CEVO CS 1.6 Predictions
by Jimbo "suicidal" RobinsonTeam x3o (11-2) vs. mainGear (4-8)
Although I'm not really sure on which team is which, just last week mainGear announced that they had switched to take the name of Ruins; now this week it seems mainGear has returned. One thing is for sure, the current roster is indeed missing some of the original roster. With that being said, Team x3o has another surprising victory last week; when they recieved a forfeit win against EG.usa, something you don't see everyday from this level of competition.
x3o will win if.... They did recieve the forfeit win last week against EG.usa, but they are on a current 6-game winning streak. They have been playing really well as of late. One thing I am worried about however, is the fact that x3o is currently participating in the ESWC Masters in California; so it may affect the way the play on a map such as tuscan. They should be well warmed up by the LAN matches they play throughout out the weekend, and they will need to play as well as they have been playing. They should win this match.
mainGear will win if.... The first time these two teams met earlier in the season, it went in the favor of x3o in a blowout. With the name and roster issues this team has suffered over the past few weeeks, its no reason why they have lost their last four matches. They have to overcome all of these obstacles in order to beat a talented team such as x3o.
And the winner is.... TEAM x3o is currently ranked number one in CEVO-P, and are currently riding a six game winning streak. I look for them to dominate this match and keeping their ranking. They are too good of a team at this point in the season, and mainGear just has too many problems for me to say they will pull an upset this week. x3o will win this match 16-9.
Paragon of Virtue (7-5) vs. Ferocity (5-8)
Last week we saw Paragon of Virtue with a solid 16-8 victory over mainGear/Ruins. Ferocity was also in action when they took on Mug N Mouse, resulting in a big loss by the score of 16-4. The first time these two teams met, back in week two on de_dust2; POV was able to pull off a very solid win by the score of 16-6. Ferocity does hold victories over MoB.Gaming and EG.usa, so they definately have what it takes to beat this POV team.
POV will win if.... Paragon of Virtue has won four of their last six matches, one of those wins was a thrashing of compLexity on dust2. POV is one of those teams that wins matches it probley shouldn't win, and it wins those matches that it should win. This is one of those matches where they should win, and they are going to have to play like they really want to win this. They need to jump out on top and gain some early advantage, and then ride it to the victory.
Ferocity will win if.... In a similar fashion, Ferocity is also four out of their last, only the four they have going for them is in losses, 4 losses in their last 6 matches. Ferocity has seem some downtime over the past few weeks so it will be interesting to see if they have fixed any of their woes. There going to need to find the form they had in the beginning of the season they had when they were able to knock of EG.usa and MoB.Gaming; if they can do that, they will win.
And the winner is.... Going solely off of what the past few weeks have brought us, I seriously think that POV have been playing better than ferocity over the past three weeks. They will continue to roll and add another victory to their win-loss record. Paragon of Virtue will win this match 16-11.
Mug N Mouse (3-10) vs. Malice Gaming (6-7)
Last week we saw Mug N Mouse take on Ferocity, in the first half of week 7 match on de_tuscan. Mug N Mouse came out dominating that match early and often, resulting in their third victory of the CEVO season by the score of 16-4. Malice Gaming was also in action last week when they took on MoB.Gaming, resulting in another rare forfeit win.
Mug N Mouse will win if.... Its no secret that their in-game play has picked up over the past few weeks, eventhough the wins haven't racked up yet. They have proven that they can play in this professional league. There victory over Ferocity last week proves that they can indeed win on any given night, something I was afraid to commit into saying so far. If there able to ride the momentum of the dominating win over Ferocity last week, they should be able to take care of this match as well.
Malice will win if.... In their last five matches, Malice has went on to win four of them, including last weeks forfeit win over MoB.Gaming. Their only loss came to Frag Dominant, a match that could have went either way; the final score being 16-14. Malice has indeed, been on fire over the past few weeks and they will need to continue to ride that streak if they want to beat this fiesty MNM team.
And the winner is.... With total disregards to both teams win-loss records, both teams have been playing pretty well lately. It would almost be a coin-flip to try and choose one of these two teams at this current time. I am going to do something that I haven't done so far while doing these predictions, and that is to choose Mug N Mouse, as they pickup their first back-to-back wins in this CEVO-P season. Mug N Mouse wins this match 16-13.
