Maps: Wormy and Emerald

Conference A

# Team W / L / D Points +/- 1st Salt City 2-0-0 6 5 2nd The Krusty Grabs 1-1-0 4 1 3rd DaRuud and the Sandstorms 0-1-1 1 -1 4th Hypo and the Gnomes 2 0-0-2 0 -5

Salt City vs The Krusty Grabs

Salt City (2-0-0) The Krusty Grabs (1-1-0) O Nube (C) O Sam- (C) O The Juker O Sherrattinho- D Green D Wilson D Kera D OEOEOEOEOE Sub weisbrot Sub jjpoole

Streamer: MagicPigeon at 9PM BST / 4PM EST

Season 5 winners and ex-teammates Sam- and Nube face-off against each other in what will likely be one of the highest calibre games of the week, the two teams sit atop their conference and in a mini-season so short, this week is crucial in deciding who gets the better seeding for play-offs.

In consistency with the pre-season predictions that placed Salt City at #1 across all tables, Nube’s team is currently leading conference A. Though their wins last week were against Hyponome’s team who were missing two of their first team starters, both games were won convincingly and saw their team scoring the 2nd most amount of caps.

That said, it should be noted that their statistically strongest player (weisbrot, who finished 5th in GASP last week), has severe restrictions on him in terms of minutes and is only able to play a remaining 20 minutes across the mini-season. As a result, Nube will likely look to play Kera in his place, a decent substitute however certainly not at the level that weisbrot is. Playing against Sam’s side (who have the strongest offence his team is left to face in the regular season), it is likely Nube will decide to use weisbrot’s last minutes in this game. However whilst Kera was a majors starter last season, his deteriorating internet has been causing him to lag. Whilst weisbrot and Green is one of the strongest defences in the league, with Kera in to replace him this side may struggle to keep the flag in.

Compared to Nube’s team who were arguably fortunate to win both of their matches, The Krusty Grabs were unlucky not to sweep last week - both OE and jjpoole lagged out and with the lack of a defensive partner for Wilson, Sam- was forced from offence to defence whilst Mqrius made his ELTP debut.

However even with their diminished line-ups, The Krusty Grabs performed respectably (despite coming out with plays like this) concededing the second fewest caps of any team and will have even stronger offensive D with Sam back in position. Though Sam’s side are expected by many to see Sam- return to offence with OE/jj’s back and able to play, following a lack of defensive chemistry between two-way player OE and Wilson, Sam- may play defence whilst OE moves over to offence. Despite being much more offensively inclined, Sam- performed reasonably well last week against DaRuud and the Sandstorms, and will be looking to prove to real-life friend Sherrattinho that he is the better two-way player.

For the first match on Wormy, expect Sam- to feel he is most able to serve his team playing defence, as his uncanny flag carrying skills may be in vain if his defence is unable to get a reset. Whilst moving over to defence may have worked for Sam- last week against one of the weakest offences in the league, it’s likely that he may struggle against the much more capable Nube and The Juker. Over on offence, though Sherra and OE might not be the most frightening attacking partnership, their offensive D will probably be incredibly tough to break through, and so this will probably end up being a cagey, low-scoring match.

Emerald will likely see Sam- returning to offence, in which case Nube is likely to respond by playing weisbrot, making for a much more intense and higher quality battle on this side of the map. For a team that excel on offensive-D and winning power-ups, they are better suited to slower-paced and more defensive maps - however it is likely that they will struggle to play their usual tactic of grinding out wins on the high-scoring and cap-heavy Emerald. TKG’s offence will likely be evenly matched against SCI’s defence, and so it’s likely that the match will come down to whether or not Nube and The Juker can come out on top against Wilson and OE. This end of the map looks to be much more chaotic - Nube and The Juker will probably end up grabbing a lot (with some of them being more costly than others). I foresee Salt City’s offence racking up a lot of hold and getting a decent amount of caps, but ultimately suffering from their weak offensive D.

Prediction: The Krusty Grabs to sweep, winning by a narrow margin on a cagey Wormy game, and winning by a few caps on a much more high scoring Emerald game.

Hypo and the Gnomes: 2 vs DaRuud and the Sandstorms

Hypo and the Gnomes: 2 (0-0-2) DaRuud and the Sandstorms (0-1-1) O imperious O thenewguy. O 420assman O Poukie D Hyponome (C) D Ruud (C) D Hawka D Booya Ball Sub wxlbz Sub jj’s pool

Streamer: tbc at Monday 8PM BST / 3PM EST

Following a disappointing first week for both HG2 and DRS, both teams come into this match looking for their first win of the regular season.

Plagued by lag during their Week 1 game, Hyponome’s team was reduced to just two of their starting IV whilst also being unfortunate enough to face the heavily restricted but seriously good weisbrot. Back to full strength, the “Dong Squad” were predicted to be one of the stronger sides - and though Hyponome (currently with the 3rd highest D GASP) is certainly an incredible defender, the rest of his team looks shaky. Playing alongside him is Hawka who was on the team during their smaller defeat on Pilot but was lagging too much to play during the second game.

On the other side of the map, their star offender imperious returns from a one-week holiday and a one-season break looking to make an impact. Despite being one of the best offenders in the league during Season 5, he has been reportedly been performing below expectations in practices - part lagging and part washed up, imperious could make all the difference for this side.

Coming up against them is DaRuud and the Sandstorms - first time captain and majors starter Ruud had a trying first week where although he and his defensive partner were able to keep the flag in base fairly well, their sub-par offence ran into serious problems. Scoring the second fewest caps of any offensive, Poukie and thenewguy. struggled as many had expected them to, and in their second match ProTagonist was brought in as a substitute (which failed to make the difference they were looking for)

Coming up against the defensive powerhouse Hyponome and the solid offensive D form 420 and imperious, the relatively inexperienced offensive pairing for DRS will likely struggle to get caps, especially on the much more familiar Wormy where HG2’s experienced will play into them. Hyponome and Hawka’s blocks will likely prove too much for Poukie and TNG, and so expect a relatively high-scoring match in HG2’s favour.

That said, Emerald will likely bring a totally different result. Most players have a map that complement their playstyle, however I have never seen a player so much better at one map than others as Booya Ball is on Emerald. Perhaps it is his grab-D or his aggressive style of chasing, but this map complements Booya’s strengths like no other - expect him to be carrying his entire team as he goes for the return record.. It may take some time, but Poukie and thenewguy. should be able to capitalise on this by racking up a lot more caps than they were able to last week, even if they will likely let a couple slip by them.

Prediction: Hypo and the Gnomes to win on convincingly on Wormy, HG2 and DRS to draw on Emerald with Booya getting at least 20 returns in one half.