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THE BEGINNING

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2000

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Metro Manila

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The hotbed for one of the earliest movements in CS. A place full of competitive CS matches.

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And in the outskirts of Metro Manila, there was Marikina City.

One of the so-called CS territories. Where you can spot an internet cafe at every corner. One of them was a shop called PowerLink. A shop well known for it's ability to turn normal players into competitors. Every great CS player in Marikina had at least one game in PowerLink. Owned by Ratrat and ran by Kamatis. Almost every night you can see the PowerLink players in a scrimmage with another team. PowerLink had 2 sets of teams: Team PowerLink led by Jason; Team xXx led by Ninja. Team xXx consists of older players while Team PowerLink consists of young highschool students. And in mid 2000, Stone Cold (a rookie fresh from training in the hands of his best friend and mentor Satan Clause), stepped inside PowerLink to experience the real world of competitive CS.

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THE FALLING

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While enjoying their position as the training ground for young CS players, PowerLink is aware of how many shops are opening around it. New shops with superior machines are opening almost in a monthly basis. Soon enough, PowerLink saw its once loyal players being pulled by the new shops. The first blow was when some Team xXx players stopped coming to the shop. Team PowerLink played scrimmages at daytime while Team xXx played their scrimmages at nighttime. But when Team xXx saw its roster depleted, the team called Stone Cold to fill the void. The second blow was when another shop opened in some short distance away. Diliger One. A shop in perfect position to attract students for it is right in front of the school. Some Team PowerLink players soon entered Diliger One and never returned. By 2001, PowerLink and xXx had players leaving so that the only logical solution to continue the shop's legacy is by joining together.

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THE FIRST REVOLUTION: LEGACY

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F2F, another shop in Marikina, was handing out invitations for their upcoming CS tournament. Almost every shop in Marikina was invited to send their teams. PowerLink accepted and immediately held a meeting to choose which players will be sent to represent the shop. The majority came up with this line-up:

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Ninja Kolero

Pakangkang

Jason

Puker

Stone Cold

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3 xXx players and 2 PowerLink players was chosen to carry the shop's name and legacy. The tournament featured a unique rule: Every map will be played. And so the event began. With every team playing not just for money, but for territorial control. As fate would have it, PowerLink was gonna face Diliger One in the semifinals. Diliger One sent a team consisting of former PowerLink players. The battle was held at de_scud. Both teams giving all their best shot to advance to the finals where F2F was already waiting. The match gave the rookie Stone Cold a chance to prove that he was not just a filler. One highlight was when Diliger One planted the bomb and Stone Cold jumping from the terrace straight to the bomb that was planted on the roof. PowerLink and Diliger One locked in a ferocious gunfight while Stone Cold defused the bomb. After a fierce match, PowerLink won the match and advanced to the finals.

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The finals was set. PowerLink vs. F2F. The map was de_inferno. F2F held a commanding lead going to halftime. But PowerLink proved how well balanced their team was, especially at defending. Because PowerLink will play CT in the second half. Ninja, Jason, Puker, and Pakangkang was all adept at sniping. And these snipers kept the F2F offense at bay. After a wild comeback, PowerLink emerged victorious. The victory was a pure message that even with a depleted roster, PowerLink was still a force to be reckoned with.

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THE AFTERMATH

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Even with the victory, PowerLink is still facing another problem. Players that was once loyal to the shop, stopped coming because of shops emerging from all over the city. Some stopped coming because of distance, some wanted to play in much faster machines. After several months of trying to hold on, PowerLink finally went out of business. And the team, recognizing the end of their run, went their separate ways.

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In mid 2002, Stone Cold received a news that will devastate him more. Romel Bayon A.K.A Satan Clause was found dead somewhere in Bulacan. And from that day, Stone Cold was remembering his best friend every time he played CS. The pain never left, so Stone Cold vowed never to play CS again. And by mid 2003, after some personal problems of his own, Stone Cold flew to Japan to start a new life.

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THE LAND OF THE RISIING SUN

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Fast forward 2 years. Late 2004. A game called Counter-Strike:Source was released. And Stone Cold, who vowed never to play CS again, was caught in a dilemma. Curiosity was bugging him ever since he heard about the game. But the vow was keeping him from testing it. In the end, he decided that after 2 years of mourning, he is ready to try it again. Stone Cold purchased CS:Source in 2005. He played through Steam bearing his old clan name: [xXx]Stone Cold. He was hoping that one of this days his old teammates would recognize him. But he waited in vain. After 3 years of waiting, and some encouragement from his friends Spawn, Kilabot, and Noah, he decided to move on.

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THE SECOND REVOLUTION: NEW BEGINNING

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xXx | Philippines was founded in late 2008 by Stone Cold. It features Pinoy players living in Japan. The line-up was:

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Stone Cold

Spawn

Kilabot

Noah

Lil Phuc

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Together they took on teams that was already established. But Stone Cold wasn't aware that all standard scrimmages was to be fought on de_dust2. He was used to playing de_dust but not de_dust2. All the plays that Ninja commanded was for de_dust. And Stone Cold was planning on taking Ninja's playbook and giving out commands himself. Due to his lack of experience in dust2, Stone Cold failed to revive the old momentum and this new team quickly crumbled under the hands of the more experienced teams. Teams such as FX3, GreenPeace, and others. But the fire was still burning even after several defeats. When the team failed to achieve at least 1 victory, Noah and Lil Phuc left the group. But they were immediately replaced by 4 players:

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Pepito Buraot

Aso

Impacto

Sharko

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Impacto was the first ever player to come from outside of Japan. But due to high latency, Impacto rarely joined the scrimmages. But even without Impacto, the team was ready for a fresh attempt for credibility. A win is all that the team needed to establish the group as a functioning clan. But they failed. The other teams was just too much for them. And after some disappointing loses, Sharko left the team.

