Week 3 Write-Up

With Upward Week now completed, it's fair to say that this was a week with some of the more important matches, but also some of the more predictable matches. The biggest match of the week, which we will cover first, was the most personally surprising.

marker and e-boy vs. division dysphoria (0-2)

I was not expecting for either team to be able to take this match 2-0 but I can only say congratulations to dysphoria for their solid play allowing them to take the win here. With the unfortunate absence of Bonesaw for e-boy, substituted for by fuzzy, it seems as if the combo of e-boy struggled to have the sort of impact that the combo of dysphoria had. brandon and extrasolar for dysphoria both managed to land within the top 3 fraggers on their team alongside the perennially high-impact piney. While I thought that Markers for e-boy would have a good chance at contesting him, piney still won the SvS quite handily. Despite outstanding performances by pup and agb, there were just not enough good pushes to secure e-boy even a round in this match. Shoutout to fuzzy for playing when my internet worked less than a retirement home.

MVPs of the Match: pup, agb, Brandon, piney

gotta blast vs. Home Depot eSports (2-1)

Another match, another surprising round dropped by g2b. However, while it may be surprising that Home Depot would take a round here, it was a match where we saw almost every member of Bopis punching above their pay-grade even if they did end up coming a bit short. The biggest standouts in this match for Bopis were certainly Luigi, norphel08, and BustaMcNasty with Luigi managing to top-frag in the entire server with 67 kills, BustaMcNasty 2nd fragging in the server with 62 kills and norphel08 managing to both 3rd frag on his team and also break 500 dpm despite losing the game. As always with g2b we saw another outstanding performance from the flank pair of myk and josh but the rest of their team struggled to make as big an impact as these two players with PsychoPsyduck failing to break even 400 dpm and their team overall simply getting outfragged and outdamaged by Bopis. Despite this, they still managed to pull through solid teamwork which allowed them to take this close win against Bopis.

MVPs of the Match: Luigi, BustaMcNasty, norphel08, myk, josh

The On God Team vs. catch the chach (2-0)

Perhaps the most lopsided match of the week, this matchup seemed to be a case of the importance of having solid players on every class on maps which require a lot of teamwork on Upward. Despite the excellent performances of both WiLLmaTiC and mn for chach, they were the only two members of their team to land within the top 6 fraggers within the server and 2 of only 4 to appear within the top 10 fraggers on the server. They backed up these frags with tons of damage as they are joined by fuzzy to take up all 3 spots in top DPM (with >500 apiece) for the match. However, with the exception of mn and subinka, every class on chach simply performed worse than their counterpart on On God. jerry top fragged in the server with 38 kills and lay having 8 more charges used than rona just to offer two examples. Despite not having the sort of stand-out performances seen in chach, On God simply played a better game.

MVPs of the Match: lay, jerry, WiLLmaTiC, mn, funky

Banned from RGL vs. 1 Korean, 9 Keyboards (0-2)

It's hard to say what exactly the problem is with Banned from RGL, as their team clearly has the ability to do better than they are doing. However, playing against teams which scrim 4 or more times a week, when Banned might not even have a pre-game, certainly does not make things easier for them. Despite this, fabulous and Scout pickup ether both had solid games and scored themselves the 2nd and 3rd most frags in the server, respectively. However, the combo matchup felt very one-sided as excellent showings by san antonio 1998 green mustang, Bz, and Bliztank all fragged out in the match. This difficulty in controlling combos composed of mostly highlander mains is something that Banned will have to overcome if they want to begin their crawl out of the bottom of advanced.

MVPs of the Match: Kronky, san antonio 1998 green mustang, Kami, fabulous, ether

Oprah Winfrey Network vs. STARDUST CRUSADERS (2-0)

A match between bottom-advanced and one of the better teams in mid-Advanced. With solid performances by Secretly Satan (who top-fragged in the server) and Joey Lemons in the combo as well as r4t and rk on the flank for OWN, it feels as though there was no where for SC to try and create an advantage to push off of. Their only real hope was to rely upon a standout performance by podgy713 who, despite doing very well, was not able to carry his team on his back quite hard enough to get them over the finish line.

MVPs of the Match: podgy713, fordo, Secretly Satan, Joey Lemons

Turbo Alcoholics vs. Bye Week (2-0)

Another Week, Another Defeat for Bye Week.

MVPs of the Match: deadpixel for ringing for g2b against Bopis

New Power Rankings

With the result of the e-boy vs. dysphoria, the top of our power rankings will have the first shift of the season. I also believe that gotta blast may struggle to continue to succeed as the season goes on considering their tendency to drop rounds against even mid-Advance team. Furthermore, I think that the bottom of advanced could also afford to be swapped around a bit especially with the impressive performances by gamers on catch the chach against a strong mid-Advanced team that leads me to think I am underestimating them by having them at the bottom of the heap.

