Warlords vs. Ferrum
Warlords and Ferrum are both 2-2 and are facing each other in a match which might end up deciding a whole lot in the end of the season. Warlords kicked their regular season off with victories over -BlitZed- and )(MasteR)(, but since then have lost to Fly-NDeath and Mutiny, so they've beaten the wekaer squads they've faced and then lost to the stronger ones, a very common season for Warlords. Ferrum started their season with losses to StarFire Elite and Wretcheds, but have taken fairly easy victories from Alcoholism and Llamasery after that. These two squads have had very similar seasons so far and now, finally, in round five AML's system has brought them against each other. Excellent. To my understanding, Ferrum's a whole lot more active at the moment in terms of practicing, so that gives them the edge. Also, they're on a two match winning streak. The christmas break has probably made all the players quite rusty, so this match'll be largely decided on who gets the first man out and who handles subbing better. I believe Ferrum has the edge there, even though I haven't seen any good subbing done by the squad so far...maybe they'll improve on that here.
Prediction: Ferrum 12-6
Players to watch: Gazelle, LuRp
Alcoholism vs. Exodus
Alcoholism reminds me of the early days of The BodyCount in Delta league in Euro. They squad clearly has a good amount of potential and some good pilots, but they haven't won a match yet, pretty much like TBC before season four in Delta. This is the match where they have the chance to claim an easy victory. Exodus, while a good turret in Chaos, have shown very little in Amateur league. Losses to Integral, Liquid Inc, KoTH and -BlitZed- aren't really something to be proud about, so I'd suggest Alcoholism to win here, since they're clearly better as a team than Exodus.
Prediction: Alcoholism 12-6
Players to watch: Big Brother, AC
Abnocto Pestis vs. )(MasteR)(
Abnocto Pestis: Victories over Alcoholism and Bunner and a loss to Heaven. )(MasteR)(: Victories over (Spies) and Epik and losses to Warlords and Wretcheds. It's really a fairly tough call, NightBane didn't show much last season, but Abnocto Pestis have looked a whole lot better in matches, so... well, Master has The Real "my daughter wrote on a Chaos board that I've died as my wife" Picard on their squad, so saying that they'll lose would be the obvious choice here.
Prediction: Abnocto Pestis 12-4
Players to watch: Fluctus, Flurry
Happy Mob vs. Birds of Prey
Matches like this make me want to immigrate myself to IML. Birds of Prey are 1-2 with losses to Tweaked and Liquid Inc, those take them out of my book of "possible champions". Sure, those matches were close, but with two losses like that in three matches, a squad cannot expect to make it through the single elimination playoffs. Uhm, now then, Happy Mob, well, can't blame them for not trying, take spirant for example, he did MVP against Old Germany, so he's by all accounts ready to play Pro. Happy Mob took a suprising victory over BlitZed in round three, but lost to Tweaked and got their two game winning streak snapped. I believe BoP'll grab an easy victory here, which'll take them to 2-2.
Prediction: Birds of Prey 12-4
Players to watch: Demokillers, designator
Old Germany vs. -BlitZed-
Well, another one. BlitZed has been a disappointment, especially their loss against Happy Mob is a shocking blow after a fairly good preseason. Well, at least they beat Exodus. Old Germany...well, I wonder how it feels like to talk, talk, talk and then get your words shoved right back down your throat...maybe some OG}dude can tell me. Even though BlitZed should take this one easily, I expect it to almost reach 20 kills.
Prediction: -BlitZed- 12-7
Players to watch: OG}Damaged, Pretty Hate Machine-
Epik vs. Bunner
Well, Epik's been pretty much as relaxed as a crowbar this season and they'll be facing a cruel "second half" of the season if they can't rack up some victories and quick. A loss to Heaven is understandable, but a loss to )(MasteR)(? Well, here's a chance to shape up against the struggling Bunner. Bunner's season has been pretty dim so far, with their only victory being a forfeit win from KoTH. Maybe tritoch is being serious with his "we'll lose the first five and then get easy teams to face in the second half" tactic...which by the way doesn't work...uhh, well, predicting against Bunner is usually a bad call, but I saw RichterScale praccing the other day and that's a good sign.
