Viaduct week has arrived and passed. Viaduct is a map that lends itself to upsets and some exciting DM fights, and we certainly were not disappointed this week. Gold man-sacks played hard in their 4-2 against Five Knights With Freddy, bird noises floored a competitor in meowmixup in a 4-0 match, and 6cuties butted heads (and injokes) against Back to the Lab Again. This week’s rankings have a bit of a format change; I’ve swapped to the traditional 10-team ranking to make writing these in a weekend physically possible, and in lieu of the bottom 6 I’ve created a “teams to watch” section with a mini-writeup for those teams involved. Let’s get to the rankings.
- YouMustMike
- Hooey
- messiah
- eulogy
- tri
- KaiThePhaux
Yet more roster changes continue to challenge Clam Bake. Eulogy arises from his long slumber to take back his position on demo and newcomer Vand swaps to pocket in lieu of Hooey (who was at a wedding during one of their matches). This change didn’t seem to affect them much on Viaduct, delivering a swift 4-0 to challengers Aliasing Lefty. Lefty’s flank and combo were often desynced on their aggression and Clam Bake acted on this really well, properly separating them and dealing with each group separately. Their point holds were also very impressive, often holding for 1:30+ before Lefty could take back the point. Clam Bake still has a match vs gold man-sacks to be played on Tuesday, but I expect it to take a similar course. Gold man-sacks may be able to get some rounds off of Cheesy and odb’s impressive DM but it should still go down the 4-2 path. On Snake, Clam Bake faces off against Le Chatelier’s Principle, a match they should take relatively easily, and my MOTW vs bird noises. Both teams will be battling hard, and the DM and strat calling are going to be fierce on both teams. Clam Bake, however, like 6cuties, has a diverse talent pool to choose from (11 paid on their roster, including Vand/harbleu/rick/techdude) and they adapt really well to roster changes judging from past performances. I would call a close 5-3 for Clam Bake but this could go either way.
- indust
- Voll
- Karova
- Mikey
- train
- ricky
bird noises cements their #2 standing with a powerful 4-0 against meowmixup, one of their closest competitors. The match was a lot closer than the scoreline indicates, with meowmixup often having a minute or less cap time left, but bird noises was always edging them out. bird noises had great uber play in the match, with powerful point presence and good rotation, and they knew when to back up as well. Even when they were on the back foot the aggression and bombs from bird noises were never-ending, often catching meowmixup off guard. Most of their time lost was from their right-handed holds, allowing meowmixup’s flank to get behind and be a nuisance for the rest of the team (often having several members from bird noises having to clean up and losing the point to the distraction). Indust played no small part in the team’s success, milking his ubers successfully in the face of pipes and 7hp roamer spam and engineering large advantages for his team. This week on Snake they will face up against Five Knights with Freddy and Clam Bake, the latter being my MOTW. Two powerful strat callers in Marxist and Indust will butt heads on this map, but the overall better DM of bird noises should be able to win them more mids-and more rounds- in a 5-2 affair. Meanwhile, the MOTW against Clam Bake is going to be a tough match. bird noises can take it, but they have to be ready for everything Clam Bake can throw at them.
- Sakura
- darkstar
- pharaoh/paddie
- remedy
- paddie/pharaoh
- br0nze
Roster listed is from most recent game
6cuties’ early loss to xfinity continues to help out their matchups, this week going up against Le Chatelier’s Principle and Back to the Lab Again. They nabbed a ffw from Chatelier before going up against Lab in a 4-1 match. At times it was close, but it’s really hard to compete against the scout combo of br0nze and paddie, who combined for 102 frags and 805.3 dpm, outfragging the entirety of Back to the Lab Again. The “camaraderie” between these two offclassing teams was clearly shown in line after line of chat spewed into the box, perhaps indicating that this match was taken less than seriously by both parties, but nevertheless 6cuties emerged on top relatively easily. This week on Snakewater they’ll take on Is This Highlander and gold man-sacks in two winnable games. I wouldn’t be the one to count sacks out, however, considering the meteoric rise they have had through the power rankings. I’ll give it to 6cuties in a 5-2 game, but be on the lookout for sacks to upset.
- bear
- ranga
- neon
- stoperr
- will
- nicholas
Xfinity cruised through Viaduct this week handing Is This Highlander and Aliasing Lefty a mark in the L column. While the Highlander game was of little note (despite HL’s pickup of veteran player valkeri from meowmixup), Xfinity’s game vs Lefty came down to mostly DM. Lefty came pretty close each time but every round came down to DM fights on the point where ranga and stoperr reigned supreme, playing superior heals as well as superior point position. Xfinity was also great at picking off Lefty’s med during the worst times, gamer_dad (aka plinko) dying 24 times compared to bear’s 14, taking advantage in the weakness of Lefty’s rotational abilities. This week Xfinity will go up against Elite Pwnage Squad and Le Chatelier’s Principle in two matchups that should not be a lot of trouble. Elite Pwnage Squad could cause some problems, however, and I’d give Xfinity that game in a 5-2 affair. Watch for the scout pairs of glukkon/marty and will/nick to duke it out often on the flank.
