CommunityFortress

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

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...