Week One is over, and after the rubble and dust clears, there's plenty of interesting things to note. For one, all the trees seem to be gone, instead replaced with ramps and flanks – welcome to CP_Process!
'92 Dream Team | ||||||||
Trippa | Ibby | Kairu | Route | Vanilla Love | LittleDeath | Skye | SpaceGhostsCoffe | Scruff McGruff |
The first team on the list is '92 Dream Team, making a very small adjustment to their roster. Saam has left, leaving exultanceTF2 teammate trippa to pick up the dropped Scattergun and continue forward.
Acoomuma | ||||||||
Highfive | muma | fathom | Giraffe | chimp feet | sigafoo | Saam | Fox | Acooma |
Giraffe's team jumps leaps and bounds up the alphabetical order, dropping their public distaste of Warmtic to honor two of their members – Acoomuma. One of the question marks fade away, showing Saam on Medic. Saam is an accomplished Medic in both Highlander and 6v6, and should have little issue fitting in. Their Scout on Borneo was Alec, but Highfive will be playing it this week on Process. It is yet to be seen whether that will stay as such, so Acoomuma will find themselves as one of the final teams to settle down their roster, going into Week 3 still with uncertainties.
Ban Paals | ||||||||
Sissel | Mafio | Melon Lord | arch | pete_theplumber | Yipyapper | Metawe | feint | Interests |
Metawe's finally found a Scout and a Sniper that truly wish to Ban Paals, that being Sissel and feint. While Sissel's played Scout in the past, this is feint's first venture into Sniper, but the team would not have commited if feint was obviously not up to par. He should perform fine, but may find himself behind the curve of those who've played Sniper their whole career – though to be fair, there's only a few people this season who qualify.
Chill Penguins | ||||||||
bffl | CHIEF | Hard Ass Johnny | monkey66 | SilentDom | Bala | GammaOrionis | IssGonnRain | Danish |
Chill Penguins took very good use of the Bye Week, finishing off their roster by adding another Chill Penguin, bala, on Engineer.
Corn Ducks | ||||||||
fUZION | p3nguin | chris | Vita | Rue | hungry | brulèe | Timeless/mason | Daynife |
Corn Ducks continue to have turbulence, with Rightjustify's computer still out of action. Vita comes in to substitute this week, as Rightjustify's compute should be all ready for next week's game. Sniper starter Xen has stepped down as well, and the Corn Ducks are courting former appel sniper Timeless, as well as mason of woodpig to replace him. But perhaps they'll have chosen and told me by the time this is printed, and this whole paragraph will be different! Rumor does have it that the Snieper chosen is Timeless, though with neither currently on the roster, they may find themselves denied use of their newly chosen Sniper due to the rules regarding roster joining.
Dedoris | ||||||||
Sleepteiner | Spec Deck | zuchima | Musketeer | Shoe | Kainoa | Alto | Jesus | Joe |
While not the most stalwart roster this season, they're certainly not the most turbulent either. Dedoris has made a single change, replacing Aus with Jesus. While Aus is a fantastic Sniper, Jesus should be able to bring more experience to the Door gang, certainly a bonus when dealing with their first season of Plat.
Paals' Pals | ||||||||
slemnish | Xan | Katsy | b4nny | Paals | Ender | Karl | Scizor | Deer |
In attempt to give Paals something to think about other than the "Ban Paals" team, Karl has redressed the team once again, under the name "Paals' Pals". But, far more importantly, they pick up superstar b4nny on Demoman. He hasn't played the class competitively on a team since Hateful 8, but literal years of experience should mean any rust should slide off easily.
