The preds!

I'm a little late this week, sorry about that. Nevertheless, the preds are here again. Massive thanks to TrC for doing 3 games once again. I've watched most of the HLTV demos of most games now and I'd really like to do some aftermath on it, so keep your eyes open for some more coverage this week.

-Bacillus

TrC's preds:

9L vs Tuxedo men

 
9L our beloved living legend once again risen from the depths of inactivity versus gentlemen known as Tuxedo men. 9L has yet regained even a glimpse of their past glory but is clearly better in this clash.

Tuxedo men failed both marine rounds against 250 de ping miserably due failing attempts to take down the res nodes. Alien play was quite solid though and it will be Tuxedo mens best chance to gain important points they need.

ns_origin

In this map tactics varie as we saw in week1 matches most of the popular tactics were used including mass-rts with DCs, fast lifeforms and normal MC tactic aswell. Marines used tactics involving SGs a lot due mass rts, bio side was capped and games went to end game. This week we are likely to see something similar.

1st round 9L vs Tuxedo men

9L as marines

wltrs base 2 laser / comp and 1 guy to the opposite direction. wltrs gets a shotgun and head to closest resource tower which is very likely the double rts in cargo. Aliens start with fast DCS for mass RTS + lerk and fade. If lerk is up fast Tuxedo men have a good chance to drive away people from double and 9L pass double and head to vent in case of fur hive. If vent is hive they fall back to laser and head to ore. Mass rts is out of question if hive is bio and then we are likely to see normal MC tactic. To counter this 9L sends 2 guys fast to ventilation RT and wltrs with SG to power core simultaniously. I dont doubt 9L's win if hive is bio but Tuxedo mens hope lies on mass rts and heavy res biting. If 9L manages to get resource towers down control is going to stay on 9L side until the rest of the game.

1-0 for 9L

2nd round 9L vs Tuxedo men

Tuxedo men as marines

We will see SG at the start probably for Maxx!! and 3 men push to the resource nodes while 2 guys cap the opposite side. Cappers will meet minimal resistance while capping but the nodes are eaten quickly after lerk and fade get to the field. In a likely event of early death of lifeforms (flashing) game is going to be prolonged but 9L will prevail due more experience as a team. Res nodes in double drop to alien control and after masses of fades and lerks emerge, game is over.

2-0 for 9L

ns_veil

The most popular and overplayed map veil has lovely corridors for fading, marines and lerk. The map is well balanced thanks to the doubles which is important point if game is going to the end game. Hives are relatively easy to sg rush with mines too especially cargo so lerk has a special reason to stay alive when second hive is dropped. Like in origin tactics vary DC double is possible, mass rts is possible and probably anything from SC to normal tactics. Marine side has 2 ways out of start making alien scouting easy but also giving PGs important role. Marines can start with fast lmg pushes, fast motion, double shotgun (together or separately) or just plain fast capping.

3rd round 9L vs Tuxedo men

9L as marines

2 west 1 topo 2 base. wltrs gets the toy and heads straight to topo. Tuxedo men probably do the normal tactic with MCs but fast MCS or mass-rt with DCs arent impossible either. Cargo or c12 is going to be SGs target
depending on the hive. We are going to see massive alien teamwork but it is not going to be enough against aimbot known as wltrs. Res nodes fall quickly and recapping isnt going to be fast enough for Tuxedo men to recover as 9L
hold the res on the map. We will see JPS before second hive is up and the game ends.

3-0 for 9L

Tuxedo mens marine play is not very good so in order to win they need to do something very damaging at the start. Double shotgun is very likely choice as veil isnt made for shotgun rushing but lets not forget that either. Aliens are confident they will win and will play the normal MC tactic. Little laziness on res biting gives Tuxedo men the advantage they need to make this game close and depending on the rushes we may see if the gentlemen have fixed their biggest holes in marine play. I fear that they have not and the game ends for the lazy res biters.

