Here’s a very detailed match report for the WCG 2009 Funan League L4D finals between Vertex.GWSG and eXemplar. Vertex won eXemplar by a comfortable margin of over 2,000 points. Final score was 7740 – 5707 in favour of Vertex.
Chapter 1: Hilltop
Vertex.GWSG as Survivors
Vertex picked up their weapons and quickly rushed towards the woods. They were picking off the wandering common Infected when a smoker and pouncing Hunter distracted them. At this point, a Boomer managed to vomit on 3 of the 4 survivors, turning the area chaotic. A Hunter pounced on Louis and took 30 HP from him before Vertex realized that he was in trouble and rescued Louis from his plight. After the mess, Vertex regrouped and continued their journey but met with obstacles from the Infected side that chipped off more HP than Vertex expected. By now, Vertex had only one Survivor still in the green; two were yellow and one in the red and limping.
Eventually, Vertex reached the container house where they rearmed themselves with ammo and healed. Once ready, Vertex rushed forward to trigger the Tank and managed to score a direct hit on the Tank with a Molotov cocktail, setting the Tank on fire. Vertex then fell back across the bridge to get into a more defensive position but by then the Tank was almost dead. It took only several bullets from the Survivors before falling before their feet.
After the tank died, the Survivors immediately ran back to the container to rearm and heal. But the Infected side kept the pressure up and continued their attack. One of the Survivors, Rade, went down and almost died before his teammates secured the area and saved him. Vertex then made a dash for the safe house. During this rush, the Infected brought Vertex’s Polobear down to a critical stage (black and white condition), but Vertex kept calm and took up defensive positions around Polobear while he healed up. Vertex finally managed reached the safe house with at least 2 of them with green health bars.
eXemplar as Survivors
eXemplar got surprised by a Boomer at the edge of the woods, forcing them to fall back towards their starting position in order to clear the Infected horde and take as little damage as possible. During eXemplar’s retreat, a Hunter got in a pounce and a Smoker managed to pull a Survivor off-formation but did not deal much damage. After the engagement, the Survivors made a dash for the bridge, taking quite an amount of damage and getting mobbed at least once by the Infected before reaching the container.
After regrouping, eXemplar rushed forward to trigger the Tank but both Molotovs thrown by them missed! eXemplar then fell back to the container to defend themselves against the tank. The tank rushed in together with a Smoker and a Hunter. eXemplar’s Yukimura was alert enough to take out both the Hunter and the Smoker but the Tank still incapacitated Kakashi. The Tank fell back but returned with a Boomer who vomited on several Survivors. eXemplar then focused fire the Tank, taking him out within seconds. They then rushed out for the safe house, ending the round.
Chapter 2: Train tunnels
eXemplar as Survivors
eXemplar took several moments to plan out their strategy, eventually coming out of the safe house slowly to clear the rooms of infected. After clearing the rooms at the top level, they went to the stairs and prepared to move across the ledge. At this moment, the Tank was triggered and all of them fell back to the top level, making sure to secure each room. eXemplar were in defensive position; the only way the Infected could attack was from the front. The Tank rushed in together with the Smoker and Hunter but was taken down after throwing 4 punches at the Survivors. eXemplar took significant damage from this engagement.
After healing up, eXemplar moved towards the alarm door and prepared to make a dash for the safe house. Right before the dash, Leasth made a call for a deception tactic to be used. eXemplar fell back and the Infected side took the bait, attacking. Leasth had made the right call and eXemplar cleared off the attack, leaving them free to run for the safe house without interference from the Infected side.
Vertex.GWSG as Survivors
Vertex did not face much of a problem in the top levels of the building. They cleared the Infected fast, taking little damage in the process. Vertex went to trigger the tank and fell back to the stairs to wait for the Tank to attack. When the Tank rushed in, Bill jumped down the stairs and at this crucial moment the computer of the eXemplar player who was controlling the Tank hanged! Vertex took the unexpected opening to pump as many bullets into the Tank as they could and it fell without a fight. Clearing the Tank was a sign to rush for the Survivors and rearming themselves, Vertex opened the alarm door and rushed to the safe house without much of a fight.
