Tuesday, 04 August 2009 18:59
daniel
The regular season of CEVO-Main has finally kicked off! One change to note since the teams were posted – it turns out Loaded isn’t competing in CEVO this season, so Xensity has reformed with nearly all their old players and has taken Loaded’s spot in Main. Week 1 is on cp_follower, a custom map that features wide open spaces and long sight lines for snipers that’s worked its way into multiple league rotations. Let’s get down to the predictions:
Slaughterhouse Gaming vs. Lightning Bolt!
The addition of famed British shoutcaster and former ETF2L Division 1 scout AcidRenix should definitely make SG stronger, and Lightning Bolt has been relatively inactive as of late, with their leader, notor, unavailable to play. SG could really give Sher & friends a run for their money on a map like Follower, but I still think LB is too strong of a team to lose to anyone but the top CEVO-M contenders. 5-2 Lightning Bolt!
VG - Knights of Goku vs. Hostile Faction
I can’t predict this one since I play for KoG, but the match should be an interesting case of déjàvu, as we played HF on the same map not a week ago in TWL.
Strickland Propane vs. Stackers Union
Strickland has suffered a bit losing Platinum, their star pocket soldier, but they’re still a contender in the division, and the Stackers are likely going have a lot of trouble here. Strickland’s weakness is their scouts, and the scout battles are critical on Follower – if Tyranny and Dchow have great games, SU has a decent chance of winning through smart flanks and backcaps. I don’t see that happening, though. 5-3 Strickland Propane
Team EG vs. the terribles
Unfortunately for cake and company, this is gonna be a quick one. The terribles are a solid group of guys who don’t give themselves enough credit, but tackling a top 3 team in the first game of the season is asking a bit much. Hopefully the terribles learn something they can use in future matches. 5-0 Team EG
Team Caboose vs. Xensity
This is my runner-up for MOTW. Caboose is really underestimated – their soldiers could probably compete in CEVO-P if it still existed, and the rest of their team is solid enough to give Clockwork and TLR chances to beast everybody. Xensity is too good, though, and I doubt Caboose has the ability to beat them quite yet. Maybe by the time the playoffs start. Xensity will probably win by a significant margin, but I have a hunch it’s going to be a really entertaining game regardless. 5-1 Xensity
Businessmen - #blight vs. bitch bangers.usa
Both of these teams just look like a bunch of players that the captains jumbled together almost randomly. I have no idea how strong either of them are at teamwork or communication, so I’ll just focus on their respective deathmatch abilities – and the bitch bangers have a pretty big advantage. With monsters like apy and opey and really solid players otherwise, BB looks pretty good, and while Gremaud on the Businessmen is great, he won’t be able to do everything himself. 5-2 bitch bangers.usa
pointandclick vs. Area 51 Gaming
My MOTW. PaC is a much stronger team than people apparently think, especially with their recent pickup of American TF2 legend Lucas “eckm” Eckman, but they’ll still have a tough matchup against the ESEA-O champs. This is going to be a really close game, likely with some 15-minute back-and-forth rounds. Watch for some vicious cleanup from pac’s scouts and lots of sniping on both sides. I’ll flip a coin here and say pac takes it, but it could definitely go either way. 5-4 pointandclick
No Grid vs. Complexity
I love No Grid, but they don’t have much of a chance here against one of the big dogs. It’ll be interesting to see what class Reptile ends up playing, at least. 5-0 Complexity
Good luck everyone!
