Bacillus' Week 3 Div 1 Predictions

The third week is here, yay! Week 2 went smooth, everyone played their matches, there was a plenty of drama and ect. Let's keep the activity going this week too.

As for the results, week 2 was close to what I expected. The only bigger upset was TTS taking two rounds from iPwn and forcing an alien tie. Russia managed to squeese one valuable round from the Gardeners while Team Fantasy only got very close to that against Saunamen.

The Gardeners - iPwn

The Gardeners keep going strong. They played three good rounds against Team Russia and lost one partitially to their own sloppy play. As long can control their marine game a little better against the top teams, I can't see any big problems in their game.

iPwn disappointed me with their marine rounds once again. The orbital round against TTS was halfway messed up by a plugin kick, but for the Tanith round I can't see any excuses. TTS simply tore iPwn's economy game apart after Bigbanana went for the res intense 2 SG + welder push. King Yo surprised me by shotgunning effectively and keeping his team in the game as long as they lasted. iPwn alien game was still good nevertheless and earned them the 2 rounds needed for a tie. They really need Phil playing to upset any bigger teams though.

This week's match is going to boil down to Gardener marine and iPwn alien play. I highly doubt we'll see any upsets on iPwn's marine rounds as Gardeners have been very solid aliens and iPwn far less convincing marines. As always, Enigmatic's shotgun is going to be a huge threat to the opponent. This week he is going to battle against Phil or Chibi's lerk. Interesting lerk vs shotgun struggle in both cases.

If Enigmatic doesn't fumble the shotgun it's a 4 - 0 for Gardeners .

Edit: X-man informed that JustMe will be replacing BigBanana in iPwn command console from now on.

Biggest Impacts:
'.=. : Enigmatic (SG/Lerk), GibbZ (Fade), Klawz (Comm)
iPwn : Justme (Unlocking the marine deadlock), Phil (Carry material), King Yo (Surprised as a marine last week/lerk)

TTS - Squad 6

TTS never stops amazing me. They're both very predictable and unpredictable at the same time and sometimes manage to pick rounds from very uneven matches. Last week they gained 2 points from iPwn, which certainly doesn't hurt their league standing. I'm still not impressed by their lifeform play or marine rounds, but as long as they keep making upsets I can't complain that much.

Squad 6 hasn't been as devastating as I expected before the season. Their alien rounds have lacked some teamwork and thought here and there. The marine rounds have been decent, but not enough to make up for the slacky alien performances. aA has been powering up the marine rounds, but his skulkwork is far below his former level.

This one is difficult to call. On individual skill and top level experience Squad 6 should take a comfortable 4 - 0, but TTS is just too good at upsetting sometimes. Unless Squad-6 manages to step up their overall teamwork, TTS might take a round at orbital at least. On Veil it's not that easy to cause upsets though.

Just for the fun of it I say TTS somehow takes one round and makes it 3 - 1 for Squad-6 .

Biggest Impacts:
TTS: Miglez (comm), The usual unusualness factor of TTS.
Squad-6: aA (Marine), Improved skulkwork, Jaivol (comm), frG (comeback potential)


Team Fantasy - Team Russia

The match of the week!

Team Fantasy lost 4 - 0 to Saunamen, but especially their Tanith marine round was a close one. Aleksi and Kuitmo played as solid as expected and Elynn's (zh) choise of going w2 before any armory upgrades seemed to work at least that round (Partitially thanks to Tane's flashy fade though). The alien rounds didn't go all that smooth and I feel they made a few quite bad calls with baserushes and ambushing spots and Peach was quick to punish them. Nevertheless, the performance wasn't all that bad considering they didn't have Aleksi and NsN playing most of the rounds.

Team Russia managed to steal one round from the Gardeners, not that bad. On a quick look their game seemed to be in relatively good form, Gardeners just overpowered the game with a little better all around lineup. Morvie's marine performance wasn't all that impressive though. I'd expect him to get close to K:D 1 on any circumstances at least.

This is the most even matchup this week. I'd say Team Fantasy has a bit of a upper hand when it comes to recent performances, but especially Morvie should be able to even the scales quite easily. Fantasy's inconsistent alien play might be negated by Russia's lack of good marine performances. Ru's good alien rounds on the other hand are facing Elynn's solid commander skill. All in all, both teams are more than capable of taking any round. Especially Veil should be well worth watching as both teams are able to play to their maximium level on well known maps.

