What if the Gamereplays Invitational were to start today?
Nick 'BreakyCPK' Caras at Tue, Mar 2, 2010 18:02 - PST
With the Gamereplays Season 1 being half way over, I pondered how the brackets would look right now and what would happen, so this I asked myself. What If Gamereplays Season 1 were to end today and the Invitational Tournament was to begin....
First Round
[1] x6 – Check Six Gaming Vs. [8] x0 – O-Face
These two teams actually met once recently at LAN, although neither were full strength roster, but x6 seemed to have a fairly easy time with x0. And although x0 has a stronger roster for online play, they just lost Kaution who left to play with Unique.E-sports instead, and he leaves a large gap for O-Face to fill. Check Six Gaming has been on too much of a roll lately as well, and their momentum would carry them to a fairly easy victory once again.
Check Six Gaming > O-Face 2-0
[4] HAU – Team HAUSEN Vs. [5] MSI – Fnatic.MSI
A very even matchup, at no suprise with these two teams being the 4th and 5th seeds, but Fnatic.MSI has the slight advantage recently over Team HAUSEN. Fnatic.MSI has been to back to back semi-finals in Gamereplay Tournaments while Team HAUSEN has only been to one, losing in the most recent tournament to LAo in the second round. Although Team HAUSEN does have a bit more of long term experience in their favor (before they were myu) and will help to at least make this match up a lot more exciting. But Fnatic.MSI has just been on to much of a role lately, not only in the Gamereplay tournaments but in ESL as well. This one will be a best out of three, but Fnatic.MSI should come out victorious.
Fnatic.MSI > Team HAUSEN 2-1
[3] Dy – Dirty Minds Vs. [6] Qs – Q Sqaud (formerly HBB)
Another very even match up that would be very exciting to spectate, as both teams have had their share of success in tournaments. Dirty Minds however is the only one of these two who has made it to the Finals Match in the first Gamereplays Tournament of this season. We all know Dirty Minds is a team that loves to pull out unexpected lineups and this has been their strength so far, although recently they haven't been as shining as when they first started. Dirty Minds didn't even compete in the most recent GR Tournament due to roster conflicts, while Q Sqaud has always been a very consistent team reaching the Quarter-Finals in the last two tournaments while Dy didn't. Although Dirty Minds has been further in the past, Q Squad has the better consistency as of late and I would go with them for the upset in the first round.
Q Squad > Dirty Minds 2-1
[2] 5 – fiVe Vs. T7H – Take it to the House
T7H has been a strong force coming onto the competitive scene and has shown some promising signs of being a top tier team. They have reached the Quarter-Finals their first three GR Tournaments, only to be knocked out by the eventual champions Check Six Gaming in the two most recent. But unfortunatley they have to play team fiVe in the first round of the invitational, and although they have had great success, it will not prove to be enough to make it past. Team fiVe has a fire under them right now, as they have lost to Check Six Gaming in the last three GR Tournament Finals and they want to change that so they will be going full force here. It is just unfortunate for T7H that they are first in line.
FiVe > Take it to the House 2-0
Semi-Finals
[1] x6 – Check Six Gaming Vs. Qs – Q Squad
So with Q Squad running with momentum of their first round victory upset of Dirty Minds, they would have a lot of hype going into this match. Although Q Squad does have experience playing fiVe a couple of times in GR Tournament play, they have yet to play Check Six Gaming. And this will prove to be a fault for Q Sqaud as without the team experience it is hard to judge how you know what works against them. And against the top team in the world, you need that advantage to have any chance of upsetting. Check Six Gaming has been showing no signs of slowing down, as they have won the last three GR Tournaments in dominate fashion for the most part. Q Squads run will end here, although they have nothing to be upset about.
Check Six Gaming > Q Squad 2-0
[2] 5 – fiVe Vs. [5] MSI – Fnatic.MSI
This is actually a very interesting match up, as fiVe has the obvious long term experience but FnaticMSI has shown a lot of potential, especially recently. In the last two GR Tournaments FnaticMSI has reached the semi-finals defeating some very tough teams to get their including WAY, BTN and Dy. Although Team fiVe has appeared in every finals, they don't neccesarily have the hardest routes to get there. The last couple of GR Tournaments they have had very easy routes to the semi-finals compared to most other teams, although they do deserve the route because of their seed. But this worries me, as they have never fought FnaticMSI in Tournament play and may not be ready for their truly strong play. FnaticMSI has been said to have the most potential of any of the other teams to defeat either fiVe or Check Six Gaming in Tournament play, and this is their chance to prove it. However, I still think fiVe will pull through because their desire to play Check Six Gaming and defeat them is too much and they will not let FnaticMSI stop them. But do not be surprised to see FnaticMSI take one game.
fiVe > FnaticMSI 2-1
Finals
[1] x6 – Check Six Gaming Vs. [2] 5 – fiVe
All signs point to once again another Check Six Gaming vs fiVe Finals match up and these two teams have a whole lot of experience against one another to say the least. And they don't necessarily like eachother either, so that is what makes this rivalry that much sweeter for the spectators. Since Check Six Gaming earned their sponsorship with the Hon League Tournament Victory over Team fiVe, it is insane what kind of roll they have been on. In the past, these two teams were back and forth in terms of who beats who, but Check Six has won the last three times they have fought. Being the best of three however, I still think this will reach a game 3 as fiVe is too good to be swept, but Check Six Gaming's streak will continue and they will prove to be once again the most dominant team in HoN.
Check Six Gaming > fiVe 2-1
