[Pegasi]

I'm throwing this up well in advance in hopes of getting some serious discussion started which will continue until the event. With rosters now locked we're able to get our brains going without a last minute team change screwing with predictions close to the event. I'm gonna try and keep on top of any notable LANs that go down before Orlando, but if you find out any scores before they appear here then please post them and I'll edit them in here with due credit.

But as for some basic discussion topics:

With Str8's run of win-get cocky-lose-practice-win finally broken, what does Orlando hold for the defending National Champs? Will they rally to overtake their long time rivals tD when it really matters?

And tD themselves, does this first ever back to back win cement them as top dogs in the struggle with Str8 for number one which has characterised MLG Halo 3? Or will an even more determined Str8 deny them the season win once more and kick off the back and forth run all over again?

And what of Carbon? Will this inter-event break seen them continue to solidify as a new top 3 force, possibly pushing them past their current two obstacles of tD and Str8 and grabbing that first place spot?

What will this promising new Dyanasty lineup do after quickly working their way to a 4th place finish in Anaheim? Will the household name top teams find themselves edged out at the hands of this new powerhouse if they slip up, maybe even if they don't?

And lastly, what of names like Final Boss and Instinct? Teams which once commanded top 4 placings in the majority of predictions but now invoke serious questions about their solidity even in the top 8, how will they fare as the season comes to a close?

Thoughts?

[Insane54]

I think Str8 played a mix of epic, decent, and just plain awful (30-50? Really?). They're so unreliable it's ridiculous...I think Tsquared needs to get everyone over to the Str8 Rippin house (apparently they don't actually live there because they don't have internet o.O), and have them practicing not on skills, but on reliability. I still think Str8 has the best potential chemistry and skill of any team, closely followed by TD, but they're just not showing up. Tsquared was also noticeably quiet, though TBH he had played 3 hours straight of intense MLG, you can't expect too much from him. Hoping for more leadership next time, as he has the skills for that fo sho.

Instinct and FB aren't going anywhere, IMO. Instinct is screwed because Neighbor wants to be a leader and he just can't do that. Dropping Ghostayame was an idiotic move, him being a great potential leader, and now I see them again in 6-8th place. It's just Neighbor And His Traveling Band Of Three Other Support Players at this point. In the same way, FB needs to get it's act together about putting the right team together.

[Pegasi]

Originally Posted by Insane54

I think Str8 played a mix of epic, decent, and just plain awful (30-50? Really?). They're so unreliable it's ridiculous...I think Tsquared needs to get everyone over to the Str8 Rippin house (apparently they don't actually live there because they don't have internet o.O), and have them practicing not on skills, but on reliability. I still think Str8 has the best potential chemistry and skill of any team, closely followed by TD, but they're just not showing up. Tsquared was also noticeably quiet, though TBH he had played 3 hours straight of intense MLG, you can't expect too much from him. Hoping for more leadership next time, as he has the skills for that fo sho.

Agreed, completely. But think about this, Str8 always go away and put in time when they lose, to come back and play like they know they can, basically definitely winning the tournament, hence the whole on-off-on-off thing with tD. At Anaheim they showed much more than at Dallas, they took Carbon down a peg after an embarrassing 3-0 only one event before, yet tD have really solidified recently and it's become clear that Str8 not only have to play good, but great if they want to beat them in the current climate.

But if every time they lose they get serious face and come back to win, what about when it didn't work? Some say it'll knock 'em for six, but imo all it's gonna do is make them more determined to win. No one is more hungry for the win than Str8 after just losing, and after losing twice you can bet they're thinking of little else than winning Orlando beyond any question. If they really turn up and play the best that they can play, history says that no one can stand in their way.

But then, is that true anymore with tD reaching the point they have, and undoubtedly going further by the time Orlando comes around? Hmm....

[iRaynne]

the Str8 house not having internet is like two-year old news... they've had internet for atleast a year now.

They don't have any excuses.

[T Cal]

I think it's going to be a good game between Str8 and TD. It could go either way and after watching the championship match in Anaheim its going to be exciting. Another good match will be Carbon vs Dynasty with Carbon barley getting the win with only 1 kill above Dynasty

[Pegasi]

Originally Posted by iRaynne

the Str8 house not having internet is like two-year old news... they've had internet for atleast a year now.

They don't have any excuses.

Snipedown is still in college, I'll bet that gets in the way. Though I think Shockeave is as well, and maybe even Hysteria as far as tD go. As for Pistola, I hear kindergarten gets pretty stressful around Christmas :P.

