24 March 2015 - 17:03 CET
Well there was certainly some surprises last week that I did not expect. SHAFT laying the WWF Raw Smackdown Wrestlemania on Tau-9 was an eye-opener. Good to see the Aussies channeling Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin to overcome their ping. I did catch a bit of the match and it still looks like they've got a ways to go. They almost threw their Marine round on Tram with a failed Arc push in Logi. They actually successfully pushed Tau-9 off their Arcs twice (if i remember correctly), but never capitalized on it. In my opinion they could have pushed in and egg locked them at least one of those times when the only life forms were a hurt Lerk and Fade. I think another time they pushed the hive with 3 HMGs???? That being said, Tau-9 had a piss-poor showing. It didn't seem like they've played much with each other as starters, just lacking teamwork and coordination. SHAFT +1, Tau-1. Anyways, on to the next week.
loMe's Division 1 - Week 2 Predictions
Map: Jambi and Descent
Brief: Okay, so I triple-checked and I have the right maps this week (Happy Simba?) Like I said about Jambi last week, it's a Gorge friendly map. The safe bet tunnels usually end up in either Bay Wing or Organ (depending on spawns), but I've also seen some more aggressive tunnels used at other parts of this map. Either way, Gorges on this map tend to be low-risk/high reward. Marines will typically go for a phasegate in Gravity which will help establish and hold lanes, as well as serve as a launching point to pressure Oxygenation and other Alien harvestors. Not a lot of people like playing Descent because of horizontal spawns. Vents into both horizontal spawns make it very easy for Aliens to hit the Marine base, which for many teams, forces them to get early mines and leave a Marine close to base at the start. Veil hives are also a popular tech path on Descent, which forces Marines to go quick Armor 2. All these things combine to hinder dynamic gameplay making Descent unpopular. Vertical spawns are a bit more balanced, but Aliens should still be able to break through lanes easier than most maps.
Titus Gaming vs Do It Yourself
**Match of the Week**
Prediction: 2-2 Draw
About damn time these teams play again. We've been scrimming both teams a lot recently, and I can't give the edge to either. I know for sure that both teams have thought out strats specifically to use against each other. Titus tends to follow a systematic style of gameplay that I would characterize as playing it safe - laning, tech-ing up, and then forward gates to crush life forms and hives as soon as shotguns are available. D/Y on the other hand, loves to disrupt Titus with fast and precise aggression. They have the ability to win games on Marines within the first 2-3 minutes by egg-locking the Aliens and forcing the commander to spend his precious early res on spawning eggs. It's awesome to watch but a pain in the ass the play against. Watch on both sides as Marines use copious caution entering rooms looking for ambushes. Then mid-late game, balls of death containing all the life forms on aliens will reek havoc on small groups of marines. If the games run long it will become a chess match, with teams forcing each other to act on certain plays. If you don't get to watch this live, definitely check out the replay.
Lucky Chams vs ryan mitchell
Prediction: 4-0 Lucky Chams
EZ. Where u at ryan mitchell?
Yggdrasil vs Doctors Without Gorges
Prediction: 3-1 Ygg
This is my backup Match of the Week. I still give Ygg the skill advantage over DWG, but DWG has pretty strong team play and tactics. I was really back and forth on picking the winner of this match, and I could see it going either way, but Ygg has had more practice playing against D/Y so that will definitely give them a bit of an edge. Best luck to both teams, gonna be a fun game.
Katy Perry Fanclub vs SHAFT
Prediction: 4-0 SHAFT
Let the SHAFT Pain Train keep on rollin! Katy Perry may have the eye of the tiger, but they don't have the tail of the stingray to pierce SHAFT's Aussie heart (too soon?). KPF will most likely be left feeling like a plastic bag drifting through the wind, but then again they might just be a dark horse ready to eat SHAFT's heart out like Jeffrey Dahmer.
Tau-9 vs Handwashers
Prediction: 2-2 Draw
I'm gonna predict all four rounds go to Aliens based off the maps being played. Tau-9 really shit the bed last week, and Handwashers seemed to impress some people with a tie against HBZ. Although I believe Tau-9 should theoretically take 3 rounds, I just don't have enough faith in their team work and strategies to give them the win.
