IM is so much easier to write about than Open, because for one there’s about half as many teams in playoffs and also all the rounds pretty much happen at the same time, whereas Open is all over the place as far as when the lower and upper brackets progress. Throw in the fact that the first LR1 match is happening in about 30 minutes as I post this, I'm happy to put out the IM predictions first this week. Last week, all the matches played were pretty predictable: The Yomies had an amazing second half and still lost 4-3 to Cisco Adlers Balls, Subspace took one round off of Blockback and then got stomped around a bit, and Cafe Monster had a good back and forth game with Japanifest Destiny before succumbing to a 5-2 loss. God Complex came out with all cylinders firing and dominated Satan Take The Wheel 5-0, winning most mids very handily. This week we'll see two more rounds, and the first two teams to go home (or at least not play any more) will be revealed. Good luck to y'all.

Blockback Mountain vs Cisco Adlers Balls

• Erika
• TicTack
• Cbn
• Block
• Freestate
• Newspeak

• dbw
• Tri
• Boink
• Cosa
• Kapoww
• Schnell

This is going to be the biggest match of the week. Blockback has been furiously scrimming to make up for lost time with TicTack during the break, and look to be as strong as ever. Part of me thinks that a lot of the teams in IM have decoded the Blockback playstyle, and that even if Block and company take down Cisco Adlers Balls in this upper bracket, the trials of playoffs will not be over for them. With Cisco Adler coming to the party with their full six, I think this rematch is going to be incredibly different than the one from the regular season which was on process. Boink does a ton of work on mids when this team plays granary, and how well he can be contained will determine how well those go. As most of you know mids on granary more often than not can decide the round and in this case, TheFragile would be correct in saying the midfights will be the most important during this match, but its hard to say who will come out on top. Both teams have amazing soldiers and it will all come down to who is on their game that night. I will go with a very doubtful prediction of 5-4 in favor of Blockback, but I wouldn't be surprised if Cisco takes this one either.

Players to Watch: Freestate, Block, Boink, Tri

Japanifest Destiny vs God Complex

• London
• Sakura
• Lunacide
• Kailey
• Kev
• zZa

• Jodd
• BlueberryVillain
• Rekuso
• JDMYoshioka
• Downpour
• River

During the regular season, Japanifest Destiny lost to God Complex 5-2 on process. Both teams have come a long way since then, and this rematch should be highly contested. God Complex has developed a style that plays a lot off of Blueberry and Yoshioka making room for Downpour and Rekuso, and on granary good transitions can save rounds if executed well enough. Both of these teams have a full playbook for the map, and it should be interesting to see how a very scout-centric Japanifest Destiny will perform on granary. I don't really know who will win here, so to appear unbiased I will flip a coin: God Complex on top 5-3.

Players to Watch: Rekuso, Downpour, Kev/zZa, Sakura

Satan Take the Wheel vs Cafe Monster

• Rchl
• Smile
• GBB
• Xan
• Silkthread
• Stochast1c

• Valkeri
• Mangachu
• PurpleShirt
• Desca
• Clandestine
• Reimu

Satan Take the Wheel must be reeling after that badlands game, although for whatever reason it seemed like the server was taking a dump on everyone that night. Hopefully this next match will not be affected by horrible ESEA Texas servers and we can definitively say that it will be a fair win in either case. Mangachu attempted to do a whole lot during their badlands match, taking ubers, sacrificing for the med, and otherwise trying to make a lot of big plays. His individual performance was pretty phenomenal, and if he plays the same way on granary it might tip the scales here. Granary is a map that needs to be played painstakingly slowly sometimes, and its here than I think Cafe Monster will do well enough at. However, because they don't have Rave on scout any more I'll predict in favor of Satan Take the Wheel as long as GBB does some damage at mids for Xan and Smile to follow up on. 5-3 in favor of Satan Take the Wheel.

Players to Watch: Mangachu, Purpleshirt, Smile, Xan

Subspace Emissaries vs Revenge of the Yomies

• Dable
• Megawac
• Quadaciousfozar
• Pamphlet
• phAZE
• Noble

• Zilly
• CJ
• Yeremy
• ATT
• Scizor
• Pinsir

Subspace are having some issues with keeping the same 6 from match to match, as we saw with the absence of Scorp last game. At this time, it might be Megawac missing for their match against the Yomies, but either way this opens up the chance to see Quadacious in action again. The Yomies have been looking really great these last couple weeks, with ATT coming in and transforming the team dynamic almost single handedly. With CJ and Zilly there in the combo, the team has become very threatening on the combo side of things, with Scizor and Pangy holding down the flank. Depending on who Subspace has playing for them, the match could be close, but the Yomies are just too strong right now in my humble opinion. Pamphlet will have to play out of his mind to create a lot of the opportunities for his team, and whoever their soldiers are will have to get a lot of good damage from their bombs on mid if they want to stay in the game. 5-2 in favor of Revenge of the Yomies.

Players to Watch: CJ, ATT, Pamphlet, Quadacious