So the open division of ESEA has suffered its fair share of dead teams and forfeit losses but in the end it's the same handful of teams that people were talking about at the start of the season: Area 51 Gaming, Knights of Goku, Strickland Propane, doin work, All Natural, and Zilla Gaming. Knighs of Goku (now Vicious-Gaming), my personal favorite team ever and a super cool bunch of guys, just got knocked out by Strickland Propane in a nail-biting 2 point loss. Zilla Gaming, a team of nice guys and friendly personalities, just got defeated in an even better match vs doin work. Now it's 4 teams left, and by this Tuesday night there will only be two. These are my predictions for this round of ESEA-Open TF2 playoffs, peace.

Area 51 Gaming vs Strickland Propane

Strickland Propane came out this season as the underdog and have been slowly progressing into finally becoming recognized as the force they truly are. Fueled by the fire that fuels Grillz's fire-fueled heart, the patience of wo0t and his stickies so placed that you wouldn't expect them to be placed in such places that they're placed, and by the thundersounding scout work of breather and firtritz, this team of unfortunate name and love of crappy animation has proven themselves many times over now. Especially with their win over the Vicious Knights of Goku last week they are my favorite to win this season not just because I think they'll do it but because I want them to do it, and because I want Platinum to win those $50 he so desperately needs. As for Area 51, they were by far the favorite to win this league coming into the season but have recently relaxed in their scrimming frequency, while Strickland Propane has been as active as ever. bLackstar played in 51's last match where they defeated Slaugherhouse Gaming, but that was on badlands where bLackstar's primary class the pyromancer truly shines - unfortunately this match will be on granary. It seems as though both teams have had some problems getting a stable set of heavy classes while the scouts and medic have remained the same literally all the time, and that's probably what this match will come down to. JAMMAR, B||oodSire, breather, and fritz will be the baseline, while bLackstar's and Platinum's dynamic with their respective medics and soldier partners will be the factor that will sway this battle.

Strickland Propane > Area 51 Gaming 5-4

doin work vs ALL NATURAL

ALL NATURAL (previously eXult) just came off a tough break-up with their old leader and mentor xeLorate, leaving this team of raw deathmatch talent to be without the counseling or the motherly nurturing they have all accustomed themselves to while under the loving care of the fatherly leader. I'm not even sure if they're sticking together next season, they're pretty much a pug at this point - but so is their opponent. Which is all well and good in the world of Team Fortress 2. All Natural's only loss this season so far has been against Zilla Gaming, who was knocked out of the playoffs last week by doin work. Since then All Natural has received three forfeit wins and then a 5-0 roll over No Grid - that's almost a month without serious match experience. Watch for zeroskillz to tear it up with thenoid following behind him. If they want to gain the competitive edge, doin work will need to penetrate the All Natural ventrilo and make strategic attacks when zeroskillz and noid are especially going at one another. Of course there will also be rline who will hide behind retarded corners all the frikkin time, and s/x who will undoubtedly submit multiple surveys and spam the doin work steam group attempting to crash the games of all involved, especially if he finds out that one of them is playing in TWL next season. Anyway like I said doin work just came off from a badass match vs Zilla Gaming (now lightningbolt) that they were losing at first but ended up coming back 4-3. It was a tense match that went the full hour without them even scoring 5 points, that's how good of a game it was. They clearly have the upper hand in terms of recent match experience with their current lineup. While everyone on doin work is a solid deathmatch player I have to say their obvious advantage here will be in their demoman. apathy is sick and if this match is to stalemate, it will be apathy who will force doin work to come out on top.

doin work > ALL NATURAL 5-3

So obviously my prediction for the finals match will be Strickland Propane vs doin work. In the end though Area 51 Gaming, Knights of Goku, Strickland Propane, doin work, All Natural, and Zilla Gaming all did a great job at making this season a competitive one in spite of all the dropouts and forfeits. Hopefully next season ESEA will take in the trend of CEVO-Main and TWL-Invite by making a league for these teams to duke it out every week *ahemm fart*