Highlander Season 8 Sponsored by Tt eSPORTS: Premiership & High Tier Mid-Season Recap

As week 5 of Season 8 draws to a close, it’s time for a brief recap of how our Premiership and High teams have been getting on so far. The competition at the top of the table has been close – no team has a perfect record, and the top 4 are separated by only 3 points. The lower end of the table has turned out more or less as expected, but with the bottom two teams yet to face each other the battle for Premiership survival could heat up in the weeks to come.

Season 7 champions Tourettes Chessclub are sitting pretty atop the table after a run of 4 consecutive 6-0 victories. Losing out to Highpander© on Upward in the first week got them off to a less than ideal start, but in their current position the 2 points they gained by taking Hildreth‘s squad to a third round have turned out to be vital. The return of Lazybear paired with ondkaja has softened the blow of losing their Baltic flank from last season, and huhystah has been impressive in the games he’s managed to attend. blub has also done an excellent job filling in on Demo when needed. BreakfasT_Jr still reigns supreme when it comes to Heavies, while new Medic roban has been doing his best to channel TheSucker with his drop rate but still manages to heal his team to victory, with the highest assists per minute in Prem (is this because Breakfast gets all the heals?). With only WASP and PremTech to play in the regular season, Scissors looks to have a playoff spot firmly in his grasp. There is the possibility of dropping points to the MMA all-stars of North America on notorious upset factory Steel, but with the Russians outclassed in most areas week 6 should be a fairly easy ride for Chess.

Last season’s runners-up PremTech once again find themselves in second place, trailing Chessclub by a single point. BAITO managed to outdo Scissors by splitting the points with Highpander© in week 2, taking Process with a convincing 3-0 scoreline after losing out 2-3 on Warmtic. Losing a round of Gravelpit to Stacked really shook the gang up – expect Saloon.tf to be taking bets on BAITO vs b33p at DeutschLAN (my keys are on the Irishman, given his Heavy fist fighting skills so far). The rest of their games proved relatively painless, with a plucky performance by WASP in week 1’s 6-0 win the only real resistance provided by the lower Prem teams. The poaching of atomic- and uubers from Chessclub has proved to be a master stroke by the Finnish Jackie Chan, with both players putting in big performances week after week. ShaDowWho? Nursey and Kresnik have recently added another UGC Platinum winners’ medal to their backpacks (over in North America where UGC actually means something) and both players continue to impress with their transition into the European game – Nursey in particular managing to lead the pack of Medics despite being at a huge ping disadvantage. Despite their strong position right now, anything but wins in the next two games could cast doubt over PremTech‘s playoff hopes – coming up in week 6 is a big grudge match against Fair Enough on Viaduct and Sunshine, followed by the aforementioned final week clash with Tourettes Chessclub.

Moving on to Fair Enough, who would have expected to see these guys sitting in third position at this point in the season? They had the luxury of beginning the season by facing weaker opponents than their fellow playoff hopefuls, but that easy ride could be coming back to bite them. Breezing through the first 4 weeks, including a 5-1 demolition of Stacked, jakeowaty‘s young apprentices were feeling confident going into their clash with Tourettes Chessclub. Sadly, the fairytale had to end somewhere, and they went down 6-0 in a flurry of Medic drops and despite some heroic dumpster_device plays from HartzFartz. There’s no time for mourning, though – they still have to face PremTech and Highpander© before the regular season ends, so the pressure is on. Blooddrunk will have to be on top of his game to compete with inso and phromelo, but Villdjack‘s exceptional performances so far set him up to do some serious work against the big boys. The final week’s clash with Hildreth & co will feel like a Grand Final all of its own, with both team’s playoff fates potentially riding on a best of three on Steel.

Speaking of Hildreth, the Grand Master of Highlander finds himself in a sticky spot. After a disappointing third place finish in Season 7, an overhaul of the Highpander© roster moved Kissakala to Scout with Spreijer filling the vacated Medic slot. Hildoge then decided to, as we say in the industry, “pull a BAITO” and wake Hawaiian Heavy Polk from his slumber to come and 200 ping it up in Europe. The season got off to a decent start – a 4-2 victory over last season’s numero uno on Upward was not to be sniffed at, but in week 2 things went a little sour. While Hildreth has been blasé over the unexpected loss to PremTech on Process, those three dropped points could end up costing the Pandas more than just pride if they fail to make playoffs. Division 1 move-ups WASP also ruffled some feathers by sneaking a round of Barnblitz away from Highpander©, another two points that might have them kicking themselves in 2 weeks’ time. One ace in the hole for the final two matches is phromelo, far and away the best Sniper in Prem right now. The stats don’t lie, folks. Time and again the Polish marksman gives his team a piggy back ride over the finish line, and he’s not shown any sign of stopping so far. There are few, if any Snipers that can really compete with phromelo when he’s on form, so as long as he doesn’t pull a repeat of last season and disappear for a crucial game then the Pandas will be feeling confident. Steve! continues to dominate on Pyro, while his roommate Grenja has been a game-changer on Spy in several matches. He has been spotted running the Ambassador and Dead Ringer against Stacked, though – no longer can he call himself the biggest hipster in the league. With 6 points against UKIP virtually guaranteed, it will all come down to the final week against Fair Enough.

