The Battle For Berlin gets underway tonight and myself & twidi are here to bring you in depth previews of all 8 first round matches. Here are my previews of games 5-8:
Game #5
Seed 3 vs. Seed 14
21.30 cet
Queens
razz Clown miNd lepari NuggaN kot Winghaven perfo Glitz
x3nja DOPPL3R Artifexx caej gnome promen
Referee: urtier
Queens are fielding their 101st lineup of the summer, this time including experienced veteran and multiple LAN winner Winghaven and perhaps the best Polish player ever to play ET kot. The activity of these two additions is unknown, so how big of a role they will play is yet to be seen. With the recent merging of Dignitas and Anexis creating a true all-star team, Queens are one of the few teams capable of snatching a victory away from Anexis.
Player to watch: NuggaN
In the first round they'll take on a Glitz lineup who have traded wins in their opening two matches in this season's Clanbase OpenCup. They are highly active and boast a victory over renowned Fins KRP on the 6v6 ladder as recently as 11 days ago. If you're looking to a pick a winner here though, GTV odds suggest that your money is safe with Queens as at the time of writing, they are shading the odds coming in at 1.01 vs. 100!
inteRaction are the lone Czech participants in the Battle For Berlin and have been flying the flag for some time now. The majority of this team have been playing together for many months, an eternity in the modern world Enemy Territory which sees teams come and go per season. They'll be hoping that their experience together will take them a solid few rounds into this tournament (that and Green_Clon's unbearable lag!)
Player to watch: milhAus
Their opponents tonight have recently joined up with a new team, Team Aero eSports. They are taking the seed of onemove who unfortunately had to drop out due to lineup problems. With the seed of #6 they'll face a slightly kinder opponent than had they been seeded #16, so they'll hope that this gives them the momentum they'll need to progress. GTV has iR coming in as slight favourites, holding almost a 1/5 ratio.
TAG have been around since 2007 and are easily one of the most recognisable teams in the history of ET. Their Benelux trio core of Lightning, Hope and overdrive might not still all be active, but the peripheral aphesia is attendance. With a list of pocals as long as my arm, urtier and oldschool buddy twidi are also joined by new Polish additions dialer & Krein to comprise a lineup completely new for TAG. The potential is there for them to reach the last 4 but don't be surprised if TAG fail and fail hard at the first hurdle.
Player to watch: Lightning
Their opponents tonight are the Finnish team Turboapinant. Their most recognisable player is undoubtedly chmpp aka walle - idolised by the players of k1ck. Regarded as some as the 'second best' Finnish team behind legendary MM/F5 and 'the other' Finnish team apart from KRP, Turbo have long been on the cusp of EuroCup qualification, prompting the long-running joke following swani. However, he has left their ranks and without him they might come into some overdue success, starting tonight in the Battle For Berlin!
Player to watch: walle
I have this game as too close to call and has the potential to be the most competitive game of the evening, and as such TosspoT will be on hand to cast this game from QuadV.
In tonight's late game we see bSTURZ, who despite boasting a decent lineup on paper, have not been converting their potential into results - which perhaps goes some way to explain why they come into the tournament seeded at 15 and have such a difficult opening game. After his 2 year pursuit to gain entry into the Clanbase EuroCup, Swanidius finally reached his goal only to leave behind the team which helped him get there. He now joins up with a bSTURZ team who will be keen to surprise tonight.
Player to watch: Swanidius
Seeded at #2, G2P will look for a quick victory over their lowly seeded opponents. They'll be hoping to get far into the competition and I'd imagine would be bitterly disappointed with a result outside of the top 2. Their main competition in the coming weeks will be Queens and Anexis, and it is in the semi-finals and final where we will see the full potential of this new reformation of Gaming2Perfection. The team lacks no shortage of aiming power, with German duo Bl4d3 and Kresti sure to bring the pain on their opponents tonight.
well, long story short, I joined mumble on tuesday as I thought we were gonna pracc or smth (there was offi against cortana at 21 on tue at first, so I thought we will play at that day) but there were 6 players on mumble doing tax, so I asked whether I am needed, they said no and I left mumble. On wednesday I asked lightning whats going on because we were supposed to play another offi, but when I joined mumble there were same 6 player as on tue. I asked lightning whats going on and he asked me whether aphesia spoke to me or not, I said no, he said that aphesia was searching players and he replaced me for b4b. No explanation, no msg at all, just kicked without even knowing there is something wrong. Funny thing is, I wasnt a problem why tag was so inactive/unstable, I was avi always when it was needed and I was supposed to be part of main lineup for ec and b4b when light was signing us (them) up. Its always nice to "accidentally" find out that I got screwed, like its that hard to write someone a msg with an explanation. But ye, whatever, it was his choice and I am not gonna sink to his level and offense him, whatever his reason was to do this in such way.
until yesterday, I thought so as well. When I talked to lightning he looked a bit surprised too (well, hard to recognize that on irc :) ), but I guess he doesnt rly care as long as that team is gonna play a bit active (and with stable 6 players).
with ETTV theres no need for a video stream, which would look terrible on my connection anyway. However I'm recording the video+audio locally to upload to youtube after.
I don't have ET on my Mac (no idea if it's even possible) but do like to watch some games from time to time! But uploading it later is very good aswell obviously. Thanks
Nope, unfortunately my mate couldn't get off school (important lessons) and after that it was too late to book the train/hotels etc.
Was quite a good game by chelsea, they looked really sharp (eventho our defense was horrendous due to all of our injuries!). I've spoken to some people who were there and they were shocked at the lack of atmosphere from the Chelsea fans ? Perhaps they weren't motivated against a small team.
Theres never an atmosphere at Chelsea in the Champs League group stage, never enough fans turn up and the ones that do are the fans that only show up because the tickets are on general sale. However, it was a great performance shame about Kevin D Bruyne - wanted to see more from him
As i'm studying in Antwerp, I was forced to watch the match in an Irish pub with some 5 to 10 Brits. They seemed impressed with what Kevin was able to display eventho Chelsea was FAR superior on the pitch.. He's an amazingly talented prospect and with his young age, could grow to be a top top class player imo. Presenters on Sky Sports even said it's a shame he plays for the belgian national team (his parents live(d) in London)
I'm not active whatsoever and I'm not really involved in line up decisions this, but as TAG member I would like to say this did not go as it should have.
aphesia is handling the line up for this seasons cups and tournaments and it seems he didn´t like how filus was playing in the line up and therefore decided to replace him. Him not talking to filus and just replacing him is retarded imo and not how we usually do things with TAG line ups.
People behaviour is erratic
Was quite a good game by chelsea, they looked really sharp (eventho our defense was horrendous due to all of our injuries!). I've spoken to some people who were there and they were shocked at the lack of atmosphere from the Chelsea fans ? Perhaps they weren't motivated against a small team.
first part of this article is pretty great! :D
aphesia is handling the line up for this seasons cups and tournaments and it seems he didn´t like how filus was playing in the line up and therefore decided to replace him. Him not talking to filus and just replacing him is retarded imo and not how we usually do things with TAG line ups.
Just my two cents about this issue.
xD
good luck green_clon!