Season 19 powered by Tt eSPORTS: Week 5 Report Card

As the mid-season tumbleweeds continue to blow through the schedule a mere 2 games were played this week, with coolclan facing Awsomniac and Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers facing off against upstarts Salty Frogs. Despite these having all the appearances of crushing rolls both games were hotly contested and the results may have far reaching consequences for the playoffs and beyond.

On the team of the week front I’m changing things up a bit to show who is the most highly rated player in a position as a result of their cumulative performances, but also show who has had the best week in terms of personal improvement which should give more scope for the lesser lights to feature. I’ll be restricting it to active players this week. Is that even more confusing?

SUAVE

Not playing this week has marginally strengthened their position given that their closest competitors have taken to dropping maps to mid table teams. Planet Express used their wildcard delaying this week’s game.

 

Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers

http://logs.tf/520430

http://logs.tf/520514

Still in 2^nd but by a much reduced margin Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers lost all the good work they managed reeling in SUAVE to leave themselves in a slightly vulnerable 3^rd position in the table. Experiments with a pyro on offense could prove extremely unwise. Given this result dropping further points to either of their remaining opponents ( 4-25 and coolclan) looks possible.

On logjam just like last week amppis was exploited, going 11/17 and posting less damage than his roamer. Earlier in the season the question “Who would choose logjam in the playoffs?” was asked, the answer is anyone playing Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers. Zebbosai and Herr_P had pretty good games overall, but their heavies were hoplessly outclassed (many casualties stacking up during the failed pushes) and NiCO god's hand was again the king of cleanup. Always aggressive on mid ryb found himself under pressure as an obvious target without Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers being able to take advantage of players over extending for the pick.

During the map rounds 2 and 3 were extremely long, reflecting both teams frequently making similar mistakes, pursuing too hard, over extending and seeing player advantages overturned. Whether this comes from Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers taking the opponent too lightly or ignoring the map because of the chances of playing it again are low isn’t clear, but even if they get the ability to ban it during map picking that’s one of their bans practically forced at the sharp end of the season.

On Granary some level of order was restored as victory was secured with ease, Herr_P was the hero crushing all comers, posting 43/14 and top damaging behind the demomen. Some may make play of his massive points score being boosted by 19 caps but that appears to be because he killed literally everyone.

ryb was his usual quietly efficient self, although amppis was once again less than impressive compared to his counterpart. Has his confidence has been shaken by the logjam games, or do both maps reward soldiers aggressively pressuring the opposition when amppis is more comfortable in a passive pocket role? He’s been piling on the airshots recently without playing great games which suggests facing a lot of aggressive incoming players.

Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers’s week 6 game against 4-25 now seems like it might have banana skin potential, but at the very least amppis will surely be guaranteed pocket soldier domination.

Grand Master: Zebbosai

 

Awsomniac

http://logs.tf/521733

http://logs.tf/521820

Now once again within a nipple hair of Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers the Frenchies squeezed past a revitalised coolclan but it wasn’t easy, both maps won by a single round. Bulle contributed to this in no small part by dropping 3 ubers across the two maps. A similar let down was the form of the scouts with neither Flippy nor fl1p able to match their team mates exploits.

Logjam started well taking two reasonably quick rounds, but after that Awsomniac found it impossible to push last gradually becoming increasingly frustrated and undisciplined, eventually emerging 2-1 winners only after an incredibly protracted 3^rd round which they gave up to a scout simply running onto the fast capping last point.

Tek came away predictably looking like the dominant pocket that he is, splitting the demomen for damage. Exon. backed him up strongly, unusually not committing to that much suicidal play on the mids leaving T-Mac to do the bombing.

Granary was a much more back and forth affair, and this time Awsomniac were the team holding last repeatedly in the epic 3^rd round. The back and forth stalemate was eventually settled by an Exon. triple kill in the classic sticky spot above the point on coolclan’s 2^nd, after which the remnants were quickly cleaned up. Play being stretched across several points saw them lose out in a few key individual battles to bring it back to 2-2, but a quick win off the back of a crushing mid sealed the victory.

As with Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers a lot of Awsomniac’s difficulties seemed to be down to a lack of concentration, getting caught out in the detail like leaving their medic isolated, not tracking players behind, and generally lacking team cohesion. They have always favoured an aggressive style believing in the individual’s ability to make things happen, but it went too far during much of this game.

