Yep, fixed now.
| Country: | United States |
| Registered: | July 25, 2021 |
| Last post: | April 1, 2024 at 8:17 PM |
| Posts: | 535 |
whoops, Gambit and FPX have almost identical codes for the link. good catch
LOUD's coach bzkA is a former pro and could sub in. The lack of a substitute has nothing to do with it. I believe it is policy for all of LOUD to not play on the stage as long as aspas can't because they have had close contact with him. That last part is not official.
As far as I understand the rules, they would only be able to play with bzkA. Not only because of substitute rules, but also because of quarantine rules and because they want to speak Portuguese. aspas is expected to play though.
Common ChickenJoe W
meddo is definitely more of a sentinel
eh, I consider chamber to be a duelist for the duelist mains that flex to it. yay still plays a lot of jett
I posted this to twitter, but I figured I might as well drop it here.
Here are my power rankings by role for all the players at Reykjavik. I can definitely see a lot of these rankings changing.
I ranked almost everyone from Japan at the bottom, but I haven't watched their games. I have at least watched everyone else even if I haven't watched asia a ton.
Duelist (If a duelist main plays Chamber, I still count that as a duelist role wise).
1) yay
2) Derke
3) aspas
4) ScreaM?
5) f0rsaken
6) xand
7) Sayaplayer
8) Mixwell
9) Rb
10) NagZ
11) Surf
12) Dep
Sentinel
1) BuZz
2) neT
3) Less
4) Laz
5) Nivera
6) Meddo
7) bezn1
8) MAGNUM
9) Sushiboys
10) FNS
11) d4v41
12) Klaus
Initiator
1) trent
2) Sacy
3) hoody
4) crashies
5) cauanzin
6) mazino
7) stax
8) foxz
9) soulcas
10) Fearoth
11) benkai
12) crow
Controller
1) Marved
2) pancada
3) valyn
4) MaKo
5) Avova
6) L1NK
7) Mistic
8) sScary
9) delz1k
10) bnj
11) mindfreak
12) SugarZ3ro
flex/everyone else
1) nukkye
2) keznit
3) saadhak
4) Victor
5) Jamppi
6) Jinggg
7) Jonn
8) JonahP
9) Boaster
10) Zest
11) Crws
12) TENNN
Yep, for some reason I thought they faced V1 in their opener instead of NU. Appreciate the catch.
Yeah, there are going to be a couple people that get 270+
Yeah jinggg could go all over the place. If PRX duelists can yolo around the map effectively, they can really boost the ACS stats. The fact that they will only play good teams made me put them ~10 ACS lower than I normaly would.
Yeah, he was a monster to start Stage 1, but I felt like it was a bit of an overperformance and his ACS did slide over the latter half of the tournament. Fnatic bringing in substitutes makes it super difficult to predict them as well.
I am waiting for those couple of players that love to post an ACS over 50 away from what I predicted.
Here comes my usual series where I predict the ACS of every player at Champions. S1 was their ACS in Stage 1, LLAN was their ACS in their last LAN if they have been to one, and Pred ACS is my prediction for this event. I used H1ber instead of Derke since I don't know who will play, but that prediction stands for either of them.
Who did I rank too high? Who did I rank too low? If you call me out for wrongly predicting someone, make your own prediction in the comments.
