Preview and predictions

2015-09-11 13:14 by Hooraytio

After a long break EQL is back again boasting a total of 14 clans. This is 3 more than EQL 19 and 2 more than EQL 18 and it feels really nice that the QW scene is growing a little again. There have been a lot of things going on during the break and especially Ocoini and Division 99 are responsible for keeping the scene alive during the absence of EQL. Read on for a summary of each clan and a prediction about the final standings.

EQL 20 preview

All 14 clans are placed in one large division with A, B and C playoffs which means that all clas can look forward to an exciting and meaningful playoff round even though some or alot of their group games will be very tough. All in all I think this system works pretty well in such a small scene where everyone knows each other and mostly play for fun anyway.


Beer Bear Balalaika

3B is back again as a clan for the first time since EQL 9 although several of their players have been in and out of other clans like USSR, CCCP and Dinosaurs & Noobs. Their best players are pretty good and should pose a threat to all clans vying for that B playoff championship. I had the opportunity to play a mix the other day with SS and Murzik on the other team and they played really well on DM2 vs a well rounded team. Other than those two XN, Meshuggah and Bulat are obvious choices for their starting lineup on each map. This clan will be good on all 3 maps given that they use their best players and could end up as B champions or even take the 4th spot in the A playoffs.


Chosen

Chosen start of their 20th straight season with a slimmer lineup compared to last season. Coming of a strong period that includes winning EQL 17 division 2, ending up on 2nd place behind Suddendeath in EQL 18 and winning the B final in EQL 19 the aim is naturally a place in the B playoffs final. The competition is a little tougher this season with a lot of good clans in the mid tier and the fact that Chosen lost a few key players like TheEvilDog, Krab and Flintheart during the break. On the other hand 187 and Hagge has announced their comebacks and with players like Elguapo, Ake_Vader and Katsku the captain of the clan, Hooraytio, will have a hard time picking the starting lineup for the games. The clan is pretty good at all maps, for a mid tier clan atleast, and will most likely swap around the players a little between maps, a long time hallmark of CSN. A playoffs is out of reach for CSN but they wont end up outside of top 8.


Crazy88

Skillah has managed to put together his band again. The last time we saw C88 was during EQL 17 where they ended up in 5th place in division 1 during the group stage and thus missed the playoffs. Compared to EQL 17 they have lost Creature but recruited wimpeeh and Blood_Dog. The core is still Skillah, Kingpin and Moltas. As a top team they are good overall and especially mm will add to their DM2/E1M2 capabilities. This is an A playoff clan for sure and depending on form and lineup we could very well see them in the grand final. With some very good efforts in the past with several semifinal spots all they really miss is that one big win. Anything short of A playoffs is naturally a great disappointment for them and their fans.


Demolition Crew

For me personally it is just great to see this clan back in the list. My team, Chosen, has played against DC so many times in the past dating back all the way to 2005. They lack all of their old noteable players like Pooll, Panczo, Shamoth, Highlander and Kapitan Kloze but instead boast a well rounded team of Szturm, er, Kopytko and Predator. These guys are very good at DM2 and DM3 but like most polish teams they are just a tad worse on E1M2. The other night I got to play with Szturm, er and Predator as we took on Luso Brasiliero on DM3/DM2 and after a slow start on DM3 we really got the ball rolling and ended up winning quite comfortably. What I noticed what that DC was good at getting to the powerups on time and also helping each other out quite well during attacks. If they managed to be active with this rather small lineup they will most likely end up in the B playoffs. However, there are some tough teams so I don’t really see them winning B but a bronze medal is definitely within their reach.


Division Ninety Nine Blue

Ocoinis team building efforts has really paid dividends this season with two teams coming out of the D99 initiative. These guys have made a thing out of collecting newbies and rusty players and just organize mixes, pracs, leagues and tournaments in order to get some activity in the scene. They haven’t been very successful on the competitive side during the last few seasons but they have been active and always gave it their best from start to end.

D99B is comprised of 9 players from various countries with Gore standing out as the obvious star player. They will have a hard time against most of the clans and the game against D99R will be the highlight of their season. With some prac and effort they might make a dent in the armors of Paras and Fatal Error but that’s about it. They will end up on quarterfinal place for the C playoffs but I don’t really see them advance from there. Vortex, Tsobo, Jisse and Gore will have to play a lot if they want a chance at beating D99R and perhaps score map wins against Paras and FE.


Division Ninety Nine Red

The second team of the D99 guys is D99R with players like former Paras star Paniagua, Ocoini and Erlend leading the way. Much like D99B they will have a tough time for most of the season and the derby against D99B will be the game to win for them. Paras and FE will be the clans to aim at for possible map wins but the rest of the clans are just too tough. C playoff quarterfinal and, unfortunately, an early exit is what I see coming.


Fatal Error

This clan could do pretty ok if Goldenhorse and Yamazaki are some oldtimers with “new nicks” but I honestly don’t know who they are so that remains to be seen. Other than that they have some pretty good mid and higher low tier players like Goqsane, Sae, Darff and Cosmos but their status should be rusty to say the least. I don’t see them making it into the top 8 but could absolutely sneak into one of the C semifinal spots and thus avoiding a shaky quarterfinal. From their lineup I would say DM2/E1M2 would be their main maps but depending on who they really have behinds those nicks its very hard to say for sure. Contenders for a C final spot for sure.


