Quarter-finals Recap
Oh boy, the quarter finals sure as hell did NOT disappoint! It all began the previous week with Lovebone playing a thrilling match against :Thinking: on Blood Harvest. Before the tournament went live, the former team were regarded as THE underdog team of the entire competition, with the latter team regarded as heavy favourites by many to win the entire thing.
But that was not the reality in Game 25, as Rails Barlow captained his team and sealed their stamp on victory with emphatic style in the finale, with a death-charge straight out of the safe room door and a death-punch from the intro tank! Lovebone might still be underdogs in the eyes of some, but they are playing regularly and consistently enough where that label might not be so accurate anymore. They have a legitimately strong chance of becoming the champions!
In Game 26, Natus Vincere were missing both Disco and Twobar and thus had to field BOTH of their backup players. Despite that, they took control of proceedings out of the starting block by punishing Bravo Sucks At Tetris for being off-form in the first two maps. However, Purple made a strategical decision which influenced his team’s upshot in form in map 3, culminating in a sizeable bonus, enough to take the lead going into the finale. And again, the team captain was there to seal the wipe with the intro tank and secure a comeback victory on Swamp Fever.
Purple’s team started off this competition slowly, but they are gradually starting to gain more traction and even though they scored a remarkable 3.8k points on Swamp considering how many multicaps and booms they sustained, there’s a LOT they could do to improve on that performance. They’re a strong contender to win the MavWar tournament and yet somehow, we’ve still yet to see the best of Bravo Sucks At Tetris!+
Game 27 may not have been anticipated as match of the week, but it sure as hell takes the accolade! Warriors of Heaven went into the match undefeated from the group stage, and looked like the favourites to advance onwards when they took the lead on Dead Air and maintained it for 3 maps. However, a big swing occurred in map 4 with Pink Slip reaching the safe room with a bit of bonus, but enough to grab a lead of 300 points going into the finale.
Pink Slip got wiped by the second tank in the hands of Dole and when sides were swapped, Bravo and his team looked like they could pull off yet another comeback victory of their own making. But Whishky died and with a last-gasp smoker-pull into a spit puddle, Warriors’ bonus was lowered enough to deny them a win at the very death. In terms of the final score, it’s the closest game of the tournament; separated by 22 points, in favour of Pink Slip! Trice, a reigning double-champion of the two previous MavWar tournaments, is proving he has a knack for this type of competition. However, will it be enough to win him a hat-trick of titles?
And in the last quarter final match of Game 28, the most anticipated match of the week turned out to be a shock many were not expecting. Coach Dave’s Academy had been putting in more practice than what they usually did during the group stage and it really paid off on Dead Center; they were in complete control of the game against Lemon Party and had a final score which was almost double what Dusty’s team could muster. It was a very impressive performance from Asian and his crew and it proved once again that no matter who you are, there are no guarantees of any kind in a tournament like this!
Lemon Party were one of the most on-form teams in the competition heading into the knockout stage, but Dead Center always has the potential for upsetting the established order and in that chaos, Coach Dave’s Academy just blitzed it the entire way. Where do David and his disciples go from here though? They’ve won their last two games convincingly by extensive margins, and against teams who were not exactly the weakest of the competition either. Has Coach Dave’s Academy just instated themselves as the hot new favourites to become the MavWar Hype champions?
The table of MVP awards as it stands after the quarter finals! It has been shortened to list only the players whose teams are still in the competition and the eliminated players who have more than one MVP vote. Remember, the highest tally of awards at the end of the season, will determine who wins MVP of the tournament.
Rails Barlow (3)
Purple (3)
Trice (3)
Dusty (3)
Bravo (3)
David (1)
Leki (1)
Lupe (1)