GotGame’s Zain Ali Takes GigaFrag

Last weekend’s “Bash for Cash” Call of Duty 4 tournament showcased the talents of 11 different CoD4 teams and 55 players—but especially those of current GotGame intern Zain Ali, aka zigzag. Zigzag and his team, Fresh Baked Muffins, took home first place and some swag after a five round, double elimination bracket on Saturday in Visalia, CA. The open event offered a variety of gamers a chance to strut their stuff, so long as they paid the $50 entry fee ($40 prepaid), which helped fund the awards zigzag and co. strutted on home with.

Or perhaps I should say, meandered humbly. After jokingly claiming he’s “just been talking smack since Saturday” nonstop, zigzag assures his game mouth is professional. “I only talk crap to my friends, but at the tournament I don’t… At the final match, there are thirty guys right behind our old team.”

But hasn’t the player who pulled off this final head shot earned some bragging rights? Yet, he seems somewhat awed himself as he says “I really couldn’t do that again if I was told to, but the skill is still there.”

So what’s left to gush over? Maybe the fact that the five Fresh Baked Muffins team members had never met or played together prior to the Gigafrag LAN. And that zigzag has maintained acute accuracy despite admitting that “I probably play like three hours a day, if I do play that day.” Of course, “If I didn’t have a job, I’d probably put in like eight hours a day.” (Disclaimer: zigzag seems to enjoy his work at GotGame.)

Not to suggest any new gamer could enter this same setup and breeze through a tournament: zigzag is a veteran of AG and PDX LANs, and now a two-time veteran of CoD4-exclusive LANs. He previously rocked out with the team eXe, and has stuck with Call of Duty since its first incarnation, doling it out with M4s, AK-47s, and set nades.

With even grander professional gaming positions undoubtedly waiting in the future, zigzag shares many others’ optimism for the sport: “I think it’s getting there, it really depends on the community and what people bring to it. It’s really getting competitive and people are bringing a lot of good things to it. But I think it’ll only get as big as the gamers want it to. People are taking initiative to get eSports out there.”

Well played.