Prediction: Epik 12-5
Players to watch: RichterScale, A BIG NEWBIE
ASWZ vs. Integral
I like this season's AML, I really do. It's like downloading a (vocal) version of your favourite song and realize that you already have it named as (original)... Now, the match at hand...wtf was that analogy? Christ... ok, Integral bit the dust against StarFire Newbeet last round, so their form is indefinitely very bad. ASWZ took an impressive 12-3 victory over the weakened Blasphemy in the same round, so I don't think they'll have any difficulties beating Integral here.
Prediction: ASWZ 12-3
Players to watch: poody, Blindsight
Fly-NDeath vs. Heaven
Two very strong AML squads face off here. Most people have predicted for Heaven, so this is my chance to be elite and predict for Fly-NDeath! The lack of bench has been the prime arguement against FND in this matchup's previews, but I don't see that being so big-a-problem, since the squad can throw in a strong starting lineup. To be quite frank, this match doesn't decide all that much, but it's a good showement of AML's top quality squads for this season.
Prediction: Fly-NDeath 9-6
Players to watch: USS Evader, Zorro
KoTH vs. SilverArrows
Well KoTH did lose to Old Germany...but at least they knew that they had a valid appeal. SilverArrows, the "we are not last season's Fly-nDeath" -bunch have reached a point where they can move up from the very bottom of the league, and this should be the spot to capitalize. And well, at least SilverArrows beat Old Germany.
Prediction: SilverArrows 12-7
Players to watch: eye, DBeckham
StarFire Elite vs. Dissent
A good match here. And it's mine. No prediction.
Prediction: NONE
Players to watch: Mauler & buddies.
Wretcheds vs. No Data
Boy, did No Data let everyone down by losing to Liquid Inc. And who is to blame? With the log I'd say Lensman/Nerve Impulse, but I didn't see the match, so no comment on that. After two easy victories the squad has had a tough road with only a marginal victory against ASWZ and then a marginal loss to Liquid Inc, it has been downhill after the beginning for one of the championship contenders. Wretchreds started their season with a loss against Tweaked but after that they've taken the hides of Ferrum, Bunner and )(MasteR)(. Now they face No Data, but I doubt they'll extend the winning streak to four matches here. No Data needs to regroup and win here to reach the second half of the season with a 4-1 record, they need a good win now, so expect some more offense than usually.
Prediction: No Data 12-5
Players to watch: Liquid Medal, Nelson
Blasphemy vs. Llamasery
Two playoff squads from last season have been struggling this season. Both are 1-3, Blasphemy beat -BlitZed- and Llamasery took their victory against SilverArrows, and well, to be frank, neither squad has been very convincing so far. Blasphemy needs this victory more than Llamasery, so I'm guessing that they'll take the victory here, although, to me it looks like they aren't fielding their very best for some reason.
Prediction: Blasphemy 12-6
Players to watch: Coastal, Razar
Liquid Inc vs. Mutiny
I still say there should be a dot after the Inc... well, two squads that I expected to be in the middle-class of the league have ended up in the higher levels of the pyramid. Both squads have played some very impressive matches so far, so this one should be extremely good. Mutiny has beaten Blasphemy, StarFire Elite and Warlords. Liquid Inc have downed Exodus, Birds of Prey and No Data. Both very impressive streaks. I'm picking Mutiny, since they are slightly more active..
Prediction: Mutiny 12-6
Players to watch: FAID, KillDawg
Tweaked vs. Victimise
Well, it's now 5.50 am, I got home an hour ago and some dumb 12-year old children are still shooting fireworks outside my home and it pisses me off... I would yell at them, but that would make me look like an adult...what? Victimise? Uh, the squad's so badly based on Mikhal that it makes me sick...then again, Tweaked's completely based on Super.Fly... I'll predict for Tweaked just to look über-l33t if they manage to upset. Spec the weasels, boys, the weasels, you know who they are.
Prediction: Tweaked 12-7
Players to watch: Super.Fly, Mikhal
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