Badlands? More like Beeflands. Last week saw a lot of random and unpredictable results, although for some of the matches they were only too predictable as well. Bearded Clams are starting to look like a real contender in IM with a solid 5-0 victory over Hate Being Sober and a close 5-4 loss to Small and Soft. Mad Lux Gold's star seems to be waning with a tough losing streak that threatens to put them out of the top 8 altogether. Meanwhile, Subspace Emissaries are creeping up to try to steal a spot once again, which has been the same story for this team season after season. The drama for a few teams is elevating as we near the close of the season, and with granary schedules coming out and revealing a few rematches, this might present some unique opportunities for some teams trying to make the cut for a shot at the big show.

This week, we'll have a few clips from viaduct and gullywash week as well to make up for some lost time, but it was a lot more difficult to find clips this time around. To all my frag informants out there: keep that info coming!

• Soapy
• Goldfish
• Purpleshirt
• Desca
• Highfive
• Yomps

Cafe Monster didn't have much of a challenge thrown their way for badlands week, and look like they will hit another trend of 5-0 victories for the foreseeable future. I had hoped for a rematch against Meat Market for Cafe, if nothing else just to see how much the map made a difference in their last match. Unfortunately, ESEA scheduling is pretty retarded and automated and so they will be playing teams not quite up to par for their granary matches. Sunshine, however, might prove to be the last vestige of hope for the rest of IM to see if anyone can pull a win over Cafe Monster. Their matches will be against Hate Being Sober and Champagne and Cocaine this week, and while chances are slim for an upset, both of these teams should give them a good fight. Be that as it may, unless Cafe gets paired up with a team that has a better chance of beating them on their last snakewater match, the dream of 16-0 is pretty real at this point for Cafe Monster.

• Jodd
• BroKing
• Hooli
• Jarrett
• Yeeegz
• Cheesy

Meat Market is sitting on their heels at this point, with the rest of their matches easily winnable for BroKing and crew. Ranga is MIA as far as we all know, with Hooli filling in for matches right now. While this might weaken the team in some respects, rumor has it the team might be looking for another roamer for the time being, but who could be fulfilling a more permanent role remains to be seen. Even so, its apparent that unless the boys get matched up with Cafe Monster for their last match of the season, they should only have the one loss this regular season. The one upcoming match I will talk about is against Bearded Clams, who have thrown up some very impressive numbers late in the season. I don't really see a clear aspect of teamplay by Bearded Clams to come out over Meat Market, but to count the Clams out of a good match might catch Meat Market off guard, like this last week with both of Bearded Clams' matches on badlands. Best of luck to Meat Market, to an almost perfect season.

• Saam
• SleepingLife
• Waldo
• Muma
• Sezco
• Dolphin Rider

Champagne and Cocaine has seemingly broken the 3rd place curse for now with two solid wins last week and no beef so far. For Champy, the challenges of this season are not quite over yet with a match against Cafe Monster on sunshine, and then a rematch against Small and Soft on granary next week. Both of these matches will prove what the team is really made of: can they come up with a win against the only defeated team in the division? Will they be able to make a repeat exemplary performance against Small and Soft? To be honest I have no idea. So far Waldo has proven to be an unorthodox roamer, running Direct Hit and letting SleepingLife making the jumps in a situation where they would need a force, and could possibly make things happen that some teams are definitely not used to. Hopefully this wildcard and some of the dedication the team is showing to try to beat the better teams in the division will produce some favorable results for the team, best of luck to them.

• Miwo
• Tooth
• Fragg
• Topshot
• Vand
• Micah

Bearded Clams came up big this week, with a very clean win over Hate Being Sober and a very close game against Small and Soft. Hate Being Sober looked like they were taken off guard, and Small and Soft almost shared their same fate. At one point, Bearded Clams was actually up 4-1 before somewhat falling apart. Sometimes, momentum is everything when it comes to play these matches, and the teams that can regain that momentum can turn a losing scenario into a win, as has been proven by that match. Be that as it may, Bearded Clams are proving to be a late bloomer this season with their last 5 matches or so. The team is definitely not one to be counted out by any means, and for sure are not to be underestimated. Even so, it might be a little too late for them as they are one of the last teams to play both Meat Market and Cafe Monster. Even so, as long as they win their match against Mad Lux Blue, they should have at least 8 wins which just might make the cutoff for eighth place. And I think it goes without saying, an upset win against either of the top 2 teams would guarantee bearded clams a spot.

