Half of the CAL season is now in the books. Just Cause Project is the only team which remains undefeated and only have Final Destination on their heels in the Gamma Division. The Delta division is as tight as it gets, four teams stand at 3-1 in the standings with only RW/RL and RPI separating them. Overall the season is going as expected as the top teams are on top of the standings. The only surprise is Nervedamage holding a 1-3 record, but they've faced some real tough competition and played them all close. It doesn't get any easier for them this week when they face jCp, and they've also lost some members.

Unfortunately we've had one casualty, as United 5 have folded their AA team. It was expected that one team wouldn't go the distance this CAL-I season, but still unfortunate to see it happen. Hopefully the rest of the teams stick it out to the end!

This week features Mountain Ambush as the map of choice. For the most part this is a mid-range map. Looking at the matchups, we should be in for some very tight matches. What is very interesting is that all four 3-1 teams from the Delta Division are facing each other this week. Unless both matches end in a tie, that 4 team lock will be broken this week, as these 4 teams will push for that first seed. Animus receives a BYE this week as their predetermined opponent of United 5 dropped out. The rest of the matchups are previewed below...

This week I had 2 new guest predictors for the invite matches. dude from Nervedamage (invite team) and toby from No Hesitation (main team) were the guest predictors. Read more for their takes on what will happen...

IceNine has a chance to pull off another huge upset against one of the top 4 teams in AA, Rising Storm. Some rS members already figure they have lost, as they speculate that i9 will use the no fog tweak/hack they are aware of. Hopefully there will only be the standard nvidia control panel tweaking and these 2 teams will play on even terms. If donmai can represent his long-range skills against an true invite team of rS, then this match could go either way, possibly in OT. rS has the more experienced and talented team overall, and have also recently acquired the services of xenotype.

Mr.Clean	dude	toby
I still believe rS is the best competitor for jCp this season and as they are a better team than i9, they will come out on top by 1 or 2 rounds.	Even though i9 has an extremely strong long range roster right now and has potential to beat rS, I dont think they will pull through mainly because of rS being a more experienced team. With their recent pickup of xeno, who is pretty good outdoors, pimp, jonny, and warpain will take this match.	Knowing rS, they prepped a lot for this match, and will be ready for i9. Unless i9 can pull off some major trickery I don't see them having a chance in hell of winning. 11-3 rS.

Chris has been teasing overRated with some screenshots of crazy tweaks that can be done with a certain program. I'm pretty sure it's a scare tactic, which won't really work, but will give oR an excuse if they lose. If epic of overRated is in fact inactive, then this will give Mug 'N Mouse the edge in this one for sure. Either way this is still very tough to call as oR will most definitely give it their best shot against their nemesis MNM.

Mr.Clean	dude	toby
I can sense the tension already, MNM is in good shape to win this one unless hendrix jinxes them in his return.	mNm is dying, and spanker if pretty inactive, along with their loss of noofy. If oR fields their right roster (scar osi eagle epic), they'll win	The only other close match this week. But /w out spanker I don't see mNm putting up much of a fight. I am sure Chris and Rabb are going to be able to hold their stuff but the other 2 players are gonna be the problem, along with one of them being the VIP. 9-5 oR.

It's pretty safe to say that mid to long range maps are not Even Flow's forte. Conviction seems to be more dedicated since the start of the season, and although they have the same record as eFlow, they should be the slight favorite here. This is an important match for these teams as the winner can potentially move into a tie for 3rd place.

Mr.Clean	dude	toby
If eFlow showed a better history on outdoor maps I'd pick a tie, but I have a feeling Conviction will come out on top by a few rounds.	A dedicated con that practices wont lose against a somewhat inactive eflow.	Gotta be MOTW, it's pretty much the only match that isn't gonna be a blow out IMO. Conviction seems like they are more active than eFlow but they did just lose to drp, so how good could they be. If coN prepared at all I see them taking this. 8-6 Con.

This is the 4th team in a row that Nervedamage has had to face that is ranked in the top 5 according to the GotFrag Top 10 Rankings. jCp is pretty nasty on this map, or any map for that matter. Without xenotype on their team anymore, it will make nd's task of taking down #1 jCp just that much harder.

Mr.Clean	dude	toby
nd should be able to ambush and eliminate jCp and their VIP a few rounds, but look for jCP to win double-digit rounds overall.	nd will probably 2v4 or 3v4, theres confirmed 2 already, maybe take 1 round or something, 1-13 loss.	nD is pretty much dead, but apparently they are trying to get 4 on for this match. Either way jCp would've wrecked them /w out any problem. 12-2 jCp.

 

Dropouts need to win this match to tie up the standings with FD-i. Final Destination will be the favorite to win this one as they have a better history on outdoor maps. If dropouts hold a strong ambush setup they could push this one to OT, and maybe grab a tie. It will be tough for them to beat FD on escort though unless they have strong rushes or pushes up B hill.

Mr.Clean	dude	toby
I'll go with the norm and pick FD-i to grab this by a narrow 8-6 margin, with a solid performance by both solidus and rainmaker.	Will be closer than alot of people think, if drp fields their strongest roster, but fd-i will prevail in the end. Potential to be an upset, but i dont see drp practicing much for MA.	FD-i isn't as active as they used to be;however, their team chemistry from playing together in invites for so long is solid and should make up for their activity woes. And plus drp is garbage. 10-4 fd-i.