It is now the second map between Philippine side Pacific.Macta and Brazilian squad INTZ. Macta are up 1-0 in the series after beating them 10-3 on Sub Base and it is now tinme for them to play on Mexico, which was the Brazilian pick.

The winner of the series gets third place, while the loser of the series gets fourth place - and Macta is more than determined to wrap it up quickly for a 2-0 clean sweep.

Mexico is known as the “mid-tier” map for Pacific.Macta, getting mixed results while playing on it, in comparison to stronger map picks such as Sub Base and Black Widow. Meanwhile, INTZ picked the small, desert-textured map due to the fact that they are comfortable doing their strategies on the map.
Regardless, Pacific.Macta was the favorite side to win the matchup by virtue of map pick alone: The Filipinos rarely lost whenever they play on Black Widow, locally or internationally.

Keeping the Game Up

The Brazilians knew that they have they have to be aggressive from the beginning if they want to be able to prolong the series to a third map. Given that Mexico is their pick, they have presumably prepared a couple of setups and executes on this map that are usable against any opponent on the server.

First, they made sure that Macta will have to rely on their counter-strats instead of letting them getting the aim rules by controlling the timing of their pushes.

Second, they made sure that they are not being picked off by Aldrin “ALDRIN” Borabon as well as Mark “kram” Kervin Chan, both of whom serving as lurkers and/or scouts on the Macta side of the map.

Finally, they tried to shut down Macta’s sniper guy and on the back of these three tactics, they almost scored a map against the Philippines’ best team.

Revenge: Shutdown

One of Macta’s favorite default strategies on any map on the server is to allow Christian “REVENGE” Amores to roam around aggressively with the sniper rifle, get peeks early on and then further pressure their opponents by either taking them out one-by-one or by quickly rushing into the site of their choice.

Interestingly, REVENGE lost most of his aim duels against his opposite number Alexander “afc” Costa even though the latter does not use the AWM as often.

Another factor in minimizing REVENGE’s impact on the map was the intelligent use of flashes and smoke grenades by INTZ regardless of which side they were in.

With these tricks, INTZ was able to take off rounds convincingly against the Filipino side.

End Game

INTZ only lost narrowly to their Filipino opponents on that very day because of explosive performances by Aljohn “Zyk” Alde as well as team captain Dennis “BAYO” Ramos. Both of them grabbed the necessary kills when the rest of the team was shut down due to the abovementioned tactics by the Brazilian side.

The rest is history. But the map showed that even CrossFire beats such as Pacific.Macta can be tamed.