Fire Base: Meet the Expendables!
Mineski’s claim to local and regional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) fame is well-documented: People in the local CS:GO scene know that they are a collection of the best aimers and strategists that the current generation of players can offer.
However, there’s another team there that can give Filipino and SEA teams a run for their money. With a combination of well-founded experience and emerging talent, these boys are set to put the Philippine CS:GO scene on fire.
They are the Expendables.
Expendables has been one of the top teams here in the Philippines, having been invited for two successive seasons of the Mineski CS:GO Shootout, getting third place in Season 1 and fourth place in Season 2. Along with Mineski, the team is one of the Philippine representatives for this year’s ASEAN Games for eSports (AGES) 2016, which is the largest eSports tournament in Southeast Asia this year.
Even though they have been beaten by Mineski, 2-0, in their last outing at the AGES Philippine CS:GO Qualifier (16-6 on Mirage and 16-13 on Dust 2), its players have proven to be on par with their local and SEA counterparts.
One example of this is Jose Carlo “RBTX” Jamir, who is the oldest player on the team. During the series, he got kill-per-round (KPR) ratios of 0.55 and 0.79, on Mirage and Dust 2, despite their losses against Mineski.
The team also showed promise when they figured out how to stop Mineski’s quick B-site execute on Mirage and pick-based default strategy during the finals of the AGES 2016 Philippine CS:GO Qualifiers; this just shows that they have the potential to become a better team, as everyone knows that Mineski is currently headed by one of the best strat-callers in the Philippine CS:GO scene today.
eSports by INQUIRER.Net had the chance to chat with RBTX while they are preparing for their trip to Malaysia.
Flashbacks
The first roster of Expendables started in the year 2013 when members of LaQs and Horsemen of the Apocalypse (HoA) joined forces in order to create a new FPS team. They have dominated the local Assualt Fire and CS:GO scene that year, with the team even earning the privilege to represent the Philippines at the 2013 World Cyber Games (WCG).
However, only RBTZ remains from the original roster, with the rest of its members spreading out to other teams in the local scene.
RBTZ mentions that he is happy with the current lineup right now because “everyone is willing to invest their time and effort to improve.” He also says that “even though progress is slow”, he is glad to see that “they are able to have a team-oriented playstyle which focuses on synergy between the players.”
Chances at AGES
RBTX mentioned that they have been scrimming with both local and international teams for a while now and that they have been trying to polish their gameplay on their home maps in order to have a fighting chance at this year’s AGES.
When asked about the teams that they want to face at this year’s tournament, RBTX mentioned that they want to face MVP.Karnal from Malaysia and Threats from Vietnam. These two teams also happen to be among Southeast Asia’s top CS:GO teams, at par with Indonesia’s nxL and Thailand’s Signature.Trust.
RBTX said the following about their prospects for Malaysia:
We are looking forward to place at least in the top 8, considering that SEA’s top teams are attending.
Considering their relative strength at the moment, gaining 7th/8th place is actually a reachable target for the team.
After all, this is their largest LAN that they will attend with the new lineup and the international exposure will certainly help them in racking up experience as a team.
To see clearly why they have a good chance at reaching their target, let’s have a look a their matches thus far against the three teams that have represented the Philippines in the international scene this year, namely, Mineski (including the time of their core players as Kingsmen & 5Peaks), G1.Wolves and MOTV:
AGES, Expendables versus Mineski (0-2 on maps)
AGES, Expendables versus MOTV (1-0 on maps)
Shootout Season 2, Expendables versus Kingsmen (2-0 on maps)
Shootout Season 1, Expendables versus Wolves (2-3 on maps)
Shootout Season 1, Expendables versus 5Peaks (1-1 on maps)
Shootout Season 1, Expendables versus Wolves (2-0 on maps)
It can be seen that the Expendables have a 50% win rate against Mineski’s core players across six maps, while they have a 57% win rate against the Wolves on seven maps. As for MOTV, they only one official outing thus far, with the Expendables having a 100% win rate (though it must be noted that it was a 16-13 win on Cache.)
Endgame
At this rate, with the work ethic and positive attitude that they have towards the game, this team will just become better. After all, they have proven to their local rivals that they are a side to look out for.
With their second-place finish behind star-studded Mineski during the Philippine CS:GO qualifiers, AGES 2016 will be their baptism of fire as they will go up against several of Southeast Asia’s finest CS:GO teams.
It is their time to break out.
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