[Ladnil]

T2 gets so angry, its funny. He gets fucking worked up over the game(see game 10 reaction video). Which is good, if you're trying to pump your team up, but he also goes the opposite way and just gets pissed when they're losing(see losing to Carbon in Dallas). Two not-first-place finishes in a row is sure to make him angry, but I'm not sure he'll channel that rage into the most productive practices. I see him getting negative with his team and possibly hurting their morale too much for them to come back in Orlando. Not sure if Legit or Elamite has the maturity to drive the team in another direction, but I'm definitely not confident that T2 will bounce back strong from this one.

[Pegasi]

Originally Posted by Ladnil

T2 gets so angry, its funny. He gets fucking worked up over the game(see game 10 reaction video). Which is good, if you're trying to pump your team up, but he also goes the opposite way and just gets pissed when they're losing(see losing to Carbon in Dallas). Two not-first-place finishes in a row is sure to make him angry, but I'm not sure he'll channel that rage into the most productive practices. I see him getting negative with his team and possibly hurting their morale too much for them to come back in Orlando. Not sure if Legit or Elamite has the maturity to drive the team in another direction, but I'm definitely not confident that T2 will bounce back strong from this one.

I'd say that Str8 are stronger than that as a team, and T2 in the middle of a series is a completely different person from how he is week to week between events, we're never really gonna see that side of T2 properly to know. Fact is, Str8 could have played a decent amount better than they did at Anaheim and I think they know it. Elamite was the showstealer, and whilst that did make me particularly happy after all the 'Elamite is the weak link' bs following Dallas, to me that says that maybe Snipedown and Legit weren't quite in form. We certainly didn't see as much raw slaying power out of Snipedown in particular as we're used to when Str8 are really dominating.

So I think they know that they should be aiming higher than their performance in Anaheim, and that it's far from an unreasonable target to be taking number 1 with just that last, oh so important push from being good to great on the day. With this in mind, I don't see the panic setting in for Str8, just the realisation that tD are now at a stage where they pose an actual threat to Str8 even when they're trying properly, they can't just waltz to a first place finish after ever 2nd or 4th placing, they really have to work now. I think this will give them drive, T2 in particular, and as I said above, I think basing estimations of his mentality as a team leader over the next month and a bit on how pumped he is in the middle of a series is pretty tenuous,

[Ladnil]

In defense of my Elamite post before Anaheim, I did phrase it as "if somebody is going to go negative, it is going to be him," which I don't think is an untrue statement. It was probably an unnecessary comment though, because I recognize that K/D is the second most misleading postgame stat(first being who the game awards MVP) in terms of measuring player skill.

As for snipedown not being on form? I saw nothing to support that on the live stream, and the stats don't quite support it either. His K/D is almost triple the second place on his team's K/D(Elamite and Legit both went +27). His slaying power was definitely better relative to his teammates than it was in Dallas. Columbus saw Snipedown performing ridiculously though, going +102 to T2's +13 in second for str8, so I guess the case can be made that when Str8 dominates, Snipedown puts up insane numbers.

[Pegasi]

Originally Posted by Ladnil

In defense of my Elamite post before Anaheim, I did phrase it as "if somebody is going to go negative, it is going to be him," which I don't think is an untrue statement. It was probably an unnecessary comment though, because I recognize that K/D is the second most misleading postgame stat(first being who the game awards MVP) in terms of measuring player skill.

I think that was rather my point. I didn't think that Elamite going negative reflected specifically badly on him as the player that he is, but on Str8 at large (though obviously he is included in that as much as any other), yet everyone focused on it. Tbh, I thought that his decision making was about as good at Anaheim as it was at Dallas, which was my point about him all along. It was nice to see really because it was just a chance to put down criticism of Elamite's skill even though it wasn't actually the thing that mattered most. Even when people are taking the wrong path of reasoning completely, he can go off and show them that they're wrong even in this irrelevant sense.

As for snipedown not being on form? I saw nothing to support that on the live stream, and the stats don't quite support it either. His K/D is almost triple the second place on his team's K/D(Elamite and Legit both went +27). His slaying power was definitely better relative to his teammates than it was in Dallas. Columbus saw Snipedown performing ridiculously though, going +102 to T2's +13 in second for str8, so I guess the case can be made that when Str8 dominates, Snipedown puts up insane numbers.

Dear good, did you just secretly reveal yourself to be DMaq? Numbers galore :P. You're right, though, on form wasn't the right term to use. It's more about leading the way, and not leading the team in the sense that T2 obviously does, but being the slayer the team looks to for that integral push or re-take during important games. It seemed like, when it really came down to it, it was often Elamite doing these things, even thought overall stats may not reflect it, making those pushes or inroads in a clutch game didn't see Snipedown quite going off the way I think him well capable of.