Playoff Predictions

[argonide]

My picks for the final results assuming everyone shows and has their "good" players.

1. flb
2. Ace
3. L*
4. fLbSS
5. FN
The rest: ?

Analysis/justification:
Okay so first off I will say I'm obviously biased as a member of flb, but also I've played with all of the teams in the top 5 and know a lot of the players since i've been at this crack-itude game for a while now.

I think the top 3 flb, Ace and L* are all going to be close hard fought battles, and really I wouldn't call it an upset if any one of the three takes #1. I think its great that there is no super imbalanced team here like there was the first time around.

L* has the most veterans, and if we were playing altitude classic I'm sure L* would have an easy win. However times are 'a changing and many of L*'s veteran players are good, but not quite as great as they used to be. (That said old is still best and imo a blank/pillars/bob/ferret/snowickle/whatever combo would beat pretty much everything if they had a warm up)
I've glanced through L* vs Ace matches and it seems pretty much neck and neck, however I'm giving the edge to Ace just because they seem to want it more. I may be assuming too much by that, but I bet certain Ace players will be a lot more pissed off than L* if they lose.

Even though flb lost to L* and Ace in the pre-playoffs, I'm going to credit that mostly to roster difficulties. I think as we showed today, when we wiped FN and flbSS(w/o mikesol), our line-up is solid. I know certain members of flb really want to win this thing and will be bringing their A game. I think as long as we follow basic strategy(map/special control,convoys, retreat when at the disadvantage, and press f) flb has slightly better talent and are my pick for #1.

I ordered FN and flbSS up there just based on my impressions playing them today, flbSS put up much more of a fight than FN even though they were without their bomb runner.

About the other 3 teams: I didn't list them basically because I don't know them well enough to judge, there very well may be a dark horse in there that will break into the #5 spot.

It may have been fun to go into how individual players stack up, but I wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings : P

[tyr]

I don't really see what roster difficulties you're talking about to justify your loss to ACE in the regular season.
Kuja + eth + gameguard + king seems to be the A team to me.
Oh right, you didn't had BG1 so you can't play. I forgot about that, sorry.
Note that we didn't had all our best players either, and we still raped you

In my mind, fLb has absolutely no chance in winning the title this season.

Here are my predictions :

1. ACE
2. SS
3. L*
4. fLb
5. FN
6. ??

SS proved that they're really strong and even though they have weaknesses in some parts, they compensate that with a really strong bomb carrier, and some good teamwork. It's the team that I feel will be the toughest to defeat.

Lobstars really surprised me yesterday when they started to pwn us. If they can bring their A game in the playoffs, I'm pretty sure they can get in the semifinals, or even the finals.

FN, unfortunately, showed some roster problems, and I don't think they have a good player/plane repartition. Monxy is their best player and he is forced to carry the bomb. That shouldn't happen.

[evilarsenal]

old altitude? are u kidding me, mirandas were the most op, and king, gameguard, jeppew, me, were the best mirandaas

lobstars are being overrated, they havent done anything special this season
fLb SS def. has potential to be in the top 3 or even 2

SS/fLb/ACE are all gonna be heavy competitors, and nothing else could be blatant

[Stormich]

I agree with Tyr, ACE and SS should be the favorites this time around, flb might have a chance, and L might come up as the dark horse of the tourney if they continue playing like a team. They showed what they can do yesterday if they solidify their game.

[argonide]

Fair enough tyr, just a quick refute:

1) I believe the Ace vs Flb game was 2-1, so not exactly rape

2) You rate flbSS above us, so I'd like to point out that today when we tried to do the rescheduled game with them, they and kuja had a bitchfest because they didn't want the game to be counted if they played without mikesol. So eventually flb agreed to forfeit and play the game for fun(and won 2-0 pretty decisively). Apparently a bomb carrier can be pretty important.

3)I don't know what our best line-up/whatever is but I know that we can play a lot better than we did in that match, we'll see though.

(evil I meant classic no gfx altitude, kids these days...)

[evilarsenal]

hmm?

I mean, this season isn't as blatant as last season where ACE and fLb were the only 2 powerhouses

this season fLb hasnt tried at all, we missed out matches, lost 2, one to ace, and the other to lobstars? it's obvious fLb is suffering the Superbowl disease and just slacking off being cocky...

