What is good, FANation! We are back yet again with another DreamHack Masters 3-game slate today, there is two brackets today, a losers bracket, and a winners bracket from the first set of qualifier matches. Six teams will face off today, and only three winners will move on to compete in the DreamHack Spring Noth America Event! If you got a chance to catch some of the stream yesterday, you likely saw a lot of the same things I saw in terms of what teams looked good, and which ones were a bit rusty. With that said, let’s chat for a minute about yesterday’s games.
Cloud9 is the first team and in the first match-up of the upper-bracket, and they were my top stack on yesterday’s slate. However, it wasn’t the easiest 2-0 sweep for them, as they allowed the New England Whalers to win 11 and 13 rounds in both of those games. Yes, they did get the sweep, but today’s match-up against Envy may be a bit tougher. Envy faced Recon 5 yesterday, and Recon was my 2nd favorite contrarian stack. Envy dominated the first map on Nuke by a score of 16-9, and should have been less, with Recon 5 making some adjustments which led to a quick 5-0 lead on the 2nd map Inferno, leading them to a victory in map two by a score of 16-13. On map three Train, Envy said enough is enough, and finished Recon 5 off in easy fashion by a score of 16-6. This should be a really good match between C9 and Envy today.
In game 2, we have Swole Patrol facing off against Triumph for the last match of the upper-bracket. Swole Patrol seemingly had an easy route yesterday against Monstars, and Swole Patrol was my pick of the day have to the easiest match-up and chance at a 2-0 sweep, and that they did. Triumph actually lost yesterday to Bad News Bears, after finding themselves in a mere cock fight with the Bears going the distance in three maps, with a 2-overtime sweat to boot on the final map, before losing it 22-20 to the Bears. That was one of the more entertaining match-ups on yesterday’s slate.
In game 3, we have Bad News Bears in the last match-up of the lower-bracket against team Recon 5. I really like Bad News Bears to take care of business today against Recon as well, as I was not impressed at all by Recon’s first, or last map against Envy yesterday. With that said, these are all BEST OF THREE matches once again, and should have some exciting action! Let’s get down to it!
Game 1
Cloud9 (Ranked 28th in World) vs Envy (Ranked 51st in World)
So, as mentioned above, Cloud9 didn’t exactly blow me away against what I thought was quite the inferior team in the New England Whalers, and allowed them to reach double-digit wins on both maps they played. I believe if Cloud9 messes around today and allows this to happen, they could be well on their way out of this qualifier and sent home without a ticket to the DreamHack Spring North America Event. Cloud9 was carried by my top CAPT pick – Floppy, who went for 54 kills and only 33 deaths on the match, followed by both oSee and motm, who were also a part of my top build for C9, with 44 kills (oSee) and 41 kills (motm). Need to mention that PwnAlone, the top fragger for New England Whalers, tallied up a monstrous 60 kills compared to only 33 deaths on the day vs Cloud9 as well. Team Envy was led by Calyx, who was the highest priced player on the slate, but he came through with a massive 72 kill performance compared to 48 deaths. All other players on Team Envy had at least 49 kills, and Nifty claimed the 2nd place fragger with 53 kills, however, died a total of 49 times as well.
So, again, I think this match up will be a bit closer than expected, and with Cloud9 only being a mere 1.5-to-1 favorite today, I think that tells quite the story of it’s own. Envy looked very good yesterday in their first map, slacked off and got punched in the mouth earlier on the 2nd map, and really turned on the jets in the final map against Recon 5, so I could easily see this game going to three maps, OR, I could also see Cloud9 winning 2-0 ever so slightly by very close margins in two maps. That is my prediction, and I do believe the Cloud9 will pull off the victory in some fashion today. Now, let’s talk about some player options.
CLOUD9
ANCHOR: Floppy – (Top fragger yesterday, going for 54 kills and only 33 deaths, led the team in ADR by a huge margin at 99.2, Kill-Asst% at 76.8, massive Rating 2.0 of 1.44)
Top Stacks Options: oSee, motm (Going right back to the well here and I don’t feel bad about it at all, both of these guys topped 40 kills, both had over 1.13 Rating 2.0, and over 70% Kill-Asst%.) If you want to get froggy, Sonic over motm for salary relief could be an option in GPP.