4-0 for 9L

Notable players:

9L: wltrs (Terminator)

Tuxedo men: jiriki (all around/alien comm)

Saunamen vs Stray Dogs

Both of the teams won their first match but the difference in skill is far too big. Saunamen had good rounds against probably the second best clan out there atm and with some work won them quite easily. SD on the other hand played very half-assedly everything. On origin we saw the normal MC tactic with biohive and SD easily kept resources towers up due TTS's very submissive pressure. Res biting / scouting was completely wacked and the round continued for a while as TTS got some PGs up to furnace. Second hive rush failed and the game was pretty much over but game was prolonged due bad playing but lead to a SD victory.

ns_origin  

Saunamen as marines

Shotgun or not marines are going to push the nodes down and head to spawncamp or otherway around. We are going to see shitloads of sgs at start if aliens decide to massrt which I believe is their best chance of achieving anything. We missed mass-rts last round due bio hive but If ladyluck is on their side they will get furnace or ventilation. In order to win SD has to rush base a lot on right timing and we will see few baserushes probably even before the fade. Without major mistakes
or drama Saunamen get this baby home.

1-0 for Saunamen

Stray Dogs as marines

Last time fast lmg push to vent was successful enough for them to try it again but this time they will be facing coordinated attacks that TTS lacked. Even without mass-attacks Saunamens invidual skill is high enough to keep marines in base with skulks and lerk. Nothing special is going to happen SD's best chance is rush main hive with 5 lmg make armory and SG+mine the hive before lerk. Without anything worth predicting game ends

Saunamen 2-0

ns_veil

Saunamen as marines

Kuitmo's suggestion to make him run straight to hive finally reaches Peach's ears and we are probably going to see the declared 1-minute-spawncamp. SD's tactics are likely to differ from normal ones as they have finally realized the difference in strenght we might see some exotic chambers (SCS) and mass rts + lerk or maybe even rts + ocs + gorges. To win this they really need to take Peach off guard and kill the base or all rts and get fades up.

Saunamen 3-0

Stray Dogs as marines

Comm sends 2 cappers to west, 3 guys base drops 2 sgs and starts with upgrades. West cappers die to swarm of skulks unless the pipe is hive, which only delays the inevitable. Saunamen probably tries something interesting like mass-lerks or SC onoses. If the game is prolonged due stubborn marines we will see few lifeforms flash but thats it. Again marines best chance is to SG-rush but if its already used uneffectly in last marine round they will probably try a reloc as SD's winning probability is close to a snowballs
chance in hell.

4-0 for Saunamen

Notable players:

Saunamen: Kuitmo (Public's best comm), enigmatic (You-know-why), Tane (Fade-rölli)

Stray dogs: ppez, Valo (Brainless brawn - marine)

Demonic Soul vs Two Team Squad

Our korean friends versus an old clan from hungary. TTS is very old and I thought they would have the advantage in their first match but I was mistaken. Their play was very unorganized and everyone was rushing alone when protecting RTs. I believe it is due inactiveness and it is the first priority TTS should fix before venturing next ensl official. Korean too have suffered a lot inactiveness according to Neco and their game play wasnt as sharp as I hoped it would be. All this is likely to change for better and we are going to see a very
nice match here.

ns_origin

Demonic Soul as marine

In earlier match DS.kor didnt have chance to show their marine strats as opponent was clearly better, fast motion for res control and swift attacks to resource towers first with lmg later with SG's is the likely choice. TTS started with 3 rts (Ore,vent,bio) with furnace
hive and it took 4min for SD to find the res node in bio which was quite funny. I except to see something similar, maybe a laser node? I'm kidding. DS.kor will have upperhand in this round and hold the control until second hive is dropped. Depending on the lifeforms the hive
may stay up but moving to end game is inevitable. If hive stayed up TTS will regain partial control of the map and incase of lump comming TTS will prevail and win this round.

0-1 for TTS

Two Team Squad as marines

Commander has probably learned that the 2 men push to nodes was clearly not enough pressure and sends 2 to comp lab for capping leaving 3 to base for a shotgun. DS.kor havent massrt'd a lot in past so normal tactics are much more likely to happen, but seeing the effectiveness in mid-low skill clan matches they may change their mind. Although not sharp as it used to be their teamwork is clearly more coordinated than TTS attacks. DS.kor's alien defence is enough to repel any attack TTS may try. Depending on alien scouting TTS will or will not get any more RTS / PGS up and fade is enough to keep them at bay.

1-1 Draw

ns_veil

Demonic Soul as marine

I cannot see why DS.kor wouldnt continue with the fast motion tactic as shotguns can be tricky in high ping game and veil is a perfect map for res control in early game. DS.kor pushes quickly after building topo to cargo or double while capping sub / pipe side and successfully destroying it with few casualties capper team moves to double to cap and destroy any node there might be. Aliens are likely to go mass-rts with DCs or SCs which forces marine commander to drop shotguns. Round flow is going to marine side as they manage to get rts down and continue capping the map. After fade and lerk are up game flow is disrupted momentarily but lifeforms are no match for SGs with motion. Hive is dropped but with no lifeform to guard it its no hard task to kill it. DS.kor have no need to tech HA/JP they rush the main hive with sgs and mines.

