Poor b4nny. Poor dK. With the two teams playing decided after the 3-2 victory of mTs, the Grand Finals are finally here.

Teams

Kids Next Door, the reigning champs. Two seasons straight, .knd have ended up in the upper bracket of the Grand Finals, and have yet to let it go to a second Best of Three. The first time they were there, they were perhaps an underdog team, a team that just mysteriously showed up in the Grand Finals. Their opponents, Ginyu Force, were by far the favorites going into it. While it did end up going to a third map, .knd took the victory. A season later, .knd silenced all doubts by doing it again, with the difference being the team they faced – Menace To Society as opposed to Ginyu Force – and the games never going to a third map. They're here again, intending on breaking yet another record by taking a third victory.

brooky12: Hello! Thank you for taking your time to do this interview! First and obviously,
congratulations on finding yourself in the Upper Bracket spot for the Grand Finals, third time in a row. Is this something you(r team) was expecting at any point during this season?

Kresnik: I mean, at this point, we definitely expect it of ourselves, though the roster shakeups + how good dK looked all season definitely had us ready for any playoff possibilities. That, plus one of our worst maps (Gully) being the Upper Bracket Finals map makes us pretty happy to be in the advantageous position again.

brooky12: Roster shakeups? You're one of the teams in Plat who've probably had the least
changes. mTs, on the other hand, has had a fair bit of changes over the season, permanent and not. Do you think that mTs's roster instability will grant you some sort of an advantage?

Kresnik: mTs is a team that has its success built on 'listen to harbleu' and doesn't really talk about maps or go over situations/positionings. Their roster changes were mostly just upgrades to players, so any loss of coordination or player synergy really didn't matter as much to them as us. The reason we've been able to win these last two seasons is the effort we've put in + keeping a very consistent roster. So the shake ups affect us more than them, even if we've had slightly less.

So no, I don't think it gives us an advantage, it's more of a neutral change than anything.

brooky12: So, has anything changed from last season? The same situation happened last
season, down to the lower bracket/upper bracket placement of .knd and mTs in the Grand Finals. Then, you took both your map, Upward, and their map, Ashville, for a 2-0 victory. Are you expecting something similar at all? What even are the maps?

Kresnik: Outside of rosters and a season number, we're in an almost identical positioning. mTs has a stronger roster than last season, so I don't know exactly what to expect. Our wins this season were against a different mTs roster than what'll be playing the finals, and the maps still haven't been decided by either team, so it's a toss up at the moment. I'd like to think we have the advantage going on because of our ability on viaduct, but we have to get to the tiebreaker first for it to matter.

brooky12: You've faced mTs twice now, both victories on Upward and Viaduct, maps present
(though perhaps not played) in every Grand Final .knd has participated in. Is that at all a forewarner of something to come, or do you expect different variables to be in effect come match night?

Kresnik: Against any other team, I'd say that that factor would actually be a bad thing for us, considering how close we are. They have the information from having played against us already and can utilize it. It's different with mTs though. Harb is the one in complete control, and he doesn't play a counter game, he plays his own game. So our past matches having all been victories is a pretty comforting thing to think about, but it's almost always been close (ignoring S15 GF Map 2)

brooky12: Interesting. Before wrapping up, I've just got a question or two about Highlander in
general. Platinum this season will be remembered as a unique season, the first one to employ a "Invite-esque" strategy, only allowing 10 teams into Platinum. What did you think of it? Was it a good idea?

Kresnik: The round robin was an awesome idea. Outside of bote dying, the fact that every team got to play every team was worth it enough to (IMO) employ it again for future playoff seasons. The 4 team playoff was a little silly, but if Ginyu had actually put in any effort, it would have been a pretty great playoff, with good matches in both brackets each week.

It definitely is the most fair way to determine the playoff seeds by evening up the FFWs and making strength of schedule even

brooky12: If bote hadn't died, would the 4 team playoff been better?

