Read on to see predictions by seveN, kazin, and guest royAMAZING!
| CAL-Invite Playoffs Round 1 Harrington Predictions |
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dicE
vs.
Revolution Sports
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These 2 teams are pretty evenly matched imo, so i think this match is going to come down to who has prepared more. Sadly, i doubt either team has practiced much for this match, so it's going to be pretty puggish. It shouldn't really matter that much, though, since both teams have had the exact same roster the entire season except for dicE picking up jdub recently. DyeL!fe will be a huge factor this week if dicE wants to win, as he will be kar garanding the mountain and he seems to be really good at it. rS's mountain team looks like it's going to be cROG and tr4giK, with some guest apperances by rookie with a kar on axis. Both cROG and tr4gik don't like to sit still or prone, so honestly see them losing mountain most of the time. If tr4gik can run around and get a lot of frags, he can really be a pain in dicE's backside, but his style of play will get shut down against a player who plays slow and listens. Middle will be dicE's strong point, with shotgunbill and royAMAZING going this way. Shotgunbill, as most of you have seen from earlier this season, is an outstanding mid player with a bar. Pretty much like DyeL!fe, a lot of dicE's success this week will depend on how well shotgunbill plays in the middle. Sniping against royAMAZING in the middle will be cRus, who is one of the best snipers left in DoD. I see cRus outsniping roy, but bill still holding down the middle with his bar. Long will be maingoes and shotgunderek vs. Purdy and Aether. Aether and Purdy have been running this route together since befor the earth was created, so i'm gonna go with them in this fight. Shotgunderek and maingoes are both quality rifles, but i don't think they have ever run long together. If maingoes is on his game, he can single handedly take over long on his own, but once again that will depend on how well he's playing on match night. Watch for Aether and Purdy to use superior positioning and nades at long to hold it down for most of the game. In the end, i'm gonna have to go with dicE on this one. I believe they have more raw talent, which is a lot more important on harrington than other maps. rSports has a very stable roster that has been playing together all season, though, so if they have a shot here it's gonna be due to their superior teamwork.
seveN's Prediction: dicE by 40
This is the first of two MoTWs for the quarterfinals this postseason. A refreshed rSports team has stormed back from a disappointing start and has now returned to a title contending team previously known as united5. dicE has taken the opposite course of action as they have slumped of late, causing their beautiful 6-1 record to go downhill. While still finishing with a respectable seed and record, dicE will need to practice hard to contend with rSports. Both teams have extremely good skill but in the end rSports' teamwork will overcome dicE. What dicE lacks are true heavies. With L7nx no longer attending CPL (i think) with them, they're down to one player who can play heavy in bill. rSports definitely has two capable heavies with great teamwork in Jon cROGington and Eric "Icheat" Griebs. Look for a good fight at middle between snipers roy and crus. Long should be interesting with veterans Aether and Ian, now named Pike (lol!), up against maingoes and dyelife I believe. In the end, rSports teamwork and cROG's leadership will win them the match.
kazin's Prediction: rS by 50
Players to watch
dicE: DyeL!fe, shotgunbill
rSports: cRus, rookie
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Enervate Gaming
vs.
nothing 2 prove
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This match, at first glance, seems to be heavily favored for ENErvate. That is not the case, though. ENErvate has always had problems with harrington, dating back to when the team was called veracity and later on, naturalskillz. Also, n2p is an underdog team that seems pretty amazing online. They have the potential to take down some upper tier teams, but i don't think it will happen here this week. The ENErvate mountain team is going to be pie and MissioN, and it doesn't really get much better than that. Sorry to say, but any 2-3 players that n2p sends their way will be outskilled pretty much the whole time, especially on ENE's allies side. MissioN and pie are extremly aggressive, so if n2p has any sort of chance at mountain, they will have to prone and play really slow. Middle will be ace and bogart against eXt and gorilla. This is a lot more even than the mountain situation, so look for n2p to switch off mid caps with ENE. I feel that n2p is better in the sniper department, but as far as the sniper's midp artners, i'm gonna have to go with ace on this one. Long is going to be all ENErvate, as they will be sending vasily and kazin to face off against ender and hero. Hero has been making quite a name for himself this season, and he will have to play a solid game against vasily at long to have any kind of a chance. I see ENErvate controling the other team's long flag for most of the game, and pretty much controling everywhere else as well. N2p cannot be underestimated though, especially online. It will be very interesting to see both of these teams play at CPL, given they both actually show up. This match will be ENErvate's to lose, but don't expect them to. ENE will take this in a very close game.
seveN's Prediction: ENE by 40
Players to watch
ENE: pie, vasily
n2p: hero, eXt
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compLexity
vs.
