Division 3 preview

2008-10-20 09:39 by Hooraytio

EQL8 has started and it is once again time for a preview by Hooraytio. Division 3 is previewed this time.

Welcome to EQL8 division 3
I bid all the quakers of EQL8 division 3 welcome and you others are welcome to read this and watch the hot games that lie before us. For this season’s EQL all the clans are allowed to pick from a pool of 5 maps, TB3 plus CMT3 and CMT4, as opposed to NQR11 where clans could play CMT3 and CMT4 if they had opted for this when signing up. The rest of the clans just played the normal TB3. As usual I think the two CMT maps will be of less consequence as most clans tend to play TB3 unless they are very sure to outplay their opponents on a CMT map. We all know by know that quake is about winning, then winning and finally winning. Having fun comes somewhere in fourth or fifth hand. I will not comment much on the clan’s CMT knowledge since I have not played many rounds on CMT versus any of these clans. Anyway the season is short and the teams are few so we had better get things going.

Since you all know the maps (if you do not, then check out some 4on4 demos on challenge-tv.com) I will not dwell on the subject any more than what I have mentioned above.

The teams of division 3
There are a total of 7 teams in division 3 and they will all face each other once during a period of 6 weeks. This should not induce too much of a pressure on the clans since most weeks will mean 1 official game. This leaves some time for practice games too if the clans should indeed feel like they need it. The top 4 clans will reach playoffs where #1 meets #4 and #2 meets #3. This leaves only 3 less fortunate clans out of the playoffs so it will not be a walk in the park to end up in the top4.

Demolition Crew
These polish players have been around as a team for several years, often somewhere in division2-4 depending on the format and the league. They were also very active during the golden NQR ladder days where they battled it out with Psychohaloons Crew and Chosen for the top spots. They haven’t had much rotation in their lineup during the years even though some players have been more active than others. Lately they have added lan and predator to their lineup and this has added some offensive force mainly through predator. Myself being a player for Chosen since 2005 I have played versus this team over 70 times so I know quite a lot about them. Not surprisingly they are good and solid on DM2 as most polish clans. They favor getting an RL to RA/MEGA to prevent the enemy from tooling up and attacking QUAD. When they get this type of game going they are very hard to beat for clans on the same skill level. On the other hand if they get a weak start they can lose their concentration, as many other clans, and have a hard time fighting back. This is, however, the map where they will win plenty of times. DM3 should be their second map of choice, especially since predator is good here. E1M2 means more problems for them as their connections, panczo ;), sometimes make it hard for them on SG maps and they are not fond of practicing here either. All in all I would say they have a good chance of reaching the playoffs although winning the whole division might prove too hard for them.

Fraggers United
This is a classic quakeworld team from Finland. Or should I say two teams? I for one remember OldOnes where FU players like janpi, sidd and mli have been picked from to reinforce FU for last seasons of NQR and EQL. Anza has kept this team going for ages and now they are back again to take on their opponents with force. Other noteworthy players here are xenic and blasta. Xenic is good at both LG and badmouthing so this is your typical quaker in a nutshell while blasta brings good 4on4 performances wherever he goes. FU is another team which I have met on several occasions and they have varied a lot in their performance. The clan is good on all of TB3, perhaps a bit stronger on DM2/E1M2 than on DM3. In NQR11 they reached the playoffs but were defeated 2-0 by Chosen. In EQL7 they played in division 4A but only 2 games since the season was destroyed by summer and football. I tend to think that this team could be one of the three to miss playoffs but it off course depends on what players they field since there is quite a gap in skill between the best and the worst players in their lineup.

Fusion
As the name implies this is a combination of players from 2 clans. First we have hotel, hedgepig and rambo from Nafianna and then we have squeeze and desmo from the dismantlend clan Ballistic, although squeeze played for Mean Machine in NQR11 for example. This clan has taken the best of what fian had to offer and combined it with even more offensive and defensive power. I had the (un)fortune to play versus these guys last night, oct 19th, and it was not a pleasant day at the office. They beat us, Chosen, 2 times on DM3 and once on E1M2 only leaving DM2 to our triumph. They had the pride of Spain, pericles, as standin and although he did indeed contribute to their offense the other 3 guys did not stand back in any way. Even though we got a good start on DM3 it just was not enough when squeeze got hold of RA and pericles/desmo ran quads. On DM2 we got a good start and they took it back too slowly to get the win. E1M2 was also kind of one sided and I could tell that this team is going to be a contender for the division title.

Hippushnik Hips don´t lie
Hips consist solely of Finnish players and they are quite good too. They have only a minor skill gap in the team so any lineup should do well versus the opposition on division 3. The two main reasons, however, for this team to reach the playoffs are katsku and bandit. Hips will need these 2 guys to get the edge over their opponents no matter how good the other guys play. After a recent practice game versus these guys it is clear that they are good on DM3, or is it just me who suck?, DM2 and more chaotic on E1M2. They reached the playoffs in NQR11 but were soundly beaten by SEGA 2-0 even though DM3 was very close indeed. NQR11 silver cup proved to be hard for them but EQL8 division 3 will indeed be easier.

Rebellion of Thunder
The multi-nations clan is back, this time fielding players from no less than 6 countries all over Europe. The (in)famous znappe makes a comeback along with strong players like spliffy, hedfuk and eject. Their lineup looks to me as it is focused on good DM3 players based on earlier encounters with them. DM2 should suit them too but I feel that E1M2 can be a problem for them, at least one of them do not even set foot on E1M2 as far as I know. Even though they sport some good players I think that the playoffs could be out of reach for them this time as they have not participated, as a team anyway, for some time now.

Unidentified Quake Entity
This will probably bring some drama. Murdoc, izecube, in division 3! Since Slackers will not take part in this season at least murdoc have found a new home in UqE. This team has been around on and off and has previously had players like mja and flepser although these 2 seems to be missing now. Should they arrive late there is no question that this team is a top contender. It remains to be seen if murdoc can carry the team on his shoulder or if he will break under the pressure. The other players are a mix of old timers and late bloomers. It is nice to see kwibus and marshall step up from the rookies/div5 corner and in to the hot air of this competitive division. I can’t say much about their skills on each map other than that I know that murdoc is solid on TB3 and it will be a key to victory for their opponents to keep him untooled. Can one man bring this team to the playoffs? I am inclined to say no, it would have worked in division 4 but this division is just too good unless previously mentioned players arrive late.

Chosen
Chosen signed up for EQL7 but did not play, mainly because 50% of the players idled and these players were also the best ones in the team. However, chosen did play in NQR11 and had a solid season ending up second in the silver cup while falling just a few frags short of winning the final versus 3B. Fourth map was really close but 3B took it home and crushed csn in the fifth map winning 3-2. This was more than I had expected from us and it was really satisfying to perform that well versus the tough opposition that silver cup. The team has had the same core of players ever since 2005 and has procured a few new players each season as others have left the team. The team has always been good at E1M2 while struggling a bit on DM3. On DM2, which is more of a lottery, chosen often mix good with awful performances. On the player front we have added two new members, luckyshot and racersnigeln, who will help the team especially on dm3. To be honest I think csn can have a good season again although the recent practice games have left us with more question marks than exclamation marks. Chosen can very well reach the playoffs and then anything can happen, as evident in NQR11.

Final standings
When the season is over and the playoffs begin I think the table will look like this.

1. Hippushnik
2. Fusion
3. Demolition Crew
4. Chosen
5. Unidentified Quake Entity
6. Fraggers United
7. Rebellion of Thunder

Feel free to share your thoughts with me and the rest of the community in the comments below.

Good luck and happy fragging!

Views: 7328

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Comments

Pages: 1 | Previous Next | Total of 20 comments | First Last comment first

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#1 2008-10-29 03:00 by znappe (213.114.241.XXX)

we'll win.

#2 2008-10-26 21:53 by Hooraytio (89.160.23.XXX)

Hi vloody

hehe junkass, i know you play there, one hot superstar is not enough in this division!!! (or atleast i hope so, *hint* murdoc *hint*)

#3 2008-10-26 16:19 by junkass (193.167.190.XXX)

Hora, ROT placing 7th? Oh plz :D I think you didn't actually realize that I also play in rot ;>>>>>>>

#4 2008-10-26 14:17 by Vloody (77.127.111.XXX)

"Xenic is good at both LG and badmouthing so this is your typical quaker in a nutshell" <3. So true! Prepare to get your arses shafted and your faces insulted.

