TWL Finals Preview

The TWL Inter Finals was expected to be a showdown between 2 undefeated teams (rS and oR), but IceNine would have none of this as they eliminated overRated in a 3 set duel in the Semifinals. Neither of these teams have ever won a TWL League title. The old Rising Storm came closest when the lost to Instruments of God in the Invite final back in 2005. This is IceNine's first time in the finals.



Rising Storm (10-0) vs IceNine (8-2-0)

Rising Storm was missing one of their starters for the match against Dropouts last week in the semis. Urban Assault was the first map played, and Rising Storm was set back as they lost the set 7-3. This almost proved to be very costly, since they started on defense on their map Pipeline in the next set, and only won 3 of the first 5 rounds. They picked up their play on assault and grabbed 3 rounds of 5, which is quite a feat, and gave them a 6-4 set win forcing OT. As Rising Storm were the home team they started the overtime map of Border as defense. They set the tone early and secured all 3 rounds, Dropouts had the overall round advantage so if they were able to win all their rounds on defense the tied would have given them the win by virtue of rounds won. Knowing this was the case, Rising Storm didn't want to waste any rounds on assault, they went on to win the first round of assault and secured the match win with a 4-0 result on Border.

IceNine started the match against overRated on Urban Assault, since the underdog's map is played first. IceNine was confident going in considering UA is a map they've had plenty of success on. They know all the tricks in the book on this map, the biggest unknown factor was not Donmai, but the fact that they had no idea what to expect from oR on Urban. Once it got going, it started very even, and IceNine's star wh!z won the first 3 rounds all in 1v1 battles, he showed just how good he really is on this map. This pretty much destroyed oR's confidence, and i9 went on to win the first 6 rounds and already secure the win. The match ended with i9 winning 9-1. overRated came back in the second set on tunnel and showed IceNine what's up as they dominated the set by a score of 8-2. The 2 rounds won by i9 were enough to give them the edge going into OT. This would force oR to have to win 4 of the 6 rounds on Border otherwise i9 would win the match. Starting on assault IceNine grabbed 2 rounds out of 3, meaning overRated would have to sweep assault. That attempt failed in the first round, and IceNine won the set 3-1.


Set 1: Urban Assault

Rising Storm will need to rebound from a very poor showing on Urban last week where they lost to Dropouts 7-3. They will need their best possible roster in order to beat IceNine on their top map. If IceNine rosters the same 4 as last week, there's a good chance they can take this set. Jonny will have to lead his troops with an excellent performance to give Rising Storm a chance to win. The players to look out for in this set are wh!z, donmai, jonny and warpain. I can see this match going back and forth from round to round right to the end. IceNine will really have to push to win this set to give them a chance to win the overall match.
Prediction: rS = i9 4-4-2.

Set 2: Mout McKenna

Mout is a map where Rising Storm has a definite advantage. Their top players jonny and warpain tend to excel in Mout matches, where jonny gets some great shots, and warpain demonstrates his superior CQB skills. IceNine will have to use some creativity in their rushes/pushes if they are to take this set. Rising Storm has the experience and intelligence to adjust quickly to everything thrown at them. As long as their shots are on like usual, they shouldn't have too much problem winning this set.
Prediction: rS > i9 7-3 and securing them the championship.

Set 3: Sandstorm

If IceNine does manage to take the first set on Urban, chances are this 3rd set on Sandstorm will have to be played. IceNine is capable of beating some of the better teams on this map, but they are also capable of getting romped on. I do believe Rising Storm eliminated IceNine in the CEVO tourney on this very map when they won rather convincingly (either 8-3 or 11-3). This time there is only 6 rounds to play, so anything can happen. There is very little room for mistakes, and the winning team will likely be the one that plays smartest and takes proper advantage of odd-man situations. Rising Storm's roster is definitely deeper in skill and experience on this map, so unless they play terrible, or if IceNine has their best performance ever, I don't see rS losing.
Prediction: rS > i9 4-1 (if necessary).