Introduction
Well, we’ve now reached Week 4, the halfway point of the season, and this time we’ll be playing on my personal favorite map--pl_upward!
In other news, Slippery When Wet (SWW) has unfortunately died after losing several players, so every week there will be one less prediction (unless the matchups change) as there will be a bye week.
Last Week’s Match Results
MOTW: Disingenuous Assertions vs Swift Inc.
Prediction: 4-3 SwiftResult: 4-0 SwiftPretty impressed with Swift’s ability to not even drop a round here. Their recent roster changes definitely affected them positively, and I’m interested to see how they go from here. To be perfectly honest, I’m tempted to retcon my power rankings from the preseason article where I said DAT was the best team in Main after these last three matches, even though I
technically said that I wouldn’t be doing power rankings for the rest of the season.
Outstanding Performances: egwat, pantherrr, asher (Swift) ash, Moist Master (DAT)Forty-Two Pence vs Blackjack and Hookers
Prediction: 4-1 F2PResult: 4-1 F2PWell.. not a whole lot to say about this one, honestly. Congratulations to F2P for the victory. Pretty much every player on their side popped off, which is interesting to see in logs.
Outstanding Performances: Flare, Inquisition, Kamil, percy, 5perm (F2P) Zabi (B&H) Itty Bitty Committee vs Home Depot eSports
Prediction: 4-2 IBKCResult: 4-1 IBKCNot much here either. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to play in this match (internet issues) so I can’t say anything regarding this match personally either.
Outstanding Performances: X, Y, ZGotta Blast vs Slippery When Wet
Prediction: 4-0 G2BResult: 4-1 G2BI’m a little surprised that SWW was actually able to successfully take a round off of G2B. G2B has definitely shown themselves to be without a doubt the strongest team in Main, so when what I would consider to be one of the weakest teams in the division can actually take rounds off of them it definitely showcases how competitive this season is so far. I
would watch the STV from this match to actually determine how the one victory happened, but if I did then people would complain that I didn’t do it for their match, and, well, I’m saving that for playoffs articles.
Outstanding Performances: josh (!!!), nazara, Mhenlo (G2B) Poltergeist, Hino (SWW)Match Predictions - pl_upward
Itty Bitty Kitty Committee vs Bye Week
I’m leaving this prediction in only because it’s the first bye week game of the season, and because I had to retroactively change this section since I learned that Slippery When Wet died after I started writing it. From now on, I won’t be including this bye week games in the predictions.
That said, no way BYE doesn’t win this one.
Prediction: 2-0 BYESwift Inc. vs Blackjack and Hookers
RostersSwift: asher / pantherrr / Puffalo / Brick / Burtilian / KootyKay / GreenAndGold / egwat / Dave
B&H: Zabi / Gw4lk / Klowwd / katryna / Paul / Grynn / Clayton / asian / E_leet
Now this is certainly going to be an interesting matchup. Swift is coming off of a fresh 4-0 victory against DAT with their clearly strongest roster yet, and B&H doesn’t seem to be improving their match results. But, B&H has traditionally been the stronger team on Payload. The question you have to ask is whether or not Swift’s new and improved roster will be able to take this game home.
If you just look at the game roster-wise, Swift appears to have a clear lead with some standout players on a lot of classes. But, pure DM and skill is not always enough to win you games in HL Payload. I still think Swift will win this game, but some halves might be fairly close and if B&H were to take a half or win the game then I would not be surprised at all.
Prediction: 2-1 Swift
Gamechangers: pantherrr, Brick, Grynn egwat, Dave (Swift) Gw4lk, Grynn, asian, E_leet (B&H)Home Depot eSports vs Forty-Two Pence
RostersBOPIS: inky / Wubs / Diabolical / zbra / Luigi / Jman / raisins / Liam / Micahlele
F2P: Bonesaw / Flare / Inquisition / Kamil / Rue / Starfruit66 / Ruins / percy / 5perm
This is one of those matches where it’s fairly easy to base predictions simply off of scrim results in the past for both teams. For instance: F2P and BOPIS have scrimmed in the past before with varying results on KOTH, but on Upward it’s clear that F2P takes the lead in terms of performance, beating out plenty of Main teams while BOPIS almost loses halves to IM teams. Although BOPIS has a combo fairly experienced with working together, F2P’s team DM and coordination are just overall better to begin with. Combine their solid roster with great scrim results, and it begins to spells disaster for BOPIS.
Nonetheless, this match does have some potential to be an interesting game. Though, I can’t say anything personally relating to the match since I unfortunately won’t be playing for BOPIS this week. F2P should be able to take this game without dropping a half, but I don’t think it’ll necessarily be easy for them.
Prediction: 2-0 F2P
Gamechangers: zbra, Luigi, Liam, Micahlele (BOPIS) Flare, Kamil, Starfruit66, percy, 5perm (F2P)Disingenuous Assertions vs Gotta Blast
RostersDAT: sophie / shohh / Charizard / ash / Moist Master / livst1d / DubThink / podgy713 / 3hree
G2B: josh / nazara / lambda / Nickk / nerd / baocn / PsychoPsyduck / Mhenlo / myk
Though I continued to give DAT the benefit of the doubt the last three weeks, it’s definitely getting harder to make a case for them. G2B, as I’ve said before plenty of times, is one of, if not the strongest team in Main right now. Although the map being Upward does put a damper on some of their star players like josh (Scout), it’s not like the rest of their team isn’t amazing either. DAT has continually underperformed this season, and G2B shows no intention of stopping their rampage.
All you really need to do is piece together G2B’s incredible roster and match performances with DAT’s above-average roster and below-average match performances to decide that there’s no reason that this won’t be a open-and-shut match for G2B.
Prediction: 2-0 G2B
Gamechangers: josh, Nickk, nerd, Mhenlo (G2B) sophie, ash, podgy713 (DAT)Links
Week 4 MatchesMain Division League Table