Introduction

Ahh, Steel week. How can one map be so divisive? I’m not sure there’s a single person in the TF2 community that has a neutral opinion on cp_steel--it’s either unconditional love like this map is the goddamn Juliet to your Romeo, or vilified hatred turned to 11. Obviously I’m exaggerating, but still, I’m a little bit excited to see how this week turns out.


In other news, the actual matchups for this week are quite interesting..

Last Week’s Match Results

Blackjack and Hookers vs Itty Bitty Kitty Committee

Prediction: 4-2 IBKC
Result: 4-2 IBKC

Well, not much to say here. Fantastic job by IBKC!

Outstanding Performances: asian, E_leet, Paul (B&H) saucy, kjr, dailydoseofmelon (IBKC)

Swift Inc vs Gotta Blast

Prediction: 4-2 G2B
Result: 4-0 G2B

Swift did technically underperform my predictions for this one, but I don’t even think that was their fault. It’s not like any of their players did a particularly bad job (well, okay, I just don’t want to call out anyone in particular), but it appears that G2B just completely outplayed them in this one. So, congratulations to them.

Outstanding Performances: egwat, asher (Swift) josh, nerd, Mhenlo (G2B)

Home Depot eSports vs Disingenuous Assertions

Prediction: 4-1 BOPIS (I put 4-1 DAT last week but I think I meant 4-1 BOPIS? I don’t even know anymore)
Result: 4-3 DAT

I guess it’s only balanced that I should predict a match against DAT and have them demolish it, considering what happened Week 1. All in all this was a genuinely fun match to be a part of; not even really mad that I personally lost. Good job to DAT for the victory!

Outstanding Performances: Luigi, Sei, inky, zbra (BOPIS) podgy713 (!), livst1d, ash, Koishi Komeiji (DAT)

Match Predictions

Swift Inc. vs Itty Bitty Kitty Committee

Rosters
Swift: asher / pantherrr / Puffalo / Brick / Burtilian / KootyKay / GreenAndGold / egwat / Dave
IBKC: saucy / Brandan / kitty / kjr / Rayman5000 / Salad Snek / GeneralNick (?) / dailydoseofmelon / Steaklington

Like I said in the introduction, this week has some of the fairest matchups that I’ve seen the entire season--and this is one of them. Swift and IBKC are two teams that I think have improved a TON over the course of the last season, with some good pickups to go along with it. It’s really hard to say who will take this match, but with an even matchup like this, let’s consider the fact that it’s cp_steel.

Swift has gone through some roster changes fairly recently, and while that doesn’t mean a whole lot on most maps, there might be potential for miscommunications or uncoordinated gameplay when you have players that have less experience playing with eachother. Meanwhile, IBKC has kept basically the same roster for the entire season--not to mention the fact that they’ve just been a team for a LOT longer, with their entire combo having played together many times in the past.

Overall, I’m giving this match to IBKC, but it’ll be close.

Prediction: 2-1 IBKC
Gamechangers: asher, Brick, Burtilian, egwat (Swift) kjr, Rayman5000, GeneralNick, dailydoseofmelon (IBKC)

Disingenuous Assertions vs Blackjack and Hookers

Rosters
DAT: Poltergeist / shohh / 3hree / ash / Rondego / livst1d / DubThink / podgy713 / Koishi Komeiji (?)
B&H: Zabi / Gw4lk / Klowwd / katryna / Paul / Grynn / bloompi (?) / asian / E_leet


While I did say that we had more even matchups this time around, I really mostly meant that in terms of rosters. DAT has gone through some (mostly positive) roster changes recently, and they’re shaping up for the better. Buuut, they’re going against B&H on cp_steel. On what might be the most coordination-oriented map in the entire season. B&H.

While I don’t doubt DAT’s skill as individual players, some recent roster changes combined with B&H’s overall superiority on this map type spell disaster for them.

Prediction: 2-1 B&H
Gamechangers: ash, Rondego, podgy713 (DAT) katryna, Paul, Grynn, asian, E_leet (B&H)

Gotta Blast vs Forty-Two Pence

Rosters
G2B: josh / nazara / lambda / allayy (?) / nerd / baocn / PsychoPsyduck / Mhenlo / myk
F2P: Bonesaw / Flare / Inquisition / Kamil / Rue / Starfruit66 / Ruins / percy / 5perm

Yes, yes, I’ve talked so much in previous articles about how I think G2B is easily the strongest team in the division right now, I think this is the one match where they might be able to be taken down. Hear me out: F2P is an extremely solid team--probably the 2nd strongest team if I had to rank them right now--and they’ve had good scrim results against G2B in the past. Not to mention, G2B’s consistently higher-performing players in the form of josh and Mhenlo (okay, okay, I’ve said that like three times already and it doesn’t always work out how I think it will, but still) won’t have the same type of impact on cp_steel as they did on koth_lakeside last week. Not to mention, F2P is just a solid team in general as I mentioned--it’s not like it would take them a miracle to beat G2B normally, just some really solid performances and overall good teamwork.

I’m going to rally behind the underdog here and say that F2P wins this game, but it will surely be a close match to look out for.

Prediction: 2-1 F2P
Gamechangers: allayy, nerd, baocn, PsychoPsyduck, Mhenlo, myk (G2B) Inquisition, Kamil, Rue, percy, 5perm (F2P)

Links

Week 6 Matches
Main Division League Table