GIMP
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Here we have the #1 seed, compLexity, going up against [GIMP], the last seed. GIMP has just aquired mexicant for their cpl roster, which will really help their chances at cpl, but it won't be helping them here against compLexity. I'm going to assume that GIMP will be bringing their CPL line-up this week. At long we will be seeing dorito and fusion for compLexity both halves, and most likely mexicant and WickedPete for GIMP. This looks to be total domination for compLexity, but mexicant may know all of dorito's tricks. mexicant is also a solid long player, as are the twins, so its going to be a pretty exciting battle at long. Middle is going to be pretty much coL's to lose. Cypher and kellen will be going there for compLexity, and with the way cypher has been playing as of late, i don't see him losing control of it. russian and rebirth will be playing middle for gimp, which is a pretty solid mid team, but they won't have much of a chance against cypher and kellen. russian is a really good sniper, although i havn't seen how he plays against really good teams, so we'll see how he stacks up against one of the top snipers in the game. Mountain team will also be in the hands of compLexity, as we will be seeing chaos and ProFiction duke it out against Heineken and Disturbed. chaos and ProFiction have been playing together for almost 3 seasons now and work really well together. Heineken and Disturbed have been playing together for even longer than that. I expect to see some flawless teamwork out of compLexity on the allies side, making real good use of the sewers and holding the axis mountain house most of the time. Rebirth will most likely go mountain with a kar, so that could help push back coL's allied side, but it won't be enough to win the half. Disturbed will be proned pretty much the whole half which may save them a few times, but in the end it won't really help them at all. Expect coL to win the fights on all sides of the map, and take this match by a large margin.
seveN's Prediction: coL by 240
Like almost every other time, the 1v8 matchup will always have the 1st seed coming out on top. (Unless of course you are the Edmonton Oilers.) GIMP barely snuck into the playoffs with a dismal season. compLexity, on the other hand, has royed almost every team they have played this season, save dicE and ENErvate. There is absolutely NO chance GIMP can win this match unless every single coL player goes AFK. coL is just too strong going into playoffs, especially leading into CPL. On long we should see kellen and dorito going against Rebirth who will put up a good fight. Middle will be all coL's as cypher and chaos will destroy it. However, GIMP's somewhat shady but very underrated sniper, Russian, will be able to put up a fight. On mountain, Steve "Flawlessfiction" Miller and Fusion will be up against whoever GIMP decides to send to get destroyed.
kazin's Prediction: coL by 200
Players to watch
coL: cypher, ProFiction
GIMP: mexicant, russian
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Phrenetik
vs.
Pandemic
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When the season first started both teams had alot of expectations. We sit here with only one team fulfilling that. Pk has had a great regular season run much like the season before summer cpl 05. Pandemic on the other hand has had a rough season. Lately the ride has gotten alot smoother. WIth the last minute pickup of seveN1gdddt, this team can give phrenetik alot of trouble. ninjuh, who pk picked up at the last minute, brings alot of credibility to the phrenetik squad. THe best matchup will be the sniper battle between money-b and patten. Both players bring different play styles into the match. Money-b likes to be aggressive and push to the opposing teams spawn. Patten on the other has the ability to hold middle fpr a long period of time. Whoever gets frustrated by the other opposing snipers play style will lose the battle. THe rifle matchup will also be interesting to watch. Pk has ninjuh and winto on rifles while pandemic has bewton and shifty powers. All four players have the potential to dominate the match but
only one tandem will be victorious. Pandemic has the perfect rifle combination imo. Shifty has the ability to drop 50 on any given night, while you can generally expect 30 from bewton. With each player complimenting each other, theres no reason why pandemics rifle should not dominate phrenetiks'. The heavy battle will be at a much slower pace than any other matchup. Pk has wedo, habib and cableguy on heavies. While Pandemic has Clone Rizzo, seveN1gdddt, and Batman. Pk's heavies are very methodical. They like to wait for the opposition to make the first mistake. Once the opposition makes one mistake, pk generally capitalizes very quickly and stomps on the opposition. I don't know how fast seveN1gddt and the other two pandemic heavies will mesh, but if pandemic wants any chance against pk's heavies, they will need a big night from all 3 players. In the end, the difference will be ninjuh. With his dominant abilities and his lan credibility he just made pk a contender on lan and online.
royAMAZING's Prediction: PK by 90
The tale of two rosters that recently changed is not going to have a happy ending. With both teams agreeing to use their CPL starting 6, CAL has recently denied them of doing so. What you will see is two teams FURIOUS at CAL dueling it out without their best lineups. If both teams agree on using CPL rosters, it should definitely be allowed, why should CAL have a say in this matter? Sorry, I was rambling. Having just scrimmed Pandemic on this map, their new 6th, seveN, is a HUGE part of their game plan. Due to this, PK should hold mountain most of the match with habib and cablefatjesus going there. Middle should be very interesting as money-interping-b faces off against Fatten. Long will be Pandemic's as their peculiar strat will throw off Winto and whoever else is to accompany him with a platter of cheeseburgers. Pandemic will come out on top with their great teamwork and smart impulsive decisions.
kazin's Prediction: Pandemic by 25
Players to watch
Pandemic: shiftypowers, Money-b
PK: patten, ninjuh
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User Comments
- 21 Comments» This story has had 21 comments posted since June 20, 2006 at 8:08 PM EDT.