More upsets anyone?

Ok lets do a quick recap first of round 1 of the ET Masters tournament.

[flag=be cZar 2 : 4 Morrigu]

I think almost everyone expected this to be an easy game for cZar and the gbooky odds certainly showed the public opinion but who would have expected such a game. This one had to go to a decider on Radar where cZar were just unable to push past the mQ defences. Kudos to Raveneye for his spot on prediction on this game:

Quote

We haven't really played against these guys so I can't really predict the outcome, but I happened to notice that cZar is using playername [cZar] tags, which should give them ultimate power over Morrigu. This isn't going to happen though, because parodia tag will punish eveyone using it without permission,

A last hour addition of Rocky to the mQ squad replacing Ins who for whatever reason could not play prooved to be one of the deciding factors in this game but also one of the most contraversial with aimbot accusations from FlyingDJ and the cZar squad. However after watching demos no decision could be made on this one. Were we just watching a rising star and a great aimer of the game or something far more displeasant. Either way its certain that Rocky will come under close scrutiny in his next game.

[flag=eu Polar eSports 0 : 4 Negative Image]

Polar previously known as CDAP Pi, surely one of the strongest teams in ET today and top seed in their group against a relatively new and untested Negative Imagine squad which has been riddled with lineup changes since its original formation. Clearly there would be only one winner in this game; Polar ? Well i was not alone in this view with gbooky odds of 1.03 vs. 33.03 however how wrong we all were. This game was unfortunately not even close. The finnish squad dominated the Polar side on both Braundorf and Goldrush.

Many would say that -img caught Polar on a bad day however credit must go out to the teamplay that -img showed during this game. Polar will now need to pick up wins against dtekt and ViB to be sure of qualification from their group.

[flag=se dtekt eSports 4 : 2 Violence is Bad]

Well if you look at the previous predictions you would have to see that this game gave exactly what everyone expected. Two teams so nearly equalling each other out that a decider map had to be played to find a winner in this game. That winner of course was the new dtekt team.

CPC2 qualifiers and if at this early stage they can play at the level that they did you surely have to wonder what they can do after a couple of months practice. Will it even take that long and could this squad be the dark horse of the tournament. Possibly...

All eyes will be on their next game against the finnish powerhouse of -img to see if they can maintain the high standard they have set so far. The winner of that game will almost certainly qualify for the elimination stages.

[flag=se zeroPoint! Gaming 4 : 0 Vicious and Evil KIH]

A zP win 4 : 0 unexpected....

For the spectator this was unfortunately not the most viewer friendly game.. but ask yourself why and the answer lies with full credit to the meticulous play from zP.

With raw firepower and aggressiveness from Butchji and Gifty, the intelligence of Potter and Darky and then two of the most underated players in the german machines that are Hatred and Keran, you have to say that although KIH are complemented by many for their teamplay, the blend and affectiveness of this zP squad make them almost impossible to stop. Only 1 team in recent times has been able to do it. Will zP walk away with Gold in the ET Masters or are there some upsets still to come....


[flag=uk Impact Gaming 0 :4 The Last Resort]

Although my view on this game can be argued as biased i hope that you will see this as a report from someone looking from the outside. First of all... what a game!

ETTV viewer slots of 1215 and that was filled by 1214 spectators all watching a clash the likes we haven't seen in quite some time. This game had it all, mutikills, suspension, a 10 man killing spree for the mystic fanbois and some sheer excellence from the belgium mAus. It was a game of the highest quality and i for one cant wait too see a clash like this again.

TLR picked up bronze in this years EC however with the addition of mAus this squad has just stepped it up to another level. I personally believe that they are the strongest team in the ET Masters tournament and i cant wait to see clashes between them and zP and further into the future them and dignitas. You can be sure both these teams will be keeping an eye out for TLR. Also some credit to the TLR manager anil has put loads of effort into this team and its paying off.

And so onto Impact Gaming, the hype has been huge and looking at this game did they really disappoint? I would argue no. First official for the squad and it got everyone talking about the game. After being forced to make lineup changes since their original announcement and then to still go out and put in a performance like that against one of the best ET teams out there, you have to assume that in a few months time with more practice this squad will be stronger still. As the Impact manager i have to say the future's bright for this ET team.


[flag=pl Netrunners 4 : 0 Agony Realm]

The predictions for this game were right on the money. A win for Netrunners and if you didn't see the game you would assume this was a comfortable victory. Thats where you would be wrong. A+R put up a good fight against the top seed in their group and that was most unexpected since most knew very little about this team.

A+R is another squad that has been unfortunately full of lineup changes in recent times however looking at it you would have to say they might be very underated. If they can battle so strongly at this stage of their squads development then in time if they can keep the stability in the team then we could be looking at a very nice team. It looks like for ET Masters they will have to pull off something special against 141 and hx to qualify but dont rule anything out at this early stage.


[flag=de One4One vs. Team Helix]
Rescheduled to Monday 12 March @ 21:00 CET


[flag=eu pingwins 4 : 0 elite]

Unfortunately only 284 viewers turned out to watch this game but they were not disappointed since it was a nice game to watch and closer than the players at the time realised. A plant from Elite on Braundorf must have come within 0.5 Seconds of blowing but was defused by 2 pingwins engineers. I later learnt that someone on the pingwins team had suggested that both engineers dont go for the defuse. Its a good thing that Bullvox chose to ignore him or this game was going to a decider.

Goldrush was unfortunately a bit more one sided with pingwins never really looking massively troubled on their bank stage defence. Elite missing a couple of their key players in the Pingwins game now move onto the massive task of having to beat zP 4:0 to take the group to a 3 way decider.


