XF NC - The Final! › Head-to-Heads!

With a variety of talent on flair on display, who will come out on top in the individual battles? Will it be a case of the immovable object coming up against the unstoppable force? Possibly but as always, I’m probably getting a little carried away with myself and taking things to the ultimate extreme but either way, I don’t think anyone can deny the fact that these two teams have shown remarkably similar form.

So I’m going to analyze each player against another, in terms of the consistency they have personally shown throughout this tournament and the comparisons will also be based on each player’s style of play, showing the similarities and where each of the head to heads may actually come from.

[center mAus vs wiesek [/center] ]
First off, I simply couldn’t wait to look at this head to head, it will probably be the most anticipated clash of the entire final if both players are performing at their normally exceptionally high talent range.

Both are arguably the MVP for each team up to this point of the tournament and I don’t think anyone will argue the fact that both players seems to be idolized the most out of each team for their mind-blowing aim and raw natural talent.

So, who will win? Well, on one hand, you have mAus. Described by many as untouchable, he has the experience of playing at this level on his to his advantage here which you could argue wiesek doesn’t have to the same degree. It’s a poor reason to give mAus the upper hand here, as every time I’ve suggested wiesek might not have the experience of many of his Polish teammates, he completely proves me wrong and totally dominates the opposition.

Personally, I don’t want start saying that wiesek is as good as or even better than mAus, I have very little apart from this NC to base that opinion on but from what I have seen so far in this tournament, if there’s anyone in the Polish camp that can even come close to mAus in terms of complete ownership of an opposing team, it’s wiesek.
[center lio vs zMk [/center] ]
Not in the same fanboy league as a mAus or a wiesek but these players do share the fact that they have masses of equal talent as their teammates but both bring very different qualities to any side they play for.

In terms of ingenuity and adaptability, these two players can’t be matched within their squads in terms of being able to read the game and modify their tactics accordingly. Don’t misunderstand me, that doesn’t necessarily mean they can be defined as multi-classers but when something needs to be changed, when an obstacle needs to be overcome, either of these two players will come up with something remarkable to keep their sides going, no matter the cost or consequence.

It’s a quality that doesn’t receive enough praise within our community, as it’s one that makes or breaks most high end games within a blink of the eye. Once again, these two consistent performers have done just that from day one in this tournament and both have tallied up a fair share of quick thinking on the spot tactics.

Who will have the biggest impact on this game, it’s hard to say. Players such as these can go with the flow quite easily for long spells of time and all of a sudden produce something simply spectacular to have a profound intervention on the match in hand.

I’ll say zMk will have a bigger influence on this game than lio but as I said above, it’s a hard attribute to predict. Either could have a defining moment that makes or breaks the game but I will say this, I would be surprised if either if not both did something extraordinary during the course of the final to make the think “Wow, what the hell did he do there?”
[center acid vs Xanah [/center] ]
This stand-off has two players which in my mind, do not receive enough credit or praise for the work they do; the underrated stars of our NC final. Maybe it’s because these two players go about their business in a quiet, methodical fashion or maybe it’s because their roles within each team don’t seem to play a huge part of their success, who knows. What I do know is that each has bags of talent to offer their sides and have moments of brilliance which often go unnoticed and receive little to no praise.

Xanah has become a more and more noticed as this tournament has gone on for his magical, ludicrous moments of genius but acid on the other hand, he’s been around for years at this level yet, he’s never really had the spotlight on him for the things he has achieved or done in ET.

This battle depends on what each player plays during the final. If they are allowed/forced to play as field-ops, that for me, would be ideal. Give them all the ammo in the world and allow them to show use what they can do with support fire and air-strikes, we could have a real epic encounter on our hands.

Xanah, if given the chance to go FO, will show us how insane some of his SMG skills can be and if acid manages to get some binoculars and gas-can in his hand, I really feel that these players will really come out of their shells and shine, showing us all why they deserve to perform on this level time and time again.

Of course, this is where someone will tell me “Omg, there’s no chance either will or ever will play FO again, they will play as medics lol!” but even still, I feel if these players were given the means and tools to output as much damage as possible, we will all be forced to stand-up and take notice and maybe, just maybe, the usual praised dumped on the rest of the big-names involved here will be put onto either or both of these unsung heroes.