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THE UNKNOWN

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Stone Cold, Spawn, and Kilabot tried to move forward even through these loses. Kilabot started inviting every Pinoy player that he played with. Soon enough, xXx | Philippines became a team of Pinoy players not only in Japan, but from other places as well. The most notable addition was 2 players from Hong Kong:

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Raiden

Numeric

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But even with this number of players, Stone Cold didn't know what to do with them. Accepting his failure as a leader, he vanished for some months.

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THE THIRD REVOLUTION: BROTHERHOOD

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When Stone Cold returned, he expected xXx to be disbanded. But to his surprise, the team was still alive. Impacto, showing his loyalty, invited a gang of players from all over the Pacific to keep the team fresh. These players brought a unique trait: A New Bond of Friendship. Every night when this guys play, you can hear laughter all over the Public Servers.

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Lemonchello

Stryker

Razec

Smoker

Ringtail

Ghost

Kamote

Mr.Suave

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These players brought the game to its roots: You're supposed to have fun. The new movement of the team went in a different angle. Almost every night you can see these players ganging up on some Public Server and causing a lot of trouble for the Server admins while trying to have fun at the same time. Like Impacto, these players showed their loyalty by wearing the xXx tag all the time. Even when wearing it is causing trouble for themselves. Some Servers doesn't want players stacking the teams. But these new guys never cared for their Server rules. The most notable was Impacto being banned from the [v4] dust2 Server because of team stacking. But even through that, the team always had fun playing together.

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THE UNEXPECTED

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The group that was supposed to be weak suddenly gained momentum just by having fun playing. And by 2011, xXx suddenly struck gold. Serverscout, the Philippine based online gaming program, was suddenly caught in a predicament that will render it unsafe to play. Servers had gone down. The only remaing servers was full of hackers. And those who played in it was suddenly looking for an alternative. Several Serverscout players switched to Steam. And 2 of them immediately joined xXx:

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Korpsz

Asero

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These new generation of players unintentionally sparked a fire that was supposed to be dead. Korpsz immediately started inviting every player in Zamboanga, where CS:S is the most competitively played game. More experienced, hungry, and determined players was suddenly swelling up the xXx ranks.

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THE FIRST IN A LONG TIME

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For several years, xXx | Philippines has avoided getting in the mix of all competitive matches. Mainly because of fear of humiliation. Ever since the group was founded on Steam, xXx haven't been able to scrape a win. Most teams would just ignore the fact that xXx | Philippines exists. But all of that changed. Because on June 21, 2011, almost 3 years since the founding on Steam, xXx | Philippines finally got its first win on Steam. A 3 on 3 match that changed the group for the better. Stone Cold, Impacto, and Asero battled FX3's SolidSnake, Snoop, and CaL in a suprisingly lopsided match. Maybe it wasn't what was considered to be a full match because of the number of players. But for xXx, a win is a win. Finally the team had something to be proud of.

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THE FOURTH REVOLUTION: THE MIXED GENERATION

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The first win marked the dawning of the new generation. Stone Cold re-installed his own server to rally all the players, past and present. And then xXx suddenly found itself in another movement. A movement that will change its reputation forever. The team, inspired by their win, started getting a lot more competitive. The older players getting the rub off of the more competitively experienced young players. The team trained hard to follow up on their much treasured first Steam win. These training sessions would suddenly give Stone Cold another creatve idea.

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During practice, some players would have some of their own "highlight" moment. And Stone Cold would record these highlights and use them to create videos. The Weekly Top 10, Monthly Videos, and Solo Videos. Maybe it wasn't their initial goal, but these videos would give the team another inspiration to work hard on their skills.

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The team would eventually earn their very first 5 on 5 Steam win. On July of 2011, xXx challenged the v4 players in a 5 on 5 clan match. The match took place on August of 2011 and xXx won with the score of 16-8. Another win for xXx happened on September of 2011 against their long time brother/rival FX3. The third win was on October of 2011 against ckmR of Singapore in a double overtime match. The final score was 22-20. The fourth win happened 2 weeks later against eNm.

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THE RISE FROM THE SOUTH

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By 2012, 12 years since its original inception and 4 years since its rebirth on Steam, xXx proves that their legacy goes on. With the team having players from Japan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, Mariana Islands, and West Coast U.S.A, xXx is now one of the most active groups in Asia-Pacific. On March 21, 2012, xXx joined a tournament that established their dominance in Southern Philippines. xXx players from Zamboanga was invited to join the event that would take place in Iligan.

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AwpTirador

Lure

Reg [M]

Ecko

Katy Perry

Revenant

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Carrying their local team name, zCore, the team traveled to Iligan to participate in an event that would include teams from all over Mindanao. Barcode, a fellow xXx member and an Iligan resident, provided a home for his xXx brothers. And on April 1, 2012, xXx | zCore won the tournament and reaffirmed their dominance in the world of CS:S.