Season 20 TS playoffs preview
Back to top Back to main Skip to menuFor the TS playoffs UrbanZone presents you a personnal preview of all the coming matches. It was writen and thought by ShouShou, the leader of the somewhat sleeping Aera eSport team.
It comes out pretty obviously to me, but regarding the coments I received I prefer to highlight the following : this preview and all it's points are only based on a player's gameplay. They were expressed by the writer based on the match and information he has gathered himself. It only represents his personal analysis of a given situation, it is definitly not an objective critic and is of course subject to contradictions.
The number on the right of each playe represents their Rating during the 2016 seasons in TS games. It paints how great they played during this period. It only includes the fragging department and does not necessary highlight the contribution they have to their respective team (medkit/supportive players are fucked :P).
- A rating of 1 should represents the exact average division 1 player.
- A rating of 2 would mean a player is twice better than average in "fragging" stats.
To make it short, the rating ranks are more or less just based on K/D ratio.
Now, click on Read more... to see what Shoushou has got to tell us !
Cooking with Jack :
Camaroz (1,25)
Ahts (1,21)
Xixion (1,10)
Kronoz (1,05)
Mustang (1,04)
Callisto (0,88)
Lambo (0,78)
Shroom (0,60)
Team description :
When they came back from inactivity last season, Jack were not among the favorite for the season. But somewhat, despire a bad showing during groupstages, when they would have been eliminated if their last opponent had shown up. But they reached the playoffs, won three matchs and ended with the gold. And that is the showing of individual experience for their players. There team became even stronger with the addition of Camaroz. And coming to this season, they were one of the favorites. But the thing is, despite strong victories in FTWGL season, they were unable to reproduce it during the UZ stages because they were unable to gather their strongest 5 for the UZ matchs. And they ended up with a quite ridiculous UZ resume : only 3 maps played and 1 map won, thanks to Ahts who carried them on this one map. Jack with their full line-up is one of the favorite of the competition, Jack with the line-up that played in UZ has barely their place in d1. So let's take about their strong line-up only : they have strong individualities and they rely on it. Camaroz, Xixion and Ahts are excellent, the latter being the surprise at that level. They have a large map pool that should help them in playoffs. Their teamplay is correct, despite lacking solidarity when rounds seems won (as it's often the case with team like that).
Player to watch : Ahts
To be completely honest, I didn’t followed US competition that much when there were actives, only gathering a bit of information when some of the NA or SA team played in European competitions. So I didn’t knew or expected anything about Ahts when he returned. And I was impressed. The guy is a complete player : strong with any weapon, carrying his teams when needed. The reason Jack still reaching playoff with their weak line-up is that guy showing up. He is also excellent with the SR8, I think he is the best competitive SR8 right now, and that’s impressive considering the ping he play with.
Essence :
Mvt (1,31)
Vrederust (1,24)
Exotic (1,23)
Chiko (1,21)
KJT (1,08)
Crimzon (1,08)
Stealer (1,02)
Maku (0,96)
Team description :
Essence went breezing threw the groupstages, winning every map they played, most of it by a large margin. They are the team that showed the best things during the first part of this competition. Their playstyle feels like a pug team with solidarity : they rely strongly of everyone ability, not only of their strong players. And that seems to be the perfect playstyle they can have if we look at their composition : Vrederust and Exotic are consistent at being good, while some others players still have the skill but lack consistency. You can't be the main player on a team if you lack consistency, but the fact that most players on that team can elevate their level of play make them extremely dangerous, because you don't necesserly know where the danger will come from. And they usually have at least one of their player going insane on every map. As long as they can continue to play that way, the only way they can be beaten is by a team that counter them tacticly. But that will be hard. They seem to be good on most maps (which again, is coherent with their playstyle), so the vetos will be hard for their opponent).
Player to watch : Vrederust
Among the players in Essence, the Dutchman is not necessary the one with the strongest peak. But he is consistently good. He is that second-third best player in the team when his teammates are on form. And if they are not ? Then he’ll perform better and carry his team. Having somebody like him in Essence is a need, because he’ll be the one that save them if they have a bad day.
