Ques is on vacation or something this week, so our writing cast is back down to 2 this time around. Granary went pretty much as expected, but gullywash has some more interesting matchups.
1. undefated at rastlemnaia (12-0)
by London- Dingo
- Wrech
- coconut
- pot
- slinky
- arctic joe
With four matches left in the season and boasting an untarnished record, undefated at rastlemnaia is experiencing some trouble in paradise. While it's surprising for this late in the season, there are some crazy roster changes in store for our uncontested number one team which have come with less than ideal timing. Ikpure will be departing on medic with Dingo moving from roamer to replace him, coconut will be moving to roamer from pocket and wrech will be putting the pocket boots on. After looking at some recent scrims, this current line-up might kill the dream of 16-0 for Pot and the boys as they have lost to teams they have never lost to previously this season. Despite all these misgivings, gullywash should go over without too many speed bumps with matches against We Kings Now and Never Stop Greeting, but it remains to be seen if this current roster is as strong as the original one.
2. Fried Green Tomatoes (10-2)
by London- OMZ
- tshirts
- Buckweet
- mASTER
- North^star
- Bape
Granary week wasn't too rough for buckweet and the boys with a forfeit win from zaboomacrew and a clean 5-2 victory over the Anzaldua Peckers. Tshirts has fit in with the team nicely and they are looking like they have recovered from their slight roster shake-up. Their last couple matches of the season are going to be fun ones as they face Bretty Bueno and big hams this week on gullywash. They shouldn't have too much of a problem with big hams despite how good that team looked two weeks ago, but their second match will be a lot closer against Bretty Bueno which will be covered for Match of the Week. With a 10-2 record it would take a massive losing streak for fgt to fall out of a good seed for playoffs, but the time to relax hasn't come quite yet as an unfortunate loss can mean an inconvenient seed.
3. Dango Daikazoku (11-1)
by conductor- Screwball
- Sneakypolarbear
- testify
- DifferentColors
- icTus
- reilly
Dango had some mixed results last week - on one hand they put out a dominant 5-1 showing over bretty bueno, but on the other hand they only scraped a 5-4 win over we kings now. I'll attribute the latter to the fact that the team's soldiers have recently swapped roles which has probably caused some cohesion issues. Assuming that there has been adequate time for them to adjust to the change, things should hopefully continue to go smoothly for them once again. They're matched up against Team Echelon and Animus Victoria this week. Echelon is going to be a roll, but the game against Animus will be a curious indicator to whether the former number 2 team will continue their fall from grace.
4. Animus Victoria (10-2)
by conductor- Cheeriss
- blue
- Fearless
- Blackymonster
- kraka
- Noko
Another week, another Animus Victoria roster change. They have now picked up Cheeriss on medic and Fearless has once again made his return on roamer. Animus lost their second game of the season last week against pandamonium, but I'm fairly certain it was a case of Animus playing below standards rather than panda going above and beyond. The question heading into this week is whether they will continue their subpar performance or if their new pickups can stabilize their shaky play; their matches against Dango and Bretty Bueno it should be good indicators.
5. Bretty Bueno 5 out of 5 (10-2)
by London- soggypancake
- aim
- hle
- eddeh
- Antwan
- vkr
Bretty Bueno had a taste of Dango last week with a 5-1 loss on granary. The match was a little one sided following some client issues which prevented hle from playing in the match - forcing their backup messiah to fill in a role he wasn't all that familiar with. This next week will pitch them against Fried Green Tomatoes and Yoshis Island. Yoshis Island has hit a steep losing streak against the other high open teams and will most likely be getting rolled on over by Bretty Bueno, but I wouldn't be surprised if they grab a round or two. Their second match is our Match of the Week against Fried Green Tomatoes which should be a fun match to watch. Looking at their schedule for the rest of the season, they should be able to secure a decent seed for playoffs as long as they don't lose all of their matches, although two losses would be enough to put them in the middle of the pack.
6. Bubble Buddies (9-3)
by conductor- braz
- peyton
- tophu
- crux
- ghostac
- djinn
Bubble Buddies did lose both of their matches on granary, but the results were some of the more interesting ones of the week. Their first game saw them having a strong showing against rastlemania, managing to take 3 rounds - more than any other team has this season. They then proceeded to lose to Bretty Bueno 5-3 despite walking away from the game with more damage and frags. This points to some inconsistencies that I'm hoping the soapy compatriots will be able to iron out come playoffs. Bubble Buddies go up against Never Stop Greeting and Animus Victoria this week. Neither match will be easy for them, but gullywash is as good of a map as any for crux to go nuts on.