• Kig
• Farns
• Walka
• Dagger
• Corsa
• Rummy

Hate Being Sober got a rude awakening last week, expecting a win over Bearded Clams and instead getting their butts handed to them in a 30 minute 5-1 loss. Not to be deterred, the team faces one of their most difficult weeks of the season on sunshine against Cafe Monster and Small and Soft. Hopefully the team will be expecting a hard week and will come ready to play. But even if the worst is realized for this week, the team still has a decent shot at finishing the season 10-6 and should have no problem holding down their spot for playoffs. Next week on granary the team should have 2 easy wins over Pinoy Boys and Anteaters, and then will play their final match against a team unknown at this time. Personally, I'd like to see another match up between this team and Champagne and Cocaine, just to see how far these teams have progressed since they last met. I expect to see a good show this week from Hate Being Sober, but am a bit skeptical about their chances of an upset this week.

• split_
• wrech
• simulate
• powergamer
• demoted
• ex

The awful truth of the matter is that Mad Lux Blue might not make it to the post season with their current record and loss to Anteaters Chuckin Chairs. With matches against Meat Market coming up and facing Bearded Clams looking stronger than ever, the team just might not have the wins in order to stay afloat in the division, opening the doors to teams like Subspace Emissaries and their friends in Mad Lux Gold. While I would like to keep them in the rankings, its obvious to me at this point that this will probably be the last time we see Mad Lux Blue unless some crazy stuff happens and they can pull out more than just one win in the coming weeks. Even a record of 8-8 might not be good enough, as they are currently tied for rounds for with Subspace Emissaries. While I don't want to call it a foregone conclusion, my gut tells me its going to come down to one match against Subspace to decide which of these teams can hold on and sneak into that 8th seed. Good luck to both teams this week!

• Lucrative
• javaB
• Hellboob
• Pamphlet
• Dancenumber
• Fox

Unfortunately, Mad Lux Gold has hit a downward spiral these last two weeks with a 4 game losing streak and only one round taken from those four games. Hopefully, this week they will meet some respite with matches against Pizzagon eSports and Anteaters Chuckin Chairs, who don't have much of a chance in making the cut at this point but are still sticking out the rest of the season. Anteaters may have already ruined the chances of one Mad Lux team of making playoffs with their 5-1 win over Blue last week, and I'm sure they are eager to do it again this week. Pizzagon isn't actually too far off from perhaps sneaking into playoffs, but as long as Luc and the boys don't beef this week they should have secured their spot. Their granary week will be a rematch against Small and Soft and what is sure to be a close game for Dino Riders, who have had close matches with their new player. The Mad Lux bros will probably not have too much to worry about when it comes to making playoffs, but they are far from resting on their laurels quite yet.

• xattuu
• KTB
• phlps
• Tankman
• icTus
• rooks

Dino Riders had a rough badlands week, still able to pull a win over Sparkle Bunniis and subsequently kill the team, and then getting stomped on by Champagne and Cocaine. Reports from within say the team's morale has changed dramatically with the departure of Senor Mustard, but that was to be expected. I was hoping they would have a better game against Champy but was satisfied with the win over Sparkle Bunniis, even though Mason did a staggering 21k damage with 61 kills and 33 deaths. But hey, thats just badlands for ya, I guess. The team will be getting a free two rounds from Sparkle Bunniis this week, as well as a match against Meat Market. The Meat Market match should be be pretty predictable, but with a map like sunshine you never know what could be in store. The real test for Dino Riders will be against Mad Lux Gold on granary week, which would secure them a spot at either the 6th or 7th seed depending on how other matches go.

• Soapy
• Goldfish
• Purpleshirt
• Desca
• Highfive
• yomps

• Saam
• SleepingLife
• Waldo
• Muma
• Sezco
• DolphinRider

by Valkeri

Sunshine isn’t all lollipops and rainbows; sometimes it can be difficult map for teams to master. It’s the newest edition to ESEA’s map pool, and it looks like it’s here to stay. This week’s MOTW is between Café Monster and Champagne and Cocaine. Café Monster is currently in 1st place with a 11-0-0 record, only dropping a few rounds here and there against the other top teams. C&C is sitting in 3rd place with a record of 9-3-0. C&C is looking to take away Café’s perfect season. However, Café is on form this season and looks like they won’t be stopped until playoffs.

Prediction 5-2 Café Monster

Players to Watch: Highfive, Desca, Sezco, Muma

Next week will be one of the last power rankings we get to before post season predictions start rolling out. Hold on to your butts!