(GotFrag) - While we gleefully pour over the embarrassing photos and videos from the recent GXL LAN, there's still plenty of TF2 to be played in the ESEA S4 Playoffs after a bit of a break from the previous round.

In case you forgot, #7 seeded Slaughterhouse Gaming has dug deep (and tapped some of their overseas resources), plowing through the upper bracket and landing in the Upper Finals against the #1 seed, Tool House Academy. Whether or not their crazy run will continue will be decided tonight on cp_gravelpit, with the winner advancing directly to the Grand Finals.

Meanwhile, the lower bracket is still awaiting a terribles-eXpertise matchup to finish and close out Lower 2, with Harmonic already awaiting the winner in the next round after their win over Essentrix Gaming.

UPDATE: [t00l] has stopped the Sg train in its tracks, with a clean 2-0 sweep of their rivals on cp_gravelpit. [t00l] will move on to the Grand Finals while Sg drops to the Lower Bracket Finals.




ESEA-Open Season 4 Playoffs - Upper Finals
Tool Academy Grads vs. Slaughterhouse Gaming
rk: I can't really figure out this Sg team. Both matches, they've been outfragged - the eXpertise match, quite seriously - and no one player has had a particularly stunning performance of their roster. Even the quip I said earlier about their British component isn't really a factor - it's not like anx & vlad are carrying this team. Yet, somehow, they've out-thought, outflanked, and outplayed their opponents two rounds in a row and find themselves in the Upper Bracket Finals against the team we've all kind of expect to take the whole sh-bang, Tool.

But I think this is where the Cinderella story ends, mostly because of the map. As I've said time and again, cp_gravelpit is major departure from the cp_push genre, and requires a different set of skills to be successful (not radically different, but different enough). Strategy and execution go hand-in-hand on this map, and a team's ability to pick off, spam, and frag their way through their rivals will ultimately decide who gets those 2 points.

As far as this matchup goes, I think Tool's got a definite advantage on the fragging-side - most notably pokey and PYYYOUR - something I don't know if Sg can compete with.

[t00l] [ 2 : 1 ] Sg |