HBZ vs el'pheer
Result: 3-1 HBZ
Carrying the Finnish flag after Saunamen stopped playing is not going to be easy in this division for el'pheer. These teams do seem to be evenly matched, however, so it should make for some good rounds. Since I've already had a couple 2-2's I'm gonna go ahead and 3-1 this in favor of HBZ.
Again, good luck to all the teams, and I'm always happy to see my predictions proved wrong like SHAFT did last week.
loMe's Division 1 - Week 2 Predictions
Map: Jambi and Descent
Brief: Okay, so I triple-checked and I have the right maps this week (Happy Simba?) Like I said about Jambi last week, it's a Gorge friendly map. The safe bet tunnels usually end up in either Bay Wing or Organ (depending on spawns), but I've also seen some more aggressive tunnels used at other parts of this map. Either way, Gorges on this map tend to be low-risk/high reward. Marines will typically go for a phasegate in Gravity which will help establish and hold lanes, as well as serve as a launching point to pressure Oxygenation and other Alien harvestors. Not a lot of people like playing Descent because of horizontal spawns. Vents into both horizontal spawns make it very easy for Aliens to hit the Marine base, which for many teams, forces them to get early mines and leave a Marine close to base at the start. Veil hives are also a popular tech path on Descent, which forces Marines to go quick Armor 2. All these things combine to hinder dynamic gameplay making Descent unpopular. Vertical spawns are a bit more balanced, but Aliens should still be able to break through lanes easier than most maps.
Titus Gaming vs Do It Yourself
**Match of the Week**
Prediction: 2-2 Draw
About damn time these teams play again. We've been scrimming both teams a lot recently, and I can't give the edge to either. I know for sure that both teams have thought out strats specifically to use against each other. Titus tends to follow a systematic style of gameplay that I would characterize as playing it safe - laning, tech-ing up, and then forward gates to crush life forms and hives as soon as shotguns are available. D/Y on the other hand, loves to disrupt Titus with fast and precise aggression. They have the ability to win games on Marines within the first 2-3 minutes by egg-locking the Aliens and forcing the commander to spend his precious early res on spawning eggs. It's awesome to watch but a pain in the ass the play against. Watch on both sides as Marines use copious caution entering rooms looking for ambushes. Then mid-late game, balls of death containing all the life forms on aliens will reek havoc on small groups of marines. If the games run long it will become a chess match, with teams forcing each other to act on certain plays. If you don't get to watch this live, definitely check out the replay.
Lucky Chams vs ryan mitchell
Prediction: 4-0 Lucky Chams
EZ. Where u at ryan mitchell?
Yggdrasil vs Doctors Without Gorges
Prediction: 3-1 Ygg
This is my backup Match of the Week. I still give Ygg the skill advantage over DWG, but DWG has pretty strong team play and tactics. I was really back and forth on picking the winner of this match, and I could see it going either way, but Ygg has had more practice playing against D/Y so that will definitely give them a bit of an edge. Best luck to both teams, gonna be a fun game.
Katy Perry Fanclub vs SHAFT
Prediction: 4-0 SHAFT
Let the SHAFT Pain Train keep on rollin! Katy Perry may have the eye of the tiger, but they don't have the tail of the stingray to pierce SHAFT's Aussie heart (too soon?). KPF will most likely be left feeling like a plastic bag drifting through the wind, but then again they might just be a dark horse ready to eat SHAFT's heart out like Jeffrey Dahmer.
Tau-9 vs Handwashers
Prediction: 2-2 Draw
I'm gonna predict all four rounds go to Aliens based off the maps being played. Tau-9 really shit the bed last week, and Handwashers seemed to impress some people with a tie against HBZ. Although I believe Tau-9 should theoretically take 3 rounds, I just don't have enough faith in their team work and strategies to give them the win.
HBZ vs el'pheer
Result: 3-1 HBZ
Carrying the Finnish flag after Saunamen stopped playing is not going to be easy in this division for el'pheer. These teams do seem to be evenly matched, however, so it should make for some good rounds. Since I've already had a couple 2-2's I'm gonna go ahead and 3-1 this in favor of HBZ.
Again, good luck to all the teams, and I'm always happy to see my predictions proved wrong like SHAFT did last week.
