nerdRage wins ETF2L Season 23

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posted in News

Jerm

March 21, 2016

nerdRage have emerged as the ETF2L Season 23 champions, defeating Perilous Gaming in the grand finals 2-0 to conclude three rounds of playoffs.

Prior to today's matches, third seed dd + 5 abs had already been eliminated, losing to Publiclir 0-2 (Sunshine 2-3, Snakewater 2-4). This set up a match between Publiclir and Perilous Gaming, with the victor advancing to the grand finals. Publicir were faced with a daunting task, with the additional handicap of needing Larval Extract, who had last played about a year ago as a backup for then-top team SUAVE.

The first map of the series, Snakewater, was very rocky, with both teams making several costly mistakes over the course of the game. Publiclir finally took the first round of the game thanks to great plays by Larval Extract, but were pinned back by Perilous Gaming. They finally punched in a round of their own after several attempts, tying the game. Publiclir took the next mid, but a failed push allowed Perilous Gaming to capitalize and take another round. Now holding a one-round lead with time starting to run out, Perilous Gaming decided to stabilize and held on despite Publiclir's best efforts to force the issue, thus taking a very close victory in the first game.

In Process, the second map of the series, Publiclir were quick to respond with a dominant mid win, securing the round after a failed push by a backcap. Perilous Gaming strung together two rounds of their own with ease to put themselves back on top. The next round was once again back-and-forth as both teams struggled with pushing, but Perilous Gaming finally broke the stalemate when Thalash sniped ondkaja, giving the team enough momentum to take another round. Perilous Gaming then took the next mid and defended against a surprise Kritzkrieg push, but valiant efforts by Smirre and ondkaja allowed Publiclir to barely hold their last point and push back, eventually taking the round to narrow the gap. Once again, however, Perilous Gaming somehow held on to their lead as time expires, taking the map and series in a very close fashion.

This set up a grand finals rematch of the final week of the season, in which nerdRage had brutally beat down Perilous Gaming. They immediately showed their strength again in the first round of Gullywash by winning the first midfight, but the game immediately devolved into a stalemate that only ended when kos dropped to a combined play by Drackk and kaidus, allowing nerdRage to take the first round. Perilous Gaming managed to take the second midfight, but the stalemates continued. Eventually, with time winding down, Perilous Gaming attempted to push in but failed, giving nerdRage another round. nerdRage finally showed their dominance by rolling the third round, but Perilous Gaming responded with a roll of their own to put themselves two rounds down with three minutes remaining. However, nerdRage crushed any remaining hopes by taking the next round as time expired, giving them a 4-1 win on the first map.

nerdRage continued their momentum by rolling the first round of Process. The next round was long and drawn out as both teams push back and forth, with Perilous Gaming finally managing to take it to tie the game. However, nerdRage won the next drawn-out round to get their lead back with less than three minutes left on the clock. They sealed the deal by taking the next mid and eventually the round to win the map, series and championship.

Thus, the final standings for the ETF2L Season 23 Premiership division are:

1st: nerdRage
2nd: Perilous Gaming
3rd: Publiclir
4th: dd + 5 abs

smitty_

15 Frags – +

Sick write up Jerm, my good man. The game was definitely worth watching just for the post game salt we all got to hear in the interviews and this article was definitely worth the read!

Golden111

5 Frags – +

blame sideshow
but great write up

Nation

5 Frags – +

Larval had some really awesome plays I hope they get highlighted. I'm glad Publiclir did so well too - I'm looking forward to next season.

nope

20 Frags – +

However, nerdRage crushed any remaining hopes by taking the next round as time expires, giving them a 4-1 win on the first map.

First backcap and now you, please choose a tense and stick with it...

Apart from that, good writeup, thanks.

[quote]However, nerdRage crush[u]ed[/u] any remaining hopes by taking the next round as time expir[u]es[/u], giving them a 4-1 win on the first map.[/quote]

First backcap and now you, please choose a tense and stick with it...

Apart from that, good writeup, thanks.

solace

0 Frags – +

smzi

11 Frags – +

Offense wins rounds , Defense wins tournament, hopefully a lesson learned for Prem (except nerdRage)

cirlo

2 Frags – +

smziOffene wins rounds , Defense wins tournament, hopefully a lesson learned for Prem (except nerdRage)

For Epsilon it worked the opposite, didn't it?
Too bad that just a few brains that can successfully coordinate a whole team with an offensive strat, rather then the (apparently) easier defensive one.