Frag Dominant (9-4) vs. MoB.Gaming (9-3)
Last week we say MoB.Gaming forfeit to Malice Gaming. This week I hope it is a different story because they have dropped out of second place by a few percentage points behind this very Frag Dominant team. Frag Dominant was also in action as they took on .50 Calibre; resulting in a very solid 16-2 victory. These two teams are among the top-tier teams in North America at tis time, so it should be a very exciting matchup.
Frag Dominant will win if.... Frag Dominant met up with MoB.Gaming earlier in the season and actually defeated them giving them then, their only loss of the season. Frag Dominant has come back with a vengance since that match with compLexity a few weeks ago, and have won four straight. They will need all the momentum they can get, and they need a strong player from more than just "gwhatkey," if they want to win this one.
MoB.Gaming will win if.... This team is coming off of a forfeit loss to Malice Gaming, and who knows if it was because they couldn't field 5; or it was because they were preparing for the ESWC Masters in California. Either way, this is a very solid team and they need to come out and play like the MoB.Gaming we know their capable of. If they can do that, they should win.
And the winner is.... Picking either one of these teams to win when their playing anyone else is almost always a sure pick, but the fact of the matter is they are playing one another. These two teams have been playing very well over the weeks and this one should be no shocker to anyone, it should be a great match. One of these two teams has to win and with all of the matches they have the potential to play over this weekend, I look for MoB.Gaming to come away with a close victory. MoB.Gaming wins this match 16-12.
compLexity (6-7) vs. .50 Calibre (2-11)
These two teams met on dust2 back in the first half of week2, with .50 Calibre coming from behind to shock compLexity and gave them a loss. This time around, compLexity will be looking to make sure that doesn't happen again. Last week, compLexity took on Devastation on de_tuscan; and let them come from behind and steal a victory. .50 Calibre took on Frag Dominant last match on the same map, resulting in a 16-2 blowout loss.
compLexity will win if.... compLexity comes into this match losing four of their last five matches. Three of those losses however, are by no more than five rounds. Besides the one blowout loss to POV, compLexity has played decently well over their last few matches. They played particularly well in the first half of the devastation match last week before they let it get away from them. They need to re-group, and start to close matches. If they can play a complete game, then they should win this match.
.50 Calibre will win if.... When these two teams met back in week 2, .50 Calibre was able to come away with a victory then. .50 Calibre needs to take advantage of compLexity not closing out their matches, and they could come from behind once again and win this match as well. Currently the last place ranked team in CEVO, their match with compLexity should be an up-hill battle.
And the winner is.... Although neither of these teams have won alot in the past few weeks, this may turn out to be alot closer than it should. I look for compLexity to finally add another win to their record, as they come out and continue their first-half like dominance they showed in the Devastation match last week. compLexity wins this match 16-9.
Devastation (6-7) vs. Evil Geniuses.usa (8-4)
Last week we saw EG.usa forfeit there first-half week 7 match to x3o on de_tuscan. Like MoB.Gaming, I'm unsure if it was because they were unable to field 5 or if it was because of the ESWC Masters in California. Devastation on the other hand was in action, as they took of compLexity on the same map, de_tuscan. They lost the first half by the score of 9-6, and then came back strong in the second half to come from behind and add another victory to their record.
Devastation will win if.... They were able to come from behind basically take a win away from compLexity last week. They have won four of their last five matches, and looking to continue that streak will prove to be a very tough task indeed. They will need some good fortune, solid gameplay, and play mistake-free to take this win from EG.usa.
EG.usa will win if.... After their forfeit loss to TEAM x3o last week, it will be interesting to see if they have any rust when they play on tuscan. Chances are they will be warm and ready from the matches they are scheduled to play in the ESWC Masters this weekend. They will need to make sure their ready for what Devastation has to throw at them.
And the winner is.... Its no secret that EG.usa is one of the best teams in North America at this time, when the NA rankings were released the last time, they were in the #1 spot; alot has changed since then though. EG.usa will come out, and prove to Devastation that they belong in that spot. EG.usa wins this match 16-11.
I started doing this prediction articles during the last half of week 2, and I have yet to post what my overall prediction record is. One fact about it is, I have yet to have a perfect 6-0 record at the end of any week; and I think that I have a really good shot at this week. From week 2.2 all the way to the current week 7.2; I have an overall record of 36 correctly guessed matches compared to 18 missed matches. That is a mere 66.6% and I personally don't take pride in that, I will try to pick to number up greatly for all you readers. Thanks for taking the time out for reading these articles and I greatly appreicate your time.
