A few quick notes before we get to the predictions. 

Sorry about the lack of predictions for Week 2-2, things got a little busy around here with the CGS action and “real” work. 

Visual Gaming disbanded, and they’ve been replaced by itsamassacre. This means two things. One: the schedules got shifted around a little bit. Two: I get at least three more angry, red underlines from Microsoft Word, complaining about my bad grammar and spelling. If Microsoft Word was a person, I think it'd look like this.

Lastly, Devastation (San Francisco) and Check-Six (Dallas) just returned from the CGS combine. Personally, I think both teams could have gone higher in the draft, but being selected as a taxi team is still something of an honor. And there’s still an opportunity to get moved up this season, or become a franchise team next season, so all hope isn’t lost. Congratulations on being drafted guys, and good luck in the future!

electrify! vs. Devastation – I’ve mentioned brawwwr a few times as being an under-the-radar AWPer, but Funshine deserves credit, too. His AWP was sick in the CGS match against United 5 on Nuke. Actually, I was impressed by their whole team. Sauce, dubs, and Kwick aren’t household names, but they’re all good. (Don’t send me angry e-mails, Sasquatch is good, too – I just didn’t list him because he’s fairly well-known.)

Devastation should be prepped from the Combine, and they probably have a little chip (read: huge boulder) on their shoulder after not being drafted. I think they’re going to come out with a big win.

By the way, if you’re interested in watching a match, electrify! is probably the place to look. This is the first match of the week, so there might not be a SourceTV (due to possible strat-stealers), but you’ve still got a better chance with them than most other places. Many thanks to jaywizzle for setting that stuff up for the community.

Alright, I admit, that was partially just sucking up because I’m about to predict them to lose. But I do appreciate it.

Dev > e! 19-11

The Real Untouchables vs. snowmen – It remains to be seen how well TRU will play without “dc”, but I think we can expect a little drop-off in their play. The other guys are good, but I always thought of him as the clubhouse leader of that team, so to speak. I think they’re going to miss his leadership against a good team like snowmen.

That has me leaning towards snowmen, but nothing is that easy. One of their starters, zDk, got banned for using the CEVO GUI, which is a minor no-no in CAL. I think CAL needs some kind of catchy slogan to prevent things like this. “Click it or Ticket” is sweeping the nation, maybe we can have a “Use Default or it’s Your Fault” campaign. “CEVO GUI, say bye-bye”? 

If you’ve got something better, write in and I’ll post the good ones. (And I think somebody out there does have something better, because those stunk.)

As for the match, I think TRU is a little bit of the underdog, but I’m going to take a chance. Maybe they’ll win one for the gipper.

TRU > snowmen 16-14

Check-Six vs. PK – Check-Six: CGS team. PK: non-CGS team. PK is good, but I don’t think they’re on the same level, and x6 also just beat some version (not sure what the roster was) of PK 16-9 at the Showdown LAN. I’m going to give this to x6 and move on. If they put up a SourceTV, spectate brawwwr and hope he does something crazy.

x6 > PK 18-12

Riot Squad vs. eMazing Gaming – We meet again! These two teams should be familiar with each other, considering they met in the placement tournament.

Well, maybe not. This isn’t the same eMg team. And lord only knows who’s playing for Riot Squad – they’ve had problems getting the same five people on. It’s a shame, too, because if they could get a consistent five, they could be a great team. It’s not hard to see the talent when they play, but it’s also not hard to see the problems created by the roster instability.

On the subject of RS, one of the most entertaining SourceTV demos I’ve seen in a long time was their week 2-2 match against electrify!. (Thanks again to jaywizzle for providing the demo.) You don’t realize how boring demos are without the ingame chatter until you watch one with it. I imagine people felt the same way about color TV back in the day. Sometimes you just don’t know what you’re missing. (Wow, the grass is green!) And the electrify!/RS match was especially entertaining. Let me put it this way: any demo that has somebody saying “meatloaf secured” will get at least a B in my book. 

