Round 2 Recap
First match of Round 2 saw a thrilling encounter between team captains Bravo and Asian. The latter’s team seemed to have the momentum and control over what was a very close game, but Warriors of Heaven mounted a comeback on map 4 and did enough to maintain their lead after the finale was concluded. Coach Dave’s Academy now has to beat Infected Minds in Round 3 to ensure passage into the knockout stage.
Lethal Assault Organization looked in total control as they beat Royal Flush, who were suffering from such internal chaos and disorder that deliberate misplays occurred out of sheer frustration. Hib’s team have already announced that they’ve forfeited the tournament and so we will not be seeing them in Round 3. LAO now have an outside chance of seeing the knockout stage but for that to happen with the score differentials in Group C as they are, they have to hope that Hydro’s team will beat Disco’s so that they face the latter team on the same amount of group points as each other.
Bravo Sucks At Tetris will most likely be kicking themselves – they were in the lead of the match on Hard Rain against Lovebone, all the way up until the finale. But the difference in finale tank play between the two teams was so vast, that Rails Barlow’s team of underdogs scored around 1,400 points on the final chapter to secure what looked like an extremely unlikely comeback victory! Group D has the potential to get a lot more exciting – if The Gang succeeds in beating Beach Please, all Group D teams will be on equal ground with a single victory apiece heading into Round 3. At that point, score differentials won’t matter as the knockout stage will have come early to what may appear to be the group of death in the tournament!
Optimistic Prime were already on the back foot heading into their Haunted Forest match with two backup players, one of whom was playing in place of the absent team captain Lucifer. They now have no chance of reaching the knockout stage and will playing for honour’s sake in Round 3, after Lemon Party demonstrated their scrimming efforts on the custom campaign to claim a comfortable victory and make it two wins out of two in Group A. However, the overall picture is still uncertain as Pink Slip have a win to their names, but many suspect that Hate Culture have the stronger team and will be aching to mount a serious comeback for the remainder of the group stage.
The second week of Round 2 began with a match that had potential to be close but when it came to it, Infected Minds exerted their control and influence to command their lead over Yaeger Bagels and seal their first victory in the tournament. This came as a shock to a few spectators who believed that the latter team would go far beyond the tournament. Warriors of Heaven have already ensured their advancement to the knockout stage, but all eyes in Group B will be on this week’s match in Haunted Forest as Infected Minds and Coach Dave’s Academy are in a direct contest to join the Warriors in the next phase of the tournament at the expense of the other team. It’s going to be one of the week’s crunch matches!
Despite its reputation of being a troublesome group, Group C finally delivered some magic and served up a close affair between :Thinking: and Natus Vincere. It looked as though the former team were carrying superior form in the first couple of maps, until the latter pulled off an unbelievable quadcap in map 2, followed up by a survivor performance on map 3 where they made safe room to establish a healthy lead going into the finale. Although :Thinking: made it past the finale tank, the team often labelled by several as ‘the most stacked in the tournament’ didn’t have the legs to reach the chopper and ended up losing out. The group has all but been decided with its games and its standings, more so with Royal Flush already having forfeited the tournament, meaning that Hydro’s team will pick up a default win in Round 3. Although it’s not mathematically impossible for Lethal Assault Organization to pull off such a seemingly impossible feat, it’s asking them to climb Mount Everst in order to reach the knockout stage, when their only option for doing that is to beat Natus Vincere in Death Toll and do so with a lead of at least 2,430 points!
Group A dealt quite a shock by claiming a major scalp last weekend! Hate Culture were in the lead of the first two maps of Haunted Forest, but it was a close game to begin with because both sides’ survivor play was admittedly rather sloppy. However, Pink Slip turned things around by reaching safe room on map 3 and then being ultra aggressive against the finale tank and then making the boat with bonus. IMNX’s crew didn’t have an appropriate response for that and as a consequence, one of the strongest teams based on pre-tournament form, shockingly will not advance to the knockout stage despite many feeling that they would. Like Group C, Group A’s representatives for the knockout stage have pretty much been settled already. Hate Culture and Optimistic Prime will play each other for honour’s sake before bidding adieu to the tournament. But the one important detail that remains to be determined is which team will claim Group A supremacy: Lemon Party or Pink Slip? Dark Carnival will be the setting for when we find that out this week!
But if you want to talk about the most dramatic and fascinating group of the tournament, then it is Group D without question, because D stands for Death in this context! The Gang recovered from their Round 1 defeat by establishing a decent lead over Beach Please after 2 maps. Although Moscow’s team obliterated the map 3 tank and reversed the situation entirely, K3’s team refused to relent despite their leader’s absence and clawed the lead straight back after the notorious map 4, with less than 100 points in the game! Although both teams reached the boat, the Gang showed superior form and beat Moscow’s team with sizeable bonus. The MavWar tournament’s group of death is so close yet so black and white at the same time that it’s as if the knockout stage has come a round early for its teams! Score differential will have no influence simply because all four teams in Group D have one win each. So when Carried Off plays as the host map for their third round matches in these two weeks, each Group D game is going to be the most anticipated of each week, with the underdog team of Lovebone led by Rails Barlow having to battle the Gang this week, and with Purple vs Moscow the following week. It’s a straight win-loss scenario to determine who advances and who doesn’t; everyone’s necks are right on the line!
The table of MVP awards as it stands after Round 2! Remember, the highest tally of awards at the end of the season, will determine who wins MVP of the tournament. Bravo (2) Dusty (2) Trice (2) Moscow (1) Datwzez (1) Hydro (1) Lupe (1) Tamales (1) Purple (1) Hib (1) Rails Barlow (1) HDZ (1) Brittany (1) Krunchy (1)