Felia-020

020 was created for EQL19 and made it all the way to the A playoffs where they lost 0-3 to Suddendeath in the semifinal. After an impressive season where they won against all teams outside of the top 3 I guess it felt a little disappointing for them to be dispatched in such a way. Some players even told me it would have been more fun to play in the B playoffs but such is life in the Quakeworld.
This season they sport pretty much the same team with the exception of Heddan. This is bad news for 020 as he was one of their best players and a natural starting piece for them. Raket, Shaka and Dopas will have to play most of the games and I would use xorcist or Aikon as 4th. However, scouts say that Votary and Od has been seen playing with the 020 guys and with the addition of them 020 would be a whole lot better. With these two players 020 could quite possibly once again make it to A playoffs but that is still not known. With the current lineup they could make it to B playoffs but not past the semis.


Fraggers United

The oldest active team with the oldest active captain is back for another season and this time Anza has brought a good lineup as usual. The whole clan is made up of good players ranging from mid to high mid tier and pretty much any 4 players will be a hard fought match for most of the teams this season. I would go with Kip, Persu, Knave and Culkey if I was calling the shots. This clan is good at all maps but their home is DM2, a map where they have played really well in the past. In EQL 19 they came 2nd behind CSN in the B final, in EQL 18 they made it to the A playoff quarter and in EQL 17 they made it to the bronze game in division 2 but the match was never played. B playoffs is within their reach and they are also one of the contenders to win B in this very even group of mid tier clans.


Fragomatic

3 time EQL winners FOM joined during the last hours of signups and their lineup is impressive as usual. Milton, Xantom, Diki and Creature or Moje will make short work of most clans this season. They will have to look out for Suddendeath and Crazy88 who will be eager to dethrone the winners from EQL 19. An interesting addition is Henu who played for D99 during last season. All I can say is that he has really good SG with upwards to 45-50% during games. As usual Fragomatic will be one of the finalists and only C88 can stop them this season as Suddendeath seem to have a little weaker lineup than usual, Ill get back to this in the Suddendeath part below. No real weakness a part from being a bit rusty but then again I guess we all are so FOM will probably get it rolling quite well from the get go. I guess the key to success is the find the 4 guys to play the toughest games and stick with them once the playoffs begin.


Luso Brasiliero

The Portuguese Brazilian connection has teamed up for this season and also managed to link Badass to their project. Pretty stable contender for the C championship if Mushi, Nitemare, Badass and Norules plays a lot. The other guys will suffer a lot from bad pings as they don’t ping as well to UK/NL as north Americans like Blood_Dog and Squeeze does. Pretty solid all around with lower tier standars their most important games will be against Paras & Fatal Error. LB will qualify directly for a C playoff semifinal and will most likely be one of the finalists.


Paras

Paras had a rough ride in EQL 19 with a 3-14 map record and in the end they won the C playoff final against D99. In EQL 18 they reached the A playoffs but lost to CSN in the quarterfinals. EQL 17 saw Paras reach the quarterfinals in division 2, after a really good season with a 12-14 map record, but they fell short to CSN here as well. This season they have lost all time fan favorite Paniagua, aka Netspider, to D99R and this is of course not good for their chances at a C championship. Panjabi, Feari, Eikoor and Teho will have to play most of the games if they want to prepare well for the C playoffs. However, they will have to play in the C playoffs quarterfinal as the competition is just to tough for them to qualify directly for the semis. With Feari in top form they usually play well on E1M2 but with Paniagua gone they will lack some punch on DM3.


Suddendeath

It was very pleasing to see SD in the list after all. I had heard that they would have a hard time getting players but with Rikoll joining and Lethalwizz and rio not dropping down to SD2 the lack of players like ganon, rst and mawe might not be so impacting. For the record, rst and mawe didn’t play any maps during EQL 19 either and that went well for SD anyway. The game changer this season is that BPS recently became a father and is listed as coach in the lineup. Carapace, Rikoll and Razor will have to make do with potent players like lethalwizz and rio but they can’t really fill the gap that BPS and ganon has left. I guess what I am trying to say is that I think that the team SD had the last 2-3 seasons was better than the current team in my opinion. Should BPS play a lot of games on the other hand then we have a whole other situation and they will be able to really go for the title seeing as Rikoll is a very good replacement for ganon. A team that has won the tournament twice during the last 4 seasons can never be written off though and Im pretty sure they will prove me wrong anyway and finally make rio into the star he is.


Suddendeath 2

A team that always looks good on paper but has failed to live up to their potential during the last seasons. Back in EQL 15 SD2 took home the silver playoffs winning all 3 games 3-0 but during EQL 16 they idled, in EQL 17 they did not sign up, in EQL 18 they played too little to make it into playoffs and during EQL 19 they lost the B playoff semifinal 0-3 to CSN despite having a very good team on paper. This season they have a good team once again and if they are active they should be one of the teams that will fight for the B championship. With OK98, molle, andeh and locktar or Trygve they are a force on all 3 maps but it all comes down to form and how active they will be.



Final table predictions

This season is exceptionally hard to predict so I will go about it a little different than usual.

Top 3 teams in no particular order will be:
Fragomatic, Suddendeath and Crazy88

Teams that have a chance at 4th place include:
Felia020
Suddendeath 2
Demolition Crew
Beer Bear Balalaika
Chosen
Fraggers United

Teams that might make it into B playoffs:
Luso Brasilieros
Fatal Error
Paras

Predicted table:

FOM
C88
SD
3B
FU
DC
CSN
020
SD2
LB
FE
Paras
D99R
D99B

Best of luck trying to prove me wrong!

/Hooraytio

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