Banner by Cell, Division 1 writeup by moosepi, Division 2 writeup by apples
AsiaFortress Cup 10 Division 1 & 2 Playoffs Roundup
Division 1
It's been a grueling journey, but the playoffs are finally here! In Division 1, last seed memesquad have been eliminated after only picking up one map throughout the season, leaving three teams all with their eyes on the prize. So who among them stands the best chance of claiming victory?
xiao
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kcot/tommy
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cloverella/26
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jigglesaur
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b4it
To the surprise of absolutely nobody, xiao has come out of the season sitting comfortably at first place, dropping only one map throughout the season to Crescendo. The combination of strong individual talents and chemistry born of experience has proven to be a tough nut to crack for the other teams in the division, and they seem well on their way to claiming the title of AFC10 Champions.
However, they're certainly not invulnerable — every other Division 1 team has shown in either scrims or matches that they can give xiao a run for their money. For now though, their stellar season has guaranteed them a place in the Grand Finals.
Crescendo
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10/ozr
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shocky/Hwain
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R.
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z.
Despite a rough start to the season compounded by several roster issues, Crescendo's looking stronger than ever as they come into the playoffs. 10 and shocky, especially, have been putting up a strong showing throughout the season, consistently bringing in damage and frags to lead their team to victory.
However, the same can't really be said about the rest of their team — in particular, Hwain and ozr seem to be underperforming in comparison, with the former's inexperience and the latter's rust both showing more clearly than they should. Nevertheless, Crescendo's proven that they can take maps off xiao, and given how much they've been practising lately, they definitely stand a good chance at contesting the championship.
A Motley Crew
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killer/oro
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cell/cynic
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ry4n
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jopperstaluf
Despite their early promising results, where they almost managed to tie up maps against both xiao and Crescendo, AMC's been struggling lately, and going into the playoffs, they're the only team who have dropped a map against last seed memesquad. This is in no small part due to availability issues — for their last few matches, they've consistently have had to call in subs, most of whom either haven't played the game in months or have next to no high level competitive experience.
They've started scrimming again recently, however, and if they can pull themselves together in time for playoffs, they just might be able to pull off an upset in the face of these grim prospects. Time will tell!
Division 2
Congratulations to the top 4 teams that were previously predicted to make playoffs! These battle-hardened teams have overwhelmed their respective Division 2 counterparts and emerged victorious at the end of the regular season.
However, the regular season is merely the beginning of some of the most competitive matches AsiaFortress has to offer. Some of the teams are treading the right path towards the final match, while the others may have to step up their game to securing a spot for them in the Grand Finals. The rosters have been completely refurbished to emulate the greatness of the other teams, thus reforming certain teams and pushing them to new heights.
Without further ado, let’s have a look at the top 4 remarkable giants looking to contest each other for the title of Grand Champions of AFC 10 Division 2!
Fruit Salad
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apples / Aqua
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slayer
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_noGamesen5e_
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Joey
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bb
Fruit Salad has punched their way through the competition to emerge as the supreme champion of the regular season.
This titan of a team has shown almost every other team in the Division 2 scene that they are not one to be trifled with, despite having a rough ending to the season against Wine n Cheese. While Fruit Salad hasn’t lost a single game throughout the season, WnC attempted to put an end to their streak and succeeded.
However, they still emerged victorious at the end of the season and secured themselves a slot in the playoffs. But their victory is short-lived, as surf, their main demo, has encountered some technical issues and wouldn’t be able to play for the playoffs. Regardless of the above situation, Fruit Salad’s captain, apples, has since recruited some new additions to the team, such as Destiny, Aqua, 14 and linglok in the hopes of keeping the team in shape and ready for battle in the playoffs.
With Aqua’s outstanding dm ability to dish out abundance of damage, apples and his unexplainable ability to stay alive in most fights while providing enough support and slayer’s godlike dm and spectacular maincalling to keep the team together in fights along with bb and his outstanding airstrafes to escape from any sticky situation, Fruit Salad is clearly on the right track towards the Grand Finals with a substantial amount of protein needed to win the title of Grand Champions.
