South Africa’s national Battlefield 3 PC team has displayed incredible dedication and talent, going up against the best international teams on the scene. They’ve played their last game in the Nations Cup and are now ranked in the top eight best teams in the world.
Our National Battlefield 3 team is no doubt one of the biggest highlights of the eSports year so far, here’s a look at their Nations Cup journey and what they’ve achieved.
Bravado Battlefield 3 becomes Team South Africa
In January we reported that local clan turned brand, Bravado Gaming’s Battlefield 3 team has become the Protea Team. This team battled it out against teams like Advanced Special Forces in online trials and received their National Colours and the honour of representing our country in the Nation’s Cup.
The Nations Cup
Team S.A’s first match was against Russia, where they gave them a good run for their money, but unfortunately lost the game due to a ticket difference. Both teams won a map, but Russia managed to have the better score. The second match pitted our team against Spain, where the team proved why they deserve to be in the tournament with a very convincing victory. After Indonesia forfeited and dropped out of the cup, Team S.A had Bulgaria lined up next, not losing any momentum, they went on to dominate them, securing their second win in the cup. This win secured our team an already impressive third place spot in their group.
The next match was not going to be an easy one; S.A had to play Germany, the undefeated team in their group. Even though they gave it their all, they lost the match after a very intense battle. Picking themselves sup and dusting off the hard loss, they went into their game against Italy full throttle, even though they outcome would not prevent them from going through to the top eight stages, Team S.A was determined to stay right on the winning path. After beating Italy, S.A were to progress to the to eight on a high note, but not after some accusations from the Italian team captain, furious that his team had lost, he started accusing our team of hacking, and just about anything else he could think of. There was nothing to his accusations though, our team played completely by the book.
Team South Africa’s short stay in the top eight
Just getting to the top eight of this cup is an incredible achievement in itself, being ranked higher than countries like the USA, France, the Netherlands, and Italy. 28 teams started out in this cup and only the best of the best got past the group stages. Our team was one of those “best of the best”.
Our first seed in the top eight was no joke; we were seeded against last year’s second place winners and current best ranked infantry squad in Europe: Finland. No matter what the odds were, Team S.A gave it their all, but couldn’t beat this incredibly skilled team. This is what Team S.A’s Captain Barry ‘Anthr4xZA’ Louzada had to say about the match:
We played a 50/50, which means we played one round per map on either server. We started with Damavand nice and strong and really played well to hold them back for a first round win. We then moved to the Finnish server where they managed to show us why they are the best infantry team in Europe and took a loss by tickets.
Moving onto Caspian, we started on the Finnish server where lessons of what it is like to compete with the cream of the crop followed.
We may have gotten raped on Caspian, but we played better on that map than we have against any of the other teams so we are improving amazingly. I am really proud of my team. In the words of the German,Finnish and Russian team captains “You have NOTHING to hide from, you have done your country proud”.
And that they have. This team has come a long way and made a great name for themselves on the international scene. A big congratulations and good luck from the Lazygamer team to these guys. If you need a refresher, here’s the team line-up:
- Jean ‘wraithfiend’ Barendse (Bravado Gaming)
- Michael ‘silencerbb’ Belmonte (ADHOC)
- Craven ‘enigma-shifty’ Buitendach (Bravado Gaming)
- Theuns ‘Alpha-Renji’ Louw (ASF)
- Barry ‘Anthr4xZA’ Louzada (Bravado Gaming)
- Sean ‘Scoper’ McCalgan (Bravado Gaming)
- Rogan ‘Sabre’ Mocke (Bravado Gaming)
- Thomas ‘ Steigerz’ Reid (Bravado Gaming)
- Dean ‘ HackeM’ Seyfried (Bravado Gaming)
- Lyle ‘ Grizzlah’ Thuynsma (Bravado Gaming)
- Daniel ‘Crincler1? Towse (Bravado Gaming)
- Danie ‘couch’ Zwarts (Bravado Gaming)
Last Updated: April 9, 2013
Admiral Chief Erwin
April 9, 2013 at 12:04
Top 8 in world?
Hey, thats still damn good man!’
W + (O to the power of 50) + T
Ultimo_Cleric_N7
April 9, 2013 at 12:07
Great job lads.
Admiral Chief Erwin
April 9, 2013 at 12:16
Lads? No Cleric….These are MEN!
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
April 9, 2013 at 12:17
The Finnish team unleashed that ONE SNIPER, didn’t they? But, TEAM SA did us proud. Africa represented!
caponeil
April 9, 2013 at 12:20
Epic guys. probably how the Finnish Practice!
Matthew Holliday
April 9, 2013 at 14:41
When their lawns come with 100mb lines as a human right, they can afford to.
250mb lines for the same price as what we pay for 384k.
and soon having the option of fibre optic to their doorstep.
I had to explain what “cap” was to one befor, i still dont think he understands.
Twakkie
April 9, 2013 at 12:26
Well done guys. Proud of all of you. Those Finnish must have been beast players because I have played against most of them and they are like Chuck Norris on steroids!
Matthew Holliday
April 9, 2013 at 14:47
Really interesting to think that the same guys like renji, enigma and shifty, who spend their afternoons pubstomping moderately well, can pull it together, to this extent, when put with a team that can push just as hard as they can.
impressive
Edwin le Roux
April 9, 2013 at 13:16
Well done. Well done indeed.
Question?
April 9, 2013 at 13:18
How did the Asian countries do? If they didnt compete then top 8 in the world is a bit overstating but well done none the less well played bvdeeee
Jacques Jooste
April 9, 2013 at 14:28
Ek dink ons moet dalk n lazygamer squad maak en dan kan al die manne hier bietjie saam jol…
Carl Angus
April 9, 2013 at 14:39
I have to say, BF3 competitions are hella hard, it’s 60% strat and 40% talent. To take any games in an international competition is an accomplishment, to get in the top 8, well, in the words of Ali-G…
Much Restepka!
Darren Peach
April 9, 2013 at 14:50
Ze Germans are good at everything……
Darren Peach
April 9, 2013 at 14:53
Shame, Italians lost to SA. Still not as bad as the French who wont shake hands…….But SA is not as Inferior as the First world would like to think. We have pet Lions and shit. Tough mofos that drive Bakkis and wear Kaki clothing and eat raw meat and pap.
Carl Angus
April 9, 2013 at 14:58
You forgot riding elephants to work.
Sean McCalgan
April 9, 2013 at 15:12
Thanks to everyone for all the positive comments, we are really happy with our results and have learnt a lot from the experience – it was a great privilege to represent SA and we hope that this propels our name deeper into the global scene.
Michael Belmonte
April 9, 2013 at 16:02
GG WP Team<3