TPG Main - Finals Preview

[Sp|dEr]

The season comes down to this. Two teams, MVPz and undefeated heavyweight looking to polish off their perfect season, and htk, an underdog in many circles looking to upset this giant of a team and showing the community that you should not count out South Americans in modern DoD competition. Looking at both team’s rosters, it is literally a “really??” moment in most people’s minds as they do not necessarily come across as elite players, but I will tell you that each and every person on both rosters can do the job efficiently and effectively. This match has much more implications than I think many are considering. There has always been a palatable distain in the community by some people against South Americans, you can search the forums and there are posts littered with everything from their English incapability’s, to their high pings which some would argue give them a distinct advantage in the game. Either way it is hard to ultimately see the skill that they bring to the table now, especially with htk pulling out key wins in the playoffs. Either way this Sunday November 18, 2012, these two teams will play on DoD_Anzio, and at that point we will see who is victorious, David, or Goliath.

The top seed in the division, and the one which no team has been able to best yet, is Most Valuable Playerz, (MVPz). They have utilized their teamwork and strategy in order to best their opponents. While they may not be as individually skilled as the best players in the division, their teamwork has been far and away better than anyone had imagined. To understand more about the enigma which is MVPz I sit down with Defiance.

Sp|dEr: First tell us a little bit about your starting lineup and how MVPz came about this season.

defiance: Our starting lineup for the finals will be Narc and Defiance on heavies, Shifty thirding, Charles Sniping, Subject rifling, and some combination of either traize/rwc/likwid? rifling.

MVPz had a weird start to the season. We won IM last season even though we never scrimmed. Narc wanted to change that this season so he picked up subject and charles, so that we could scrim all the time. (total scrims this season was 4.) I picked up shifty because I didn’t have 6 in preseason. Our more inactive players like likwid, rwc, and traize understood we wanted to be active, so they were okay with benching. The one midseason change we had to make was that Disturbed got sent to Alaska to work on the oil pipelines, so we had to pick up mike!

Sp|dEr: Going into the finals with an undefeated record, do you feel any pressure to complete that perfect season? Or is the team solely focused on 1 match at a time?

defiance: I know I am not feeling too much pressure and I don't think anyone else really is either. The wins just kept coming throughout the season without us really even being serious about it. I spoke to shifty about this, and the only matches we actually care about winning are against people who trash talk incessantly. h2k have been nothing but fine gentlemen this season, and I look forward for a fun finals match, with no pressure. If we win, cool, if not, no biggie, won't be the first time some of us have lost a finals match.

Sp|dEr: The road to this point for MVPz has not been easy, what was the most difficult obstacle you had to accomplish to reach this point?

defiance: Definitely losing mike has been the biggest obstacles. He's definitely either our most skilled player

Sp|dEr: On paper MVPz does not seem to be the powerhouse it has proven to be, what is the secret that has carried you this far?

defiance: Still trying to figure out the answer to this question myself. Even though we have been outfragged by more skilled teams, we communicate very well. Everyone is selfless when it comes to breaking a mid cap. As long as we get a nade off, no one seems to mind dying.

Sp|dEr: Even with the outcome not going in MVPz's way, amassing a nearly flawless record in main is difficult to ignore, and with that what can we expect from MVPz next season? will you stay in main, or bump up to invite and why?

defiance: We haven't discussed next season yet at all. I don't know what plans everyone has, if they have another team in mind, or if they are done with dod. Speaking as an admin, If MVPz exists in its current state next season, it will be in invite. There will be a lot of teams going up from Main to Invite next season.

Sp|dEr: Any final comments or shout-outs?

defiance: I just like to say this goes out to our haters. We embrace the hate. Shifty says: "I would like to thank mike for my open ring" Everyone else is unavailable for comment at this time!


The next team I think has shattered everyone’s expectations, especially being a primarily a non-American team, and I think because of this it will give a lot more dramatic effect to this match. Htk started off on a difficult foot, losing to the now disbanded LAB, and only amassing a 4-4 record throughout the regular season. They seemingly pull themselves together though gaining wins over NoGo! And a very strong EvC team in the semi-finals. This next match will ultimately test themselves and their teamwork as Anzio is a teamwork driven map, and they face the number one team. To find out more from htk I sat down with seanality.

Sp|dEr: First tell us a little bit about your starting lineup and how HTK came about this season.

seanality: Sholta – heavy, Spawnzz – heavy, senCe – Sniper, lilgo – rifle, seanality – rifle, dag1 - 3rd/light

Not entirely sure on the history of htk and it's lineups, but this is what we have been using for the last 2 or 3 matches. I feel as though the roster is pretty decent all around. Every player has their ups-and-downs.

-Sholta and Spawnzz have good chemistry and have been playing together for quite a while.
-lilgo is a great rifle who can hold his route very well while picking up a few each frags here and there.
-dag1 has been a clutch master for us and is a really good 3rd/light.
-senCe is easily one of the best snipers in Main right now.

Sp|dEr: The road to the finals for HTK has not been easy, what was the most difficult obstacle you had to accomplish to reach this point?

seanality: The most difficult obstacle for me was getting these guys motivated. They always tell me to get on and play at a certain time but we never end up actually playing for another 30 or so minutes. As for a team obstacle I would probably say finding teams to play. Let's face it, this game is not very lively as it is, but to top it off we have American teams who do not want to play SA players with 150+ ping.
I think the turning point for us was when we beat EvC on Donner. Communication is probably the number one obstacle; If you think about all the English calls we have for Donner I am sure you would come to the conclusion that it would be hard for me and them to work things out. We finally found a common ground during our practice of that map which has helped set the pace for the rest of our matches.

