ESEA-Open Season 25 Week 4 Top 16 Rankings

June 30th, 2017

by whymeo

We’re halfway through the regular season, and we’ve already had a number of exciting matches in ESEA-Open. Sparkle Gang clashed with other former high-IM teams dug1 and mind over mongo and came out on top. Popo and pals also have faced off against dug1 and grabbed a win in a close match, and power surge came within one round of upsetting popo and pals in a 4-3 on viaduct.

There’s certainly already been a lot going in Open this season and we’re just getting to the second half of the regular season. With teams’ records beginning to more closely resemble their skill as the season goes on (although not perfectly, with such a wide-skill gap and large number of teams in Open), we’ll be seeing more and more matches between high-Open teams. There’s certain to be many more good games before playoffs and perhaps an upset or two. Until then, however, here’s my mid-season top 16 rankings:

ESEA-Open Season 25 Pre-Season Top 16 Rankings

Well it finally happened. As you’ve probably already heard, the ESEA-Intermediate division for Team Fortress 2 is dead. As a result, the Open and IM divisions have been merged into one Open division, with most IM teams moving to Open (as well as two moving up to invite to save that division and a few dying as a result of the merge). This will make Open have a much wider skill gap than it previously did, and as a result likely make it harder for newer teams to grow and improve, and eventually become future top teams.

It’s not entirely bad news though. The result of the combined Open and IM makes for a division with quite a few skilled teams. There’s also an increased potential for upsets, making the season all the more exciting. It should be a fun season to follow for everyone involved, I’m sure. Anyway, let’s get onto the top 16 rankings:

 

Plat Highlander: Week 4 Top 10 and Matchup Discussions

February 7th, 2017

by whymeo

1. Dunning-Kruger Effect
As things stand right now, I don’t feel very confident making a prediction on who is better between dK and mM. I largely am putting dK in first as they’re the safer bet because of their vast Plat experience. DK’s biggest weakness this season continues to look like Josh (scout, dK), who is still occasionally putting up lackluster numbers on scout. However, he has reached a point where he is mostly only underperforming on scout against mM in scrims. If he is able to buck that trend once it comes to a matches against mM then dK will be the favorites to win, as players like bo4r, feint and odb are more than capable of contesting their counterparts on mM.

UGC Gold Season 20 – Week 3 Playoffs

December 5th, 2016

UGC Gold Highlander Season 20

Week 3 Playoffs: Grand Finals

by whymeo

Well, this very well might be the last Gold article I ever write. Next season Gold is going to be merged with Plat and I doubt we’ll see Gold return at any point, what with the continued decreasing numbers of UGC overall. This is a good way to send the division off however, with a match that could honestly go either way. Until last week, The Slammin’ Jammers looked unbeatable, but Dedoris finally were able to take away their undefeated record. As a result, Door now go into grand finals from the winner’s brackets and The Jammers will have to win two best of three’s if they wish to walk away with first place. How do I think the first best of three will go? Well, let’s look at the maps:

 

UGC Platinum HL Season 20 Grand Finals Preview

Lower Bracket Finals Review

It was a pretty awesome match between The Kids and Bv (for the most part) last Monday, but the more exciting thing is that it means we are only a day away from our S20 Grand Finals.

There was an error in the last article in regards to the third map pick between the two teams, which was Swiftwater rather than Upward. It turns out the map wasn’t necessary anyway so no harm done, right?

UGC Gold Season 20 – Week 2 Playoffs

November 28th, 2016

UGC Gold Highlander Season 20

Week 2 Playoffs: ashville

by whymeo

Time for the second week of playoffs. Both matches last week ended with the results most people expected, with Ayylmao falling to The Slammin’ Jammers and The Wittmen losing to Dedoris. This week we’ll have The Slammin’ Jammers vs. Dedoris in winner’s finals and Ayylmao vs. The Wittmen will take place in the first round of losers bracket. 

 

UGC Platinum HL Season 20 Playoffs Week 3 Preview and Week 2 Review

Playoffs Week 2

 

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. Even you filthy Canadians and the one back in October. Get real.

Another week down and our first team bows out of playoffs. With two more weeks remaining we’ll find out who will be crowned champion of Season 20. We’ll only have one match to look forward to on Monday (which means that no matches get skipped when casting) and then the first of potentially two BO3s for Grand Finals, starting on December 5th.

Let’s talk about last week.

UGC Gold Season 20 – Week 1 Playoffs

November 21st, 2016

UGC Gold Highlander Season 20

Week 1 Playoffs: upward

by whymeo

We’ve been waiting for it for quite a while now and it’s finally here — Gold playoffs are about to start! The format for playoffs will be a four team double-elimination bracket, with each game being only one map except playoffs which will be best of three maps. Personally, I’m a little said to see that they didn’t go with the best of three maps for every game with a pick/ban system like they did with Plat, but it’s not that big of a deal.

Anyway, the first week matches will be on pl_upward. I’ll be doing a class by class comparison for each match. Class by class comparisons have been somewhat controversial in the past, but I had some requests to do them for playoffs so I will be. Please keep in mind that my opinions are just that: opinions. I’m often wrong about which player will perform best in a match, so please take the class by class comparisons with a grain of salt.

UGC Platinum HL Season 20 Playoffs Week 2 Preview and Week 1 Review

Playoffs Week 2

So we’ve reached Week 2 of 4 in the UGC Plat Playoffs. For all other divisions, they’ll be welcoming in Week 1, set to find their way into placement medals or disappointment. For Platinum, 4 teams still remain, but 2 are in the hot seat with an elimination match coming up on Monday.

It’s important to note that this coming Thursday will not host the Lower Bracket Finals due to Thanksgiving, instead it will take place the following morning between two of the remaining 3 teams.

Let’s talk about last week.

UGC Gold Season 20 – Week 8 Matchups and Power Rankings

November 13th, 2016

UGC Gold Highlander Season 20

Week 8 Matchups and Power Rankings

by whymeo

The regular season is about to draw to a close. With only one match left, after this week’s results we’ll finally know what teams are making playoffs. Well, due to the standings we actually already know three of the four teams that will be making playoffs. Because of their match wins and match points, The Slammin’ Jammers, Dedors and The Wittmen are all confirmed for playoffs. That leaves three teams who have the possibility of getting the 4th playoffs spot: Nine Angry Men, Shooting Blanks and Ayylmao. If Nine Angry Men beat The Wittmen then they are guaranteed to make playoffs. However, if Nine Angry Men lose to The Wittmen then the winner of Shooting Blanks vs. Ayylmao will make playoffs. Before we start talking about the details of matchups however, let’s do one last power ranking: