Photo Finish

This is one of the closest runs to the finals that I’ve seen in a while:

1. Meet Your Makers - 28
2. Beijing E-sports Team - 24
3. SK Gaming - 22
4. Team NoA - 22
5. World Elite - 21
6. Mousesports.Wazap - 20
7. mTw.PokerRoom - 19
8. 4Kings.Intel - 19
9. DefiningStars.Kow3 - 18
10. wNv Teamwork - 16
11. fnatic Team - 16

MYM is comfortably in 1st place, but beyond that, it’s anyone’s game. BET picked up 4 points this week versus last place team wNv. SK and NoA only gathered 3 points each and remain tied. WE actually lost to 4K 2-3.

Only Two Players? No problem

This week we saw a few occurrences of something that I love in WC3L style leagues, the phenomenon of when 2 players win an entire playday for their team. BET beat WnV 4-1, but FoV defeated Soccer 2-1, Check defeated the innovative Th000 2-0 and the 2v2 tandem of FoV and Check beat Sai and Recall 2-0. If FoV and Check played the only matches that BET played, they would have still won 3-2.

Even greater is what NoA accomplished to stay in the hunt and actually distance themselves from WE (by 1 point). Ohjie beat Fnatic star Satiini 2-1, Shy beat Diesel 2-0 (in a pretty entertaining match), and Ohjie and Shy beat 1 of the 2 best 2v2 teams in the world in Xyligan and Rob. In this case, Ohjie and Shy did single handedly beat a team. Both Ohjie and Shy have been hot lately, and this is dangerous for other teams. As Night Elves, they have the advantage of race in many match ups. I said it last week and I’ll say it again, don’t sleep on NoA if they make it to the finals, I think they will upset at least one team there.

I don’t read much into MYM dropping 2 matches to mTw as their star player Moon was unable to play (Attending Digital Life), and even so, Focus, Lucifer and Susiria were able to win without too much trouble (2-0, 2-0, 2-1).

Remind’s Troubles

One thing that does confused me is Remind’s performance. He has now dropped two matches in a row, this last match to Terror 2-0. Albeit Terror is a solid performer, Remind has been one of the most consistent players for years, winning 3 of the 5 battle.net Seasons, and finishing 2nd to Creolophius in the last one. He seems to be one of the guaranteed wins most of the time, but SK has had to rely on other methods to win these past two weeks.

What is more confusing to me is Soju was defeated by Deadman 2-0, and then Remind and Soju beat the very same players Terror and Deadman in the 2v2. Just goes to show you the teamwork Soju and Remind have.

4 Kings Rebirth

This brings me to the rollercoaster that is 4 Kings. I am happy to see Grubby and ToD both win in the same match. Even more than that, I am happy 4k can win a match even with LiiLD.C losing. If Grubby and ToD get hot and 4K gets in, they will be one of the favorites. I have to say though, for 4k to get into the finals, Either Grubby and Fury need to work on their 2v2 or 4K needs to use another team. Watching them play is just awkward, they don’t seem to read each other as well as other teams, and their performance reflects that. They are not a bad team by any means, but 4K doesn’t want Remind / Soju to be an autoloss if they get in, forcing Grubby and ToD to win their solo matches. If Grubby and ToD have to win their matches for 4k to get into the playoffs they might be in trouble. However, if they do win them all, which both are capable of doing, 4k will be dangerous.

Who is going to stop NoA?

Ohjie and Shy have been on a complete tear, and at the right time. WE just lost a close match to 4k, but previously were pretty hot. It’s unclear how WE will fair against NoA. Sky typically does well vs Night Elf, and if he gets match up with Ohjie or Shy I think the match will swing in WE’s favor, but if not, I can’t see NoA losing this match. They’ve been too good lately. The final match vs 4 Kings will be extremely important for each teams playoff picture.

Too Little Too Late

There are a few teams that have little to no chance in the last few weeks. Unfortunately for Defining Stars and Mortal Teamwork, they play each other this week, and this is likely to go 3-2 in either way. In addition, Defining Stars gets 1st place Meet Your Makers in week 11, and mTw gets SK Gaming, in both cases, I would think the teams are outmatched. wNv, which has been a disappointment despite solid players, has 1 match left, effectively ending their season.

MVP of the Week: Check

He beat the powerful TH000 and teamed with FoV in 2v2 to win a combined 4 games and lost none, helping BET earn 4 points, and in good position for this bye week and in position to finish in 2nd place at the end of the season

Match of the Week: Ohjie / Shy vs Xyligan / Rob

Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3

Not a lot of matches stick out this week as especially entertaining (Too many Night Elf mirrors with DH Naga – everyone knows how these go and they aren’t fun to watch), but this one I found an entertaining 2v2, and really seeing one of the better 2v2 teams in the world (Xyligan and Rob) fall to Ohjie and Shy, two players who have been incredibly hot lately, was interesting.

Upset of the Week: Terror > Remind 2:0

Matches went more conventionally this week, but Remind struggling so badly versus Terror really surprised me. If Remind doesn’t bounce back from these last weeks, SK will be struggling a bit.