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The NQR4 preliminary season is now over and only 35 of the total 347 scheduled games did not get played. Of the 312 games that got added to the played games list, 53 games were reported as WO. Taking into consideration that about half of those WO's was added as a result of that 3-4 teams were more or less inactive right from the start, we have to say that NQR4 has been a very active season indeed. Since the last match update, just after easter, 39 games have been added to the played games list, 13 of those were WO's, as expected when the season drew to an end.
Here is the rap up of the seasons last preliminary played games:
In division 1 the race for the NQR4 championship is on, two important games got played, that would decide the outcome of who would met who in the semifinals. Scandinavian clan Slackers, who had lost two games; vs Hyphen and Clan Malfunction, had to face the unbeaten Swedes; disorder. SR proved a point or two and won the battle 2-0, after an epic dm3 and a very close call at e1m2, finally DS was beaten. This meant that SR won the preliminary season, congrats!
One game remained to settle the semifinal setup; disorder vs euro clan Firing Squad. DS showed no mercy on e1m2, but FS stroke back with a nice dm2 win. On dm3 however, the Swedes were too strong for FS and DS secured #2 spot in the table. This means that SR faces FS and DS faces CMF in the Semis, best of 5 maps, good luck to everyone! Now get those games scheduled so that Sassa can spam it all over the place :) We expect some nice coverage from the cam/commentary team.
Further down the table Antiquad from Finland made a nice end to the season when they finally got some margins on their side, beating the two euro clans Lockup and Hyphen. Vs Hyphen they won first map, dm3, after a pretty tight game. Hyphen faught back and took e1m2 home with a little higher margin, but AQ secured victory on dm2. Three very good rounds from both teams.
Vs Lockup AQ got beaten up at e3m1, as expected. Then AQ won dm3 easy and secured another two points on decider map, dm2. Last two maps were played 3on3 :|
To sum up division 1 we can only say that things went as expected, the four strongest teams did their job and took the playoff spots. Hyphen looked very strong after beating SR early on, but could not manage to deliver the same goods in all games, or else we could have had a surprise team in the playoffs. The rest of the teams did as expected, but we have to say that OEKS and CB took a step closer to the best teams. MM showed nice potential as well and they are surely in division 1 to stay, and the season finish for AQ should really give them some confidence as well. Obviously the gap between the very best and the second best is not big at all, or how else can you explain that the team finishing in spot #7 beat the league winners?
In division 2 the question was if Danish Chopstick Ninjas would go through the season unbeaten, as they had two games left to play. First off they faced Four Kings from UK and 4K did an outstanding dm3, beating the best team in the division by over 100 frags, impressive. CN had to fight hard to come back, but they took e1m2 home, making dm2 decide it all. And luck is a skill; fullstart for CN and when 4K made the comeback it was much to late. A good game indeed.
Hyv?t, Pahat ja Rumat from Finland attempted to take CN's scalp too, and they got very very very close! HPR made and ever stronger dm3 game than 4K, and took dm3 home 220-69, very impressive. Then on dm2, the chips were down for CN, as HPR had an 29 frag lead with 3 mins to go. But CN made a strong finish and won it 143-140, very close to a 0-2 loss. HPR showed good moral and gave CN trouble again on decider map, e1m2, but CN showed why they are the top team of this division and they took it home with 38 frags. Congrats to CN for winning division 2 and they made it without a single loss. gg.
4K got another game played and they finished off NQR4 by beating Bored With Life from Russia with 2-0. First map, dm2, was a rather tight one, and they took a solid victory on dm3 (as always).
So to sum up this division we have to say that this was the most even division of them all, where every team had a good chance to beat everyone. A lot of 2-1 victories and a lot of close calls, all the way. Too bad a couple of teams went dead and made the division end with only 8 teams, but this divison sure was fun to follow. A big GG to all teams!
Division 3 had an exciting and intense finish to the season. Swedish clans Quadrangers and griffin's tappra gossar finally got all their games added, and as it turned out, GTG played countrymen Euthanasia for the division 3 title in the very last game, can't be more exciting than that!
But first things first; QRNG played countrymen The Fighting Foes in a prestigious matchup. If TFF could win this one, they would have finished above QRNG in the table, but QRNG took the first map, dm3, and TFF then chose e3m1 as their map. However, QRNG showed strength on this map as well, and took it home by over 30 frags. Nice challenge by TFF but it was not strong enough this time.
QRNG also played polish clan Ax3, two times on dm2. The Kurwas showed dm2 skill again and won the first one with pretty clear margins, but QRNG took revenge on the second one. Dm3 was decider and QRNG won that as well. So a nice finish to the season for QRNG.
Ax3 also faced the Swedes that was hunting for spot #1; GTG, but this time Ax3 got a very bad dm2 start and GTG used that advantage and made it look easy. Ax3 then faught bravely on e1m2, but GTG had margins on their side again and won it 179-168.
GTG continued vs countrymen Maniacs, and Sassa's crew could not do much about it. Dm2 went smooth for GTG, [0] put up a good fight at e1m2 as usual, but came up short. 3 more points to GTG.
FUDOH from Norway also tried to stop GTG but they could not do it either, though they did a good attempt. GTG once again won dm2, and once again the Norwegians secured a point on e3m7 (stop whining dak) :D On e1m2 it was the same story as dm2, and GTG took home yet another victory.
Now only countrymen Euthanasia was in GTG's way for honour and glory, and this last match would decide which of these teams who would win division 3. Dm3 was a tight one, Hixen did a very good match, but he could not prevent map victory for GTG; 154-139. Then on dm2 GTG took a strong grip on the map and never let it go, [E] tried and tried but this time they did not had what it took to come back. Congrats to GTG for winning division 3!