S1 LLAN Pred ACS
1 nukkye G2 258.1 232.8 245
2 aspas LOU 263.8 ---- 244
3 yay OPT 236.0 242.7 243
4 keznit KRU 265.6 246.3 241
5 f0rsak PRX 269.4 227.6 240
6 ScreaM TL 219.7 251.8 235
7 trent GRD 230.6 ---- 235
8 BuZz DRX 240.7 237.4 234
9 H1ber FNC 264.1 ---- 231
10 Sacy LOU 226.5 253.7 230
11 Mazino KRU 208.5 215.3 229
12 Laz ZET 241.3 248.6 225
13 Sayapl GRD 237.5 ---- 222
14 saadhak LOU 227.0 229.0 220
15 Jonn NIP 210.4 ---- 219
16 Jinggg PRX 234.8 ---- 218
17 xand NIP 236.1 231.2 217
18 Viktor OPT 228.3 162.3 215
19 Mixwell G2 216.5 183.6 214
20 Rb DRX 253.5 174.5 211
21 hoody G2 217.3 ---- 210
22 Surf XIA 231.7 ---- 209
23 valyn GRD 204.4 ---- 208
24 cauanz NIP 215.5 ---- 207
25 crashi OPT 192.0 205.3 205
26 Marved OPT 210.4 200.9 205
27 Nivera TL 190.4 197.7 202
28 foxz XIA 215.5 199.9 200
29 neT GRD 193.0 ---- 198
30 Less LOU 221.2 ---- 196
31 MAGNUM FNC 182.6 188.2 195
32 MaKo DRX 223.0 186.0 193
33 soulcas TL 196.6 187.1 192
34 pancada LOU 203.1 ---- 192
35 Jamppi TL 189.7 187.3 191
36 Fearoth FNC 226.4 ---- 190
37 Sushib XIA 194.3 222.8 189
38 NagZ KRU 186.8 191.7 189
39 d4v41 PRX 199.3 190.6 188
40 Dep ZET 237.3 ---- 186
41 stax DRX 190.1 192.6 184
42 JonahP GRD 196.7 ---- 184
43 TENNN ZET 225.1 ---- 183
44 sScary XIA 243.1 165.1 183
45 Meddo G2 189.6 ---- 182
46 FNS OPT 167.0 188.9 180
47 L1NK TL 172.3 181.1 176
48 Avova G2 177.7 176.5 175
49 delz1k KRU 204.6 160.6 174
50 Boaster FNC 179.9 166.9 173
51 bezn1 NIP 190.8 ---- 173
52 SugarZ ZET 209.2 ---- 172
53 Mistic FNC 207.7 145.6 172
54 Klaus KRU 172.1 174.9 171
55 bnj NIP 159.6 173.3 169
56 Benkai PRX 195.6 149.0 168
57 Zest DRX 197.9 ---- 165
58 Crws XIA 176.5 170.5 165
59 mindfr PRX 197.5 152.6 165
60 crow ZET 148.7 165.0 145Yeah mw is super awkward to say in english. I remember in Paladins, people were always pronouncing frzgod as freeze god or frozen god.
Yeah I have Liquid rated very low for recent performance, and the only reason they are S tier is because I think they have one of the highest peaks if they can put it together. They could very easily not make it out of groups. Every time I look at these rankings again I want to move everyone lol.
FPX: (70,85,85) I am not quite sold on their roster, but it has the potential to be great. I would really have liked more than a single tournament to get to see them play. If they keep up their performance, they could be the best EMEA team.
Whoa whoa whoa. Im silver. Clearly an elite gamer. ;)
Good plan. Make sure that I can't change my mind later after Leviatan places second and everyone laughs at how much I underrated them.
I expect to get memed on when my rankings are inevitably proven to be absurd lol.
Here are my team rankings for Masters 1: Reykjavik. This is assuming that everyone can play such as braveaf for FNC since it is difficult to rank teams if they have a substitute. This is the hardest ranking I have ever done, mostly due to the fact that only three of these rosters have played internationally before (without roster moves). I threw in three numbers for this ranking. The first number represents my grade for the average performance I expect out of teams (1-100), the second gives what I believe to be their peak (1-100), and the third is just a grade for their stage 1 performance (1-100).
S TIER: This tier is too big, but I don't know which teams shouldn't be here.
1) The Guard: (80,90,90) The number one spot is super difficult, and I could easily see TGRD struggling in the playoffs. This is a solid overall team that I predicted to be top 5 NA before Stage 1, but that tournament will be considered an over-performance if they don't do well at LAN.
2) G2: (80,95,75) I thought G2 was severely underrated, but a slow start combined with roster turmoil has really hurt their chances. The individuals in this team are insane, but I am still not sold on the IGL situation.
3) Team Liquid: (75,95,65) Liquid have been super disappointing this year, and if they don't find their previous form, they will not make it very far. Similar to G2, I think this roster is reaching the point where if they cant figure it out, they should reconsider restructuring the team around an IGL.
