Playoff Predictions
Wizard of Chaos (24) vs Colonel Squid (9)
Initial Thoughts
Winning 2 series against the same team is hard and I think Wizard of Chaos team will know how to adapt and play a closer series against the Squid stack, who 2–0'd them in week 5.
Lane to watch
The squid safelane of Jah and wetpaint will have their work cut out for them against a double immortal offlane in Wizard of Chaos and Alaska. In their 1st meeting this season, Jah played mid in the 1st game and then Wizard of Chaos dodged the Squid safelane as they counter picked his beastmaster with a pos 5 ench. Despite playing eachother, they haven’t REALLY played eachother as dumb as that sounds.
X-Factor
Wizard of Chaos team: Shmurda
Can the support turned safelaner carry them into the late game should he be needed to 1v5 a game?
ColonelSquid team: Colonel Squid
Should the Wizard team get the side lanes they want, can Squid carry the slack should Jah get shut down in lane? Additionally, will Squid have the willpower to not pick himself a 24 pick meepo?
Prediction
2–1 Wizard
AcidRain (16) vs Bestpinoza (17)
Initial Thoughts
Both of these teams come into this series as 2 of the hottest teams in EST-SUN as the AcidRain stack is 8–2 coming into this series and Bestpinoza team is 6–2 coming into this series. Otherwise, these teams are nearly polar opposites as the Bestpinoza team is quite top heavy with /apex and AcidRain team is very well balanced with 4 divines.
Lane to watch
The offlane of Bestpinoza and Jett against the safelane of Thundtard and Princess. Bestpinoza will be the only core in the server who is below divine and he’s one of the lowest mmr cores in the league. If the Bestpinoza team can come out of this lane with a draw or even a won lane it will take a lot of pressure off /apex’s back in the midgame and allow him to find space to farm. Alternatively, can Thundtard smash this lane and snowball into the midgame to help his team choke out /apex from the map?
X-Factor
AcidRain team: Target
I’m sure this comes as no surprise, but the AcidRain midlaner is generally pretty hit or miss. What version of Target will show up this round?
Bestpinoza team: jEtT`
Can the 4 do enough to help his offlaner win lane as well as make enough space midgame for /apex?
Prediction
2–0 AcidRain
DrSteel (8) vs INSANE CORNDOG (25)
Initial Thoughts
These teams played to a 1–1 stalemate early into the season (week 2), but Joel Warlord wasn’t there for the Corndog stack. The DrSteel stack comes into this game on a 5 game winstreak, but Corndog team has won 6 of 8. Lastly, there is no way this series doesn’t have the highest average age out of these round 1 games and thus will be called the Boomer Bowl.
Lane to watch
Lemon and Joel Warlord up against Hullcity07 and Snow. The new draft should help out Lemon grab a hero he’s comfortable on (clinkz anyone?) and he’ll have the luxury of a support he’s more comfortable with than their stand in from their week 2 matchup, where he still managed to go 19–4 on riki. On the flip side, HullCity is infinitely better when he has a game and can snowball not only himself, but his team when he gets a good lane.
X-Factor
DrSteel team: DrSteel
Can the captain carry his team if called upon and have a better showing than their 1st series this season where he went 7–8 and 10–6?
INSANE CORNDOG team: Prohibit
What Prohibit will show up? Will it be the 1v5 14–0 mid Faceless Void Prohibit or will it be debatably detrimental 6–5 mid Ogre Prohibit?
Prediction
2–1 INSANE CORNDOG
Pishtya (13) vs Mu (20)
Initial Thoughts
Both of these teams struggled in the 2nd half of the season, with the Pishtya stack ending 1–5 and the Mu stack finishing 2–4. That being said, the Pishtya stack played a very tough schedule and has one of the highest tiebreakers in the league. Both of these teams are very similar on paper with 2 high mmr cores with the rest of the team being all solid.
Lane to watch
How will Longoria and NutR lane against Hemsworth and Ice Fudge? Longoria has been the Mu team MVP so far this season, but hasn’t faced an offlane as good as the Hemsworth-Ice Fudge duo since their week 2 matchup with the Matieu team. On the other hand, the Pishtya team will have an immortal in their other 2 lanes and winning this lane would put them in a good position to win all 3 lanes. Their number 1 focus should be on stopping Longoria from carrying as well.
X-Factor
Pishtya team: Majka
Will the Pishtya stack pull out the Majka viper? If no, will Majka be able to help secure Killayoua’s game?
Mu team: Mu
Can Mu avoid getting vipered? Will Mu pull out the viper himself? If he’s against Pishtya can he hold his own and make space for his carry midgame?
Prediction
2–1 Pishtya
Captain Pepega (12) vs FrenZyy (21)
Initial Thoughts
I would not want to have to play against a FrenZyy stack with how the new draft works, only allowing you 2 bans for the 1st phase. Assuming they use 1 of those to ban out arc warden, will LoneWolf finally get his earth spirit? Personally I think this is going to be the closest series to call out of the 1st round matchups.