- matt
- ghostac
- froot
- sigh
- alder
- bowswer5
The cat memes continue to flow from MeowMixup even following a dropped ball in a 4-0 loss to bird noises. MeowMixup had some good point presence and height play when they had the point, and they had some good re-pushes too,but they often lost the dm fights that they needed to get on the point in the first place. In the end it wasn’t MeowMixup so much playing badly as it was more bird noises just playing so well together. Again a common theme was matt dying more often, with 9 deaths compared to indust’s 2 in the match - the constant aggression from bird noises often caught the combo off guard and led to a death or drop from matt. MeowMixup still has a match to play on viaduct, against Five Knights With Freddy (my MOTW from last week), which was marred by unfortunate client shenanigans. After seeing Freddy’s performance vs gold man-sacks, however, I feel a bit more confident in MeowMixup’s ability to take this match. Hopefully it ends up happening in spite of all the ESEA shenanigans and roster shakeups. Looking ahead to Snakewater, their singular match this week is vs Back to the Lab Again. On a map that is certainly sniper friendly, especially last and second, I expect bowswer5 to pull out the New Zealand man at least a couple of times. It will be up to MeowMixup, however, to protect matt in a map that’s friendly to sniper, spy, and especially roamer with the endless flanks and jumps.
- Luxor
- Cheesy
- fight
- odb
- Throne
- Guru
Enter sacks. If there ever was a map solely designed for this team, it would be Viaduct. They certainly showed it in their 4-2 vs Five Knights With Freddy, both Cheesy and odb posting up huge numbers (both with 475+ dpm), and throne ate his wheaties that morning as well, going 52-17 against an admirable scout combo of pie_hero and capnfapn. Knights started off with a good mid, surprising considering capnfapn walked out of spawn on spy and only decided to change once his team was already through main, but sacks captured the game 4-2 off of their impressive coordination (especially in the soldiers), good bombs, and overall good DM - however, they lost some rounds due to their indecisiveness and sometimes got pulled away from point by chasing frags, allowing Freddy’s to leech a bit of time off the clock - but what they lost in point time they made up in kills, often catching people out who thought they were safe on right pack or in main door. Their constant aggression rewarded them, never giving Freddy’s any breathing room or time to think (at least while Freddy’s had the point). They have their second Viaduct match still to play, against Clam Bake. Gold man-sacks heads into a tough Snakewater week against Aliasing Lefty and 6cuties. Even for as strong a team as gold man-sacks, I think 6cuties is too big a challenge. They should be able to make the game interesting though, and I’m definitely interested in how Cheesy and fight will work together on a map where coordinated soldiers can get a lot done. Their other game against Aliasing Lefty is also interesting. Lefty has been floating around 12th for a while now, but never really had a chance to play a team that wouldn’t be too much for them to handle. I feel like sacks is right around in that area and they could give sacks a game. I’d give it to sacks in a 5-2 but Lefty could be able to get a lot done.
7. Five Knights With Freddy (8-1)
- Pyrokanetis
- Marxist
- Xen
- fredwardo
- capnfapn
- pie_hero
Freddy’s had a marred viaduct week as well, only getting to play their first game vs gold man-sacks, which turned out in a surprising 4-2 for sacks. It looked like Freddy wasn’t ready for the massive DM potential of Cheesy and odb, as they put out massive damage onto Freddy; and the team really didn’t change their playstyle to account for this. Regardless, the team had some really solid 4 man sacks that engineered some good advantages for them, and when they held the point they were pretty good at keeping it theirs. Freddy especially had a good sense of urgency, turning up the aggression and trying to claim the point faster as the time ticked down, and their transitions were decent as well. However, like with bird noises and meowmixup, it was less Freddy playing badly and more gold man-sacks playing out of their minds. In the end Freddy didn’t shut down Cheesy and odb (and throne) very well, and they got dealt an L for it. What surprised me is how little pie_hero played sniper. Even if you don’t get any work done, just the threat of a sniper (especially a good one like pie_hero) can force a team to change their playstyle entirely, and it may have given Freddy’s some time to breathe in the face of sacks’s constant aggression. Freddy’s plays their second via game tonight vs meowmixup, and after their performance vs sacks, I’m a little more hesitant in Freddy's ability. Otherwise, things don’t get much easier on Snakewater, playing Aliasing Lefty and bird noises. bird noises should be able to take the match in a 5-1 or 5-2, but Lefty can challenge Freddy. I’d give the second one to Freddy in a 5-3 game, but the upset potential is there.
- marquee
- bsc
- conductor
- dango
- ryugawa
- vortex
The Sad Men had an incredibly uneventful week, getting a FFW off of bad joke and having their game vs Klickin’ With Klicka be delayed by ESEA shenanigans. They will square off tonight, but I still expect Sad Men to do well; vortex and ryugawa should have a field day on the scout’s paradise, and even if dango doesn’t feel up to demoing and they have to run conductor on demo I don’t see them having much of an issue. Again, please don’t prove me horribly wrong. On Snakewater they might have to wake up a bit more in their match against SASABE but SASABE is floating around in the same bubble as Klickin’ With Klicka is, and I’d expect a repeat performance from Sad Men on this map.
