EC XVIII so far › The community voice

chmpp

Group A looked like a tight group in the beginning, there was not a 100% favourite who would win that and it played out like that too. Overally, I think every of the teams in this group could’ve faced a lot more problems in other groups but I guess no one was able to play at their full capacity and teams still in left in playoffs have a lot to prove.

Group B: 2 decent teams, 2 bad teams, nothing really shocked there except maybe for mamut giving a map to replay but explained by their inactivity and they will boost their performance up if they just bother to pracc - just a little. Replay also having more and more NETR blood in their roster in later stages they could offer something unexpected!

Group C: TLR first and TAG last as expected. Fatgames won the most overrated team ever award after losing to cortana and I felt a bit sad for watching sNoOp play with a bunch of newbies so to say :)

Group D was the most interesting group in this EC. Every team had potential for the first 2 places. FF managed to keep their level and rage all the opponents without lost round. Vital Jacks first suprised overload but then muse won them which was very unexpected in that point. I guess it tells how small differencies there is at top level and mood of the day will count.

Adacore

Group A threw up the first real surprise of the tournament, with unfancied SNB easily defeating the seasoned lineup of VAE. VAE have barely managed to scrape through the group stage, but based on recent form look to be set to present a real challenge in the playoffs.

Group B was considerably less exciting, mamut winning their first two games so that they didn't even need to turn up for their final game to be assured first place in the group. Replay looked weaker than their team should be on paper, and I expect them, like vae, to rectify this for the playoffs.

In group C we see the only real shock result - with their comprehensive victory over FatGames, Cortana secured their place in the playoffs while TLR dominated the group as expected. It's unfortunate we won't get to see a talented team like FG in the brackets, as they had a great deal of potential, but Cortana have always been a favourite team of mine, so I look forward to see what other upsets they can provide.

Group D was, by far, the least exciting of the groups. Everything went with form and, to be brutal, I expect neither FF or ovr to present a serious challenge for the title, although FF certainly have the potential to cause the odd upset.

Meez

The group stage has been a fun few weeks with the occasional upset but at the end of it all I think the teams finishing first and second are the ones expected all along, with the exception of FatGames who lost in a massive upset to Cortana. TLR and FF are without a doubt performing the best right now, neither team dropping a single map, whereas mamut suprised many by losing a map to devilry and a weak SNB lineup lost in an upset to dutch team Zero Empathy.

I think the rest of the season could provide some interesting matches especially since people are beginning to question TLR's spot as EC favorites after the loss to VAE in the Don Baker cup. Providing the momentum keeps up this could also mean an interesting CC5 with 5/8 teams in the playoffs "confirmed" for the lan.