Greetings sportsfans! Round 1 of playoffs have begun, and some games have already been played, but the remaining games include some interesting matchups that promise to be very close games/series. I will highlight two here.

This round’s runner-up for Match of the Week is GentInc vs. New Jersey Pineapples. GentInc is a pretty new team. They were around back in SML11, where they went 2-6 with a -275 spread and less than 3 goals per game. But now in SL12, they came back stronger going 6-0, with a +9 spread, and almost 8 goals per game. However, their division was comprised mostly of equally new teams, so they are as of yet untested. On the other hand, you have the New Jersey Pineapples, who just squeaked into a wildcard spot in playoffs. The team name is new, but several of the players have been around a while including Angel9001, ThePistachioKid, and TariqmacpotV4. It doesn’t seem like they’ve played together much before this season, recording a solid 77 betrayals. They also hold a -294 spread this season. However, they’ve been playing against more challenging opponents each week with the #1 seeded Uplifted and the #12 seed (something about hopscotch). GentInc will play like they have something to prove, and if they can get a few warm-up scrims in with a few more experienced teams I think they’ll have a decent shot. Though The New Jersey Pineapples will probably want to avoid the ridicule from slimjim they’d receive if they lost, so they’ll likely show up to play as well. Prediction: 5-4, 7-2, 6-3 with GentInc coming out on top.

Game of the Week: Monstars vs. Way to Fail

These teams have a pretty long history throughout reach’s run. Pretty much each season they’ve both been contenders for the pro/legacy league championship and would often end up facing each other. So even though they weren’t in the same division this season, neither team will be unfamiliar with the other. Though looking through either team’s stats/record you wouldn’t know their history, since Monstars changes up their name each season. Monstars includes 3 players from WL12′s championship team, Lake Greats, and they’d added ActiveHate. Rumor has it he’s an aggressive tank, so Way to Fail needs to be ready for that. Over on Way to Fail’s side, things haven’t been constant either. Way to Fail no longer has v Determined v to kill all the things, but has picked up Rage More Nerd, silentshadow459, and a man canon. Each of which can have solid moments, but none are ready yet to replace Determined. However, they are led by Priest XYZ who has the drive and determination to guide them to play their best.

Over the season, Monstars went 5-1, -12 spread and about 6 GPG. Their one loss came against The New York Pineapples, who played them to 5-4 both meetings. On the other hand, you’ve got Way to Fail who went 8-1, +226 spread and 7.6 GPG. Their one loss came against “T Rich and Rockman Go Back to High School”, which was a 6-3 though Way to Fail won the first meeting 7-2.

And now a prediction? The stats seem to give the edge to Way to Fail, with solid tanking this season to support Priest’s running. Priest is adept at finding tiny lanes to sneak past everybody, so Monstars will need to step up their defense to actually prevent some easily preventable scores, which is tricky if the tanks are too aggressive going after other tanks and ignore the runner. However, overweightgoat/jbar is able to do some stupid stuff with the bomb and the entire team will likely step up their game now that playoffs are here. But I don’t think it’ll be enough. My prediction: 6-3, 5-4, Way to Fail wins. Though whoever is neutral hosting these games had best be prepared for some lengthy battles.

Disclaimer: These are only my views, not the views of the administration, blah blah blah, if you’re upset/don’t agree – go play your games and prove me wrong. And if you’d like to offer a preview of any other matchup, or an addition/counter to anything I wrote here, send it in! Just email to news@grifball.info, preferably with a subject that makes sense so it doesn’t get raped by spam filters. I like having content here. I was more busy this season than I would’ve liked and unable to write stuff, but a big thank you to people who’ve contributed including Major Silva, AcitveHate, imShad, doc status, and blue collar kid.

Sidenote: If you’re trying to use the neutral host map, make sure you get the most recent version. As of this writing, runNOKYARDrun has updated the map in his fileshare on May 10, 2012. If you’ve got an older version, delete it and download the new one, and the AGLA SL12 Playoffs gametype to go with it (to allow the host to be an elite).

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