Team Zboard

Team Information

Location:

United Kingdom

Region:

Europe

Approx. Total Winnings:

$6,938

Games:

Source

Links

History

Created:

2004-??-??

Disbanded:

2008-??-??

Team Zboard was a British eSports organization founded in 2004. Originally known as X043, Team Zboard was predominantly the #1 rated UK Counter Strike: Source team for much of the early history of the game. ^[1] Zboard was probably best known for its constant podium finishes at the i-series, the UK’s largest and most prestigious event. Zboard finished on the podium eight times. ^[2]

Zboard placed 2nd in the televised CGS tournament, taking a large chunk of the $84,000+ prize pot. Despite Zboard defeating 4Kings (London Mint) and taking Dignitas (Birmingham Salvo) into overtime the team was, some say controversially^[3], not drafted. ^[4]

History[edit]

Team Zboard was originally named X043 and was founded by Ben "ben0" Balcombe and Scott "Toccs" Hawkins in 2004 in the game Counter Strike: Condition Zero. ^[5] When Counter Strike: Source was released, the team immediately moved over to the new incarnation of the game, establishing themselves as one of the UK's top teams from day one. ^[6]

Henry "HenryG" Greer was a part of the second string team at this time, but moved into the first team in time to attend the first ever Counter Strike: Source LAN event. ^[7] They won^[8] and went onto win a hat-trick (i23, i24 and i25) of i-series events, the only team to do so until Birmingham Salvo in the post-CGS era. ^[9]

Zboard continued as one of the best teams, not only in the UK, but the world, under numerous lineups throughout its time, and helped to bring many an eSports personality to the top of the scene, including Richard Lewis^[10], HenryG^[11], HudzG^[12], ritch, beta, Hughsy, jaFro, fataL, and tiLs to name a few^[13].

Zboard's eventual demise came about after being unsuccessful at the first European CGS draft despite placing 2nd, beating 4Kings (London Mint) and taking eventual world champions Dignitas (Birmingham Salvo) into overtime. ^[14]

Player Roster[edit]

"The Classic Zboard" from 2004-2005[edit]

ID	Name	Position
ben0	Ben Balcombe	Manager, Team Leader, Tactician, Player
Cras	Dan Howlett	Manager, Deputy Leader, Tactician, Player
MonkH	Luke Varley	Player
DanyK	Danny Thomas	Player
HenryG	Henry Greer	Player

"The Ever Changing Zboard" from 2005-2008[edit]

ID	Name	Position
ben0	Ben Balcombe	Manager, Team Leader, Tactician, Player
HenryG	Henry Greer	Player
ritch	Richard Gibbs	Player
fataL	Kyle Mardel	Player
AndreS	Andre Smith	Player
Gav	Gavin Arbuckle	Player
shab	Chris Foley	Player
shift		Player
w1p	Stew Mclaren	Player
beta	Thomas Hanna	Player
HudzG	George Hoskins	Player
Ollz	Oliver Hay	Player
Tyron	Martin Jeppsson	Player
MrBoyson		Player
darky	Luuk Verink	Player
crazycat	Ollie Netherton	Player
jaFro	David Davidson	Player
DuFF	Alex Trimberger	Player

"The CGS Zboard" 2007[edit]

ID	Name	Position
DrGonzo	Richard Lewis	Manager
gom8z	Tony Oldfield	Manager
ben0	Ben Balcombe	Team Leader, Tactician, Player
jaFro	David Davidson	Player
fataL	Kyle Mardel	Player
Gandofini	John Johnston	Player
tiLs	Nat Tilsley	Player

Results[edit]

Gallery[edit]

Interviews and Media[edit]

Videos[edit]

CGS UK Final

References[edit]

[1] ttp://www.esportsheaven.com/articles/view/492/know-your-history-zboard-part-2?page=1

[2] ttp://www.x043.co.uk/achievements/

[3] ttp://www.esportsheaven.com/articles/view/399/cs-s-s-25-most-memorable-moments-1?page=1

[4] ttp://www.x043.co.uk/2016/04/nostalgia-gonzorreah-the-500k-slap-nominated-for-scene-journalist-award-2009/

[5] ttp://www.x043.co.uk/about-us/

[6] ttp://www.esportsheaven.com/articles/view/456/know-your-history-zboard-part-1

[7] ttp://www.esportsheaven.com/articles/view/456/know-your-history-zboard-part-1

[8] ttp://www.x043.co.uk/2016/03/first-post-and-some-nostalgia/

[9] ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Championship_Gaming_Series_teams#Honours

[10] ttp://www.esportsheaven.com/articles/view/546

[11] ttps://www.hltv.org/news/16638-interview-unwrapping-henryg

[12] ttp://www.esportsheaven.com/articles/view/634/hudzg-we-can-be-the-best?page=2

[13] ttp://www.esportsheaven.com/articles/view/55/zboard-past-and-future

[14] ttp://www.x043.co.uk/2016/04/nostalgia-gonzorreah-the-500k-slap-nominated-for-scene-journalist-award-2009/

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Date	Placement	Tier	Type		Result	Prize
2007-09-21	2nd	A-Tier	Offline	CGS 2007: UK Combine	0 : 2	$5,000
2007-04-09	3rd	A-Tier	Offline	Multiplay Insomnia 30		$982.48
2007-02-11	2nd	C-Tier	Offline	StarBytes Winter Warmer	11 - 16
2006-11-12	3rd	C-Tier	Offline	Multiplay Insomnia 29	11 - 16	$955.14
About achievementsComplete Results in any Tournament

Date	Time	Tier	Type			Score	vs. Team
2006-11-12	11:00 CEST	C-Tier	Offline	Multiplay Insomnia 29	Multiplay Insomnia 29	11 - 16	Reason
2006-11-12	10:00 CEST	C-Tier	Offline	Multiplay Insomnia 29	Multiplay Insomnia 29	16 - 11	TLR
2006-11-11	20:30 CEST	C-Tier	Offline	Multiplay Insomnia 29	Multiplay Insomnia 29	16 - 14	five:flow (missing)
2006-11-11	18:30 CEST	C-Tier	Offline	Multiplay Insomnia 29	Multiplay Insomnia 29	5 - 16	Temp.css
2006-11-11	16:30 CEST	C-Tier	Offline	Multiplay Insomnia 29	Multiplay Insomnia 29	16 - 12	TLR
2006-11-11	15:30 CEST	C-Tier	Offline	Multiplay Insomnia 29	Multiplay Insomnia 29	16 - 3	svig (missing)
Complete List of Matches in Any Tournament