(ESEAnews) - At this point, people expect the TF2 IM season to start with sixteen teams and finish with about twelve. Dropping one every two weeks feels like a pretty “normal” amount. It seems like the new trend is to avoid the mid-season drop in favor of the pre-season drop, and we nearly had to offer up an au revoir and an auf wiedersehen to slippin with slipz, who suffered an unexpected roamer loss mere days before the season opener when Fearless bolted for aMazing Gaming. Luckily, there's an abundance of players in this game who can die senselessly 300 times in a season and slipz has acquired TF2 pug superstar java-B to do their roaming, which means that we can officially move into week one with sixteen alive teams; please let me say the same in my week two article.
In the last week of the preseason, there were several teams still trying to fill out a roster, and as of now, I believe every team has a full and complete starting six. The two biggest roster changes came at the medic position. The Angry Shrew received a phone call telling him he was going to make it to the big show and you can now watch him weave medical magic with Classic Mixup in Invite. LASER BEAMS had to shift their roster around to accommodate the move, with the ever-handsome Ben winding up on medic and the freshly-acquired MemphisVon picking up the Gunboats once more. Memphis will not be alone in making the move from Invite to Intermediate, as That's So Rando have replaced former medic m0nster with the LAN-proven Trekkie, who will spend one more season missing Toronto Blue Jays games in favor of yelling at his monitor – questionable call, Trekkie. Ricky Romero! Joey Bats!! Cito-ball!!! THE DINGERS!!!!
Now, on to the predictions themselves – here is how this will work out over the course of the regular season: Each week, I will pick eight games to predict. Some weeks, the match-ups are going to be a little more top heavy and those predictions might be comprised of nothing but the top four teams. In all other weeks, I will try to predict at least one match for every IM team. In future weeks, there may also be some quick cuts at the end of the article where I just pop through the remaining eight matches with a simple score. Presented in no particular order, here are your week one Intermediate predictions!
ESEA TF2 IM SEASON 11 - WEEK 1
Dead Dazzle vs xensity · cp_snakewater · Thu, Apr 12th at 1:30pm
Prediction: WD > xen 5-3 by djc-
Match of the Week. When asked about Xensity, most IM teams respond with “I don't know much about them.” The current LASER BEAMS roster came together about three days ago, so this is a collision of two mostly unknown quantities. If this match were played on DM alone, Xensity might win in a landslide. SoLIDSnaKE still has the best pipes in TF2, while blinky and Tony Swan are beasts in MGE and DM respectively. The edge in teamwork and smarts goes to LB, however, with myself and rline having been around since the days where CEVO ruled the world. The problem is if we can convert that intelligence and team play into success – breaking in a new roster is something that should be done over a month, not a week. Xensity face a similar concern, since they spent a large amount of the off-season planning to play with Hero on pocket and only recently picked up Tony Swan at scout.
What I see swinging the match in LB's favor is the medic play: CHE has a good bit of experience now, but his mechanics have always left something to be desired. Ben got to refine his mechanics on several combat classes before taking over the medic role and is already getting a reputation as being difficult to hit and harder to kill. I see Ben escaping more fights than CHE, keeping uber advantage up where most medics would falter, and then using those extra ubers to swing momentum in the opposite direction. SoLIDSnaKE and blinK will be the biggest players for Xensity; each one opens up huge holes for the other, and they are both very good at taking advantage of those openings and getting as much damage out as possible. Team leader Arc has made some major improvements to his game this off-season and I can see him being the key player if Xensity takes the match.
The Five Dollar Club vs Hentai Classy · cp_snakewater · Tue, Apr 10th at 1:00pm
Prediction: nl > 160GB 5-0 by djc-
While demoman is the dominant class on most maps, the impact he has on Snakewater can get ridiculous. Gremaud is pretty ridiculous all by himself, and combine that with the way the map plays – it could get ugly. Factor in the solid combo play of Caidh and pet, and Mayhem have a pretty massive advantage on the heavy classes. Ass Pounders are just not skilled enough or experienced enough to deal with someone as aggressive as Gremaud on middles. Look for Australian-pocket-turned-American-scout yuki to make some big plays for Ass Pounders, and I have also been impressed by the play of R1CKY on roamer, but I cannot see AP getting a round here.
Vector Gaming · cp_snakewater · Tue, Apr 10th at 12:00pm
Prediction: vec > BNGD 5-2 by djc-
Even though I predicted 5-2, the fights are going to be much closer than the score indicates. Submit a Ticket seem to struggle with keeping their medic up after engagements, while that is one of ninjanick's strengths. I can see a ton of back and forth pushing, with Vector perhaps losing teamfights and midfights but coming away with enough of an uber advantage to force the fight back. Look for the difference makers to be Milehighmilitia, who will be responsible for those uber advantages, and turtsmcgurt, who will head shoot many eager pushers from the safety of his last point. If you tune in, expect a long one – nobody loves heavies and sentry guns more than these teams.