The One Moment | ||||||||
Auzzie | Scorp | Digresser | Split | RokkitFrog | Spamfest | Etney | Vlad | Kresnik |
The fire of moment. is vanquished, as Fireshaker and Fire both not being able to play this week, prompting Scorp to step in on Soldier, and Etney to come in from the inactive .knd roster to Medic. While those familiar with moment.'s history may find this strange, it's easily explainable. Yes, Scorp has played Medic for A Million Ways in the past, and Etney is indeed a Soldier main. However, this Soldier change was known to moment. for a while now, and the people involved (Fire, Scorp, moment.'s leadership) had all agreed beforehand to this arraignment. Fireshaker being unable to make it is a far more recent development, and Etney stepping in is a completely different situation to the Soldier spot.
Wartortle Warriors | ||||||||
Seer of Shadows | Dreadnought | The Pyro Squirrel | cole | Serious | Gamemaster | Uber | bo4r | Evan |
And the final team with roster changes, Wartortle Warriors. Their Medic spot is finally filled by Uber, and they replace Akemi with bo4r. bo4r is certainly not a dark horse, but may be one of the least experienced Snipers currently in Platinum. He's also one of the few Snipers who've received a witch-hunt to the level of the ones in Salem, so perhaps his (skill/aimbot) will give him a fighting chance against players such as Scizor and Fox.
And as for the teams who didn't change…
Burnham & Root | ||||||||
Paddie | Remedy | Geosus | Ma3la | Rainy | Mario | Nursey | shrugger | stabby |
Memento Mori | ||||||||
Alder | Capsize | B_RED | air | Eerie Person | SailsAway | Apple | Bagel | Triton |
Secret team | ||||||||
Dogfloaties | Sneaky | Deejay | Yeremy | Lennon | Eviil | Evan | Willamatic | finndy |
sheen and the ultra lords | ||||||||
Odb | Jackster | Lazy | Invader | barycenter | Rolls Royce | Coldster | Angryofficer | Pellovley |
The Pyongyang Pyonggang | ||||||||
Jewfro | tickzf | spring rolls | Justin Time | LazyDane | Dave+ | Tiptoes | Napalm | Boredy |
None of these teams have changed their roster, outside of corrections from the previous article (Sylon -> Boredy the only one, I believe). There's a solid mix of teams of all levels here, and only a few of them seem likely to have major changes in the future, if any at all.
As explained in the last article, there are no playoffs. This means that MP is the only thing that really matters this season, at least overall. While between teams with even MP the RF/RA (rounds for/against) is used to decide who is placed higher, it's highly unlikely that the top three teams will have equal MP.
Borneo is a Payload map, meaning only three possible scores exist. A winning team will get 5 MP, a team who lost but took a round will take 2.5 MP, and a shut out team will wind up with 0.
As only one match has been played, there's a fairly substantial group of teams with the full five points. As it stands, those teams are: Dedoris, Chill Penguins, The One Moment, Acoomuma, Burnham & Root, Corn Ducks, and Memento Mori.
A few names immediately pop out, Acoomuma and Burnham & Root being the biggest of them. Should and when they maintain the standard expected of them, they'll find themselves facing each other in Week Four, on Upward.
The rest of the teams are all grateful to start the season off ahead, with moment., qaK, and m|M being the happiest of the bunch. Dedoris and Chill Penguins got faced up against the big names in the winners group, and unless they pull an upset, will not get much from this week.
However, it is Process, meaning every round won is more points tacked on. This will be the week where the 'simple groups' are lost, as teams find themselves getting anywhere between 0 and 5 points.
Four teams pulled a round but lost, giving them a 2.5 MP bonus off the rest of the teams with no wins. Ban Paals, Paals' Pals, sheen and the ultra lords, and The Pyongyang Pyonggang are those teams. Due to the way the math works out (14 teams mean seven winners, -ww- faces the odd one out of those) means that the four teams are faced off against each other. It's worth pointing out that bp vs Pal would have happened regardless of the name change – Pal's previous name was Curse of Knowledge, so the matchup would have been no different.
The two teams that were 'beaten' 2-0, '92 Dream Team and Secret team (who had a FFL), face each other to try and grab their first points of the season.
