My Picks

Posted by: BenGM

What a hectic week I’ve had. The CGS started for me like any other eSports event and ended very unlike any other eSports event. The usual severe lack of sleep ensued, I managed about 4 hours a night pre-draft. I would lay in my bed just unable to sleep, too excited about what was going to happen the next day. The first day was just registration so I said hello to gamers and finally put faces to some of the names i’d been scouting online, apart from this the day was uneventful. I resided to the confines of my hotel where I ended up chatting to some Mint hopefuls, this ended up being quite productive and really opened my eyes to the array of talent up for grabs.

Hmm, who do i protect?

I spent time thinking about who to protect and in what order, and why, but as i found out the next morning the schedule had changed so we’d do the protection and draft on the Sunday as opposed to the Saturday, at least I was thinking ahead.

Fast forwarding to Sunday and protection time. I’d informed the Mint players that it was a difficult decision to make and that i just wanted to form the best team possible, both on and off the virtual battleground. My franchise player was an easy decision for me, Chris has been at the top of his game for a long time and is an easily recognizable star in the FIFA world, being a former world champion at the game. Then the protecting really started, being the UK champions London Mint had the second pick, so ODEE/Salvo went first.


Being 2nd in the order of picking didn’t really affect me too much as I managed to protect who I wanted with relative ease, I just had to play off what ODEE picks where and try to make sure we didn’t conflict in games too much, as it turned out we both protected 3 CSS players and 1 Forza player, pretty standard business.

This left me with needing 2 CSS players, 1 DOA Male, 1 DOA Female and a Forza driver at the Draft. Again Michael had first pick and rushed to draft SarahLou. I was a little surprised by this but it allowed me to leave my DOA4 Male and Female draft picks to last. Most of the community was crying out for me to pickup Wilzoo, the thought did go through my mind, i seriously considered it, but having watched the lineup i have now in the run up to the Combine and at the Combine I was convinced it would work.

My DOA4 Female pick, Strobe

Wilzoo seemed very happy with playing for Salvo, so I went for HudzG, someone who has blossomed in the last 12 months and turned into an incredible player. As the draft progressed I picked the players i wanted with ease and so did Michael, we very much kept out of each other’s way when it came to players. It was fairly obvious Michael wanted Picasso and that i wanted NT 101 back with Stune, I could of gone with Picasso and Stune, but if you’d seen NT101 & Stune practice together like I have over the last month you’d know why i went with them. They are ready and rareing to go with tactics in place.

The big surprise of the tournament was the two sisters, Ruth and Sarah Harrison turning up for DOA4 female and wiping the floor with everyone, pretty much. I was interesting in seeing how Snuggles and Ricochet would get on but it just seemed these two girls were a class above the rest. Picking up Strobe seemed to be the most logical choice I could of made, she did very well at the Combine and finished as Runner up to Sarahlou, losing 4-5 in the Final, as well as winning several challenge matches I set for her vs the likes of Snuggles, which she won 5-1.

Overall, I am very satisfied with my picks and only time will tell if I’ve been successful with my choices but let me tell you this, i have a track record of building successful lineups so despite Mint CSS losing to Fnatic 1-2 in maps in the Semi finals, or Paddaman finishing behind Messy, or Strobe losing 4-5 in the final to her sister, I know they will be able to perform on the day when called upon. Practice starts today, we have a little over a month to prepare for the biggest game of our lives, and i’ll be working closely with the players to make sure they are prepared for it.

HudzG and Chenery on location, Filming for CGS

I have picked players who all posses immense talent and are all camera friendly, who could ask for more. Some of whom have little/no experience of playing on a major scale, this is something that they'll be able to achieve over time. I'd like to thank everyone for supporting London Mint over the last 12 months or so, your support is like a 12th man in the London Mint team, really appreciated.

Looking forward to the Mint vs Salvo UK Final, I expect it to be extremely close, it could go either way. When either of us progress through the UK Finals I can honestly the victor going all the way and winning it, for the UK!

This is the last mention of the Draft from me, it's time to look forward and not delve too much into the past, over the next few months we won't disappoint.