Wine n Cheese
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verty / shinka
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Dream
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duel
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Teddybär
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Aloy
This team has proved themselves worthy of making into playoffs despite having some rather nail-biting games during the last few weeks of the regular season.
Wine n Cheese showcases a hyper-aggressive play at which their supreme dm constantly reigns over their opponents, while relying heavily on their astounding combat ability to control situations that they normally shouldn’t be able to. It is a high-risk, high-reward style of playing the game which is definitely fun to watch.
With verty and duel controlling the flanks and denying any possible leaks while Dream is fully occupied in leading the team to victory, WnC surely boasts a cocktail of talented players that could potentially win them the tournament. In spite of all that, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they are completely insusceptible to most harm.
Teams like Steal Your Job and LFT Overwatch have proven that they are more than a match for WnC, dropping one map each to both SYJ and LFT OW while tieing the other map in the regular season. But after picking up a couple of players such as shinka, Aloy, enkaii and Teddybär during the second Transfer Window, their chances of entering the Grand Finals and winning the league has been drastically improved.
LFT Overwatch
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ReD_SpY / Kuma
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Hrebl4ze
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Combustion
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Asi
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Kaze
Ever since LFT Overwatch was declared disqualified from the season due to the lack of teammates after their final match in the regular season, I watched in amazement as the team’s burning desire to advance to the Grand Finals begin to stimulate the reformation of the team. Both ReD_SpY and Kuma felt the urge to guide this team to emerge victorious in the playoffs, thus bringing in some new and fresh faces to the Division 2 scene, such as Greenlight, Combustion and Kaze.
Greenlight isn’t widely known in the AsiaFortress community, but one thing’s for sure, his tremendous dm from the depths of China MGE enables him to take on fights that he normally wouldn’t be able to survive. And we have Combustion, a former professional jumper back in the day who would be able to provide some generic rocket jumps to ambush the opposing team. Lastly, we also have Kaze, an aspiring Division 3 player who is looking to test his skills in the upper ranks of the AsiaFortress league.
Unfortunately, LFT OW has suffered a major downgrade in the roster for playoffs compared to the roster they started out with after the first Transfer Window. Their combo isn’t as formidable but their flanks may have similar expertise as the previous roster. Although their current roster may not have seen the light of day, their willingness to cooperate with one another and their desire to advance to the Grand Finals has clearly proven that they are prepared to face any obstacle that might stand in their way.
Steal Your Job
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Cookie / k3
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Banana
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Bush
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Konma
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iMauriceiNoob
Formed from the remnants of the original Steal Your Job, this Hong Kong team has made a fair amount of notable entrances and exits in the Asian 6v6 scene. They achieved 3rd and 4th place in the UGC 6v6 Asian Division Season 19 and 20 respectively, and also participated in the recent Mercenaries Cup 7 for the AsiaFortress league.
Some of their players have displayed a tremendous amount of chemistry and have established an inseparable bond with each other, which enables them to cooperate well unlike the other teams in the playoffs. This gives them the upper hand in terms of teamwork, combined together with their consistent dm ability to ensure a successful play. Even though they’ve had a pretty rough season, they managed to pull through and eventually obtained a slot in the playoffs despite losing a couple of games against prime contenders such as Fruit Salad and LFT Overwatch while trading rounds with Hairy Ares.
Following the departure of Striker due to him having insufficient time to scrim with the team and the withdrawal of H4ms from the tournament to make future plans in Overwatch, SYJ’s roster has proven to be severely inadequate without the core members of the team playing their respective classes. Nevertheless, with the addition of k3 and the return of head after a prolonged disappearance from the TF2 scene, SYJ can and will continue to strive for the throne while fending off their contenders in the playoffs.
Conclusion
The ending results for the Division 2 playoffs this season is seemingly debatable due to the critical changes of every team’s roster. But one thing’s for sure is that the regular week has distinctly proven that these teams are the best of their current division, and are certain to provide viewers with considerable amounts of excitement.
Therefore, be sure to keep an eye out for Rednaxela’s stream for any casts of the Division 2 scene! May the best team win and proceed to be the future participants of Division 1!
