Carolina earns final C.G.S playoff berth; Chicago out

The Chicago Chimera's defense of their Championship Gaming Series Region 1 and World Final championships came to an end Monday afternoon.

Hoping to secure the final playoff berth, the Chimera's fate wasn't even in their hands when Monday's proceedings began. But when things suddenly went their way, they couldn't capitalize.

A 23-19 loss to the San Francisco Optx sent Chicago out of the playoffs.

The 10-8 win by San Francisco's "Counter-Strike Source" squad ended all hope for Chicago.

So instead of the champs making the playoffs, it will be last year's runner-up, the Carolina Core. However, the Core aren't storming into the playoffs.

Having the tie-breaker over Chicago, Carolina needed to beat Dallas and secure a playoff berth. Instead, Dallas handed Carolina a 24-22 loss. And to make things even crazier on a memorable Monday, Dallas' Emmanuel "Master" Rodriguez, going for a 12-0 record, lost to Ryan Ward, 5-3.

Carolina had to hope for Chicago to lose. It happened, and the Core made the playoffs. However, they're probably not the most confident team going in. Despite making the playoffs, they're on a five-game losing streak, and they have yet to win on television in 2008.

And now, they're going to be pitted against the league's best team, 3D New York, when the playoffs begin. The other playoff match will be San Francisco vs. Dallas.

In the last match of Monday's tripleheader, the Los Angeles Complexity won their second straight, 22-21 over New York.