Both the Call of Duty 4 and Counter-Strike: Source teams faced some stiff competition, having to face off against the likes of Brazen.cod4, who are currently ranked as the best team in the country, and many other top ranked teams, and Eternal Conflict who are two time BOTC Counter-Strike: Source champions.

The Call of Duty team impressed everyone after topping their group, which consisted of Segment Gaming, BFB Lard and UBS.Afrikorps. After winning all of their matches quite convincingly, their toughest being against BFB Lard, beating them 13-11. Topping their group meant they would go on to face Brazen as they were the lower seed coming out of the group stages.

Unfortunately Brazen proved far too strong, knocking the young miNt team down to the lower bracket. The team then went on to face Cyborgs, last year’s rAge winners. With the scores tied at 9-9, miNt brought the game back exploiting Cyborgs weakness mid, eventually ending in a win for miNt at 13-9. Having beaten BFB Lard in the group stages they had to face them again in the losers bracket.

This time the team made quick business of the BFB team absolutely obliterating them 13-5. Next on the list was All star Personnel, in a well fought match the end result ended in a tie at 12-12, which forced  overtime to be played. The more experienced A*P proved to have the winning edge and beat the miNt team 16-14.

This means that the team placed a very respectable 4^th out of 20. Improving  5 spots from their last BOTC campaign, which resulted in them not making it to the double elimination stages but rather through to the single elimination intermediate competition which they won.

The Counter-Strike: Source team also did not disappoint when they somehow managed to top their group as well. Very Surprising, as the team has only been playing together for a week and half. Having tied to ascent and beating T71 quite convincingly on de_inferno_pro. Their next match caw the team face the very strong Cape Town orientated team Caucasian Persuasion (cP) also on de_inferno_pro, the result ending in a 16-14 loss for the new team.

In their losers bracket game the team had to face two time BOTC champions Eternal Conflict also on de_inferno_pro. After winning the knife round they miNt team was awarded choice of sides, which they chose to be Counter-Terrorists first. Showing their huge grit and determination the team managed to pull off a 10-5 lead. Now swapping sides the team was Terrorists and needed 6rounds to knock the veteran team out of the competition. Unfortunately it was not to be, and they were beaten 10-16. The team was knocked out and placed 7^th overall out of 20. Not bad considering the new team has only been playing together for a week and a half.

We caught up with Daniel “merc” Balusik the Counter-Strike: Source teams captain and one of the Co-Owners of miNt Gaming, to ask what he thought about the comp and how well his team did.

“I’m pretty pleased with our performance, we felt we could’ve done a little better, but providing that the team has only been together for a week and a half now we’re not too disappointed.

The Call of Duty 4 team played really well and we hope they can keep their recent form up, maybe a top 3 finish for both teams next time. Next on the list is AGASA for both teams, these will act as qualifiers for rAge.

Our CoD4 team is almost guaranteed a spot at rAge as the top 36 go through. Our Counter-Strike: Source team however will have to work for their spot, because only 12 teams will advance o the finals at rAge. We have already played our toughest competition Soviet (MPLD May winners) and managed to pull off a win – 16-6, against them, it’s all downhill from here pretty much. “