Slowly, the Highlander song slows down, growing quieter and quieter. The electricity in the air belies the true intentions – shortly, the greatest part of the song will begin. Playoffs are almost on us, and even two weeks away, there are still variables yet to be settled.

Future variables aside, the greatest variable thrown in this season (excluding the round robin system), Glassworks, has been completed. While there were little to no surprises across the board, one thing to note is that the Ginyu Hoops vs Kids Next Door game never happened. For a while it looked like it was, with even Saloon.TF and EVL TV receiving information that the match would be played. When the time came, however, .knd found themselves opponentless, and reported the match as a FFW. Every other match went mostly as expected.

Teams

A 5-2 victory against A Million Ways is no surprise, and certainly not a reason to give up their spot. The team inches closer and closer to the title of 'undefeated' (at least in regular season), though the main obstacles are yet to come. Their next two matches, against .$$ and .knd, are important to the teams involved in various degrees. mTs stands to end in any of the top three seeds depending on how their matches go. If they win both, they secure #1. Lose both, seed #3. If they win against .knd and lose against .$$, they end up in Seed #2. Of course, there are other situations that can occur, but those are the simplest ways for each. They can only end up in #2 in that specific scenario.

dK's proven themselves as one of the best teams around, and certainly a much more improved team from back in Season 12 where some upstart Gold moveup, aptly named Dunning-Kruger Effect, beat Dead Ringer Storage right out of the gates in Week 1. dK's got a very comfortable spot heading into playoffs, unable to get anything less than #2. Of course, they won't be directly influencing that – not with their games being against eHarmony and Funkblasters. Their placing, of course, falls into the hands of mTs. If mTs win both times, dK will find themselves in the #2 seed. Any other scenario, they're the #1.

The champions of last season find themselves in a much lower spot than before, with a #3 seed looking likely, unless they win against mTs next week. While .knd is still a fantastic team that could easily win their third season in a row, it won't be as simple this season. That's not a bad thing by any means, at least for the fans – nobody wants to see a Grand Finals where one team will obviously win. The team's gone through some roster changes over the season, with 1/3 of the classes having new players between the start of the season and now – Scizor and Corsa switching, and Justin Time replacing Nursey. While certainly not downgrades, it means that previous games may not be as reliable to draw information from. While they're certainly in control of their own destiny, especially once playoffs start, they may find themselves with a bit more of a challenge.

As the ESEA playoffs happened last week on Monday, Ginyu Hoops went ahead and took a forfeit loss against .knd, choosing to not play instead of find substitutes for their playoff participating players. This specific decision may come back to haunt them, however, as there's now a shadow of a chance that .$$ may take their spot. If .$$ wins against mTs, they'll beat Ginyu Hoops by a grand total of .25 MP, and slip into the fourth seed, leaving 20b with a lousy fifth place finish. If Ginyu Hoops had won even a single round on Glassworks, they would be securely in the playoffs.

While one could easily point to a myriad of different events that occurred to give .$$ a fighting chance – bote disbanding, ESEA playoffs being that particular night, the way previous matches fell that gave each team their current MP – the easiest to pinpoint is Ginyu Hoops' choice to not play Glassworks against .knd. A win against mTs on Lakeside should put the $avages a mere .25 match points ahead of 20b, securing the fourth seed and playoffs.

A loss against mTs is no surprise, as ·aMw· recline comfortably in their chairs, unlikely to budge from their #6 spot. They'll have to wait for .buffalo's losses to catch up to them before finding themselves there on the UGC website, but they should be there shortly. The Bye week demon has stopped by them this week, as they have no match on Lakeside to play. A game against eHarmony next week should be a simple victory, ending off their season with a win.

The buffalo boys still have three games to go, and with all of them being against (likely) playoff teams, it's not looking too good for them as the season winds down. Facing both Ginyu and mTs on the last week will certainly be a bummer, and .knd this week won't allow them to at least enter the Upward week off of a win. For a team to finish seventh, above two teams slated to play in Platium, after wanting to play in Gold is nothing to look down at either. They probably could've been near the top of the division in Gold, but bit the bullet and filled that last spot after IFA nearly collapsed, and played their position well.

A win against eHarmony will allow Funkblasters to breathe easy, with the looming threat of their only win being a FFW no longer on their shoulders. They're unlikely to be able to further their record in a positive sense, but hey, at least they won a match. There will always be the bottom of every division, and even in a round-robin setup, teams that don't stack up to their opponents. It's great to see them stick out the season and play, as opposed to folding once the going got tough.

A loss against Funkblasters will spell doom for any attempt to move up in the rankings. Similarly, it means that the team will end the season without any wins, outside of the FFW everyone received. While it always hurts to finish last, there's a team that has to do it every season, and eHarmony's taking the pedestal for this season. Roster issues up until recently will always hurt a team, so it's great to not see them disband. Hopefully we'll see them back again next season, be it in Gold or Platinum.

MATCHES

High off their victory against eHarmony, Funkblasters find themselves facing the big boys on Ginyu Hoops. Any misstep here from the 20b folks may spell doom for their playoff spot, as they've already got .$$ looking to snatch it from under them even if they do play perfectly. With that said, however, it should be noted that there really won't be much of a contest. While the voter's paradox is not always accurate, especially in Highlander, it's likely accurate here. Ginyu Hoops beat A Million Ways 4-0 on Viaduct, who in turn beat Funkblasters 2-0 on Upward. 4-0 in the favor of Ginyu Hoops.

The 3-3 Buffalo are quickly hitting the tougher part of their season, and .knd are next up to bat. .knd are already secure in their playoff place, just awaiting a specific seed. They should be able to take this week easy before facing mTs next week, but .buffalo will be no pushover. Over the roster, however, .knd outclasses .buffalo in practically every way, and on a map like Lakeside that has previous experience being a map in Highlander, .buffalo find themselves with little advantages to speak of. 4-1 in favor of Kids Next Door.

The top seed going into this week faces the lowest seed going into this week. There's little chance for even a round in eHarmony's favor, and dK should be able to leisurely take this game. 4-0 in favor of Dunning-Kruger Effect.

Saving the best for last on the matchups page, we have the closest match, and the match with the most relevance. If the $avages win here, they secure themselves a playoff spot, kicking Ginyu Hoops out from a spot they may have been expecting to be theirs with no contest. And while it's easy to bandwagon for the $avages to hope for an upset, both in-game and for playoffs, looking at the .$$ games on KOTH maps doesn't instill confidence. They played .knd on Ashville, and and dK on Viaduct. Both games .$$ played incredibly passive, with Lyrical's dispenser even giving him a healspread on the first half in logs.tf. mTs will no doubt be able to take advantage of a passive team, especially on KOTH, so unless .$$ comes out far more aggressive than they did in their previous two games, mTs should be able to shut down any hope for playoffs. 4-2 in favor of Menace To Society.