Crunch's CSMII Round 1 Overview

Another year, another invite tournament to get the blood flowing. The return of the Clansport TF2 Masters has been much anticipated since the exciting pg vs bb final of last year. While the timing could have been better nobody can deny the thrill of watching the best Australia and New Zealand have to offer fight it out for something a bit more than just bragging rights. After the usual end of year spree of disbands, new teams have formed from the ashes with nothing to lose and everything to gain. With the OWLSE season looming, watch these teams pull out all the stops to claim the title of #1.

Round 1 is designed to sort the wheat from the chaff. Being a double elimination competition, no teams are eliminated after round 1. Round 1 will set the scene for the entire competition as those who drop to the lower bracket fight for a second chance at the title.

-A- vs Jedi Knights

On paper this match is looking to be a whitewash for -A-.

With the return of nomey and gore to tf2 they now have the strong, experienced fraggers they have needed since forming. They have a style remeniscent of the old YSW, often sacrificing their demo and soldiers and leaning heavily on their scouts, bowt and gore, to stay alive, play smart and exploit any holes their heavies have drilled into their opponents. Playing a freight train style of tf2 has worked well for -A- so far, since none of their opponents can mount an effective defence against the overwhelming force that is yuki and nomey.

While their ultra aggressive playstyle is effective it is also predictable and often uncoordinated, leaving them open to being shut down by a well organised team. Jks is a perfect example of a team full of talented individuals who lack experience. Full top teir COD and quake players and backed up by the experience of hellscream and bonobo, i can see jedi's becomming a force to be reckoned with in the future. Unforunately i just dont see the Jedis handling -A-'s blitzkreig tactics. While i maintain that zeroin has the raw aim to match nomey's and hellscream has an uncanny ability to be just as annoying as bowt (albeit with slightly better aim). The jedis rely almost solely on them to make the plays and should they fail, the rest of the team tends to disintegrate.

While i can see gravelpit being somewhat entertaining as jedi's make full use of the many utilities at their disposal, -A- will run rings around jedi's heavy classes on badlands and follower, should it go to a 3rd map.

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

Watch nomey cut swaths through the jedi ranks and some smart picks from bowt

Watch zer0in muscle his way around every time he gets the chance.

PREDICTION:

(-A-: 2 - 0)

Famous vs We-r

Like all the matches in round1, this match is designed to sort the wheat from the chaff. I'm quite sad that a competition which is supposed to cater for the BEST teams in aus/nz has 2 teams entering who either dont scrim or scrim with whatever they can scratch together on a given night. As one of those teams, i really dont see we-r bringing much to the table in this match.

Famous was originally formed as 6s reincarnation of the APR of old, featuring players like zut, badboy, sphinx and povohat. Recently however, it seems that famous have reincarnation of the old Bitchbangers team that won the first CSM, albeit with no scotty and amril soldiering not scouting. Famous play a very bread and butter style of tf2 with a high level of cohesion bred from playing together on and off for years. While this team's strengths and weaknesses are similar to bb's, sphinx lack amril's punch as scout will get outplayed by the majority of scouts in this comp. Famous will need to rely heavily on povohat and nomercy's well honed gamesense to pull them out of the fire on numerous occasions.

I cant really say much about we-r as they havent scrimmed with a full lineup in a long time. We-r is an institution that has lasted since the last ice age. They appear play with a laid back attitude, more out of a love of the game rather than a desire to win. While this is an admirable outlook and their place in this competition speaks heavily of the individual talent in this team, it isnt going to get them far versus the more co-ordinated and hardened teams in this comp.

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

Watch baboon and battleship demonstrate why they are miles above the rest of their team.

PREDICTION:

(Famous: 2 - 0)

Rewound vs ESM

I love rewound. They are the perfect example of a team that has gotten to where they are through a mixture of perseverence and posessing a powerful wizard. They are the only team in this competition who has been playing together regularly since before the last OWL season and it shows. They have put their finger on the strengths in their team and have long been one of the best defensive teams in aus. Now, after picking up a monster like subtitled and training up gibbo as the core pocket soldier, they have been drilling themselves quite hard on new and exciting ways to throw prime and subtitled at their opposition while letting the steady old hands of greyhunter clean up after them. Unfortunately it seems that rewound have been set in their ways as a strong defensive team and are often just too passive with the rest of their team to make good use of prime's massive aim. Once they can push greyhunter out of his comfort zone and into a more aggressive role, rewound will be the team most likely to teach -A- a lesson.

ESM, like we-r is an institution that has been around since the dawn of time. Unlike we-r however, ESM is the only team from New Zealand in this competition. ESM have always held some great players. Derelict is a rare nz soldier in the sense that he actually knows how to play without seeing red and jumping on everybody's head yet has the aim of your typical nz duel hero. Unfortunately derelict is the only player in ESM who has appeared to keep improving his game. Due to esm's lack of practice comming into this competition i can only assume that esm will fall to pieces versus a practiced team like rewound.

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

Watch for some coordinated aggressive plays from prime and subtitled (especially on badlands) and some beautiful clutch work from derelict.

PREDICTION:

(rewound: 2 - 0)

BEASTIN vs Fray

I'm sure i wasnt the only person who had a bit of a cheer when beastin reformed recently. It wasnt just because of those awesome shambler avatars. It was because they played with a certain flare that made them extremely enjoyable to watch in the NGRI and subsequent ozfl matches. Now that they are back with almost all of their original core members it seems apparent that the only thing that has changed from the beastin of old is that the players have gained the much needed experience and sense that they lacked in the NGRI.

Based on their strongest possible lineup, beastin are quite deserving of their #2 seeding. Vic and jezo make up just about the most potent soldier pair aus tf2 has ever seen and now that moz has the experience he's needed since the NGRI, the only question mark in beastin's lineup is their erratic scouts and how they will perform on any given day.

Comming into this match, beastin should confident for a win over fray who are just starting to find their feet again after an almost total lineup change after OWL. The addition of yukari and gee to the lineup has given fray the confident callers they've desperately needed since the start of OWL. With warlock finally starting to stretch his legs and build on his potential, fray will be looking to him for some rock solid play to hold off the massive punch of beastin's soldiers.

This will be the most evenly balanced of the round 1 matches but beastin should have it in the bag.

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

All of beastin.

Look out for some well timed aggression from warlock and gee.

PREDICTION:

(BEASTIN: 2 - 0)