- Interested in helping out RGL and being a part of the staff team? Open staff positions and applications for SUMMER 2024 can be viewed here.

- Click here to complete S17 Post-Season Survey #1! Survey closes in on Apr 9th @ 11:59PM EDT!

- Click here to complete RGL LAN 2024 Survey! Survey closes in Apr 7th @ 11:59PM EDT!

Advanced Playoffs Round 2 Predictions

RGL-Advanced

   pickelz   - 11/4/2018

Introduction

With Pretzels winning 2-0 last week, their next match is the semi-finals, vs Heals On Everyone. The winner of this match goes onto the finals to play BM=BAE, and decides the winner of Advanced S1. Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty had to first defeat RazeTheWorld, winning Swiftwater 2-0 and winning Ashville 3-1. RTW Spu ended up switching to his old main of spy, but even then RTW wouldn’t be able to find the victory. Gong (Demoman) played a huge part in Pretzels victory, making him the MVP of the match. However, shifting the focus to this weeks match, Heals On Everyone is a completely different beast.

Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty:
Rev / Fuego / Pyro Squirrel / Gong / Octa / Michael / Dreadnaught / TheS4rr / Vizie

Heals On Everyone:
BLNKT / Yuki / TK / Lizar / Joey / Mono72 / SpotlightR / Lenny / Cooldog

Bans

Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty bans Lakeside
Heals On Everyone bans Ashville
Heals On Everyone picks Swiftwater
Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty picks Upward
Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty bans Product
Heals On Everyone picks Steel

Maps Are:
Pl_swiftwater_final1
Pl_upward
Cp_steel

First Map: Swiftwater


After a fairly strong showing by Pretzels on Swiftwater last week, it’s strange that Heals would end up picking this map as their first map. Lenny (Sniper) isn’t able to do much on Swiftwater, and the strong DM from BLNKT and Yuki (Scout / Soldier) can’t be used as effectively if it was a KOTH map. While Heals, and many of its players, are known for strong DM capabilities, it seems weird that they would choose a map that's heavily focused on coordination. Pretzels had a strong Swiftwater game vs RTW particularly because of Fuego (Soldier) being such a solid player on the flank, making it hard for RTW to pressure the sentry of Michael (Engineer). Yuki and BLNKT, however, are a stronger flank, and should have a much easier time making a lot of space and pressure. Octa (Heavy) is also a large threat on this map, as holding 2nd as Heavy can be very easy, especially for an experienced Heavy like Octa who is known for getting a lot of kills. Joey (Heavy) is also going to be very dangerous for the same reason, however. While this match will be closer than RTW vs Pretzels last week, this may be the time where Pretzels lose Swiftwater. Based on raw skill alone, Heals can get advantages just based on their players being better than the rest of the division. The fact that they prioritized this map pick over any other map just shows their confidence in their players, and they clearly are fine with taking a risk and playing a map that Pretzels just won.

Predicted Winner: Heals On Everyone

1-0 Heals On Everyone

Second Map: Upward


Upward, historically, was not the best map for Heals. Losing 0-2 to BM=BAE in the regular season, they struggled to push the 3rd and 4th point, and it was their first and only loss of the regular season. While they aren’t facing BM=BAE this time, and their roster has changed and improved since then, Heals is still in a tough position on this map. The elevation in the tunnel going to 2nd gives Fuego more room to work with in the flank, meaning BLNKT and Yuki can’t just rush at him and push him back with DM alone. Lenny also has struggled on this map in the past, and Vizielord has done very well on this map. Pretzels picked this map for their tie-breaker vs RTW, and while it didn’t go to map 3, they still feel fairly comfortable on this map. Pyro Squirrel is a passive pyro, and him staying alive means he can push people off the map. Upward is arguably Pretzels best maps, so this should be a pretty good victory for them.

Predicted Winner: Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty

1-1 Tied

Third Map: Steel


We can all pray and hope that this is the only time we see steel in playoffs. Cp_Steel is very hard to predict, just because it is entirely coordination based. This is another map that lets both Pyros simply push people to their death, so both TK and Pyro Squirrel are supported by the map due to their playstyles. Gong’s DM can push Heals back pretty easily on offense, and Octa on defense can grind people up pretty fast. Lenny once again can’t really do much on this map, as steel is not very friendly for snipers. Yuki and BLNKT can once again create good pressure, but Fuego and Rev should be able to hold them back for the most part. The pressure is really going to be on Gong and Octa to hold down their combo, but they’ve done such a good job in the regular season and playoffs, that this may tip the scales into Pretzels favor.

Predicted Winner: Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty

2-1 Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty

Overall


Predicted Winner: Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty
Predicted Score: 2-1

The flanks look fairly even, but Heals may have a slight advantage, just because BLNKT is such a dominant scout who can really carry. Lenny can outsnipe TheS4rr, but playing maps that don’t support Lenny and don’t fit his playstyle isn’t helping Heals. Lizar and Joey as a combo don’t work as well as Gong and Octa, since Gong can win every DM-fight and Octa works so well with Gong to collect kills off his damage. Picking 2 payload maps and cp_steel means that Cooldog and Vizie won’t be as vital to their teams, which is unfortunate, because Cooldog is so good at picking up frags that really help Heals. Vizie is much more consistent when it comes to picks, and he can usually avoid dying, so playing maps where your deaths matter and timing is everything doesn’t work for Heals favor. If Heals played to their strengths, which is superior aim, DM, and quick abilities to make space based of sheer skill, this should go in their favor. But these map picks support Pretzels so much.