#5 2008-10-23 01:10 by flepser (212.123.182.XXX)

HOORAYTIO <3333333. Don't underestimate Niels, he and murdoc can create some mayhem if they are a bit lucky.

Virus is an oldschooler, from the days of NQR (also with niels :)) ) but I guess he lacks the speed of todays QW

#6 2008-10-21 13:52 by Hooraytio (89.160.23.XXX)

thx for the vote of confidence in Chosen kwibus ;)

#7 2008-10-21 11:58 by Kwibus (62.41.97.XXX)

Prediction: 1. Fusion.
2. Chosen

After that... no idea:)

#8 2008-10-21 11:57 by Kwibus (62.41.97.XXX)

First off, great preview. Very nice!

About our team (uqe). I can understand the hassle abour Murdoc in our team. He's div1 and playing div3 so people will get upset.
We also have atleast 3 players who are still far from div3 tho. That's yveZ, viruZ and me.
yveZ is rusty atm, but does have quite a bit 4n4 experience from years ago.
viruZ is still a rookie who could as well be in div6. He's a great guy tho and playing in a team like this instead of div6 team will improve him a lot more probably.
Me, well I can play a decent duel sometimes, but 4n4 i'm still clueless most of the time.

nielZ and Marshall are probably atleast div4 material 4n4 tho. So our best lineup will probably upset some teams, but our worsest will be kicked in the ass by maybe a div5 team?

Ofcourse maybe we should've tried getting more equal players, but now we have an all dutch team which is very nice imo.

Personally i'm very happy to play with Murdoc and hoping to learn a lot from him
He probably got a bit tired of us when we pracced last sunday, but I guess he has to get used to that hehe.

#9 2008-10-21 11:57 by mushi (195.23.123.XXX)

nice read!

#10 2008-10-21 10:15 by Hooraytio (89.160.23.XXX)

it is rather boring with a one man army, it has been seen before and i just hope it wont work this time. should murdoc be able to pull this off and bring uqe to the top then it is just plain sad since he really belong in a top clan...

clans that have very mixed skill levels are always hard to place correctly and very often they either rape or become raped in their division

#11 2008-10-21 02:22 by Desmo (217.157.130.XXX)

We actually chose div2, however the admins had to move one of the teams down to div3. (which is fine)

However, we're still interested in praccing div2 clans, so please do come by #fusion.qw

nice review hooratio, but i reckon murdoc will bring his team some solid div0 tp & is a top contender imo. :)

ggs nio

/des

#12 2008-10-21 01:31 by niomic (89.27.30.XXX)

Having pracced Fusion tonight, I could easily imagine them winning the division. Desmo is back and surprisingly solid after such a long time with no play. Sqz is just plain solid beef and the exNafianna guys certainly held their own. We had one of our better lineups, but still dm3 and e1m2 were pretty tight. Dm2 was more of what we're used to there, 300-100 :)
(I actually thought they'd be in div2, before I checked the divs again)

I hope every team is active, and it will be an enjoyable div3 season!

#13 2008-10-20 19:01 by spliffy (93.97.247.XXX)

Hoor placing us 7 that is wild you must still have hard feelings from that time i left my boxers in your mums room :< lol

#14 2008-10-20 15:26 by v!rus (84.245.2.XXX)

well done

#15 2008-10-20 15:05 by deus (80.64.179.XXX)

good post, nice read

#16 2008-10-20 13:41 by Hooraytio (89.160.23.XXX)

I agree that it is a tight group, have to be on your toes versus all the opponents :)

#17 2008-10-20 13:05 by Hedgepig (84.203.144.XXX)

Good preview... this is a nice group assuming all the teams are active. I think CSN are a bit underrated here and will be battling for the title for sure. Best thing I think is that any team in the div can take maps off any other team.

#18 2008-10-20 11:29 by znappe (213.114.241.XXX)

7th place!? evil hooraytio! :<

#19 2008-10-20 11:13 by marshall (84.29.19.XXX)

Ye nice preview, though you forgot to mention we have 2 rookies as well. Which have little to do in this div :(

#20 2008-10-20 09:57 by bps (83.140.61.XXX)

nice post horay, keep it up

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