Hildreth sort of beat me to the punch here with his post on the UGC forums, but you can never have too much Highlander coverage, so here is my preview of the Season 12 Highlander playoffs. With cash on the line and a more competitive field than we have ever seen in the highest level of 9v9, this promises to be one of the most enticing and, potentially, surprising tournaments in recent memory. Despite my disappointing record in regards to posting Highlander articles in a timely manner, I'll do my best to keep the info and predictions flowing throughout the post-season. Hopefully, between all the casts and content being produced, we can give these playoffs the coverage that they merit.

Last Minute Roster Shuffles

After a string of poor performances from their Medic OnlyCouchesPullOut, the Dunning-Kruger Effect boys have been experimenting a bit with their old Medic Metawe. While untested in Platinum, Metawe is one of the most promising up-and-coming Meds in Highlander and making a switch could be a good move for dK considering Couches inconsistent play. I'm told that Metawe will indeed get the nod to start in their opening match against Dead Ringer Storage, so we'll have to watch to see what kind of impact he has in his Platinum debut. Also, due to troubles getting Scarab to show up and play, Giraffe will be ringing on demo for Dunning-Kruger when they take on DRS.

Due to scheduling conflicts with Indust, Murderforce 9000 will likely be running Highlander veteran and former Invite Medic Chimp Feet on Monday when they take on Gentlemen’s Club. Chimp is a really smart player with excellent mechanics, as shown by his extensive 6s experience, so I’m expecting this change to have a minimal impact. There was some talk of B4nny being available to play Monday but that turned out not to be the case. We’ll have to see if Murderforce will be able to get him in at some point this post-season since he is most definitely a game changer.

After Tictack's departure, SYOPS moved seasoned Roamer MemphisVon onto Soldier, who has been a little slow to adjust to Highlander but is overall a suitable replacement. The SYOPS management, however, has not been completely enamored with his play thus far, and there is some talk of possibly moving Milo to Soldier, Kapoww to Scout, and their backup .X onto Demo. Milo is one of the best Soldiers in America and the other two are both very solid players on their respective classes so that may be a smart switch for this team. We’ll see who they end up running on Monday.

Since I haven’t written an article in so long I might as well clarify that the most common Gentlemen's Club roster seems to now have Deadbolt on Scout, Ash on Soldier, and Grape on Demo. All are top-level players so its no surprise that there has been no tangible dip in GC’s play.

Final Regular Season Power Rankings

1 - The Electric Temptations (8-0) W8

Seed: 1

Rounds Won/Lost: 23/5

Notable Wins: Gentlemen’s Club, Dead Ringer Storage, Menace to Society

Playoff Record: 5-4

Best Finish: 3rd Place (Season 11)

Season Summary: The biggest surprise of this season may be the success of The Electric Temptations. After their breakout season in late 2013 many expected, then AG, to compete as they did in prior seasons for maybe 3rd or 4th place. However, thanks to a handful of tactful player moves that ended up working out even better than expected, this seasoned group has continued to improve and has put themselves in a great position to make a run at first place. Characterized by fluid combo play, strong coordination, and explosive pick classes, ET has a very complete and balanced style that allows them to adapt and modify their approach to a map on the fly. These veterans put a premium on staying focused, positive, and sticking with the strategies that they know they can win with, which makes them a very hard team to gain any momentum against. Thus far they have only given up a round against Gentlemen’s Club and Menace to Society, so those teams will certainly be their focus going into the postseason.

What They Need to Win: One of the major dangers when playing ET is not knowing where the pressure is going to come from. This team is at their best when their opponents are worrying about a rush from Decimate, a bomb from Ricky, a flank from Satan, a headshot from phAZE, and a backstab from Deer all at the same time. If ET can get all of its weapons working and can protect phorofor long enough for him to let 38special loose on their opponents, then they are a very tough team to beat.

Best-Case Finish: After an undefeated regular season, it's safe to say that these guys are expecting to do their utmost to win it all. Based on their wealth of talent and solid post-season experience, The Electric Temptations are looking for nothing less than a spot in the final game.

Worst-Case Finish: Based on the strength of the field, it is a very realistic scenario to imagine ET dropping to teams like Dead Ringer Storage or Menace to Society early and quickly getting shuffled to the losers bracket. Teams that finish the regular season undefeated are a total of 12-1 in the playoffs with three first-place finishes. Breaking tradition is never good, so anything less than a top finish will be disappointing for ET.

