(ESEAnews) - Welcome back to ESEANews for another installment of TF2 Open predictions. We had quite an eventful first week of results with league-favorite Ultimate Killing Machine losing to Juanetic Gaming 2 to 5. In addition my predictions overall didn’t do so hot, as I ended up getting three of the results wrong. Well I guess that’s above average eh? We also have a lot of rosters go through some serious revamping. Some of which could turn out to be potential top teams.
Anyway I think a lot of teams are relived that snakewater week has come and gone. This is especially true for the teams that had to play in week 0 and go through three straight matches of it. Now we move on to viaduct. Easily one of the smallest and most chaotic maps, upsets are not unlikely on the medpick-heavy week of viaduct. This week we don’t have quite as many epic-matchups between top teams, but still have some close calls to talk about. I thank you for putting up with my transition into our new article format. So enough filler, on with the preds.
ESEA TF2 OPEN SEASON 11 - WEEK 2
SUP DOE vs Sinners Truck Problems · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Mon, Apr 23rd at 1:30pm
Prediction: doe < ohfuck 2-4 by Deathanchor
We have a pretty big match here to start off our week two predictions. Juanetic Gaming just came off a huge upset victory over Ultimate Killing Machine, and is defiantly looking to be the better-oiled team here against Fluffy. Juanetic showed off some great uber use which might not be as important here on viaduct. I think if Fluffy and crew can play this map with some aggression and go for some riskier plays than usual, they could score more than a round off Juanetic. Thr4sher is a skilled roamer who I’m sure would no complaints being told to bomb the med more often. Still it’s going to be quite a challenge for Fluffy, as I still am putting my money on Juanetic here. They are just too strong to have a slight curveball like viaduct to throw them off. I’m calling a 4-2 Juanetic win.
AG Unagi vs inactive dead · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Mon, Apr 23rd at 1:18pm
Prediction: AG > deadddd 4-2 by Deathanchor
Here we have an interesting matchup that I am most certainly not looking forward to predicting. On one side we have Slam who I know is a solid top five or top ten team. On the other we have Trinity who with their recent roster changes left me wondering where they will fit into the big picture of standings. Slam DID drop two rounds against Soft Serve which was a bit of a surprise to me. Soft Serve in my opinion is right around the middle of the league, so I would not have guessed them to play as well as they did against Slam. Trinity is certainly going to a more difficult foe than Soft Serve. Scouts can get pretty frag-happy on viaduct, and I know Slam’s scouts are more than capable so I’m banking on them to pull their team through on this one. I’m going with 4-2 Slam.
haha lol vs deadground tactics · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Thu, Apr 19th at 11:30am
Prediction: haha > rip 4-1 by Deathanchor
I’ve been looking forward to predicting a New Map Thugz match, as they didn’t have any interesting ones last week. On-par with my speculation, both of their week one matches were clean 5-0 results. This week however they are going to have to turn up the heat to play the much-improved Soft Served. Last season Soft finished with an even 8-8 record, but have since picked up Jay on medic and Rave on soldier. They aren’t quite enough to cause an upset here against Thugz, but should be able to give them more of a challenge than week one. While watching Thugz I would keep an eye on both afro and foster. Afro has plenty of open experience, and foster has made great measures to improve his scout game after taking a season off. Being a newly-formed team, Thugz probably do not have the best teamwork in open, but viaduct should let them get away with being more dm oriented than say a regular 5_cp map. Going with a 4-1 New Map Thugz victory.
Multiple Scorgasms vs Chill to good ratio · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Mon, Apr 23rd at 12:00pm
Prediction: gasm > chill 4-1 by Deathanchor
Multiple Scoregasms is one of those teams I overlooked in my preseason article. Now that I have had a second look at them, I am defiantly moving them up into my power rankings. Neither their match against Anceint Aliens nor Edge Gamers is telling of their strength though. Both of these matches were pretty one-sided, and I think their roster gives a better explanation. Zakrill, Blindtalent, and Oafmeal are huge names to have on an Open roster. Even though it appears Blindtalent plans on offclassing some matches, he still is going to plow through many of the teams here in Open. This week, their stronger opponent is probably going to be Mission 5. Mission 5 has some recent pickups including Cosa and Sleepy from BukLau/Squirrel Clickers/Whatever you remember them by. These are both certainly upper-open players who I think combined with swedes on pocket could give Scoregasms some trouble. I think if Scoregasms ends up sticking to their mains, the match won’t be terribly close. Still, I got to give a round to Mission 5, as I don’t see it being a total roll. 4-1 Multiple Scoregasms.
SWAG PANTALONES vs Taylor Swift Experience · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Thu, Apr 19th at 12:00pm
Prediction: swag > Hungry 4-3 by Deathanchor
Here we have the first match of the article that I can confidently say will be neck and neck. Both of these teams are midish-upper open teams I think, that are bound to have a good match here on viaduct. Both Swag Pantalones and Moosefortress come into this match with two wins a piece, with Moose having a loss due to a match against br0pen. The biggest player on Swag Pantalones would probably be Cranberry. His demoman game when he was on The Pharmacy/Immortal 6 was one of the best in Open if you ask me. I remember when he first started he became known for over-extended and all-to-frequent suicidal plays. Since then, I think he has evened out and has learned to play more defensively for the benefit of his team. Then we have Moosefortress, who I briefly talked about last week. I think they are all-around a little weaker than Swag, but their strong scout duo should help close the gap and turn this match into a nail biter. I’m not positive on either team’s sniping ability at this point, but that may also turn into a deciding factor here on viaduct. 4-3 Swag.