4) LOUD: (75,90,85) This team has never lost a match, and it got better and better later in the tournament. The high skill level across the board separates this team from any other in Brazil, but what really stands out to me is their strategic prowess. They have flaws, but the eye test will tell you that they are always setting up cool plays.
5) OpTic Gaming: (75,90,80) The revival of Victor's form has kept OpTic afloat, but it has coincided with crashies and yay falling off. This team is still very dangerous and could easily be number one. I also trust them in high pressure situations more than TGRD.
A TIER: Really good teams that might lack the firepower if an S tier team is on their game.
6) Fnatic: (70,80,80) I think their group stage was a bit of an over-performance. Mistic was one of the worst statistical performers at Champions but became one of the best this year. I think the strategic aspects of this roster go farther than the individual skill although Derke is great. I trust this team to reach their peak more than most of the other teams on this list, but I don't think their peak is the highest.
7) DRX: (65,80,70) This new look roster has been solid but unspectacular. Their main competition in OnSlayers began to get known as having extremely poor fundamentals. As a team that has continuously just missed out, I don't think their roster moves really change that much.
B TIER: Quality upset picks.
8) Paper Rex: (60,75,70) I thought Jinggg made them the best APAC team at the end of 2021, and this tournament has not disappointed. As fun as this team is, there are still some weak links, and their style is way too loose. When their duelists run amok they can challenge anyone, but I don't see them winning if one of them has a bad game.
9) NIP: (60,80,70) I think this team has better firepower across the board than PRX, but the sample size is so small that it is hard to tell. If they handily beat Leviatan I would probably put them ahead of PRX. This team isn't on the strategic level of LOUD, but in my mind, they are better than any BR team that made it to an event in 2021 (Vikings may have been better but they were capped by the lack of high end firepower).
10) KRU: (60,80,65) It may be surprising to see them this low, but I think this team got overrated by a nice upset run at Champions. They keep representing LATAM because only one team is even within two tiers of them. I could see them making another top 4-8 run, but I think a tournament win is a bit out of their grasp.
C TIER: Probably not quite at the level of the other teams.
11) Leviatan: (55,75,60) They have done really well lately, but they have never gotten past the best South American teams. A good win against NIP could really help them and KRU into the higher tiers.
12) XERXIA: (55,70,65) Losing Patiphan was a big blow, but this team is still good. They have not been as dominant as before, however, they look fairly stable. This team would be an interesting upset pick against the B tier teams.
13) ZETA Division: (50,65,60) Japan has always been a bit out of place on the international stage. I would prefer that they qualify through Korea instead of getting their own spot. While other regions compiled their talent into better teams, Japan mostly just shuffled around. I think this roster is around the level of the old CR and probably won't do much.
Share your thoughts. Is there a team that is way too low? Way too high?
It really depends on the tournament structure. I think LOUD will be the best minor region team, and they could legitimately challenge the major region teams, but it is really hard to tell with EMEA in flux. As far as strats go, LOUD have a lot of great set plays and executes, but they tended to lose discipline in chaotic midrounds. They appeared to tighten up a bit in the playoffs, so it will be interesting to figure out how they do against more coordinated teams.
This is just the recap of the VCT finals so far. I am not sure what is going to happen for preview stuff yet.
The ease of use really got me into coding.
It is still bewildering to me how much drama that caused lol.
The difference between the double elimination formats for proper seeding is the only result that changes if I modify the % chance of teams beating each other. If I use a linear distribution which means that each team is evenly spaced in skill, the UV values are pretty much the same. I would still recommend the standard version since it prevents early rematches.
If the winner is chosen at random, every team has an equal chance of finishing anywhere and the results don't really mean anything.
I am still interested in tournament formats with more teams and other stats that would provide useful information. I will probably try to do something with 12 team formats before Masters 1 since that appears to be the norm now.
No, I just coded it from scratch with a lot of trial and error. There are probably some other technical ways to collect data, but I just did this blind.
There are still some aesthetic problems with double elimination, but it produces better results where the better teams make it farther on average. Particularly if the seeding isn't perfect.