2 - Gentlemen’s Club (7-1) W4

Seed: 2

Rounds Won/Lost: 22/6

Notable Wins: Dead Ringer Storage, Menace to Society

Notable Losses: The Electric Temptations

Season Summary: After the departure of Street Hoops in Week 1, Platinum looked like a one man race with the gentlemen of Gentlemen’s Club comfortably in the lead. While other teams have come into, and out of, the picture, GC remains one of the favorites to finish the season on top. Aside from a loss to The Electric Temptations, GC has been dominant all season with impressive and decisive wins against Menace to Society and Murderforce 9000. Like most teams, they have shuffled their roster around throughout the season, but they seem to have settled on Grape to replace Ruwin on Demo and this group of experienced winners is more likely than any to be able to take their roster changes in stride and to continue their high level of play. Despite a mid-season loss to ET, Gentlemen’s Club is still very confident in their excessive talent and ability to win, and may have the best shot at finishing the season with a 1st place title.

What They Need to Win: One of the few weak points of GC’s play this season have been their struggles with bouts of uncoordinated play. If Cozen is able to keep his combo focused and in-tune with his patient style, and if Vhalin can keep the flank together and moving as a unit, then The Club becomes very difficult to beat. While they can survive solely off of their smothering DM against the teams in Mid-Plat, to be able to contest talented playoff teams like The Electric Temptations, Menace to Society, and Dead Ringer Storage, they will have to keep that coordination and not allow themselves to get disjoined.

Best-Case Finish: This is a team with a roster full of players who have either gotten very close to or who have played in the Championship Game before. With the pick duo of Max! and Acooma and a combo who can play the passive style that we’re used to seeing in playoffs better than anyone, these guys are one of the best bets to finish on top, and will be disappointed with anything else.

Worst-Case Finish: Gentlemen’s Club is essentially tailor made to win Platinum. With the experience, DM, and dedication of each of their players, plus a strong desire to win, anything outside of the top spot will be a let down for this team. The worst-case scenario likely involves them being upset by a team like DRS or mTs and falling out early, but its hard to imagine this team not making the finals.

3 - Dead Ringer Storage (5-3) W1

Seed: 3

Rounds Won/Lost: 18/13

Notable Wins: Menace to Society, SYOPS TF2

Notable Losses: Dunning-Kruger Effect, The Electric Temptations

Playoff Record: 1-2

Best Finish: 5th (Season 11)

Season Summary: Going into this season, the men of Dead Ringer Storage were, in my mind, one of the 4 or 5 teams that could compete at the very top of the division. While they struggled early against both newcomers and veterans in the form of Dunning-Kruger and The Electric Temptations, they have played well in the latter part of the season and have put themselves in a good position going into the playoffs. Their combo synergy has steadily improved throughout the season and both Rainy and Tickzf have been among the best in the league on their respective classes lately. While quality wins against ET and GC in the TFTV Invitational helped reinforce the fact that they are an elite level team, their performances in recent weeks have impressed me much more than anything they did early in the season. A well-played, efficient win against Menace to Society on Borneo, and a narrow loss to Gentlemen’s Club on Steel should give the guys on DRS a nice boost of confidence going into the playoffs, hopefully removing any doubts in their minds that they can make a late-season run.

What They Need to Win: I’m not too worried about the DRS combo play. Mustard has proven himself to be among the upper-echelon of both Highlander Demos and callers, and KBlair and Jake have become solid forces next to him. Managing their opponents picks and keeping their flank organized will likely be DRS’ biggest concern. In almost every DRS loss you can see strong pick play from their opponents like Feint in week 1 or phAZE on Gpit. If KBlair or Mustard starts dieing a lot then the wheels tend to come off the wagon and they end up beating themselves. Their combo needs to stay aware of their positioning and the flank of Nja and Tickzf need to stay plugged-in to what their combo is doing.

Best-Case Finish: I think an upper-bracket win against one of the top 2 teams is possible for this squad, but I don’t think that they have shown that they have the consistency needed to play at the highest level for 3 or 4 weeks in a row, which is what is needed to make it all the way through the playoffs. I see DRS as a solid team who will likely chew through the lower bracket and, if they keep playing well, could make it deep into the tournament and squeeze out a top-3 finish.

Worst-Case Finish: As I’ve said, my major concern regarding DRS is regarding consistency. Exemplified by their loss to Dunning-Kruger and their narrow win against uBs, these guys often suffer the same sort of pressure from the lower level teams that they themselves apply to the top teams. If they don’t continue to play smart and together, they could run into trouble quickly and their season could end in the first week or two of playoffs.