9. Back to the Lab Again (8-2)
- Chingoo
- griffith
- IamSMART
- The_Scotsman
- saint-
- watterson
The wool has been pulled from my eyes (probably my eyes only), as it turns out Back to the Lab Again is r5’s 123035th time playing in open. Their supporting cast this time lies in their scout combo of saint and watterson. Saint is a solid, veteran player, and I have to write nice things about watterson because he is a fellow hud developer (he’s also good at the game). Regardless of their status as open “sandbaggers” (does that even apply unless they’re rolling everyone?) Back to the Lab Again still had some questionable Viaduct performances. They lost 4-1 to 6cuties as expected, but they had an incredibly close 4-3 victory over Elite Pwnage Squad, who came a lot closer than I thought they would. Lab demonstrated their DM like they usually do, but Pwnage Squad was really good at cleaning up after midfights. One thing Lab did really well was extending their uber, flashing as many people as possible to push Pwnage Squad out to their spawn with an uber popped near Lab’s house, gaining ground rapidly and allowing them to cap with ease. Lab was always aggressive holding the point, often putting traps incredibly close to spawn and forward holding as far as they could possibly go. Pwnage Squad was really good at playing the point, however, getting some cheeky caps when they shouldn’t have been able to, and locking it down whenever they had it. What it came down to most of the time however was the last-second DMfest for the point, and Lab just barely nudged Pwnage Squad out of it. Lab meets up this week against MeowMixup and Smoke Nothing Everyday. Smoke Nothing Everyday has been floating around just below the top16 for a while, going very close with umjammer jawk and beating fellow bubble teams like TragicServers and Klickin’ With Klicka, so I expect them to make it at least interesting. MeowMixup should be able to handle Lab, but Snakewater is a map very open to offclassing; who knows what Lab could come up with.
- tron
- shiki
- displace
- morin
- smashysmashy
- market
2wycked had a pretty lax week, picking up a FFW from No Megans and 4-0ing ESEACantMakeMeTypeThatTeamNameOut. The match was actually closer than the score suggest, owing partially to ESEA’s pickup of open vet photon (although this may be ESEA’s best map considering they beat TragicServers 4-2), but in the end they couldn’t get anything together against the worst aliases in esea (seriously, was the “CustomX” thing market’s idea? Cut him if it was). This week pits them against Pinturillo Professionals and HORSE. Pinturillo may not be as strong here as they would be on Viaduct, but Snakewater is also a very friendly sniper map and I can expect yosh to go gigantic here. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and give Pinturillo the 5-4 victory, but it’s gonna come down to the last seconds (and possibly some clutch headshots). Any team could really take it. Their other match is against HORSE, a team that is currently encountering some fierce roster turbulence. If they play on form with their new roster, they can challenge 2wycked, but if they’re still too discombobulated, 2wycked should be able to take advantage of that relatively easily. I’d give it to 2wycked 5-2.
Teams to watch:
- Pinturillo Professionals: A close victory over HORSE and a 4-2 defeat of fellow HL players Le Chatelier's Principle gives Pinturillo staying power as a definite playoffs contender. Heavy upset potential from them.
- HORSE: OFFICIAL STATEMENT: "With a difference in playstyle straining cohesion, the team decided to move in a different direction, with Kevin remaining on as a valuable backup. And, because of the change in playstyle, typhon (who was previously only playing for the one match) is now playing scout for us because Auzzie has real life commitments (work)".
- john wayne kayc: FFWing to top open slowly but surely. Their match against umjammer should be a good one, and Blue Elephant as always lurks in the shadows for the upset potential.
- Elite Pwnage Squad: A close 4-3 with Back to the Lab Again has Pwnage Squad hanging around just outside of the Top 10. Expect for them to make some waves in playoffs.
Match of the Week: Clam Bake vs bird noises
- YouMustMike
- Hooey
- messiah
- eulogy
- tri
- KaiThePhaux
- indust
- Voll
- Karova
- Mikey
- train
- ricky
This is inevitable. The last two undefeated teams, both 9-0, meet on snakewater; one will leave 9-1. Indust is definitely going to be powering both bird noises’s comms and their playstyle, and with such experience on his back it’s going to be hard. Former teammate from Mad Men, YouMustMike, is indust’s contrary, and he has every bit of the skill and tact that indust does - just from a different class’s perspective. Both teams have capable offclass potential, and it might come down to just who Clam Bake fields. Do they want to field their “normal” six to guarantee the best play possible, or interchange some things to catch bird noises off guard? This match is probably going to come down to who can adapt faster, and right now I feel like Clam Bake has that fluidity to them, but either way it’s going to be a good game. Clam Bake 5-3