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Intermediate Red Week 4 Review & Week 5 Preview

RGL-Intermediate

   Moose In A Suit   - 10/6/2018

Introduction


Welcome back to another exciting edition of RGL Highlander predictions. There was one upset that happened this week, congrats to 404 for beating SAR this weak and for having a solid season after getting moved up from open. The only other thing notable was that every match was a 2-0 so no map points for any of the losing teams this week.

pl_upward Reviews


Waifu’s of War vs. Red's Rambunction Rampagers


2-0 won Waifus of War as predicted

Incredibly strong times, both attacking and defending by Waifus of War, they had a 6-minute time on offense in both halves and were able to hold Red’s Rambunction Rampagers to a 21-minute time when they were on defense. This is just a case of WoW outclassing their opponents with a frag differential of +68 and dealing about 18,000 damage more. Red’s Rambunction Rampagers have yet to find their groove and this is just another example of that. Rawk Hawk performed well getting 472 dpm but explosivedeer really shined in this match top fragging with 49 frags and 486 dpm winning the SvS 10 to 6. Mr. G top fragged for his team with 33 frags, ten above the next highest on his team.

MVPs: 1. explosivedeer 2. Rawk Hawk 3. Mr. G

Four Loko 14% ALC 400mg CAF vs. massive cranium esports


Four Loko won 2-0(ffw) compared to the prediction of 2-1 Four Loko

Massive cranium left just around when Four Loko got an 18-minute time, not much to analyze since there was only one quarter of the game played so stats are very skewed. This should essentially count as a forfeit win.

MVPs: N/A

Arctic Monkeys vs. Duck Duck Duck Duck


Arctic Monkeys won 2-0 as predicted

Arctic Monkeys put up a time of 7 and 7:30 minutes on their offenses and held Duck x4 to a 13-minute time on defense. Duck x4’s flank outperformed Arctic Monkey’s flank with a +5 frag differential, thanks to phyrric with 37 frags and 295 dpm, 6 frags more than his counterpart. But the combo of Arctic Monkeys outperformed Duck x4’since they were able to play better as a unit and were able to out frag and out damage the combo of Duck x4 even though Arctic Monkey’s medic died more. However, the real stars were willmatic and Hino, the pick classes of Arctic Monkeys both getting above 45 frags and 425 dpm. They out fragged the pick classes of Duck x4 by +53 with both picks of Eclipse and Moose not equaling the number of picks from one of Hino or willmatic.

MVPs: Hino, willmatic, Phyrric

404 Players Not Found vs. Some Assembly Required


404 won 2-0 compared to the prediction of 2-1 for SAR

The first half was very close, SAR capped in 8:19 and 404 narrowly beat that with a time of 7:41, however in the second half, 404 capped in 6:29 and SAR couldn’t keep up. The combos of 404 and SAR were evenly matched while the flank of 404 outperformed the flank of SAR. The star of the show was 404's sniper: Zefur with 41 frags, top fragging the server and winning the svs 16 to 1. Zefur really gave his team the edge they needed to win the game. Crit second fragged with 30 frags, which on upward scout, is impressive. Brando did an excellent job holding down the fort, keeping up with 404’s demo even though his flank and his pick classes were getting outclassed.

MVPs: Zefur, Crit, Brando



Week 5 Predictions


Red’s Rambunction Rampagers vs. massive cranium esports


Having yet to pick up a single match point yet and not scrimming this week, the odds are stacked against Red’s Rambunction Rampagers. However, massive cranium didn't scrim at all, clearly giving the scrim advantage to RRR. It comes down to the flank of Red’s Rambunction Rampagers, if they can wreak havoc and cause problems for the combo of massive cranium esports then they may start to see some success. Coming off a demoralizing forfeit loss, massive cranium esports are at a low and Red’s Rambunction Rampagers are looking to capitalize off this in the upcoming match.

4-0 for massive cranium esports
Gamechangers: Mr. G, Nuke, Jacksonnn

Waifus of War vs. Some Assembly Required


Both teams coming off a win off lower ranked teams, they both need to focus on the team in front of them and not let their guard down. WoW only scrimmed Sunday this week, faced lower IM teams and even dropped a very close half to Duck Duck Duck Duck. SAR had a busy week, scrimming 7 halves all against low IM teams. They dropped one half to Duck Duck Duck Duck and two halves (of three) to Tentatek TF2 in IM Blue. SAR has the scrim advantage going into this one but having a strong flank and an incredibly powerful sniper in explosivedeer, the edge goes to Waifus of War. To work around this, SAR is going to have to use their combo to support their flank and focus down explosivedeer, otherwise, he will pop off.

4-1 for Waifus Of War
Gamechangers: explosivedeer, No More, Brando

Four Loko 14% ALC 400mg CAF vs. Duck Duck Duck Duck


Both teams come into this week well prepared, both teams getting 8 halves of lakeside in. Four Loko scrimmed all high IM and one mid-high main team and unfortunately, lost to all of them. Hopefully, there were able to learn some lessons coming into this match since they did take rounds, just never enough to win a half. On the other hand, Duck x4’s scrims were slightly more successful with scrimming mid-IM teams and one open team. They were able to take halves off SAR and WoW and blow out the open team. This will be a battle of the combos, Four Loko having a very experienced combo that has bonded well together well vs. the combo of Duck x4 who have had issues getting their combo to play together in the past.

4-1 for Four Loko 14% ALC 400mg CAF
Gamechangers: cl4y, funky, baby_eater

Match of The Week


404 Players Not Found vs. Arctic Monkeys


The undefeated open move-ups face the top team in the power rankings. This is 404’s chance to surprise everyone in intermediate. 404 had a productive suite of 7 scrims, beating team between low IM to high IM but losing two halves to ANTHRAX. Arctic Monkeys had even more productive scrims, scrimming high IM teams like 4 Loko, and mid-high Main teams like IBKC and swift inc. They were able to take 2 halves of 3 off IBKC and they took two halves of two off four Loko but lost to swift inc. This looks to be another battle of the snipers with both extrasolar and willmatic performing very well in scrims, as well as both the scouts: crit and pauly. I think the edge goes to willmatic and pauly simply because of their performances against better teams in scrims and because of the support from the rest of their team but due to the fickle nature of scout v scout and sniper v sniper there will be some rounds exchanged. Since both matchups are essential I’m going to extend the gamechangers to 4.

4-2 for Arctic Monkeys
Gamechangers: willmatic, extrasolar, pauly, crit

Power Rankings


1. Arctic Monkeys
2. Four Loko 14% ALC 400mg CAF(+1)
3. Massive cranium esports(-1)
4. 404 players not found(+2)
5. Some Assembly Required(-1)
6. Waifus Of War(-1)
7. Duck Duck Duck Duck
8. Red’s Rambunction Rampagers

After their mid-match quit against four Loko, massive cranium proved that the bump up to #2 was preemptive. On the other hand, after their surprising win against Some Assembly Required, I pulled the trigger and moved 404 up to the #4 slot which might change again next week depending on their results against Arctic Monkeys. The lower end of the power rankings remains the same, Duck x4 and RRR still looking for a win to hopefully move them up the power rankings.