ACE needs to hold their **** together and beat fLb in the playoffs

fLbSS needs to clutch their matches

fLb>IL
fLbSS>DW
fLb>fLbSS if fLb can field their e-stars, since they havent done that since last season otherwise fLb would lose again

Ace wont have a problem against their first two matches, so
ACE vs. fLbSS .... hmmm? if fLbSS gets the right map rotation, they will win 3-2, if they can clutch it against ACE, but ace is dominant

ACE vs. fLb, is obvious, fLb will win if they get their starters on

But one factor is missing, jeppew, if he was as dominant as before, its no doubt ACE will have an easier time winning, but ace is a great squad, so taking a man away to put jeppew in could be a slight risk, and things can happen

Lobstars vs. fLb$
Fiscal Little Bears aren't as strong as the 3 above, but neither is Lobstars. I'm not gonna lie, i love lobstars more than any other clan and even I overrated them since they are a solid/vapor reform, but they were scraping to make to playoffs, especially if the cut was going to be made top 6,

Lobstars have veterans, and good players, but their calibur is not close to that of ACE/fLB

Lobstars vs. fLb$ is a match that is up for grabs, but i predict a 3-2 match, i can't tell you which way...
both teams are going to have their best team on and they will be on their good days, trust me, this match is the match of the first round

The match of the 2nd round in my prediction will be fLbSS and fLb
lower bracket, FN vs fLb$/Lobstars and Iron legends vs Death weeds are all good matches...

actually all of round 2 seems epic!

i'm embarrassed to ehar that, fLb "might" have a chance
it's stupid, and everyone who says that is wrong
ACE or fLb is going to win 97/100 times in this bracket

[Curious]

Originally Posted by argonide

1) I believe the Ace vs Flb game was 2-1, so not exactly rape

we fielded every player who wouldn't be picked for the starting team so that we could practice. that's how confident we were.

[eth]

Yes, and you had your entire roster show up. We didn't even get our remaining core group(bg1, kuja, me). Last season we had me, kuja, eso, game and bg1 as core and we played a lot together, and had awesome teamwork. Now gameguard is inactive and eso left, and although we got some new good players, the fact is that our teamwork isn't where it was - yet. Outside of our remaining core, we don't really have any players that are consistently on either, which makes it harder for us to get the teamwork happening.

Considering all this, I guess I'm almost agreeing with tyr - unless we get a solid A+ lineup for playoffs/finals, we're not gonna make it vs ACE. Regardless of that, I still believe we have the most talented players in the league on the roster, so I'm pretty sure we'll end up in finals. I have no idea if you put us below L*/SS to trashtalk or something, but I'm pretty sure we both know we'll beat them if we get a good lineup.

[Triped]

My top three:
1. L*
2. ACE
3. flbSS

We're not dark horses, we're LOBSTARS!

[mikesol]

Originally Posted by argonide

Fair enough tyr, just a quick refute:


2) You rate flbSS above us, so I'd like to point out that today when we tried to do the rescheduled game with them, they and kuja had a bitchfest because they didn't want the game to be counted if they played without mikesol. So eventually flb agreed to forfeit and play the game for fun(and won 2-0 pretty decisively). Apparently a bomb carrier can be pretty important.

I'm not sure if that was sarcastic or not but yes a bomb carrier can be really important. Nobody on SS besides me runs the bomb (unless we're playing a team we're guaranteed to win against and we're goofing off). It would be like grabbing a random pub and placing them into a top of the line tourny and tell them to run the bomb. Bomb running takes a lot of skill and practice to do it effectively.

Also, if we would have been told before the game was supposed to start rather than having like two fLb show up and then be told hey lol gonna cancel then maybe we wouldn't have made such a deal about rescheduling.

Lastly, I'm sure you weren't playing our best players (not sure if you were playing your best either). We'll play you in the playoffs and we'll see what happens

[eth]

We played mat ufo andy at least, but I agree that win counts for nothing with no bombrunner.

[jeppew]

i predict that most people will predict that their team will win.

[CCN]

I think KLF has a good shot here.
They may appear out of the running, dead if you will, but remember THESE KINGS LIVE FOREVER
HURRAH

[Evan20000]

Originally Posted by tyr

FN, unfortunately, showed some roster problems, and I don't think they have a good player/plane repartition. Monxy is their best player and he is forced to carry the bomb. That shouldn't happen.