On the plus side though Granary mid is T-Mac’s playground, the roamer surprisingly dominating the map, and the player on Awsomniac who most clearly embodies the belief in his own ability to do anything. Exon. matched him for aggression regularly throwing himself in but overall being affective. Tek played a much more passive controlling role, taking what came to him and generally protecting Bulle.

Week 6 brings Planet Express who should theoretically offer more of a challenge than coolclan, so if Awsomniac play with a similar lack of attention to detail lost points could be the price of it.

Grand Chancellor: Exon.

 

4-25

No action from the eastern frontier this week means nothing to report. Hopefully this time is being spent to put Shyyou through an inspiring montage to emerge with Rocky Balboa like performances in the weeks to come.

 

Planet Express

Also out of action this week, no permanent replacement for Samsa has been added to the roster at the time of writing.

 

Salty Frogs

No doubt bitter about still being confined to the lower reaches of the ratings after taking points off Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers, Salty Frogs are now breathing down the necks of Planet Express and 4-25.

On Logjam a series of heroic last defences in round 3 ground their opponents down and saw them topple the increasingly frustrated and complacent attackers. A relatively quick 4^th round sealed the win. Typically NiCO god's hand shone, top fragging while picking up the most soldier kills and tying for the most demo kills. The relative survivability of the pocket soldier and demomen was one of the big differences between the two teams.

baud wasn’t prolific but protected his medic well and survived himself allowing his scouts and Hidan to pick up the kills around his solidity. By the end of the map Izzy57 had a very clear advantage in uber charges and Salty Frogs’s ability to defend their medic was a big part of this.

Izzy57 also managed to pick up 3 kills on both logjam and granary and recorded zero drops. There’s a new badass on the medigun in town.

Granary was a more mixed picture. Although baud and the veteran presence droso were able to keep their end up (in fact baud is flourishing tremendously in the pocket role), Hidan was unremarkable in frags (although his team’s top damager) and NiCO god's hand’s aggression was turned against him. Without NiCO god's hand’s fragging power things got ugly for Salty Frogs and the loss was never in doubt.

In the table Salty Frogs look like the last realistic challengers to the top 3, they probably still need further slip ups from Ze Knutsson Rollerbladers as SUAVE are likely to the merciless. Their next hurdle is Politically correct pander, having shown they can embarrass the big boys Salty Frogs need to prove they can win the games they should when the pressure to perform is on.

Grand Superintendent of Works: baud

 

coolclan

Even though no league points were accrued coolclan’s battling performance against Awsomniac means that, in the ratings, they’ve broken Politically correct pander’ choke hold only to begin grappling anew in the gutter. Like Salty Frogs they benefitted from being able to hold last on logjam for great lengths of time until Awsomniac were worn down and lost their composure trying to put them away.

Their scouts shone on logjam, sorex stepping in competently for Dennia, and on Granary they were also behind much of what was good for coolclan, getting in behind through unguarded flanks, abusing the dropdown and generally causing chaos amongst the uncoordinated Awsomniac ranks.

The soldier switch of phromelo to pocket and Bonkers to roamer didn’t really produce much of a change in their individual fortunes. phromelo was fairly passive on logjam, but didn’t stay alive enough to justify it, while his Granary was eclipsed by his roamer. Both soldiers struggled in direct confrontations with the opponent’s heavy classes.

Smirre on the other hand displayed a definite improvement in form, with dependable survivability on Logjam but freer more aggressive plays on Granary both bearing fruit. One area of criticism would be slightly lower damage than you might expect.

Admirable went drop-free, and on Granary registered far more assists from barely more team frags whilst taking roughly the same damage as Bulle, clearly putting it all on the line during combat to keep his team in it.

The resurgence of coolclan’s fighting spirit will be tested next by Planet Express who would expect to win, but wltrs should be able to keep young upstart sheepy dog's hand in check, giving coolclan a chance to bloody their noses and take some much needed points. Shortly after that the bum fight to end all bum fights versus Politically correct pander will surely decide where Sonny Black will need to ship this season’s wooden spoons. Expect a draw.

Grand Pursuivant: wltrs

 

Politically correct pander

Without playing they’re back on the bottom rung of the ladder, it’s not looking pretty for the Highlander collective.

 

Team of the week

Demo: Exon. (most improved was Hidan)

Pocket Soldier: baud (also most improved)

Roaming soldier: T-Mac (also most improved)

Scouts: Zebbosai & wltrs (most improved were Herr_P and sorex)

Medic: Izzy57, who was also most improved. Mirelin didn’t play this week.