GotFrag eSports

CAL-Main Playoffs Round 2 Lennon Predictions

Unreachable [1]

vs.

ARMY [8]

I had the opportunity to play some South Americans on lennon last night and I'm not too sure if it was the map or the way these kids played but I got absolutely dominated. Note that I am not good. Regardless, ping always plays a difference and right now I think ARMY is in a position to hurt Unreachable more than most teams with their pings. We all know that it's not an advantage for ARMY, but it absolute kills the mentality of opposing teams, and I get the impression that Unreachable has tired of putting out much effort with DoD. Things like camping on donner and tolerating 200 ping aren't high on their wish list, and that's why I think ARMY shouldn't be too intimidated by 0|K's #1 seed. It seems that hostile went back to focus on CS for the time being and that brings KiLeN up to bat, but he's a good rifle that knows how to play the game for his team rather than himself. On long I believe Unreachable will feature girkins and rickman, and I've heard that makhen is not a sniper to be taken lightly. Those two are going to have to make some nice shots if they want to control long.

For ARMY, they have a few strengths, one of which is makhen, as I've already mentioned. If makhen is the sniper I've heard he is, him vs. girkins could be the best sniper battle of the week, and I'm interested to see how that plays out. Lampro has become one of the best South American players in DoD these days, and he's certainly one of the best known, so I expect him to have a very strong game as he usually does. Flanking them will be kurczz and Hap, two very skilled players who have displayed solid play for a long time, though less noticed than makhen or Lampro. Last week they were able to put together a performance good enough to knock out mtan convincingly AND drive ghandi to anger, so I expect another such performance this week.

I'm going to have to stick with Unreachable on this one. They've yet to play ARMY so it's hard to tell, but even if they had I believe that ARMY is altogether a different team right now than they were at the beginning of the season, and much more dominant. Unreachable is just seemingly unstoppable right now though. I would have to say that their specialty is fast maps, a category that lennon would easily fall into. Their one loss came on solitude (and their overturned loss came on donner), two very slow maps that they don't seem to have the patience for. So lennon should be a welcome week for Unreachable and I expect them to take advantage of it. This match should be close, because ARMY has a lot more to offer at this point than most teams give them credit for. But right now, and especially on a map like lennon, Unreachable is a very apropos name for the team, and I'm going to give them the edge this week.

Todo's Prediction: Unreachable by 50+

.o/ ---------- > a win
unreachable

s'nwonknu Prediction: Unreachable by 500/3++

Unreachables first match of playoffs and a FRUSTRATING one it will be. ARMY has already driven gHanDi away from the game, after the somewhat impressive win over MTan last week on harrington. But sorry to say, 0|k just has the more impressive lineup. ARMY does have some skilled player but they dont touch 0|k. ARMYs best area on this map will be where ever Lampro goes, other than that i have a feeling 0|k will handle it. May the most laggy win~!

Players: Lampro, clutch

seaN's Prediction: Unreachable by 150-

Well, there are 2 ways this could go down. Neither of which favor ARMY. First, ARMY can just play straight up and get dominated on lennon (hudson pretty much wrecks this entire map), or they can still lose but pull a =TPT=, packet hudson (LOL REMEMBER THAT ONE TIME WITH PACKETDOGZ?) cause him to drop out, but still have to contend with MeMeMMons. Lampro and Mahken are always the 2 to watch from this team. Lampro is amazing, and a delightful chap. However, it is worth
mentioning that Argentina did win in the World Cup. So, kudos to their
countrymen.

mitch's Prediction: Unreachable by 200

With one glance at unreachable's roster you can see that they are immensely skilled individually in every department, and have loads and loads of main and invite experience. With recent wins over cal-main favourite JETTY and a strong irawr team, the rested crew is sitting on a 6-game winning streak (not counting FF wins) and they won't be slowing down any time soon. They have come together really well this season, and each player knows their part. They are so strong that even if they had to use 2 or 3 backups this week the outcome would still be the same. They are poised to win cal-main and want it so bad even I can taste it.

Notching a 7-5 win record going into playoffs, ARMY didn't look too promising, and most people, including myself, didn't expect them to get past the first round. Well, they sure proved us wrong with an excellent win over Monitor Tan, winning by almost 200 points. They are out to prove themselves this season, led by lampro and his rifle of doom. However, as valiant as their effort must have been last week, it is clear to me that their road ends here.

