Introduction

Welcome, everyone, to the S20 ESEA-Open Playoffs. For the next 2 weeks, 16 open teams will be fiercely brawling for a chance to get into IM and, of course, the Open crown. In similar fashion to last season, these teams will be playing in single-elimination BO3 brackets. For this week, UR1, the maps are going to be Snakewater, Granary, and Metalworks. Who will make it out of the crucial first round? Let's get a refresher on who we're talking about with this wonderful video from EVL's Deer:

#1. Bird Noises vs. #16. The Plastics

• train
• ricky
• karova
• Voll
• mikey
• indust

• kobe
• juicyy
• LiterallyAPanda
• devamar
• b4g3l
• WhitePowerJesus

The resurrected Shredded roster manages to sneak into Open playoffs with a combination of a startling amount of FFWs and rolls over low open teams. Unless they reveal a secret weapon they probably won’t get more of a round off of bird noises across all maps (as their closest thing to playing bird noises in this roster’s iteration was a 5-1 loss vs TragicServers), as the combined DM of bird noises and indust’s powerful calls are a combo too strong for most of the top open teams, let alone the 16th seed. The Plastics had their 15 seconds of fame, but they’ll most likely exit in the first round.

Prediction: 2-0 bird noises (5-0, 5-1)

#2. 6cuties vs. #15. TONY JAWK 44 KICKFLIP

• br0nze
• snailboat
• darkstar
• paddie
• remedy
• pharaoh

• reimu
• spamfest
• june
• dash
• zalfy
• gandalf

TONY JAWK is probably the biggest wildcard in playoffs this season. Their roster and their matchups are from way out of left field, losing badly to teams you think they would at least have a chance against and then showing up against a team they should lose to. Which TONY JAWK will we see go up against 6cuties, a team that’s notorious for the unorthodox and unsettling? 6cuties will have plenty of chances to rattle their opponents in 3 maps, and it certainly will be tough for TONY JAWK to adjust to the targe knight and the full-time snipers, along with all the crazy Gun Mettle mechanics like medigun drops, and weapons like the Liberty Launcher, that 6cuties will be ready to employ. june had this to say about JAWK’s chances:

"We have a plan...but we haven’t scrimmed all week. Half our roster has been gone :(“ - june

In response to an insinuation that Spamfest might be running fulltime pyro, june gave me a cryptic answer:

":D” - june

Fulltime pyro might be a way to out-rattle 6cuties, who have been sitting comfortably with their donk knight remedy and using him to catch basically everyone in open off guard. But with TONY JAWK as out of practice as june tells me they are, it’s going to be hard to beat down 6cuties, especially in a tiring BO3 format. TONY JAWK might be able to take a map, or at least make one close, but in the end 6cuties should prove to be too much for them.

Prediction: 2-0 6cuties (5-3, 5-1)

#3. Back to the Lab Again vs. #14. Five Knights With Freddy

• Moof??
• Watterson???
• Rikachu????
• Skarlett?????
• Cole?
• ChinGoo

• capnfapn
• pie_hero
• KevinIsPwn
• Xen
• fredwardo
• pascal

Five Knights With Freddy have evolved much since we last saw them, retiring Pyrokanetis to backup and moving in KevinIsPwn to replace Xen on pocket, moving him back to roamer. With 2 capable soldiers to put out damage for capnfapn and pie_hero to clean up on, the Knights punched their ticket to playoffs with a nail-biting 5-4 win over Elite Pwnage Squad. Unfortunately, that fact should surely betray their intentions in playoffs, as unless they make some leaps and bounds in their play, they will find major troubles in beating a fairly strong Back to the Lab Again. KevinIsPwn had this to say about his team's chances:

"I think we can win if we play to our full potential. That's the goal, winning. We really want an IM spot next season, so we are going to give it our absolute all." - KevinIsPwn

Meanwhile, Lab hasn't had a terribly tough time getting here, although they barely clinched out a 5-4 against fellow Top 5 member Clam Bake. The team certainly has good DM, featuring 3 (+) players from former IM/Invite team The Runaway 5, who can certainly throw their weight around. And even for a team like the Knights, who certainly have DM superstars themselves, the raw DM might be too much for them to handle.

