(ESEAnews) - Hey guys, and welcome to the ESEA TF2 IM S13 Upper Round 2/Lower Round 1 Predictions, with matches for this round of the playoffs being played on Viaduct. Last week on Snakewater was full of many surprises, as three of the top four seeds in Chill to Good Ratio, The Runaway 5, and Mario Party Pros fell into the loser's brackets. We're now in the situation where the possibility of the #1 seeded Chill to good ratio could get knocked out in two straight games is quite high, especially with their recent roster change up at the end of the season which saw moonchild replaced for Deltafox. Moving into the second round of upper brackets, we have Kawaii 5-0, ostrich_poachers (instant breakfast), snailboats boat and The Tsukune-Meat Men (The Mad Men). Having already proven to be a wild run in the playoffs so far, this week's matches are sure to bring out more excitement in an already exciting playoffs.
ESEA TF2 IM SEASON 13 - UPPER ROUND 2 PREDICTIONS
WELOVEANIME · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Wed, Mar 20th at 2:15pm
Prediction: lovesit < BNGD 2-4 by Fog_
The first match of Upper Round 2, we have the match between snailboats boat and The Tsukune-Meat Men (formally known at The Mad Men). The last time these two teams faced off against each other was during Gravel Pit week, where The Meat Men suffered one of two losses of the season losing 2-1 in overtime to snailboats boat. Last week for snailboats boat saw the introduction of dummy on roamer, who will be the starting roamer for the duration of the playoffs for snailboats boat. The thing I noticed with dummy was that his play was average, nothing really spectacular and at some points lacklustre. He definitely has the game smarts to be a good roamer, but he needs more time on roamer before he can really shine.
As for The Meat Men, they played just about as expected against royalty (which was crushing them easily), especially with their roster back to full strength. It will be interesting to see how this game will play out, especially with The Meat Men looking for revenge for their loss against snailboats boat on Gravel Pit. This time around, I get a feeling that The Meat Men will have an upper hand over snailboats boat. It should be close, but I'm predicting this match to be 4-2 for The Meat Men over snailboats boat.
Sour Patch N***** vs Kawaii Washing Machines · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Wed, Mar 20th at 2:30pm
Prediction: PN < cl 3-4 by Fog_
The other match of Upper Round 2, we have Kawaii 5-0 going head to head against ostrich_poachers (formerly known as instant breakfast). The last time these two teams met was also during Gravel Pit week, where ostrich_poachers came away with the 2-0 victory over Kawaii 5-0. Since these two teams last played against each other, Kawaii 5-0 switched out topshotah with Remedy, while ostrich_poachers brought in Sezco to replace SOnMyChest. Both roster changes shouldn't really affect the match up this time around. Probably the biggest surprise from last week came from Kawaii 5-0, where they edged out the top seeded Chill to good ratio 5-4, sending them to the losers bracket. The team overall played a good, strong game, coming back from a 3-2 deficit in the first half to come away with the 5-4 victory.
On the other side of the court, ostrich_poachers had a close game of their own against Mario Party Pros, also coming back from a 3-2 first half score to eventually come away with the 5-4 victory over the #4 seeded Mario Party Pros. Like Kawaii 5-0, ostrich_poachers were able to turn on the jets when it really mattered and were able to secure themselves the win. This match should definitely be a really close match, but at the end of the day, I'm going to put my money on the ostrich_poachers to be able to come away with the victory 4-3.
ESEA TF2 IM SEASON 13 - LOWER ROUND 1 PREDICTIONS
Chill to good ratio vs Dragonball Jav · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Wed, Mar 20th at 2:00pm
Prediction: chill < dbj 2-4 by Fog_
Moving on to the Lower Round matches, the first match has the #1 seed Chill to good ratio going up against the #4 seed Mario Party Pros. These two teams last played against each other during Process week, where Chill to good ratio came away with the narrow 5-4 victory over Mario Party Pros. From the last time these two teams played against each other, Chill to good ratio replaced their starting scout in moonchild with DeltaFox (and not Lambert as I originally expected), with shrew coming in to fill the vacant medic spot left by DeltaFox. As for Mario Party Pros, they switched up their scouts from rastsy to watt. I think that the switch in scouts so late in the season really hurt Chill to good ratio, and it showed in their match against Kawaii 5-0. It's also been brought to my attention that the team doesn't scrim any more due to the recent roster shifts, a bad sign for those who had their money on Chill to good reaching the finals (myself included).
As for their opponents in Mario Party Pros, this team has a lot of skill coming from their players. The team is especially skilled when it comes to their off-classing abilities, whether it be Mangachu's spy play or watt's sniping abilities. These off-classing abilities should definitely play into their successes on Viaduct, as the map rewards the use of Spy and Sniper. We could be seeing ourselves a complete collapse from Chill to good ratio, as they are on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs. I'm going to predict that this will be the end of the road for Chill to good, with Mario Party Pros taking it 4-2.
The Five Dollar Club vs the post-woodpig destiny · koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 · Fri, Mar 22nd at 2:00pm
Prediction: nl > wupig 4-1 by Fog_
The other match of Lower Round 1 has the #3 seed The Runaway 5 going up against the #7 seed royalty. The last time these two teams faced off was during Snakewater week, where The Runaway 5 were able to come away with the 5-3 victory over royalty. Since that match, r5 replaced foster with xalox on scout, and royalty replaced cringe with Devlin on scout. The Runaway 5's first match of the playoffs against snailboats boat did not go very well for them, with their overall game looking especially flat from the get go. I do have to wonder if it's due to xalox being put out of his element on Demoman to play scout. Nevertheless, I feel that they have a much better chance this time against royalty then they did last week on Snakewater.
As for royalty, their match went pretty much as expected (them losing 5-0 in quick fashion). However, you can't fault a team like royalty for their match having to play against the best team in IM. Like The Runaway 5, royalty should have a much better time this week then they did last week on Snakewater, but will have to put a lot of work in if they are going to do so. From a first glance, this looks to be a match that will go easily in The Runaway 5's favour. However, I do believe that royalty have the ability to at least put up a few good rounds against r5. At the end of the day, I believe that The Runaway 5 will be able to knock out royalty from the playoffs with a 4-2 victory.
Originally published on ESEA on 3/20/2013, 2:28 PM by Fog_.
Archived from ESEA S13 TF2 IM UR 2/LR 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.