On November 14 2017 17:49 Pandemona wrote: Lets go SK featuring Boltz!
What's the deal with this? Is Boltz a full-time member of SK now?
He will be yes, at the moment felps still on roster for major as they can't replace him for that without losing there place. But after that felps goes and boltz probably comes in full time. As for now it is treated as a "loan" but with steel going to Liquid i think the whole roster will be done.
On November 14 2017 17:49 Pandemona wrote: Lets go SK featuring Boltz!
What's the deal with this? Is Boltz a full-time member of SK now?
He will be yes, at the moment felps still on roster for major as they can't replace him for that without losing there place. But after that felps goes and boltz probably comes in full time. As for now it is treated as a "loan" but with steel going to Liquid i think the whole roster will be done.
Seems to be the case. I thought felps was just on vacation or something for the last tournament but it appears I was mistaken. Thanks!
On November 14 2017 17:49 Pandemona wrote: Lets go SK featuring Boltz!
What's the deal with this? Is Boltz a full-time member of SK now?
He will be yes, at the moment felps still on roster for major as they can't replace him for that without losing there place. But after that felps goes and boltz probably comes in full time. As for now it is treated as a "loan" but with steel going to Liquid i think the whole roster will be done.
They can replace him, they just cant play with Boltz or any other player that is locked with another team (boltz played the minor for Immortals). You only need 3 out of 5 of the players with the major invite to hold the spot.
So for example if KNG, Heni and Lucas get +2 (fnx,bit) and want to play the major they can.
This scoring system is confusing! Was expecting C9 to crash out after losing 2 games so badly earlier today but Skadoodle so clutch against SK on Train, then Nip beat NV so they're confirmed in now, right?
On November 16 2017 08:01 Duckman wrote: This scoring system is confusing! Was expecting C9 to crash out after losing 2 games so badly earlier today but Skadoodle so clutch against SK on Train, then Nip beat NV so they're confirmed in now, right?
The only thing different about the scoring system is that OT wins give you two points and OT loses give you 1.
On November 16 2017 17:31 Pandemona wrote: Haha Astralis out cuz SK lost to c9 xD wonder if they did that on purpose knowing they were already through to the next round!
They werent though. There were scenarios where NIP losing to Envy wouldnt allow them to qualify at all. Losing also removed the possibility of first/second place and now having to play Faze in the semis should they win in the quarters.
On November 16 2017 22:49 Pandemona wrote: If NIP lost to EnvyUs they go to 3-2 and SK have the better record vs all those on 3-2 minus Clown9 in head to head at least.
SK > EnvyUs/NiP/Mongolz Astralis/Clown9 > SK
So surely that means SK were through no matter what ?
No, because then all 3 teams woud have had a 2-1 record. Against the top 4 not just SK. I am not going to spell it out for you, apply your own formula to the rest of the 3-2 teams.
Then it goes to RD which had Envyus won in regulation, with SK's battering would have probably pushed them poast SK.
The only way to guarantee qualification independent of other results was to get to 15 rounds minimum.
In any case they were not guaranteed qualification and its monumentally stupid to not care because first place and a direct spot in the semis was on the line.
True but SK like Astralis would always fancy themselves in a bo3 against anyone so i guess getting out of group was priority number 1. Yes having a semi final vs Faze isn't the best way to win this tournament but i am more than confident SK will win this tournament in bo3s now.
On November 16 2017 23:17 Pandemona wrote: True but SK like Astralis would always fancy themselves in a bo3 against anyone so i guess getting out of group was priority number 1. Yes having a semi final vs Faze isn't the best way to win this tournament but i am more than confident SK will win this tournament in bo3s now.
Sure and a 100% chance of achieving priority number 1 was to take the game against C9 at a minimum to overtime and ideally, win.
If they fancy themselves in a BO3 against anyone, then it further suggests, that to them, it doesnt matter whether Astralis qualify or not.
The bottom line is securing your own qualification and it was not secure.
Indeed but in fairness, clown9 are SKs bogey team in bo1s at least! Still onto Optic today should hopefully be a good warm up before Faze
Yeah Astralis thing was more "bants" because Astralis in a rough patch at the moment. Struggled to do anything in Epicenter as well, but Faze also were poor there too.
On November 16 2017 23:17 Pandemona wrote: True but SK like Astralis would always fancy themselves in a bo3 against anyone so i guess getting out of group was priority number 1. Yes having a semi final vs Faze isn't the best way to win this tournament but i am more than confident SK will win this tournament in bo3s now.
I had funny feeling that the Liquipedia bracket wasnt correct yesterday because normally the semis in a top 3 qualifier bracket are setup so that first and third from the same grp play (provided the third place team wins their semi.\. Anyway I ignored my better judgement and figured Liquipedia is probably right.
Turns out they play NIP in the semis. So coming third kinda works out as a best case scenario. Your assertion that this is what they were looking for isnt as far fetched as it was before. + Show Spoiler +
(dont get me wrong its still far fetched, just a little less).
Faze are outstanding , and NiP youngsters really played amazingly well on stage (which i thought they won't as its a BIG lan and they dont have much experience on the main stage) you can see C9 really crumbling infront of the crowd which was sad.
On November 19 2017 12:10 geokilla wrote: Lmao why did I think Clown9 can do it?
Honestly against this kind of firepower I don't think many teams can do anything against Faze. It wouldn't surprise me if they just 3-0ed the finals against Nip.