The two teams have never met this season, but I have no doubt that on a map like lennon, both fast-paced and skill-based, that unreachable won't have too much trouble getting the win. I wouldn't be surprised to see ARMY get one or two caps, either, but they are no match for the best team in CAL-main, especially at this point in the season. Look for strong performances from girkins and lampro in their respective roles.

Slaughter's Prediction: Unreachable by 160+

JETTY [2]

vs.

irawrgamers [7]

As of now there are a few questions surrounding this match for each team, questions whose answers will affect the results fairly significantly. First, how is WickedPete doing on the sniper? He's been heavying for quite some time now and I don't know if he's ever sniped, and if he has, when it was. Chances are that he's not as dominant as propaganda, but it's hard to say as of now. Second, how is irawr dealing with wp being on GIMP's CPL roster and xpx and odm distracted by TAP? They were never the most active team, but with even more distractions, I can't imagine that they'll come into this match with much more than basic teamwork and a quick strat, with the rest relying on their skill.

For JETTY, which group of 6 will they bring to this match? I mentioned this in the team overview but once again, will it feature pyrite and pumpkin or ox and buzzbee? The difference is significant, I believe, so if JETTY can bring their ideal 6 then they'll have a MUCH better chance of dominating this match as they have in the past. And how effective will their heavies be in apartments? Right now it appears that it'll be surge and buzzbee going up against norecoil and xpx. xpx and surge, both of TAP fame but at separate times, have gone their separate ways and each become very good heavies in their own right. I know JETTY doesn't scrim much, and this could hurt surge and buzzbee against two heavies as skilled as xpx and norecoil.

On long I'm going to go with JETTY. Steve Hisey has become a very good sniper (assuming he snipes this match) and my guess is that WickedPete is a little rusty. If Hisey can get into position off of initial and pick wp a few times, it'll be a straight cruise from there. On rifles it appears to be a fairly even match-up. jg, ox and stiffmaster are all very experienced rifles, as are irawr's trio, and this could come down to which group will work best together. There are only so many places to go on lennon and rifles are typically somewhat powerless against a good set of heavies in apartments, but I'm going to side with JETTY on rifles because I think they're a more connected group than irawr. And finally, heavies will be a very even match-up as I described above. xpx has emerged as a top heavy and norecoil is right there with him, but buzzbee and surge have been dominant all season and it won't be easy to take them down. Once again, I'm going to give this side to JETTY. Despite most of the map being in JETTY's favor, at least in my eyes, each part is a fairly close matchup and I believe that it will take a bit for JETTY to break down irawr by holding flags successfully. It'll start off close, but I believe that JETTY will be up by a fair amount by the end.

Todo's Prediction: JETTY by 75+

Irawr wins by defualt considering they have the best site ever. Also, that alex surge kid is a baddy mc badster.

s'nwonknu Prediction: irawr by 1,000,000 points

irawr came into the first round of playoffs without gary and nick. Nicks
Step grandmother has died, sorry buddy (RIP). But back to dod, Jericho made an impresive appearance against nwp and held his own. Irawr has been playing very sloppy (imo) as of late. The sloppy play including people not playing their guns, ect. But they are still winning matches and basically... thats all the matters. Irawr should think about putting people on the gun they are best with and practice for this match, or else not much is going to happen for them. The always impressive Jetty will be comming into this match unprepared as usual, scrim one time before the match and they are good to go! After losing to Unreachable in their last matchup they might try a little harder, but then again they are playing DOTA a lot now. How do you predict a matchup when you have No idea where anyone is going? Who the fuck is even going to be playing for irawr? Only time will tell, and it will be monday.

Players: Hack_User, xpx

seaN's Prediction: jetty by 50+

Ya'll ready to ride the JETTY? irawr is suffering from a stable 6. Jetty is just solid all the way. I was shocked that they lost to zerokelvin on donner a few weeks ago. Maybe there is something in that armor that wickedpete can exploit with whoever is starting. Not having Prop sniping is a serious detriment for irawr. This should not be a close match as hisey may create significant problems for irawr, especially allied half.

mitch's Prediction: Jetty by 150+

irawr has had a decent season and carry no FF wins or losses with their record. They have beaten the teams they were expected to, and lost to the teams they were expected to. Their most impressive wins would be over aborted and no Luck, two teams still in the playoff running the I would normally expect to beat them. They had a strong showing last week on harrington, beating systemelite (as expected) and will be quite a challenge for JETTY.

