The boat has finally set sail for our Premiership contenders. Although who will be docking over in the unknown land of victory is still relatively unknown, many assumptions can be made from our starting fixtures. Teams with roster issues or problems have eventually managed to stabilise to an extent where we can see a full roster being thrown into play. Bringing back previous players from the Premiership, the mixture of old and new blood continues to form inside the Premiership. Whilst that may be very dangerous in a real life situation, it will surely bring some epic games on our hands throughout the course of the season, gracefully provided by BlackoutGamingTV.

After a double serving of Upward in the first week, we move on to something completely different for all our teams to face off on: two maps. One KoTH, the other 5CP - I'm talking about the deadly combination of Process and Viaduct going into Week 2. Both maps express hyper-aggression from teams to win, with the Kritzkrieg being picked up for the majority of teams for the majority of the time on Viaduct, and Process provides viewers with the potential of nearly all the Mediguns available to be used in competitive play. Perfect for any aspiring Medic main. Expect many of the teams that utilise DM more than tactics to throw out some fantastic sacrifice plays due to Viaduct being such a small map. With 6v6 players trickling into the Highlander scene, their insight, whether their role is sub or main, could be a potential asset to their team. Every team will be looking to pick up as many points as they can among their rivals - the skill gap in the middle of Prem is so close, with many of the middle teams in Prem having the ability to take points off of the top teams like Highpander and Tourettes Chessclub. Roll on the predictions!

Fair Enough vs. PremTech

PremTech are on a mission here. They're either here to irritate the living shit out of their opponents, show that American Medics are significantly better than their Euro counterparts, or that they're a team that can contest the top with many players out of the usual Premiership circlejerk. Fortunately I think the latter is what's set in their minds. According to team leader Maito, PremTech are confident going into this second week, claiming how their recent PCWs have gone well. However a slight roster change in replacing ReseF with ex-itsallgood Heavy Pinky gives the new-ish team a boost when it comes to Premiership experience. Pinky always impressed many a player in itsallgood's penultimate season back at the beginning of Season 5, with impressive stats throughout the season. Setbacks are always common with teams, and PremTech may have an issue: with the internet of polar being shut down, it may be an awkward time for PremTech to see if they have their original lineup against what seems to be a strong Fair Enough team. Although losing to Chessclub 6-0 on Upward, Blooddrunk posted some insane stats for a losing team, going 30:11 and 23:13 for both rounds respectively. Throwing in a hyper-aggressive Soldier like Hartz on a map like Process should open up space for Fair Enough - particularly with the usage of the Beggar's Bazooka where necessary. In this game, the flank are arguably more important than the combo, due to the talent of both W1nco and Hartz on the side of Fair Enough; and the likes of jwso and ShaDowBurn on PremTech. With Nursey playing at 120 ping, it might be difficult to stop Blooddrunk getting ANOTHER sick drop or headshot due to slight lag compensation. This game will be close, with it being an arguable rivalry that's spanned over two seasons: now they get to duke it out again at the top level. I'm calling a 3-3: PremTech are gonna take Viaduct convincingly, but Fair Enough will take it back to a closer game on Process where they'll eek out a victory of 3-2 or very similar.

Players to watch out for: Hartz, ShaDowBurn, Blooddrunk, Villdjack

hePPa vs. Kill Switch

Is it possible that the kings are back after their long awaited return to the top? For Kill Switch their first week went relatively well, after comfortably beating Voodooh on Upward, taking all 6 points. Even though there was a minor warning for them after inso forgot a part of his nickname (I thought these shenanigans were so last season?), Kill Switch looked very good last week. However, benching Heavy jamal has made it difficult for Kill Switch to play with a solid lineup. Fortunately ex-Chessclub Heavy Atomicus has stepped in for this week whilst Kill Switch trial him, and other Heavies that will replace jamal permanently. After talking to their leader Emilio Estevez, the team feel “confident” going into Week 2, after beating their opponents hePPa in recent PCWs. In comparison to the sudden return of Kill Switch, hePPa are currently struggling in the fledgling weeks of the season; after a loss to Stacked on Upward, MInd, the main Sniper for hePPa, has “ragequit Highlander” according to leader Toba. On maps like Viaduct and Process a prominent Sniper is highly necessary due to the open sightlines and angles that he can utilise. From what I can gather, either hePPa will be looking for a new Sniper or shifting main Soldier Salmon over and looking for another Soldier to utilise. This week will be crucial for hePPa to try and solidify their roster again and move forward so they can contest with a solid lineup against all teams. However, against Kill Switch it will be difficult for the Finns to get out of the starting block. With Kill Switch finding their form again like in previous seasons, the lineup may struggle. Whilst players like Santtu and Kurates are outstanding from the Finnish team, Kill Switch look more solid going into this week. Expect players like inso and Emilio Estevez to post big damage and frags throughout the course of both maps. Even though I think hePPa will put up a better fight than most may think, the title of “worst team in Prem” is currently being thrown around over their heads by the other Premiership teams. Subsequently, I think Kill Switch will do well, and keep their 100% winning streak going: a 6-0 for Kill Switch.