Kresnik: Yes, it absolutely would've been

brooky12: So the only flaw is that a high level team had died, as opposed to one that wouldn't
have had much chance reaching a 4-team playoff regardless?

Kresnik: Essentially, yeah. Although ideally no teams die, so each team has a game to play each week.

brooky12: Of course. Rumor has it that next season, there will be no playoffs, and perhaps
even a unique map-pool. While it's understandable that volunteers would want a break, what do you think this will do to Platinum?

Kresnik: The top teams are going to dissolve for the season, although I believe players are making their own offclass teams to play while the stakes are lower. It's hard to say what'll happen to the lower plat teams, but hopefully they'll stick around and keep playing to make the competition even better come Season 18 when the stakes are high again

At least, as high as highlander can get at the moment. :P

brooky12: Alright, thank you for doing this interview, Kresnik!

brooky12: Oh, right. One final question - wtf krenik?

Kresnik: yolo

When someone thinks of “High Plat”, it's downright impossible not to think of mTs. Everything about them strengthens that image, from their illustrious record to their roster, even their mindset of how nothing matters until the playoffs just proves even further their confidence of skill. They're no victims of the Dunning-Kruger Effect, however, they've got the skill and talent to back up their claims. The last season they played that they didn't place was in Season 7, with a full showing since then, outside of Season 14 where they took a break. Even with .knd's recent record, mTs's dominance has some significant history backing it.

brooky12: Hey, Katsy! Thanks for doing this interview, and congratulations on your defeat of
dK! You're in the Grand Finals now, through the lower bracket. Is that what you(r team) was expecting at the start/during the playoffs?

Katsy: Thanks for letting me do this interview! Well, I wasn't too sure of the outcome myself
because I know dK is a strong team. I know some of our more confident members def. thought we had the match in the bag, and I'm sure they all wanted to beat KND come our first playoff game. But oh well, at least we're at Grand Finals.

brooky12: You've faced .knd twice now this season, back in Week 9 on Upward, and in the
first round playoffs on Viaduct. .knd hasn't had any changes since then, their most recent change being right before Week 9. What are you expecting from them? Anyone you(r team is) particularly concerned about?

Katsy: I was expecting a tough match, which they gave us. KND is for-sure a match-day
team, so they gave us a run for our money like I thought. They're all excellent players, though the ones I would particularly watch out for (if I was there) would be their flank (consisting of Scizor, Etney, and Satan), and their pick classes (Corsa and Dimento). I still remember last season pretty well, and I don't want a repeat of what happened on Ashville.

brooky12: Yeah. Despite the maps being up in the air, this is no new situation, for either you
or .knd. Just last season, this exact setup was played out, with .knd taking both their map pick, Upward, and yours, Ashville, for a simple 2-0 victory. Are you concerned about a similar thing happening? Anything planned to insure against it? And even if, what's your plan for Viaduct, seeing as .knd was victorious just a few weeks ago?

Katsy: Well, it's totally possible the same thing will happen again, which would be
unfortunate. KND will come prepared, so we'll just have to play our best. Anything can happen during match-time, and people at the highest level will always make some kind of mistake. So while I think KND will be more prepared for Monday, mTs will def. be trying their hardest to make sure there's no more "courtesy rounds" (as Harb likes to say, haha).

brooky12: You've gone through some roster changes over the season, both temporary and
permanent switches. The latest one was swapping Lunacide out for Nursey on Heavy, and yet still, that's not the end. Obviously, some of the changes, like Giraffe going on vacation were of nobody's fault, but regardless - what's next, with you going on vacation and being unable to play Monday night?