As we move outside of the top four, the first name we see is WASP. Written off by most at the start of the season and lumped in with the other two Prem move-ups, the veteran Russian team have been pulling off upsets left and right. They put on a strong showing in Week 1 against PremTech, with m0rg managing to keep up with Tseini – a performance that has been repeated every week so far, establishing the Russian Sniper as a name to be remembered. Grabbing themselves two points from Highpander© on Barnblitz made everyone sit up and take notice, and they took the opportunity to grab the full six points from UKIP by demolishing them 3-0 5-0 on Warmtic and Process. A 4-2 victory over fellow countrymen Unpoppable in week 5 leaves them sitting ahead of Stacked in the table – not too shabby for their first season in Prem. CbIHoK has been putting out big damage on Demo, while in recent weeks Nesh has done a sterling job of standing in for the legendary Forsak3n on Scout. They might not be in contention for playoffs, but WASP have done themselves proud in their first season in the top division and silenced their critics admirably.

We find Stacked languishing in 6th position, after their usual run of roster changes, 15 minute pauses and lengthy debates over rules. Are they the victim of a league-wide conspiracy to stamp down b33p and his cronies? Yes, if you listen to asadawarf. If you listen to the results, however, Stacked just haven’t been performing when it counts. Pre-season, the roster was looking incredibly strong after a mass exodus at the end of season 7. DAROUTOUTOU veterans DeGuN and Exon. joined up on Soldier and Demo, with Premiership 6v6 Scouts wltrs and NiCO god's hand poised to share cart pushing duties. Hidan also joined the French party to share the Demo spot, and droso came in to replace longtime Sniper rouHe. Before long, however, they’d lost Engineer Mista, Spy NULL and the Scouts and Exon. were nowhere to be seen. After a strong showing in Week 1, crushing UKIP 6-0 with droso putting in a fine day’s Sniping, things started to go wrong in week 2. A clash with Fair Enough would have looked supremely winnable, especially with the strengthened roster they brought to the game. Things did not exactly go to plan, though, and the game ended in a 5-1 defeat. The following weeks brought three more defeats to Tourettes Chessclub, PremTech and Highpander©, although b33p deserves credit for sneaking a round away from BAITO on Gravelpit with some solid strategic play. Stacked are essentially out of the race for playoffs, but hopefully we’ll see them back again next season without too many changes to the roster. asadawarf, SUZY and Hidan are a formidable combo, and DeGuN has been a joy to watch since his return to Pyro. NULL will be making his return to Highlander in the coming games, and last season he was one of the standout performers in Prem. The rumour mill suggests that we’ve seen the last of b33p for this season – if this is true, ETF2L will be a darker place without him. We salute you, b33p.

Unpoppable were a controversial choice to be promoted to Prem. They earned their spot by beating out another hopeful team in the playoffs, but many felt that there were other teams that deserved the spot more. Well, they wanted it, so they got it. Their season so far has been understandably patchy, with most games ending as 0-6 losses, but there have been some brief shining moments along the way. dodo and Cherie have put in some good performances, and the team as a whole looks to be strengthening as they make their way through the Season. They managed to put their first points on the board in week 5 by taking a round from WASP, and with UKIP waiting in week 7 they have the chance to increase that tally further. Who knows, they may even be able to pull out a surprise victory over Stacked on Viaduct or Sunshine.

Finally, we come to UKIP. The second of the Division 2 moveups, nobody really expected yak and the boys to make waves in Prem, and so far nothing spectacular has been forthcoming. The results have been getting steadily less one sided as the season has gone on, and there are a number of promising players stepping forward to suggest that these guys aren’t quite finished yet. Burn has been Sniping well recently, and like Unpoppable these guys deserve tremendous credit for having the guts to do what certain high teams wouldn’t and take a risk on competing at the highest level. Big shoutouts to both of these new teams for not folding, too – the scene certainly did not need another Voodooh.

High Tier

For a look at how the High Tier is shaping up, I’m going to hand you over to the wise prophet RTC. His match predictions may have fallen upon deaf ears, but heed his words now. RTC deserves a huge shoutout for putting this together in less than a day, so a round of applause please, ladies and gentlemen.

