Week 3 Review
Finally, we see some shakeups in the Power Rankings with 2-0s (and a forfeit) across the board. This is just another week deeper into this very polarized season of Platinum.
(Home Team vs Away Team)
The Kids (2-0) vs grapeSquad (0-2)
Predicted outcome: 2-0 The Kids
Final score: 2-0 The Kids
Match length + Logs: 22:46 // http://logs.tf/1541249
So apparently my prediction wasn’t bold enough. I said that grapeSquad wouldn’t cap last at all this game, but they actually didn’t even manage to cap 2nd.
It’s hard to write very much in a roll like this. Everyone on The Kids joined in on the fun and naturally outperformed their counterparts. No sense in dwelling on a game that met its expectations.
The only bright spots for grapeSquad were Akemi’s decent performance on Sniper, which is tough to do considering how badly his team was getting squashed, and Goldfish’s 500+ DPM, which was only rivaled by corsa, who played Demo for The Kids.
Chill Penguins (1-1) vs Memento Glory (0-2)
Predicted outcome: 2-0 Bv
Final score: 2-0 Bv
Match length + Logs: 27:50 // http://logs.tf/1541108
It’s unfortunate that m|G are feeling so down on themselves this season, but it’s definitely not easy considering their 0-3 start with matches coming up against The Kids and dK. The silver lining is that they really didn’t perform too poorly with eerie person and Timeless keeping m|G afloat for a little while, as meaningless as it ended up being. Blinx definitely seemed to struggle on the map, which likely lead to Timeless and eerie to take advantage and get aggressive. Not to be forgotten of course, is Scruff who nearly outfragged everyone but his own Heavy.
For Bv on the other hand, it was expected and business as usual. crab_f and m66 did a ton of work in both frags and damage, rounding out their team and lifting a struggling Paals and blinx. It continues a tradition for Bv however for just outplaying their opponent. Frags and damage were actually in m|G’s favor, but Bv is incredibly dedicated and really showing to the rest of the division how much their work is paying off. Victories against Jeep and m|G are huge right now, but with upcoming matches against #mcm and Fast Forward, they can secure their spot in the Playoffs with a little more hard work.
Turquoise Jeep Records (1-1) vs Dunning-Kruger Effect v4 (2-0)
Predicted outcome: 2-0 dK
Final score: 0-0 dK (Forfeit win)
Match length + Logs: N/A
How disappointing it is that Jeep forfeit this game…
I mean, they didn’t really have a chance to win, but it would have been nice to see how they performed against a team that strong, especially with their roster slightly altered from their Week 1 loss.
Fast Forward (1-1) vs Man Crush Monday (1-1)
Predicted outcome: 2-1 #mcm
Final score: 2-0 [››]
Match length + Logs: 28:37 // http://logs.tf/1541091
Ouch. Right in the pride of the entire #mcm roster.
Fast Forward came out of the gate and gave #mcm absolutely no chance at a victory, proving that they have a solid chance at being a playoff team this season.
Quite frankly, it wasn’t close. Barycenter managed better stats in one half than anyone else who played for the entire 30 minutes. His 700 DPM not displayed in the combined logs since it assumed he played the full game.
Class by class, nearly everyone on Fast Forward outperformed #mcm, mainly due to that first half where they had free reign with Barycenter being the sole focus of attention. The bulk of #mcm struggled, only putting up a fight once Sully came into the game and the “carrycenter” was gone. That’s not to say that Sully performed poorly though. He still came in for just a half and put up a 20-7 K/D line.
Fast Forward is on a warpath and only a couple important matchups stand between them and Playoffs- Jeep and Bv. #mcm on the other hand are struggling to fix the mistakes that are being exposed weekly by teams once thought to be beneath them.
Power Rankings
(Rank, Team, Tag, Change in ranking)
1. Dunning-Kruger Effect v4 (dK) [-]
[Spamfest/Bobby/Billysaurus/odb/Karl/Spades Slick/metawe/bo4r/vipa]
No roster changes and a forfeit win. dK still sit alone in their ivory tower.