Chapter 3: The Bridge
Vertex.GWSG as Survivors
Vertex walked out of the safe room, going slow and steady. The Infected side went in and got cleared within seconds, allowing Vertex a 30-second opening to rush forward to prevent further attacks at the same position. However, the Tank triggered, changing Vertex’s strategy. They went on the defensive, placing a gas can at the only entrance to their position. The tank could not get close to them now without being set on fire. Time was running out for the Infected side as they were losing control of the Tank. The Infected side panicked and went in for the assault but failed as Vertex’s defence was too strong. The Tank had no choice but to go in without much support from the rest of the Infected side. The Tank was set on fire the moment he rushed into the tunnels and couldn’t do much. One survivor acted on his own but was punched by the tank. From then on it was smooth sailing for Vertex. They made it to the safe house with little incident.
eXemplar as Survivors
eXemplar started off slow, cleansing the tunnel of the common Infected. They then planted traps of with gas cans and awaited the arrival of the Tank. The Infected side almost lost control of the Tank before they sent it in to attack the Survivors but the Tank didn’t do much, only hitting a survivor before it was sent to its grave.
eXemplar then pushed forward towards the campsite to grab the tier two weapons. Right before they reached the weapons, the Infected side launched an assault on them, picking them off with two Hunters, a Smoker and a Boomer. One of the Hunters pushed mGMUSE down the cliff side and back to the valley, where he was pounced by another Hunter. It took some time before his teammates noticed mGMUSE was pinned down. eXemplar had to heal up to prepare for the crescendo event. This bought a lot of time for the Infected side to respawn and regroup for the next assault. At the tunnel exit, eXemplar went out slow to prevent high pounce damage from the Hunters and picked the Infected side off one by one. Finally, eXemplar reached the crescendo event. Like Vertex, after the train smashed the bridge and created a pathway, eXemplar dashed towards the safe house, making it without much incident.
Chapter 4: The Barn
eXemplar as Survivors
eXemplar took their weapons and sprinted out of the safe house towards the barn, taking the most direct route. After they secured the barn, the Tank was triggered. eXemplar did not have any Molotovs to throw at the Tank; instead, they had to rely on the pure firepower of their Tier 2 weapons. eXemplar waited at the second level of the barn but were surprised by the Tank, who dropped in from the roof. The Tank landed several punches on the Survivors before running for cover, as the rest of the Infected side was all destroyed. eXemplar had several seconds to catch their breath before the Tank came in once again to disrupt the silence, but it was taken out quite easily since it had taken serious damage after the first assault. eXemplar did not have any significant trouble making it to the safe house after this.
Vertex.GWSG as Survivors
Like eXemplar, Vertex sprinted towards the barn, clearing off the special Infected before eXemplar could do much damage. Vertex climbed up to the second floor of the barn where four Molotovs awaited them. The moment Vertex grabbed the Molotovs, they went to trigger the tank and with one precise throw, they set the tank on fire. With the flames and the firepower of Vertex, it took only moments before the Tank died. The only true obstacle Vertex had was before the bridge, where the Boomer vomited on several Survivors and took quite a number of health bonus points from them, but Vertex still managed to keep the lead.
Chapter 5: The Cornfield
Vertex as Survivors
eXemplar did not manage to do significant damage to Vertex until the Tank battle. eXemplar gave up control of the Tank to allow the AI to take over. This allowed all four eXemplar members to attack together with the Tank, a strategy that proved effective; eXemplar managed to take the health of two of the Vertex Survivors down to yellow health while leaving the remaining two in the red. Vertex then made their way through the cornfield without incident, but were ambushed by a Boomer right before the farmhouse. The situation was a mess and Vertex were confused. eXemplar managed to take incapacitate one of Vertex’s members before Vertex managed to regroup and push back the attack.
Vertex called for rescue and managed to take down eXemplar’s first two Tanks fast, rushing towards the rescue APC right after the second Tank went down. Three of the Survivors reached the APC with no issue but one of them lagged behind after being pounced by a Hunter. At this point, the eXemplar’s third Tank spawned right in front of the APC. Things were looking bad for Vertex but they managed to throw a pipe which stunned the Tank at the right moment, allowing the last Survivor to reach the APC while saving Vertex from having to take any damage. It was an explosive escape.
eXemplar as Survivors
The moment the eXemplar stepped out of the safe house, a Boomer vomited on them enabling Vertex to take down eXemplar’s health significantly. Once this attack was repulsed, eXemplar triggered off an intense battle with the Tank, during which Vertex incapacitated two of the Survivors, leaving eXemplar in bad shape. Thankfully for eXemplar, they managed to reach the farmhouse without much incident but did not have many supplies waiting for them. eXemplar called for rescue and decided to defend at the living room.
At one point, there was some confusion in the living room. Vertex used their second Tank to good effect, managing to incapacitate one of the Survivors by throwing a rock from the barn. When eXemplar went to pick the downed Survivor up a Boomer spawned right in front of them, causing the downfall of eXemplar. The three remaining Survivors were mobbed by the Infected horde. One of them went down when a log throw by the Tank hit him, and the game was over. Vertex.GWSG won the finals.
Throughout the game there were several bugged spawns, such as a Boomer spawning on top of the Survivors, while eXemplar camped outside the farmhouse to fight the Tank. It is not known whether these were deliberate or accidental in nature.
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