4 - Menace to Society (3-4-1) L2

Seed: 5

Rounds Won/Lost: 13/16

Notable Wins: Murderforce 9000, Dunning-Kruger Effect

Notable Losses: SYOPS TF2, Dead Ringer Storage

Playoff Record: 10-6

Best Finish: 2nd Place (Season 8, Season 11)

Season Summary: For the most part this season went as expected for mTs. They stayed, talent wise, pretty close to where they had been last season, and with the rest of Platinum making moves to improve around them, understandably lost some games that would have been routine in seasons prior. After losses to ET, GC, and DRS, the men and ladies of mTs understand that they will have to likely do more than ever this season to secure their fifth consecutive placement. However, mTs is known to be a late-bloomer and seem to be, as usual, upping the ante around playoff time. Platinum has gotten more and more comfortable in a Highlander setting and has grown into one of the more dangerous Demomen in the scene. Elsewhere on the roster we see a huge cast of TF2 elite, headlined by veterans like Squid, Panic, Harbleu, and Noko, so if people have somehow forgot about mTs among the attention that teams like GC or ET are getting, then they will likely be reminded very quickly in the next few weeks who, among current teams, is one of the winningest in Highlander History. Their first match against SYOPS, to whom they lost on Steel less than a month ago, should be a good test to see if mTs has really kicked it into another gear and are prepared to make another run at a championship.

What They Need to Win: Despite having two of the best callers in Highlander in Harbleu and Skyrolla, the coordination and synergy of mTs seems to have been lacking lately. If they can work out those kinks and get everyone playing off of each other well then they put themselves in an excellent position to enact some revenge upon the teams that beat them during the regular season. Also, m4risa tends to be pretty hot and cold, but when she is hitting her shots she is just as dangerous as Max! or phAZE. If she hits a hot streak, then mTs’ traditional aggression should be able to capitalize off of it, so how shes playing should do a lot to dictate how well this team plays.

Best-Case Finish: mTs has placed in every one of the last four seasons of UGC Highlander, so even with their recent struggles and a stronger field to compete with, anything less than third place would be a very unusual ending to their season. Considering the number of top-level teams, however, mTs will have to work very hard to get back to their former levels of placement. That being said, a top-3 finish is very much in the cards for this team and if they can make it through with a big win against a team like ET or GC, then they put themselves in a great position to snag a medal.

Worst-Case Finish: This team played very close games with teams like Dunning-Kruger and Dead Ringer Storage this season, and if they are unable to quickly switch into their playoff mode, I could see them falling to solid Mid-Plat teams like those and heading into the losers bracket.

5 - Murderforce 9000 (2-4-1) W1

Seed: 7

Rounds Won/Lost: 10/12

Notable Wins: Dunning-Kruger Effect

Notable Losses: The Electric Temptations, Gentlemen’s Club, SYOPS TF2

Season Summary: At the start of the season I thought this looked like a team that could really make a run at third place behind Street Hoops and Gentlemen’s Club. Especially when B4nny was there, Murderforce was able to take some narrow wins against teams like ET and GC in scrims. But as other teams worked out the kinks and began to play at a higher and higher level throughout the season, Murderforce has struggled to keep their head above water, making a handful of player changes and losing games to teams that they should have been beating handily. Their losses to both mTs and SYOPS particularly illustrated this teams inability to get all of their players on the same page. The late-season addition of Ruwin has added some stability and has started to alleviate the issues they had with combo-play, but after a resounding loss to ET on Steel and a win on Swiftwater that was due more to dK’s untimely uber drops than to MF’s cohesive play, it remains to be seen if this team can use the considerable weapons at its disposal. It is becoming increasingly harder and harder to form a new team and get them to win in Platinum, no matter who is on the roster. If Murderforce can get back on the horse and start the post-season with a strong showing against Gentlemen’s Club, then I can see this team being a scary matchup for any high-seed.

What They Need to Win: In my eyes, the lack of a combo caller with significant experience in Highlander has been the biggest pitfall for this team. Both Indust and Snailboat have played a good amount of HL, but neither are known for their mastery of this game mode and because of that we saw a lot of combo mistakes. I really like the Murderforce flank. I think Remedy may be the smartest Soldier in Highlander and with Shrugger and Sigafoo next to him that trio can go toe-to-toe with any other flank in the league. If Murderforce is able to get their combo clicking, which will most likely come from strong leadership from Ruwin, then I think they will start to rack up some wins. Fox also has to be consistent. When he is hitting his shots he is one of the best Snipers anywhere, but he has been known to have some off-games and not make anything happen. For Murderforce to win, he needs to get those picks.