Remaining schedule: Bv, m|G, The Kids, [››]
2. The Kids (The Kid) [-]
[Vand/Etney/Lazy/Giraffe/Vanilla Love/Ender/Nursey/yosh/feint]
A win’s a win even if it was against a team that has not been at all impressive. The Kids are likely stuck in 2nd until the dK matchup.
Remaining schedule: m|G, #mcm, dK, smangs.
3. Chill Penguins (Bv) [+1]
[whymeo/crab_f/American/Monkey66/Paals/Chicobo/Gamma Orionis/blinx/Kris18]
Bv took a 2-0 over m|G and still remain one of the most stable teams this season. #mcm’s loss also bring them into the #3 spot.
Remaining schedule: dK, [››], [♥], #mcm
4. Turquoise Jeep Records (smangs) [+1]
[SmileZ/Rolling/November/fuzion/Willy/Brick/RightJustify/Carcin/Jayden]
They forfeited… What is there to say? For shame, friends. They rise a spot only due to #mcm’s decline.
Remaining schedule: [››], [♥], #mcm, The Kids
5. Fast Forward ([››]) [+1]
[keith/Yuki/Oblivion/Exile/Civ/wax/Coldster/sullyy/Cloudshade]
A huge victory over #mcm helps Fast Forward continue their climb of the Power Rankings. I wanted to move them above Jeep because of the forfeit, but since they play on Ashville this week, I figured I’d stay conservative and see what unfurls.
Remaining schedule: smangs, Bv, m|G, dK
6. Man Crush Monday (#mcm) [-3]
[akemi/bunny/Geosus/Goldfish/Rue/DrZoidy/Couches/watterson/Evil]
I don’t even know what to say here. #mcm take the biggest fall by any team this season for good reason. They lose 2-0 against Fast Forward without putting up much of a fight, their team seems to be in a bit of disarray, and they’ve made a questionable roster change.
In an attempt to shake things up, bunny sought to fix the combo issues by pulling Goldfish in on Demoman. This is all fine and good until you wonder if Goldfish will be present for scrims and matches and realize that the move from Shea to akemi is at best a sidegrade, who was a package deal with Goldfish.
If #mcm struggle this week against grapeSquad, we may see the door close early on their sophomore season.
Remaining schedule: [♥], the Kids, smangs, Bv
7. Memento Glory (m|G) [-]
[linkuser/Acclaim/marty/Cap$ize/eerie person/Sailsaway/Rogue/bagel/Scruff]
m|G is on the brink of death and there’s not much that they can do to come back this season. An 0-3 start was not what they imagined, especially with 2 matches coming up against The Kids and dK. The end of season gets softer, but at this point it’s looking like Fast Forward should be able to handle them as well. The match in the final week of the season will really be the deciding factor for which team will go 0-7.
Remaining schedule: The Kids, dK, [››], [♥]
8. grapeSquad ([♥]) [-]
[Pablo/benn/spring rolls/??/Honesty/Ice/anti/??/Shotaway]
Not the best way to spend a Monday night, getting pummeled into oblivion by The Kids. To make matters worse, they’ve lost two of their better players in Goldfish and akemi. Who knows what the grapeSquad roster will look like come Monday.
Remaining schedule: #mcm, smangs, Bv, m|G
Week 4 Matchups
We’re coming into Ashville week, one of the more coordination-heavy KOTH maps played in Highlander, and most notably a map that does not lend itself easily to big games on Sniper.
Teams will rely heavily on their flank to succeed and their ability to outplay their opponents through superior coordination.
(Home team vs Away team)
Memento Glory (0-3) vs The Kids (3-0)
Predicted outcome: 4-0 The Kids
Memento Glory looks lost. The Kids… well… they look like the team you’ve come to expect from the team formerly known as Kids Next Door.
It’s not going to be a great matchup, maybe not even good, but I think we’ll see a couple of fun rounds with frags being traded back and forth between the two.
The skill from player to player isn’t really vast in too many places, but because The Kids play as a true unit, it fortifies their roster beyond reproach. Memento Glory is going to struggle.
Granted, last season The Kids dropped a round to a weaker Bv team, and despite a slightly different roster, it shows that The Kids are not impervious to a couple of close rounds, but it depends highly on what the star players on m|G are able to do.
