(GotFrag) - With the lives of the TF2 eSport star complicated by silly little things like work, school, parents, girlfriends, boyfriends, drinking and general (often belligerent) tomfoolery, a match played on a default matchday has become something of a rarity. As a fan, I'm not particularly bent out of shape about this as long as the contest isn't delayed more than a few days, or isn't changed last-minute - which, for the most part, hasn't been the case in the recent string of ESEA-I reschedules.

In fact, the subtle benefit to such rampant rescheduling is nights like tonight, when a slew of teams (well, six) decide to pile their catch-up matches all on one night. As such, we have three different matches for you compiling of three different rounds of play - two of which are from week 5 (so cp_gravelpit) and the third coming from week 6 (so cp_well).

Having already written preds for the week 5 matchups, I figured no one will mind if I simple repost those below - I will also update with a brand-spanking new Loaded-HF pred, just as soon as I confirm they're indeed going tonight.

UPDATE: Looks like more teams are getting in on the "Let's catch up on some of our ESEA matches" fun, with EG also playing [vg] in a makeup for 5:1 on cp_gravelpit. Oh, and Loaded vs HF are going.... maybe.... either way:

Hostile Faction (5-5) vs Loaded (6-3) rk: St.Patrick made me promise never to pred for HF again, a request I will accede to only for the reasons he put up - HF's been in disarray for too much of this season to really get a feel for each other and build some of that intangible team chemistry, something that's not really anyone's fault but will result in a lot of numbers in the loss column - and this will be another one.

(despite the fact that Loaded rarely scrims and don't really prep/care for anything other than the playoffs)

HF [ 1 : 5 ] Loaded

Evil Geniuses (8-1) vs Vicious Gaming (6-3) rk: If [vg] wants to make any sort of statement this season, this is the match to do it in. It's a key mid-season match on a legit map against a team coming off a huge night that vaulted them back to the top of the ladder - nothing could be more substantiating for [vg] than a big, fat, green W. But is it going to happen? Well...

destro has really come into his own this season, especially in the absence of yaug who usually carried the brunt of the fragging (although some of the new additions have kinda helped there, too), and this map is built to be controlled by a demo. The soldiers will do what they do, the scouts/utilities will snap a pick or two, but no class can clear out B or lock down the multiple entrances to C like a demo on top of his game. No pressure.

So, while there's no lack of potential for [vg] to really take a step forward tonight, in the end EG's fragging prowess (and hell, I didn't even mention the other known quantities - Reptile (if he plays), sycknesS, CyZeR, etc.) will be too much of an obstacle to overcome.

EDIT: Hehe, this pred makes me laugh...

EG [ 2 : 0 ] [vg]

20ID (8-1) vs Vicious-Gaming TF2 (6-3) rk: I've still yet to confirm if this match will go down tonight, but I can only echo what I said last round - if [vg] wants to secure a spot in the playoffs and show that they're for real, these Week 5 matches are the ones to do it on. There's been talk about the fact that 20ID hasn't looked like the super-juggernaut lately, which, coupled with the fact that at the time of this writing they also weren't online and scrimming, makes me wonder if they're going through the mid-season lulls.

That being said, there's still wayyy too much fragging power on that roster for me to legitimately pick [vg] - Seagull & Hong are as dynamic a duo as there is, and they'll be the force tonight which will carry 20ID to victory.

20ID [ 2 : 0 ] [vg]

point and click (2-6) vs Strickland Propane (3-6)
rk: Battle of the bottom dwellers! But actually, this'll probably be one of the more exciting matches this week - you can't beat a bout between to relatively even competitors. Their previous matchup on cp_freight ended in a 5-2 win for Strickland, but I'm hoping pac. can muster up some of the magic they showed early on this season. Hopefully sequal can stay in this one, losing him midway through the 20ID match took a little of the punch out of pac's attack. But to be fair, as a fan, I don't really have a vested interest in either one of these teams and am probably just gonna back my fellow canucks out of loyalty to the red-and-white.

pac [ 1 : 2 ] Strickland