There's no Orlando thread, and I didn't notice till now, when it is already on. Ladnil has a sad. I'm hoping to see Carbon win, and I'd like to see str8 outside the top 4. Anyone else?
I think you're gonna be lucky to see a Carbon 1st, but your wish with Str8 has been granted unless they pull off an amazing turnaround and power through the LB. I would be surprised, but honestly this is just Str8, they do this at least once every season, and their record at first events is just bad. Hopefully they'll rally back and Heinz will eventually bring the consistency they desparately need. Still though, very disappointing show from them after having the best pickup on paper from the whole off season. It was really funny to see Str8 getting CRUSHED in Guard Ball by SQ, Elamite must have really loved that. Screw the whole rivalry of beating the team you just got dropped by, he doesn't even have to bother, he just gets his little brother to do it for him. Even then, based on current performances I think Instinct would have walked past Str8, and I predict Instinct to come out on top if they meet during the rest of the event. I've yet to see tD play, though the results I've been seeing seem strong, reassuring considering the whole Neighbor thing and the questions he entails. Disappointed to see HaE lose to Darkest Hour in the placement round though, I really liked what I saw from them. Naded especially has really impressed me, he's stepped up to a pretty strong objective role and is filling it fantastically. That's never something I thought I'd say about Naded, he's not only got a lot more talent than he's often given credit for, but that talent is more diverse than I think anyone predicted before this event. With Carbon starting to struggle off the bat (only top 4 team not to have a 3-0 in their first series, though to be fair Str8's 3-0 wasn't in their favour ), dropping Naded is looking to be as bad a move as Puckett was saying in the Bracket Show. Instinct are looking strong, they had some trouble with BtH, but honestly that team is just showing wave after wave of individual skill, so you can't blame them totally. Still, I think Ghandi was bang on when, during the Pit game, he said that Instinct's problem was badly timed and sluggish pushes. They had great team unity, but that unity seemed to struggle when it came to being aggressive on Pit, something we saw from FB in their first round match as well on that map. Hopefully instinct can address that before their WB-semis match, I want to see them place top 2 at this event if I'm honest. Also, loving FB 3-0'ing Str8. T2 must have felt like he'd gone back in time to the end of H2, overlook old rivals at your peril dude. This is shaping up to be an entertaining event. Here's hoping that HaE can stay in the LB for another round or two, I want to see them secure another upset and solidify this new lineup as one to watch.
wow, FB looks fantastic. I didn't get to see them play yesterday, but that Heretic Flag game blew my mind. I really can't comment on a lot of your points because the stream was not cooperating with me yesterday, but I'm excited for tonight and tomorrow. And yeah, Ghandi seems to be bang on with just about everything he says, he's grown into that announcer position in a great way.
I'll hop on. I think I still have the old Anaheim channel added, so I'll be in there if anyone wants to talk about the tournament.