ENVY
ANCHOR: Calyx – (No secret here, top fragger for Envy yesterday by a huge margin with 72 frags, a +24 K/D ratio, a massive 1.44 Rating 2.0, 76.3 Kill-Asst%, and a hefty 93.3 ADR)
Top Stack Options: Calyx, Nifty, MICHU (Both Nifty and MICHU came out with 50+ frags, but what puts me back on these guys is both had over a 1.17 Rating 2.0, and both had 77.6 Kill-Asst%, so they were heavily involved with assisting on kills as well.
Game 2
Swole Patrol (Ranked 29th in World) vs Triumph (Ranked 44th in World)
Swole Patrol comes into today’s match-up against Triumph as a slight 1.30-to-1 favorite to win the match. I will say that it will have to take a group effort from Triumph to win this match, and they will not be able to ride the coat-tails of Grim and Skakezullah today if they want to have a shot. Swole is just more team-sound, and played well together yesterday, and yes, this is a tougher match-up than the Monstars yesterday, but Swole looked pretty damn good yesterday. I am picking Swole to get the job done once again today, and they will do so because they know how to play together well, and it showed in yesterday’s win. Let’s talk about some options, and I believe Swole will be one of my top stacks once again today.
SWOLE PATROL
ANCHOR: Zellsis – (Zellsis led his team to victory securing 48 total frags, 9 more than food, and had a massive 1.59 Rating 2.0, with 82.0 Kill-Asst%, and a yuge 97.0 ADR)
Top Stacking Options: Zellsis, food, Cooper (Cooper was massive chalk yesterday and even though he did have a huge game, he still ended up with a +6 K/D ratio, dying the least amount on the team with only 24 deaths, three lower than the next lowest in food. He also still hit for 30 frags, so overall, his day was good, just not great, however, his prior numbers show me he has the upside, so don’t be afraid to throw him in, maybe even at CPT in a GPP)
TRIUMPH
ANCHOR: GRIM – (Easily the best player on the squad, had a total of 81 kills (went to two OTS on map three so don’t lose your britches), but also managed a 1.34 Rating 2.0, 100.9 ADR, and a 74.4% Kill-Asst%)
Top Stacking Options: Grim, Shakezullah, Junior
Game 3
Bad News Bears (Ranked 31st in World) vs Recon 5 (Ranked 59th in World)
I am going to be looking at the Bad News Bears here again today. They are the better team, and they have the better players across the board. They come in as just a slight favorite here in the betting world by a 1.25-to-1 margin. I think this line is bad, and its only this low because they allowed Triumph to take them the distance as mentioned above, however, I just think the Bears had to knock some rust off yesterday, and today they will be ready and come out firing on all cylinders. Let us not forget that Recon 5 is playing with TWO spot-starters as well in Neptune and jet-. I could see this match-up ending 2-0 Bad News Bears or going to three maps with Bears winning as well, but I think the chance of a 2-0 is higher than three maps in my honest opinion. Let’s talk about some player options.
BAD NEWS BEARS
ANCHOR: dapr – (Main reason this team won yesterday, was +12 in K/D ratio, had 71 total kills (two OTS), a 1.23 Rating 2.0, 72.2 Kill-Asst%, 91.7 ADR)
Top Stacking Options: dapr, jonji, ptr (ptr ended the day with the only other positive K/D ration at +5, and 3rd in frags at a total of 60) If you want to look at Mitch, he had the 2nd highest Kill-Asst% on the day at 68.9%, and also put up 51 frags, just died too many times at 62 total, so the risk is there, but his asst%’s will be very helpful with upside)
RECON 5
ANCHOR: Neptune – (led team in frags at 56, in ADR at 76.4, in Kill-Asst% at 73.7%, and in Rating 2.0 at 1.09)
Top Stacking Options: (going to go ahead and say that I don’t like Recon 5 today, and would only use in one-off situations if possible, or if you are feeling froggy and want to be contrarian – stack away because they will be virtually un-owned in my opinion) - Neptune, Reality, JazzPimp
***TOP PLAYS, STACKS, VALUES***
Top Plays: Floppy, Calyx, dapr, Grim
Top Stacks: C9, Envy, Bad News Bears, Swole Patrol
Top Values: Shakezullah, mitch, MICHU, jonji, Cooper
**My favorite game stack is Cloud9 and Envy, I feel this game has the most likely chance of seeing 3 maps. Stack both sides heavily if playing multiples.