To sum up this very exciting division, the first five teams were within 5 points of each other, so anyone of these could have won it of course, with the right result on the right day. FUDOH and Maniacs proved that they are division 3 material and we expect improvements from these two clans. QH was a little inactive (Lorn: get a grip) but they can do much better with the nice lineup they got. Polish clan Ax3 got a lot of potential as well, but apparently they did not have margins or pracs on their side this season. Glad's new project, New Wave from Russia, played well too, considering they were a brand new team and that they got certain connection issues to deal with. CB2 also looks good now with their new lineup. Division 3 was a nice one!
Division 4 saw one single game and Kala from Finland secured a well deserved division victory when they beat Gauntlet from Ireland. To sace wins on dm3 and e1m2 took care of that. Congrats to Kala for winning the division, they clearly was the best team.
Division 4 was the "idle" division if we compare it to the other divisions, it is kind of sad when a team WO's its way to third spot etc. Kala and PsychoHaloons Crew should get some extra kudos though, for showing good activity. It is hard to say how this division would have turned out if everyone had played their games, but it sure would have been much tighter if so had happened. Lets hope the some of these teams will be more active next season :)
Division 5 also reached a thrilling climax, when Irish clan Frag Shack, Swedish Super Cops and Paranoids from Hungary/Czech faught for the top spot. Paranoids got some help from "countrymen" Clan Edge, when they stole a point from FS, denying them 3 points. Bad luck for FS here as the first map, dm2, had to be replayed due to a server crash. Before the server crash FS had full maplock, and when the game was replayed Edge won it with over 100 frags. FS might wanna send IRA to central europe on a little field trip :) The last two maps, dm3 and e1m2, FS took home, securing them those vital 2 points.
Swedish Super Cops did not run into any server problems when they did their job vs countrymen Feske Gobbah. E3m3 was as secure as a state penitentiary, but Maso and Wigorf made major problems for SSC on e1m2, SSC got away with it though, with 3 frags! So a _very_ important 3 point victory for the cops there.
Frag Shack now had to face their first big challenge for the crown; Paranoids. It was a three map game, all games on dm3. First one goes to FS; 118-96, then PARA takes revenge; 123-108. FS shows division 5 title hunger and takes the decider 143-122. A very good game indeed (a boner for HT).
Now then, before the decisive matchup between FS and SSC, this is the situation; PARA got 26 points, all games played. SSC got 25 and FS got 24, and one game to go. Now, if FS wins this game 2-1, all three teams will have 26 points (!), but FS will prevail because they have then beaten both PARA and SSC. That is how close these three teams are! To the game then;
SSC secures an easy point on e3m3, as usual, nothing else was expected. But FS is hungry for glory and shows dm3 skill; they win it with over 50 frags. Then on decider, dm2, we get an incredible finish to this division; the Swedes wins it 152-147 ... omg! 5 frags from division glory for FS, they had to settle for third spot. Congrats goes out to the Swedish Super Cops for winning division 5 in a thrilling way!
This division has been really good all the way, and with that finish, maybe it was the best one. In addition to the top three teams, The Artists and Vet's showed top spot potential all the way and they all made it a really nice division to follow. Dreadful Offensive Squirrels from Poland was the first clan in NQR4 to finish all games, very nice activity indeed from them. Hopefully Wigorf got some new ppl into qw with Feske Gobbah. The two UK clans WH and Bleed went a little inactive, lets hope they can do something about that next season. CD and EDGE did good seasons as well, even though Edge did not have margins on their side this time. HB apparently want to play in division 6 next season, lets see if we can fix that :)
In division 6, division runner ups Thangorodrim from Finland did their duty and beat fnu from Sweden 2-0. E3m6 was a walk in the park and they also beat fnu clearly on their home map, e3m7.
fnu played a couple of more games; they lost a close one to hannovers Head hunter from Germany 2-1, after loosing first map dm2 pretty clear and decider, e1m2, with only 14 frags. E3m7 went as expected though, even if ze Germanz did a good job there.
Then they played DvL from Portugal, a high ping game indeed, and DvL took dm2 home with over 100 frags. Then it was crunch time on e3m7, before decider. Decider was WO to fnu :-|
DvL played one more game when they faced Hell Patrol from Poland. Both maps were dm2, and both maps were won by the Pole's rather easy.
HP also faced Shadow Minions from Sweden. SM has showed that they can match the best teams in this division, on a good night, so it was a very strong performance by the Pole's to win this 2-0. Two close calls, dm2; 175-171 and e1m2; 180-154.
SM played one more game, vs countrymen osams. OS played well and left SM blank with 0 points. Clear victories on both e1m2 and e3m3.
OS played hHh as well and collected another 3 point'er. Both dm2 and dm3 was no match for the Swedes this time. A strong finish to the season for osams.
Division winners HOT from Sweden finished their rampage season with a 2on2 vs countrymen Speed Up. lol :) Dm2 and e1m2 it was, and 2-0 to HOT. So, HOT was the second team who did not loose a match in NQR4. Congrats to HOT for winning division 6!
This division was pretty one sited at the top, with HOT and {T} leading the way. OLW challenged them bravely but could not quite make it all the way. osams showed in the end where they belong: division 5. Hell Patrol made a very strong finish to the season and they have certainly improved during the season. SM, fnu and hHh also showed potential and they will improve rapidly if they keep up their activity. A big sportmannship thank you to SU, MQB, DvL and SKK for playing and playing despite heavy losses. We promise to make NQR5 a better place for you, fingers crossed :)
Late, late tonight, we will write a column that will reveal what will happen with NQR5; maps and point system, so stay tuned for more info...it is on its way.
12 comments.
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vs. HellFire 
vs. Paranoids 
vs. Dybbuk 