(ESEAnews) - With not even a day to rest our playoff contenders move on to their second round matches. We saw pretty normal results come out of the first round without too many odd results. I was surprised that Sunday Funday took four rounds off of Community Clown College though. Likewise, I didn't expect to see If You Had Fun score four rounds off of Brackets before losing. The only slight upset we saw was Normalcool beating Playground Tactics 5-3. Our teams will play this round's matches on viaduct
I think this round will have a lot of potentially close matches. We have some good matchups in both the upper and lower brackets as well as some highly anticipated rematches. In particular I am looking forward to seeing Pwr Rangers vs. Disposable Heroes and Brackets vs. Srvr Depopulation Squad. You guys don't even read the intros do you? Alright, then on with this round's predictions.
ESEA TF2 OPEN S12 PLAYOFFS - UPPER ROUND 2
Community Clown College · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Fri, Oct 19th at 2:00pm
Prediction: cc > heh 4-1 by Deathanchor
After winning their close match against Playground Tactics, they now move on to play our number one seed, Community Clown College. Tactics has previously lost to CCC right at the start of their mid-season losing streak 1-5 on granary. I don't think things will be a whole lot different here on viaduct. I know CCC has no problems playing on viaduct and I don't see an upset here being very likely. I do think that Normalcool will put up a better fight here than Playground Tactics would, so I'm glad they ended up winning their match against them last round. I know CCC did drop four rounds just last match to Sunday Funday, however I'm thinking that Normalcool will not be able to get that close. I'm predicting CCC win the match 4-1.
6cuties_ vs There Will Be Justice · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Fri, Oct 19th at 2:00pm
Prediction: 6cut < fvck 3-4 by Deathanchor
Ah, now this should be one of the closer matches. Brackets and Srvr Depopulation Srvr have played before on this very same map. Brackets won that match 4-1 without too much trouble. This time around I think Depopulation will be able to push the score a lot closer and have certainly improved since they played brackets back in August. I am still a little unsure of Bracket's current strength with their new lineup , especially after they dropped four rounds to If You Had Fun. Maniac did not carry Brackets by any means, but I want to say that they are still not looking quite as strong without him in addition to them swapping medics and soldiers around. So with those things in mind, I'm guessing this rematch is going to be a lot closer than their first meeting. I'm guessing that Brackets will still win, but am calling the score as 4-3.
The Preservation Project vs ill · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Fri, Oct 19th at 2:00pm
Prediction: sadzone > ill 4-3 by Deathanchor
Next up is Pwr Rangers vs. Disposable Heroes. These teams have played previously on granary, which Heroes won 5-4. Viaduct may be a complete different map, but I'm seeing a similar result happening here. Frozen carried Rangers pretty hard against Heroes last match, which I think is going to a lot harder for him to do as pocket on viaduct. Viaduct is more of a scout friendly map which should give Hero's the advantage with the combined work of Sezco and Dumbbrain. Ranger's scouts aren't shabby, but in comparison to Hero's there is enough of a gap to make a difference here on viaduct. I think Rangers will still have an edge on combo, but I don't think that will be enough for them to walk away with the match. Predicting a close 4-3 Heroes victory.
Monstarss vs Dragonball Jav · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Fri, Oct 19th at 2:00pm
Prediction: MON < dbj 2-4 by Deathanchor
Ouch, eGO can't be happy to see Hard 2 Kill this early in the tournament on viaduct. I think eGO has a strong 5_cp game (minus badlands) and would have had a much better shot against Hard 2 Kill later on in another map. eGO did win both of their regular season viaduct matches, but both were against lower open teams and I still feel like this isn't going to be a favorable match up for them. Hard 2 Kill was able to beat eGO previously by just a single round when they played on granary. So now on viaduct, I think that H2K is going to be able to end things a little quicker. Both teams have equally effective combos in my opinion, so the match is likely going to come down to the other classes. eGO should get some rounds though and I'll settle with a 4-2 H2K prediction.
ESEA TF2 OPEN S12 PLAYOFFS - LOWER ROUND 1
Sunday Funday vs deadground tactics · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Fri, Oct 19th at 2:00pm
Prediction: ask4 < rip 2-4 by Deathanchor
Time for the lower round predictions. First up is Playground Tactics vs. Sunday Funday. Both teams had narrow losses last round and should put up a good fight against each other here. These teams met all the way back during the first week of play of gullywash. Playground Tactics won that match 5-0. Now moving all the way to the second round of playoffs, both teams have kept fairly consistent lineups. Tactics has swapped out scouts a few times but in either case I expect them to be at a high level of play. This time around I think Funday should come closer to taking the win. Both teams did well during their viaduct matches, but I think Funday will be stronger here than they were on gullywash. Calling a 4-2 win for Playground Tactics.
Team Echelon vs swagswagswagswagswagswag · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Fri, Oct 19th at 2:00pm
Prediction: ecH < swags 2-4 by Deathanchor
So after predicting several close matches, we now come to one I'm thinking will be over a good deal faster. If You Had Fun's players have quite a bit more ESEA experience under there belt than Team Echelon, and I'm thinking that is going to make a big difference in their match-up. If You Had Fun has won rounds off of numerous top ten teams including victories over Normalcool and Playground Tactics. I cannot say the same about Echelon in any of their top ten encounters besides their recent match against Depopulation Squad where they scored two rounds. Echelon does have some new recruits they were messing around with using last round that might be able to shake things up a bit. Or should I say shakedown? (Get it? It's one of their player's names) -fail humor- Predicting a 4-0 win for If You Had Fun.
Koala 6 vs 1SubLimE · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Fri, Oct 19th at 1:00pm
Prediction: k6 > sub1 4-3 by Deathanchor
Now here we have another possible upset, and I'm actually going to go with this one. With their scout combo back in business, Koala 6 did fairly well last round against Disposable Heores taking three rounds. They have yet to play against Cosmic Brownie Swag, but I am liking their chances. Cosmic does have some players who I think could give Koala's some trouble but not enough to really shut down their scouts. Then to make things even harder, Cosmic is having to play them on one of their stronger maps. Koalas did lose to Gank and the Meisters on viaduct during the regular season but where not using their starting lineup for the match. Cosmic should be stronger on the heavy classes but fall just short of taking this match. Predicting Koala 6 win 4-3.
The Collective vs blank and the meisters · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Fri, Oct 19th at 1:00pm
Prediction: BORG > haboob 4-3 by Deathanchor
Okay I have to admit I was a little confused going into this pred. Gank and the Meisters have had some impressive results against some better teams during the regular season beating both If You Had Fun and Koala 6. Old School Ballahs did take a round off of Community Clown College in addition to also having a solid viaduct win over Immortal 6. The biggest factor though is the fact that Old School Ballahs has already beaten Gank 5-2 on badlands. This time around I think Ballahs should be able to take another win. I'm willing to bet it will be closer this time though, and am going to say that Ballahs will win 4-3.
Originally published on ESEA on 10/19/2012, 10:29 AM by Deathanchor.
Archived from ESEA S12 TF2 Open - UR2 / LR1 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.