BFB - LB Round 2

The tournament still has 12 teams competing – 8 in the Loser’s Bracket and 4 in the Winner’s Bracket. Sunday is the day for our next games and we will be seeing the teams in the Loser’s Bracket fighting for the spots in top8. As before, I've written previews about all the games along with Baggiez, who wrote the last one. Read the previews below!








disQonnect

humM3l
Jago
freezer
jOKE
FiREBALL
Kevji
boNg
predi

Turboapinat

crittie
Juuti
kapaa
vokki
walle
Metsuri
Jewe
OldeNsAn

disQonnect had to face Anexis in their previous game and couldn’t overcome the favorites. Their performance wasn’t bad at all and they even surprised many by setting a time of 3:25 on adlernest, but it just wasn’t enough. Despite their good performances they’ve recently been facing some lineup problems as humM3L was just seen looking for a 6th player for his team to replace the inactive Russians freezer and jago.

Turboapinat battled their way forward in the Loser’s Bracket by beating their ex-team mate Swanidius & bSTURZ in a relatively easy way. On the same day they also faced Queens in EC and managed to grab a round with full holding on radar, but came short on the other rounds. Their last BfB opponent characterized in Swanidius and this time it’s humM3L’s turn to motivate the Finnish side into a must-win situation.

Both teams can be said to belong in the category of active and motivated teams with today’s standards in Enemy Territory. dQ has been suffering from lineup problems so they might not be in their top form, which should make this even more interesting. They were seeded a lot higher than their opponent, but can’t really be said to be the clear favorites here. It should be a really exciting match up for the top 8 spot between these two teams!

Players to watch:

Kevji from dQ. Didn’t have the best game against Anexis, but should now have an easier task against tA. Can’t really afford to have an off-game as his rifle frags will be needed for dQ to win the game.

crittie from tA. Definitely not the most known player from the team, but has got loads of experience and a solid aim. He was in top form in their last BfB game racking up a couple thousand more damage than the others.






Splendid - encrypt

mental
hvK
danL
diablos
cupcaKe
m1ke
Scarce
hsTe

b2k

l4z
Abject
w1lko
WuT
syriusZ
mag

Splendid – encrypt (previously known as Team-Aero) managed to beat glitz in a very close match up with just a couple seconds marginal making the difference on not just one, but two maps. They can already be happy with their performance by making it into top12 as not many were expecting it to happen. Brackets seem to be favoring them and they’ll have the chance to go even further by beating b2k.

b2k has arguably been the biggest surprise in the tournament so far. First they knocked out k1ck into the Loser’s Bracket and in their last game it looked like they were going to do the same to Mousecontrol before they managed to get back into the game and win it after losing the first map. They’ve managed to turn their underdog status into their favor, but now they’ll be facing a different situation as it is their turn to be the favorites now.

What to expect from the game? As I stated earlier, b2k are the favorites to win a game for the first time in the tournament whereas Splendid are playing with no pressure. Radar will be the first map which should favor the more experienced side, but on this game it is hard to say whether either team will get any advantage of it or not. If b2k are able to play the way they’ve been playing recently, they should take this one home.

Players to watch:

mental from Splendid. A very important individual for the team and has been chosen to be the player to watch from his team earlier on. Shines from his team with aiming abilities and always deals a great amount of damage.

w1lko from b2k. Not a very known player, but has been performing well throughout the tournament. Should have the chance to shine against their opponent in this game.








Zero Empathy

denton
Green_Clon
malfoy
milhAus
jalo
loocko
L4mpje
ridji

k1ck eSports

mant
rAUL
subb
bff
JyrkZ
monkey
StrAf
ZaK

Zero Empathy (previously known as inteRaction) wasn’t able to take more than one round off Queens in their previous game despite their decent performance. If they can continue their current form they should have the chance to go far in the tournament.

k1ck avoided a total disaster by taking Epic down after their disappointing start against b2k. That shouldn’t be nearly enough for them as they were predicted to be one of the best teams behind Anexis and Queens.

We have a really interesting matchup ahead of us as both teams are surely looking to go a lot further in the tournament. k1ck should’ve gotten over their first game already and zeroE has been performing well throughout the tournament so we should see a battle between two pretty equal sub-top teams. Radar is known to be a really strong map for zeroE so the pre-set map might work into their favor here. They just full held Queens on it so let’s see if k1ck has any better solutions to break the defence.

Players to watch:

L4mpje from zeroE. Got to make his debut on the top level with iR and hasn’t been letting them down. Was definitely one of their best players in the previous game.

mant from k1ck. Has led the way for his team in the previous games by topping the damage with dominant performances. Shouldn’t disappoint you with his rifle skills!






TAG

Lightning
aphesia
Hope
urtier
twidi
dialer
Krein

oxid

stRay
kiwi
sNoOp
gr0ss
s1LENT
brandoN
Statti

TAG started their tournament with a tough game against Turboapinat which they edged on the decider, 4:2. They progressed into the second round where they faced the second seed G2P. After taking a forfeit map, they were then outclassed and never looked likely of turning the tide.

oxid begun with a crushing loss to humm3l & co. but bounced back with an (expected) win against fellow Germans, Lost Soldiers.

For the third TAG in a row I find it hard to pick a winner. Perhaps it says something about the unpredictable nature of the team? They boast so much experience and with their recent Polish additions they are competitive in the aiming department too. But it's TAG ... they're always destined to fail. oxid have made it quite known that they are lacking practice but with sNoOp in your team, who needs practice?! I'm picking oxid to win radar and TAG to win supply or sw_goldrush_te (if they're picked) and lose the other maps (if they're picked).

Players to watch:

Lightning from TAG. I'm going to keep selecting him as he is their best player and always rakes up the multifrags. (And the first time I don't pick him, he will have an amazing game.)

sNoOp from oxid. He is a beast. Unfortunately for snoop fans he's been below par recently, but you don't get a 16 man kill streak against SNB without being a player to watch!