With league play over for the moment and new invites being sent out, most teams are taking time to relax and play in the more informal ladder settings. Despite this a competitive team's work is never done; even in this filial gameplay setting teams are sniffing out their opponents which can lead to some intense matchups. This is also a good time to see up-and-coming teams make a mark in matches against the more established teams. Here are a few comments on the top ranked teams as well as some of the notable goings on in the 4v4 and 6v6 objective ladders.
4v4 Objective Ladder:
First up in the 4v4 Obj. ladder is team misChief. -mC- is 6th on the ladder with a 3 to 1 win/loss ratio. Known for making the opfor pay for every inch of ground, misChief has a roster that could put them at number 1, yet they seem to have trouble against evenly matched opponents as well as give up a few rounds against less skilled opfor. Despite this -mC- is an adaptable team that can adjust to play near the skill level of its opponent which is as seen by -mC-'s recent two losing ladder matches which were 7-5 against Crucial Xperience and Fightclub 7-6 OT. -mC-'s unexpected match results aside, they are responsible for a league victory over -[cX]- during play-offs. Boasting a roster of former members of the number 1 ranked squad x6 makes MC the team most likely to break -[cX]-'s undefeated ladder record.
Delta Company 9 is the veteran team of the 4v4 ladder. Having played 87 matches, most recently a loss to -mC-, VX9 has had a lot of ladder experience. Interestingly enough, they have a losing ratio with a record of 41-46-1 yet are able to maintain a position in the top 10. VX9 is usually not even considered to be a top 25 team, but as their ladder position shows, there is a lot to be said about tenacity, and solid experience. They may not be a consistent top 10 team, but they will spend a few weeks pushing more talented but less experienced teams around the rankings and generally pissing off teams trying to break into or hold a spot in the top 10.
6v6 Objective Ladder:
Next up is Canadian Honour Guards. [CHG] is unique in that it has a weighted losing record (19-29-0) and is still in the top 10 of the 4v4. The significant gap between the number of wins and losses indicates that CHG is a "pressure play" team. While not a serious threat to the top 10, much less the top rank, CHG has been seen playing ok during most matches, but when it counts for large scale ladder movement, they "have a day" and play to the best of their ability.
In 4v4 and 6v6 Objective there are 2 top 10 crossover teams
IceNine recently was 3rd in the 6v6 after their recent loss to [BORG] and 9th after their win over For Victory in the 4v4, both matches having taken place on the same day. I9 has lost some good players but was, in my opinion, one of the teams to watch as it is difficult to field a top ranked team in multiple venues. After losing the number one spot to m3 last week, and their recent loss to Borg, I'm betting i9 is feeling the need to prove their recent rank 1 standing was not just a fluke. I caught up with the founder of Main Event, Fins, and asked him about the likelihood of i9 taking their spot back. He commented, "Well we beat i9 last Tuesday to take the #1 spot. We played Bridge, assaulted first and won 7-1. That's a pretty bad beating considering how defensive a map Bridge is...If we didn't prepare i9 would have a shot, but I still would expect us to win on most maps." This must be true because i9 recently disapeared from the ladder venues completely. The exact fate of most of i9's players is still being worked out. Will their team restructure/rename or disband all together?
The other top 10 crossover team is RedDawn who is 2th in the 4v4 and 7th in the 6v6. RD is currently the number 1 team to watch for last minute win loss matches. Recently in 4v4 RD fought the undefeated Crucial Xperience to a standstill on SF-CSAR only to lose in overtime, a scenario that hasn't been seen since -[cX]- and recent league finalist Rising Storm battled it out to a 7-6 OT on SF Village over five months go. With a skill endorsement from -[cX]- and yet having a steady loss record to established teams such as -instruments-of-god-, Fightclub, and making-others-bleed, RD will not be dominating the ladders anytime soon, but are far too unpredictable to count out in any match making them them the team to watch for major upsets.
Finally, we have to look at Crucial Xperience. -[cX]- isn't just undefeated, but undefeated after over 40 matches on 4v4 Objective. This rarely seen kind of consistency is a testament to the mix of raw skill, effective tactics, concise communication, and overall solid game play. -[cX]-w1d0w was available for comment:
Imp!: "You are an unprecedented 44 and 0. What is your team's huge advantage?"
[cX]w10w: "Well, before the roster change it was basically teamwork because we had been playing together for so long. At the moment, it's just a lot of hard work..."
Imp!: "Do you foresee any trouble with your next few matches?"
[cX]w1d0w:"I think in the 4v4's we are fine..."
Imp!: "What team do you think we should look for to seriously challenge your spot on the 4v4 ladder?"
[cX]w1d0w: "Well, at a quick glance I see that Rising Storm is slowly crawling back up the ladder...Red Dawn and mC [misChief] have given us some good matches lately so they're a threat now =o Fight Club has the roster to beat us also, so I would say RD, mC, and fc will be the biggest challenges....oh, and rS once they get back up there "
-[cX]- Has a match scheduled with -SR-, an ambitious team lookin to make some major moves in both the 4v4 and 6v6. We will see how well their streak continues.
Upcoming matches to watch:
VS
Top ranked 6v6 Obj. team Main Event defends the number one spot against Slow Reaction. While -SR- isn't considered a major threat, the map of the match will be HQ Raid, a map known historically for situations where 1 soldier with the right luck and positioning can hit several offensive and defensive tracks simultaneously turning a certain loss into victory. It takes an ambitious team to take advantage of this map and -SR- is certainly hitting the ground running by tackling m3 and -cX- at the same time. Will it be enough to overcome m3's superior talent?
VS
The well known Fightclub is set to take on OMGWTFPWNT, a team that doesnt even have a team logo up. Recently Inverse Concept tried to break into the top 10 by fighting 10 rungs up, the maximum number for their rank of 12, and defeated Fightclub 7-5 on Bridge. Encore did the same fighting up 9 rungs by tackling Fightclub at rank 3 and making a break into the top 10. Despite this losing streak, fc is still the heavy favorite but OMG is betting that lightning will strike a THIRD time and catapult them up to the top 10.
Some teams consider ladder play to be fun or practice for the league season. Others take their ladder play very seriously. We will see how these different perspectives in playing style affect the ladder rankings. As for the teams; watch RedDawn for major upsets, Rising Storm to, as -[cX]-w1d0w put it, "crawl" back up to the top 10, misChief to generate a team logo that makes sense, and -[cX]- to generally wreak havoc on the many hungry teams looking to break their undefeated record.
--Imp
Post edited by Imp! at 5/20/2005 12:53:43 PM