Being a Finn I'll say this is 3 - 1 for Fantasy as long as they can field the very best lineup, but too much diversion from that and we've got a potential tie or Ru victory.

Biggest impacts:
Fantasy: Elynn (lerk), NsN, Kuitmo (fade), Aleksi, amx (Comm(?))
Russia: MP (marine/lerk), Morvie (Time to step up to the usual level), Snake (Comm)


Maxx' Week 3 Div 1 Predictions

As you all know NS is SERIOUS BUSINESS and it doesn't get any more serious than predictions. Every day hundreds if not millions of people go to the site hoping that maybe, just maybe, the predictions are up and THEY got a mention. Who knows how many lives ware saved by a simple string of letters that gave hope and fame to an otherwise depressed individual. How many relationships ware forged while reading these words to a loved one, as if it were poetry. With MAAD forced to step down as predictor due to a hectic schedule I took it upon myself to fill the void that his departure had left.

So Lets get on with it shall we?


.ngtu vs -k^

Impact players:
.ngtu: noway(ref)
-k^: Noxolan(randomly selected from the lineup)

We start the weekly dose of prediction goodness with a match that I can't possibly get wrong, partially because it was already played, but mainly because I'm just that freaking amazing. The outcome isn't really a surprise. The Americans have a tough time on our servers while .ngtu (also sporting mighty 100+ pings) have been steadily improving.

In the end its a well deserved 3 points each.

.ngte 2:2 -k^


Nskrp vs ze.^.e:

Impact players:
Nskrp: ping 300+
ze.^.e: Vlad Dracul(lerk), Orox(French comm), Maxx!!(Yes, I'm making myself impact)

After a shaky start to the season this match may very well prove to be the turning point for the turtles. Playing with 300+ pings our Korean guests are going to have to delve deep into their bag of tricks to pull a victory here, but with a ping gap this wide, you're bound to see plenty of magic. Never the less, the odds are definitely stacked against Nskrp. Id love to say it'll be a clean sweep for the turtles, but can you blame me? I play for them. This match will have quite a few wild factors though, the already mentioned ping difference as well as the seldom played Orbital will mean its still anybodies game.

Being the optimist I am, my final verdict is

ze.^.e 3:1 Nskrp


DS.kor | vs [8888]

Impact players:
DS.kor: Alice Taylor(because its a girls name, and I'm a sucker for the ladies)
[8888]: MAAD aka Logan(self proclaimed nr1 NS player ever, EVER!)

DS.kor is said to be the stronger of the two Korean teams that have entered our league this season, while [8888] has had a rather weak run so far. The ping advantage alone won't be enough to win a game like this so unless [8888] can utilise all their potential and pull off some solid teamwork I see this game swinging in favour of DS.kor.

My awesome predictor instinct (which may or may not be wrong, but will ALWAYS remain awesome) tells me that DS.kor will walk away with 4 points while [8888] grab 2.

DS.kor | 3:1 [8888]


.BM vs 250dp'

Impact players:
.BM: beefcake(beefcake), JustMe(if hes allowed to play this week), s4druid(fade)
250dp': I have NO IDEA

Ever hear the phrase "wheres the beef?" Well, Ive got news for ya. Its in BM. After briefly losing JustMe and nearly disbanding, BM have gained the beefcake and just recently saw the return of their runaway comm. Now stronger than ever they will go up against 250 de ping in an attempt to maintain their lead on the Division 2 scoreboard. 250dp' are our final long distance entrant this season, and as their name implies, they gauge high on our lag-O-tron scale. This however, hasn't stopped them from gaining solid footing on the leaderboard by tying .ngte and beating the snot out of [8888]. This is hands down the Div2 'match of the week' and will determine which of these two teams will open week 4 as the leader.

So whats my prediction you ask? Its a tie! As long as s4druid can keep away from thems nasty walls I see BM acing their alien rounds, but with JustMe likely still unable to play until next week and 250dp's solid run, I don't think they'll be pulling any marine wins this week.

.BM 2:2 250dp'


Well, that wraps up week three. A final shout out to all the teams for playing all their matches so far. Keep it up! Now bugger off and play some NS. Or better yet, write a book, its more constructive!