anyone have an idea of when they'll be posting the map order?

pharaoh is a really good demo, marxist is one of the most creative and smartest meds i've played with.

i would try out for soldier if i didn't totally blow at it or thought i could even play at an IM level hahaha

GL guys, <3

shrug heep does that all the time. i'm not even impressed when he does that shit anymore.

The Peppercock Family gets the MOST sportsmanlike conduct award this season. way to be awesome human beings, guys. i feel like all you see are people being shitty to eachother in this league and its really cool to see this kind of thing go down like this.

i share a mumble with all these bros, i've known monkey for a long time. their first season was pretty rocky but i think they'll do well next season. ska and paddie have just started playing with eachother, but i think they hold down the heavy classes fairly well. manwich has proven to have basic medic fundamentals down, but still has a ways to improve. with that said, the kid tries super hard to improve and he's come a long way in a short time. from pubs to esea is a large jump, and i think he's done well all things considered.

monkey had a good season, he's a great scout. he can be a little lost sometimes in uncertain situations, but his movement is great and his DM is strong. i think with a little direction he can go a long way. should be fun people to play with. give em a chance!

nothing is stopping you :)

vanilla should start on a team. he performs well in scrims, is generally a pleasant human being to talk to, and has really solid mechanics as a ground-shooter.

good luck, man. any team that picks this guy up will be lucky as hell.

yeah, that makes sense. i feel like your heavier classes are pretty decent, but zalfy kinda casts a big shadow. looking forward to watching the match, john!

rent-a-homies (10-5) vs trans-autistic railroad (11-4)
McRib coming away from a huge OT win over new church gaming earlier this week, their confidence has to be pretty high going into their last match of the season. i would warn them, though, not to be too cocky as these rentable homies (yo) are not to be taken lightly. with extracrispy playing med with undoubtedly strong calls and servo as his strong right arm on pocket, i have a hardon for this team's combo. they had a brutally fast 5-0 vs the breaking bads earlier this week, putting that team out of playoffs, and all but ending the season for astronerds last week on badlands 5-1. while it appears that this is their demo's first season in open i would also say he is a well-rounded player from what i've seen in the last two matches. rent-a-homies are looking good in regards to their heavy classes, but will it be enough to win out over breloom and LDK's double bombs at mid followed closely by abramelin and kohaku? i guess we'll find out tonight.

wu-tang financial (9-6) vs just the tip (9-6)
as my good friend landser used to say: "this one is for all the marbles". and it certainly is for both of these teams. wu-tang financial has had a hard road from a 0-4 start to the season to get to this point, and these guys have definitely put the time in to ensure these last few wins. zigster and radium holding down the rocket shooting class had a very dynamic match versus DJINNOCIDE earlier this week which became a very narrow affair at 4-3. ts also has made a good show this season on demo, coming close to 300 DDM in most of his games. i can't say too much about their scouts as it does seem this team centers around their combo a bit, but that should be a good thing for them on granary.

just the tip is also a team that has struggled this season, albeit more with a few close losses than any real loss streaks. kuza has started several reiterations of treason over the last few seasons, and seems to be a pretty dedicated player. most of the people on just the tip are around a mid-open skill level with not one player really standing out too much as a carry or top fragger, but i will say that they seem to work well together during transitions, which is the name of the game on granary. after mid, if their medic coconut is able to stay up, i would say wu-tang is going to have their work cut out for them during those crucial moments.

dammit jerry, it was time for your glorious return!

my body is ready for the bubble to finally implode.

slippin with slipz v2 (10-5) vs BIG BOYS (11-4)
after big boys losing to hanky panky last night, it is pretty crucial for them to win their last match of the season without having to lose too many spots for their final seed. bsc & friends are really going to have to work hard at this one if they want to finish with enough rounds to clinch their spot, mostly because of a FFW from RUSH tf2/children/open is hard.

what can i say about these teams? well for starters vile has shown to be one of the highest fragging and most damaging pockets in open this season, and hooli does consistent damage with some good sticky sniping and these dirty direct pipes. while this would suggest their combo does all the work for this team, moolkey and bio are great scouts with good positioning and smart plays. on the flip side, the team formerly known as basic's octopus emporium have had some nail-biter games all season, taking away a couple 5-4 wins and having two tough losses on badlands. i felt like this team was constantly juggling who was playing what for a good part of the first half of the season, but i like seeing dana on medic with bsc on pocket and tooth on roamer. what really is going to shine for this team, though, are their scouts. slipz and reemix are both great scouts with strong DM that seem to play well off of defiance's damage. while granary is a map that generally favors heavier classes, i'm hoping to see some big plays on the flank during transitions.

zaboomacrew (10-5) vs the peppercock family (11-4)
alright here are two teams that my own team scrimmed at least once a week for the majority of the season, and I've seen growth and improvement from both of them over that time. the peppercocks don't have too much to worry about as they are clinched for playoffs already, and even if zaboomacrew loses this match, all they really need are a handful of rounds to sneak in at the bottom of the barrel. i know that shlaner and his homies really want to make playoffs in their debut season in open, best of luck to them.

BUT LETS TALK ABOUT THE APPARENTLY CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC OF GOOD PLAYERS. mustard said it pretty well about ex-invite players in regards to people who just seem to shit on everyone in open, and without a doubt zalfy is one of those people. he has consistently been out scoring, out fragging, and out damaging everyone on his team, becoming what some might say is the definition of a "carry". while i could fluff zalfy a little more, i do want to say i think john holds it down as his scout partner, and everyone else on this team is generally pretty solid. to be honest, the only person other than their scouts that i am familiar with is hle000. the rest of the team looks to do pretty well, but if open had an all-star team, i'd put zalfy on as the +forward scout. just sayin.

on the other hand, i would say zaboomacrew is a well rounded team. avast is a SICK demo that I think with maybe one more season could play in IM. he puts out a lot of damage and is a powerhouse at midfights, with a little help from his buddies kace and shlaner on soldier. but lets get real. okas is crazy. he might be crazy enough to go head to head with zalphy. in fact, i'd say this is one of the more interesting match-ups of teams with scouts that continually make up a lot of the presence on their team. maybe it will come down to some wild west 1v1s on the flank? one can only hope.

has the bubble burst yet?

holy shit that match was intense. literally 7 frags and 21 dmg difference between the two teams. second half was really fun to watch, the retakes were crazy. someone should cast it :)

ooooooooo shit!