Upper Bracket

It’samassacre vs. Luck – Luck lusted after a victory against eNvy, and they came into the match with a lot of wrath built up from last season’s playoff loss. They were playing for pride, and they didn’t let sloth or gluttony slow them down. Their greed for wins was fulfilled.

Can you tell I’ve been waiting for a while to work in the other six deadly sins into a prediction with eNvy? Yeah, I’m that lame. 

IAM won their first matchup against CP 16-13, but I think Luck is a stronger team and they should be able to pull off the upset. Nuke is heavily CT-sided and both teams should be able to do well on defense, so it’s going to come down to a few key rounds or plays during the match and I have a feeling Luck is going to win those.

Luck > IAM 16-13

Note: these are not actually my shoes. And I still wouldn't eat them.

Hyper vs. Skull – Skull > XPC 16-4? Yikes. Didn’t see that score coming. They’re going to have a much harder time with Hyper. That much I can guarantee. And if they beat Hyper 16-3, I’ll eat my shoes, sell my computer and never write anything for LD again.

(Not really.)

(... I hope that didn’t get your hopes up.)

I think Skull’s going to make it into Invite next season, but they’re going to have to win a match in the Loser’s Bracket to do it. Hyper should be able to hang onto a win here and secure a spot in CAL-I.

Hyper > Skull 16-12

Featured Match

eMazing Gaming vs. Visual Gaming – These teams are both worthy of Invite, but eMg is going to beat VG in this match. Why am I so confident? I don't know. But it's simple logic that any team named eMazing will win online, right?

In all seriousness, eMg is a great team, and not just online. I wasn’t really impressed by the way VG handled Phrentik in the first round. That’s not to say VG is a bad team, because they’re definitely not. I just don’t know if they can pull off a win. Both teams should get into Invite, eMg is just going to get there a little sooner.

eMg > VG 16-13

Nous Sommes Francophones vs. The Real Untouchables – This is probably the longest matchup of the season in terms of letters. One thing I learned from professional sports commentary is that there are quirky people out there that get excited by names, and especially their length. Jarrod Saltalamacchia was called up from the minors for the Atlanta Braves and everybody got into a tizzy about how long his name was because it was an MLB record for last names.

Name commentary aside, this should be a close match.  nsF defeated pure 16-6, which was a surprising margin. I’m not sure if they just got on a good streak, but I might have underestimated them a little bit. TRU is coming off a close win over Legends, but I think they’re going to lose a close match this time.

nsF > TRU 16-14

Lower Bracket

Cyber Phenom vs. eNvy – What is this, the Central Playoffs? eNvy was sent to the lower bracket by Luck, and now they meet up with CP, another team from CAL-Main Central last season. It should be a good match. Nuke will be a little easier to AWP for Kanon than Contra was, and eNvy will need him to do better than 12-19 if they want to win.

If Kanon doesn’t turn it around, eNvy’s going to be in a lot of trouble because CP is just a solid team. They don't have “big” names, but they’re all good, hungry, dedicated players. CP played well in their first match against It'samassacre, and they should be able to pull out a win here. And for the sake of my sanity, I hope Kanon has a great match. Every results thread involving eNvy is still threatening to turn into a flaming fest. Even though I hate those threads with a passion, I avoid them as well as a moth avoids a light the size of the Bat Signal.

CP > eNvy 16-13

50 Calibre vs. eXtreme PC – 50cal is probably around the fourth best team in the tournament, and they lost their first round matchup to Hyper. Meanwhile, XPC was on the wrong end of a whoopin’, putting up only four rounds against Skull. Not sure what happened there. Skull is a really good team, but I don’t think anybody expected a score that lopsided. XPC will rebound a little bit, but it shouldn’t be enough to take down 50cal.

50cal > XPC 16-10

Children of the Sun vs. PK – Children of the Sun put up ten rounds against eMg. If you don't know what I think about eMg, they're a great team, and you should pay closer attention because I've said it a couple times already. Sun didn’t even play in Main last season, they’re a team from Open. But I think it’s safe to say they’re pretty good. 

I’m a little skeptical on PK still. They got thirteen rounds against Visual Gaming, but I’m just not feeling it. It’s like looking at the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sure, they’re in the Eastern Conference Finals, but when you look at their team the only person that jumps out at you is LeBron. Everybody else is so underwhelming they actually seem to sink into the page. And you just know they’re going to get their brains beat in by the Detroit Pistons unless Bron drops 40-12-12 every night. I don’t think PK will lose badly, the Children of the Sun will pull out a W.

Sun > PK 16-11

Pure.gaming vs. Legends – Legends aaaalllmost pulled off the upset of TRU, but they lost 16-13. That was a big mismatch in seeds (2 vs. 15), and after beating n2p (19-15, 16-7) to get into the tournament I think they’re closer to the middle of the pack than the low end. In other words, they’re going to be a good match for pure, who didn’t do very well against nsF. 

It should be a close match, and I’ll give Legends the upset victory to stay alive in the tournament. 

LgD > pure  16-14