2-1 to DS.kor

Two Team Squad as marine

TTS start fast capping sub/pipe side with 3 marines 1 to system. After capping they lauch massive 4 guy push to res nodes leaving base unguarded. Lerk is already up and DS.kor has no problem stopping TTS attack but res eating does not go so well. Game is prolonged as marines and aliens keep their res. Alien gain the advantage by capping nodes and pushing marines back with mass-fades like they did against Newstyled origin. TTS tech up Heavys and try to cap double for themself but res nodes have already pumped aliens full and first onos is not far away. With onos DS.kor rush base and thus successfully ending the
last round.

3-1 for DS.kor

Notable players:

Demonic Soul: Nec0 (Fade, marine, idol) Effy (Fade, marine) fortune (weak link)

Two Team Squad: <- Spectacular Insanity

Bacillus' preds:

Keen Edge - Team Pron (Hydra)

This one should be interesting. Neither of the teams got rounds on week 1, so both have got a lot to prove.

Keen Edge got simply outskilled last week. Their strategies and teamwork against Ninelegends were mostly on a decent level, but 9L triumphed in almost every even fight setup and turned the rounds to clear victories.

Team Pron lost to Take Over on week 1. tO was ahead in individual skill and the pronstars failed to make up the difference in teamwork or strategy. On alien rounds Pron just kept on bleeding single skulks too often. Due to lost skulks they never had the map position to defend their nodes properly and tO's individual skill allowed them to walk over the unorganised resistances.

The week 2 matchup itselfs looks great. Both teams have finally a decent chance of showcasing their play against an opponent of equal skill. I'll give the advantage to KE due to the more experienced lineup, but even then their individual skill on week 1 was in no way enough to win games like this. They really need to use the experience to organise and co-operate Hydra out unless someone steps up and starts fragging. Hydra on the other hand needs to get their skulkwork into shape and then use their slightly sharper individual play to turn the game around.

My prediction is 3 - 1 for Keen Edge. Origin Marines is still too much for them to handle.

250 de Ping - Take Over

The Argetinian 250 pingers opened their season with a 2-2 against Tuxedo Men. They seemed to have a slight skill advantage, but some unlucky laggy misses and disorganisation in marine rounds prevented them from turning the game into victory. All in all, it they still performed strong on individual level and displayed quite a bit of unused potential.

Take over took the full 5 points on their week 1 game against Hydra. They mostly just powered the opposition down with individual performances and the their teamwork still didn't seem all that fluent in all situations. Franky was absolutely devastating with his SG.

Both the teams have more potential than their week 1 perfomances included. Take over is obiviously the favourite after a 4-0 and relatively well known lineup, but I wouldn't count 250 ping out especially on aliens. In addition to the opposition, Franky's shotgun is most likely having harder time deciding rounds at 100+ pings.

I'll predict a 4-0 for tO as long as franky keeps aiming as he did in week 1. Then again if the Argentinians pick up their game a bit, it could even turn into a 2-2 quickly.

U GO - NewstyleD

The match of the week if you ask me.

U GO gave Saunamen a full 4 round fight in an entertaining and exciting week 1. Despite falling behind 3-1, their game looked nice and with a little bit of extra luck it could have been 2-2 or even 3-1 for U GO. Both their marine and alien rounds seemed to be in excellent shape for a recently formed team. The only bigger flaw I saw was the inconsistent marine performance on some players. You simply can't have marines going 1-6 or so against the top teams.

Newstyled overcame the Koreans on week 1. So far I haven't seen the HLTV demo anywhere, but apparently the Germans were devastating the opposition as expected, slipping one round to an early collapse. Not much to be said without any demos. :(

After seeing U GO's solid performance against Sauna, I think they are a strong favourite here. Without having any clue how NewstyleD's game goes nowadays, there aren't many pointers to give. Just enjoy the match, it's most likely going to be a good one.

My prediction is 3 - 1 for U GO. Newstyled takes the origin aliens with Phil's lerking.

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So far no forfeits on the league. Keep up the good work! See you soon with more coverage.

-Bacillus