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 04 August 2009 19:00 )
Tuesday, 30 June 2009 16:31
daniel
As we approach the playoffs, I noticed that there are only 16 active teams left in ESEA-O, in total -- how convenient! Of course, now that I've said that, half of them will die by the end of the week. Jerks. Central Division 404 Not Found vs. No Grid 404 dispatched No Grid fairly handily (5-1) on Freight last week, and that was with their nasty scout, Stress, playing medic -- and I doubt much is going to be different here on Granary, especially if Stress is back on his normal class. 5-1 404 Not Found Area 51 vs. Doin' Work Probably the most even match that will be played in the ESEA-O regular season, and easily my match to watch for week 8.2. Area 51 picked up Ducky to demo as a solid replacement for Ruffian, which leaves Ekos free to beast soldier again, and that alleviates their recent roster troubles somewhat -- just in time to play a DW team that has a very good chance of giving A51 their second loss of the season. Apathy is experienced and very good (people talk about him all the time) while Ducky is relatively new to 6v6 demoman, and that should give DW the slight upper hand in the spam battles. But A51 has a big scout advantage: Adroit and whoever his scout partner is this week are going to have a lot of trouble with the slamming and jamming buddies. And because of that, I'll tentatively give this to A51 -- but don't expect anything less than the best match you'll have watched in ESEA-O so far. 5-4 Area 51 vVv Gaming vs. Slaughterhouse Gaming These two teams played earlier in the season on Gravel Pit, and vVv came away with a solid 2-0 win. And that was before SG lost half of their roster. Gremaud and BiGG should lead vVv to a nice victory to close out their regular season. 5-2 vVv Gaming East Division Zilla Gaming vs. Throwback Zilla, being one of the favorites to win open, has demonstrated that they aren't going to lose to anyone but the very best ESEA-O has to offer -- and I'm afraid to say that that isn't Throwback. While they certainly have skilled players on every position, they just haven't performed against squads like ZG and All Natural in the past. If Throwback wants to have any chance at all against the reigning CEVO-F champs, sequel and g0atrly need to have enormous games while the rest of their team supports them -- but I don't see that happening. 5-1 Zilla Gaming Overthrow vs. All Natural Ouch, Overthrow -- playing arguably the two best teams in ESEA-O in the same week probably isn't much fun at all. Though, I do give you guys a lot of credit for not ditching the league and dissolving just because of the tough competition, like so many other teams did. I wish that that half of the ESEA-O TF2 community was as cool as you guys. Good luck in the playoffs! 5-0 All Natural Have fun guys! Please don't fall apart before the playoffs start...
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 01 July 2009 23:13 )
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Sunday, 28 June 2009 01:33
daniel
We're on the home stretch of the regular ESEA season, with only cp_granary left in the rotation before the real games... er, the playoffs start. Last week was pretty exciting in terms of matchups in both divisions -- hopefully week 8 is equally entertaining.
Central Division
No Grid vs. Slaughterhouse Gaming
A few weeks ago, I would've called this as a really even game between two teams with really solid heavy classes. Unfortunately, without opey and mear, SG isn't going to put up much of a fight, even with their recent pickup of Jack Frost. Expect marmell to lock the map down and throw away the key, getting some support from enoryt and w1rex when he needs it. 5-1 No Grid
eXpertise vs. Area 51
These two teams played just the other day on Freight, and while I didn't watch it, I know that A51 won despite their disheveled roster. Now, A51's big papa bear is back, and he's only going to make things more painful for eX this time around. Normally, I would also add that BloodSire and Jammar are going to dominate as usual, but eXpertise apparently has the best scout pair you'll find outside of CEVO-P (DaishiKiller's words, not mine). I still think A51 should take this without much trouble, though. 5-2 Area 51
Doin' Work vs. 404 Not Found
DW demonstrated that they have improved considerably over the course of the season and can compete with the top teams in ESEA-O by giving me and the rest of KoG a solid thrashing on Freight last week, and I doubt they're going to slow down much against 404 -- especially since 404 is supposedly having roster issues. Apy and dosR are going to go to town here on a map that favors the heavy classes more than others, and unless blaze and shakr play the games of their lives, this should be quick and painless. 5-0 Doin' Work
East Division
Zilla Gaming vs. Overthrow
Zilla seems to be back in their CEVO-F champion form, and while Overthrow is certainly not a bad team, I doubt they'll make much of a dent in the ZG heavyweights. Spike and RubyIce will probably be able to prevent it from being a complete steamroll, but not much else. 5-0 Zilla Gaming
Throwback vs. All Natural
My match to watch for week 8.1. Hopefully All Natural has worked out the kinks with their new combo, because they will need to be ready for this game. Provided Throwback shows up with 6 players, they could possibly take this from an unorganized AN. In any case, definitely keep an eye on g0atrly and sequel from Throwback, and zeroskillz and rline on AN -- they'll likely have big games no matter which way this goes. AN is extremely good, and is only going to get better as they mesh with their new members, but I'll take my chances and call the upset. 5-4 Throwback
The Terribles vs. Strickland Propane
Unfortunately for the Terribles, a top ESEA-O team like Strickland is a bit out of their league. Much like the ZG/OT game, Cake and poopinator may be able to slow down Strickland a little bit, but wo0t's Jay-Z-inspired pipes of fury + rockets raining from the sky from 40jam and kayp (or possibly evolution?) will likely be too much for the Terribles to handle. 5-0 Strickland Propane
Good luck guys! Hopefully none of these teams die before the playoffs...