I'm predicting an Instict vs. Triggers down champoinship. And I'd like to see HaE finish top 6 or top 8
I wish it had been an FB/Instinct finals. I think Instinct still would have taken it, but FB making it that far would just have been great to see. This new lineup is really fantastic, despite k/d stats Totz is a fantastic addition, the energy he brings seems to be just what FB needed. Ogre 2 was looking calm and having fun, which was brilliant. I really want to see them take an event this year, all of them deserve it 100% in their own ways, they've really won my love as a team. However, an event win isn't going to be easy. Needless to say, Instinct is looking flawless which is also great. I've been a Lunchbox fan for as long as I've been in to MLG, and to see him not only take his first event but do it playing so well is just perfect. Elamite also showed the haters what he thinks of being dropped, and Cloud is cementing himself as a real superstar. Roy owns, always has, and is doing it even more so right now, so yeah. Classic are also proving to be a consistent force despite almost collapsing in the off-season, much as I kinda hate to admit it cause Tizoxic pisses me off. Reckons he's the best in the league, maybe behind Snip3down on a bad day, sorry kid but no. You're very good, but no. Still, I like Ghost and seeing him bring three lesser known players to such prominence is testament to his brilliance. He's pretty cocky too tbh, but I think he's earned it a bit more. Str8 will be back. The hate bandwagon has started, but this happens every season after the opener then Str8 come in on the backfoot and show they're still a great lineup. Heinz is still a great pickup, especially for the hole Elamite left. My only worry is Snip3down, if off season gossip is to believed then he's the bitchy element on Str8. But then Heinz stressed in the booth how much he enjoys being able to talk through stuff properly as a team on Str8. I guess we'll see how much that stands after an 8th place finish and a 3-0 from FB. I don't necessarily like this Str8 lineup tbh, I thought that tD dropping Heinz was stupid and it split up the best duo ever, but I have to admit that it's a good lineup, and changing up or doubting themselves would be stupid IMO. However, the opposition they face is more numerous and talented than ever in H3, and as '08 and '09 progressed it's been getting harder and harder for them to just waltz back in after a loss and reaffirm their reputation. They're not down and out, but they really have to put in the time and break these mental barriers to even secure just one more event win in H3, let alone another national championship, which we know is what T2 is determined to get as a swan song before Reach. As for tD, idk, I just don't. Sure their placing wasn't as bad as Str8 for example, but they sure as hell weren't '09 tD. As always, I was really looking at Pistola, and it sadness me to say that the magic just wasn't there, or at least it couldn't get out. I don't know if it's the role he's having to fill with the swap of Heinz for Neighbor, hardly a smooth transition in terms of a well rounded team. But there's this little part of me worrying that maybe, just maybe, Pistola isn't quite Pistola without Heinz, the reverse also being a slight nagging worry with Str8 though less so. Pistola is the best pure slayer according to the Pros Choice awards, yet he's stuck behind Hysteria AND Neighbor in the queue now. He's at his best when he can both slay and go crazy sneaky beaver style, with Hysteria and Heinz that worked out perfectly, he sat somewhere between the two in figurative terms and completely destroyed. Hysteria is technically main slayer for tD but Pistola still puts up the most disgusting event stats for most of '09? That's my boy. But I worry for him in this new tD, and honestly him more than the others. SK made me question his judgement when the whole dropping Heinz thing came out, and it didn't seem like he was fitting well with the other 3 this event. His stats are normally bad, but even then he wasn't doing what he's good at, cementing the team together along with Heinz (oh yeah...) and playing a somewhat similar role to that of Totz on FB, but coming at it from a leader angle instead. Neighbor has just broken my heart too many times, and the whole dualtage thing only brought back the asshole image. It rubbed off on Hysteria too, and he only recently started to shrug it off himself in '09. I don't count them out, too much skill and snatches of chemistry in there somewhere, but I worry for tD, I really do. Stay cool Pistola. Walshy needs to sort himself out, toot sweet. Carbon was his new home, and dropping Naded is looking more and more stupid. Idk, but he needs to be back on top as well, and new Carbon can't go out of H3 like this after the '09 season. HaE to continue upsetting, and KillerDrew to continue being cool.
