“To disturb the functioning, order, or course of: Protesters upset the meeting by chanting and shouting.
To distress or perturb mentally or emotionally”
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Chaplain — Every major team dreads the presence of a sudden turn that baffles pundits and bucks the institution, most commonly in a way that dries up even the most loquacious of tongues and immerses the outcome on an entire season in a spiral of jeopardy; I am, of course, alluding to the enthralling trend of upsets that has jaggedly wrenched itself into the forefront of every ETF2L season thus far, manifesting itself in a great deal of forms, many of which we have seen recently in the sixth cup, season 13 and more distantly from one of our featured teams tonight, (SpecialAttack, Pentia)Crack Clan.
Crack Clan have become somewhat infamous for their ability to settle into the role of David, but they find themselves moving up more than a few shoe sizes as they undergo the metamorphosis into a veritable
Goliath to do battle with the fresh-faced MyDGB in their first match of the season. However, MyDGB have had a more than ample time to start stockpiling stones for use against a belittled Crack Clan,altering their Division 1-winning team with a smattering of Premiership experience in the form of last seasons third place winner, Darn, the potential with potential, Gubbins and ex-TLR medic, Evilmoon, to form what looks to be a well-rounded squad. Crack Clan have boasted a significantly smaller amount of changes, only swapping out Retshock for the indestructible Brego, who, judging by his performance against Epsilon in the sixth cup, can definitely hold a candle to the kind of plays we saw from his predecessor. The lineups for tonight are:
Crack Clan
Medic – Admirable
Demoman – Brego
Soldiers – Minimoose, ipz
Scouts – TviQ, smzi
MyDGB.netMedic – Evilmoon
Demoman – Gubbins
Soldiers – Haunter, Darn
Scouts – Coinz, Kiler4fun
Anyone who has watched a Crack Clan game recently knows how their strategy has changed due to the exclusion of Retshock, swapping whatever it was that the Israeli powerhouse did for a more Randa styled calculating style of play, although no less damage. I honestly believe we will see the resurgence of the pocket- Smzi strategy that they were working towards and the end of last season, accentuated by the presence of the Boston Basher and complemented by the increased aggression that the Gunboats and Escape Plan provide for Ipz & Minimoose, however if you were to have a quick check over their recent PCW’s this hasn’t always worked out for them, with the change of pace being a little too much for their traditional pocket in some places. If they fail to coordinate their heals, aggression and therefore their map presence they will run the risk of losing to a much weaker team on paper.
I caught up with CC’s very own Rainman ( Ipz) for the following:
“We have never played vs MyDGB so we don’t know their strategies. If Darn is main-calling they will play the style that the old BFF tried to accomplish, just without BFF’s dm and coordination. Because we know darn, we will have no problems here”
As far as MyDGB goes, I’ve been paying a lot less attention to their games and haven’t really managed to detect a definite strategy from them, however I will comment on the positive performance of Gubbins and the change of pace in Darn from the kind of off-beat jump exhibition that spectators were treated with during BFF. Their coordination is definitely a lot better than I would have expected, however they just don’t have the time-tested experience that CC have and it will be interesting to see how they hold up.
Prediction Time:
Lynchpin- Brego
Crack Clan’s success really will hinge on how Brego plays today. I have absolute faith in his ability, although I’m not entirely convinced he does.
**Man to Watch –*Tvi Q
Swedish boy wonder, TviQ, has been playing at the top of his game recently, want to see him do well.
Clash to Catch - Ipz vs Minimoose & Admirable
As bizarre as this sounds, the way that Ipz and Minimoose play together will impact the game a lot more than anything Darn or Haunter can do, and Admirable definitely has that power to enforce that. Zebbosai has recently been mercing in Minimoose’s place and using his heals more aggressively in what Ipz described as a “Miracle”.
Most likely to Choke – Darn
Yeah whatever.
The action will begin at 21.15 CEST (approx 24 hours from time of post), featuring a yet unannounced casting combination for VanillaTV, however you can also tune into the Crack Clan Comms Mumble, a service very kindly provided by Crack Clan for the community (to take part simply click here)