How does one successfully achieve what you mentioned in the last paragraph? If it's mainly through ESEA then I assume that a service like FACEIT might be more in line with what the casual comp lover needs.

I say this because I don't quite understand how CS:GO makes it easier if the main helper is that 3rd party system and not the publisher.

Personally I feel like Blizz could enlist the help of FACEIT to provide a better MM, solo or group, experience but I fully admit that my knowledge of those is extremely lacking. If that's what you mean by Blizz making it easier then I agree, else I feel like that's putting too much onus on them in terms setting up organized play for the players themselves.

Jake made a piece on the lackings of MM and what not:
Something to Strive For

I shall give this a thorough read through. I love topics like these and hell you've already hooked me in after one paragraph.

Also, what Admirable said :)

Edit: A+

I agree that they haven't performed to the level I expected them to, but right now this isn't about Misfits. Team Sweden needs to find a way to make this work or risk not getting a chance to qualify.

LOOL! Yeah that's a funny one! Maybe they'll borrow Miro for this one. But I would indeed have liked to see KDP vs SK for the reason you just mentioned.

Interesting, the more exposure and hype they get as their OWC groups come up the better.

The boyz need to step it up if they want a shot at the playoff qualifier. At this point they need to win decisively against Italy, win as many maps as possibly against AUS, or just get the win, and hope Portugal doesn't fair as well as them.

I do think they can make it, but they may very well end up in 2nd, more than likely having to face Finland. Not impossible, but currently looking like a though ask.

-10 pts to Gryffindor for the lack of puns.

On another note, they look incredibly good and right now I'd think they'd be the favorites to come out first in the group and avoid Finland. Let's see if things go to plan or if more surprises are in store for us.

A win here guarantees Australia a top two finish and would go a long way in locking up first place. Can't underestimate Portugal no mo, but I have to give the advantage to AUS/BLANK.

Let's see if we're in for a another exciting game, upset, or landslide.

With the loss to Japan Spain will absolutely need to play their hearts out because if they lose here and Japan wins vs Vietnam they're done.

Didn't expect this result at all, but it's a tall order for Spain's DJ nation if they want to keep their hopes alive.

• See wut I did derr?

A win for Japan will all but guarantee their spot in the top two. Spain's fate could end up being sealed by this very match depending on how they perform against Finland.

With Japan's win 2nd place is up for grabs. Finland looks like they can secure their top seed win just a win over the flashy Japanese squad.

• Note that they may also be the ones to put the nail in Spain's coffin depending on their match's result.

Welp, looks like the Group D Wild Card turned out to be Japan, and boy did they shake things up!

NIHON YATTA!!!

I think Sweden should win this, and realistically they need to not drop a map to give themselves the best chance possible. This might be their last chance to control their own fates.

As far as I know only Jasper and deartn are on Libalent Supreme, the rest aren't on notable teams it would seem. Reading through Shank's introduction to team Japan I don't think most of their home teams would be the ones invited to tournaments.

That could change with this match but it seems this "super team" is straight up over achieving, and it's a beautiful thing.

Did not see this coming. Currently 2-0 for Japan but even if Spain brings it back it's still a victory for them considering how much of an underdog they were here.

I'm thoroughly impressed.

Japan is probably the most entertaining team yet. Loved the super aggro style. Nihon ganbatte!!

A clinic in domination, Finland showed a lot of promise albeit against a weaker opponent. Looking forward to the match vs Spain to see if there's a gap there as well but they are clearly the heavy favourites. I'd go so far as saying that they have the definite edge if they end up having to face Sweden.

Isn't that what the open OW Open Division is for? And I thought ESEA was a third party system as well no? I don't know much about CS:GO so I honestly don't know, but you're saying you want Blizzard to help organize scrims for teams or the team themselves?

In the end this is a win for Portugal even if Sweden was able to tie it up, imo. They were the massive underdogs in this one but really brought it to the Swedes.

Quick predictions on who makes it through here, imo:

Group C

1. Australia
2. Sweden

Group D

1. Finland
2. Spain

Wildcards: Portugal and Vietnam

Wouldn't be surprised if the Wildcards shook things up, looking forward to see what happens here.

Genju main of course, close to 500 hrs on him across all my accounts.

Sounds similar and is a familiar word for non Japanese speakers. If it was said in a sentence you may very think you could have heard it since you wont be able to tell where words start and end.

This is way too early but I may need to revise my first impressions, AUS/BLANK is looking like they're flexing to end first in the group unless Sweden or Portugal can wrestle it away from them.

Portugal may yet me able to contest this but it looks like a win here is going to be extremely important to achieve that.

I can see that, but I feel like Korea might be prepared for France much like KDP and LH were in APEX. Mainly because it's the same team and seeing how the Danes were able to scare the shit out of Frogue I'll give the general edge the our South Korean overlords.

Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd be able to take down both Portugal and Sweden. Will be interesting to see how BLANK/AUS do against the rest of the group.

So many Lucio mains...so many shotcallers, is this going to be the most coordinated team we've ever seen?

Interesting. They next face AFB in the BattleRoyal on July 25th so they'll need to iron those quirks out fairly quickly or else it may end up being a repeat of their APEX group match.

がんばって、日本! (Do your best Japan!)

がんばって、日本! (Do your best Japan!)

• Yes I know some Japanese, yes I'm a weeb, yes I'm proud of it.

Runaway's versatility is impressive and it can either be a good thing or it can later turn into the C9/Misfits problem where everyone plays everything when they can't figure out an opponent. I'm hoping they're able to settle into a solid comp for themselves because I really want to see them do well here and at APEX.

Exactly, though I think I'll probably be able to figure it out after this round's qualifiers.

I think they should both finish at the top of their groups so we may not have to, but if we do get that match, prematurely imo, it means they either under performed or one of their competitors really brought it to them.

I'm not quite convinced that it will but yeah, anything can happen.

Thank you for the information, much appreciated.

We may have to, but not being able to theorize properly is hurting my soul, even if it has no actual meaning. IT HURTS MAN.

The CWoosH pick is an interesting but exciting one! Now hopefully they'll have meshed well and figured out their roles since some seem to overlap like the DPS and and Supports.

I think the only roster change i would have made would have been to bring Coco back since I personally feel like he's a stronger tank, not to take anything away from Reinforce of course. That and possibly getting a dedicated Lucio but still there's a lot of potential and i think they have a strong chance of taking first spot in this group.

The question being how will they fare in the qualifier match and beyond...

I commented about it in this thread but I was wondering if anyone had a solid grasp on how Blizz is doing the Groups to Playoffs/QF shuffle.

My two pathetic attempts at it looked like this:

((A1 vs B2) vs (D1 vs C2)) vs ((F1 vs E2) vs (G1 vs H2))
vs
((B1 vs A2) vs (C1 vs D2)) vs ((E1 vs F2) vs (H1 vs G2))

OR

((A1 vs B2) vs (C1 vs D2)) vs ((E1 vs F2) vs (G1 vs H2))
vs
((B1 vs A2) vs (D1 vs C2)) vs ((F1 vs E2) vs (H1 vs G2))

I based those on the PlayOverwatch Here’s How We Play YT vid but it's confusing at best.

It doesn't change much but I would like to be able to better model the what ifs and such. Lemme know what you think.

I agree. I'm still worried about Flower and his finger injury since it seems to keep him below 100%. Now, it's hard to tell if that's going to be enough to cause they to bow out earlier than most would expect but for the sake of competition I do hope he finds a way to get some, if not all, of his mojo back.

you forgot Frogue and France.

I bring great shame to over.gg, I must now commit perform sudoku

• Has to be a performance worth watching, or else your repentance won't be honorable enough.

I don't know any of these players, but as a proud weeb I'll be low key rooting for them to surprise the group..AND THE WORLD!

Interestingly enough KDU just lost to Miraculous Youngster in the Upper Bracket SF of the Nexus Cup. I can't translate that into strength relative to the Korean cast. MY looks like a decent team, finishing in the 5th-6th place of the Premier Series 2017 Spring tournament.

I feel like they might be able to take a map or two, but I wouldn't be too surprised to see a sweep.

Australia for the win...NOW BATTLE, FOR THE COMMONWEALTH..FOR THE QUEEN!!! Uh...I mean...go Australia.

And the quest to be the best team in AUS, while BLANK is away, begins anew! Much luck to the new squi...eh squad!

Subs or die. Hell, sometimes I even go...raw.

Hmm, if some of the teams disappear you know they'll probably sleeping with the fishes...

Honestly the only way their flag meta gets any better is if they replace the two Russians with Fins. Not sure how that would translate win wise but man, the flags would be uber coordinated.

I step away from my computer for a few hours and this happens? Guess I'll have to no-life the heck out of over.gg to make sure I'm the first to pick up on these and make my mom proud.

p.s. Canada forgives, but never forgets. Just ask the Queen of England when ever she visits Atlantic Canada.

X6 survives to fight another day, now they wait to face the loser of the Runaway/VG match with the latter having beaten FTD 2-0 in the first round. It does look like they have a real chance of moving further into the lower bracket but it also wouldn't be a stretch to see them go home.

Since the breakup of wNv.kr the dynamic of this tournament seems to be changing quite a bit.

Not sure how to quantify this since I've never seen or heard of LGE before. With that I'm not sure what this actually means for NC Foxes' strength relative to their peers but hopefully this tournament was just a bump in the road and they can compete against the other Korean teams this upcoming season.

Their last few matches have made me a bit doubtful though.