Well **** Pegasi, you're making me feel bad for not having complex opinions on all of these players lol. Here's what I do know though: I never saw Str8 on the main stage, but I completely believe what you've heard about Snipedown. He came out of nowhere to become a superstar, and he's young and relatively inexperienced, so it isn't a stretch to imagine that he's full of himself. T2 wants to win more than anything, and he's a cocky **** that just rubs me the wrong way personality-wise but he isn't stupid. He knows the value of a steady roster of players that completely trust each other, and it seems that nobody else in the league can grasp that concept. I don't think he would have dropped Elamite completely on his own, but the trust was gone, and Snipedown seems the most likely culprit for that. Plus, the whole team couldn't have been happy with Str8's finishes the last few events (not to mention their sponsors...) so T2 had to do something to try and improve the team. Somebody had to go, and if somebody was going to go, it had to be Elamite. SK, on the other hand, lost the championships and instantly lost faith in his team. He dropped Heinz for a player that's supposedly another flashy Slayer. There's no reason for that. tD is the Yankees of Halo, constantly trying to put together the team with the best stats on paper, and quick to drop their most reliable support guy for another big name. If he had the Yankees' budget, SK's team would be SK and whoever the three most positive guys from the last tournament were. And then there's Instinct. A team which as far as I can tell doesn't even have a captain. I guess the roybox twins are kinda a dual captain, with neither holding the actual title despite being the only two steady members of the team. Roy and LBX have been consistently great for a long time, with the deficiencies on their team constantly the other two players. This time they go and pick up Cloud and Elamite, and suddenly there doesn't seem to be a weak link. I've said before that Elamite seemed to be the only one on Str8 that wasn't rock solid, so maybe he won't bring the same level of play to the next event for Instinct, but who knows. What I do know is that he was smiling a lot during Instinct's games on Sunday, and that was awesome to see. He seems comfortable there. Final Boss needs to work on Totz's survival skills. Teamwork is great, and he was putting up crazy numbers of assists, but you don't go -85 with that many assists without losing a lot of 1v1 fights. If he had broken even, or been just a little negative I'd chalk it up to his putting shots on a lot of people, but his deaths say he overcommitted and had to have a teammate cleanup for him. Classic, I think SMGStrings said it best in Skype. They don't win unless something bad happens on the other team. Not a single one of them is super amazing, but not a single one of them can be called bad either. Even Ghandi said that they're a team of players that just isn't very fundamentally sound (though I'd use a different term to describe them myself). They just play robot Halo, and if you screw up, they win. Carbon Also, as a final little gloating message because I'm proud of myself, I completely called Dynasty's breakup and where their players would end up. aPG and Tizoxic are on higher seeded teams as I said (though that wasn't very specific), and Enable (+99!) went to SQ which I called by name.
Enable: played out of his mind, went clutch against Triggers Down Pistola: Dissapointing performance IMO, wasn't the same as last year Darkest Hour: I feel like this team is capable of placing top 5 or 6 for some reason. Captain Anarchy is underated IMO Status Quo: Impressive wins over tD and Str8, look for them to remain a top 5 team Heaven And Earth: Also dissapointed me, but they are definitely a team that can improve over the course of the season
Aaaaaaaand back on the Instinct bandwagon. The Neighbor curse has stricken tD, and that just saddens me. I'd think a brilliant captain like SK would be smart enough to realize that an entire team of slayers is a terrible idea, in a game lineup that is primarily objective games. Pistola isn't Pistola without Heinz. There is no doubt in my mind that Heinz's unselfish support playstyle complimented Pistola's unpredictable raw genius play. Neighbor is the opposite of Heinz. He's a selfish slayer oriented player who cares little for his team. I hope he gets dropped and not picked up. I think MLG would be better off without him in general. Lunchbox the not-so-long-haired hero is here, and I'm loving it. Cloud, and Roy have established themselves as the dominant slayers, while Elamite and Lunch have proven that they are brilliant players who can pull out the win in some pretty crazy situations. Str8 got beat, but thats part of their pattern. I assume they'll be back in force next event, but I still think Instinct is here to stay as the dominant force in the '10 season. I predict an Instinct, Classic, FB, Str8 top 4 next event. Though sQ also proved themselves at Orlando...so I wouldn't count them out either.