Prediction: 2-0 Back to the Lab Again (5-2, 5-1)

#4. Dental Hygene (sic) vs. #13. ESEACantMeltSteelTeams

• mgib
• will
• ranga
• candlestick
• stoperr
• bear

• CyanSnow
• RainofLight
• Photon
• Fred Astaire
• gr8stalin
• Dat_Indubidably

Dental Hygene (bear's horrible spelling aside) is a solid fit in the #4 seed. They've played well all season, and while a late 5-2 loss to Great Nights Together kind of underscores their season, they are not to be taken lightly. Ranga and stoperr will lead a capable cast of gamers into this BO3 set with guns blazing - (un?)fortunately, with nicholas being on vacation, scout superstar and former bear teammate mgib will step back into the spotlight on Scout; as well, bear brings another dddddddddddd....etc alumni into the fray with candlestick taking over roamer duties from neon. The chemistry on this team is certainly going to be on point with half the team coming from S17 playoff team ddddddddddddddddddddddddd...etc, and stoperr, ranga, and will have fit into the scheme very well. Ranga has made a strong case for "best player in Open", topping soldiers in both points and frags (839 and 399 respectively) in the regular season and managing a massive DPM of 326.5 (14th in the league).

....Not that ESEACMST isn't without their own combo cornerstone in Photon. The recent pickup has been huge for ESEACMST, and a definite reason for their unbelievable 5-1 victory run into playoffs (although that can be partially attributed to the caliber of ESEACMST's opposition being...less than playoff material). Photon has actually out-dpm'd ranga himself, with an insane 350.6 dpm on the season. His numbers are a bit discredited by his playtime but past experience seems to him being able to replicate this in big games.

So both teams clearly have a player they can always fall back on. That leaves the true outcome of the game to the supporting cast, and I have to call it for Dental Hygene here. bear, will, stoperr, candle, and mgib all have mounds of experience and ability, and ESEACMST is gonna have to show up big to throw Hygene off their game. It can happen, but it's not likely.

Prediction: 2-0 Dental Hygene (5-1, 5-0)

#5. Clam Bake vs. #12. 2wycked esports

• kaithephaux
• tri?
• Hooey
• YouMustMike?
• eulogy?
• messiah?

• SmashySmashy
• catgroove
• shiki
• displace
• morin
• tron

Clam Bake has had a scrambled route to playoffs, going through at least 6 roster changes, playing with 9 different people, and confusing the hell out of everyone in Open. It hasn't shown much in their record though, with a respectable #5 seed and 12-4 overall record, only losing to the top 3 seeds and Great Nights Together. Established players like tri and YouMustMike certainly looked like themselves out there, no matter what class they were put on, and perhaps the biggest question mark on the roster, KaiThePhaux, has proven to be a capable scout in her first season, with respectable numbers against the other top teams. No matter who they field on match day, they should be able to perform well.

2wycked, on the other hand, is a tad more doubtful. They've had decent showings against the top teams before, losing 5-3 to an (admittedly indust-less) bird noises and only dropping games to the top 5 seeds and HORSE (they were even without tron in their game vs Lab). Although their season had a bit of a burnout in the last season, dropping both their Gully games, they enter at 12th seed. Certainly not a bad seed, but they will have a bit of an uphill battle. The team has some standout players - tron and shiki have amazing chemistry, and SmashySmashy has managed amazing numbers, with the 8th highest frags in the league for Scouts. Clam Bake and 2wycked have also met previously, on Gullywash, where Clam Bake took it 5-2. Will 2wycked be able to outpace their peers, especially after being forced to replace season-long scout market with catgroove? Obviously, 2wycked has some work to do, although it might just be a Gullywash curse that they avoid with the R1 mappool. Team leader Morin had this to say about changing his team's strategy:

"I think the game could go either way honestly. We haven't put in as much practice as we would like for playoffs but we will still hopefully have a good showing. From what I remember in our gullywash match their team plays together pretty well and rotated a lot and caught our team off guard. I think if we just play tighter together and anticipate what they are doing better I'm sure we will do better . . . They have some big names on their roster so it will definitely be easier or harder depending on who's playing. Regardless, all of their players are still really good and it will be a challenge for us . . . I think the hardest challenge is going to be overcoming Mike since he is a big factor whether on medic or pocket since he is the person that is calling the strats from what I remember." -Morin

Morin represents my thoughts on this matchup fairly well. 2wycked has the ability to make this game interesting, but with minimal practice it's going to be tough. They are going to have to rely heavily on tron and shiki's powerful combo to win them their games.

Prediction: 2-1 Clam Bake (5-2, 3-5, 5-3)

#6. slowbr0 vs. #11. Pinturillo Professionals

• bowswer5
• alder
• ghostac
• froot
• sigh
• matt

• yosh
• Kresnik
• etney
• Koga
• Hearts
• Katsy

Bowswer's triumphant return from carpal tunnel land marks slowbr0's first playoff game vs Pinturillo (although he did come back for Gullywash). His sniping will be a key factor in containing the highlander classes that Pinturillo no doubt will run, with yosh and Kresnik both intimately familiar with Sniper and Heavy respectively. Slowbr0 retains a respectful 6th seed with a relatively laid back Gullywash and makeup week, nabbing a FFW from Strafe Power and 5-0ing Smoke Nothing Everyday (although losing 5-1 to 6cuties). slowbr0 is a team that strikes me as having no particular carry or dead weight - everyone on the team is capable and play off of each other very well, and to boot, they have a really strong Scout combo in alder/bowswer5. slowbr0's menagerie had this to say about their match:

