Heyo, I'm back with more. I've decided to write this one despite the big Ascent vs 7 game not being played, so that I'm not too late. i'll probably make a separate thread for that match, or include it in the week 3 review. As always, if you spot spelling mistakes, or just wanna chat about why I said this and not that, feel free to leave a comment (I check those a lot as I am desperate for any kind of validation).

The Bus Crew vs The swamp : 1-5 (1-2, 2-3 GC)
What I expected : A close match, as I would have classified both of those teams as the weakest prem teams at the moment. To me, the swamp was a pug team who could improve their coordination, and The Bus Crew are quite inconsistent, despite being able of a good level of play.
What I got : Despite the close scoreline, the swamp was the dominant team in this match. On Sunshine, good holds were the mark that their teamplay improved, and they made relatively few mistakes, causing The Bus Crew to have to fight the clock as well as the swamp. They were a bit less confident in the beginning of Gully, being lead by TBC for almost the entirety of the map, but managing to finally get a point on the scoreboard boosted them, and they eventually won the game, albeit in a golden cap. The Bus Crew seemed a bit lost when it came to breaking stalemates, and they still had trouble stopping the swamp’s aggression.
Stand-out players : Yllen was missing last week, and the swamp’s increased performances can very well be attributed to the Brit, as he pulled some quite good logs. Crayon was very drawn to offclassing, and with some success as well. I’m mentioning him because he might be in the “Muuki s26” playstyle, where his offclassing was more successful than his “normal” class, and while this can work against some opponents, he will need to step up on scout as well if he wants to make it deep into playoffs. This is also why I’m only talking about Crayon, as even though iatgink has offclassed a fair bit as well, he has already proven himself on scout before.

Ora Elektro vs wer das liest ist doof : 4-2 (1-2 GC, 2-1)
What I expected : Seeing as Ora Elektro previous match was against Se7en, I expected them to come in hot and ready to prove themselves, especially considering that wer das liest ist doof went to a golden cap against the other team that came from high.
What I got : It was certainly a close match. The Germans were stronger on sunshine, thanks to good performances from their soldiers on middles, but it was evenly matched, and you could see that both teams respected each other. Ora Elektro managed to strike back on Gully, with their flank being very efficient, and even after the-team-that-I-cant-pronounce-the-name tied up the scores, they did not lose hope, and went back in the lead very quickly.
Stand-out players : clip had some very smart bombs on Sunshine, proving that he isn’t a simple feed roamer. Jynxed had a very strong overall performance on Gully, picking up best fragger of the map by a decent margin, and showing that his ping is not bothering him too much.

Nunya vs underdogs (Rakuzan) : 3-3 (4-3 GC, 1-2 GC)
What I expected : Nunya definitely seemed like a cut above all other prem teams apart from Ascent.EU and Se7en. Underdogs could have put up a decent fight, but in the end, the Finnish scouts fragging safari would seal their doom. Or so I thought.
What I got : Nunya came out strong, taking 3 rounds in less than 15 minutes, but I can’t help but think they got a bit overconfident and lost some rounds they definitely should not have lost (especially the one that pushed to a golden cap). This was a wake-up call, and they managed to win said golden cap, but underdogs were in their zone now and the second map was much more back and forth, with Nunya’s soldiers being denied a lot more often. It went to a golden cap, but one clean mid from underdogs was all they needed to get the 2 points. It is worth to note that underdogs were playing with a slightly different roster, as Scruff played for pirezzz (not too much of a change, as Scruff was in their main line-up in season 28), Raf and Gotti swapped roles (interesting change, but they managed to make the most of it), and Olgha merced for Ace (I have no idea why they did this, it’s not like Olgha was horrible or anything, but I did not even know that he played med).
Stand-out player : Swi is a complete stranger to me, but he managed to go toe-to-toe with the Baltic butchers, and that’s no small feat. Scruff was far from under-performing as well, but Swi was really good, and not only DM-wise.