Lane to watch
Definitely the midlane matchup against Wax and FrenZyy. Wax has been one of the best midlaners in EST-SUN this season and has put up huge stats for his team in all of their wins. Even in their losses, he’s performed very well. FrenZyy on the other hand has played more of a backseat role this season farm wise to his carry, Kende, but has still had a great season thus far. If FrenZyy can get the matchup he wants or perhaps even cheese a game and shut down Wax, it should put his team in prime position to win the game and series.
X-Factor
Captain Pepega team: Staples
Staples will be the highest mmr support in the series, will it be enough to help his team’s mmr differential in the core roles to win?
FrenZyy team: agile
How much tactical feeding will agile need to do in order to make space for Kende and FrenZyy?
Prediction
2–1 Captain Pepega
goatsatan (23) vs W.Stealer (10)
Initial Thoughts
I think this draft change is a massive buff to the W.Stealer stack who is full of players who eat target bans each week. Will be interesting to see if the goatsatan stack deny picks some of their heroes, but will that put them too far out of their comfort zone? What giga aids cheese hero will wife pull out this series?
Lane to watch
The safelane of goatsatan and buying onions against the offlane of goldencookie and dbashore18. Playing 2 long and tiresome seasons with Dbashore has taught me that his laning phase is the most important part of the game for him and he can struggle a lot if he gets put into a poor lane. He also dictates a lot of the tempo on his team and if he falls behind early its tough on his team picking up the slack. On the flip side, buying onions has played the majority of his games this season on tempo based carries (pos 1 zeus anyone?) such as monkey and legion commander.
X-Factor
goatsatan team: FooSquash
Bit of a cop out answer giving this to their 6k midlaner, but he’s tasked with not getting cheese picked while having 2 bans in the first phase. Monka. Can he shut down the other team if an Arc warden or Lone druid comes out?
W.Stealer team: Simple
Often swapping lanes with Wife, can he still keep up a high level of play even if tasked with getting the short end of the stick with his hero pick/lane? Alternatively, with the new bans — can he carry the game assuming his heroes don’t get banned out in favor the other team banning out Wife heroes?
Prediction
2–1 W.Stealer
thamaestro (15) vs Econ (18)
Initial Thoughts
How can you not talk about the Miyushi vs Trex matchup? Will one of them throw for the other? How much cheating will take place between the two; will any smoke gank work or will they just immediately get called out by their significant other? Outside of that, in my opinion the best round 1 playoff match, not just because the winner plays my team, but because they’re both super good teams.
Lane to watch
The midlane against the captain thamaestro and Stang from Econ’s team will be the lane to look out for this game. Stang’s held his own all season against players with much higher mmr than him and he’s a big reason for his teams success so far this season. thamaestro on the other hand isn’t primarily a midlaner and often flexes heroes with his offlaner, bear. This more often than not puts him on lane dominating heroes such as necro or brewmaster. Stang’s bread and butter this season has been playing solid and drawing lane to retreat to the jungle and recover in the jungle, will thamaestro up the tempo and pressure him as he recovers or will Stang be able to find his farm in the early game to make space for Double King?
X-Factor
thamaestro team: Bear
How will the lower mmr offlaner fare against the toughest safelane in the division? If he comes out of lanes fine will he be able to be a tempo setter along with themaestro to start choking out the map?
Econ team: Style
Will Style be on 4 or 3 for this series? If he’s playing 4 will he be able to give Econ a good lane? If he’s on 3 will he be able to win lane and make space for his farm heavy 1+2 combo?
Prediction
2–1 Econ
Dark (7) vs Alpha (26)
Initial Thoughts
I’m not sure what to think about this Alpha team, fringe playoff team is pretty much where I expected them to be around in the preseason, but how they got here was a bit unexpected as they sat at 5–3 early in the season, only to finish out 3–5. I think the bearcat replacement, melody, is an upgrade skill wise, but a downgrade for the team as a whole. Unfortunately, the teams only had 1 week as a 5 stack together and they’re playing against a borderline friend stack that plays a fairly heavy 4 protect 1 style.
Lane to watch
Definitely how the Alpha and Johan safelane will end up. Poncho and Verve swap between 2 and 3 I believe, so one of those 2 will be paired with Boomski. Johan should have a much better time this series with the new pick phase as he should be able to play one of his very comfort heroes, such as his AA. That should provide a nice boost to Alpha who is normally a midlaner. On the flip side, Boomski has been lowkey one of Dark’s best players this season and will also receive a boost by being able to play his Mirana or Phoenix which he has had consistently solid performances on this season. Poncho or Verve will have their work cut out for them though because shutting down Alpha will be a big ask, but something that’s very possible as Alpha has notoriously poor laning for his mmr.
X-Factor
Alpha team: Charbz
Charbz is another player who has tanked a bunch of target bans this season, will he be able to slow down Dark on one of his comfort heroes that has been regularly banned out against him this season? If he is on the receiving end of all of Dark’s bans will he be able to have the same game impact on a hero he’s less comfortable on?