7. The Flying Circus (9-3)
by London- tooth
- bsc
- Wowzers
- Zambler
- monkeysuit
- vortex
When I found out that DrDonutman had left the team, I was a little scared for how it would effect Monkey Suit and his ever changing roster. After they picked up danascully last week I breathed a little easier until I found out that dana wouldn't be playing the rest of the season with them. What this means is that they will be looking at their fourth or fifth medic for the season which has to be some sort of record. Thankfully their next matches are well within the team's purview as they will be facing two mid-open teams that they shouldn't have an issue beating. This team will most likely end the season 12-4, though it appears that they are only scheduled for fifteen matches (hello? ESEA?). As for medic replacements, it looks like tooth has jumped on board, so we'll see how long he lasts in this tumultuous position.
8. Never Stop Greeting (9-3)
by conductor- Dart
- Breloom
- Hellbent
- kwazi
- Let it Riot
- Bigwill
We have yet another roster change this week with June stepping back and Breloom taking the reins. This team hasn't scrimmed in something like 2 weeks, so it's really hard to tell what kind of performance they're going to put on. If they start to take this season more seriously they have the potential to be one of the more dominant teams in open, but only time will tell. They face off against Rastlemania and Bubble Buddies this week. As is, I really don't see them putting much of a scratch in the current open favorites, but the match against Bubble Buddies should be a good one.
9. we kings now (9-3)
by conductor- Lydiaxa
- drduke
- lamb
- dan
- GrieVe
- jerr0
Granary week was a bit surprising from we kings now. They took 4 rounds off of Dango Daikazoku, and had a much more convincing victory over Yoshi's Island than I ever expected them to. We kings now have begun to solidify their standing as a top ten team, but they still fall short of being a title contender. They play against rastlemania and pandamonium this week; rastlemania will be a roll, but the match against pandamonium should be an interesting sign of whether or not their match against Animus was a fluke.
10. Lzuruha Pandamonium (11-2)
by London- SocialistFish
- Gravegun
- Zander
- Sildeezy
- Panda
- DZK
Well it looks like Pandamonium has really hit their stride with a big win over Animus Victoria last week 5-2, proving that they are a threat to the other playoff hopefuls. The match itself wasn't too exciting as far as granary goes, but Hippo and his fuzzy friends played well. This week they will be tested again with a match against we kings now on a map with a notoriously difficult last point to push into, and some geography that can reward more passive teams. I'm really not sure how well a super passive strategy will work against Pandamonium but it should make for an interesting matchup either way. With a 10-2 record, even losing three of their remaining four matches will mean they will most likely make playoffs, but don't be surprised if they finish the season 13-3 even 12-4.
Teams to watch:
- Yoshis Island
- The Anzaldua Peckers
- Get Wrecked
- Street Hoops eSports
- Team Echelon
Match of the Week: Fried Green Tomatoes vs Bretty Bueno
by Conductor
- OMZ
- tshirts
- Buckweet
- mASTER
- North^star
- Bape
- soggypancake
- aim
- hle
- eddeh
- Antwan
- vkr
Bretty Bueno faces another large obstacle this week with a match against Fried Green Tomatoes. Fgt is the clear favorite coming into this match, but the game will likely be closer than most would assume. Gullywash is riddled with narrow chokepoints and the mid fights are very demo centric, and I would argue that Eddeh slightly edges out mASTER in the dm department. That being said, Fgt does have the upper hand with their scouts and soldiers, and I'm expecting that to end up winning them post uber fights. I'm going to give this game to Fried Green Tomatoes 5-3.
The dreaded mid-open bubble has descended upon Season 14 as we just have these last two weeks to decide the final seeding for playoffs. At this point, as long as your team only has 4 losses, you technically still have a shot. With the majority of the current top 16 having very few losses its going to come down to the wire even for some 12-4 teams. It also means that a lot of the teams that have been creeping outside the top 10 will have a chance to secure a spot, but even one loss at this critical time could be enough to make or break the season. Most notably bouncing around the standings right now are Team Echelon, Street Hoops eSports, the Mad Boys, and Immortal Six. Considering most of these teams will be playing each other in the next two weeks, there will definitely be some heated competition during viaduct week.