As for the actual play during the demo; RS went 0-3 during their triple-header, and that was one of the matches. I don’t think they’ll be able to pull out a win here, either. Teamwork and communication are key on Contra, and those only come with practice. Sorry boys, hopefully you’ll get your roster stabilized soon.

eMg > RS 17-13

recKoning vs. EXTREMITY – This seems familiar. Maybe it’s because I just did a prediction for them in week 2-1. I think this was a product of the schedule adjustment. Or, I could be going bat-shiat insane. Personally, I really hope it’s the schedule, but I’m open to the fact I might be a little off-kilter.

In the EXT-recKing prediction (v 1.0), reckoning still hadn’t finished a match. Now they’re 2-0 after pulling out a close win against PK and smooshing Legerity 20-10. I predicted EXT to win the 2-1 matchup, and I’m going to keep that, even though there’s a part of me (shut up, rational mind!) screaming to switch the pick.

I’m sticking to my guns, and hoping I don’t shoot myself in the foot.

I’m going with the bread and butter, and hoping the prediction isn’t toast.

I’m … out of lame things to say.

EXT > recKoning 16-14

ajnin vs. LucK – Got a chance to watch LucK play again – this time against electrify!. They didn’t have teky, and they pulled out a big win against e! on Nuke. Some of it was lucky; namely having two e! members lag out or crash during the match, but they were playing well even when both teams were at full strength. In fact, I was surprised at how well they did without teky, who carried them the last match I watched.

Loose Cannon and Allbrook did a lot better the second time around, and if they can get another effort like that, I think they’ll pull out a win against the reverse ninja team.

LucK > ajnin 17-13

Legerity vs. Hyper – There is a 100% chance that I thought of Hyper as Repyh because I just referred to ajnin as the reverse ninja team.

Hyper was at the CGS Combine as well, although they didn’t fare nearly as well as x6 and Dev. I will say this: they didn’t get a win, but they did tie a team that got drafted. Let’s call that team, oh, I don’t know … cimednaP. Good job, Repyh.

A Legerity player got suspended recently for mm1* violations/unsportsmanlike conduct, which is eSports’ version of being suspended for kicking dirt on the umpire. (Sweet Lou was sour that day.) I don’t know if he was a starter or not, but it adds another little wrinkle into the matchup. I’m not really sure what to make of either team. Their talent doesn’t blow me out of the water, but at the same time, I can’t ignore their results. Legerity placed highly in CAL last season, and Hyper did make it to the Finals in CEVO-P. But I’m still a little wary of Hyper because we haven’t seen them in action against any of the CAL teams yet. 

I could go on for a while, but let’s just say I’m on the fence, and I’m leaning slightly towards Hyper. But not leaning so much that I fall off the fence. That would be painful.

Hyper > Legerity 16-14

*(To the one person that reads the site but doesn’t know about CS: mm1 stands for message mode one, which sends text chat to all teams. mm2 (team-only chat) is usually required in league play because mm1 leads to things like trash talking, insults, etc, during the match. And you don’t want to type your strats where the other team can see them.)

itsamassacre vs. Cyber Phenom – (Roll opening credits.)

(Roll title screen.)

(Enter Troy McClure, stage left.) “Hi, I’m Troy McClure, the spokesman for itsamassacre. You may remember me from such tournaments as ‘CAL Season 8 Placement Tournament’, and ‘CAL Season 7 Main playoffs’. I’m here today to talk to about our first match in Invite."

Troy McClure, you sly dog. Is there any kind of video you haven’t done?

Welcome to Invite! For your first match, you get to play the team you beat in the placement tournament on the same map you played them on. Funny how things work out like that, isn’t it?

CP got their first regular season win against Riot Squad, which brings them up to 1-3 on the season. Their biggest loss was only 18-12, which is a little surprising. I thought they would struggle more initially, but it seems like they’ve been adjusting well. I know they lost to IAM in the placement tournament, but it was a close game and I think they’re going to squeak out a close win this time. Just a feelin’.

CP > IAM 17-13

Before I forget, a quick thanks to Robbie “$tyro” Mueller for a roster update regarding reckoning. If anybody else has a roster update, send it in!

And as always: good luck to everybody; may the predicted winners win, and the predicted losers prove me wrong.