Dark team: Poncho
Will the offlaner/midlaner be able to lane well enough to slow down either Alpha or Melody? If he’s tasked with playing mid, will he be able to handle a 24 pick cheese pick that potentially can come out from an Alpha team?
Prediction
2–0 Dark
USDanny (11) vs doss (22)
Initial Thoughts
I think both of these teams are better than their records indicate. USDanny team has smoked teams all season that are middle of the road teams and teams they SHOULD beat, but have struggled mightily against the higher tier teams in the division, going 0–4 against 10+ win teams. On the flip side, doss team has more or less 1–1'd every week outside of an impressive 2–0 against the AcidRain stack and a 0–2 against thamaestro team. Preparation will be key here as the doss stack has had some questionable drafts and in my opinion has lost several games before getting into the server, notably in thamaestro series. The USDanny team has jd who will always ensure his team has a solid gameplan and that will be a huge boost for them.
Lane to watch
I think this game will be won or lost for each team in the RedondO+Bana lane who will be up against the USDanny+Martin lane. Bana has been hit or miss this season as most lower mmr players generally are, but if he can get a comfort hero and come out of lane well he provides a huge boost to the doss stack. Redondo has been fairly hit or miss, maybe there’s a correlation here, and when he can dictate the tempo for his team and make space on the map it’s a huge boost to their team. Martin and USDanny on the flip side generally play a fairly passive lane style, opting to put Danny on a more defensive support such as his WORLD FAMOUS Witch Doctor, Lich, or even oracle on occasion. Martin, if he even plays this weekend, has put together a very solid season so far and it will need to continue if they want to advance in the playoffs.
X-Factor
USDanny team: Sleepy
The resident feeder on the USDanny stack will play a highkey very important role as he can potentially provide a huge boost to his team by tilting the other team out of the server. Can he offensively tip the doss team to defeat? Will he be allowed to ape around the map as he usually does on his Bounty Hunter or Spirit Breaker?
doss team: Chester’s Hot Fries
Chester has been very hit or miss this season, there’s times where he’s put up 20+ kills and they stomp, while there’s also been times where he’s been more of a liability for their team and doss and Redondo need to carry some of the slack. With the new draft, will he be 1st phasing a comfort hero? If he’s stuck on a non comfort hero, can he slow down Rice Boi’s farm and prevent him from 1v5'ing the doss team?
Prediction
2–1 doss
BobbyPMA (14) vs CC (19)
Initial Thoughts
These teams faced each other in week 6 to a 1–1 draw. CC team comes in with only 1 week with their new roster under their belt. They got 2–0'd. Monty, while being a better player than Alc in my opinion, probably is a downgrade for them as a team as he’s more of a midlaner and has to play 1 for their team. CC team comes into this matchup with a rough 1–5 record in the last 3 weeks, but on the bright side they’ve faced 2 10 win teams during that time. Their week 6 affair was 2 one sided matches where the hard carries, noob (BobbyPMA) and Alc (CC) never were quite able to get online in the matches they lost.
Lane to watch
Noobish has been one of the most valuable picks this season and has been a huge part of the BobbyPMA team success so far this season. He’ll be laning with Eazy who has also had some massive performances for them this season and is another valuable pick at just legend 2. The CC team’s offlane of actionjackson and killazoid will have their work cut out for them, but they’ve been consistently great this season and if they can shut down Noob in lane can set a very fast tempo along with CC from the midlane to choke Noob, who plays generally a very farm heavy core, out of the map.
X-Factor
BobbyPMA team: Flanking
Flanking has been my MVP for Bobby team this season. Can he continue his high level of play into the playoffs? Will he be able to, along with Happyhobo, shut down the CC safelane?
CC team: Monty
Unfortunately, Happyhobo will be on one of his comfort heroes most likely this series which has been trouble for opposing safelaners this season. Will he be able to lane effectively enough to be a midgame presence against a very strong offlane? If he’s shut down in lane will he be able to recover well enough to carry in the later stages of the game?
Prediction
2–1 BobbyPMA
Logical (6) vs avgpeen (26)
Initial Thoughts
Logical team comes into this game as huge favorites as they’re a top team in RD2L this season. avgpeen comes into this game as perennial underdogs as they’ve been counted out all season and weren’t even expected to make playoffs. The tricore of Smack-Logical-Fury out-mmr the tricore of Vinny-Oscillation-Homeskillit by quite a decent margin. The avgpeen stack will need to play together extremely well or around Vinny well enough to pull out this series.
Lane to watch
The matchup of Smack and Rusty against Vinny and Epii will be the one to watch as Vinny has been the main reason for the avgpeen’s team success this season and shutting him down is a must for the Logical stack.
X-Factor
Logical team: Fury
Can the midlaner continue his form into the playoffs and do well against a team who more often than not will give their midlaner a stable or lane dominating hero? If he’s given a rough lane will he able to recover in order to be the space maker for Logical’s hard farming pos. 1?
avgpeen team: Oscillation
The midlaner turned offlaner will have a rough series as he’s up against Logical in lane. Can he prevent Logical from snowballing the game?
Prediction
2–0 Logical