JETTY is fresh off a week's rest and has had an extraordinary season, as many predicted. Along with many others, I wouldn't be surprised to see them in finals. Led by john and surge, they are a powerhouse team dedicated to winning cal-main. They earned their spot as the number 2 seed by laying almost every single match, and only lost twice all season to an invite move-up and in the last week of regular season to the number 1 seed Unreachable. They have an awesome looking roster and have won almost every match by over 100 points.

Although many of you might see this as a blowout, I believe that is not the case. The two did not meet in the regular season, and irawr has performed very, very well against some of main's top teams. On a map like lennon I would expect a lot of streaks from each teams leaders, no more than 5 capouts combined, and just a great game to watch. Whoever can control apartments the best and make those game-saving breaks at the double-caps. I think JETTY might also be a little shaken up after losing by just two points, and the time off might not be what they wanted. But still, I'm forced to go with JETTY because of their impressive record and more impressive showings against the same teams irawr has faced. That and the fact they have surge and buzzbee.

Players to watch: buzzbee, propaganda

Slaughter's Prediction: JETTY by 100-

Aborted [3]

vs.

no Luck [6]

Aborted has me feeling like I'm the worst predicter week in and week out because rarely do they do what I expect them to do. It amazes me that they can fall down hard enough to lose to irawr by a few hundred but pull out a convincing win over no Luck. Maybe I need to reevaluate what I think of these teams, or maybe Aborted is just really inconsistent. It appears that there's an unfortunate situation going on right now for Aborted in which they're stuck with a CAL roster of people who won't be with them at the end of the season, which could create some tension. They picked up haps, mexicant, and netherhell for CPL, I believe, which means that their CAL roster is half committed and half wanting to get out. Tension is a nono.

As for no Luck, they seem to be on top of their game, but I believe that their reputation is a bit better at DoD than they are. They're generally feared for their online play and a big deal was made about their sub-par w2z performance followed by a subpar online performance against JETTY, but they've shown that they can be beat, and by Aborted, no less. Once again, their weakness is in their heavies and with ProstaR going apartments, he's most likely going to have a field day. It will be up to iorio to dominate long without much help because chances are that whomever accompanies him at long will need to go into the apartments and help a fair amount. On rifles I believe that they'll hold the edge over gloin and company, and I expect gloin to say the word "CPL" at least 20 times per half. For the record, that's slightly over 3 more than his average usage of the acronym.

As it stands I'm calling for the upset. osto is good but iorio is better, and he should be able to hold long and then push to hold them at spawn to the best of his abilities. I see Aborted having the 3rd flag for most of the match as Cody dominates no Luck's inferior heavies, and he should be able to help out at well too. But I don't think it'll be enough, and I see no Luck taking well for the most part. In jackson and equis they have two very quick and accurate rifles and with gloin screaming at the top of his lungs that they suck on LAN, Aborted's psyche will be all wrong. Aborted has proven me wrong before and that's why I'm hesitant with my confidence, if you know what I mean by that. But I'm sticking to my guns and I'm going to call no Luck in the semifinals next week.

Todo's Prediction: no Luck by 50-

online superstars roll onlan superstars. Oh, everyone on noluck will do good except that horrible jackson kid. He has downs, honestly, what do you expect out of the downs kid? 5 frags per half for jackson.. Please don't call me un-professional jackson! Your opinion really matters to me.

s'nwonknu Prediction: no Luck by 192 caps

REMATCH!? Aborted was FURIOUS when noluck beat them on rr2 at week 7. Aborted will take time to actually practice for this match and they will practice hard. Cody Winget will be holding apartments basically the whole
match, i dont see noLuck having much lucking there at all. If Jackson and Equis are going well, that is where Aborted will have the most trouble,
because that is their two best players. Jamie 'osto' Lash is put up against Random 'iorio' Idiot and that should be a good matchup at long as both are
very skilled snipers. Both teams are going to be very prepared for this
match and i think it will be a good one. Watch for Gloin to mm1 about this
being an online matchup and he will beat you at cpl.

Players: PrOsTaR, iorio

seaN's Prediction: Aborted by 45-

On paper this would seem to be a difficult match to predict, and this is the best match in all of Day of Defeat this week. Aborted has some amazing names on their roster - xome and riveroyster stand out the most. Against them is the amazing e-powerhouse that is noLuck. After 3 of its members seemingly have their aim negatively affected by a LAN you're still left with iorio and CrookedWoodenteef' Willeh. I expect this to be an intense match, and the heavy battle will make all the difference. I don't believe Aborted will do too well against noLuck in the apartments, and iorio will hold long down on lockdown. The really good battle will be at the well with, presumably, the rifles going head to head. If aborted can rattle this area, and keep the heavies tied up in the apartments then they have a great shot of pulling this off, but I believe noLuck(onLAN) will win this.

