If London plays like they did against Houston, this should be a win for NYXL. But since they have two rosters, who knows? Definitely hard to predict results from a roster like that.

Though we mustn't forget how bad dhaK's Mercy was in stage 1. Should be a wash for that role.

With those maps, I could see it being a triple-tank fest. No clue who wins that since neither team showed much tank play in stage 1.

If it's an endurance test, London EZ. They just swap rosters and let the other half take a nap.

I mean, the first two sets they won 2/3 maps they put him in for (Junkertown x 2, Illios). Can't say he's specifically to blame.

If you look at the actual results, it went like this:
They lost a super-tight series to Dynasty, a great team.
They were convincingly ground out by Valiant, a very good team.
They got rolled by Outlaws, a low-mid-tier team.

That looks a lot like terrible, terrible tilt. Seagull can't be the cause of all that.

Given the Mercy meta, I'd expect a win from Valiant––uNKOE's a top-tier Mercy.
Maybe in a non-Mercy world, we'd see something different.

That said, I've heard pros say that the Mercy plague is less bad during scrims than what we all see in ladder.

This'll be pretty easy for SK even if I wish it weren't.

And I win the bet. That was easy.

If you think that was a conspiracy-level choke then I really don't think you've watched much OW. It was a very normal-level tilt. Happens almost all the time in tourneys. You lose or tie a game you thought you won, then everything starts getting a lot harder. Both teams were clearly trying and both teams were playing great up until the tilting point, when the USA started to get sloppy.

But seriously, it happens all the time. I wonder what tournaments you have been watching that don't go this way.

Right, because a super-tight grind for the majority of the series constitutes a slaughter.

USA looked great. SK looked a bit better (but probably worse than they would have looked in a less merciful meta).

I'll take that bet.

If they choose LG evil + replace Train (Canadian) with another DPS, that should be a pretty solid roster and should take the group 3-0. If they do something else, who knows? There are tons of great NA players, but actually getting them to work together well could be like herding cats.

The spiciest groups IMO (assuming optimal player selection):

D (Finland, Japan, Spain, Vietnam) -- Probably the most group of deathy of them all, with Finland, Japan, and Spain all able to assemble excellent teams on paper

G (USA, Taipei, Brazil, NZ) -- Depending on whether USA does a good job at selection (i.e., chooses mostly LG Evil), I could see Taipei or Brazil giving them a run. Brazil Gaming House looked great online, even at 200+ms. Without that handicap, it could get real.

H (UK, Germany, Israel, Belgium) -- Germany's the favorite, but the UK and Belgium seem close enough to contest the second slot

B (France, Denmark, Thailand, Argentina) -- Also a potential for good competition if Thailand gets something together. I remember them impressing last year. Regardless, gonna be a sick match between Rogue and the Danes.

Numbani, eh? Tricky for an unpracticed team, if my experiences with QP are any indication.

Damn, lost in OT. NRG has been close every King's Row but never closes.

Ping is like 120-170ms on west coast. Not literally unplayable, but it obviously sucks. And for Koreans used to playing on <5ms, even worse. (Mendo's like 250ms on west coast, which also sucks.)

Anyway, glad NRG cleaned house with those advantages. Good momentum-builder.

I do realize that, yes. Which is why I said the money isn't good enough for the low-stakes online tourneys. (Also, they may be salaried, but winnings typically mean big bonuses for the players as incentives. From an org perspective, the prize money is peanuts compared to merchandise sales as a result of the team's performance/popularity. No huge motivation for them to pocket more than a share of the pot.)

And NRG wouldn't want to lose him (unless they get a sick-ass buyout offer). Sounds like a pretty solid deal for Brandon. The dream.

(Sucks for the rest of the roster, though! Well, at least it sucks for anyone in the DPS hotseat.)

It's clearly the right financial decision at this point. Without the OWL, the money just isn't there (for everything except APEX/APAC, and you've gotta be godly to get the real money). The money is there right now on Twitch. And if you're Seagull, your fame is enough to get you a good spot in the league if you want it.

I'm personally a bit sad to see Seagull shelve the competitive dream after rebuilding the roster and scrimming for months (we didn't even get a single tourney!), but hopefully the OWL thing doesn't take too long to come together.

seagCaw.

You can't made Shadder and Seagull duel. They're brothers in weeb.

Seagull predicted 3-2 LH on stream last night. Insider trading confirmed. SEC Blizzard branch contacted. Expect major penalties (and jailtime for Dummy).

Ping Wars 2K17.

Envy and C9 and Fnatic looking conspicuously absent. Might be that they're all on vaca after all that time in Korea. Certainly opens up the field, though.

gingerly raises NRG flag

Edit: From the tourney organizer on Reddit:

"Some of the teams weren't able to accept the invites when we were handing them out"

So we might see them out of the open bracket after all.

Hammers got bought by LG and made a sister team to the mostly EU LG.

Looks like AF Blue is mistakenly marked as the winner.

Ah, my bad. It's just showing the winner of a single match at once.

It was a joke in reference that article and its comments.

But now I am sad because I had to explain my joke. I have failed as a comedian. Back to my day job.

2 Seagull appearances, 0 thumbnail representation. Feels like a lost business opportunity.