[NA] NESL Premier League Round 1 Playoff Predictions

Massive opened the post-season tournament with a 2 map win over Binary Gaming.  Despite a resounding 13-4 victory on mp_backlot, Massive had to fight back to an overtime win (4-0) on mp_crash.  Binary Gaming was defeated after a decent season, as Massive (formerly uH) moves on to face 5alive eSports this Thursday.

(8)5alive vs (9)Carnal Gaming

Carnal Gaming, with a roster of players from perenially top-ranked teams, has been playing together (including a LAN appearance) for the past year or more.  However, with new games on the horizon, and a growing hatred of CoD4, they have recently begun to show signs of weakness which culminated in an, arguably, unexpected loss against 5alive eSports in a not-so-close 2-1 matchup.  Despite a win on mp_crash in double overtime, Carnal was soundly defeated on mp_Strike (13-9) and mp_backlot (13-9).  5alive made some performance enhancing pickups early in the season, adding former players from such teams as pure,Loaded!, and Team Pandemic, in the form of Nicolas "nicolas" Aubin and Steven "Limitless" Kietzer.  Limitless and Nicolas have been consistently able to hold 5alive's head above water, so to speak, and led their otherwise lackluster roster to victory over Carnal.  5alive does not have an easy road ahead of them, however, as they have to face off against Massive later this week.  With scope Eric "force" Sanchez at the helm, Massive's remarkably cohesive roster will likely prove too much for 5alive who have been relying onTork and Limitless to provide long-distance assistance.  Look for force's scoping to wreak havoc during the early few moments of each round, particularly if a map like mp_strike is played.

The only other matchup to take place was between myRevenge.e.V. and brick$quad.  With roster issues arrising only a few days before the Playoffs began, brick$quad was frantically searching for a player to fill the spot of "DAP".  They found their solution in the form of "ebk", however yet again, they were without a dedicated scope.  With the earlier departure of Swagger, the loss of DAP seemed to be a dooming problem for brick$quad, yet they entered the match against myR with a fair amount of strength on mp_citystreets and hoped to take the relatively inactive myR roster by surprise.  After just a few rounds, however, myR found their groove and continued to a 13-6 victory over brick$quad on mp_citystreets.  This catapulted them into a dominant start on mp_carsh, ending the second map 13-6.  myR will face the victors from the Icons of Vanity vs GOAT matchup.

With Binary Gaming, Carnal Gaming, and brick$quad knocked out of the Playoffs, there are 5 matches remaining before Thursday's second round matchups.

vVv (2) vs MinuteMenHQ (15)vVv.CoD4 recently ceased to exist, but just because Vision, Valor, Victory's tags don't precede their names, does not mean that this roster is any less of a threat.  Cody "Cubed" Thaw and crew haven't been too active, but past experience will tell us that no matter how hard MinuteMen have stratted, or how suspect their players (including CEVO-Banned Eric "2shoes" Ross or Joe "kb" Bilo) may appear to be, the former vVv team is likely to pull out of this showdown with a win.  With the standard five map choices, and a toss-toss/pick-pick format, expect MinuteMen to eliminate crossfire immediately.  They'll be shooting for Backlot (likely the choice that the former vVv team will make for their own toss), but will ultimately end up chosing Crash.  This will see vVv choose citystreets, and strike will be the tiebreaker.  While MinuteMen might be decent at Crash, they won't be able to withstand the random peeks of Robert "Rob-wiz" Kennedy, or the disciplined setup of the vVv defence.  To make matters worse, watch for Zach "tm" Miller to step up the game on mp_citystreets with some phenomenal SMG play.  John "paNther" Disantis will try to hold MinuteMen together, and Lewis "reflex" Jordan will do his best to keep the team on track with their strategy, but the former vVv team should have this in the bag.  Expect a 13-10 victory on Crash and a 13-4 victory on citystreets.  In the event that this match actually moves to mp_Strike, vVv's teamwork and late-round pushes will shatter their opponents during their time on offense, and their syncopated style of defensive rushing will confuse and dominate MinuteMen after half.

