Tier 2 Finals!

So, finally we've reached the finals weekend of ENSL season 14. This evening it's going to be Stray Dogs vs. The Professors for the Tier 2 title.

Neither of the teams has shown that much activity after the Dogs beat New Team in the full 12-round slugfest, so all I can do is to make some more or less educated guesses on how things might work out.

Judging this by the lineups only, the Profs certainly have an advantage. Necros has been active in gathers and gaining shape and Aleksi and Tweadle are capable additions to any team. Meanwhile SD - maybe apart from Sub Zero's occasional rampage against the lower end clans - lacks the real big hitting players. Mulk, TrC and Gobot  are also experienced and capable players, but I doubt anyone expects them to hit the carrymode on against a team of Profs' calibre. The recent addition, the Korean top fragger Neco could be a big ace for SD if he can somehow overcome the huge ping disadvantage.

When it comes to teamwork and organisation, SD gets my points. Doctor is a clear and calm commander, so I'd expect him bring good controlled play to SD marine rounds even with the little activity we've had lately. SD also got decent practise while they fought against New Team for those 12 rounds. As for the Profs, I've got no clue. I'd say their lineup seems more individual driven in general, but nothing prevents them from pulling off some great teamwork too. I wouldn't expect an easy match for whoever ends up commanding for Profs though.

I think we are in the familiar situation where whoever takes the first marine round, wins the whole match. It took SD 6 marine rounds to get the win against SD, so I'm going to place Profs the favourite here. Still, it's not unlikely that Profs lose their lifeforms early or fumble somehow else and SD rides into the victory.

Assuming that Profs manage to avoid the critical mistakes, I'll call it 3 - 1 for Profs. Nevertheless, SD is more than capable of beating Profs if they decide to get even one bit sloppy.


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That's all for now, I'll get back to you with some finals coverage soon.


Bacillus