Tournament Update [/u]

- Vicious and Evil KIH have unfortunately pulled out of the ET Masters. I haven't seen any squad updates on xfire but i'm sure the team will post something to say why they have pulled out of the tournament along with the future of the squad. Since round 1 has already just about finished i will not be replacing them in the tournament and Group A will now only have 3 teams left in the tournament.

-The dates for the group stage of the tournament have been slightly extended. Round 2 dates are now 7-12 March and Round 3 13-18 March.

- Round 2 will see maps supply and frostbite, Round 3 will be Radar and the now updated Frost Final B3, Download here: http://www.cyburk.net/frost_comp_b3.pk3

- Since the tournament has now started teams are only allowed to add 1 player to your roster assuming that player has not already played for another team.


Round 2 [/u]

Ok since i seem to have been writing for ages i'm going to probably keep this a bit short.

Thursdays Kickoff

[flag=se Auxilla 4 - 2 Negative Image]

Time: 21:00 CET
Admin: TBA
ETTV
Lineups
dtekt eSports: blaze - fireBall - humM3l - z3R0 - kris - sexyhot - snuble - tornis
Negative Image: Mulsu - chmpp - kimble - auron - twidi - lettu
Maps: supply / frostbite

Predictions [/u]

Gifty: negative image just showed us what they're made of, they got back their old skill, and will win this one again! <3 MulSu, chmpp, kmble, twidi x) 4 : 0
MulSu: I thinkthat this will be close match, but i would say 4-2 for dtekt. Just due the fact that nub murso is praccing xd
Wesbo: I think Negative Image proved themselves to be a really good team by beating Polar Esports in their first game. I believe they will put a 4-2 victory over dtekt who beat vib in their first game. It depends on which map will be picked as a decider though
perfo: dtekt favor almost half of the old hb/rewind squad + sexy norwegian girls in the form of kris and snuble but i dont think they have enough teamplay to overpower img. img has finnish players, enough said 4-2 img
gunner: well i cant really say witch gonna win this games since i havent played them recently but i think that Negative Image is a bit stonger cause they are playing together longer then dtket did it . so idd say 4-2 for Negative Image



[flag=eu Polar eSports vs. Violence is Bad]

Time: 21:15 CET
Admin: TBA
ETTV
Lineups
Polar eSports: Toxic - kris - perfo - fobje - snoop - xylos
Violence is Bad: asd - danone - joop - Matias - sacc - vila
Maps: supply / frostbite

Predictions [/u]

Gifty: polar is a good team, vib shouldn't stand a big chance. both teams got good aimers, but just one got the right teamplay, and the experience in that game, 4 : 0 perfolar eSports
MulSu: No doubt in my mind. 4-0 for polar
Wesbo: I hope this will be a close game. Both teams have to win if they still want to go the play offs. Polar will want to show the community they're still a good team, which gives them extra motivation for this game. I believe it will be a 4-0 victory for Polar eSports, but both maps will be close
perfo: vib is more of a mix than a team with actual teamplay and in the past focused a lot on individual skill and i still think they do so, joop wont change this (sorry), 4-0 for us
gunner: im sure that Polar eSports will win this one without any problem since they are playing together for a long time now and vib got line up changes few weeks ago so idd say an easy 4-0 for Polar eSports




Bloody (overused but running out of creativity) Sunday

[flag=eu The Last Resort vs. Morrigu]

Time: 21:00 CET
Admin: kiss
ETTV
Lineups
The Last Resort: acozz - clown - david - marv - Winghaven - mAus
Morrigu: Wesbo - Ati_ - leonneke - kitty - ins - mize
Maps: supply / frostbite

Predictions [/u]

Gifty: one sided as hell, 4 : 0 TLR. Extremely boring
MulSu: Even that i love mQ guys. I have to say that Winghaven will take this match. 4-0 to TLR
Wesbo: Hmm, because I'm in Morrigu I know our weaknesses and I think this won't be a very close game. I think TLR will win 4-0, raging us on both maps, but hey maybe we're lucky and we can manage to win a map.. or two
perfo: mQ favors the same language and a good skill but not enough to break TLR's defensive teamplay and crossfire. maus vs mize will be nice to see tho but ins isnt the best fops out there, 4-0 TLR
gunner: any doubt im saying 4-0 easy win for TLR




[flag=se zeroPoint vs. elite]

Time: 21:30 CET
Admin: TBA
ETTV
Lineups
zeroPoint: Darky - gifty - butchji - keran - potter - hatred
elite: raptus, CS4f1, future, Kris, day_, dunno!, krein
Maps: supply / frostbite

Predictions [/u]





Monday Night Gaming

[flag=be cZar vs. Impact Gaming]

Time: 21:00 CET
Admin: TBA
ETTV
Lineups
cZar: mesq - lio - snot - ziff - zeto - dNzl
Impact Gaming: Xpaz - mystic - Raveneye - Tiigeri - teKoa - M1lk
Maps: supply / frostbite

Predictions [/u]

Gifty: mystic and Raveneye performed great lately in our praccs, and now they will lead (with Xpaz' voice ;p) impact to their first win. 4 : 0 impact
MulSu: pasipoika will take this easily so 0-4 for Impact
Wesbo: Both teams lost their first matches and will have to win this match to continue to the play offs. I think this will be an easy bash for Impact gaming, because they have more experience and individual skill than cZar. Although if cZar can put a good performance they might win, but I'm seeing that happen.
perfo: czar has zeto, simply the best medic in all of ET. his revives are top notch and his flagcaps are amazingly fast, sqzz barely keeps up with him. 4-0 to impact
gunner: this game is gonna tight but im sure that Impact Gaming with have the final word over cZar in this game so i say 4-2 for impact gaming




All other round 2 games are so far unscheduled but will be added to this post as soon as they are arranged.

EDIT Predictions added