ESEA-O S21 Matches to Watch and Predicting Playoffs Seeding

With only a week left of the regular season, I finally wrote another open article. This one is a little different than previous articles. I’ve highlighted the important matches to watch for playoffs seeding as well as made my predictions for what the playoffs seeding will look like.  By now, there’s a pretty clear picture of what teams are going to make playoffs. However, upsets are always a possibility and there are some matches that look to be pretty close. Anyway, onto the matches:

 

Matches to Watch:

Yin Yang Yompies vs. diexxxtracrispy

meo’s prediction: diexxxtracrispy wins 5-4

Both these teams are certain to make playoffs at this point, so there’s not as much urgency in this matchup as there could be. However, I’m sure both of them would like the best possible seeding that they can get. Yin Yang Yompies has been looking a lot weaker then I think most people originally thought they would. Sure, they’ve only lost to wood pig black, but they’ve also had a very easy schedule. In the last couple of weeks, Yompies barely scraped together a 1-2 win against the decent dudes and a 5-3 win against Team Vanilla Love. Although the match against the decent dudes was probably only so close because decent dude’s pocket, super, went absolutely insane with 60 frags and 388 dpm, giving up three rounds to TVL definitely doesn’t bode well for Yompies chances against the very top of open. This will definitely be a close match, but I think diexxxtracrispy will walk away with the win here.

 

Im sorry vs. Hot Dads

meo’s prediction: Hot Dads wins 5-2

Although potential for an upset is slim here, it’s not entirely impossible. Im sorry has come back somewhat after their player who lost interest in 6’s most quickly, american, stepped down and bo4r somewhat got over his mid-season slump – with a 4-3 win over lf 2d gf and a close 3-5 loss against diexxxtracrispy. If im sorry was able to win this game then their record should be 10 – 6 for the end of the season and they’d have enough match points to edge out lf 2d gf and Team Vanilla Love for the 16th spot. However, I really don’t expect Hot Dads to lose this one.

 

Team Vanilla Love vs. the decent dudes + Team Vanilla Love vs. Yugioh Gaming v4

meo’s prediction: TVL loses to the decent dudes 2-5 and Yugioh gaming 3-5

As long as im sorry loses to Hot Dads, all Team Vanilla Love needs to do is take some rounds in these games to be more or less guaranteed the 16th place seed. Of course, I’m sure they’d much rather win an 11th game and get a seed that doesn’t force them to immediately play against wood pig black. With a lot on the line here, I expect good performances from TVL in both games. I don’t think they’ll win either one, but there’s potential for the games to be closer than I think and an upset isn’t entirely impossible.

 

Egg Salad Dressing vs. Zoo-Wee-Mama

meo’s prediction: Zoo-Wee-Mama wins 5-3

Like any other Egg Salad Dressing match, this largely comes down to just how much keith can go off. Their recent pickup of sandblast on scout makes their scout combo pretty damn terrifying and their recent 4-3 win against Team Vanilla Love seems to prove that Egg Salad Dressing are certainly high-open. However, Zoo-Wee-Mama has a solid scout combo of their own, plus the rest of their roster definitely out matches Egg Salad’s. I think keith and sandblast will keep this close, but in the end this game will go to Zoo-Wee-Mama.

 

THAI GUYS vs. Ying Yang Yompies

meo’s prediction: THAI GUYS wins 5-3

THAI GUYS have had a fairly easy schedule since they changed their roster, so this one is a little hard to call. However, with THAI GUYS managing to beat Egg Salad Dressing 5-2 and Yompies’ rather shaky performance lately, I have to call this one in THAI GUYS favor. Really, this one could go either way though.  

 

slins minesweeper squad vs. veggie tales

meo’s prediction: veggie tales wins 5-3

With matches against 3 low and mid open teams before this and a 6-6 record, if minesweeper won this game their record will be 10 – 6 and they’d likely have the highest match points of any 10 – 6 team. Both teams need this match to get into playoffs, so it should be a close one. I think veggie tales will walk away with this one however, as minesweeper has been struggling to beat any high open teams this season. They always come close, but they can never quite make it.

lf 2d gf vs. chefs

meo’s prediction: lf 2d gf wins 5-3

Both these teams need this game for a shot at sneaking into playoffs. Both of them looked promising near the beginning of the season, but have suffered multiple heavy losses to high open teams as the season went on. Lf 2d gf has looked marginally more competitive in their matches against high open teams than chefs has, so I think they’ll take this one.

Zoo-Wee-Mama vs. team name tbd

Meo’s prediction: Zoo-Wee-Mama wins 5-3

As always with team name tbd, ry is the one looked at to deliver the win. I expect her to go off, as she normally does, but it likely won’t be enough to beat Zoo-Wee-Mama. Zoo-Wee-Mama’s roster overall is too much better than team name tbd for ry to carry her team to victory.

