So the Eurocup Group stages are over and we're left with 8 teams in the most prestigious online competition of them all. Of those 8 teams there's one big familiar name that the other 7 are all gunning to beat...But who actually stands a chance?
Lets look at the big players:
Idle - So what's so good about them anyway?
Earlier in the season I asked them whether they were actually playing and as a team the answer was no. But individually they're all still about honing their skills, still waiting for the challenge. In a player like
teKoa they have about the best ET has to offer right now in terms of all round play, and with a stable lineup for sometime they know what they're doing, so they don't need the 3 scrims a night to keep it up.
141 - Idle's first opponents
Personally, I felt the first 141 roster which had a huge skill gap between top and bottom and they would struggle to go far in their group, but 141 have got their roster in shape with some key additions. Namely the Belgian duo who are never far away from the action
Shewie & Ganon. Get these two functioning and active and you have two players who never quite got the opportunity to go as far as their skill level warrants. Throw in 
Future and 
Xylos and there are 4 quality players, who will make any team EC Play-off worthy, the question is whether their other 2 make the grade.
If those final two (seNti & Tsu) do live up to the other 4, then combined with good activity and over coming the language barrier, this team can not only beat idle, but can beat anyone on their day.
However is there the activity and desire from some of these players who have been there and done that? Well right now they need a solid week of practice and on paper that team can beat idle.
Putting whats on paper into practice is another thing though. I casted this side against
RiZe earlier this week, and although the match had little importance, I was not impressed by 141 especially on sw_goldrush. There are mitigating circumstances to this, server crashes and a server takeover did severely interrupt the game and 141 left on the second map, but there wasn't enough there to convince me they will beat idle, but they undoubtedly CAN!
RiZe - German efficiency?
They won their group so there's something there, they beat 141's impressive roster, not once but twice! They top that performance having only lost on Adlernest in the tournament, but are they good enough to go head to head with idle?
I watched them twice this past week and got mixed reactions. Both times they played on sw_goldrush to start things off and boy oh boy can they play goldrush! They're not doing anything special but they're doing it right! Then when they faced underscore they were taken to adlernest a map they lost in spectacular circumstances (You can watch the small avi here), had they not lost maybe I wouldn't doubt them. But seeing them on Radar they looked out of sorts, looking out of sorts on both adlernest and radar is concerning. Why? Because underscore didnt care, they had their Brazilian tags on and hadn't played with some of this lineup for a little while, their season was over and they knew it.
There is match winning talent on this roster, again like 141 there are gaps, and I truly don't believe they're the finished article to beat idle, additionally how will Butch's upcoming vacation effect their preperation for the Maybe match? Inactivity at this point is oh so costly!
Demiurge - Good ol' Scandinavia!
This roster should win Eurocup, no doubt. Why they're not favourites and aren't playing like Eurocup champions baffles me! This is a roster that can trigger the imagination of even the most strict oldschooler and really does offer a brilliant mix of a variety of schools of ET, can they beat idle, on paper yes, on server...why not?
Allstar rosters don't always gel, and there is the possibility that this one has gone the same way of those that have gone before them, but they've now the longevity that must enthuse their fans, they face kujuneb and in a roster to roster battle they should win! Get the right blend of enthusiasm from their oldschoolers and hunger from the players who believe they can win Eurocup for the first time and they overcome kujuneb and then who knows?
kujuneb - In Estonia we trust?
They came through the easiest of the groups it has to be said and this pure Estonian line-up lacks the allstar flavour of some of their competitors. DeadMeat has been there and done that in both RTCW & ET and can offer alot to this roster if he wants, but despite many of this rosters Quakecon third place medals I don't think they've got what it takes to go the whole 9 yards and overturn idle, let alone Demiurge
sFx.Evil - We love Finland!
Finland has schooled us many times in ET and will never surrender their dominance in Eurocup, but I think this roster has done all it can do. I witnessed them beating Northern Darkness in Warleagues, it was the strangest ET game I've seen in a long time, that I think sFx were as shocked as ND that they had won, a one off? Perhaps, Can they beat idle? Not if idle connect to the server.
Northern Darkness - Over hyped?
If there was an advert for the internet and its affect on globalisation it would be the Northern Darkness ET team. Eight different nationalities from all over Europe and 1 Quakecon winner in the middle. I've been told to expect alot from this team, but I keep looking to the bottom left of xfire and see their defeat to helix and wonder whether they can live up to the hype. I'm also very curious as to Warsows effect on this team after scrimming against them myself.
After a turbulent start, the side hasnt dropped a map in Eurocup since May 18th. Beating Favourites Demiurge along the way they're not afraid of their oppositions reputation but were games against Azure, artificial and eSr really a challenge for these players? I don't think so, when challenged by helix...it didn't work out as expected and I think back to casting them in Warleagues against sFx-Evil and going down 4-2 in a performance to be forgotten. Thus far results don't back up the faith put in this team, but the potential is there.
I do think they'll beat sFx this time around, but I expect them to come undone against the form teams. Beating idle should not be on their mind as they have realistic goals that CAN be achieved yet.
Maybe - Or then again maybe not?
Another lovely advert for globalisation but perhaps not for the smoothest ride into the Eurocup play-offs. Defeats to both noll8 and idle cost this team all chances of going through to knock-out stages, however the misfortune of
noll8 allowed Maybe the chance to play v&e who they bundled past in 3 maps. Dropping a total of 6 maps in their group stage, they come into the knock outs with the worst record and I think that is the proof needed to say they probably wont get pasted RiZe and certainly wont overturn their defeat to idle earlier in the season.
There is hope in ET's finest that at least one of these teams can challenge idle, however its going to take the hard work idle don't need to put in for any one of this seasons hopefuls, to overturn last seasons silver medallists.
