Let the second round begin! Now that 8 teams have advanced, the more interesting and fantastic match-ups can happen. As I said before, it has been a long time since we have seen this many open teams around the same skill level and that only makes for better competition and awesome matches. Any team remaining can defeat any other team so nobody is a shoe-in for the finals.
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#2 - Weiner Bros --- Vs. --- #7 - Blue Elephant
Peyote-------------Medic--------k-man
Shorei--------------Demo--------inco
Shiki / Rex--------Soldiers-----rage / lights
Skag / Skeez-----Scouts-------Kev / Yimi
Both teams performed solidly in the first round. Weiner Bros forced their opponents to Forfeit the 2nd map and Blue Elephant simply overwhelmed smug drugglers.
Looking at the individual maps I have to be of the opinion that Weiner Bros outclasses Blue Elephant on paper for Snake/Viad. Shiki and Peyote are the driving force behind Weiner Bros and may be the strongest combo in open. If given room they can easily dominate the flow of a match and cause major problems. Blue Elephant is going to rely on Kev / Yimi outplaying Skag / Skeez consistently so they can deal with the Weiner Combo. It will be a challenge but very much achievable as both scouts are skilled.
Weiner Bros had some very recent roster changes while Blue Elephant have been constant all season long. I have to believe team chemistry is in Blue Elephant’s favor right now but I don’t know how much that can offset Weiner Bros experience and slight DM advantage. With only a week or so to scrim, we will see how much can these 6 Weiners come together?
4-2 --- Weiner Bros (Snakewater)
4-1 --- Weiner Bros (Viaduct)
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#3 - Puck Fat --- Vs. --- #6 - BLANC Esports
meyy--------------------Medic--------tery
odb----------------------Demo--------yuice
Bushy / Twitchy-----Soldiers-----Crasian / SpaceCadet
Nko / Luxor-----------Scouts-------Comanglia / Muse
Once again it is going to be strange talking about my own team but I personally felt that we underperformed greatly against god is real dude. While they played a solid game, I know we are capable of much better performances. Puck Fat exceeded my expectations and took WaddleSquad to school in dominating fashion proving they are ready for this post-season.
Match performances on the 3 maps this week (Snake, Viad, Process) have been almost mirror images for both BLANC and Puck Fat. I believe both scout combo's are going to cancel each other out as all 4 players are solid. Both teams are heavy on projectile classes and whoever shows-up is going to take this match.
GL to Puck Fat, I am not going to predict exact maps and rounds for this one but I believe it has a high chance of going 3 maps.
BLANC Esports Advances.
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#1 - Ed Head --- Vs. --- #8 - 2 in Flank 4 in Stank
valkieri-------------------Medic--------maev
mausy--------------------Demo--------vita
zheep / digi-------------Soldiers-----charlie / penguin
newspeak / reimu-----Scouts-------waati / wags
I was dissapointed that 2F4S got a FFW in the first round. I felt their match against Pwr Rangers was going to be the best of the first round. Ed Head performed as expected and totally dominated open winners to advance.
Clearly 2F4S are the underdog team here in both experience and DM. On paper, every player match-up seems to be favored in Ed Heads corner but matches are not played on paper. 2F4S have proved during the season they can hang with any team in the division and if they are on their game this can be closer than a lot of people think.
This is a demo vs demo match-up to watch. Both mausy and vita are very strong and do massive amounts of work for both teams. Vita on Viaduct is going to be a problem and Ed Head will have to deal with him to make that map easier. There is a chance this will go 3 maps but I can't see Ed Head losing a 5 CP map in this match-up, only Viaduct is in question.
5-0 --- Ed Head (Snakewater)
4-3 --- Ed Head (Viaduct)
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#4 - Mutual Consent --- Vs. --- #12 - rip john wayne kayc
aZn------------------------Medic--------Nu
Jaguar--------------------Demo--------Goat
ScrewB / Rolling-------Soldiers-----SS / Sparrow
Pinkushin / brrton-----Scouts------kayc / waffleb
Good lord SS can just carry a team to victory. Watching the STV of the match, he was clearly the driving force behind this upset win against Elite Pwnage Squad. More than that, the rest of the team knows how to play off their carry and cleanup frags. Mutual Consent performed as expected in their match-up with a dominant victory.
I don't know if SS can do the same against the stronger soldiers of Mutual Consent. ScrewB and recent roamer pickup Rolling have made Mutual Consent a difficult team to play against especially on Viaduct.
I just have a hard time seeing this match-up going favorably for john wayne. Mutual Consent is a very different type of team than EPS and they are going to be much more difficult to play against. Mutual Consent is probably the strongest team in open on Viaduct.
5-2 --- Mutual Consent (Snakewater)
4-0 --- Mutual Consent (Viaduct)
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