Who will be more valuable in the game? Well, from a spectator point of view, I would like to see Xanah shine. He clearly has the ability to do so, he just needs a chance to show us all what he’s really made of. For the game itself though, I think acid will be the more valuable of the two, as even as a medic or FO, his ability to mutli-class seems to beats Xanah’s ability to do the same thing hands down.
[center vila vs n00n [/center] ]
Now ideally, I wanted to compare vila against krisek, as that would have been very easy to compare rifle against rifle. Sadly krisek, doesn’t seem as if he will be playing against Belgium in the final, with instead the polish captain n00n stepping into his place. This however led me to a new trait that each player possesses and allowed for a new comparison to be made.

It’s become more and more apparent as this tournament has progressed, that each of the players in question bring more than just an extra set of hands to the fight. Neither are the subject of massive hype or conversation within the ET community (Well, maybe vila is but for different reasons!) and neither have really shone a great deal from an ETTV perspective up until now but this is where I believe each player brings so much more than the above mentioned.

This may or may not be the case on either Ventrilo nor in game where it matters but from talking to each player and from noticing the play styles of each player during matches, both seems to bring great leadership qualities to their respective teams. It’s hard to describe and it’s so much more than just shouting plays over Ventrilo and calling what should be done next in crunch games. It’s a general quality that is expressed simply in the way a player plays. It’s a natural feature of someone’s game, that many ET players simply do not have.

When something needs to be done, when hard grafting is needed and when someone’s hand needs held, these players are here to do just that and scrape their way across the finish line at all costs. It may not be pretty and it may not be stylish but both these players seem as if they would walk across molten lava for his team, if it meant securing a victory in some sense or scenario.

Anyway, getting carried away again. This vital experience will be needed to supplement the raw talent on offer and this is where vila has the upper hand over his Polish counterpart. In most areas of each team, the Belgians will win hands down in terms of experience at this level and more importantly, with each other. And although the Poles seem to have a far greater hunger for this title, in terms of have an influence on the game in terms of in game leadership, experience will always triumph over enthusiasm.
[center jetro vs edain [/center] ]
Not having a secure, guaranteed spot in either line-up, I would say out of each team both these players have the most to prove. Don’t get me wrong, they are both good, established players but when you compare them to their fellow countrymen, both could be described as the weak link in either side.

Unwarranted and unfair you could say, it’s not meant as slander or flame, far from it. It’s just an area were you could argue both have the most to prove. Neither would probably get a spot in their respective teams if a number one choice was available, so there will always be a shadow of doubt cast as to how each player will perform when the big day finally comes.

It’s a bit of a mystery to me how either will perform and playing in somewhat unexciting roles during most games, it’s difficult to see how either can dismay or disperse these rumors and opinions.

For me, edain will look better on ETTV than jetro, as within the Belgian side it’s incredibly difficult for someone like jetro to be given a task which makes him stand out from the crowd when you are playing along side the likes of mAus and lio. edain will have more of an opportunity to show why he should be in this Polish team and for that reason, edain will have more freedom to show what he’s made of than jetro will have.
[center Kevin vs dialer [/center] ]
Now, I have a confession to make. While I was writing this article I thought to myself, “Hey, why don’t I compare the players against each other in certain areas, I haven’t done that so much in the tournament so far.” As you can see, I did just that except, I had good reasons for matching everyone else up, apart from these two. I kind of left them until last and realized “Shit, how do I compare both of these players?”

Well, these two players can play either medic or FO and both these players have a multitude of experience to call upon when it matters, so how would I compare them against each other? Since an obvious comparison didn’t come up in my original chain of thought, I decided that fairly and ironically, these two would be best described as a “mystery clash”.

With a multitude of skills and talents available to them, it’s really hard to see how specifically either player could give his team the upper hand and how each player would fair against the other. Either way, it does at least leave some of the game a little to the imagination, so you can decide for yourselves what impact these players will have on the game.

Sounds like a way of worming out of a mistake and I guess to a small extent it is but genially and honestly if a more obvious analysis was present to me, I would give it to you.