If Linkuser and Acclaim can contest Vand and Etney, it’s going to open up a lot of space for the combo to get aggressive, which means big things for eerie person, but that’s not an easy task at all. Bagel is outclassed by yosh, but if he is on his game, he should be able to contest him relatively well, especially with Scruff doing a lot of work focusing down yosh and The Kids’ combo.
However, it’s a lot like the m|G vs Bv game from last week. Too much needs to go right for m|G to convert a round or two. It’s KOTH, so a couple of good plays may change the score line from 4-0 to 4-1, but it’s asking way too much out of m|G to take down the stalwart Kids team.
grapeSquad (0-3) vs Man Crush Monday (1-2)
Predicted outcome: 4-0 #mcm
This next matchup comes between two teams that are struggling so far in this season of Plat. The main difference is that grapeSquad was expected to struggle, whereas #mcm was supposed to excel beyond the majority of Plat teams.
#mcm come off of a heartbreaking and rather embarrassing 2-0 loss to Fast Forward. grapeSquad on the other hand, come off of their 3rd expected loss and are probably on their way to a 4th very soon.
It’s no question that class by class, the #mcm roster is better than grapeSquad, especially when you now factor in the uncertainty surrounding the two most important classes in Highlander- Demoman and Sniper.
#mcm are lucky that they come into this match after their disappointing loss, since they shouldn’t have to sweat too much. They also get the huge boost that they don’t really even need to worry about outplaying grapeSquad, they can just DM until the cap timer runs to zero, which seems to be about the only way #mcm can perform.
A lot will need to go wrong for #mcm to lose this. I can’t even envision scenarios in which the best players on grapeSquad, now Spring Rolls, Shotaway, and Benn can find a way to bring home a victory or even a round against #mcm.
Dunning-Kruger Effect v4 (3-0) vs Chill Penguins (2-1)
Predicted outcome: 4-1 dK
I honestly think that this should be a pretty decent matchup against dK and Bv.
I don’t think there’s much question that dK should walk out with a victory, but Bv has recently claimed the #3 spot in the rankings and are looking like the team to beat with #mcm’s struggles and their Week 1 victory over Turquoise Jeep.
Overall in the matchup, dK definitely holds the advantage. Spamfest and Bobby should reign supreme over whymeo and crab_f, but American does open up a lot of space on the flank that would otherwise be closed. m66 is quietly still pounding teams with huge performances that more and more people are waking up to, but the dK combo is arguably the best in the league at this point as well.
A lot of it will come down to that flank battle and dK has that one in their favor. blinx will likely struggle against bo4r and vipa focusing him down, and Kris18 will probably have a tough time with his team unable to create openings and Billysaurus still proving himself as one of the premier Pyros in Highlander.
I think Bv would be hard pressed to take two rounds, but they have a solid chance at catching dK off guard in the first round before the reigning champs settle into their groove.
Fast Forward (2-1) vs Turquoise Jeeps Records (1-2)
Predicted outcome: 4-3 smangs
I don’t think there’s any doubt that this will be the closest match of the week, with some very one-sided matches preceding it.
Again, why not do something a little extra fun and make educated guesses with how good people are with little to no basis for my opinion :^)
– keith vs smilez | Edge: keith
Smilez has definitely come out of the gate strong in being one of the better players on the offclassing Jeep team and one of the most dependable Scouts in Plat this season, even though his numbers are bolstered a bit from not having to struggle against dK. Despite this, Ashville is a map that keith should feast on. The flank is incredibly important, it has a lot of room to roam, and will allow him to showcase that 6s DM that brought him to this point in HL.
– yuki vs Rolling | Edge: Rolling
Yuki had performed alright for the first two weeks of the season, but definitely struggled against #mcm, only managing 9 picks- one for each class besides Sniper and 2 on the Heavy. It’s okay for your Soldier to feed on Upward, but his DPM didn’t justify the low kills and high deaths.
Rolling on the other hand is statistically strong and is performing well both in Highlander and in Invite. I don’t think there’s much of an argument to be made for the edge here.
– oblivion vs november | Edge: November
This is a tough one to choose. Statistically, neither Pyro is having an extraordinary season, and DM-wise, they’re relatively similar, but I think that November will end up having the edge here because of the space Rolling and Smilez will be able to make if November plays a flank Pyro. If both are more reserved to Spy checking roles, we’ll see how things change however.
