The Playoffs are Coming › cdap pi

cdap pi

Much like Northern Darkness last season, cdap - Team pi started as a mix team seemingly thrown haphazardly together by a blind man with little grasp of Enemy Territory. Defying the two-week predictions of many, cdap - Team pi - winners of group B - are now one of the teams touted as potential idle-slayers. While cdap - Team pi have certainly looked extremely strong, they've also shown some startling inconsistent performances.


Current Lineup:

Dario "Xylos" Azzarelli
Kristian "kris" van Heugten
Zsolt "phobeus" Kesztler
Jasper "perfo" vd Klis
Steve "toxic" Micallef
Tobias "snoop" Ulbricht



Team History

Cdap Pi started life (as just 'Pi') with a basis of the underscore team from last season, phobeus (aka fobje), logic, nonix, future and aeq forming the core of the team. Mize and perfo joined shortly after, followed by kris. Joining cdap, because of kris' connections with the MGC, the team were set up and ready to go. Shortly after this nonix and future stopped playing actively and, kris says, "[cdap pi] recruited snoop and toxic, [then] because aeq went inactive xylos was added as well."

The team now boasts multinational allstar lineup, many of whom have never competed in EuroCup playoffs before. Of the starting six, only two (Xylos and Kris) have played in previous playoffs, while perfo and toxic have never even competed in EuroCup prior to this season. Whether this relative lack of experience compared to the other big name teams will mean anything remains to be seen, but it is certainly a potential disadvantage.

Of all the group winners, cdap pi were the only team not to win their group with a hattrick of victories, conceding defeat to a one4one squad that didn't make it out of the group stages. Admittedly they recovered from this setback well, going on to a stunning victory over an aMenti side which had, until that game, looked exceptional. If cdap pi can maintain this performance level, then their opponents will be quaking in their boots, but if the inconsistencies return cdap pi could hand a free pass to just about anyone.



Team Strengths

As a direct counterpoint to other teams who cite teamplay and defensive tactics as their strong points, cdap pi claim an aggressive playstyle and strong individual skill as their main advantages. "We are an agressive team, and all of us prefer to play agressively," says toxic, "[our] biggest strength would definetely have to be our superior aim over any other team. [This] can turn any bad situation into a situation in our favour." Admittedly, some of the cdap pi team are very good players with exceptional aiming skills, but I think there are a few teams that would argue with toxic's assertion that cdap pi can out-aim them all.

Toxic goes on to explain that, in his view, the cdap pi team has no standout player. Everyone in the team, he says, is on the same level. While it is true that the team is comprised entirely of skilled players, I would argue with the declaration that the team has no stars, as would, I suspect, many people (especially if they happen to be Italian or Dutch). Xylos and Kris, representing the team's bank former EuroCup playoff experience, both have a significant following, while the new dutch star Perfo has rapidly built up a following.



Playoff Outlook

Cdap pi are another team with good pre-playoff confidence, although tempered by a definite fear of meeting the dominant idle team. "We wanted to win the game against aMenti to avoid idle," says toxic, going on to explain that this set up the much easier matchup against the relatively unrated murso team. "Some might say [murso] are one of the weaker teams together with rewind [in the cup]," toxic explains, but continues with a warning, stating that "they are definitely very strong on radar."

Despite this potential problem on the radar map, cdap pi isn't overly concerned - after all a team has to win on two maps to take the victory, and toxic is going into the game expecting the victory - "I feel that we can win the game," he says. Murso do, indeed, have an extremely strong radar game, as evidenced by their performance in the group C tiebreaker, and it would be no surprise if they chose the map for their upcoming match. If cdap pi are unable to overcome them on radar, it becomes vital that they show none of the weaknesses exhibited in the group stage matchup against one4one. With murso a map ahead, a single slip could cost cdap pi their winners bracket spot.

Toxic, however, is upbeat, saying "If we play well i feel we can beat anyone. We want to go all the way. Anything bar a top 3 finish would be disappointing. Obviously beating idle and winning it would be nice but a top three [finish] is good." While the confidence is certainly a good sign, the evident fear of idle is, perhaps, not encouraging. Going into a game expecting to be comprehensibly defeated is rarely a good sign, so a potential matchup against the idle.ee team would, perhaps, hold less hope for cdap pi than for some of the other hopefuls.

It is difficult to predict a path for a team like cdap pi. Their inconsistency means that, while it has to be expected that they beat murso, I won't go so far as predicting them a victory against their probable second round opponents zeroPoint. I think it likely that matchup will cause their descent into the losers bracket, setting up a tough battle with one of the losing teams from the generally stronger lower half of the winners bracket. If cdap pi can remove their inconsistencies and play at their best throughout, there's no reason why they can't reach the medals, but with stiff opposition I see them falling just short of the top three.



Future Plans

Toxic states that cdap pi haven't put much thought into what happens after EuroCup, being entirely focussed on this season. He does, however, concede that while the team will be unable to attend shgOpen, they all intend to make it to the Netherlands for the second Crossfire LAN. Hopefully we'll see cdap pi both at LAN and online for a long time to come.