - B aggression for Facedown works well and they pick up the round with only losing 2 players.
Round 2 - Facedown decides to rush again, but this time to A-stie. However they get stopped short as cloud picks up a nice awp headshot, and rockstarz is able to land a 3k, securing the round. (17:43)
Round 3 - Slow B push gives Facedown the round and the 2-1 lead.
Round 4 - Erick picking up 3 sniper kills, including a 5hp reaction shot onto guchi, and blindhound ends the round with a double kill giving Facedown the big 3-1 lead.
Round 5 - Underrated makes a very good call and 4 man pushes into mid, completely shutting down Facedown's pick strat and making it a 3-2 game.
Round 6 - Facedown's A push gets completely shut down, without any players from Underrated dieing. Cloud picking up 2 sniper kills and his team picking the rest.
Round 7 - Facedown works an effective pick strategy which turns into a slow A and they pick the round up easily.
Round 8 - Facedown once again works slow picks, with sauce leading the charge, picking up some crucial frags and cloud is left in a 1v3, only picking up 1 before going down. 5-3 for Facedown.
Round 9 - Jkeith is left in a 1v3 situation which quickly turns to a 1v1, with guccii being stuck in the middle of the map. Jkeith plays it smart and is able to live with 14 hp. Horribly unfortunate and definitely a morale decreaser for Ur.
Round 10 - A heroic charge from cloud and rockstarz almost wins them the round but Jkeith is able to pick up the last kill on rockstarz and win the half 7-3.
Facedown wins the half 7-3.

Closing comments:
I personally think both teams played great. A few players struggled, and others stepped up and excelled but as teams they came together quite nicely and put on an AMAZING match to cast/watch. The main game changing plays in my mind are:
- Sauce's 1v3
- R1's 1v2 choke
- Dac's 4k to win the half
- Erick's sniping second half
- Guccii getting stuck on round 9

So, while I feel that Underrated had a few tough breaks, and would definitely have done better I still feel that Facedown outplayed them and deserved the win.
A great match, and I look forward to casting more in the future.

- LucK

New blog

Hey guys, LucK here. I decided to make this blog so I can just talk about random stuff. Might be CF-related, might not be. Most likely will be though. Anyways, going to spend a bit of time and try make it look pretty, look for a post in the next 1-2 days wsuppppp.