UGC-HL Platinum Predictions Week 2

Ginyu Force > Quality Control > 5-2

Given the map is croissant I wouldn’t be surprised to see a long excruciating match with many failed pushes especially into last, but eventually Ginyu Force should take this with a convincing score. QC has a pretty strong flank in the form of mang on soldier, stevec on scout, and even TMP on pyro that will be a major deciding factor in how well they perform. If these people can make magic happen on the flank I can see QC getting a round or two or at least help staving off their own demise. The amount of experience QC has from pugging 24/7 could also give them an edge on this map. Either way it should provide for some heated back and forth. Watch out for Max to get his dome on and Dill to get his hiding heavy on. This match will also be pitting famed pyro mains Huey Lewis and TMP against each other for the title of “Best at a Class No One Cares About”.

IKEA Furniture < mTs 1-5

It may take a little while for harbleu and his merry band of menaces to figure out the best way to push croissant, but once they do I don’t much on IKEA that can stop them. Maybe if IKEA puts in a good amount of scrim time in this week things might be closer, but I don’t see that really happening. I love the theme they have going though. Very quaint. Maybe bed, loveseat, and bench will bust out their allen wrenches and form like voltron to become a super relaxing love machine. One can only hope.

Kimberlite Council > Chain Reaction 5-3

This is definitely going to be one of the closer matches this week. Although with the departure of mangachu, CR is going to have a rough match this week. I’d say this will come down to who they can find as a replacement. They do have Paragon on sniper and Spamfest on engineer, though, who I expect to put up an excellent fight alongside the fearless Skyrolla on heavy. KLITE on the other hand should be feeling very confident after racking up a close and exciting win against Ghetto Afterthought last week. Phaze should be sniping on par with Paragon and Killemall (scout), Roth (heavy), and Steelpython (demo) work so well together I can see them spear-heading KLITE to a well-fought victory. Both teams are very familiar with croissant so we should see an exceptional battle being fought.

Blunderful < Team Syndicate 5-1

Well this will be a doozy of a match for my homies over on Blunderful. If Satan on pyro and UseofToaster on scout can work some sorcery they might be able to take a round here, but I don’t see it ending well for them. It’ll be even worse if TS busts out b4nny. Blunderful, you will be in my prayers.

Axl Wat > Death Marked Soldiers 4-3

Another close match should be had here. Axl had a bye last week so I honestly have yet to confirm who will be playing. The likes of YZ50 and boomer could very well show up which would definitely swing the match in their favor. DMS has picked up some promising talent of their own with Chriz-tah-fah and Heep Hop so I’ll be waiting to see more of what these teams can do before I give too in depth of a prediction.

Ghetto Afterthought < Baby Punching Marathon 2-5

GA will be biting the bullet this week by playing the top 4 team that just happened to lose last week. Still, with the addition of sweater on demo, things could get interesting pretty quick. This’ll be the match for them to really prove themselves against an established top team. I don’t expect a win for GA here, but I suspect they will give BPM a surprise or two. Revels is a very capable sniper and finndy on spy could do some real work if BPM underestimates him. It probably won’t be enough, though, to stop the terrifying BPM aggression that Boink and Bronze have been spear-heading this season.

Starfucker < Gangsta Gang 1-5

I suspect after an upsetting loss last week we’ll see GG put in a little more work this week to assure a victory here. I don’t know much about Starfucker other than they’re a bunch of friends who are more known for playing 6v6. I’ll be curious to see whether they step up and practice for this match or coast through only to die out later on when the fun and novelty of HL wears off. GG, while rusty, is full of seasoned veterans who know what it takes to be a top team. This and future matches will come down to how much practice they want to devote. With Ma3la currently trying to help Xensity make lan I doubt they’ll have the time to return to their former glory, but I expect them to be licking the heels of the top 4 by the end of the season.

ah... Team player was the last clan I played with years back when 8v8 was a thing. Awesome bunch back then but I know they had to cycle through a ton of players to keep it going. Sucks if they are done; they've been around for a long time.