Players to watch out for: Kurates, Salmon, inso, Emilio Estevez

Highpander vs. Voodooh

“We’re gonna lose to Highpander”. Many negative words come out of players when they realise they have to play against the kings of Highlander in Europe, but nothing so blunt from the leader of new boys in Prem, Snooki. Even though the loss against Kill Switch may have dented their motivation, Voodooh still look like they could cause upsets. However after talking to Snooki about their fixture this week, he seems unconfident in his team’s ability to beat the kings, yet they have established themselves as a team that can contest with the majority of Prem. Picking up the strategy what I like to call “pulling a Season 5 Stacked”, Voodooh have picked up some mighty supersubs from the top levels of 6v6. Snooki now throws into his mysterious voodoo pot maincall.tf Demoman WARHURYEAH, subbing Scout/Soldier/Demo, ex-saloon.tf Soldier SorroW holding station for Sniper and the legend that is Zebbosai subbing everything bar Engineer. An excellent array of subs. Comparatively over on the Highpander squad, their roster has remained unchanged. Even though they took the full six points off of PremTech last week, it was potentially closer than most thought. Could their crown be slipping off slowly? Regardless, after speaking to Highpander Engineer nijoonen, the panda squad have “gotten better” at their 5CP maps, meaning we could see more interesting plays coming out of the entire squad. After an impressive 39 frag haul against a mix of Stacked in the previous Highlander Invitational, Steve will be looking to impress again across both maps, and hopefully retaining his Pyro of the season award. An interesting matchup to note is the battle of Demomen: duck and Hildreth have proven themselves to be Demomen of an excellent standard with lots of frags and damage; even though Hildreth is a maincaller as well, his stats do still compete with many of the top Demomen we see in Prem this season. Even though Voodooh took a surprise win against Kill Switch on Viaduct in the Invitational 3-1, I don’t see them replicating that result: Highpander look to keep themselves in the driving seat up until the end of the season where they can take playoffs one step at a time, whilst Voodooh look to try and justify their spot in the Premiership for next season. It’ll be much like the fixture between hePPa and Kill Switch: how quickly one team can win. In this case, how quick Highpander can win. Another 6-0.

Players to watch out for: JackyLegs, thaZu., Steve, Hildreth

Stacked vs. Tourettes Chessclub

Ah, the great rivalry between these two teams continues on completely different maps again. Back in Season 5, Stacked were always dominant over Chessclub, and won the majority of games against them. However, on Steel week Chessclub were able to eek out a golden cap victory that turned the tide of results to follow. Maybe it was because of the roster shuffling Scissors decided to do throughout the off-season and post-season. In Season 6, Chessclub were the dominant team. After that history lesson, in Season 7 it still looks like Chessclub will keep their dominance over a team that has been constantly evolving. Stacked have been able to solidify their roster and get their first points on the board against a struggling hePPa; with rouHe getting 82 headshots (yes, eighty two) and sorex having a monster of a game DM-wise, Stacked looked impressive. New recruits SUZY and H.A.R.D also were looking solid throughout their fixture against hePPa. With the LEGO crew of Dr.Phil and F2 rocking out with leader b33p, their expertise on the maps this week should aid them sufficiently when it comes to strategy as well as DM. Comparatively on Chessclub uubers and atomic- both had a fantastic game against Fair Enough last week, and should be hot on the heels of the Stacked flank throughout the entire game. When it comes to Sniper matchup expect rouHe and tracker to both perform insanely well and provide some great fragclip footage. It could be hard for H.A.R.D (see what I did there?) to perform against the combo of Scissors, quintosh and BreakfasT_Jr, although he has been performing well in PCWs and recent officials. Even though Stacked look like they were struggling pre-season, they have dragged themselves back to a fighting entity that can contest the majority of teams in Prem. Even b33p thinks there will be “one or two surprises” coming into this week - whether it’s directly referencing his posse will be known on Thursday when both teams square off. Even though Chessclub look to take the full six points, I think Stacked will be a good contender for their points. Viaduct will be a fairly convincing win for Chessclub however, with dominance from thef flank and quintosh covering insane ground on top. However Process may go a different way, even though Chessclub did beat Highpander in a PCW on Process - I’m gonna go all in and say Stacked will take it to a golden cap on Process, but eventually lose out. Therefore, a 5-1 victory for Chessclub.

Players to watch out for: sorex, rouHe, uubers, quintosh

That’s it for this week of predictions. Many thanks to all the team leaders for providing me information that can help write a decent article. See you next Monday for the next set of predictions!