Maths and Valorant. What a strange combo. I approve.
Yep, Ferahgo The Assassin
I might do more than 8 team formats especially with Reykjavik around the corner.
I am a very big nerd indeed.
TLDR Double elimination is the best tournament format for producing results that reflect the strength of the teams. A stochastic MATLAB code was written to provide some stats to support this claim.
Double elimination has long been one of the most popular tournament formats because it provides a cushion for when a team has a bad day or gets a bad seeding. Most people intuitively realize that single elimination leads to higher statistical fluctuations. There are downsides to double elimination including the fact that more games need to be played (this could be good or bad), and the finals problem rears its ugly head. For double elimination finals, the team that wins out to reach the finals must either be eliminated after only one series loss or be given an advantage in the finals which makes for a much less exciting finale.
There are four tournament formats with eight teams that are under consideration in this analysis.
METHODOLOGY
Every team is given a rank from 1-8. This analysis is primarily concerned with two systems. When the seeding is perfect (seed 1 vs seed 8, seed 4 vs seed 5, etc) and when the seeding is random. Random seeding imitates when a better team gets a lower seed than a worse team. Obviously most real tournaments happen somewhere between these two outcomes, but by looking at the extremes, the middle ground can be interpolated.
Each tournament is simulated with a MATLAB code at least ten thousand times to ensure the results converge on an answer. The winner of each matchup is determined by a random number. Two approaches were taken in this analysis. The first consists of assuming that every higher seed wins. The second is to assign each team (1-8) a value along a Gaussian distribution (bell curve) and the probability that the higher rank wins is determined by these values. The Gaussian distribution used in this analysis gives a 90% chance that the rank 1 team beats the rank 8 team 1(90)8, a 57.3% chance that the rank 3 team beats the rank 6 team 3(57.3)6, 2(71.1)7, and so on. Most tournaments don’t follow an ideal bell curve, but the exact distribution does not matter as long as the higher ranked teams have a higher chance of beating lower ranked teams. The exact numerical values of the results that are achieved will be different, but the ranking of the different tournament formats will be the same.
What result qualifies as a good result? Upsets are good for specific narratives and overall excitement, but if there are too many upsets, the best teams don’t reach the end, and the tournament winds up with very anticlimactic matches. (For example, most of Astralis’ opponents in the CSGO major finals had previous great upsets but were completely outmatched in the finals.) A tournament format that allows the best teams to more consistently reach the later matches creates better narratives, better viewing experiences, and a better quality of tournament. There are other factors that go into making a tournament great, but this is very important for the format.
For this code, after every single simulation of a tournament, the placement of each team is compared to their rank. For instance, if the rank 1 team actually placed third, they would add +2 to a “variance” tally that is averaged over all the teams in the tournament. If the tournament variance tally is averaged to be 1.5 that means that each team placed an average of 1.5 spots away from where they were expected to place based on their rank. The values of these variance tallies are averaged over the thousands of times the tournament format is simulated. A smaller number is better for the overall health of the tournament. (A very tiny number is bad because that would mean only the best teams would have a chance, but all of these formats have reasonable numbers).
RESULTS
The easiest question to answer is “what format struggles with bad seeding?”. Assume that the higher rank wins every single time and that the seedings are random. (Results from where there is upset potential will be dealt with later). The numbers shown represent the average “variance” tallies described in the previous section.
DES 0.4744
DENS 0.5572
GSS 0.6624
SE 1.1429If you randomly seed single elimination (SE), a lot of high seeds will face each other in the early rounds. That leads to the teams being on average 1.1429 placements away from their rank. Standard double elimination (DES) does the best with only 0.4744 placements on average per team. If a tournament does not have the capacity to seed properly through qualifiers or rankings they should never use single elimination. If there are simply too many games for double elimination such as large open qualifiers with tons of teams, single elim is fine, but playoffs should use double elimination.