1. division dysphoria (+2)
2. marker and e-boy (-1)
3. gotta blast (-1)
4. Home Depot eSports
5. The On God Team
6. Oprah Winfrey Network
7. 1 Korean, 9 Keyboard (+1)
8. Banned from RGL (-1)
9. catch the chach (+2)
10. Turbo Alcoholics (-1)
11. STARDUST CRUSADERS (-1)

Week 4 Predictions

With those new power rankings in order, let's look at the matchups for Week 4, which will be played on Lakeside.

division dysphoria vs. gotta blast (4-2)

This is a matchup between two of the top teams in Advanced on a map where both the flank and the combo can put in a lot of work. While I think that it is a sure deal that myk and josh for g2b outclass their counterparts in Cheers and Diego for dysphoria, I do not think they can single-handedly carry their team to victory. If g2b wants to win this match, Nerdaloid and PsychoPsyduck will have to seriously step-up in order to compete with the powerful (potentially best-in-Advanced) combo of brandon and extrasolar for dysphoria. Also working against g2b is the fact that BMPD is simply outclassed by piney for dysphoria. While I think that g2b is good enough to take a couple of rounds here, especially if their flank continues to put in work, I do not think they have a realistic shot of winning this.

Players to Watch: josh, myk, brandon, piney

The On God Team vs. marker and e-boy (1-4)

While On God has been performing very well, and e-boy is coming off of a tough loss, I do not think that there is a very large chance of an upset here. The flank of Lehcs and pup will be tough to beat for lukamine and stutterduck. The combo of wild and attentiondeficit will probably have a closer match against avian and Bonesaw but even that will probably be hard to win for On God. While the matchups may be tough, I think that On God, if they play well, will certainly be able to take at least a round, if not more.

Players to Watch: jerry, wild, pup, avian, agb

1 Korean, 9 Keyboards vs. Oprah Winfrey Network (2-4)

1 Korean, 9 Keyboards had a very clean match last week against Banned from RGL, with solid performances across the board. However, this week, they have a much tougher matchup and I expect them to not have an easy time winning this match. The stars of this matchup will be Joey Lemons for OWN and san antonio 1998 green mustang for 1 Korean. Depending on who does better between these two, the match could go either way. But absent a star performance from either of these players, we will probably see the combos go about even between SecretelySatan for OWN and Bz 1 Korean. The flanks are where cracks will likely show up for 1 Korean as rk outclasses sparhawk and r4t is more than good enough to control one of 1 Korean's best players in Kami. Kronky will likely need to do a lot in order for 1 Korean to win, and he has a clear advantage over tua for OWN. Whether he can put in enough work is up int he air, however.

Players to Watch: Kronky, san antonio 1998 green mustang, Joey Lemons, rk

Home Depot eSports vs. Turbo Alcoholics (4-0)

Bopis is a strong team, and Turbo Alcoholics is one of the weaker Advanced teams. Across the flank, combo, and pick classes Bopis holds an advantage over the players on Turbo Alcoholics. The only real exception is that TeatsMcGee may be able to contest norphel08 for Bopis (but probably won't) and deadpixel who will probably be able to contest tosm for Bopis but will also probably not have enough space being made for him to put in work. Overall, this looks like a pretty grim match for Turbo Alcoholics and I would be surprised if they managed to take even one round off of Bopis.

Players to Watch: TeatsMcGee, deadpixel, zbra, norphel08, tosm

catch the chach vs. Banned from RGL (4-2)

I believe that these teams are relatively close in skill level as a team, but that the individual skill for Banned from RGL likely outweighs that of catch the chach. In order to overcome this, chach will have to outplay Banned from RGL as a team which, considering Banned from RGL does not scrim, may not be that hard to do. However, fabulous and meatball for Banned are both strong players and will pose a significant roadblock to any success of chach in this matchup. This is only complicated by the flank of ether and caboose who have both shown themselves to be quite capable. However, even if they are not favored in the individual class matchups (with the exception of funky and Sebbers as well as the flank of J_Peg and mn have all shown that they are capable of contesting solidly mid-Advanced teams through team-based gameplay and I expect their ability to play well together to be reflected in this match. This is probably going to be the closest match of the week (if Banned tries) or it will be a near-roll (if Banned does not try).

Players to Watch: ether, fabulous, donovin, J_Peg, funky, WiLLmaTiC

STARDUST CRUSADERS vs. Bye Week (4-0)

It's a losing season for Bye Week.

Players to Watch: Coasaka for being the newest pickup on ghost's squad.

Conclusion

Overall, there are a lot of matchups this week which look a lot closer on-paper than in previous weeks and it should give a better idea of the actual strengths of teams relative to each other in mid-Advanced and low-Advanced than in previous weeks. Since the matches will be closer, it is also possible that there could be more upsets this week.