High Five :
Aerox (1,31)
Leo (1,14)
Pabrinhu (1,06)
Saidex (1,05)
Pegasus (1,05)
Arexo (1,03)
Blade (0,98)
CerealKiller (0,72)
Team description :
The brazilians has always been a serious outsider in European competitions. But when their best player leaved one by one a few years ago, their level dropped a bit. Now they are back, and they have completed their line-up with the portugese Aerox and then Saidex. Last season, they made it to the final and after an upset of Get Wrecked in semi, thanks to Leo. High Five have been impressive this season, going undefeated in regular season in both UZ and FTWGL (pre-season put aside). They are strong tacticly, able to dictate the rhythm while being able to dominate in both fast and slow plays. They have also strong individualities, the main one being Aerox. Unfortunately for them, one of their key player, Leo, is unable to play for the moment. He was replaced by Saidex, who is obviously a great player, but it can be a blow to the tactical outcome. An other difficulty they present to their opponent is the mix in their location : having one half of the player with correct ping and the other with a huge ping is the hardest thing to play against pingwise : you can't get used to the way to hit your opponent.
Player to watch : Aerox
This is both unexpected and impressive, but Aerox is a monster right now. Don’t misunderstand me, Aerox have always been a strong d1 player with every team he played for. But this is not what we talk about : right now, Aerox is dominating as much as Brizz did at the end of 4.1. No matter who the opponent is, what ping he has to play with, what timezone it has to be, Aerox is destroying every opponent that come facing him. He is the main asset in h5 recent impressive run. He is right now the best TS player in the world. The only question is how long he can keep that form.
Orks eSport Black :
Zmb (1,31)
Rocket (1,23)
Shanfara (1,20)
Breuxe (1,07)
Simca (0,96)
Neyfast (0,95)
Team Description :
That team is really close to the French line-up that won the Nation Cup earlier this year, with the addition of Rocket and Neyfast. And I highlight that because the way they play is quite similar : strong individuality but they don't necesserly rely on it : they have the best tactics, basics and teamplay that I've seen this season. Some of their players perform consistancely (Zmb, Rocket, Shanfara), while other are less consistent but still able to carry on several maps. Breuxe is the player that I'm the most surprised by the progression he had for the last months. After a close match loss to h5 to start the season, they have been able to dominate the rest of their matchs and finished 2nd of their group. If they can maintain that level of form, despite playing Overwatch, then they are one of the favorites.
Player to watch : Zmb
Zmb is the best player in that team. He was inactive due to some internet problems during most of the groupstages, but he'll be back for the playoffs. Strong individuality, he is a great auto player, can play a carry role on many maps, is able to play with SR8 if needed (even if Shanfara should be their main sniper). They don't necesserly need him to perform against lower level teams, but against the best his performance can be the key to victory.
Team of God :
Bape (1,07)
Heb (0,99)
Yoda (0,90)
Mailles (0,84)
Cilof (0,78)
Mattouz (0,75)
Team description :
Team of God is the rookie team. And that’s a bit refreshing to see that kind of team reaching a good level with “unknown” players. Coming this season as the “will probably get eliminated soon team”, they showed a better level than expected. They have contrasted results threw the Groupstages : they managed to upset Puzzles and Cooking with Jack, but get utterly destroyed by the Essence team. And there is some conclusions that can be taken from these matches. First is that they have the skill to compete (that’s not always the case for new d1 teams) : if they play their correct level they have a chance against anybody (but I won’t favor them against any of the other playoffs teams). But the second conclusion is that they have serious mental issues. The beating they took from Essence does not represent their true level, but it shows that they were unable to adapt their game and react properly when things didn’t went right. This is a thing that can be fixed by experience or strong leading, but it seems that they are lacking both, at least for the moment. They need to fix that, and that won’t be easy as I heard their leader have activity problems. For what they have shown in their matches, I didn’t see somebody in that team being far better than the others, or somebody being consistently able to outskill the team they face. If they want to be better, they need somebody like that. When you’re a rookie team want to gain some results, you need somebody in your ranks to step up, pull out the numbers. Or else you’ll be crushed.