Inorite? I still don't want to believe it, but it's looking more and more true by the day. As above *worries for Pistola*. Agreed, seeing Lunch finally get the respect he has utterly deserved (in terms of a selfless player, beyond any other Pro I reckon) for so long is great. But tbh, didn't you notice him doing pretty well slayer wise as well? I think their teamwork and selfless chemistry is so solid at this point, coupled with their immense drive to win, that it's enabling Lunch to really put up some slaying prowess of his own. Let's face it, any given top 16 Pro has not gotten where they are without being able to kill enemies to a certain level, imo what defines a strong slayer, obviously alongside their actual skill level being that bit higher, at Top 16 level is how and when they are able to bring that out. Lunch isn't a main slayer, he's never going to be, but how well Instinct are working as a team means he doesn't have to play as a main slayer to end up, well, doing quite a lot of slaying. He got snipe a couple of times at Orlando, and he was owning, seeing him shine in a way which only complimented the overall Instinct team dynamic was fantastic. Much as I think you're right, I hope they don't count too much on this 'pattern' moving forward. Every time they want to waltz back in and show that, for whatever reason, the last event just went wrong, it gets harder and harder. More and more competition for the highest placings nowadays, Top 2/3 is becoming less and less safe and isolated, slipping closer to the uncertainty of the placings directly below. Not to the point of top spot meaning nothing in itself, it's still a group and not 'anyone's game' as people seem to think, just that this group is getting bigger and I hope Str8 realise that. That would be a pretty good top 4 tbh, I really want to see this new fire in FB continue and net them at least a Top 2 placing in the first half of the season, and if they don't win one event this year I'll be sad. Far from definite, but ya gotta hope.
Not gonna quote you Pegasi, past 6 am and I need some sleep so forgive my horrible attempt at a reply... Lunch did prove himself as a slayer, but I was more impressed by his deaths than his kills. He sacrificed himself in some pretty key points during the Heretic CTF game against Classic, and I think those plays where he refused to go for the kill and moved the flag those crucial couple meters are what separate players of his caliber from the slightly less experienced or skilled pros just shy of his level. Str8's only saving grace will have to be incorporating Heinz's playstyle into their overall team game. I don't know if the chemistry will be there in time for the event, but it can be done Str8 might just return full force to the top 4 and maybe even reclaim a 2nd or 1st place finish.
OHAITHERE Totz! Soon as that kid learns when NOT to play the self sacrificing cannon fodder, he'll be Lunchbox 2.0. Unfortunately, learning when not to do things is often way harder than learning how or when. You can know what to do all you want, but people overlook what not to do until that experience builds up. Like I said before, I don't think T2 would have dropped Elamite if there weren't trust issues on the team breaking the chemistry. Will Heinz bring that back? He should have by Orlando if they were practicing right. But yeah, if T2 can work his team into what his past teams have looked like, Str8 will be top 2.
And bam, Pistola is dropped for Totz! That is the most ridiculously stupid move I've heard since...oh right, since they dropped Heinz last season. I hope Str8 picks up Pistola for Snipedown. Doubtful it's gonna happen, but I think Pistola could really perfect the team, Snipedown's inconsistencies have been one of the major differences they either are ridiculously good like their talent is, or flop like a pro.
wow. I can't even rationalize that one. Pistola... for Totz... Here's a thought: Drop SK and see if any other team will even pick him up. I fully agree with dropping Snipedown for Pistola though. The first thought that went through my head was that Str8 will drop Legit for Pistola, then I immediately realized how stupid that was and decided they should drop Snipedown. Then we'll see if tD will grab snipedown again, so SK's team will be Hysteria Neighbor and Snipedown, the most disgusting slayer team of two years ago. I can't even feel confusion or pity for tD, it's all mocking laughter in my head. Pistola either goes to SQ for Assault or to Str8 for Snipedown, my prediction.
So Neighbor ruins tD, and Pistola gets the boot because of it? Does tD not realize Pistola is the only reason they won last season...besides Heinz...who the also dropped.
I'm pretty sure rosters lock at the end of today, and as of now Pistola is on FB. With such a small timescale for Pistola to find a new team and FB to find a new 4th, this was always gonna happen. SK has gone too far this time, I'm totally disowning tD as a fan from this point. Gonna put up a Columbus thread in a bit, prepare yourselves for a wall-o-text guys. You don't **** Pistola over, it just isn't cool.
Did SK and Hysteria get themselves a Producers type situation where they make more money by failing while looking like they were trying not to fail or something? Can you buy videogame tournament losing insurance? That's about the only justification I can come up with. Prediction: in keeping with his current rate of increasingly inexplicable team changes, after the next event SK drops Hysteria and picks up me.