"lol" -froot

"who is pinturillo" - alder

Obviously, their confidence precedes them. Pinturillo, on the other hand, is a mystery in and of itself. Earning easy wins off bubble and low-open teams, they managed to secure their seed with strong performances against Five Knights With Freddy and a left-field 5-1 over #7 Great Nights Together. Unfortunately their season was marred with less-than-stellar performances against TONY JAWK and Back to the Lab Again. The clear strength of this team lies in their offclass potential, with yosh being an insane sniper and Kresnik an intimidating force on Heavy. This may not be the best map pool for them to exercise this advantage though, considering Snakewater is the only map with decent sightlines for yosh to get anything done (outside of Gran last). Pinturillo will have a difficult time getting through slowbr0's powerful defenses and sigh's DM wall, and outside of some miracle plays, they probably won't be able to.

Prediction: slowbr0 2-0 (5-3, 5-2)

#7. Great Nights Together vs. #10. The Sad Men

• throne
• guru
• Cheesy
• HiveMind
• Odb
• Luxor

• dango
• vortex
• bsc
• ryugawa
• conductor
• marquee

Great Nights Together is a team betrayed by their seeding. They've had great performances against the top 5 teams, with consistent performances over Dental Hygene, Clam Bake, and an incredibly close loss to #1 bird noises (again, marred by train-pauses(tm)). Their seeding was mostly tanked by the aforementioned bird noises lost as well as a stunning 5-1 loss to #11 Pinturillo Professionals on cp_sunshine. While that map may be their Kryptonite, they should be safe at least in Round 1 against The Sad Men. Great Nights Together's backbone lies in their IM-champion soldier combo of CheesyMacgyver and HiveMind. Cheesy and HiveMind combine for some impressive soldier bombs and jaw-dropping numbers (Cheesy casually dropping the 8th league-highest DPM of 343.0) for the rest of the team to clean up on. They are supported by an all-star cast of demo odb and scouts throne and guru. The team constantly has an incredibly aggressive game, always trying for any advantage possible, and incredibly consistently to boot.

The Sad Men, on the other hand, are the picture of inconsistency. They managed to take 3 rounds off of bird noises and then lose 4-1 to Elite Pwnage Squad, a team that (unfortunately) didn't make playoffs, and barely beating SASABE (again, a team that didn't make playoffs). The Sad Men clearly have the ability to take down Great Nights Together - the roster has tons of experience, and they've proven they can come close with the best team in open - but it depends on how hard they want to go. Marquee sums up his team's position pretty well:

"We have not scrimmed much thanks to the constant scheduling mishaps . . . and we've never really developed real chemistry due to the constant roster switch ups. I think Sunshine week showed that we [can be] a really week team." -marquee

The Sad Men are gonna need to take some time with TF2, take it out on a date, order it dinner, maybe watch a movie, etc. if they want to beat Great Nights Together. The question is, do they really want to?

Prediction: Great Nights Together 2-1 (5-3, 4-5, 5-1)

#8. HORSE vs. #9. TragicServers

• dippidy
• typhon
• Tankman
• ???
• Whisker
• Idrae

• tatuwah
• jermang
• tambo
• Randal
• chunkey
• Cats4Lyfe

HORSE and TragicServers are interesting teams indeed. Both went through some pretty massive roster changes mid-season, and they seem to have been for the better. HORSE comes into the #8 seed off the back of a 4-game winning streak taking down 2wycked and The Sad Men, and TragicServers comes into a 4-game winning streak on bubble teams owing to their 5-0 loss to TONY JAWK dropping them down massively on the standings. The addition of Chunkey to TragicServers's roster might not be a huge standout when merely looking at numbers, but it no-doubt fills an experience hole that TragicServers had been missing ever since the departure of alec_, no doubt helping the comms along.

Meanwhile, things are a bit more cloudy for HORSE. They had a hot streak coming into playoffs, but the extended European vacation of roamer Syath leaves a glaring vacancy on their roster. They have plenty of capable backups (including waldo, truktruk, and DC) but the matter should be settled sooner than later to avoid an embarrasing meshing issue that could cost HORSE major flank coordination. Disregarding the absent roamer, the roster of HORSE is very solid, with the addition of veteran Tankman to a now comm-centric class helping their game speed along. Idr "open champ" ae continues to direct his team powerfully, and the Idrae-Tankman combo is one with the potential to be a good IM combo, let alone open. HORSE has the ability to take this first round match pretty easily, as TragicServers's high seeding ends up betraying their actual record. It won't be an easy 5-0 roll, though.

Prediction: HORSE 2-0 (5-3, 5-2)