ESEA Playoffs round one

The Action starts

Playoff season, like the players who make it this far, is an affair of unpredictability. Teams that were once bold and dangerous can turn into meek puppies. Others that were once shy and skittish may throw abandon to the wind and take up new heights of aggressive play. You can almost feel the trepidation. One wrong move, and that could be a clutch round the team needed to win flushed away with their dreams of playing in IM.

Playoff season also brings us some of the most exciting, daring, clutch plays in all of TF2. Teams can be ravenous, tearing at their chains, ready to destroy the opposition and go home with some extra cash in their pockets.

It has been an interesting season, and it will prove to be an interesting climax to the long foreplay of the last 8 weeks. This season, ESEA has heeded the call for best of three maps, but it came at the steep price of our double elimination format. By the time the first round is over, 8 teams will no longer have Intermediate to set their sights on. But, every team has a chance here, even the bubble teams. Even the almighty Seendio was cut back to size in a very close game against the Muffin Men. Their 6 week no rounds lost streak and 7 week no losses streak now lies vanquished, and for the first time, the seeds of doubt were placed. Will Seendio take the grand prize or will one of our two bottom half vanguards wrestle that spot from caboose and company's cold dead hands?

For that we will have to wait. The first round of the tournament is typically devoid of upsets, a fact I believe will be compounded with the best of three format.

You may noticed I simplified the layout a bit, the other hacked together layout was getting difficult to maintain, I haven't abandoned it, but an exercise in minimalism may do us all some good.

Badlands, Viaduct, Process. Three maps that have become well loved and played through the North American scene. Badlands is an excellent choice, a classic standard, any team that hopes to go big in the postseason will need to be competent, even excellent, at this map. The wide, aggressive mid point and tall, imposing spire should be the least of the worries of teams hoping to mount a defensive against their higher skilled opponents. Badlands has, of late, become positively infested with backcapping, made easy by the various routes to the last point and stupidly fast capture time. Teams will need to be vigilant, it is after all, the season of the scout.

It is either serendipitous brilliance or a case of rotten luck that viaduct has made it into such an early stage. Our only map not featuring 5 capture points, viaduct heavily favours those teams able to bring aggressive noise and have the DM bite to match that bark. Teams with less experience together may find themselves being split apart, but this is also a map that offers a glimmer of hope: upsets do happen and they are almost easier to pull off on this map.

Process is the relative newcomer of this group, but has quickly endeared itself to the vast majority of TF2 players. This map has a little something for every class. Great spaces for scouts to fight pair up nicely with awe-inspiring soldier bomb paths and long protracted uber fights. The result of this relative even handedness with the classes is a map that heavily promotes team play and swift execution. Teams with good control over transitions will find themselves in luck on this map, those that struggle may be in for a harsh surprise, if the even make it this far.

Someone had to play Seendio first, and unfortunately it is the task that falls to the team that only just barely makes it into the postseason at all. Its All We Know gave a hell of a fight to get here, and having a relatively easy schedule helped them secure those 8 rounds separating them from #17 7 Days Creation. Unfortunately their playoffs dreams almost assuredly end here. The safety net of a lower bracket (enjoyed by my team to weasel into IM) is gone now, and neither Badlands nor Viaduct will offer any condolence to Seendio's opponents. I expect a quick 2-0 with the strong coordination and IM level DM Seendio brings to the table to be more than enough to keep any whiff of an upset firmly at bay. Seendio has been slipping from their stronghold in the last few weeks, but this is one siege that will not a dead king make.

In my last few articles, Cloud 9 has been my favorite whipping post. It was hard not to, the team straight up lucked out. Forfeits against the hard teams and a couple losses sprinkled in really casts a shadow over the team. I am still just not sure how well they will do, but I have to at least give them props for making it this far. Their first challenge comes from the Carolina Fan Club, but I fear that may be no challenge at all.

Normally I wouldn't say that. The Carolina Fan Club has plenty of talent. SS on pocket, carolina rocking that demo seat and a pair of talented scouts should really favor the three maps we have lined up. But there is trouble in paradise. Carolina Fan Club hasn't scrimmed in a week, the team seems to be sticking together for the sake of no more forfeits in playoffs. The team's namesake has made a looking thread and all signs point to death. But CPR and electricity are powerful things, and this team is clinging to life yet. If they can shake off the rust in the first half of badlands and bring it home strong, I think they can pull out a 2-1 victory over Cloud 9.

Cloud 9, for their part, seem to keep getting lucky. They will need it here, because next round has the winner of this game pitted against the fearsome Seendio. Their acquisition of relative veteran raytek proved a useful one, helping them to victories against Squid Squad and fellow playoff team Morin Meets the Eye. A loss to Guado Glories stains that record slightly, but Carolina Fan Club did little better a week later, showing that these two teams might be on quite the even playing field. In their last meeting, Carolina Fan Club took a very close victory against the team, but they were scrimming then, and raytek had yet to join the ranks of Pat and company.