cant play- hl match vs Treason · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Thu, Apr 19th at 12:30pm
Prediction: HLx420x < JtheT 3-4 by Deathanchor
Here we have yet another contender for a close matchup. HL Match comes in with one more win on the record than Treason, which included a close 5-4 victory over Soft Served during week 0. Treason’s strength is a little harder to judge seeing that they got flattened their first match then rolled Puffins for their second. Looking at the map for this matchup, I would say viaduct would actually favor HL Match. Dm ability is crucial here, and I know both Zen and Synchro can put up a lot of frags. Treason can be pretty crafty with their utilities, which I think should help make up somewhat for their less than spectacular dm skill. Both teams have about equal combos, so I am betting the outcome of this one will come down to the other position’s performance. Overall I think Can’t Play HL Match will have a slight advantage, so I am going to say 4-3 them.
FROM DOWNTOWN vs BIG BOYS · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Fri, Apr 20th at 2:00pm
Prediction: dtown < BIG 1-4 by Deathanchor
Big Boys are another team that I have been looking forward to writing about. They haven’t quite convinced me they are worthy of a power ranking position yet, but I know they are a strong open contender. Big Boys have maintained a good amount of players from their lineup last season as Superfriends. Notable players on their team include dunce, hooli, and their latest pickup, –pt. Big Boys had an easy opening week and should get their first real test here against From Downtown. Despite their current 0-2 record which includes a FFL, From Downtown is actually quite a decent team. My favorite player of theirs would have to be b1narystar and Dodecagon. I knew b1nary as a soldier, so I was surprised to see him running scout. Big Boys might hit a few bumps during the match, but I don’t see them losing very many rounds. If they were already near top ten statuses last season, I don’t see them dropping their win streak quite yet. 4-1 Big Boys.
Sour Patch N***** vs The Runaway 5 · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Mon, Apr 23rd at 11:30am
Prediction: PN > r5 4-2 by Deathanchor
When I first glanced at this matchup, I was a little intimidated by it. Having to predict a recently defeated team who I thought was the strongest against another top team seemed like a near impossible call to make. Would UKM continue the streak and fall yet again? Or was their defeat against Juanetic simply a bad night for them? Srsly br0pen is defiantly close in skill to Juanetic , so they were probably relived to see UKM are indeed able to be defeated. But then I realized that the map this week actually made my decision a lot easier. Viaduct should help UKM with some of the coordination problems they must face while offclassing. Because let me tell you, doggles on demoman is nowhere near the level of doggles on soldier. Viaduct should be far more manageable than a 5_cp map for UKM. Then if srsly br0pen isn’t quite up to Juanetic’s level as I am speculating, then a UKM victory is even more likely. I have a bad feeling we will see Heavy pop up somewhere along the line here….4-2 UKM.
The Runaway 5 vs ChocolateNegroExtrafino · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Mon, Apr 23rd at 1:30pm
Prediction: r5 < negro 1-4 by Deathanchor
Ah another br0pen match for me to predict. I thought this match was worth covering because it will give me a chance to cover br0pen’s opponent briefly. ChocolateNegroExtrafino isn’t the strongest of open teams, but I think this will easily be their best season to date. They have made some key additions to their lineup such as lyse on scout. Their most recent match against Internet Superheroes turned out to be a bust, as they were only able to come up with five players for the match. With trip-ups like that out of the way, Chocolate could very well place high in the standings. They also have TrashKubrick playing for them who has some of the best direct pipes I have seen, defiantly one of the strongest demos in open this season. Now br0pen is just a little too much for them to handle. I think against a lower top ten team I would be calling for a close match, but br0pen is going to have them outplayed on almost every position except demo. If Chocolate can get their ducks in row for getting six starting players, they should win about a round. 4-1 br0pen.
OPEN POWER RANKINGS - WEEK 2
1. Juanetic Gaming -- (UP 1)
2. Ultimate Killing Machine -- (DOWN1)
3. Drugs Are Illegal -- (~)
4. Srsly Br0pen-- (~)
5. Plus Forward or Bust -- (~)
6. Shut Up and Slam -- (~)
7. Multiple Scoregasms -- -- (NEW)
8. New Map Thugz -- (DOWN1)
9. Reloaded -- (DOWN1))
10. Trinity Gaming -- -- (NEW)
Lots of movement happened in the rankings this week. We also have two new teams up on the list. Both Multiple Scoregasms and Trinity got the bump up, with Scoregams jumping in at 7 after realizing “blah, I missed an obvious top ten team”. Naturally since we are still early on the season there are bound to be more teams I overlooked. The rankings are still very dynamic the second week and we are likely to see more big jumps and falls next week. Juanetic and UKM switched places after their match result. UKM could potentially retake the spot if Juanetic slips up in the future and UKM gets their A game going. Direct matchup results are usually the best way to determine strength, but it isn’t always the end all be all if their records are wildly different.
That does it for this week. Yay writing ESEA articles at 4AM! Go out there and play some TF2 for me will ya?
Originally published on ESEA on 4/16/2012, 6:42 PM by Deathanchor.
Archived from ESEA TF2 Open Season 11 - Week 2 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.