I agree sadly. We played like a machine missing a few gears.

[DiogenesDog]

re: L* chances...

One thing that I don't think people have quite realized is that getting Eso was HUGE for us. He's not only a great player (probably our best guy actually), but fills the very important explodet/bomber defensive role. He's really had a big impact on our game.

Anyway, while I agree that we're not favorites to win this thing, I think with a bit of practice we could be a serious force. All we're really lacking is:

- Decent teamwork... which would come if we ever played outside of league games. :P

- A really strong bomb runner. We have some people who can kinda get it done, but this has always been a weakness for us. Which is kind of ironic considering our team name.

In a strange twist, the team with the most super long term veterans is also the team with the least competitive experience and the most room to grow I think. None of us is super active, esp in team games, and you can really see the improvement we've had just playing league games since the last season.

[nesnl]

What happened to Moxie/Gumby?

[GGQ]

I'm not sure if that was sarcastic or not but yes a bomb carrier can be really important. Nobody on SS besides me runs the bomb (unless we're playing a team we're guaranteed to win against and we're goofing off). It would be like grabbing a random pub and placing them into a top of the line tourny and tell them to run the bomb. Bomb running takes a lot of skill and practice to do it effectively.

While I agree that this is true, I don't see why the other team should be punished because your team doesn't have a back-up runner. While it takes a lot of practice to be an excellent bomb runner, it doesn't take much to be a decent one which should suffice for the few times your main runner isn't there.

I'd encourage every team to develop a roster that does not rely completely on one player to show up every game.

[mikesol]

Originally Posted by GGQ

While I agree that this is true, I don't see why the other team should be punished because your team doesn't have a back-up runner. While it takes a lot of practice to be an excellent bomb runner, it doesn't take much to be a decent one which should suffice for the few times your main runner isn't there.

I'd encourage every team to develop a roster that does not rely completely on one player to show up every game.

Definitely in agreeance. A back-up bomb runner would no doubt be a great thing to have. Ultimately, however, I'd still say it was fLb's fault about this game. I was informed a mere 2 hours before the game was supposed to take place that the reschedule was going to be that day.

If we were informed a week ago about the reschedule being Sunday I would have had no problem having fLbSS play without me and take the loss. It is the responsibility of the team that wants to reschedule to come up with a time and place that works for the other team and that was not the case here.

[ufo]

Originally Posted by GGQ

I don't see why the other team should be punished because your team doesn't have a back-up runner

I don't see why we should be expected to play without the best bomb runner in the game during a RESCHEDULED match. As for what makes sense to me, a rescheduled game should not come with any expense to the team that so graciously allowed it to happen instead of a forfeit loss in the first place.

On that note I might add that several of our players, including myself, are decent bomb runners.

[nobodyhome]

Moxie/Gumby are both out for the season for school reasons. For sure we are hurting because they're gone, but we did get some excellent new recruits for this season (eso, lorp), so I wouldn't say it's too bad. Hopefully they'll be back next season. Speaking of which, what happened to you, maimer?

@evilarsenal: Anyone who thinks L* is barely playoff worthy should take a look at the recent ACE/L* match. We took them down to literally a sliver of base hp away from a win, and got the same amount of bomb drops on their base as they did (they destroyed our base because the final bomb hit was by a two-silver-bar'ed Zidane). It's true that we are a bunch of old veterans who barely ever practice, but recently we've began to come together as a solid team.

In general I think that the ACE/L* match has shown that out of ACE/fLb/SS/L*, any of these teams can beat any of the other teams given a good day (sorry FN). It's really quite exciting to see how the playoffs are going to shape up, as we are going to see some unexpected results in the next two weeks.

@the flbSS issue: Sure, fLb might have beaten SS pretty squarely, but it wasn't quite a solid whomping, if you had watched the games. The SS were holding their own in terms of map control, 1v1 dogfighting, and base defense; the only area in which they really lacked was bomb delivery. Mikesol is much more indispensible to the SS than BG1 is to fLb, and while the desirability of such a dependence is questionable in the long run, in the short run it looks to be a perfectly fine strategy, as it doesn't seem like mikesol will miss any of the playoff games.

