| Columns - romeo |
| Predictions on the semifinals 050411 | ||
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The regular season is over and the playoffs are finally upon us. In the top division, a lot of close and entertaining matches have been played during the course of the season, and a few games could probably be considered classics. A few examples are The Hellraisers vs Veni Vidi Vici on E3M6, American Idiots vs Lege Artis on CTF2M3, Da Quaking Manjakks vs The Hellraisers on CTF2M1, with the controversial finish, and practicly every tiebreaker that Kerels Under Invovled took part in. It showed that even though games might look uneven in skill or ping, there is something in CTF called heart and I think that is what all of these teams have shown. The race for the final two playoffs spots was hardfought and intense as ever. If Veni Vidi Vici had gotten an additional game played, the outcome could probably have been an entirely different one, and if Kerels Under Invovled had actually won ONE of their tiebreakers they would probably be the fourth team to compete in the playoffs. A very entertaining and successfull first season of NQRCTF1 div1 in my eyes. In the second divison, the outcomes were a bit more mixtured. We had even players competing that had never seen CTF before, along players who played it a long time ago, but have been on vacation for years, and naturally, the results in a few matches were a bit loopsided. Despite that I would still say that the season was a huge success even here, and robably the most interesting thing to see was how teams with inexperienced players selected one specific map and then learned it very well. As a result of this, most of the games in division 2 went to a decider-map. One of our major goals with this league was to introduce new players to CTF, and for every player that tried it and liked it, we love it and we need every single one of you to help keep CTF alive. We are hoping for even more signups to the next season and hopefully that will allow us to launch a third division, strictly for players with zero or just a little bit of CTF-experience. Now, enough of my ramblings and onward to the playoffs and my predictions on the semifinals. DIV2 MPOS vs Maffia romeo's prediction: MPOS wins 3-2 These two teams never met in the regular season and this game may therefore be a bit more difficult to predict. Maffia started out very well and the combination of Koffe and Dive(playboy) looked to be too strong for almost anyone to take down. Dive then went back to his roots and joined Pigs of Fucking Fury, and that left Maffia in a tough position, with several of their players going inactive. It will be up Koffe and Mixen to save this matchup against a very talented and well-playing MPOS. With teamplay experience from TDM, this team has looked very sharp since they figured out how to use the different runes. With superstar SneakyFuckingRussianAtCaravanDotNL, formerly known as [KOI]Tyrone leading the attacks, they should be considered a contender for the div2-title. I expect MPOS to select CTF8 and win that one rather easy, with Maffia countering by selecting E2M2 and unleashing Koffe upon their poor souls. After this one it gets tricky, as neither of these teams seems to be favoring any other map. I would guess that MPOS will select CTF5 and play that one very defensivley to win it, and I think Maffia will go with the second ID-map and select E3M6, and exploit MPOS inexperience on that map to win it. The decider would then be CTF2M3, and I think this one will be another defensive affair from MPOS part and if it works out well, they will be moving on to the next round. Will Koffe be the man of the hour, or will gaz@bigroom shoot him down? qw.ger vs Pigs of Fucking Fury romeo's prediction: POFF wins 1-3 A rematch of last year's QWCL-final, with qw.ger drawing the longest straw on that occation. This is almost a complete new POFF-team though, with reinforcements in form of Dive, Yogibeer and jezaja, and I predict that they will turn the tide and win this one for the pigs. POFF has been playing alot of CTF these past days, and I think that will prove to be the difference. I predict them to go all the way to the title with this team. But you should not count out qw.ger that easily. Both Blade and Demon have a lot of experience, and in addition to winning the QWCL-title, they have also got the best record this season. I expect them to pick and win CTF5, and give POFF a good fight at both CTF2M3 and CTF8, but they should probably stay away from the ID-maps, as I think their inexperience on those maps will prove fatal. I predict close and hardfought rounds, but I will have to go with the superstars from POFF on this one. DIV1 Da Quaking Manjakks vs American Idiots romeo's prediction: DQM wins 3-1 These two teams have met twice before, with DQM winning both matches 2-0. The americans with their friendly canuck have performed admirably considering their ping disadvantage, and has beaten some good clans during the regular season despite being outpinged by atleast 50ms. However, I do think that DQM will prove to be a bit too much for AI to handle. About even skill-wise, the ping will prove a factor and especially on the ID-maps I think AI's lack of proper shafting will prove fatal. Their only chance will be going with the large ctf-maps, CTF2M1 and CTF2M3, as they have proven that they are able to play with anyone on those two maps, while DQM has proven to the world that they really suck on CTF2M1. Competitive rounds with DQM coming out on top, is how I see it. Lege Artis vs The Hellraisers romeo's prediction: LA wins 3-0 There were some doubts weather or not HELL would have a team for this season, so they joined some new blood to the once proud and everlasting swedish CTF clan. The newcomers have brought a different style of playing to HELL and when playing against them now you will have to be able to handle the great speeds, as their style of play is really fastpaced. While HELL depends on their speed to get the job done, LA is playing very controlled and are counting on their superior aim and ability to stay alive to get the job done. With former OJ! players Gato and Diamond joining their squad for this season, their backbone of Dag and Space should be able to do what they do best, and that is control their own base and kill everything in sight. We will see what style of play proves to be the stronger as these two teams battle it out. My guess would be that although HELL might be able to keep the score close, I doubt that they will be able to take a map from the mighty LA. Look for close games on E3M6 and CTF5, although E2M2, CTF2M1 and CTF2M3 should probably be over about halfway trough. That was my predictions on the upcoming semifinals. I hope that you have enjoyed it and I will be back for my predictions on the finals. 8 comments |
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