[u][b]SXP vs B4:[/b][/u]<br />As we saw last week, Xenaero was at work I believe and unable to attend the game. This unfortunately hurt B4 because DS came late due to some reason (probably work). The FA had a strong runner (Dragon) and was able to recover, but I don&#039;t think Bless got as much practice on that map as he should have because the team never practiced. He did pretty well considering their situation though. I was disappointed to hear that the team had practiced so little that Legion was afraid to put DS in due to lack of practice. Therefore this team needs to shape up and get their game on because 6 teams means each team (almost) is a powerhouse. There is no way this team can continue on this streak, and may actually even end up losing to KGB if they don&#039;t shape up.<br /><br />Being map31, B4 will have to attempt to win via raw fragging. Both teams are fraggy teams, except SXP has dew who is limited from being a machine by his ping, and Mantis who never practices because he&#039;s busy watching movies instead. Thus if SXP plays their game wrong or has a weak mid that gets walked on, B4 may just win this grindfest of a map.<br /><br />SXP I expect will have Stall&#039;s forest running:<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOkgM20CKyk<br />Bones will probably D again in his perpetual hatred of doom, and I expect Dew or Mantis to mid. Last game they traded both in and it was pretty much 5-0 both times except Dew got fucked over by something dumb, but excluding that it was probably 5-0 for both players. I personally see SXP using whichever member can frag more than switching both in and out. If B4 uses insane fragging measures, they may need to use Mantis because of his low ping. On map06, Mantis actually did some epic shots so I know he still has that doom power buried in there somewhere, but I personally think he&#039;s still really rusty due to no drive to practice. If he practices, it could give SXP the advantage they need to fully secure the win.<br />Dew on the other hand is a CTF veteran who is really smart and will use any fuckup to B4&#039;s disadvantage. I don&#039;t see B4&#039;s team (excluding Xenaero) to see the tricks Dew would pull, and if SXP can hold out without Dew&#039;s potential limited fragpower (solely due to ping), then B4 will get fucked royally because Dew I predict will do some clutch moves and catch B4 off guard. If Xenaero is playing, he will know the weird stuff that can be done to offset the fragile CTF balance, but with Stall running... there will be so much offensive pressure on the D that any successful move Dew does will push the match heavily in favor of SXP. Since this map is complete bullshit with laggers, if Stall pulls a Stall&#039;s forest, whoever is D&#039;ing is toast. I don&#039;t see Bones having a problem on D, he&#039;s a competent player who definitely can murder everything when it comes in. If Bones pushes up due to Dew enemy manipulation, B4 is in trouble.<br /><br />B4 needs to go hard as hell with fragging power. DS will need to play, and he knows how to play map31. I&#039;ve played with him in priv on that map in ZD and he knows his shit. Stall will have an irritating time running on him, though as per usual Stall will definitely make some touches. If DS is not warmed up then this team will be in trouble, if he is then the SXP mid will have to assist by shooting Demonsphere at some point in time. IMO, DS is a walking aimbot when he&#039;s warmed up, which is what makes running on map31 horrible... if you go against a heavy frag machine it becomes a luck based grind. I predict DS will D, Legion will O, and Xen will mid. Legion hates playing offense for some reason, I don&#039;t know if he just wants to play TDM and that&#039;s why he always goes for float, but since this map is fraggy I think he&#039;ll do okay but get stopped by Bones a lot. If Xenaero doesn&#039;t show up, then Bless will be on mid or d. Since he knows how to play this map since he&#039;s very familiar with it, their fourth is a competent replacement for anyone possibly missing. The team will make SXP&#039;s job not easy if Xen doesn&#039;t show up.<br /><br />The final outcome of B4 will probably depend on intense frag pressure, and how much DS&#039;s reaction time and frag power can contend with Stall&#039;s ridiculous reaction time and shooting skill. While Stall suffers from the same thing all offense players do (deteriorated aim when running, slightly), his aim is stellar enough that he&#039;s pretty much going to be another Jenova on this map. If Stall throws in some juking, he would pretty much be another Jenova on this map, but Stall seems to take the same approach that I do which is grab the flag and run-the-fuck-out-asap and leave mid to clean up the mess unless mid is dead.