So double elimination is better at dealing with poor seeding, but how does it deal with upsets? As previously stated, upsets are not a bad thing, but the best teams should still be able to reach the later matches more consistently. Using the Gaussian distribution to create a % chance of an upset depending on the difference in rank between the teams, the four tournaments were simulated again. UV stands for “upset variance” and is the variance when the seeding is perfect. SV stands for “seeding variance” and is the variance when the seeding is random. Most real tournaments will fall somewhere in between.
UV SV
DES 1.7063 1.8892
DENS 1.6796 1.8913
GSS 1.7516 1.9249
SE 1.7724 2.0727Interestingly enough, non standard double elimination fares better than the standard version with perfect seeding because it makes upsets less common in the lower bracket round 2. This is the only result which is close enough to make the method used to determine the % chance of an upset matter. The SV is usually worse for the non standard version.
Another stat that might be of interest is the quality of the grand finals which is easily the most important match of the tournament. The finals quality FQ is calculated as the average rank of the two teams that make the grand finals. (For instance, if the rank 1 team and the rank 3 team made the finals, the FQ would be 2). FQR is the same stat but for random seeding instead of perfect seeding.
FQ FQR
DES 2.8035 3.0098
DENS 2.7838 3.0118
GSS 3.0284 3.1399
SE 2.9785 3.3630Pretty much everything that can be said about the UV and SV results can be said about the finals quality. GSS finally dethroned single elimination as the worst format with perfect seeding although it still fares better with random seeding.
CONCLUSIONS
If a tournament organizer is happy with having more games and dealing with the finals problem, double elimination is clearly the best tournament to run. A lot of tournaments run single elimination simply because that format is the simplest for human brains to understand and build hype around. Throwing in some double elimination in order to reach a single elimination playoffs can help alleviate the problems of single elimination particularly when there are more than eight teams.
Whoops, there were some errors when the doc was copied over.
The good old days.
1) LOUD
2) NIP
3) VK
4) FUR
5) SHK
6) TBK
7) ING
8) GLB
9) LIB
10) MIBR
Maybe a bit too high on Sharks, but I think they can challenge the top teams.
The final day of BR Challengers Stage 1 had high stakes for everyone involved. Four teams played this week in Group B and every single one of them could qualify for playoffs.
Check out the other weekly recaps and more at my VCT BR Post Library and here is Week 5 Group A as well.
Vivo Keyd (2-0) Furia
Due to tiebreaker scenarios, Furia is already qualified for playoffs. Despite that, this match mattered a lot to Furia as a win would guarantee them a bye in the playoffs and the opposite side of the bracket from LOUD. Vivo Keyd came into the group stage as favorites, but have struggled in the group of death with map losses to Sharks and Ingaming as well as a series loss to NIP.
Icebox: VK(15-13)FUR
Vivo Keyd picked Icebox and both teams mixed up their comps with the new meta. Mazin brought out the Omen instead of the Viper and both teams picked up the Chamber on players who have not played him on this map before. Quick opened up the first two rounds on Furia’s attack with Headhunter one taps onto his counterpart Chamber in murizzz, however, Vivo Keyd still won the first four rounds. Icebox has been the most attacker sided map in Brazil so far with a 60% attacking round winrate, and Furia clawed their way back into the half allowing Vivo Keyd only two more rounds at the end of the half for a 6-6 scoreline. Furia won their own defensive pistol and proceeded to be very effective on the retake as they took a 12-9 lead, but Vivo Keyd clawed back the final three rounds to force overtime. heat picked up the pace as Vivo Keyd snatched a nail-biting win in the second OT. v1xen was the star of the map with the top marks in kills(30), multikills(8), clutches(1), and ADR(207).
Ascent: FUR(13-11)VK
Furia’s map pick was Ascent, but they got off to a bad start when mwzera got a 4k with a Sheriff from Logs which also included a collateral and a wallbang. VK continued to roll until a Khalil 1v2 clutch stemmed the bleeding in the 5th round. Unlike Icebox, Furia were unable to stabilize their attack, and VK closed the half up 9-3. Furia started out their defensive half well, but mwzera found another 4k on the 4th round eco to give VK double digits. VK proved to be even less effective on their attack than Furia and failed to win any gun rounds until Furia had taken the lead 11-10. Furia capped off their dominant defense with a 13-11 map win to even the series. Ascent was a battle between mwzera and Quick as both put up at least 27 kills and 200 ADR. Quick was 10-3 in duels against heat as the VK superstar continued to play a solid but unspectacular series.
