Highlander Season 14 Group Stage Wrap-up

With the group stages drawn to a close at the end of 2017, it is the perfect time to go into depth regarding the outcome of Highlander Season 14. This season has seen some unlikely results.

Highlander Season 14 Group Stage Wrap-up

Starting from the bottom to the top of the tables we start at number six with Tourettes Chessclub. Most notably Tourette’s performance over course of the season could be summed up as something of a “late starter”. Despite a promising roster at the beginning of the season, players were being swapped, resulting in a different lineup every week for the first four or so weeks of the group stages. Despite clutching a Golden Cap Loss against leading team Strong Opinions, and perhaps finally having the stable roster needed to succeed in the season, it was to little too late. Tourettes Chessclub will seed last in the group stages, and thus be subject to relegation.

Coming in at joint fourth and fifth were the two debut premiership teams, inVision and Lucrosa. The decision as to which team is facing relegation is decided by the result of the match between them, meaning the loss of inVision to Lucrosa in the 4th week was a costly one. However both teams have had a surprisingly decent first season in prem; both teams took the edge over former Highlander giants Tourettes Frenchclub, with inVision also claiming points from current third place team Feila eSports. These debut teams were fortunate enough to pick up some former premiership veterans, namely thaZu for inVision and Spy legend chooper for Lucrosa. However, both teams also saw some debut prodigies come into play. Invision’s Heavy tuja and Pyro yugo both showed incredible performance during their season debut, consistently proving themselves against some of the veteran prem players. Similarly, Lucrosa’s soldier pickup Kosuke hit the scene as a force to be reckoned with. Who knows what these premiership newcomers could achieve in the future.

On the third place we find Feila eSports finanzieren durch, a long standing team built with the Highlander power couple JoeN and Leila. Feila have long been aiming for a shot at playoffs, and this will be their first Premiership semifinal, where they will be facing SDCK. With pickups such as former prem winner cloudy, and promising superstars as Strno and mezzo, as well as some very impressive cp_steel strategies, it is no surprise that they finally have been able to achieve a top spot after the group stages.

Super Dickmann's KANNONEN! (better known as SDCK) have ended up on the second place in the tables, perhaps surprising both themselves and the community. Having won the past two Highlander seasons, they seemed confident going into the season for a third consecutive win. However, after taking a full 6-0 loss to Strong Opinions in the second week, they ended up in second place, despite winning every other match. The game itself was fairly close and thus, the Highlander Season 14 crown is still possible for both SDCK and Strong Opinions.

Coming in first, and thus guaranteeing themselves at least a second place victory, is the former Highlander powerhouse Strong Opinions. For two seasons now, they have been hidden in the shadows of their rivals SDCK, however they now have a strong chance to reclaim the throne that they once reigned upon for so long. The team has had an almost perfect season in the group stages, taking a full six points from their rivals. It was only in the last two matches that their hot streak began to cool. Losing koth_coalplant to Feila eSports, followed by losing a round of pl_badwater to Tourettes Frenchclub; which ruined their perfect season. Despite that, they were able to secure the top spot by only one point, which is all it takes to see them straight into the finals.

This season has possibly been the closest season of European Highlander in a long time. Feila eSports finanzieren durch, Strong Opinions and Super Dickmann's KANNONEN! all seem to have a fair chance at victory over the others, making this premiership playoff definitely one to tune into! The remaining semifinal and Grand Final matches will be covered by KritzKast over on their Twitch. More details about the coverage of those games will be announced soon!

Written by chando

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