<br />Final score: 2 - 1 (SXP win)<br /><br /><br /><br />[u][b]SUC vs RRS:[/b][/u]<br />SUC&#039;s lineup this season was the MB team last season plus Blair. This map is one of the few maps that Blair gives people the middle finger on while he runs over their bodies. When we&#039;re both playing D, I have to try hard to outfrag him... not that this map is a frag contest, but he&#039;s one hell of a monster with his ssg now. Therefore RRS is going to have to make sure Rust plays some critical moves or takes on D. I think this week will change up their team to having RussianDumbass mid and RustInPeace on D. Jenova is a beast in the IDL because no only does he O really effectively/quick, but he also kills most things in the process, while juking out the D really well. Therefore RRS not having a dedicated D who is used to Jenova-tricks is going to be in for some serious trouble. As someone who has had the pleasure of enduring Jenova&#039;s offense, I can say that not practicing against him and then landing with him running against you in a match is a shock at first because of how well he executes his runs. When you D against him in a match... you will know what I mean. Blair is a seasoned IDL veteran so he probably has a good idea of what to expect, but I still expect the first 2-3 minutes to be a shock to SUC&#039;s system.<br /><br />I predict that RRS will have Jenova O, Rus mid and Rust D. Unless Rus decides he wants to D, I think this would be their most effective positions. When I faced Rus at mid he was pretty lethal and completely unpredictable. This will make the enemy team&#039;s mid (probably Ralphis or Turska) have to ensure they dispatch him quickly if they want to survive. If Turska is on mid, then I foresee mid becoming a duel playground as two elite duel players face off in their own tug-of-war in the grand tug-of-war match.<br />I think this will come down to how well Rus and Rust coordinate. I don&#039;t know who will D, but whoever is mid will need to make clutch plays and trust their D to take on a 100hper running in. This map at this level of play is not conducive to a single runner getting an epic run, captures only happen when 2 O get locked up in the enemy base and their D dies. I don&#039;t see that happening often and expect their mid will have to push up and help Jenova. This means they will have to take out Turska on the way in/out, not an easy task. The only thing preventing this team from melting everyone&#039;s faces on this map is that Turska plays with 170+ ping... and even then he still destroys people.<br /><br />SUC is a powerhouse this season, so RMR will have to try pretty hard to secure a victory. I would be surprised if Ralphis doesn&#039;t run because he is pretty powerful and effective as a runner. His play style is something I model my offense after actually... which is blaze in killing everything and leaving a path of blood behind you while you run out with the flag as fast as possible. I expect both O&#039;s to cap for sure, it will come down to whichever mid will help their O get out more and push the other team back. I noticed Ralphis loves pressing forward his team as two O players instead of 1o/1m/1d. This IMO is a viable strategy at times because Rust I think will freak out if two are constantly in the base. As long as mid keeps the frag pressure up, I expect there to be a contained 2D versus SUC&#039;s two O and leaving Blair to D against a probably damaged Jenova. If Jenova sneaks by on his own with 100% against a single Blair, then Blair will be in trouble if any quirk happens. I have faith Blair will be a solid D, but I don&#039;t think there is any D in the IDL (including myself) who could stand Jenova&#039;s O with him doing 100% hp runs for an extended period of time (as shown by his track record with MB&#039;s). Thus Turska will have to ensure if their team wants to win that Jenova will be a damaged runner, and this is more impossible done than said.<br /><br />The game will be decided by how clutch the plays are by Rus/Rust. If they frag like monsters and push up heavily, I think RRS could win this. If RRS doesn&#039;t maintain heavy frag power, I expect the SUC-machine to deny their runner many touches and just win via attrition... which is what this map is about. I also think if either team has to use their fourth, they are toast.<br />Final score: 1-1-1<br /><br /><br />[u][b]KGB vs RMR:[/b][/u]<br />I obviously can&#039;t comment on my own team vs the other team, but I will fucking smash this team into the ground and grind them into dust. Sorry Prime I still love you and wish I didn&#039;t have to win like this, I will blame your team with you after the match and we can have milkshakes after.<br />Either way, R wins.