Breeze: VK(13-9)FUR
We saw the murizzz Neon on Breeze once more. Furia snuck away with the defensive pistol with a ninja defuse off the back of three quick Sheriff headshots by Quick. VK were again unable to stop the defuse in the second round as Furia got out to an early lead 3-1. Once VK got their hands on proper rifles, they won seven straight rounds for a first half scoreline of 8-4 in which they were only denied the spike plant in the final round. VK won the second pistol, but Furia turned the tides with a 1v3 marshall clutch by Khalil. Furia evened the score at 9 apiece, but VK got back in the half to close the map 13-9 with the final round being a v1xen ninja defuse in a 1v2. Both teams consistently got the spike plant at pyramids, but the passive post-plant positions (pardon the alliteration) cost them both several defuses on the A site. Despite murizzz going 8-20 on the Neon, his utility provided value at critical situations, and the rest of VK played very well including heat and Jhow going from 196 and 99 ACS respectively on Ascent to 282 and 230 on Breeze.
Both VK and Furia guaranteed themselves a playoff berth with this result. Furia was denied a chance at the 1st seed and a 1st round bye in the playoffs.
NIP (2-0) Ingaming
With VK beating FUR, the potential playoff scenarios for NIP and ING were simplified. Win and you are in, lose and you are out. ING had close losses to FUR and VK as well as a win over Sharks, but came into this match as clear underdogs. After suffering a close loss to FUR to start the group stage, NIP have been on a tear looking like the best team in the group. If they won this game they got the 1st seed and a critical bye in the playoffs.
Breeze: NIP(13-7)ING
The map veto played out in a strange fashion as each team picked their opponent’s best map. NIP picked Breeze which they have only played once this group stage in a loss to Furia. Ingaming’s attack found early success as they ran out to a 5-1 lead. Once NIP achieved a stable economy, they won duels all over the map to storm back with a 7-5 lead at the half. NIP won the second pistol, and ING were unable to stop the onslaught as NIP rolled to a 13-7 finish.
Icebox: NIP(13-6)ING
Ingaming picked into Icebox which was NIP’s map pick in every single series they played in this group stage. NIP quickly showcased their dominant attack where they have only lost 3, 4, and 1 rounds against FUR, SHK, and VK respectively. They cruised to a 9-3 lead although they did require multiple clutches to preserve the momentum. Ingaming managed to win 3 more rounds on their attack, but were too far behind as NIP closed the map 13-6. Four clutches including 1v3s from xand and cauanzin kept any Ingaming comeback at bay. With all of NIP’s players in good form, they had too much firepower for Ingaming to deal with.
Ingaming are eliminated from the playoffs and will have to face regulation matches to secure their spot in the second stage of VCT BR. NIP secured a 1st round bye and will face the winner of TBK vs FUR in the playoffs.
Coming Up
The playoffs are scheduled to start on March 22.
VK vs GLB and the winner faces LOUD.
TBK vs FUR and the winner faces NIP.
March 16-19 is the second open and closed qualifiers for Stage 2.
Botafogo, Renegados, MIBR, and Los Grandes have already qualified for the “final qualifier”, and four more spots are up for grabs.
Definitely
13-0 is a fluke even when teams are outclassed. Vikings as a team are probably tier 3 in Brazil right now, but they would have to be extremely unlucky to not randomly win some rounds.
Haha, I had to do a double take there. I thought for sure Liberty picked Breeze and I couldn't figure out why you had pointed that out. I wrote Icebox but saw Breeze lol.
Week 5 group A recap is now up. Group B coming up tomorrow with a team analysis sometime next week most likely for whatever team doesn't qualify from group B.