 

Predicted Playoffs Seeding:

Wood pig black

Projected seed: #1

Projected record: 16 – 0

Projected match points: 75

Wood pig black looks pretty untouchable and there’s no reason to think they won’t clean up on their last three games against THAI GUYS, The Baddies and the decent dudes. This will leave them as the only undefeated team from regular season, which is a bit of a curse in a lot of divisions, but probably not when sandbagging open.

 

Hot Dads

Projected seed: #2

Projected record: 15 – 1

Projected match points: 67

With easy matches for their last couple of games, there’s no reason to think Hot Dads won’t end the regular season with a 15 – 1 record. With diexxxtracrispy having a much harder last couple of matches, Hot Dads should end the season with less rounds against and snag the 2nd place seed.

diexxxtracrispy

Projected seed: #3

Projected record: 15 – 1

Projected match points: 67

Diexxxtracrispy has to play Yin Yang Yompies for their last match of the regular season. Whether they win or lose however, they still should end the season in a top 6 seed.

 

Yugioh Gaming v4

Projected seed: #4

Projected record: 14 – 2

Projected match points: 67

Yugioh Gaming should easily win their last two matches against Team Vanilla Love and veggie tales and finish their season with a 14 – 2 record.

THAI GUYS

Projected seed: #5

Projected record: 14 – 2

Projected match points: 63

Thai Guys placement depends on if they can win their game against Yin Yang Yompies. Whether they win or lose they have enough match points to find themselves in the top 8 for seeding.

 

Yin Yang Yompies

Projected seed: #6

Projected record: 13 – 3

Projected match points: 66

Even if they lose their match to Thai Guys, Yompies’ seeding should still be good going into playoffs.

 

Zoo-Wee-Mama

Projected seed: #7

Projected record: 13 – 3

Projected match points: 65

Zoo-Wee-Mama has three matches against teams that are near the bottom of top 16 and should be able to win them relatively painlessly. Although they lost their match to Hot Dads 5-1, they still will have enough match points to put them above every other 13 – 3 team.

 

The decent dudes

Projected seed: #8

Projected record: 13 – 3

Projected match points: 61

The decent dudes are the next on the chopping block for wood pig black. However, their other two matches are a forfeit win and a game against Team Vanilla Love, so they should find themselves going into playoffs in a fairly comfortable position.

 

The Baddies

Projected seed: #9

Projected record: 13 – 3

Projected match points: 55

The Baddies will find themselves losing a match to wood pig black. Their other matches are against the slim slins and Not Around Bears though, so they should obtain a 13 – 3 record without much trouble.

 

Team name tbd

Projected seed: #10

Projected record: 12 – 4

Projected match points: 61

Team name tbd is the team that has the most potential to be higher than I have them ranked. With matches against diexxxtracrispy and Zoo-Wee-Mama, team name tbd is likely to lose both of them. However, they have a shot in both games.

 

Egg Salad Dressing

Projected seed: #11

Projected record: 12 – 4

Projected match points: 57

I kind of ignored these guys most of the season because I was unaware how much of a god keith was. With their pickup of sandblast on scout, their scout combo is now pretty insane. They should easily beat Arstotzka and That’s So Randal and end the season 12 – 4.

 

Veggie Tales

Projected seed: #12

Projected record: 11 – 5

Projected match points: 64

Although Veggie Tales isn’t as good after losing Max, they’re still fairly competitive with the rest of open. With matches against two mid-open teams to round out the season and a game against Yugioh Gaming, Veggie Tales are almost certain to end the season at 11 – 5.

 

The Westbrook Effect

Projected seed: #13

Projected record: 11 – 5

Projected match points: 57

The Westbrook Effect has improved vastly as the season has gone on, partially because vlad has improved a lot at scout during the season. With three matches against mid-open teams as their last matches, The Westbrook Effect should make it into playoffs with no problems.

Not Around Bears

Projected seed: #14

Projected record: 11 – 5

Projected match points: 53

Not Around Bears has had a really tough schedule this season. They’ve managed to hang in, and have two matches against low/mid open teams and a forfeit win to end the season, so they will find themselves in playoffs. However, with a low seed the bad luck continues for Not Around Bears, as they’ll likely be facing the 3rd seed team to start playoffs.

Arstotzka

Projected seed: #15

Projected record: 11 – 5

Projected match points: 53

Arstotzka’s schedule worked out in such a way that they’ll likely end the season at 11 – 5. Their match points will probably be the lowest of all the 11 – 5 teams however, so with a match against the 2nd seed team to start their time in playoffs will be short lived.

 

Team Vanilla Love

Projected seed: #16

Projected record: 10 – 6

Projected match points: 54

As long as Team Vanilla Love takes rounds against the decent dudes and Yugioh Gaming they will be the most likely team to slip into the 16th seed with a 10 – 6 record. This means playing against wood pig black for their first match, so I’m not sure the other 10 – 6 teams that miss out on the 16th spot will even envy them that much.

 

Other teams that might also get 16th seed with 10 – 6: Bong and the Rippersons, slins minesweeper squad, lf 2d gf, im sorry