Season 19 powered by Tt eSPORTS: Week 2 Report Card

Week 2 results are trickling in, but another earthquake has already rocked the Premiership with Lethal Weapon dropping from the season, the sheer chaos of the lineup changes proving too much for the team leadership to hold together. So what does this mean for the weekly reports? Because Salty Frogs are being drafted in to replace them, the week1 game is being dropped from these rankings, but I probably won’t do this for drops that happen later in the season, it depends on how unfair it may make things for the other teams.

While we’re on the subject how does this all work anyway?

Yes it is stats based, but I’m not just comparing stat lines, who got the most frags, damage and all the usual. There are a couple of extra wrinkles being taken into account, firstly who did you get those stats against? Compiling better stats against stronger teams means you get more credit than crushing the dungeon dwellers. Secondly, what type of game was it? If it’s a defensive game where everyone on the server got low frags and damage numbers that shouldn’t be to their detriment compared to players who played in high damage aggressive games. The result might be that someone’s raw stats don’t look particularly impressive but the wider context makes them a big achievement.

Enough rambling, on with the call outs

SUAVE

Despite maintaining their position as the top rated team, the week 2 drawn result against Awsomniac blew the fate of the Premiership wide open. SUAVE may offer IPZIE’s ping problems as a mitigating factor, but with fl1p to come into the lineup and Tek moved away from pocket (overall he was a little below average in this match on scout) Awsomniac were not at their ultimate best either.

On Process the French soldiers dominated and the SUAVE scouts kept them in the game while IPZIE struggled to adjust to his ping. There may have been a record set for airshots in this match with three players hitting 6, although no one reached Coleman’s standards.

On Gullywash WARHURYEAH set the pace and Kiler4fun also excelled for SUAVE as the soldiers from both teams struggled. Generally SUAVE were in the ascendancy but couldn’t do enough to take the map in normal time. Across the two maps Mirelin dropped 3 ubers although one of them may not have mattered that much.

SUAVE’s 1st position is mostly due to their strength in depth, although individual players may struggle on a map, they are strong on the next one, and assuming IPZIE’s ping problem isn’t chronic then they have top players across every class. Politically correct pander should be little more than a bump in the road next week.

Head boy: Still IPZIE, just about, despite the ping.

 

Awsomniac

 Taking 2^nd spot, up 2 places on last week, the Frenchies proved their class against the season favourites, and with lineup improvements still in the works there could be even better to come. Captainhax stepped seamlessly into the team and dominated on Process although Gullywash was less convincing, and his excellent post match interview threatened to challenge sheepy dog's hand as interviewee of the season.

The irrepressible Exon. stepped up to keep them in the game on Gullywash, going toe to toe with WARHURYEAH and earning a precious golden cap loss league point. It’s unclear whether dmoule was swapped out for tactical reasons or not but despite some big plays Tek was a little underwhelming, bottom fragging on Process. Whither fl1p?

Bulle also played well without dropping, popping more ubers and compiling more assists (with a team that got less kills) than Mirelin, although he did die a couple more times. Week 3 brings an all French affair against the unknown upstarts Salty Frogs who have some catching up to do, but Awsomniac must be heavy favourites against the fresh faced new boys.

Prefect: Captainhax, smashed Process and hung in on Gullywash

 

Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers

Also moving up 2 places after a relatively straightforward win against Politically correct pander, Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers are starting to assume the mantle of potential challengers many hoped they would. Zebbosai again dominated tearing through the opposing scouts and soldiers, but amppis was able to express himself in more dominant fashion on Process where zappis also flourished, the soldier pair hitting 11 airshots between them. On Gullywash zappis had a tougher time, but amppis grabbed another 5 airshots. It seems competition for the Coleman award is getting ever hotter.

ryb was also terrifyingly efficient if not prolific across both maps. Herr_P was heavily delegated to capping and his DM numbers still don’t inspire confidence even when they’re rolling the opposition. However as they also have Knutsson on medic it’s clear they’re committed to playing as a team rather than assembling a group of star players, although Knutsson only dropped twice this match so things are improving.