Player to watch : Heb
From what I saw from them, Heb is the most impressive player in that team, not necessary by a large margin (note that I’ve only seen a few matchs for them, so I could be totally wrong). He is the player that I expect the most to step up for his team. And again, it’s not like I want to add pressure on them as it’s already an issue, but somebody in their ranks need to be better. And he is the one I see doing that.
Boobs team :
Duhfysa (1,29)
Amish (1,21)
Jungleboy (0,92)
Biddle (0,90)
Grinday (0,78)
The-Spiki (0,56)
Team description :
From the moment they arrived in d1 years back, b00bs team system has always been the same. It relies heavily on their 2 best players : Duhfysa is the excellent aggressive player, while Amish is more effective in mid-long range. The team has always been constructed around these two, the others players usually play and adapt around them, support them the best they can. But they are also the team with the larger skill gap : their best players are excellent, but the rest clearly lack of skill. But it has always been compensated because of their supportive playstyle towards their best players. Sometimes, when they could, b00bs had a third good player to be even more effective (Chiko, Magnesium, nJa …). But this season it's a bit different : while Duhfysa/Amish are the excellent fraggers and Spiki/Biddle being more supportive players, Jungleboy is neither supportive or excellent : he is having the Rott syndrom. Meaning he plays resonnably good individually, but with a non-existent team gamesense, and often ending up alone, sometimes doing some flashy rounds. But that playstyle doesn't fit b00bs well. And the result is : b00bs are the first team ever to have one of their player score 40+ kills, and still lose the map … twice (happened once for Duhfy, once for Amish). This team is weaker than the past season only for that reason.
Player to watch : Amish
When I arrived in d1, the common laughing I heard about Amish was ‘He is not really a good player, he is only good with a laser’. I saw it an other way : ‘Give that man a laser and he is one of the best’. And that’s the thing about Amish, he may be the best auto when it comes to mid-long range, peek and hit style. He is extremely consistent, can win rounds by himself against every team. He is also good as getting opening kills against overly-aggressive player as he is for clutching rounds. He is the main asset of b00bs, and he’ll need to perform for his team to have a chance to go further (and even that may be not enough).
Freneticz :
Rival (1,05)
Gybol (0,97)
Divine (0,90)
jMt (0,89)
Zow (0,85)
Jovem (0,79)
Team Description :
Freneticz is some kind of a special team. The arrived in the game at the wrong time : showing a d1 level just at the moment every top team leaved. Since that, they managed to be an outsider every seasons, had some strong showing but never been really impressive. And that's the thing : the moment some good teams went back, they were relegated to a simple contender status. And this is what they probably are : a strong contender that is capable of good matches, but that don't have the firepower to be better. Rival is the one that carry this team, but that's prety much it, despite none of their members being really bad. They have a very correct teamplay, and are one of the team that concedes the less clutches, showing good solidarities and strong basics. Considering their level right now, what they lack is 1 or 2 maps that they can rely on, maps when they can beat everybody. They made it to playoffs this season with finishing 2nd of a weaker group, but they still managed to win the match that were important.
Player to watch : Rival
Freneticz can’t win if Rival don’t perform well. He has played 32 maps with them, and they only won 1 when he had a negative ratio. That’s how important he is to his team. He need to be good in order for them to be competitive at that level. He has the potential to do that, but he need to do it in a consistant way and even against the best teams. He is a complete auto player, able to be good at close and mid range, also good grenade user.