Dedoris won their first game in Platinum, and find themselves immediately punished as the gods decide to show them true force of Platinum. While overcoming '92 Dream Team was always a possibility, it will be significantly more difficult to overcome Acoomuma on Process. 5-1 in favor of Acoomuma.
In similar manner to Acoomuma vs Dedoris, Corn Ducks immediately find themselves against giants after overcoming PINGPONG. There should be no way that BR will lose this, assuming both teams play to their full potential. 5-1 in favor of Burnham & Root.
Now the matches get a bit more interesting. -ww- had no game on Borneo, meaning that they're largely unproven as of yet. Their scrims against DOOR are the only ones they've had on Process yet, losing one scrim and winning another. However, even in the scrim they lost, they put up fairly decent numbers, with the winning scrim obviously just being better. Memento Mori, on the other hand, have just come off of beating their spiritual predecessors in sheen and the ultra lords. They've scrimmed both '92 Dream Team and Corn Ducks, looking very powerful. A win here for m|M will be huge, showing the rest of their competition that they're a team that should not be overlooked, something that may have happened in pre-season when just looking at rosters. On the other hand, -ww- really need to get some MP out of this. A 5-0 loss here will push off their actual start – when they start obtaining MP – for another week. Starting in Week 2 is a doable task, but waiting until Week 3 before beginning to start your race is possibly an unrecoverable position. Luckily for them, it is 5CP, meaning if they lose in a close game, they'll have a start in the race. 5-4 in favor of Wartortle Warriors.
Interestingly enough, the two teams who were scheduled for Week 1 and had no game are faced up, seemingly against what 1 1v2 3v4 scenario would have you think from the current website rankings. Regardless, Bv had a Bye week, and the leader of Secret team, was not around Monday night, giving moment. the default win. Regardless of scenario, these two teams should be fairly even, with significant Platinum experience spread across the server. moment.'s roster reshuffling seems almost ubiquitous at this point, but should be fairly helpful this time around. Etney's come in to play Medic in replacement of Fireshaker for this week, coupled with Auzzie picking up the Scout spot should give moment. a significantly higher experience percentage than their perpetually mid-Platinum opponents. 5-3 in favor of The One Moment.
Maybe Karl changed the name specifically for this matchup. Maybe he changed the name because he truly does care about his Heavy-main friend. Either way, this should be a good matchup, even outside of the comradery/rivalry between some of the players. Overall though, bp will have an uphill battle if they want to take this, but should be able to secure a few rounds. Most of the class-to-class matchups will prove difficult for bp, especially arch vs b4nny and feint vs Scizor. A win here for bp will prove they can win against the top Plat teams, and after losing to one of them (BR), they'll be looking to also win against Acoomuma for when the inevitable MP grind sets in. Pal, on the other hand, lost to Acoomuma, and a loss against bp will put them, in all likeliness, out of the chance for a placement spot. 5-3 in favor of Paals' Pals.
Neither team was expecting to be here after Week 1, yet they find themselves against each other, looking to grab their first complete 5 MP, and avoid another week of grabbing only a few points. PINGPONG's roster is formidable, but not quite powerful enough to be able to depend on roster alone against the estevezes. Invader may find Process's ramps a bit friendlier to his Demoknighting adventure, though Jackster may find himself sadly restricted to protecting his Medic, the skies of Process empty. A loss against m|M may be telling to the inability of the ultra lords to make their strategies work. If PINGPONG win here, sheen and the ultra lords may have to resign themselves to either reevaluating their strategies or a season of low Platinum. 5-3 in favor of Pyongyang Pyonggang.
Assuming Secret team show up this time, both teams will want to start their season off already, losing Week 1 to either a FFL (TBA) or a 0-2 loss ('92). As mentioned in the -ww- match, starting to get points in Week 3 is a tough spot to come back from, if possible at all. Secret team has yet to prove themselves too, and will be eager to disprove those who don't remember their previous Platinum experiences in the greatest of lights. '92 Dream Team has a lot more recent experiences, and probably also want the victory more. 5-3 in favor of '92 Dream Team.