Best-Case Finish: While not entirely likely, if some sort of divine being flips a switch and MF begins to play to their potential, this is certainly a team that can contend for placement. They have top level DM and are one of the smarter and more experienced teams in Highlander. We have seen teams really crank it up a notch come playoffs, so its certainly within reason to say that Murderforce could turn things around. Their opening match against Gentlemen’s Club offers an excellent opportunity for them to show that they can play with the best.

Worst-Case Finish: This is a group who had losses to teams like SYOPS and didn’t have too easy a time with Dunning-Kruger this past week, so unless their play really starts to improve, we could see Murderforce fall to Gentlemen’s Club and then be quickly eliminated by one of the aforementioned teams. Losing that early would cement this group as one of the more disappointing and underachieving Highlander teams in recent memory.

6 - SYOPS TF2 (4-3-1) L1

Seed: 4

Rounds Won/Lost: 13/8

Notable Wins: Menace to Society, Murderforce 9000

Notable Losses: Dead Ringer Storage

Playoff Record: 8-6

Best Finish: 2nd Place (Season 9)

Season Summary: It has been an interesting season for this SYOPS team. After struggling through season 11, then Baby Punching Marathon went through a large rebuilding process leading up to week 1. At the start of the season they demonstrated many of the symptoms of the chronic underperformance that plagued the BPM teams of recent seasons, but they seem to have started to turn that around and have shown flashes of the real potential of their strong roster. Their win against mTs on cp_steel was a particularly telling victory, showing that they certainly are capable of finding some coordination and doing what they need to do to win. At face value, I actually think SYOPS’ roster is one of the more talented lineups in the division. Milo has proven to be a Scout who can play with any other Scout in Platinum, Corsa and Dogfloaties is one of the three or four best pick combos in the league, and the SYOPS combo is comprised of veterans like Sharpshot McGee, who remains one of the best and most underrated heavies in Highlander. With Tictack’s departure and MemphisVon’s lackluster debut in Highlander, we may see Milo move over to Soldier and experienced Demo .X moved up to a starting role, but those rumors remain unconfirmed. The skill is definitely there for this team, they just need to find some consistency and not allow their opponent to dictate the pace of the game for them. When this team is patient and plays off of the picks that they get, they can be a very dangerous matchup.

What They Need to Win: If SYOPS wants to have a chance to win matches against the teams at the top of the division, their combo play has to be better. Too often are their pushes sloppy, poorly executed, or poorly timed. Their flank is already able to play with any other flank in the league, so if SYOPS is able to keep everyone on the same page and gets their heavy classes working in tandem, then they have a shot. Also, it should be said that a Xalox appearance would make this team a much bigger threat, but thats a long shot apparently.

Best-Case Finish: Despite Cygnus’ infectious optimism, I don’t think that this team has the capability to finish in the top three. They are just too inconsistent and too many other teams are playing at a higher level right now. That doesn’t mean that SYOPS can’t have a positive post-season though. If they focus and play well, I can see them being a sort of sleeper-team that could spell elimination for some of the other Mid-Plat teams when they fall into the loser’s bracket. A 4th or 5th place finish would, in my mind, be a positive finish to SYOPS’ season and something that they could build on.

Worst-Case Finish: With a first round matchup against mTs on koth_viaduct, early elimination should be a concern for the men of SYOPS. Knowing Cygnus, these guys will be scrimming incessantly leading up to each of their playoff matches, but unless they are able to translate their preparation into wins, this could be a very brief post-season for SYOPS.

