The ESOC Premier League - What to Expect from Playoffs

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Korea South Vinyanyérë
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The ESOC Premier League - What to Expect from Playoffs

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Post by VinyanyĂ©rĂ« »

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The ESOC Premier League - Playoffs

The results are in, and the top two teams of the first ESOC Premier League are finalized.

In one corner we have the Aizamk-led Nilla Ninjas, sitting in a comfortable first place with a season score of 44-31. The Ninjas' top seed might come as a little surprising: initial power rankings after the draft usually put them low in the standings. However, every single player for the Ninjas (save their professional Go player and his WoW-playing brother) has shown up these past three weeks, with each of them sporting a positive win rate. Whatever it is the Ninjas are doing to prepare, it's working to great effect for them.

In the other corner is PrinceofKabul's Somali Kabul Gaming. SKG's road to the playoffs wasn't quite as smooth, with their 39-36 record tying them for second with team CMC. The tiebreaker comes from the head-to-head matchup between these two teams, where SKG took victory with a razor-thin 13-12 score. Indeed, SKG went 13-12 against every team in the league. Pessimistically, one could say that SKG barely scraping by into the playoffs doesn't bode well for their matchup against the Ninjas. I'd opt for a more charitable look: Prince and Somppu put in the least amount of effort that they could get away with while still getting into playoffs, conserving all of their skill and strategy for the finals.

Both teams have made substitutions since their meeting in week 1, with the Nilla Ninjas opting to put Forjustice in the place of GoodSpeed and SKG bringing bwinner in for ageofkiller. With their lineups finalized and with three weeks of practice and coaching under their belts, the teams are set to decide the winner of the first EPL.

Image iamturk Image LordRaphael Image

The most expensive player in the league against Aiz's free pickup starts us off. Not long ago, I would have called this for LordRaphael, written some vague nonsense about how underdogs can sometimes outperform, and moved on to the next series. That'd be unfair to iamturk, who put up huge results during both the New World Championship and the EPL. iamturk has gotten scarily good in a short amount of time, and has shown throughout the tournament that Aizamk made a good choice of champion.

Even so, LordRaphael is who he is. It won't be an easy series for iamturk, no matter how well he's played in recent times. This will be turk’s opportunity to prove that he deserves a spot among the best.

It's worth mentioning that Raphael very rarely drops a series, but he's no stranger to dropping games. A review of Raphael's tournament history shows a slew of 3-2's. His EPL matches, likewise, consisted of a pair of 3-2's and a 4-1 against Mitoe (who, well, you know. Let’s not talk about it). In a format where points matter more than series, this will have an impact. SKG might be able to count on Raphael taking this, but they won’t be able to count on a blowout. They'll need their other seats to perform.

Image KnuschelbÀr Image SomppuKunkku Image

SKG's champion, SomppuKunkku, has had a bit of a rough season. His 1-4 match against Lukas_L99 could be waved away as meaningless after he secured SKG's playoff spot in game 2 (to say nothing of him playing while ill), but his other results against iamturk and Hazza54321 aren't exciting either. In this series, Somppu will be looking for a chance to redeem himself and live up to the SKG namesake.

On the other hand, KnuschelbÀr has performed extremely well during the league. More than just a 5-0 against Conquerer999 and a couple of games off of LordRaphael, he took a series 3-2 against Kaiserklein, a feat of strength that few people can claim. Additionally, the last time they met, Knusch pulled a clean 3-0 sweep over Somppu to secure a Grand Finals victory in the Weekend Pilgrimage tournament. Knusch is looking to be a leviathan, but as the Somali Strategy Command Center, Somppu is not one to lose his fighting spirit - expect some surprising games.

Image snowww Image WickedCossack Image

With an 11-4 record, WickedCossack has the best record in the league. "Sure," you might say. "I could go 11-4 too if I got to play against grandpas all day". But if you had asked me before the EPL, I'd have put Cossack in among the grandpas, one of the players who might do well if he tried, but is just as likely to fall asleep at the bridge table. Well, he decided to try. And he's put up almost a third of SKG's wins so far.

Against him is snowww, one of the NWC top 8s who's been a consistent (perhaps too consistent) pillar of the Ninjas' lineup. Neither carrying the team nor causing it to crumble, snowww is the final test of WickedCossack's impressive tournament run. snowww's no-nonsense style focuses on having good RTS fundamentals - good micro, good macro, good multitasking - and can't be overcome by clever builds and debate memes alone. WickedCossack will have to bring his best to show that his record is no fluke.

Image OPTIMUS__PRIME Image Jerimuno Image

Perhaps more so than anyone, OPTIMUS__PRIME's results this tournament have surprised me. He's gone 3-2 against every player he’s been paired up against, a list which has contained IAmSoldieR, Samwise12, and his upcoming opponent, Jerimuno. Despite a relatively low initial seeding and few notable tournament results, this is an impressive collection of wins and has made Optimus a reliable part of NN's roster.

Jerimuno, meanwhile, has shared SKG’s fifth seat with bwinner, with his only result so far being a 2-3 against Optimus. Notably, Jerimuno faced off against Optimus once before in the finals of the Autumn 2017 Second Chance Tournament. He lost 5-0 there. In week 1 of the EPL, Jerimuno got his rematch in the play-all-five series, where he lost 2-3. A 2-3 is certainly an improvement over 0-5, and so Jerimuno can point to his upward trajectory in their matchup to give him confidence.

Image Forjustice Image bwinner Image

There’s so much to say about this one. Forjustice, as a part of AoE3's Chinese community, isn't too well-known around ESOC. Behind the scenes, a little bit of work had to be done to make sure that he knew that he’d been drafted onto the Ninjas and was ready to play. That work was worth it, as he’s gone 7-3 in games since his debut in week 2. His somewhat unusual strategies ran circles around his opponents, keeping them constantly playing catchup while he moved onto the next stage of his plan.

Genius, however, doesn't stop Janissaries. bwinner has worked as something of an inverse Raphael - he might not take a series, but he'll always take a couple of games. In a best of five, going for botto twice gets you to at least 2-3, which is often all you need. That doesn't translate as well to best of seven, where you're still allowed only two Ottoman picks, but bwinner is more than just a meme and has a strong chance of winning real games too.
duck
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Re: The ESOC Premier League - What to Expect from Playoffs

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Post by [Armag] diarouga »

Nice read, thanks :)

"but bwinner is more than just a meme and has a strong chance of winning real games too."
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Re: The ESOC Premier League - What to Expect from Playoffs

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Entertainment.

I did not know that Forjustice is from China or that he was unaware he was drafted. What a story.
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Re: The ESOC Premier League - What to Expect from Playoffs

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Post by abadontea »

Forjustice is a Chinese player,He doesn't look that strong,Actually the best player in China!
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Re: The ESOC Premier League - What to Expect from Playoffs

Post by Mr_Bramboy »

HeadKilla wrote:Entertainment.

I did not know that Forjustice is from China or that he was unaware he was drafted. What a story.
We noticed he hadn't found the discord halfway in the first week.
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Re: The ESOC Premier League - What to Expect from Playoffs

Post by juhjuh »

only botto games are real games

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