Prediction: 2-0 vVv

PTW: Min:  Crash - Panther, kb, Citystreets: reflex, 2shoes, Strike: kb, faler vVv: ptw: Crash - Robwiz/frizz, Citystreets: rob-wiz TM, Strike: cubed, crzg

wths? may not be taking their usual five to LAN (Tim "MaDMaN" Carlson, Andy "theimpaler" Coons, Preston "Juv3nile" Dornon , Dallas "dallas" Fox, Mark "Zeal" Lyon) as a group, but they're still able to compete online with other top 5 teams and come out victorious.  With that piece of information, a betting man would opt to side with them in this match against Binary-Gaming.  While this second Binary team aren't slouches, they're not likely to withstand the onslaught of a versatile and well-prepared wths?.  Whether MaDMaN or Juv3nile scope or SMG really doesn't matter as both of them are equally competent with either weapon.  Instead, the deciding factor of this particular showdown will come down to if wths? manages to practice ahead of the match.  Binary has had a good run, but it likely ends here.  

Prediction: 2-0 wths

PTW: Binary: morz/redzwths: Madman/juvey

Team Empyrean (5) vs Revolution Sports (12)

What can really be said about rS that hasn't already been uttered?  Sure, we know they love to rely on late and specific set-nades as well as always keeping an eye on their flank, but these former uF players and minor additions won't be able to rely on strategy alone, they'll have to outshoot and outplay Team Empyrean's successful starting five.  With the infamous Turnzbro being added early in the season, Empyrean has, if not exactly breezed through most of their competition, pulled off an undefeated regular season in ESL-P.  After Tyler "vahn" Lemerond was caught using cheats in the last CEVO nightcup, he'll be looking for a victory here to offer a chance to redeem himself.  Revolution Sports has a long and well-known name, and this current team has had its share of success over the past several seasons and LANs, yet Team Empyrean has proven to be a force to reckon with in NA.CoD.  The one saving grace of rS, may be the return of Jared "reZolvekkLP" Mahorn to its roster.  He forms a unique duo with John "hellfire" Monaco (the second-best shooter on rSports) and their comraderie with teammates Steven "Silent" Kucala and Cedric "Doucet" Doucet will enable them to adapt quickly to changing situations.  If this core group can integrate Matt "kyro" Mahorn (rezolve's brother) into the mix we may see an unlikely upset.  

Prediction: 2-1 Empyrean

PTW: Empyrean: Quartz/Blackie rSports: rezolve(if he plays) kyro/hellfire

GOAT (6) vs Icons of Vanity (11)

Both of these teams mix well known CoD4 players with newer less recognized talent.  However, whereas the players may not be as familiar, the results speak for themselves.  Vanity's consistent roster issues have led them to center their core 5 around Matt "chimpae" Gomez and Derek "Ensane" Douglass (not sure about this name).  With recent pickups like Steven "IMPULSE" Wright, Vanity is beginning to appear more confident and stronger.  Scrimming most nights, this roster is hoping to be adequately prepared for their faceoff against GOAT.  While GOAT has some of the newest additions to competitive Call of Duty, they also have a veteran (and oftentimes accused) scope in the form of Chris "colo$$us" Martinez.  While their captain, Matt "Astonish" Kelly has not ingratiated himself with the rest of the community, or his own team for that matter, he is nonetheless very persistent and runs this team with a level of dedication few others can muster.  Look for GOAT to rely heavily on their scope and AK's to open up the map early on.  Late SMG pushes from both teams will be prominent features of this match. GOAT is likely to pull ahead of Vanity in what will likely be a 2-1 victory filled with Overtimes. 

Prediction: 2-1 GOAT

PTW: Goat: Maniaq/Colo$$us Vanity: Ensane/Impulse

Exalted Esports (7) vs Rebels of Mankind (10)
With two of the most hated members of the North American community meeting head to head in this match, it is small wonder that both teams will be taking this seriously.  For Exalted, Anthony "SneakzBRO." Anissipour  is looking to prove himself against his 4+ Bans, while Zach "Ibex" Morris of REBELS wants to be known for more than being a suck-up with a name that brings about chuckles and thoughts of Mark-Paul Gosselaar.  Ultimately, this isn't a story about those we hate, but rather those players who hate playing with them.  While Exalted's roster is nothing to laugh at, REBELS boasts such players as Adam "uzi" Wedekind and Travis "kpwnage" Gallo.  Ultimately this is a 2-0 victory for Rebels and their roster can move one step closer to victory and one step farther away from Ibex.   

Prediction: 2-0 Rebels

PTW: Exalted: DAP/Swagger Rebels: Kpwnage/UZI