7 - Dunning-Kruger Effect (4-4) L1

Seed: 6

Rounds Won/Lost: 14/15

Notable Wins: Dead Ringer Storage

Notable Losses: Menace to Society, Murderforce 9000

Playoff Record: 5-1

Best Finish: 1st Place (Gold Season 11)

Season Summary: Despite winning Gold last season, Dunning-Kruger Effect was not expected to make a lot of noise in their first season of Platinum. Eyebrows were raised pretty quickly, however, when they came out of the gates and took down Dead Ringer Storage in week 1, and ever since they have continued to impress. Even with constant roster troubles, usually related to Demo, dK has gotten quality wins against many low-mid Plat teams, and have had two narrow losses against teams with much more experience like mTs and Murderforce. We have seen excellent play from their two pick players Feint and Stones, with the latter doing an excellent job of keeping up with some of the best Snipers in the game, despite his limited experience. Karl has also come into his own and has, impressed many among the Platinum royalty with his consistent play and level-headed calling. Now, they have had troubles with Medic play in recent weeks, and Couches has, despite a reasonably successful early-season, really floundered in recent weeks performance-wise. There has been talk of putting in their old Medic, Metawe, with whom they won Gold, so we’ll have to wait and see who shows up for them on Monday. Their Demo, Scarab, has also been inexplicably uncooperative about playing out the last few weeks of dK’s season, so we will see the legend Giraffe ringing for them on Demo against DRS. He has rung for this team a lot this season and has been scrimming with them this weekend, so I’d expect there to be very little adjustment needed on their part.

What They Need to Win: If dK wants to win then they need their combo to work out the many kinks that have been revealed in recent weeks. They would frequently wipe out the players on Murderforce 9000 on Swiftwater, putting themselves in an excellent position to win, but then Couches would struggle to hold onto an uber and people would overextend, leading to Murderforce winning a game that was well within dK’s grasp. If these guys can get their combo in synch and can use their ubers effectively (or at all) then they will surprise some teams in the playoffs.

Best-Case Finish: We’ve seen plenty of evidence to suggest that dK has the capacity to beat many of the best teams in the league. For a new Platinum team, getting a final win against a team like DRS, who they face in the first round, or mTs would be a huge way for dK to cap off an excellent debut season.

Worst-Case Finish: These guys are a very good team and considering its their first season of Platinum, even an early elimination shouldn’t be too disheartening. That being said they are certainly a team capable of making it into the 2nd or even 3rd week so falling early would be a bit disappointing.

8 - Unbelievably Brave Sweethearts (1-6-1) L4

Seed: 8

Rounds Won/Lost: 5/16

Notable Wins: Blunderful

Notable Losses: Murderforce 9000, Dead Ringer Storage

Season Summary: With a smattering of Highlander veterans and promising Plat freshmen, uBs understandably struggled against a division with more well-rounded teams than we had ever seen before. We expected strong play from the superstar Heavy, Polk, and he delivered, but what defined the season for this group was the very solid play from their Gold-moveups. Bobby and Linkuser, despite limited experience, both competed well against invite-level flank combos like Shrugger/Remedy and Decimate/R1CKY, and have cemented themselves as a worthy Plat flank. Bowswer5 and Geek also impressed with flashes of excellence against stiff competition, and Colombiangmr has, arguably, played better with uBs than he ever did with Street Hoops. uBs used that talent well and gave some of the mid-high teams they faced a good contest, particularly in their 3-4 loss to Dead Ringer Storage on Coalplant. While, thanks to a bottom seeding, their playoff stay will likely be short lived, uBs certainly proved that, when they are focused and driven, they have the potential to stand strong in Platinum.

What They Need to Win: With an opening match against ET, nothing short of a miracle would change the outcome there. If Bowswer5 hits every shot and Messiah uses all of his Kritz to wipe the ET combo, then uBs could pull off what would be the biggest upset in Highlander history, but otherwise a win will be tough to come by. They could, potentially, harass their second opponent a bit if we see aggressive play from Bobby and if Polk takes over.

Best-Case Finish: An upset in the second game would be a really good way for uBs to go out. They will likely have to play SYOPS on Viaduct for their round-2 match, so if they can out-maneuver them somehow and use any momentum they can get to string together some rounds, we could see an upset, but that would take an effort from uBs and a collapse from SYOPS that both seem unlikely.

Worst-Case Finish: For a team that seems unlikely to return next season, a 0-2 playoffs and speedy elimination would cap off what has been, overall, a lackluster season in Polks return to Plat.