– exile vs fuzion | Edge: fuzion
This was kind of an odd one for me, because when I think of solid Plat Demomen, exile would come to mind before fuzion, but apparently it’s just because fuzion kept his Demo skills a secret all this time.
Statistically, fuzion is having an overall stronger season. Again, Fast Forward didn’t have the luxury of skipping out on one of the weeks that negatively impacted their stats (The Kids), but fuzion is still looking like the best player on Jeep, despite the offclass.
exile may end up having the better game, since the rest of his combo has the edge over their counterpart, but lest we forget how much the flank can do to open up the map for their combo on a map like Ashville.
– civ vs Willy | Edge: civ
Willy was an absolute beast for Turquoise Jeep in Week 2, but civ’s claims about being able to compete in Plat if he wanted to were very true. He’s one of the top ranked Heavies so far this season and I don’t see any sign of him slowing down here.
– wax vs brick | Edge: No idea
Eesh, I’m not sure how you draw a comparison Engie vs Engie. Both are statistically similar. brick edges out wax on DPM and KPM, but wax has the K/D edge.
brick is overall the more experienced player and one of the brighter minds in Plat overall, so I think he has a good idea on what he needs to do, but he’s spent more time with a Sandvich than a Shotgun.
brick might have a slight edge because of his game knowledge, but come on…it’s Engineer. Don’t ask me to make a meaningful prediction.
– Coldster vs Rightjustify | Edge: Coldster
Coldster is still proving himself to be one of the better Medics in the division. Of course he still has to compete with players like Metawe and Rogue (Nursey is of course on a completely different plane) but he is still one of the top players at his position.
Rightjustify, like fuzion, has also been quite a surprise on Medic. I’m not sure who is helping who more, but their relationship is symbiotic and it seems to go past teammate into something more ethereal.
All things being equal, Coldster walks out with better stats, but obviously, Medic will depend heavily on how your team helps you succeed.
– sully vs carcin | Edge: Carcin
This is not a clear victory for Carcin and I think arguments can be made either way. In the pre-season, Carcin was very obviously one of the top players on Jeep who at that point had 8 off-classing teammates before fuzion came into focus and Carcin had been unable to play matches for the past two weeks.
Sully on the other hand has been consistently above average on Sniper and has worked his way into being a mainstay in Plat for as long as he continues to play. Like any Sniper, he seems to have his on and off days, so we’ll have to see if both Snipers are in peak condition or if Sully’s off day and Carcin’s rust come out to play.
cloudshade vs Jayden | Edge: Jayden
This is also not a very easy choice between these two Spies.
Both I believe seem to be underperforming from where I initially mentally ranked them, but Jayden has only had one match to show off his skills. Cloudshade has performed overall better, even if marginally so.
It’s not to be expected for Spies to have more kills than deaths, so their negative games don’t mean too much, but I’m looking more at potential upside than I am previous performance for these two.
I’ve mentioned repeatedly that Jeep will likely be able to make more space due to their flank, which means Jayden will have more opportunities to go for important picks, and in my opinion, holds the advantage in regards to experience and skill.
Overall Edge: smangs
Fast Forward surprised me once with their 2-0 victory over #mcm, maybe they have it in themselves to do it again. I can really only see this going one of two ways however. Either it’s going to be hard fought with a 4-3 ending either way, or Fast Forward is going to blow Jeep out of the water. I don’t think Jeep will have the ability to do the same.
Both teams are very even right now. Jeep has the advantage in terms of experience and skill, whereas Fast Forward’s coordination likely surpasses that of Jeep.
If smilez and Rolling are able to perform well enough with help from their Pyro and Engie, it will open too much space for fuzion to put up another 500+ DPM game. With Jeep already 1-2 and Fast Forward 2-1 however, this match could go a long way in determining playoff hopes, with only 3 more weeks remaining after Ashville. Jeep is going to need to want this more, or likely miss out on any chance of Playoffs.
The Killer Exclusive 
idk about that 1 vox
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This would probably make more sense if we knew what you were referencing lol
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