The Final Clash in the Last Chance Saloon

Crunch time draws near as the all-Finnish side of Insignia Cadre duke it out with the boisterous CPC2 champions of The Last Resort in the last chance saloon of the etQcup losers bracket. With a position in the top three secured, trophies and prize money are already a reality for both teams, but yet to be vied for is the amount of spoils and the opportunity to contend with Team Dignitas for the tournament gold.

Insignia Cadre
Though previously delivering a string of convincing results in the tournament, Insignia Cadre go into tonight's match in a questionable condition. The coming of the summer holiday has sent the team sidelined by inactivity as members went away on vacation, forcing the Finns to bring in former Murso and SKIT-EVIL veteran cadein in order to patch things up.

With the recruitment of the controversial ex-Vicious and Evil player Squall prior to the etQcup, the all-Finnish side managed to hit a run of form seemingly unaffected by the reshuffle that was prompted by the summer holiday. Making their way to the semi-final without dropping a single round along the way, and convincingly winning out on TLR, their opponents tonight, in the quarter final, the team had gathered significant momentum ahead of their penultimate winners bracket match against Impact Gaming.

The momentum proved decisive as inactivity took its toll on Insignia Cadre in earnest, and the Finns expressed concerns about lack of practice going into the semi-final. Fortunately for them, Impact Gaming proved to be in a very similar situation, and the match that saw two teams "not in their top shape" pitted against each other ultimately ended with an unconvincing victory for the all-Finnish side. The scraped victory did not bode well for the team that went on to suffer a crushing defeat against Team Dignitas in the winners bracket final.

It seems questionable whether the Finns are currently in a shape to repeat their victory against TLR earlier in the tournament, and with Squall returning to his roots in Vicious and Evil, things are looking pretty bleak for Insignia Cadre.

Team leader twidi acknowledged the gloomy outlook earlier today, saying: "I'm not that confident (going into tonight's match) due to lack of practice, but we'll of course try our best and see what we can do." He went on to comment about the recent departure of Squall stating that it is a matter looked upon with some bitterness: "Squall was no doubt one of our best players, but the way he left us without telling us anything about it before we could read about it from xfire, I don't think that no one is going to cry after him."

The Last Resort
With Monday's victory against Evolve Gaming, the CPC2 champions of TLR seem to have recovered from their unconvincing run of form in the early stages of the tournament. Their story is one of downfall and recovery; with a convincing victory against the EuroCup champions of Evolve, they look to vindicate themselves after a post-CPC2 decline.

Endeavouring to reach the soaring heights of CPC2 once again, the Europeans have brought back Polish doktor from the retirement home to take the place of newly recruited Englishman syK. The seasoned Pole, who played a crucial part in the side's success in Enschede back in April, has come to aid TLR in the final stages of the tournament and will be looking to help them at the upcoming CDC3 as well.

The TLR side that goes into tonight's match has wiped the slate clean and put their winners bracket defeat behind them. For dAv1d of TLR, the previous defeat to the Finns seems almost to have fallen into obscurity: "Last time I don't know what went wrong, we didn't practise at all and we were at some (kind of) back path i guess."

The Belgian star looks upon tonight's match with excitement: "We are going really confident into this match. Since our last win vs. evolve we are feeling strong again. Yet since cadre are hosting this cup, they will fight like animals to take this win, but I think we will take this victory."


TLR know that to vindicate themselves completely, they must triumph where they have previously suffered defeat. The momentum is on their side, and they stand as the favourites of tonight's match. The odds are clearly against the Finns, but they will undoubtedly fight tooth and claw to attempt to seize the victory tonight.

TosspoT's views
The ETQCUP will see CPC2 champions TLR pickup where they left off against evolve in this heavyweight clash. TLR looked good earlier in the week as they avenged their Eurocup defeat, but in truth it was a match that could have gone either way. The summer however hasnt taken the sting out of TLR's tail, an important ingredient if they are to be successful tonight.
For Cadre its a case of riding the Finnish rollercoaster of form! Sometimes this team looks like its destined for great things, other times it looks like a lost cause. Which Insignia Cadre will we see tonight?