On November 20 2017 21:30 Ysellian wrote: Haha yeah, I didn't think Nip could beat them with this kind of firepower but I'm super happy they did Been a while I could cheer for Nip.
I didnt think so either, but I was very happy to be wrong.
Rez's firepower is the real deal. Draken could improve he is a bit Heni1'esque in that his decision making is still a bit suspect, but once he learns how to take better duels hes a beast aswell.
The other thing is Forest maintaining the level this tournament. GTR has always kinda been there and there abouts playing at a reasonably highish level but Forest has been very up and down.
I cant think of a good case to make to keep Xzist, I am not so sure how much his igl abilities impact the team but if they do enough to keep him thats fine. but other than that hes really not all that useful.
CS is so insanely competitive right now its great. So many unique tournament winners all year with different teams peaking throughout the year.
Think about it, the team that won a pretty stacked IEM Oakland got dumped out of the minor qualifer. The EU MINOR! Thats like Tier 4
The current CS landscape is insane. I believe I read a stat on reddit where there were 11 different finalists for the last 7 $250k tournaments with only Faze and SK being a consistent factor.
I do think though that the major qualifier system and the major itself needs to be looked at. Of course the Nip back then didn't deserve to qualify for losing, but performing well at tournaments between the majors should count for something. Also 8 teams legend status is a bit much when there are only two majors a year, CS is too competitive to give half the teams at the major free qualification. Personally would also like to see the major expanded, but I doubt the money is there sadly.
On November 21 2017 03:55 Ysellian wrote: The current CS landscape is insane. I believe I read a stat on reddit where there were 11 different finalists for the last 7 $250k tournaments with only Faze and SK being a consistent factor.
I do think though that the major qualifier system and the major itself needs to be looked at. Of course the Nip back then didn't deserve to qualify for losing, but performing well at tournaments between the majors should count for something. Also 8 teams legend status is a bit much when there are only two majors a year, CS is too competitive to give half the teams at the major free qualification. Personally would also like to see the major expanded, but I doubt the money is there sadly.
I agree
They should do something similar to Dota, where they just do away with legend spots except for maybe the top 4 or the finalists and have a ranking system based on 250K + tournament performances or something of the like.
Honestly the formula HLTV.org uses is pretty good and quite consistent. Although its flawed in that it covers to much to be useful as a major qualification system so in that sense its pretty unofficial. But doing the dota equivalent where teams know exactly what they need to do over the course of the year (with some qualifier spots reserved) isnt a terrible idea.
So like maybe top 2 autoqualify. next 6 spots for teams with some form of ranking points. And then the final 8 from the minor major system.
On November 20 2017 21:30 Ysellian wrote: Haha yeah, I didn't think Nip could beat them with this kind of firepower but I'm super happy they did Been a while I could cheer for Nip.
I didnt think so either, but I was very happy to be wrong.
Rez's firepower is the real deal. Draken could improve he is a bit Heni1'esque in that his decision making is still a bit suspect, but once he learns how to take better duels hes a beast aswell.
The other thing is Forest maintaining the level this tournament. GTR has always kinda been there and there abouts playing at a reasonably highish level but Forest has been very up and down.
I cant think of a good case to make to keep Xzist, I am not so sure how much his igl abilities impact the team but if they do enough to keep him thats fine. but other than that hes really not all that useful.
CS is so insanely competitive right now its great. So many unique tournament winners all year with different teams peaking throughout the year.
Think about it, the team that won a pretty stacked IEM Oakland got dumped out of the minor qualifer. The EU MINOR! Thats like Tier 4
You forgot to mention THREAT. I tend to think he's been considerably impactful, factoring in how NiP paused, and how well they adjusted after.
Now to see if NiP have really found a way to renew their lineup enough to go the distance. But they've improved quite some in the past few months.
On November 20 2017 21:30 Ysellian wrote: Haha yeah, I didn't think Nip could beat them with this kind of firepower but I'm super happy they did Been a while I could cheer for Nip.
I didnt think so either, but I was very happy to be wrong.
Rez's firepower is the real deal. Draken could improve he is a bit Heni1'esque in that his decision making is still a bit suspect, but once he learns how to take better duels hes a beast aswell.
The other thing is Forest maintaining the level this tournament. GTR has always kinda been there and there abouts playing at a reasonably highish level but Forest has been very up and down.
I cant think of a good case to make to keep Xzist, I am not so sure how much his igl abilities impact the team but if they do enough to keep him thats fine. but other than that hes really not all that useful.
CS is so insanely competitive right now its great. So many unique tournament winners all year with different teams peaking throughout the year.
Think about it, the team that won a pretty stacked IEM Oakland got dumped out of the minor qualifer. The EU MINOR! Thats like Tier 4
You forgot to mention THREAT. I tend to think he's been considerably impactful, factoring in how NiP paused, and how well they adjusted after.
Now to see if NiP have really found a way to renew their lineup enough to go the distance. But they've improved quite some in the past few months.
Threats been around long enough, his impact his been pretty consistent since the start of last year. The other factors have been the question marks. Hes been around when they were absolutely ass aswell. There is only so much you can impact after a certain pint.
At the end of the day Threat had little to do with the player raising their levels individually and thats really what pushed them forward. Nothing supremely tactical.
EPT
Been a while I could cheer for Nip. 
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