[VCT BR Recap] Week 5 GA: Playoff Seeding Set
Here is the first half of the recap for week 5 of the group stage. For recaps of previous weeks or other BR VCT posts check out My Post Library
TBK (2-0) Liberty
This was the only game that mattered in group A. If TBK won, they would secure the second seed from group A into the playoff, GLB would secure the third seed, and Liberty would be eliminated. If Liberty won, there would be a three way tie for two spots. Liberty played extremely well to start the group stage with a dominant win over VKS and an extremely close loss to LOUD, but a close loss to GLB has their backs against the wall. TBK were the upstarts of group A with wins over GLB and VKS, but they also lost to LOUD 26-4. This was the matchup of tactically competent evenly matched teams with huge stakes that Brazil has not had in a while. Additionally, this was the first game in the group stage that was played on patch 4.04.
Liberty picked Breeze, but TBK brought out a wild composition with Omen and Neon. This also marked the first time Liazzi picked up the Kayo for Liberty. Liberty got out to a poor start losing three out of the first four rounds. They won a big eco round in the 5th to equalize the economy, but TBK came back in the next round with an eco of their own. Liberty finally stabilized and won four rounds in a row to close the half 6-6. TBK got off to another hot start on their attacking half and quickly dismantled Liberty’s defense en route to a 13-9 final scoreline capped off by a kon4n ace on the Neon. Matheuizn led the way for TBK with 23 kills to 13 deaths on the Viper as well as a map leading 6 multikills.
It was a bold play for TBK to pick Bind as it was the site of their 0-13 humiliation at the hands of LOUD, but they immediately set out to right past wrongs with a 7-0 start on their defense. The triple initiator setup from Liberty struggled to hold onto any space on their attack, and TBK’s retakes were fast and decisive. Liberty managed to salvage three rounds for a scoreline of 3-9 at the half, and finally won their first pistol round of the series to start the second half. TBK proved to be much more effective on their attack than Liberty fending off retakes on the next four rounds to finish the map 13-4. This map also saw a rare Bind Reyna pick from tuyz.
This result eliminated Liberty from the playoffs and secured spots for GLB and TBK. TBK will play the third seed from group B in the playoffs. In an interesting turn of events, it was Liberty’s consistent double initiator core of shion and krain who struggled in this series. They will have to fend off qualifying teams from Challengers 2 in order to maintain their spot for Stage 2.
LOUD (2-0) Vikings
This was a meaningless game for both teams as LOUD was already guaranteed the 1st seed and Vikings guaranteed the 5th seed. This was equivalent to a high level public scrim where both teams could prepare in the new meta for their next games.
LOUD picked Ascent first where their only composition change was pancada on the Omen instead of the Astra. Back to back 4ks in the 2nd and 3rd round by Vikings kept them in the match on their defensive half, but LOUD calmed down and won the half 8-4. LOUD didn’t drop another round as they closed the map 13-4. It was a clean team effort for LOUD as every player was above 198 ACS and they won the opening duels 15-2. 29/42 of Vikings kills (70%) came from multikills including 4 4ks, but aside from the hero rounds, they failed to find much value.
Vikings went to Icebox which was the only map they managed to win more than 7 rounds on this tournament. In the first pistol, pollo got more kills than he managed in the entire last map with a 3k although LOUD denied the plant and won the round. LOUD played with Vikings throughout the half. The only two round Vikings won were the 3rd round bonus and a late round where LOUD fed guns trying to aggress into a Killjoy ult. Vikings survived some scares in the second half to reach a 4-10 scoreline, but LOUD quickly ended the match with the second 13-4 of the series.
LOUD are the 1st seed of group A and will face the winner of GLB vs the 2nd seed of group B. Vikings will not have the automatic invite to the group stage and will have to win their way through regulation matches.
Coming Up
Tomorrow:
FUR vs VK
ING vs NIP
All four teams can qualify or be eliminated from the playoffs and none of the seedings are set. There is a lot at stake for the final day of this group stage.
I would pick Nozwerr over Krain/shion because he is an IGL and a good duelist flex if he needs to, although both Krain/shion are great pickups. It would be hard to get those players though. There are a lot of options for sentinel such as frz, fuzari, and matheuzin. kon4n has great stats this split, but if I would probably still pick one of krain/shion over him just because they have done more consistenly.
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