Across a 3 map series, I cant help but feel that Carolina Fan Club will be able to pull together enough chemistry and empathy to eek out a win, but it might just take a jaunt on process. Badlands will likely go towards Cloud 9, but the strong, aggressive DMers and tighter team play (if it comes together) should yield the next two to Carolina Fan Club. 2-1.

I've had mixed feelings about Animus Victoria throughout the season. Their roster smells slightly of greatness, but also of the metallic saltiness of a few players gently washed up, lying motionless on a beach, too early in their surfing career. A slew of talent went through their ranks; TicTak, namlay, leaky. But as it stands now, a new roster has formed in the way of Blackymonster, bunny, kraka and Fearless all on their typical classes. Blew is still present with the team, now picking up the sticky launcher with kent, ex-roamer for sparkle buuniis last season causing fearless to trade his gunboats for heal beams. Their new lineup at once concerns and soothes me. Blew hasn't touched demoman since his days with Sparkle buuniis and will need to be on his game to assert the needed dominance on all three maps initial fights. But this is the most stable roster I think I have seen on the team, hopefully it is one that can manage to stick together for the 3 weeks required of them for playoffs, if they make it all the way through. They will be my favorite to watch in the upper half of the bracket. Their real challenge comes next round against (probably) SYOPS.

If I seem to have counted out Blanc perhaps a little early, its because I have. They have had a rough end of the season, a ffw against Virgin Police being the only positive remark. Their losses against Guado Glories and Seendio were, perhaps, expectable. But dropping to Animus Victoria, a weaker Animus Victoria mind you, is something that definitely strikes a harsh mark against the team. That was granary though, a map probably made harder by a strong combo and fearless roamer (my only regret is not using that pun until now). Though the soldier game from Animus has likely only gotten stronger, SpaceCadet and Shiki won't be under nearly as much pressure in these, far more scout dominated maps. So I think it will come down to dango and MentalVortex. Their performance will dictate the mids of Badlands and the constant brawling over Viaduct. Ultimately, I have to peg Animus as the better team, but if any match will give us an upset, my money will be on this one. 2-1 Animus.

Another probably not-so-close matchup, Adderall and ADD have their work cut out for them. They will need some of those amphetamines to keep up with a solidly talented SYOPS. After an exciting win against The Muffin Men on granary, SYOPS has to be feeling good, and they proved that the top 5 of open is perhaps more contested than previously thought. Their inconsistent end of season notwithstanding, this is a team who is more than ready to take on the challenge of Adderall and ADD. Their sights are surely set on the much bigger match looming in the distance against either Animus or Blanc. Adderall and ADD have really shown up, beating a nearly endless array of bubble teams in the second half of the season, but they are unproven, untested, even more so than Cloud 9. They certainly deserve their spot amongst the top 16, but odds are not in their favor of making it into the next round. Maybe they will pull out a surprise, maybe they have been silently improving in the background, lying in wait to strike. I would be more optimistic if perhaps they were playing Morin Meets the Eye or We Never Wipe first round, but as it stands, saying anything other than 2-0 seems wishful thinking at best. Bon voyage Adderall and ADD, I hope you stick together and improve into next season.

Another team that seems to have fallen to the postseason dumps, Morin Meets the Eye hasn't been scrimming, and had kind of a lackluster back half of the season. Though a team to watch, especially if they can manage to stay together into next season, Morin and company look to stand little chance against the onslaught of Guado Glories. To watch will be arekk and link, two players who should be able to rack up some impressive kill streaks, not content until they stand upon viaduct point, knee deep in the entrails of their unfortunate opponents. 2-0 Guado Glories.

Since the Night Owls are default victors over Victorious Secret, that just leaves one last match looking to provide nothing but a quick stomp and a free path on to the next round. Recipe For Disaster have done well, their team isn't full of all-stars or a wealth of experience, but they managed to be a step above the other bubble teams, gaining just enough rounds to be even with Its All We Know. Their season was marred by losses against all of the good teams they faced, including Morin Meets the Eye and Mumble Robots, two teams that The Muffin Men would dispatch with ease. Indeed on Gullywash, that is exactly what happened to Recipe For Disaster, losing 5-1 against a very strong Muffin Men. The boys from Drury lane have only gotten better throughout the season, adding a hard fought victory over Seendio to their list of titles. Against a team at their peak performance, I don't really see how Recipe For Disaster can hope to take a map off The Muffin Men. Time will really tell though, neither team worked their way up here to go home in round one, perhaps Recipe For Disaster can win some scrappy fights to take a couple rounds. 2-0 The Muffin Men