[Kuja900]

fLb has a hidden weapon yet to be revealed, just wait.

1. fLb
2. fLbSS/fLb$
3. fLbSS/fLb$
4. Others
5. Others
6. Others
7. Others
8. ACE

[matattack]

ive decided for next season to practice bomb running

although i'd probably suck :/

[Kuja900]

Originally Posted by nobodyhome

Moxie/Gumby are both out for the season for school reasons. For sure we are hurting because they're gone, but we did get some excellent new recruits for this season (eso, lorp), so I wouldn't say it's too bad. Hopefully they'll be back next season. Speaking of which, what happened to you, maimer?

@evilarsenal: Anyone who thinks L* is barely playoff worthy should take a look at the recent ACE/L* match. We took them down to literally a sliver of base hp away from a win, and got the same amount of bomb drops on their base as they did (they destroyed our base because the final bomb hit was by a two-silver-bar'ed Zidane). It's true that we are a bunch of old veterans who barely ever practice, but recently we've began to come together as a solid team.

In general I think that the ACE/L* match has shown that out of ACE/fLb/SS/L*, any of these teams can beat any of the other teams given a good day (sorry FN). It's really quite exciting to see how the playoffs are going to shape up, as we are going to see some unexpected results in the next two weeks.

@the flbSS issue: Sure, fLb might have beaten SS pretty squarely, but it wasn't quite a solid whomping, if you had watched the games. The SS were holding their own in terms of map control, 1v1 dogfighting, and base defense; the only area in which they really lacked was bomb delivery. Mikesol is much more indispensible to the SS than BG1 is to fLb, and while the desirability of such a dependence is questionable in the long run, in the short run it looks to be a perfectly fine strategy, as it doesn't seem like mikesol will miss any of the playoff games.

I just want to point out against a full strength fLb none of these other teams are even close, fLb life time is like 38-2 v L* and our 2 losses we had 4 and one of those 4 was bebop >.>.

[nobodyhome]

Originally Posted by Kuja900

I just want to point out against a full strength fLb none of these other teams are even close, fLb life time is like 38-2 v L* and our 2 losses we had 4 and one of those 4 was bebop >.>.

So what exactly was your lineup when you guys lost against ACE? I wish someone recorded that match so we could see it, but I guess tyr was playing and he hadn't tried FPVODs by that time. But if you had all of you, eth, BG1, and king on the lineup when you played ACE then I don't see how you could get any more "full strength" than that. There aren't any more players in fLb that are strong--gameguard is grinding dungeon fighter and ryebone hardly ever shows to league games.

Another thing to note is that while fLb has mostly been stagnating in terms of skill this season, L* has been growing. Kinda like how between the TL league and season 1, fLb grew while L* (which is basically TS/V) stagnated. We saw how that turned out.

[Kuja900]

Originally Posted by nobodyhome

So what exactly was your lineup when you guys lost against ACE? I wish someone recorded that match so we could see it, but I guess tyr was playing and he hadn't tried FPVODs by that time. But if you had all of you, eth, BG1, and king on the lineup when you played ACE then I don't see how you could get any more "full strength" than that. There aren't any more players in fLb that are strong--gameguard is grinding dungeon fighter and ryebone hardly ever shows to league games.

Another thing to note is that while fLb has mostly been stagnating in terms of skill this season, L* has been growing. Kinda like how between the TL league and season 1, fLb grew while L* (which is basically TS/V) stagnated. We saw how that turned out.

fLb just had one member go inactive, noones skill has stagnated. Against ACE it was 5v5 game 1 but we had no bg1 and had bebop game 2 we won when gameguard showed up and game 3 we lost because of no bg1 and had bebop lol. We just been a tad lazy in the season, saving the gas for the playoffs.

[Flight 666]

Originally Posted by Kuja900

fLb has a hidden weapon yet to be revealed, just wait.

1. fLb
2. fLbSS/fLb$
3. fLbSS/fLb$
4. Others
5. Others
6. Others
7. Others
8. ACE

"hidden weapon"? I told u Kuja.. i not will join fLb....