Season 12 Bracket

Predictions for Playoffs: Week 1

kothproviaduct_rc4

(1) The Electric Temptations v. (8) Unbelievably Brave Sweethearts

Usually I’m not a huge fan of using previous matchups to characterize new ones due to how much teams tend to develop in this game mode, but I think the way these two teams matched up on Borneo should be a decent indicator for how this first round contest should go. While the return of Bowswer5 for uBs may add a little extra pressure to phAZE and the ET combo, overall this should remain a pretty one-sided affair. Over the course of the season The Electric Temptations have shown themselves to be very uber-centric and, despite probably having the best Highlander Demo in 38special, have used Kritz fewer times than almost any other team in Platinum. With a significant DM advantage on a map like Viaduct, that uber-centric style should lead to a lot of very long holds and, therefore, quick rounds. Deer and phAZE are both extremely dangerous on this map and watch for R1CKY and Decimate to aggressively abuse the uBs flank. I’m expecting big man Bobby to make some good plays and Polk should be as solid as ever, but this should be a pretty routine first round win for ET 4-0.

(2) Gentlemen’s Club v. (7) Murderforce 9000

This will certainly be a different game than when these titanic teams first met on Gravelpit and GC was able to take the 2-0 win with ease. While Murderforce is a long way from having eliminated all of its problems, they are on an upward trend and seem to be hitting their stride at the right time. Ruwin is a monster on Demo and his confident and aggressive main calls have helped to fill a big hole for MF9K, and he should continue to play well this week, but with the patient style of the GC combo and the ability of Max! and Acooma to seamlessly crank out picks, I can see this being a hard map for Murderforce to gain much footing on. If they are able to put pressure on Cozen and prevent GC from getting too many ubers, then this could become an interesting game, but I still haven't really seen the kind of play from Murderforce yet that would suggest that they have truly turned it around. Gentlemen's Club is just too well-rounded a force(heh) and, as long as they can keep momentum and not allow Murderforce to start an ET like slide, they should be able to use their ubers effectively to get those long Viaduct holds. I'm expecting this to finish at 4-1 in favor of GC.

(3) Dead Ringer Storage v. (6) Dunning-Kruger Effect

Despite a pretty smooth 4-2 Lakeside win for Dunning-Kruger against DRS early in the season, I’m expecting this matchup to go the other way. DRS has improved over the last few months and have shaped into a real top-plat contender, while dK has struggled to find the right group of 9 to put out there week to week. Their issues with finding a talented, cooperative Demo continue, and as long as they have trouble with personnel it will be hard for them to survive for very long in the playoffs. That being said, DRS still frequently relapses into sloppy play, and as until that problem starts to show signs of remission, there will always be a chance that they will lose silly games. An important part of DRS’ Viaduct play will be limiting the damage that Stones and particularly Feint are able to do. Against the poor spy-awareness of DRS on Lakeside, Feint was able to rake in a total of 19 combo picks, and if he can produce those sort of numbers again then this could get out of hand for DRS. With their new(ish) roster of Metawe on Medic and Giraffe on Demo, we could see the sharp play from dK that we saw early in the season, but I’ll be very surprised if they can make such a drastic turnaround inside of a week. Either way, I think this has the potential to be one of the most interesting matches of the tournament. Really looking forward to watching this one. I’m thinking it will go 4-3 to DRS in a tight one.

(4) SYOPS TF2 v. (5) Menace to Society

I’m not convinced that, with their frequent roster shuffles in recent weeks, SYOPS will be ready to go for this matchup. If we do see Milo move to Soldier and .X slides in on Demo, that would be a pretty intimidating switch, but the fact remains that, irrelevant of how good the change is, all roster changes require adjustment. mTs has been one of the paragons of roster consistency in recent seasons, and should, therefore, have a subtle advantage on SYOPS in both DM and coordination, and should be able to enact some revenge for their loss to Cygnus and co. on Steel. Platinum should be comfortable cranking out the damage on a universal map like Viaduct, and Noko, Squid, and Panic should be able to harass Corsa enough to limit his impact. I’ll be interested to see if m4risa busts out the Sydney Sleeper like she has on Viaduct in the past, and if using it against a more competent counter-sniper like Corsa will do anything to reduce its effectiveness. It should be said that Dogfloaties has been pretty deadly on this map, and if Katsy and Skyrolla are unable to keep him off of Platinum and Harbleu, SYOPS could put themselves in the position to take some aggressive holds. I’m expecting a solid match here but we should see mTs take this one 4-2 as they transition into "playoff mode".

As usual apologies for any errors. Just let me know if I got something wrong and I'll fix it. Thanks to phAZE, Kill 'em All, Jordan, phorofor, Digresser, Cozen, Arthur, Karl, Mustardoverlord, Metawe, Stabby, enigma, and finally to Corsa for being so unbearably annoying about asking when this was going up that I had to either finish it or hang myself.