I took a look at the brackets and suddently I think this is a very interesting tournament! I think almost all the opponents are well-known but maybe often shadowed by the other big names, and now they have a faire tournament to shine, regardless of the weird conditions (first time in DE...)
Let's have a closer look at the brakets:
dogao vs vodka: I was surprised of how dominant vodka was against cloud and how well prepared he seems. Definitively, he is on his way back and this may be a much more interesting match that what some of you thought. I'm sure there will be some tricks and surprises here as well. However, dogao doesn't need to come back because he is already here, despite his dislikes on DE. He's playing a lot and he is the seed number one, so I predict he should get this match, maybe 4-1 or 4-2.
villese vs vinchester: the double V. This should be the closest match according to the seeds, although nili changed them a little bit in order to avoid a finnish, brazilian or heresy semifinal. I really enjoy watching vinchester play and I think he is well prepared for the DE balance and coming up with a lot of out-of-the-box strategies like the one we saw picking koreans in RF (really interesting surprise) I predict a lot of surprises and some of them might work. I really believe 50% of the map will be decided with the first arabia game. They are both arabia experts and they will probably have well prepared strategies for their own HM. Remember Villese is training a lot with TheMax and Pike. This is why I favor Villese here a little bit more and predict a 4-2 or 4-3 for him.
f1re vs pike: on the other side of the bracket we have f1re vs pike. I see this match quite similar to the f1rst one mentioned: a brazilian active legend vs someone coming back from a period of inactivity. Pike was one of my favourite players in Nabs and the former finland team in NC2. But altough he took the games vs jonslow, there were some inaccuracies on his play. (remember he actually lost the first arabia game, although he got an AW and we could say that he was disturbed by the laming, he also lost expectedly the arena game) Unless he surprises me, I see f1re coming in a much better form (I couldnt see but the last game vs jupee, though) and playing a lot on DE.
laaaaaan vs Daniel: I haven't seen Daniel playing a lot, but I know he is a rising star.On the other hand, Laaaan has always been just after all the top tier players, he is always the example of a great player that never gets invited and he is lacking a tournament result to enter the hall of fame. I know he is really motivated and preparing for this, although he also said that he is in exams period and maybe he just cannot give AoE all the time it need to get him into the finals. I see him as favourite, but mainly because I almost havent seen Daniel and maybe my nationality is taking objetivity out of me. He is also the #3 seed on this tournament.
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Besides the tournament, there is a big question. These matches will be played between today and Friday. What if a balance patch comes on Thursday (there is always hope). Do you think this could affect any of the players more than others?
What map do you think is best for cumans and why?
Let's have a closer look at the brakets:
dogao vs vodka: I was surprised of how dominant vodka was against cloud and how well prepared he seems. Definitively, he is on his way back and this may be a much more interesting match that what some of you thought. I'm sure there will be some tricks and surprises here as well. However, dogao doesn't need to come back because he is already here, despite his dislikes on DE. He's playing a lot and he is the seed number one, so I predict he should get this match, maybe 4-1 or 4-2.
villese vs vinchester: the double V. This should be the closest match according to the seeds, although nili changed them a little bit in order to avoid a finnish, brazilian or heresy semifinal. I really enjoy watching vinchester play and I think he is well prepared for the DE balance and coming up with a lot of out-of-the-box strategies like the one we saw picking koreans in RF (really interesting surprise) I predict a lot of surprises and some of them might work. I really believe 50% of the map will be decided with the first arabia game. They are both arabia experts and they will probably have well prepared strategies for their own HM. Remember Villese is training a lot with TheMax and Pike. This is why I favor Villese here a little bit more and predict a 4-2 or 4-3 for him.
f1re vs pike: on the other side of the bracket we have f1re vs pike. I see this match quite similar to the f1rst one mentioned: a brazilian active legend vs someone coming back from a period of inactivity. Pike was one of my favourite players in Nabs and the former finland team in NC2. But altough he took the games vs jonslow, there were some inaccuracies on his play. (remember he actually lost the first arabia game, although he got an AW and we could say that he was disturbed by the laming, he also lost expectedly the arena game) Unless he surprises me, I see f1re coming in a much better form (I couldnt see but the last game vs jupee, though) and playing a lot on DE.
laaaaaan vs Daniel: I haven't seen Daniel playing a lot, but I know he is a rising star.On the other hand, Laaaan has always been just after all the top tier players, he is always the example of a great player that never gets invited and he is lacking a tournament result to enter the hall of fame. I know he is really motivated and preparing for this, although he also said that he is in exams period and maybe he just cannot give AoE all the time it need to get him into the finals. I see him as favourite, but mainly because I almost havent seen Daniel and maybe my nationality is taking objetivity out of me. He is also the #3 seed on this tournament.
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Besides the tournament, there is a big question. These matches will be played between today and Friday. What if a balance patch comes on Thursday (there is always hope). Do you think this could affect any of the players more than others?
What map do you think is best for cumans and why?