Street Hoops E-Sports (20b):
Making invite:
One of the more notable things about this team, irrespective of their more established players Duwatna and Grape, is how meteoric 20b's rise to ESEA-Invite's top four has been. DeadBolt, Paragon, and Ash only began playing ESEA TF2 3 seasons ago, coming from Open, to Main, straight to the fourth seed in invite. Cozen was added last season in main, he too has very few. So, four of the players on the team have very little ESEA experience, but have managed to fight their way to a highly coveted LAN spot. Grape and Duwatna have been around quite a bit longer, and both players, although never having made LAN before, are invite veterans. Another pertinent point regarding their rapid rise to the top echelons of NA 6v6, is just how rare such an event as this is - to my knowledge the last time a team went on such a march to LAN was in season 9. Note that, that LAN took place in 2011. Additional TF2 history will be made as Deadbolt and Paragon are likely the first twin-brother pair to play at an ESEA LAN, especially insofar as TF2 is concerned.
The March to LAN:
20b came into this season with quite a lot of expectations having performed solidly in the Main meat-grinder and making big acquisitions in Grape and Duwatna. They had many teams looking to stand in their way from top to bottom, from last season's fourth seed in We Love Anime, to the Shrugger boosted 6 Cuties, to the only other team to truly survive a season of Main in TF2 history - the Rent-a-Homies. The season started off rockily with a 4-0 loss to the first seed Froyo, who was arguably much weaker at that time, and a 5-2 loss to the Rent-A-Homies. But, it wasn't all doom and gloom for 20b. They went on a tear knocking off 3 of the potential contenders for fourth place, and even winning out against 2nd seeded Exertus 5-3. They would go on to avenge themselves in a devastating 5-0 victory against the Rent-A-Homies that all but assured a LAN birth for 20b.
So, What's the Prognosis?
Going into LAN 20b will, being the fourth seed, have to play first seeded Froyo right off the bat. This season they were only able to secure a single round in their favor against Froyo. However, they may be able to pull off some magic in the lower rounds, as they have managed to defeat Exertus once (and even the game they dropped to Exertus was closer than the score of 5-2 might suggest). Their prospects against the third seeded Classic Mix^ are equally as dismal as their record against Froyo tech - in two games 20b were only able to secure a single round in their favor. Does that mean I'm completely counting them out? No, anything can happen at LAN, and I look for Grape especially to show just what he can do in a LAN environment. In fact, I've seen him play with a LAN ping before, and it's pretty unsettling to say the least. I'm also given to understand that Deadbolt and Paragon have been to LANs before in other FPS games, which may help them settle nerves and get down to taking as much of the prize-pot as humanly possible.
Marxist's Pontifications:
20b has several weapons at their disposal. Grape has proven himself as one of the best soldiers in Invite. The LAN rule of thumb is that generally, soldiers perform much better on LAN. This could really help tip the scales for 20b in some close match ups, particularly if fights boil down to honorable pocket versus pocket fights. Duwatna, while being a highly regarded demo, will finally have his shot to prove just how good he actually is; as he'll have to be taking on the immaculate b4nny on demoman, and possibly Exertus' Bdonsky who has managed to snatch that ever-so-coveted top damage in invite award. Paragon also made quite a name for himself in Highlander as a sniper, sniping at LAN can be a tremendous asset that, while not utterly game-breaking, can cause drastic shifts in momentum and win close rounds. Ash flies under the radar a lot of the time, but he shouldn't be forgotten, Ash has impressed me personally a lot over the last few seasons particularly with how well he can time his aggression from time to time despite his lack of experience - and timing is the name of the roamer game. Cozen has shown a propensity to land the clutch healing arrow when needed too, which makes me giddy for more Cozen versus Exertus' original crossbow machine, The Fragile.
Fun with Invite Numbers:
Duwatna is 3rd place in invite in Damage, Cozen is third in Points, Grape is second in Rocket frags and Ash is fourth.