The College Gaming League launched their Back-to-School East and West tournaments a few weeks ago, and the online competitions attracted quite a few of the CGS players that double as college students.

The one-on-one Counter-Strike: Source competition drew the most attention as Hoang “s0nNy” Tran (CAR), Sam “devour” Chamma (CAR), Jon “juan” Mumm (NY), and Rookie of the Year Nick “n0it” Nowakowski (NY) fought for their share of the prizes.

They were joined by hundreds of other players, and more than a couple had CGS ties. Taxi players Trevor “p0s” Randolph (SF), Justin “Heatwave” McKay (LA), and Gary “funshine” Laurita (CAR) joined notables Ryan “Phamtastik” Pham and Andres “misty” Gunaratne in the competition, as well.

sOnNy and devour were both eliminated just short of the double-elimination bracket.

Unfortunately for CGS fans, not all of them could fit into the Final Four.

In the East, devour, juan, n0it, p0s, and funshine battled for the four spots, but they ended up running into each other in the later rounds.

juan ended funshine’s tournament with a 10-2 victory in the fourth round, but his “reward” for the victory was meeting up with p0s in the fifth round—the round that just happened to determine the last four men standing. p0s took it 10-8, securing a spot in the double-elimination bracket.

Further down the bracket, devour and n0it also met in the fifth round, with New York’s up-and-coming AWPer taking down devour 10-5.

That set up the final four, where p0s and n0it (maybe the zeroes are lucky?) joined Philtk and POOstar as they fought for first place, an achievement that comes with a $1,000 prize and a gaming laptop.

In a battle of lucky zeroes, n0it send p0s to the lower bracket in the first round. They’d meet again in the second round of the lower bracket, and n0it was again victorious, squeaking by with a 10-9 win. That win put him in the championship round, where he fell 9-10 to Philtk. Second place was still enough to earn him $500 and a Microsoft Zune for his troubles, while p0s finished in third place, earning him a $250 Dell Promotional Gift Card.

Heading West, misty and s0nNy did battle in the third round of the tournament, and the Core’s veteran advanced with a 10-5 victory. He was summarily eliminated in the next round by JJaP 10-7, a round after JJaP sent Pham packing 10-9. JJaP would end up in the Final Four, where he joined yimengration, Hollywood, and Heatwave, who had a fairly uneventful trip to the double-elimination portion of the bracket.

After an early stumble sending him to the lower bracket, Heatwave turned up the heat (insert groan here). He overcame the early loss with wins over yimengration (10-4) and JJaP (10-7) before meeting Hollywood for a rematch in the Championship Round. It was there that Heatwave got his revenge, beating Hollywood in two consecutive rounds to secure first place, $1000, and the gaming laptop.

Though Counter-Strike drew the most participants, the other CGS game in the competition, Forza 2, was arguably more favorable to the CGS competitors.

A handful of CGS players signed up signed up, but the only members that actively participated were Chad “Miximup” Neil and Javier “chavisan” Gutierrez in the West and Eric “GeneralELive” Earley in the East. (chavisan played as “123456789” in the tournament.)

To make the story very short, all three racers not only made the Final Four, but they finished as high as possible. Miximup edged out chavisan for first in the West, while GEL beat his racing partner for first in the East. It was a good day for the CGS racers, and they seemed excited about both the results and upcoming events.

“The CGL is a great tournament to enter if you are in college,” said Miximup. “I was able to win the Alienware Area-51 m15x laptop for winning the grand prize. The reviews on the laptop have been great, from what I've heard. Also, congrats to General for winning in the east coast. There is another CGL coming up next month where you can win another Alienware laptop, a zune, and an all-expense paid trip to next year’s combine and draft. It's definitely something to check out if you are interested in some prizes or getting into CGS. Until next time! Peace.”

GEL echoed the sentiments about the new laptop, and included a plea to fellow gamers.

“I feel very lucky to have been given the chance to compete and I feel even more thankful that I was able to perform to my fullest and come out on top. The new laptop will be a true lifesaver for me, as my old laptop finally gave up a month ago,” he said, before adding “Now on to a more important issue, the idea behind the CGL is amazing, now as current members we need to spread the word. We need to get more people involved from our respective game communities as well as our college communities. The bigger this gets, the better it will be for the competitors.”

The CGS players are off to a good start, but will they see the same level of success in the next tournament? That’s for the players to decide, and if you’re a college student looking for some action, you could be one of them.

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