Well here we have it, 12 teams left in the tournament. 2 with byes this week, 2 playing for a final's birth, and 8 in the loser's bracket.

Teams Eliminated in Round 4:
FightClub
IceNine
No Urgency
Disturbing The Peace

Teams with BYES for next 2 rounds:
Since it's such a large double-elimination bracket, the 2 teams which lost in the upper bracket last week will miss the next 2 rounds of the loser bracket before they start playing again. These 2 teams are Lost Cause & Conviction.

Round 5 Previews
Playing for a spot in the finals

overRated vs just Cause project

I don't think anyone will contest the fact that oR and jCp have been the strongest teams in AA for the past 3 years. All the major competition which these 2 teams participated in during that time were won by one of the two. It's fitting that they face each other now in this tournament, with the winner getting a birth in the tournament finals!

It's no secret these two teams can't stand each other. There's been a series of incidents over the years which has lead to this mutual hatred. This will mark the first time these teams go head-to-head since the epic CEVO Pro season 2 second playoff round where the match was casted, and oR chose to refuse to be casted once again and went idle the entire match. With no casts taking place recently, at least this won't happen in this match. It should also be noted that these 2 teams are most definitely the top of the crop on Insurgent Camp. Their styles may be quite different, but both very effective. The last time they faced each other on IC, was in the first of 3 sets in the CEVO Pro season 1 Finals. overRated took this set by a score of 8-5, this dated back to around last Halloween.

If overRated can roster their best 4, including semi-inactive epic brushing of the dust and getting some practice in beforehand, then this should be a fantastic match. Both teams will probably try to get some early picks and bring the numbers down before pushes on the CP's are made, but most of the battles should be in or close to the building based on the aggressive nature of these teams.

Prediction: jCp reverses the last IC outcome vs oR and takes it 8-5.



Loser bracket matches

Even Flow vs Version 3

Version 3 took us (FightClub) by surprise last week and with our "lets wing it" approach we got smacked around. Version 3's improved roster since season's past has helped their development and it's finally showing in their results. Even Flow is another team declaring inactivity issues. Version 3 will have more prep time put in and also have more experienced IC players on their roster. The trends are overwhelmingly in v3's favor here.

Prediction: v3 outplays eFlow en route to an 8-2 victory

Rising Storm vs Team Exigence

Although Team Exigence has been a pretty active team in terms of scrims, they will be highly outclassed when they face Rising Storm this week. I will be impressed if Exigence claims more than 1 round. Rising Storm is the strongest team in the lower bracket and they are likely going to walk through most of the teams until they face the winner of the jCp/oR match. The only teams that are any kind of threat to rS in this bracket are neg and MNM.

Prediction: rS dominates eXg 8-1

New Era Gaming vs No Hesitation

Adversity seems to have been acquired by New Era Gaming. Makes me wonder if there was a purchase price on them that Panerei picked up. The way the core of players on these 2 rosters play, you can definitely expect some down right nasty shots. I'd say these two teams are quite even skill wise, and if one team dominates a dispute wouldn't be a shocker. No matter what I don't see Toby's warriors going down easy. This one can very well go into overtime, where neg will pull off the shots when it matters.

Prediction: neg squeaks it out in OT over nH 8-7

Mug N' Mouse vs Final Destination-I

Oddly enough we have another match-up between 2 teams that despise each other. The animosity really started when Mediocrity (now Mug N' Mouse) refused to let Redemption (now Final Destination) play with newly rostered player rainmak3r back a couple of TWL seasons ago. Since then we've seen plenty of insults between players on these teams, mostly fat jokes against chris followed by rebuttals from chris showing conman's match or scrim stats.

Hopefully the sportsmanship won't be an issue on this night, and they play a fantastic match. Both teams are very solid on this map, maybe still not quite as strong as jCp/oR, but better than almost all other teams. As is often the case, momentum will be a huge factor here. If one team can get into a groove they can set the tone of the match, and eventually proclaim victory.

If Chris has some strong support his team will have slight edge in this one. One of these 2 teams will get eliminated, so you can expect it to be played at a very high level.

Prediction: MNM clutches the final round for the 8-6 win