Off classing was almost all concentrated into one player with Zebbosai committing nearly 13 minutes to sniper on Process and a few more on Gullywash, with moderate success. He should face some serious scout competition in sheepy dog's hand when they play Planet Express in week 3, if there’s enough resistance to curtail his exploits this one may not be completely clear cut.

Class president: Zebbosai

 

 

Planet Express

Down 2 places from their lofty week 1 perch Planet Express squeezed past 4-25 in a narrow double golden cap victory. After a disappointing week 1 Hafficool got his shit together with a strong showing on Process and a respectable score on Gullywash, with kaptain doing the reverse.

sheepy dog's hand remains the team’s main carry across the two maps (and displayed superb interview technique), but Setlet’s decent week one showing went backwards. Samsa also discovered unexpected reserves of strength making a big difference on Gullywash, although this was partly down to some epic defensive engineering. flushy had a nice fixture in normal time but blotted his copybook with a drop in the Process golden cap.

Week 3 sees them take on Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers which might be closer than people think, but their chances depend on controlling Zebbosai. Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers have enough weaknesses to potentially be exploited and Planet Express should offer a more difficult test than Politically correct pander both in style and strengths, but their chaotic play may end up making them easier isolated pickings for the rampaging Swede.

Hall monitor: sheepy dog's hand

 

4-25

Our one remaining team from the east has had their week 1 game expunged from the records so it was a clean slate against Planet Express this week and the beast from Belarus,  sid vicious, was ready top fragging on both maps even putting sheepy dog's hand in the shade on Gullywash. gdk was also enormously destructive on both maps, while kensi. ran a little hot and cold, sniping reasonably well on Gullywash but less effectively on Process.

Dikker manfully defended Shyyou in the post-match interview, but the fact is his difficulties calling and deathmatching effectively at the same time are hurting the team, particularly on Gullywash where he was dominated. With only average pocket play 4-25 would have won both maps, but if developing his game is something they’re committed to then these are the growing pains that go with it.

This distracts a little bit from the struggles of Sean John as well, but a weak roamer is one thing, terminal weakness in the combo is a bigger deal. As Sean John seems to have left the roster it looks like the roamer might be the one to take the fall.

Their next scheduled game is the revised week 1 fixture against the great unknowns Salty Frogs, you’d have to expect 4-25 to win purely on the quality of their scouts and demo but Salty Frogs are an unknown quantity at this stage. Shortly after that come coolclan who didn’t play this calendar week, but who may also struggle to contain sid vicious and gdk.

House captain: gdk

 

coolclan

Simply by not playing coolclan move up a spot, but as they’ve done nothing there’s very little to report.

Their next scheduled matches are 4-25 and  Salty Frogs in quick succession, both of which must be considered winnable.

 

Politically correct pander

After a comprehensive beating at the hands of Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers, Politically correct pander sink to the bottom of the rankings although this is partly down to a series of abysmal off classing attempts and not just their performances on their core classes.

zoob had a strong Gullywash hitting 8 airshots, and RazorsEdge and furbo were able to largely hold their own, but Hildreth was exposed and struggled to be effective on both maps. Muuki remains hyper aggressive but on Gullywash in particular he didn’t get enough done.

Even so the Politically correct pander shouldn’t be too downhearted. They must fancy their chances against Salty Frogs and coolclan and they ran Planet Express close so surely 4-25 are within their grasp. Even so their next fixture is against SUAVE so they just need to hold eachother and get through it together – it’ll probably get worse before it gets better.

Valedictorian: zoob 

 

Salty Frogs

For the junior French team in the Premiership there is a lot of inexperience on show so it’ll be a real test for most of these players to be competitive at this level, but facing 4-25 first (on currently scheduling) gives them a target that isn’t completely unattainable.

Having droso as their experienced guiding hand may work for them or against them.

 

Team of the week

Pocket: Captainhax

Roamer: Rising/T-Mac (take your pick, solid German efficiency or wild Gallic flair)

Scouts: Zebbosai & sid vicious

Demoman: gdk

Medic: Bulle