TPG Season 26 Semi-Finals
-- Invite --
D.R.U.G.S. > Owned
I'll start the semi finals preds saying that Drugs will win this. Why you ought to be thinking that right now....I’ll explain: This is the best team in invite so far, they managed to beat THUNDER on their best map, they haven't lost a single match in this season and additionally they won two matches against us - emmanuel and solitude. And since 99% of you guys will end up predicting them > us, I'm just hopping on the pred bandwagon. In all seriousness even without Milo (which I personally think is Drugs best player) taylor, greetz and biggie (the scrim lord) can lead Drugs in to the finals spot. About us, what more can I say? StorM will do as good as always, helping to secure mid as long as he can while rodz will kill every one who moves in sight. Moreover I think we did our best throughout the season and speaking as one the leaders of my team, I wish to thank you for letting us play. And no, rodz doesn't cheat or rate.
cAss' is pretty much confident on losing this by at least 1 cap
Players to watch:
D.R.U.G.S.: biggie
Owned: StorM, rodz
DRUGS > Owned
From what I’ve seen (which isn’t a whole lot since I’ve been out of commission for the past few months), Owned has some great teamwork. Although losing to DRUGS earlier in the season on solitude, the match was pretty close. But to be honest, I’m not sure that’s a very good indication considering, well, it was on solitude. Harry is a different story. I think no matter what map DRUGS would be playing on, they’ve got the upper hand with pretty much every team (except THUNDER). With a fast-paced map like harrington, this is definitely DRUGS’ match to lose, which I highly doubt will happen. taylor is going to lead the team, with greetz and biggie (and mista of course) most likely running around like crazy people. As long as biggie is not spending the night at a lan center and mista has a cornucopia of snacks available (but not holding a sandwich in hand the entire time), I don’t think DRUGS is going to have any problems. Shout-out to linus, the resident swede, and his propaganda youtube videos.
Swiss: DRUGS by 2 caps (at least)
DRUGS: mista (hes playing right?), taylor
Owned: (im going to trust cAss)
THUNDER < Attack of the killer koalas!
Since AKK’s defeat on saints (against Owned^_^) they have changed quite dramatically: Jules and seveN are doing several clutches on their heavy routes, Miller is sniping as fast as rodz reflexes, alex kirk is walking through the entire map rifling everyone who dares to see him crouched and Jarrod is... well... I’m out of vocabulary to describe how well he is playing at the moment. Not because I'm getting shitstomped every time I have to face him in my routes but mainly because I see that he is putting a lot of effort in his game by scrimming and 12manning 24/7. Or he can be either cheating as well. Whatever. And their thirds are a pain in the ass also (in my opinion Yaso > Hildebrand by far). And to be honest - despite Jared creating another fast tournament (DOD Draft 2) in his moments of boredom because the rest of THUNDER guys either are playing 100h+ of CS or not playing any game at all - I can't see them beating AKK at this moment. Best of luck for the Koalas!
cAss' believes that AKK will win by 2 caps because their deserve the finals spot
Players to watch:
THUNDER: Toxisafox Mundy
AKK: Jarrod, AlexKirk
THUNDER > koalas
I’d like to root against THUNDER considering tox has recently made threats to use my DoD draft password which is used for alot of my accounts online (cant believe you admins can see pws, a new level of corruption above allowing players to rejoin teams), I think it’s unlikely that koalas is going to steal this game. It’s going to be fairly close though with the fact that koalas actually scrim (god forbid). koalas has got alot of talent, had a good pick-up with ben “guy on a buffalo” savin (who already works well with the team), and alex is strong on harrington (couple that with Jarrod floating around the map with his infamous airplane hacks). Should make the match interesting but I don’t think it’s going to be enough to take out THUNDER and prevent a DRUGS THUNDER finals. THUNDER plays so well together, I don’t think a lack of practice should be a problem. ryan is strong at mountain and well, tox is tox.
Swiss: going with THUNDER by about a cap
THUNDER: ryanemo, tox
koalas: alex, jarrod
-- Main --
mindflow > Most Valuable Playerz
Not gonna lie. This time. Semi finals are for real. Though everyone knows that I'm down to write biased preds in MVPz's favor, I feel that I need to be realistic this time around. MVPz boys (Josh Randy Rob Scott Jared) are very cool guys and though I'd find seeing them figthing to win Main quite interesting, mindflow will be just too much for them to handle. And the sensation team that have beaten 1080p on the last Lower season is undoubtedly the favourite in this clash. And despite all hype about Austin sandbagging for them and what not, they would likely win their games even without him because they are very good. Watch for Watagashi and apple1mak dropping good bombs while SLaya will be cheating his balls off as usual with crazy shots. On the MVPz side, all players will have glimpses of lucidity during the match but by the end, Josh's shoulders won't be able to bear all the weight of fighting against a solid, superb team by himself. Pat will do well also. Rob will have his heavy streaks too but in the end mindflow will win this. By quite a bit.
cAss' isn't biased anymore and it's quite sure that mindflow will win by 3+ caps
Players to watch:
mindflow: Austin, SLaya
MVPz: Jb, Pat
mindflow > Most Valuable Playerz
Don’t listen to Austin and his humble talk. From experience with playing with Austin for several seasons, I think the biggest indicator of just how ridiculously well he will play is whether he says before the match that he’s not going to play that well. If that comes out of his mouth, that means even more trouble for MVPz. My guess is that he will be running mid. My inside source says Pat will also be running mid with schmiggs, which should be a major help for MVPz to put up a fight in mid. Ace and Narc should be a good team on mountain and hold their own, but the biggest problem for MVPz will be long. mindflow will take advantage of that weakness and should win this.
Swiss: mindflow by 2 caps
mindflow: Austin
MVPz: Pat
3xtreme Humiliation > Ghad Gaming
Ghad Gaming Quarter finals results punched me in the face. Though the match result was a very close one (a little more than 1/2 cap) they still booked their way to Semi finals nonetheless. Even without stile, lowcarb's team have proved that they still have chances of climbing up in to higher positions in the end. And their toughest opponent is just waiting for them. 3h have already played against them and got the win by just a 2 points difference on saints. Practically a draw result. I'm not quite sure if the square boys were with them at that time but as much as I don't see them practicing anymore - at least not as they used to - I'm still convinced that they can perform well enough to beat Ghad's squad again. I'm very fond of the Pinto brothers who are always 12manning but Kevin Joel and s0v will help 3h have this. For pride sake. For glory sake. For duty sake. For Ricky's gifs sake. For Rep sake. Well I'm gonna go with 3h this time. Again.
cAss' expects that |3h| team in the finals against mindflow winning this by 1/2 cap
Players to watch:
|3h|: s0v, Rambizzle
Ghad Gaming: cK-, lowcarb
3xtreme Humiliation > Ghad Gaming
The previous match between the two was very close (2 point difference) but it was on the horrible map that is saints (personal opinion). Harrington should be a better indicator of the differences between the teams. I would say that stile would use his savvy asianness and attempt a metaphorical armbar on 3h but he’ll be on the sidelines. Even with stile, I don’t think that would be enough for ghad. mr. gardner will control mid for most of the match and 3h will have the upper hand in most of the match-ups. I don’t think this is going to be very close, definitely not anywhere near the saints match earlier in the season.
Swiss: 3h by 3 caps
3h: stealth, mogers
Ghad: lowcarb
-- Open --
Two matches are under investigation in the Open division. As soon as we know what the the results will be (whether reverted or not) we shall add the remaining thoughts as usual. As for now we can't release to the masses what teams have been disputed since it's classified TPG information.