All matches are currently scheduled for next Sunday & Monday!
Lets look at the big players:
Idle - So what's so good about them anyway?Earlier in the season I asked them whether they were actually playing and as a team the answer was no. But individually they're all still about honing their skills, still waiting for the challenge. In a player like
teKoa they have about the best ET has to offer right now in terms of all round play, and with a stable lineup for sometime they know what they're doing, so they don't need the 3 scrims a night to keep it up. 141 - Idle's first opponentsPersonally, I felt the first 141 roster which had a huge skill gap between top and bottom and they would struggle to go far in their group, but 141 have got their roster in shape with some key additions. Namely the Belgian duo who are never far away from the action
Shewie & Ganon. Get these two functioning and active and you have two players who never quite got the opportunity to go as far as their skill level warrants. Throw in Future and Xylos and there are 4 quality players, who will make any team EC Play-off worthy, the question is whether their other 2 make the grade. If those final two (seNti & Tsu) do live up to the other 4, then combined with good activity and over coming the language barrier, this team can not only beat idle, but can beat anyone on their day.
However is there the activity and desire from some of these players who have been there and done that? Well right now they need a solid week of practice and on paper that team can beat idle.
Putting whats on paper into practice is another thing though. I casted this side against
RiZe earlier this week, and although the match had little importance, I was not impressed by 141 especially on sw_goldrush. There are mitigating circumstances to this, server crashes and a server takeover did severely interrupt the game and 141 left on the second map, but there wasn't enough there to convince me they will beat idle, but they undoubtedly CAN! RiZe - German efficiency?They won their group so there's something there, they beat 141's impressive roster, not once but twice! They top that performance having only lost on Adlernest in the tournament, but are they good enough to go head to head with idle?
I watched them twice this past week and got mixed reactions. Both times they played on sw_goldrush to start things off and boy oh boy can they play goldrush! They're not doing anything special but they're doing it right! Then when they faced underscore they were taken to adlernest a map they lost in spectacular circumstances (You can watch the small avi here), had they not lost maybe I wouldn't doubt them. But seeing them on Radar they looked out of sorts, looking out of sorts on both adlernest and radar is concerning. Why? Because underscore didnt care, they had their Brazilian tags on and hadn't played with some of this lineup for a little while, their season was over and they knew it.
There is match winning talent on this roster, again like 141 there are gaps, and I truly don't believe they're the finished article to beat idle, additionally how will Butch's upcoming vacation effect their preperation for the Maybe match? Inactivity at this point is oh so costly!
Demiurge - Good ol' Scandinavia!This roster should win Eurocup, no doubt. Why they're not favourites and aren't playing like Eurocup champions baffles me! This is a roster that can trigger the imagination of even the most strict oldschooler and really does offer a brilliant mix of a variety of schools of ET, can they beat idle, on paper yes, on server...why not?
Allstar rosters don't always gel, and there is the possibility that this one has gone the same way of those that have gone before them, but they've now the longevity that must enthuse their fans, they face kujuneb and in a roster to roster battle they should win! Get the right blend of enthusiasm from their oldschoolers and hunger from the players who believe they can win Eurocup for the first time and they overcome kujuneb and then who knows?
kujuneb - In Estonia we trust?They came through the easiest of the groups it has to be said and this pure Estonian line-up lacks the allstar flavour of some of their competitors. DeadMeat has been there and done that in both RTCW & ET and can offer alot to this roster if he wants, but despite many of this rosters Quakecon third place medals I don't think they've got what it takes to go the whole 9 yards and overturn idle, let alone Demiurge
sFx.Evil - We love Finland!Finland has schooled us many times in ET and will never surrender their dominance in Eurocup, but I think this roster has done all it can do. I witnessed them beating Northern Darkness in Warleagues, it was the strangest ET game I've seen in a long time, that I think sFx were as shocked as ND that they had won, a one off? Perhaps, Can they beat idle? Not if idle connect to the server.
Northern Darkness - Over hyped?If there was an advert for the internet and its affect on globalisation it would be the Northern Darkness ET team. Eight different nationalities from all over Europe and 1 Quakecon winner in the middle. I've been told to expect alot from this team, but I keep looking to the bottom left of xfire and see their defeat to helix and wonder whether they can live up to the hype. I'm also very curious as to Warsows effect on this team after scrimming against them myself.
After a turbulent start, the side hasnt dropped a map in Eurocup since May 18th. Beating Favourites Demiurge along the way they're not afraid of their oppositions reputation but were games against Azure, artificial and eSr really a challenge for these players? I don't think so, when challenged by helix...it didn't work out as expected and I think back to casting them in Warleagues against sFx-Evil and going down 4-2 in a performance to be forgotten. Thus far results don't back up the faith put in this team, but the potential is there.
I do think they'll beat sFx this time around, but I expect them to come undone against the form teams. Beating idle should not be on their mind as they have realistic goals that CAN be achieved yet.
Maybe - Or then again maybe not?Another lovely advert for globalisation but perhaps not for the smoothest ride into the Eurocup play-offs. Defeats to both noll8 and idle cost this team all chances of going through to knock-out stages, however the misfortune of
noll8 allowed Maybe the chance to play v&e who they bundled past in 3 maps. Dropping a total of 6 maps in their group stage, they come into the knock outs with the worst record and I think that is the proof needed to say they probably wont get pasted RiZe and certainly wont overturn their defeat to idle earlier in the season.There is hope in ET's finest that at least one of these teams can challenge idle, however its going to take the hard work idle don't need to put in for any one of this seasons hopefuls, to overturn last seasons silver medallists.
All matches are currently scheduled for next Sunday & Monday!