[quote=smzi]Offene wins rounds , Defense wins tournament, hopefully a lesson learned for Prem (except nerdRage)[/quote]
For Epsilon it worked the opposite, didn't it?
Too bad that just a few brains that can successfully coordinate a whole team with an offensive strat, rather then the (apparently) easier defensive one.

smzi

8 Frags – +

cirlosmziOffene wins rounds , Defense wins tournament, hopefully a lesson learned for Prem (except nerdRage)For Epsilon it worked the opposite, didn't it?
Too bad that just a few brains that can successfully coordinate a whole team with an offensive strat, rather then the (apparently) easier defensive one.

Epislon invented that kinda playstyle, they would always wait for a slip up and punish afterwards

Just look at Gear's style of roaming and you understand the principle

[quote=cirlo][quote=smzi]Offene wins rounds , Defense wins tournament, hopefully a lesson learned for Prem (except nerdRage)[/quote]
For Epsilon it worked the opposite, didn't it?
Too bad that just a few brains that can successfully coordinate a whole team with an offensive strat, rather then the (apparently) easier defensive one.[/quote]

Epislon invented that kinda playstyle, they would always wait for a slip up and punish afterwards

Just look at Gear's style of roaming and you understand the principle

cirlo

1 Frags – +

I guess I confused the offensive playstyle with the less big-advantages-dependant defensive one, then.
Every time i see KnOxXx play I see him trying to capitalize on every little adv. he can get. The line between defense and offense becomes thinner and it's hard to give the playstyle a name but it's certeinly a more entertaining to watch.

#10

smzi

0 Frags – +

I think we are talking about the same thing, an advantage usually is a numbersadvantage or a positional advantage (both being mistakes by the other team usually)

#11

Starkie

12 Frags – +

cirloEvery time i see KnOxXx play I see him trying to capitalize on every little adv. he can get. The line between defense and offense becomes thinner and it's hard to give the playstyle a name but it's certeinly a more entertaining to watch.

it was seb who made the i49 epsi aggressive not knoxxx
just look at i52 epsi and i55 reason, they definitely didn't have the aggressive playstyle youre talking about

i dont think you can just take a playstyle from 2 years ago used by a team that vastly outskilled most of its opponents and say that it's viable

[quote=cirlo]Every time i see KnOxXx play I see him trying to capitalize on every little adv. he can get. The line between defense and offense becomes thinner and it's hard to give the playstyle a name but it's certeinly a more entertaining to watch.[/quote]
it was seb who made the i49 epsi aggressive not knoxxx
just look at i52 epsi and i55 reason, they definitely didn't have the aggressive playstyle youre talking about

i dont think you can just take a playstyle from 2 years ago used by a team that vastly outskilled most of its opponents and say that it's viable

#12

cirlo

3 Frags – +

I'm not trying to say it's still viable. During the last 2 years many things changed, and i'm aware of that.
I'm just not 100% sure that Epsilon'strats could work because there weren't decent skilled opponents.
I take the view that in the last few years people mind changed (more than the playstyle itself) bringing to a more precise gameplay born from a keener attitude toward developing team strats/reviewing demos (something that lacked 2 years ago to most of the teams, broder included according to zebbosai's interview).
Obviously this more precise and accurate playstyle necessarily brought to a slower paced game and -for some- less entertaining.

#13

Jerm

5 Frags – +

nopeHowever, nerdRage crushed any remaining hopes by taking the next round as time expires, giving them a 4-1 win on the first map.
First backcap and now you, please choose a tense and stick with it...

Apart from that, good writeup, thanks.

Fixed, and thank you all for the feedback & kind words. Also shoutouts to tsc for helping me turn a wall of words into something actually readable :D

[quote=nope][quote]However, nerdRage crush[u]ed[/u] any remaining hopes by taking the next round as time expir[u]es[/u], giving them a 4-1 win on the first map.[/quote]

First backcap and now you, please choose a tense and stick with it...

Apart from that, good writeup, thanks.[/quote]

Fixed, and thank you all for the feedback & kind words. Also shoutouts to tsc for helping me turn a wall of words into something actually readable :D

#14

Admirable

13 Frags – +

Lovely write-up. Worthy winners.

#15

nyk

-1 Frags – +

cirloI take the view that in the last few years people mind changed (more than the playstyle itself) bringing to a more precise gameplay born from a keener attitude toward developing team strats

You're saying people's mindsets changed but the playstyle stayed the same?

[quote=cirlo]I take the view that in the last few years people mind changed (more than the playstyle itself) bringing to a more precise gameplay born from a keener attitude toward developing team strats [/quote]
You're saying people's mindsets changed but the playstyle stayed the same?

#16

beachruin

23 Frags – +

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjHoTN7vP34

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjHoTN7vP34[/youtube]

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