Xboxist

CGS North America Draft Results

Dallas Venom selects Forza 2 superstar Justin “MuFFiNMaN” Anderson as First Pick

At the Championship Gaming Series (CGS) 2008 North America Draft today, the league’s North America teams set their rosters and kicked off the 2008 season. The event took place at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival’s ScreenBurn Arcade in Austin, Texas. Streamed live on www.thecgs.com, the CGS Draft featured five rounds that resulted in the selection of 30 professional gamers onto six teams.

The Draft was the conclusion of the 2008 North America Combine event which featured hundreds of prospective professional gamers vying to join the league for its second season. The two-day Combine saw the participants put through the trials of structured tournament matches, GM-requested special challenge matches, and testing on the CGS H2i software, which measures a player’s reflexes and hand-eye coordination.

“The 2008 North America Draft brought tremendous new talent into the league and we’re very proud of everyone who was selected,” said CGS Commissioner Andy Reif. “Although the GMs made some tough choices and a number of great players did not make the cut, our six North America teams picked the next generation of pro gaming stars tonight in Austin. This was a perfect kickoff to the 2008 season and this year is going to be an historic year for CGS.”

The first overall selection of the Dallas Venom was Justin “MuFFiNMaN” Anderson, a Forza Motorsport 2 superstar who was not old enough last year to join the league, but became eligible for this year’s draft after turning 18. Anderson was one of 18 players drafted who will be making their CGS debut in 2008. There were also nine players re-drafted by their team from 2007 and three returning players drafted by a different team this year.

“Justin was the most dominant player in his respective discipline, so that made it an easy choice for me,” said General Manager Alex Conroy.

Each CGS team consists of ten players. The North America GMs each previously announced their one Franchise Player and four Protected Players, thus leaving each of them with five open slots to fill at the Draft to complete their team rosters.

The 2008 CGS North America Draft selections were:

Dallas Venom:
First Round: Justin “MuFFiNMaN” Anderson -- Forza 2
Second Round: Michelle “Phoenix” Pleet -- Dead or Alive 4 Women’s Division
Third Round: Kyle “Mustang” Commings -- Counter-Strike: Source
Fourth Round: Carson “classified01” Holt -- Counter-Strike: Source
Fifth Round: Bardia Moayedi -- FIFA 08
Franchise Player
Emmanuel “Master” Rodriguez -- Dead or Alive 4 Men’s Division
Protected Players
David "zid" Chin -- Counter-Strike: Source
kevin "CHAOS" parrish -- Forza 2
Josh "dominator" Sievers -- Counter-Strike: Source
Eric "brawwr" Neer -- Counter-Strike: Source

Los Angeles compLexity:
First Round: Carl “Perfect Legend” White -- Dead or Alive 4 Men’s Division
Second Round: Matt “Warden” Dickens -- Counter-Strike: Source
Third Round: Megan “belle” Ceder -- Dead or Alive 4 Women’s Division
Fourth Round: Javier “Chavisan” Gutierrez -- Forza 2
Fifth Round: CJ “GeeTeeOhh” Nelson -- Forza 2
Franchise Player
Danny “fRoD” Montaner -- Counter-Strike: Source
Protected Players
Tyler "storm" Wood -- Counter-Strike: Source
Ronald "rambo" Kim -- Counter-Strike: Source
Marcus "zet" Sundstrom -- Counter-Strike: Source
Felipe "KreeganBG" Stoyne -- FIFA 08

New York 3D:
First Round: Daniel “XXDanXXX 1337” Otto -- Forza 2
Second Round: Nick “DarkStorm” Brownrigg -- Forza 2
Third Round: John “juan” Mumm -- Counter-Strike: Source
Fourth Round: Nick “nickno1t” Nowakowski -- Counter-Strike: Source
Fifth Round: Cardell “Cheppelle” Thomas -- Dead or Alive 4 Men’s Division
Franchise Player
Matt “Wizakor” Wood -- FIFA 08
Protected Players
Tanya "coolsvilla" Underwood -- Dead or Alive 4 Women’s Division
Salvatore "Volcano" Garozzo -- Counter-Strike: Source
Kyle "Ksharp" Miller -- Counter-Strike: Source
Michael "method" So -- Counter-Strike: Source

San Francisco Optx:
First Round: Chris “NinjaCW” Harris -- Dead or Alive 4 Men’s Division
Second Round: Garett “Grt” Bambrough -- Counter-Strike: Source
Third Round: Kevin “SACKAMONJARO” Uribe -- Forza 2
Fourth Round: Chad “miximup” Neil -- Forza 2
Fifth Round: Michael “Paradox” Stanowski -- Counter-Strike: Source
Franchise Player
Vanessa “Vanessa” Arteaga -- Dead or Alive 4 Women’s Division
Protected Players
Laurent "Warmach1ne" Keoula -- Counter-Strike: Source
Yazan "clowN" Ammari -- Counter-Strike: Source
Moe "moe" Assad -- Counter-Strike: Source
Alessandro "stermy" Avallone -- FIFA 08

Carolina Core:
First Round. Eric “General E Live” Earley -- Forza 2
Second Round: Sonny “sOnNy” Tran -- Counter-Strike: Source
Third Round: Mark “Torrez” Torrez -- Counter-Strike: Source
Fourth Round: Andrew “Anomaly” Brock – FIFA 08
Fifth Round: Kat “Mystik” Gunn -- Dead or Alive 4 Women’s Division
Franchise Player
Ryan “Offbeat Ninja” Ward -- Dead or Alive 4 Men’s Division
Protected Players
Sam "devour" Chamma -- Counter-Strike: Source
Chad "DAFF" White -- Counter-Strike: Source
Cyrus "org" Habibi -- Counter-Strike: Source
Joe "Phantom" Tackett -- Forza 2

Chicago Chimera:
First Round: Matt “Stevenson” Stevenson -- Counter-Strike: Source
Second Round: Erik “da bears” Stromberg -- Counter-Strike: Source
Third Round: Pasha “Lari” Lari -- Counter-Strike: Source
Fourth Round: Yfran “Eafra” Garcia – FIFA 08
Fifth Round: Albert “hahN” Hahn -- Counter-Strike: Source
Franchise Player
Jeremy “BlackMamba” Florence -- Dead or Alive 4 Men’s Division
Protected Players
Wesley "Ch0mpr" Cwiklo -- Forza 2
Jason "JaSoN X" Exelby -- Forza 2
Corey "tr1p" Dodd -- Counter-Strike: Source
Marjorie "x kasumi chan x" Bartell -- Dead or Alive 4 Women’s Division

The 2008 CGS North America Draft can be viewed on thecgs.com and will be broadcast soon in the United States on DIRECTV’s The 101.