[tyr]

Originally Posted by Kuja900

fLb just had one member go inactive, noones skill has stagnated. Against ACE it was 5v5 game 1 but we had no bg1 and had bebop game 2 we won when gameguard showed up and game 3 we lost because of no bg1 and had bebop lol. We just been a tad lazy in the season, saving the gas for the playoffs.

Wrong.
You didn't had bebop for game 3.
And then again, you recruited him, so that's your problem. It's not like you played 4v5 or something.

Also

"I just want to point out against a full strength fLb none of these other teams are even close,"

To that, I just say 'lol'.

[nesnl]

Kuja, are you implying that it is allowed in the rules to add players to the roster once the season is over and playoffs begin? That to me seems pretty shady. :/

[Loli.ta]

Originally Posted by Kuja900

fLb has a hidden weapon yet to be revealed, just wait.

1. fLb
2. fLbSS/fLb$
3. fLbSS/fLb$
4. Others
5. Others
6. Others
7. Others
8. ACE

I strongly disagree with our placement.

[DiogenesDog]

Btw, kind of a dick move blaming Bebop for the loss. Warthogs have feelings too, you know. While their emotions might SEEM rock steady on the surface, inside these insults put them through an emotional shredder. And even when you think the pain has gone away, it's like a splinter that keeps hurting at the most unexpected moments. All you can do is sai quietly and retreat into your shell.

but seriously, don't be a jerk.

[Kuja900]

Originally Posted by DiogenesDog

Btw, kind of a dick move blaming Bebop for the loss. Warthogs have feelings too, you know. While their emotions might SEEM rock steady on the surface, inside these insults put them through an emotional shredder. And even when you think the pain has gone away, it's like a splinter that keeps hurting at the most unexpected moments. All you can do is sai quietly and retreat into your shell.

but seriously, don't be a jerk.

Hey I love Bebop and he knows that, but he went reverse thrust and kept trying to run the bomb lol >.>.

[Triped]

Originally Posted by DiogenesDog

Btw, kind of a dick move blaming Bebop for the loss. Warthogs have feelings too, you know. While their emotions might SEEM rock steady on the surface, inside these insults put them through an emotional shredder. And even when you think the pain has gone away, it's like a splinter that keeps hurting at the most unexpected moments. All you can do is sai quietly and retreat into your shell.

but seriously, don't be a jerk.

Clearly a Lobstar.

[eth]

Are you seriously defending bebop? I dont think even Adolf is a bigger dick than that guy. I had him muted within the first 30 mins I saw him, even though he was on my own freaking team. Didn't listen to kuja AT ALL, continually spammed teamchat about how trash our team was, and then he proceeded to go 3-39 with reverse biplane while wasting bombs.. No idea why you defend this dude Dio.

Also last ACE vs fLb - like I said before, we didn't have our A+ lineup, but you guys did - and you still make it out to be like you won fair & square against our top. You didn't. If you win 2-0 vs me, kuja, game, king & bg1 in playoffs I'll bow down to you, but until then... :P

edit: oh and also SS/L* are definitely top dogs.. I guess a lot of it comes down to who shows/noshows. I'm not thinking either teams A+ lineup will be even remotely easy, but if we could get ours as well, I absolutely think we could win - especially considering past experience.

[number 3]

Does anyone know if IL is in playoffs?

[mikesol]

Clearly FFS is going to pwn all of you so how bout you stop arguing and accept defeat.

Also:

Originally Posted by number 3

Does anyone know if IL is in playoffs?

Yes IL is.

[number 3]

Originally Posted by mikesol

Clearly FFS is going to pwn all of you so how bout you stop arguing and accept defeat.

Also:


Yes IL is.

Good. i though so since we went 4-1 ysterday but i wasnt shure

[Flight 666]

Originally Posted by number 3

Does anyone know if IL is in playoffs?

In 6th place ^^

[number 3]

Originally Posted by Flight 666

In 6th place ^^

whas that you that PM'd me with a new name?

[Loli.ta]

You know $ is a good team, when other better teams talk about them. Apparently this is not the case.

I wish every team in the playoffs a good season, and to hit your foes hard. Do not falter~

[number 3]

Originally Posted by Loli.ta

You know $ is a good team, when other better teams talk about them. Apparently this is not the case.

I wish every team in the playoffs a good season, and to hit your foes hard. Do not falter~

where does $ fall in position