Players to watch: leroy. He'll provide some chuckles as he blazes his
way to that 4.8 frags per half average.

mitch's Prediction: noLuck by 40

Aborted had a good win over losgueros to end the season and practically a BYE in the first round of playoffs against TDS. They are definitely one of main's top teams and have a lot of depth on their roster, but for some reason I get the feeling they aren't quite as good as many people like to think. They have experienced, skilled players on their team, but I just don't know if they have the teamwork to be really successful.

no Luck has had an amazing season thus far. After a solid win last week over ptm on harrington, with many HLTV spectators, I think it's safe to say we can get off their back. I know I did after I abused willeh at mountain house a few nights ago =) Sure, they're online, but so is every other team in cal-main. I'm online, too, but I'm terrible online. Anyways, what makes these guys good is the fact they scrim, work together exceptionally well, and each possess enough individual talent to hold their own against many players.

Last time these two met was over a month ago on railroad, where no Luck handed aborted a big loss. I don't believe either team has changed much since then, except maybe improved themselves as a club. no Luck is just on such a roll that it's hard to imagine them exiting playoffs so soon. Watching them play together and seeing them scrim often indicates they want this pretty bad. It's going to be a big ugly mess when these two clash, especially in apts. Each team has a lot of streaky players, but overall I think the skill and teamwork of no Luck will be what is necessary to win this matchup. If there was a match of the week for playoffs, this would be it.

Players to watch: xome, jackson

Slaughter's Prediction: no Luck by 75+

Losgueros [4]

vs.

Schweisstropfen [5]

I think I was good a few weeks ago but now I am not. So chuck, have fun killing me.

Todo's Prediction: gl hf

I hope for a good match, everyone on LG has talent (minus tomodak
which needs acab to carry him every match). So, good luck to LG on the
battlefield, soldaten.

mitch's Prediction: glhf

|3h|TomoDaK`lg|GI|> we play unreachable on rr2 in semis, im hoping we can beat them and then jetty :p

Don't get too confident mr tomo. Schweiss will pull out an "upset" victory by controlling apartments. Too bad Adam "ab0mb" Iforgotthecorrectspellingonyourlastname is being popular and can't dominate this match.

s'nwonknu Prediction: schweisstropfen by -20

Schweiss seems to be the underdogs in the playoffs as it is right now. They
have been overlooked and they are ready to make a name for themselves right here. Schweiss seemed to have handled 3h with ease and put up impressive numbers while lg didnt have as easy of a time with super. Losgueros will probably be able to hold well for the most time while Schweiss holds long and apts. This match will be close and I have a feeling it will come down to a potential ninja cap or a horrible initial by one of the teams, which will cause a quick cap.

Players: strd, gwolf

seaN's Prediction: schweisstropfen by 75

After barely squeezing out a win last week over Super Clan, gueros is not looking to good. On a map like harrington, with their skill-level and experience, they should have won the game by over 150pts. Could it just be the map? Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is they didn't finish the season well and if I were to guess I'd say they are losing interest in the game. I don't know if they scrim or not either. Regardless, they made my prediction look bad and Todo's look perfect. Truly unacceptable.

Schweiss continues to keep on rollin', knocking over their last 4 opponents with respectable margins. Last week they mauled 3h (as I predicted) and seem to have gotten their business in order. They are looking good.

What a matchup this is! Both teams ended with a 8-4 season record. They did meet once though, favouring los gueros on chemille by 136 points. That's chemille though, whereas if they were to meet on harrington I believe schweiss would have won. The showdown here takes place on dod_lennon_b2, a map neither team has done well on: los gueros barely beat iCON, schweiss lost to ITF. I'm almost positive this is going to be a close game, unless the gueros can step up and play a really good, smart game. With a player like subholicious on your team, it's not going to be easy. losgueros does have an advantage in my opinion when it comes to the 1v1 battles this map likes to create. That will be the edge they need.

Players to watch: gwolf, fleener

Slaughter's Prediction: losgueros by 60-

Day Of Defeat: CAL-M Playoff Fun Pack

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