RTC: Season 8 High Tier has been nothing short of hectic so far, as we enter Week 6 of the proceedings, a comfortable 20 out of 24 teams remain standing, with only 2 of those teams ( Premature Overextenders and WHEREISKAIDO) 100% guaranteed no longer in contention for a playoff spot. What’s more, there are also no guaranteed promotions with the top team SUPER MEGA ICE SKATERS FROM HELL KILLERS requiring 4 points to be guaranteed a playoff position at this stage.

Week 1 began modestly enough on the classic Payload map Upward, with Biggus Dickus and Moe moe Kyuuuun :3 quickly beginning their ascent up the table with impressive victories against Team Colonslash: Express and LEGOLANDER respectively. The Bureau fought tooth and nail to get a 4-2 victory against Feila eSports finanzieren durch, but the main event was Experimental Cup winners Strong Opinions against the heavily hyped prospects of SUPER MEGA ICE SKATERS FROM HELL KILLERS (formerly known as Brotherhood of Defaced Step-Moms). Despite the effort from the masters, SUPER MEGA ICE SKATERS FROM HELL KILLERS summoned the power of Grayskull to take the 6 points from them.

Having dispatched Actually Killed by Highlander the previous week, hePPa faced another Finnish derby in the second week, this time against TRG-Gaming on the brand-new Warmtic and the veteran 5CP map Process. hePPa‘s premiership experience proved to be vital, as they took a decisive victory to bolster their playoff hopes. Premiership hopefuls its Team were enraged by the team formerly known as The Cashiers: Mad? in a close match. But a major upset was Moe moe Kyuuuun :3‘s victory against Biggus Dickus, taking 5 points from the premiership quality line-up and cementing the weeaboos as major contenders for the playoffs.

Week 3 saw the return of a new and improved Barnblitz, where cLanda hammered the final nail in the coffin of Rageaholics Anonymous in a 4-2 upset, causing the remnants of #SDW to fold the very next week. Two tenured teams from Season 7 in Good Enough and SUPER ULTRA CRAZY KILLERS engaged in a mid-table clash, where the former prevailed. Meanwhile, SUPER MEGA ICE SKATERS FROM HELL KILLERS continued their dominance at the top of the table, dropping a megaton bomb on hePPa in a 6-0.

The controversial Gravel Pit was Week 4’s map, and controversy certainly brewed, as Gun Art took a cheeky default victory from TRG-Gaming…only to fold the very next week. 2 teams failing to live up to pre-season expectations in Strong Opinions and Feila eSports finanzieren durch had a chance to prove themselves against one another, with Prince Adam’s disciples taking victory. And Team Colonslash: Ambition, despite their roster changes drawing issues with the staff, managed to take 2 points against the dominant SUPER MEGA ICE SKATERS FROM HELL KILLERS, a team at this point that had victories against various Premier teams in scrims.

The fifth week took place on the highly popular Badwater, which saw High tier take some more casualties in Name of the team and sBooB Team folding due to infringing ETF2L regulations. Israel-based team GOALstar took their second loss to a Team Colonslash team in Team Colonslash: Express. A 6’s player clash took place between LEGOLANDER and WHEREISKAIDO, with the bricks constructing their first victory. And The Bureau turned on the lights against cLanda, placing the former Division 5 team in a comfortable position for the final 2 weeks.

Unfortunately, as mentioned above, any playoff dreams are over for Premature Overextenders and WHEREISKAIDO, as they can no longer qualify for the playoff unless by a sheer miracle due to folding teams/point deductions. Despite a strong start to the season, its Team are in 18th place, and need to contest with the similarly positioned TRG-Gaming, GOALstar and LEGOLANDER in order to secure a high tier slot next season. Mid-table, SUPER ULTRA CRAZY KILLERS, Actually Killed by Highlander, Feila eSports finanzieren durch, cLanda and hePPa can be located, with a very outside chance of achieving playoff status, but are mostly likely safe from relegation. Both Team Colonslash teams, along with Strong Opinions, Good Enough and Mad? are still alive and kicking in the battle for 5th position, just slightly out of reach of playoff positioning at the moment. Moe moe Kyuuuun :3 and The Bureau are clinging dearly to playoff positions at the moment, with Biggus Dickus slightly ahead of them in 2nd place. But comfortably in first place is SUPER MEGA ICE SKATERS FROM HELL KILLERS, who just last week achieved a victory against reigning premiership champions Tourettes Chessclub in a Badwater scrim (although with Chessclub lacking a key player).

However, there are still room for some major changes in High tier. With the debuting Sunshine accompanied with an updated Viaduct in the penultimate week, and the heavily strategic Steel in the final week, High Tier has provided a great deal of surprises and excitement this season, and looks very much certain to escalate in tension as the playoff draw nearer.

Well, that’s all folks. Thankyou for reading, and before I leave you, apologies to yak, maxxx.lfc and ADIOS, who gave up their time for interviews that sadly never ended up being posted. Look out for a few words from these guys at the end of the season.

– prof