High Rollers Gaming_ · cp_snakewater · Tue, Apr 10th at 12:30pm
Prediction: HRG > PLEASE 5-0 by djc-
I made a mistake submitting my prediction and this is supposed to be 5-1 to Thats So Rando. Whoops! While CSF have some talented players on the roster, Thats So Rando have them outclassed at every position. I want to give CSF a second round, but having scrimmed Rando a few times now, it feels like teams are going to really struggle dealing with their initial aggression. It can be hard enough to deal with technosex's initial jumps, but add in two more bombers and scouts rushing the point and it becomes overwhelming. Trekkie is also very good at keeping Loronix and ShitOnMyChest buffed as they first enter a fight, which is something the team was missing with m0nster on medic. Chriz tah Fah will put up a good fight on mids to keep his team in it, and I see spadez's sniping nullifying more than a few of Rando's pushes into last, but the difference in deathmatch ability and the constant pressure of two bombing soldiers will be too much for CSF to handle.
IM Illuminati vs egyptian flamingos · cp_snakewater · Thu, Apr 12th at 1:00pm
Prediction: iM < egypt 1-5 by djc-
I wavered a few times on this choice because I feel like it does a disservice to give SYOPS “just” one round. On the other hand, Mad Men is a certified Real Good team and are going to steamroll everyone they meet. But SYOPS dammit!! It is my understanding that Defy will be stepping in to one of the scout spots for this match and the following two; while that is a downgrade from either rr- or Namlay, the change should be negligible. The big determining factor in this match is -unf versus BlackDynamite. BD has pretty good DM, but plays this weird constantly aggressive style of demoman that I have never really seen before. It lets him put out good damage against mid and low teams, but baiting your demoman is a tactic that leaves you very vulnerable against top teams. I expect to see a big game out of bl4nk here since he will have a ton of room to maneuver, and look in nonis' direction if SYOPS start taking rounds and winning fights.
Watch The Throne vs The Teenage Cucumbers · cp_snakewater · Thu, Apr 12th at 2:07pm
Prediction: watche < SLIN 4-5 by djc-
This game might not have the highest level of TF2 played, but I can easily see it being the most exciting match of the week. Mustardoverlord versus StampeeD will be the battle to watch on mid, and I think I give the edge to Mustard. Ametrine and crus should be able to create more pressure than jstrange and scobra, although the latter two can definitely hold their own here. Slin's team has made a roster change, rotating St. Patrick to pocket and putting Fearless on roam; as much as I love warped, this should be an improvement. As with a lot of these other week one matches, medics should make a difference here. Slin is talkative and has good control over his team, but his mechanics can be iffy. His counterpart is playing out of Australia, and I know first-hand how annoying it can be trying to pop uber on high ping. Even if Tommunist never drops, the 200+ millisecond ping is going to force their ubers to come earlier than intended and in possibly weaker positions. I flipped a coin to determine who would win the ninth round, so congratulations to aMazing Gaming – I see Swarth making an impressive debut while StampeeD bears the load on the other side.
22d vs the post-woodpig destiny · cp_snakewater · Fri, Apr 13th at 12:30pm
Prediction: 22d > wupig 5-1 by djc-
Last season's Open winners just have too much talent to drop rounds to royalty here. Team iT come in sporting a strong combo with SS and huang, and royalty just do not seem to have the counter to that. While Grape is a good roamer and should have a strong game regardless, it feels like Drekwiz just is not a strong enough player to stand up to huang, especially not with Xlax and meb struggling to keep bumpy off of him. Things could change a bit if royalty fields Arizona in their starting lineup; he has been playing a variety of classes for them in recent matches and could be an impact player if he shows up in the match.
slippin with slipz · cp_snakewater · Fri, Apr 13th at 12:30pm
Prediction: canned < beaut 0-5 by djc-
Gucci Swag just picked up one of my favorite TF2 players in tyranny, so props for that – and that might be the only positive thing I say about the team here. Gucci will weakly tug at their restraints this season in an effort to break out of the bottom spot in IM, but this match is definitely not where they will shatter the chains. Slipz's team comes boasting plenty of talent in the form of former Invite pocket OhNoes (now on scout) and superstar rugby player Lucrative/Luciious on demoman. On Gucci's, doctorcameltoe has been one of the better demomen in open for two seasons running and I expect him to transition to IM-level play without much issue while also carrying the best Steam alias in the game in OFFICERMCLAWDOG birdwatcher. OhNoes' scout play is impressive for someone with as little experience on it as he has so I expect his play to be solid for slipz's side, and I can see Br0nze as Gucci's strongest player.
IM POWER RANKINGS - WEEK 1
1. Thats So Rando -- (~)
2. The Mad Men -- (~)
3. LASER BEAMS -- (~)
4. Mayhem -- (~)
5. Xensity -- (~)
6. Vector-Gaming -- (~)
7. Team iT -- (~)
8. aMazing Gaming -- (~)
I wish I had enough reason to change this just to stir up some discussion or something, but nah dude. Nah. I still have faith in my preseason eight to stick it out! One more week guys! PROVE ME RIGHT FOR ONE MORE WEEK!
Originally published on ESEA on 4/10/2012, 3:24 AM by djc-.
Archived from ESEA TF2 IM - Week 1 Predictions 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.