Orks eSport Red :
Spidy (1,19)
Keon (1,17)
Sheyin (1,07)
Korda (1,06)
Adriix (1,03)
Locati (0,98)
Aca (0,92)
Team description :
This Orks team is the weaker of the two that went out of the Orks/Myth mix. But they are still good in a way weird : the best way to describe them is messy. Their playstyle is messy. They rely on individualities, but none of their players is consistent. All of them are able to carry, baring Adriix, but they can go crazy on one map and then be ridiculous the following one. Their teamplay can be good during a few rounds and then they'll lose on some team mistakes that suddenly went from compact to disparate. Despite all of that, they have enough individual skill to be a threat to every team to this tournament, but I don't favor them against any favorite.
Player to watch : Keon
It's hard to pick somebody in that team because none of these players are constantly good. I'll go with Keon because Spidy seems less active. Keon is a player that rised later in the community : basicly unknown when the community went inactive, he rised with the z2X/myth team and became one of their strongest players. When Orks and Myth mixed their team, he went with red. He is a player that rely mostly on strong auto skills, hit more than you get hitted. He is also able to keep his strong performance when his team needs him, during the decisives rounds.
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The match-ups
Cooking with Jack VS High Five
The first question is easy : which one of the Jack team show up ? Since the beginning, Jack have been unable to maintain their best line-up for their European matchs : this weaker line-up don’t have any chances against h5. But if the whole Jack lineup shows up, then it’s an other story. And that’s some kind of luck for Jack : their first important match is against a SA team and you can expect them to gather their members on a matchtime that is more suitable to them. So let’s suppose that best line-up shows up : you have maybe the 2 actual best TS squads facing each other right there. Both teams faced each other twice during FTWGL : once during Pre-Season won by Jack, but match does not really matters (nothing at stack, only half of h5 line-up), and the other time during the Regular Season, won by h5. Since this match, h5 has lost Leo who was one of their key player, and have replaced him with Saidex (similar skill level nowadays) : for a team with a playstyle like h5, it's never easy to lose one of your key member. I'be bet on a h5 victory, 2-1.
Odds : Cooking with Jack 50 - 50 High Five
Team of God vs Orks eSport Black
Orks are better in every department of the game. They are more skilled, have better tactics and their teamplay is better. They do less mistakes while playing, and they have more experience. And with Zmb coming back, they are even better than they were during the groupstages. Not a good sign for ToG right ? The only things ToG have for them is that they are probably more eager to win, and there is a good chance that Orks will be coming into this match underestimating them. If they don't, then ToG might have simply no chances. But even with that, ToG will need to fix a few things in order to win : keep their composure and motivation after they make mistakes or lose huge rounds, keep calm and play together in close rounds … and of course, as I highlighted earlier, they'll need somebody in their ranks to step up. But there are not much chances that everything I wrote happen. I'd bet on Orks, 2-0.
Odds : Team of God 25 - 75 Orks eSport Black
Essence vs b00bs
Even with Amish and Duhfysa being on point, I don't see b00bs winning a single map for that match. The flaws in b00bs game are too important, and Essence has way more skilled cumulated. The thing is, b00bs only chance is Essence playing passive, allowing Amish and Duhfysa to take the responsabilities while being suppported by their teamates. But if Essence play it aggressive on multiples sides, no matter the map, b00bs will lack skill to counter them, and they don't have the tactics or teamplay to find a solution. Uptown will obviously get vetoed early. If Essence veto Tohunga and Casa as well, then I see it being a clean 2-0. But again, you never know : considering how easily Essence went threw the groupstages, they could come into this match over-confident and ending taking a blow.
Odds : Essence 70 - 30 b00bs
Freneticz vs Orks eSport Red
In order to this match to be competitive, we'll need Rival to perform well. Having said that, what will be the key points for that match ? Freneticz is the team with the better teamplay, having played together for a resonably long time. They also have a correct approch of the gametype that allow them to be quite effective in close rounds. But Orks are better skillwise : they do not have one player that will constantly be the key member (like Rival is), but they have 3 or 4 players that are able to carry their team against a team of the level of Freneticz. And that's the main issue there : if some of the lower level members of Freneticz are not on point for that match, then Orks have the skill to use that opportunity and they will. I see that as a 2-0 victory for Orks.
Odds : Freneticz 35 - 65 Orks eSport Red