Katsy: Well, changes like Yosh and Muma are moreso upgrades, and we just so happened to
have spots when their team died. As far Nursey going onto Heavy, that was only for the match vs. dK, because Lunacide couldn't make it that day due to moving. Giraffe going on vacation wasn't something he could avoid like you mentioned, and I'm the same way. I'll be stuck in a hotel room without a computer, so there's no way for me to play match (unless I magically learn to play Pyro on my phone). It's just something I can't avoid, otherwise I would play. I'm not too sure who's going to fill the spot, but Pyro is an easy enough class, I'm sure someone on our roster can fill in. All they have to do is press mouse 2 when the enemy team is shiny and turn around. Simple enough.

brooky12: Alright, cool. Going to end off this interview with some general questions about
Highlander in general. This season of Platinum's slightly different, with it being the first (of many?) season to feature an Invite-style round robin system. What did you think of it?

Katsy: I didn't really like the new style of Platinum, but I do like the direction UGC has
decided to take. It's really nice to slowly change things, and even if people didn't like it, people still did their best to make sure it worked out. Unfortuntely, it left less teams to scrim, and the gap between mid-Plat and high Plat the same, but otherwise, whoever supported this round-robin style can probably smile a little. It wasn't too bad, in the end.

brooky12: Rumor has it that next season will be a casual no-playoffs season. While it's
understandable for volunteers to want a break every now and then, what do you think this'll do to the player side of things, especially in Platinum?

Katsy: Platinum teams will probably take a break and have some fun with it. I've heard a lot
of things on what people are going to do, some are dropping down to Gold to play with friends and off-class, some are sticking around, and some are just quitting. I know the top three teams (dK, mTs, and KND) all won't be around next season, so I imagine the competitiveness of Plat will plummet. But that'll probably change come the following season. Since it's a casual season, everyone's just gonna chill and enjoy the holidays, I bet.

brooky12: Well, whatever you decide to do, and whatever the results are come Monday (and
Thursday?!), I hope you and everyone has fun. We've seen far too recently what happens when a person continues to play without having fun, and nobody likes that. Best of luck in your matches, and thank you for answering these questions!

Katsy: I hope everyone has fun, and best of luck to both teams come match time! Thanks
again for letting me do this interview!

Maps

Upward

We've seen it three times now, and it has yet to change. Perhaps one day, .knd will select something different, but nobody can blame them for using a tried and true strategy. Upward, like other Payload maps (and Steel), have an interesting change when placed in the Grand Finals. Unlike KOTH or 5CP, which aren't affected as much by the removal of a half, the second half was almost essential for Stopwatch maps, allowing both teams the even footing by playing both Offense and Defense first. With only one half being played, and mTs picking the color, mTs may have the advantage going in. But we've seen this twice before, once even with mTs themselves. .knd will be confident regardless of the color they go into, as their strength on Upward doesn't come from colors, they're just that good. Kids Next Door are fantastic on Upward, and while mTs will no doubt make the game close, .knd should be able to make this map theirs. 1-0 in favor of Kids Next Door.

Gullywash

Gullywash is a fantastic map, one with significant history in Highlander. It's mTs's pick too, and after beating dK on it in a grueling 3-2 victory, it's easy to see where the confidence comes from. This isn't the first time Gullywash has been picked against .knd in the Grand Finals, as their first appearance against Ginyu Force had them play it, and they were thoroughly demolished. This time around the game should be significantly closer, as .knd has improved incredibly since then, but mTs shouldn't lose here. 4-2 in favor of Menace To Society.

Viaduct

After predicting a 1-1 score line in the other two maps, it only makes sense to write about Viaduct. While depending on how the previous two maps go this may not even be played, it's hard to not hope for more excellent games, so Viaduct! It's hard not to instinctively glance at the first playoff match, where .knd took a 4-2 victory to remain in the Upper Bracket, forcing mTs to the lower bracket. That was back during Giraffe's vacation though, so the mTs showing up for this map is slightly different than the one showing up a few weeks back. While .knd are fantastic at Viaduct, this, and having just come off of a win on Gullywash, should be enough to give mTs the victory. 4-3 in favor of Menace To Society.