Sp|dEr: Known mainly as a South American team last season, and this season, how has the transition of adding English speaking players to the team affected match play?

seanality: The only true English speaking player is me. I know you guys see shreddies on this roster but when has he ever showed up? Never. Never since we added him. I am not sure how they feel about it but I will say they hardly talk unless I start talking. When Americans play together we are always talking and explaining someone's position to a "T". If and when they make a call it is very simple- no numbers, no names, only something like "long". But I have been trying to push them every time we play to make more calls. I will have to say translate.google.com has become my best friend since joining this team and some of the guys already speak a little bit of English, but there are obviously some things I say which they will probably never understand. But when we are in game I go to SenCe who has been a big middle man for me, I will tell him something and he will tell them what I said. It hasn't been easy but it is working, obviously.

Sp|dEr: We all know htk has had some trouble fielding 6 mid season, taking a FF loss during week 6, but right after the roster lock dag 1 managed to go from Cass's dreamworks team in invite, back to htk, what was the reasoning behind this?

seanality: I actually didn't know that happened. I know that sounds bad but I guess I have a hard time spotting the difference between some of these guys, at least at the time I did.
But we lost our match because senCe was back-packing around Europe or some shit and someone else had some festival or travel or something...

Sp|dEr: With this being the last match of the 29th season, can we expect the same team in season 30? will there be some changes?

seanality: I am not sure. I guess we will have to see what happens in this match. I also can't speak for the rest of them.

Sp|dEr: Any final comments or shout-outs?

Seanality: -QuickScope, Paintball, nhoj, Mike?, tinbad
-Also to the rest of the SA teams and Euro teams playing in TPG.


PREDICTION:

Thile I admire the run that htk has been doing at the end of the season, the only way I can see them pulling out the victory is if MVPz somehow loses on purpose in order to not move up to invite. On this map, as anyone can tell you, that teamwork is essential, if you have one cog out of alignment, the entire machine can go awry, and in this aspect MVPz just has that teamwork, and communication that htk does not. Hopefully htk can still manage to overcome the communication barrier, and be able to pull out the win, but I honestly cannot see this happening at this point in time.

MVPz > htk – by 1 full cap


Closing notes:

I hope that everyone has enjoyed these articles this past season. While it is a bit difficult to find the time, I do appreciate doing them in the hopes to not only help the league, but also these forums flourish. I wish both teams in Main good luck, and will be looking forward to the next season.

[acetamino]

If we win, cool, if not, no biggie

Must be code for allowing biggie to play next season.

[Sears]

Hey fuck you for not submitting these to the front-page, guy.

[Sp|dEr]

Hey fuck you for not submitting these to the front-page, guy.

sorry sears I completely bypassed you I already submitted them for the front page too. Keep them on the forums too as it allows for the quirkey responses of gifs and snarky back and forth

[subjecT]

Good read spider! I have enjoyed reading these throughout the season and look forward to some next season if possible!

[seanality]

looks good.

[mike]

Really good predictions you put together spider. Good work

[senCe]

good job, like always.
and good luck for the finals!!

[mogers]

INB4 defiance figures out a way for MVPz to stay in main

[stealthlol]

The wins just kept coming throughout the season without us really even being serious about it.

As shown on merderet. Clearly.

INB4 defiance figures out a way for MVPz to stay in main

And moves us up. Obviously we lost round 1 to try and stay in main.

[defiance]

If MVPz exists in its current state next season, it will be in invite. There will be a lot of teams going up from Main to Invite next season.

[stealthlol]

If MVPz exists in its current state next season, it will be in invite. There will be a lot of teams going up from Main to Invite next season.

Is the intention to move up every team that made playoffs?

[Jb_]

It amazing how good narc is since I stopped carrying mvpz...lol

[Todo]

Sp|dEr: Any final comments or shout-outs?

Seanality-Also to the rest of the SA teams and Euro teams playing in TPG.

Fuck you

[CraftyDus]

Sp|dEr: Any final comments or shout-outs?

Seanality-Also to the rest of the SA teams and Euro teams playing in TPG.

Fuck you

Your insular xenophobic racist hate looks like this tardo.

[Todo]

Sp|dEr: Any final comments or shout-outs?

Seanality-Also to the rest of the SA teams and Euro teams playing in TPG.

Fuck you

Your insular xenophobic racist hate looks like this tardo.

Duality is American.

[acetamino]

Isn't there an audio file floating around of todo being around a pool drunk and nekid.i believe it's called drunk todo.mp3

[Shoolta]

Spider excellent work, good luck to all in the finals was a great season for many and a season to forget for others, the only thing that matters is to keep alive dod ..

[Todo]

Isn't there an audio file floating around of todo being around a pool drunk and nekid.i believe it's called drunk todo.mp3

Oh yeah. It's a thing. Getcha some.

[Narc]

It amazing how good narc is since I stopped carrying mvpz...lol

What are you talking about? I still suck. The team carries me.

[Chaz]

Screw mike can i thank shifty and defiance for my open ring?