Match week one continues with loser's bracket games!
After the first round we have 4 interesting loser's bracket games coming up on sunday. Here's my preview of each match to read while waiting for the games:
Lost Soldiers
laNgo
caTchEr
eujen
valaR
qwik
mKs
VJTO
Buzzer
oxid
stRay
kiwi
sNoOp
gr0ss
s1LENT
brandoN
Statti
Lost Soldiers faced Anexis in their first game and expectedly didn't stand a chance against the favorites.
oxid started off by facing disQonnect in what was expected to be a close game. It didn't quite turn out that way though as disQonnect rolled over oxid 4-0 in a easy fashion. oxid didn't come well prepared for the game and were behind on every section, so they'll have a really hard work ahead if they want to succeed in this tournament.
Despite their bad performance on the first game, oxid are the obvious favorites to win this game. Lost Soldiers has an excellent team play, but it most likely won't be enough against the strong individuals of oxid. oxid must really gather themselves now, beat Lost Soldiers clearly and get a good amount of practice in order to get further than just the next round. On the other hand, Lost Soldiers has nothing to lose here, so if oxid are underestimating their opponent along with the lack of motivation they might actually have a hard time winning this game.
First map of the game will be adlernest, which is known for the element of surprise on it. In adlernest there is basically only three stages and just one gate to hold you off, so very fast times are possible. This map will definitely be in favor of Lost Soldier and it will be interesting to see how awake oxid will be for the first map this time.
Players to watch:
eujen from Lost Soldiers. Had him as a player to watch against Anexis as well, but he actually ended up having lowest damage given from his side and only managed to gather a total of 10 kills in the whole game. His experience is vital for the team and he needs to perform a lot better against oxid if they wish to challenge them.
gr0ss from oxid. Topped the damage from his team in the previous game and his frags will be more than needed in the future games. Most likely to out aim all of the Lost Soldiers players so look out for a dominant performance here!
k1ck eSports
mant
rAUL
subb
bff
JyrkZ
monkey
StrAf
ZaK
Epic
beck
KEEJi
talG
violy
dAy
beAsty
MENTh
ESPION
k1ck eSports ended up in the loser's bracket after shockingly losing against b2k 0-4. The Estonian side wasn’t far from winning in both maps, but wasn’t performing nearly as well as they were expected to be so it can't be said that b2k didn't deserve the win. mant stated at the end of the game: "i guess not playing 2 weeks actually is bad :S" and despite not knowing the reasons behind their lack of practice, they'd better start practicing quickly if they wish to stay in the tournament.
Epic eSports was a huge disappointment in the first round as well as they didn't have 6 players for their game. So Mouse Control got a forfeit win and this will be Epic's first game in the tournament, if they manage to gather enough players this time.
By looking at the lineups and the history of both teams it would seem clear as to who will win this game. k1ck is far more experienced and even with the lack of practice they shouldn't have a problem against Epic. I might be wrong here again, but now k1ck just can't afford to lose and they should sure as hell be motivated to win. Epic didn't show too much dedication towards the game in the previous round either so it will be interesting to see how these two teams will be able to perform.
Players to watch:
freeze from k1ck eSports. Made a return into his previous team for this tournament and was showing a good form in his first game. Possibly the best aimer in the team and thus definitely worth watching.
beAsty & dAy from Epic. The Austrian duo with big A’s has been together for a long time and has gotten the experience from both EC and NC level. Their performance will be a key factor as to how this game will turn out for Epic.
Glitz
x3nja
DOPPL3R
Artifexx
caej
gnome
promen
Kevin
Team-Aero
mental
hvK
danL
diablos
cupcaKe
m1ke
Scarce
hsTe
Glitz had to play against Queens in their first game and didn't really stand a chance there. Worth mention is that they suffered a huge loss as Metsuri, who was possibly their best player, decided to leave the team to join Turboapinat just before the cup started.
Aero were the last team to get into the cup after onemove had to drop out. In their first game they were facing inteRaction to which they lost clearly 4-0. That didn't seem to hinder them too much though as already on the same night they managed to best Synergy with a lineup boasting known players like seNti, destiny and numeric 4-2 in a ladder game.
Both teams are lacking the big names in their lineups and were chosen for the tournament mainly based on their level of activity. It should be a really interesting matchup and it is very hard to say which side will take the victory here. The other games of this round might feature better individuals, but if you want to see an exciting and probably a very close match up then this is your game for the sunday evening!
Players to watch:
Kevin from Glitz. Came in as a last minute addition to replace Metsuri, but at least according to the statistics was far from his top form in the first game. I'm sure that he can play a lot better than that even if he has been inactive for a while so it will be interesting to see how the next match goes for him.
mental from Aero. Top damage from his team in both games on thursday. A true key player for the team and his contribution will be very crucial against Glitz.
Turboapinat
crittie
Juuti
kapaa
vokki
walle
Metsuri
Jewe
OldeNsAn
bSTURZ
fuchS
fizZ
sPECULA
Testi
Swanidius
MOTIF
pulZa
Turki
Turboapinat started their tournament with a 2-4 loss against TAG in a close game. Despite being very close to the victory that wasn't the best performance from tA and I'm sure they'll be looking to improve in their next games to go far in the loser's bracket.
bSTURZ lost to gaming2perfection 4-0 in the first round, but don't really have a reason to be ashamed of their performance. They lost bremen clearly, but on goldrush they managed to defend g2p for a respectable time of 10:41.
tA is a favorite coming into this game with their experienced lineup that has been playing together for quite some time already. bSTURZ can't be underestimated as they might be able to surprise here even though they haven't been performing quite the way some people were expecting from them.
Players to watch:
walle from Turboapinat. By far the most experienced and successful player in this match up and tA's winning depends quite a lot on his performance. Usually gets the top damage from his team like he did on the first game against TAG.
Swanidius from bSTURZ. Swanidius is the obvious choice here as he left tA after some conflicts within the team and surely wants to perform well against his long term ex-team.
to be honest I didn't notice it at all before you pointed it out! will reduce the amount of repeats for next posts.
Gl bro!
And if its about your person: No I have no idea who you are and I guess no one else did 2 years ago as well. I have no idea how you think you achieved 5 times more than I did.. and guess what.. I don't even care :/ Even if you are some super estonian new player that won 5 lans and 700 EC's: I don't know you. And I wouldn't know why you or anyone would care about that. Maybe I broke your ego or your dream of the worldwide known mant.
@edit: day_ just told me that you merced for us a week ago.. guess what, I didn't spec you and I still don't know you. But I can cheer you up.. after tonight you can tell around that I know you cause I played against you. And maybe you can also add to your achievement that you won against me.. maybe then its 6x more achievements.
quite easy, as u havent achieved anything on ur 69 years ET_career, while mant is a ALLSTAR.
edit: and where did i say anything about myself? i just re-read my first comment and i did talk about the team
Then again, I never wanted to say anything like that. But I guess it's my fault that I don't know ALLSTAR mant
And he was playing before you quit and you surely noticed him. I havent played ET for almost 3 years and I still know the scene quite well not to call them randoms or "people whom I have no idea".
but player to spec from epic = talg
gonna get raped with my old pc and 17" monitor :)
so player to watch tonight is Motif!
You know smth that we (team limbo) don't?
Now that I checked it I see that you're still in EC and will most likely continue atleast to finish it. Apologies, but would take me for ever to write these previews if I'd really have to go deep down checking everything I write from multiple sources, so there can always be a couple mistakes like this.
Well done on these previews.
Nothing bad meant.