Last Updated ( Sunday, 28 June 2009 01:39 )
Tuesday, 23 June 2009 11:49
daniel
ESEA's week 7 brings some good news: it looks like the dead teams have finally stopped getting scheduled, which means no more forfeits (for the most part). The bad news, of course, is that it's Freight week. Haha, I'm just kidding. I love Freight, it's a great map.
Sike. Central Division
Iconic eSports vs. vVv Gaming
Here's a really even matchup between two mid-level teams. Both squads have solid heavy classes (and vVv has a beast of a soldier in Gremaud), but vVv has the definite advantage in scouting and sniping. And on a map like Freight where a hot sniper can dominate mid, that advantage can tip the scale a great deal. I'll give vVv the win here, but expect it to be a long, drag-out game with multiple 15+ minute rounds. 4-3 vVv Gaming
No Grid vs. Faceroll Gaming (formerly 404 Not Found)
FR is probably feeling pretty good after two decisive wins over doin' work and eXpertise, and I don't think they're going to slow down here at all. No Grid has no counter for FR's scouts -- marmell and enoryt are going to have to have spectacular games to keep NG in this one. Watch for ComeToJesus to pop off a few (read: lots of) heads. 5-2 Faceroll Gaming
Slaughterhouse Gaming vs. Crack Clan
Slaughterhouse has not had a pleasant ESEA experience: they haven't won a round since week 2.1 -- all of their games after have been forfeits or blowout losses -- and it looks like most of the team is fed up. Their star players, opey and mear, along with several other members, have dropped off the roster. They did pick up Jack Frost, eXult's former medic, but I'm not sure how much he can help.
Crack Clan has had similar luck, but I think that they'll take this opportunity to get their first (real) ESEA win against a disheveled and weakened SG. 5-3 Crack Clan
Most Pro Team Ever vs. Cool Dudes Team
Gravegun has abandoned yet another team, though even with him I don't think MPTE could handle Cool Dudes. Slardel is going to snipe the holy hell out of embryo & company. 5-0 Cool Dudes Team
Doin Work vs. Knights of Goku
My team's match! Obviously I can't predict it, but DW has improved a lot since our last ESEA game back on badlands, so don't expect another blowout (noun is going to rape me).
Area 51 vs. eXpertise
Area 51 is in some rough water this week, with their leader cbear out of town and their starting demoman ruffian gone (or is he back now? He's on the roster again). Still, I doubt they'll have that much trouble with eXpertise. I remember a story cbear told me about how in one Freight scrim they just let Bloodsire go sniper and ace the entire team at mid while the rest of them sat crouching by the water until the inevitable flanking scout popped out, at which point they all simultaneously meleed him. God help eX. 5-1 Area 51 East Division
Strickland Propane vs. Zilla Gaming
This is my match to watch for week 7.2. Strickland beat ZG in a surprising upset on badlands earlier in the season, and notor & friends will be looking to even the score. Provided Zilla has both their starting scouts online, they'll take this one; I don't think fritz and breather can handle both stamjallyfish and Lopert when they are practiced and playing well. I see Sherr taking a big dump on Strickland in a variety of ways, and leading ZG to their 7th win in a row. 40jam and kayp should make it fun for the spectators, though. 5-3 Zilla Gaming
The Terribles vs. Convulsion
Convulsion is one of those unfortunate teams that hasn't won a game that has actually been played (all three of their wins are forfeits) -- and I don't see much changing here vs. the terribles. Cake and poopinator should be able to power the TWL allstars to an easy victory. 5-1 The Terribles
Kryptic Gaming vs. Throwback
These two teams played before in week 2, and Throwback dominated Kryptic in a 15-minute 5-0 steamroll. Unless KG has some ridiculous and absurd Freight heavy strat up their sleeves (hi Elotana), history is probably going to repeat itself. 5-0 Throwback
Cardboard Robotz vs. eXult
This should be a lot of fun to watch. eXult is basically a powerhouse now -- they've brought in in some CEVO-P/ESEA-I skill and experience with former Xensity members zeroskillz and thenoid (to replace OhNoes and Jack Frost). The Robotz are going to have a lot of trouble with this improved squad, despite having some high-level talent on their roster as well. King Rab will need to dole out a lot of punishment if they want to have a chance, but xeLorate's team is just too strong at this point to lose to anyone. Keep an eye on rline for eXult -- if he starts sniping on mid, it won't be pretty. 5-2 eXult
Good luck guys!
Last Updated ( Monday, 03 August 2009 00:42 )
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