Written by: Cal "Deathanchor" Gruhlke
Hey guys, now that the regular season is over I now get to do playoff predictions! I will predict and talk about every playoff match for both the upper and lower bracket. It get's quite hectic with multiple rounds being played within the same week. So for Open, all of the first round matches will be played on granary. Lucky for our players, they just finished their granary week in the regular season. So I guess that makes it three granary matches in a row.
Round One Upper Bracket
Immortal 6 vs the post-woodpig destiny · cp_granary · Thu, Jan 26th at 2:00pm
Prediction: iSIX > wupig 5-3 by Deathanchor This match has the potential to be a huge upset. Just making it into playoffs by a few rounds, Black comes in as an insanely strong sixteenth seed. In my opinion Black has the potential to beat over half of the teams that are in these playoffs. However, Immortal 6 is still going to be out of their reach. Not only have Black already lost to Immoral, but it happened to also be on granary. The score was 54 Immortal, and I don't see the result being much different this time around. So why not just a 5-4 prediction again if it already happened once? I think Immortal is going to come into this match with a little more knowledge about Black and will be able to prevent any sort of surprises that might have caught them off-guard the first time these teams played. While Black might not be able to get their upset here, I expect them to have a better shot next round against Lobby or Garbage.
Incestual Timberwolves vs IM Illuminati · cp_granary · Wed, Jan 25th at 2:00pm
Prediction: 4u5 < iM 0-5 by Deathanchor Well, I don't have much to say for this prediction. I don't see Poisonous Timberwolves as a team that would pose much of a threat to any team in this playoff, let alone SYOPS. SYOPS didn't play a fantastic granary game during either of their matches the previous week, but they still won both of them. Not to mention both of SYOPS granary victories were over teams with much better records than Timberwolves. The wolves did post a 5-0 victory over Animals with Guns on granary. It's too bad winning against Animals means close to nothing since their collapse. Would have been funny if Animals still made playoffs. Anyway I would be surprised to see Timberwolves win more than a round. I suppose their player to watch would be none other than Craig Smith!
WELOVEANIME vs Hentai Classy · cp_granary · Wed, Jan 25th at 2:30pm
Prediction: lovesit > 160GB 5-1 by Deathanchor I think Swaggin has worked hard this season. Well...they didn't really practice, but I commend them for keeping their roster active and always putting up a good fight against some of the top ten teams. They have taken rounds off of almost every higher ranked team they have faced. This match should be no exception. While Swaggin is going to far from upsetting Slay Mode, I do expect them to win a round or two. Slay Mode has a lot of things going for them in this playoff. One of the biggest things is the fact that they always play with their starting six. In fact minus their early season switch from IM, they have played every match with the same six players. This is huge for developing team coordination as well as making sure everyone is up to snuff on their skills. I see Slay Mode as being stronger than Swaggin is roughly every position. I would love to see Swaggin upset a team sometime in this playoff, it just isn't happening here.
The Teenage Cucumbers · cp_granary · Thu, Jan 26th at 2:00pm
Prediction: SLIN < PLEASE 0-5 by Deathanchor I am glad Jamtown didn't call it quits for seson10. However, I am surprised to see they haven't returned to the full strength they were once at before the holiday break. It's not like their roster changes were THAT drastic. Besides, their new demo MCBushido is a straight upgrade from ranga who is now playing roamer for them. Before the break Jamtown was easily a top ten team. Now it's true they haven't played any interesting opponents since Koreabros. So maybe I am being hasty with my decision about Jamtown being a lot weaker. Against them, Sagan has already beaten Jamtown 5-0 on snakewater. And this was when Jamtown still had their heads on straight. Now Sagan has also been slipping with some of their recent matches, but am expecting them to get back into gear with playoffs. Sagan should have little trouble with Jamtown and should shut them down with a similar score to their first encounter. I look forward to seeing them advance far within the upper bracket.
22d vs BIG BOYS · cp_granary · Tue, Jan 24th at 2:00pm
Prediction: 22d > BIG 5-3 by Deathanchor While it won't be the easiest of matches for Witness to win, I am fairly confident Witness will make it through their first round. Super Friends comes into play playoffs as one of the most improved teams. They didn't have the huge jump in performance like Lobby Footage did, but still are a lot tougher than they were early on in the season. Dave was the obvious upgrade for Super, but I feel as if other changes they made were even more beneficial. Comatose has played soldier in the last few matches instead of medic and done quite well at it. Despite their recent modifications, Witness is still going to have the upper hand in this matchup. Even though Witness had some easier opponents during their granary week, from watching them I can tell it's certainly not one of their weaker maps. Witness has had some slip ups in the past, so the possibility of an upset here isn't entirely impossible.
Mobile execution truck · cp_granary · Wed, Jan 25th at 2:30pm
Prediction: canned < NO MAS 3-5 by Deathanchor Garbage Plus had in my opinion the best granary week out of all of Open as they defeated both Sagan and 22d to raise their ranking several places. I think granary is easily their best map as well. Lobby Footage on the other hand only played one match during granary week in which they beat 22d 5-0. It should be noted that Lobby beat 22d here with a better score than Garbage did who took theirs with a score of 5-4. Also note that 22d used identical lineups for these matches. The only change made was swapping out khorma for rave, which is far from a drastic player change. The fact that Lobby Footage won by this big of a difference is decently important factor to this matchup. Garbage might have beat Sagan, but Lobby Footage is going to be a whole new beast for them. Overall I think Garbage will come out with a few rounds but will not be able to crack the freshly suped-up Lobby Footage.
Australians vs slippin with slipz · cp_granary · Thu, Jan 26th at 2:30pm
Prediction: dogtime > beaut 5-4 by Deathanchor And I thought the Slanted vs. Submit match was going to be the weakest match. Here we have two teams that have little chance of making it far in the playoffs. 22d is probably the more consistent of the two. Koreabros are actually stronger as far as dm ability goes, but 22d is a lot more coordinated, even with their new lineup. 22d might have lost both of granary matches, but their 4-5 loss against Garbage Plus wasn't a poor showing at all. Koreabros are likely to be several bars under Garbage, so I think 22d will be able to get the "upset", if you can even call it that. Sixth seed Koreabros, lol.
Watch The Throne · cp_granary · Tue, Jan 24th at 2:00pm
Prediction: BNGD < watche 4-5 by Deathanchor For having the somewhat lower seed of eleventh, I bet Slanted Eyebrows were happy to see their first round opponents were Submit a Ticket. Alongside Koreabros, Submit has one of the most inflated ranking going into these playoffs. I had guessed Slanted would not make it past their first round in the upper bracket, but now that I see they are playing Submit I am liking their chances a lot more now. Submit's biggest weapon is likely to be their combo as well as nonis's scouting work. Granary can be a fairly combo-focused map, so I see no big map issues for them. Besides the combo, I feel as if Slanted is the stronger team in the other positions. So despite having a losing granary record, I'm going to go with Slanted pulling this one out with a close upset.
Originally published on ESEA on 1/24/2012, 11:28 AM by Deathanchor.
Archived from ESEA TF2 S10 Open Playoff Predictions - Round 1 as part of tf2esports.com's preservation of ESEA's TF2 coverage. All rights remain with the original author and ESEA; reposted for historical reference.