insQC

Bruno Pereira · @insQC

6th Aug 2018 from TwitLonger

QuakeCon 2018 2v2 Preview


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Tier 1 - The favourites
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These three teams are almost certainly all going to be in the Top4 of QuakeCon unless something ridiculous happens. Considering Team Liquid won Dreamhack Tours, it will be up to Blind Trust and Myztro CIS to bring the fight to North American squad.

If both of the European teams end up on the same side of the bracket (again), it would be a very interesting battle for the potential second place, in which Blind Trust are the favourites.


--- Team Liquid (Rapha + DaHanG):
The clear favourites of the tournament, they are defending their 2v2 title as they've been looking absolutely unstoppable ever since their Dreamhack tours win.

With unparalleled coordination and a great understanding of the game, their style is usually calm and collected until they find a way to counter their opponents perfectly. As soon as they adapt to who they're playing against, they flip the switch and keep changing the pace of the game so that their opponents don't have time to regain composure.

Map-wise, they have no real weaknesses as they can play all the maps in the pool at the highest level and aren't scared of big open maps nor small closed ones.

Same thing goes with their champion pool; they both play a lot of champions so well that it becomes really hard to counter them, we've seen them run Galena, Visor, BJ, Ranger, Slash, Clutch, Doom, Strogg and Keel and making it work, so no champion ban will harm them.


--- Blind Trust (Clawz + Toxjq):
Easily the two individuals with most raw aim in the game, both Clawz and Toxjq's insane combat skills make up for very entertaining gameplay.

They usually play a very aggressive style trying to force aimfights and abusing the Railgun as much as they can. Clawz is the more aggressive one out of the two and doesn't back off from any disadvantageous fight, but his superior combat skills make him come out on top of the most ridiculous 1v2 situations. Toxjq tries to play a bit more of a support role, usually keeping the high ground position on important areas of the map and helping Clawz out from a distance.

Their preferred maps are big open maps where they can abuse the Railgun as much as they can, so Blood Covenant will be the map they will try to play the most. They can get quite frustrated with smaller closed maps such as Blood Run due to the spammy nature of the map so if they are to lose a map vs lesser teams, this should be the most likely map where it happens.

Champions-wise, Clawz will be playing Visor, BJ, Ranger and sometimes Nyx due to the aggressive nature of the champions. Toxjq on the other will be usually playing Galena, Ranger, BJ and hopefully we see some Slash from him here and there too.


--- Myztro CIS (Xron + Silencep):
Out of the three teams in this tier, Xron and Silencep aren't either the best aimers or the most coordinated duo, but they're a close second in both departments.

Both players have a very deep understanding of how the game works and a knack for grasping things faster than others. They'll surely have a couple of tricks up their sleeves, so expect some surprising and weird tactics coming out from them!

Their playstyle varies depending on who they're playing against, but their overall positioning and teamwork is what sets them apart from most teams.

Maps-wise they're pretty set all around, just like Team Liquid. They're versatile and have no real weaknesses in this area.

As far as their champion pool goes, they can play Galena, Visor, BJ, Ranger, Doom, Clutch, Keel, Strogg and Nyx at the highest level and they will definitely come up with some surprising compositions.


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Tier 2 - The challengers
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These two teams will be fighting to be in the the Semis, but only one should make it in. They're not as consistent as the previous three teams but still a level above the next few teams we'll be looking at.

--- Av3k + K1llsen:
Av3k and K1llsen were one of the last teams to join the scene, as it's a mix created due to Cypher sadly not being able to attend QuakeCon this year.


Av3k is one of the best TDM players in Quake Champions, who understands the game like few others and has top tier combat skills. K1llsen, despite his absence in competitive team modes in the past, seems to have picked up the pace quickly.


They make for one very hard duo to go against, as their sheer aggression alongside powerful aim are the key factors that help them take games from the favourites. As soon as they get some momentum going they start snowballing and become nearly unstoppable.

--- Myztro EU (Raisy + Spart1e):
Probably the oldest or second oldest 2v2 team in Quake (alongside Team Liquid), Raisy and Spart1e have had their ups and downs as a team. On a good day, they can challenge the favourites, whereas on a bad day they might get crushed by them.


They're also an aggressive team, as Spart1e usually takes somewhat of a support role, timing every item he sees and keeping the control going while Raisy focuses more on the fragging aspect of the game.


Having been together longer than most teams, they are exceptional with coordinated surprise attacks, and they know how to get the control back and slow down the game if it's not going their way.


If they're bringing their A-game to QuakeCon, they have a very good chance of making it to the Semi Finals.


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Tier 3 - The potential dark horses
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These teams will be making sure the challengers keep looking over their shoulders. They’re expected to be in the top 8, and it will be extremely disappointing if any of them don’t make it.

--- Bad Brits - Lithz + Busdriverx
Two solid players who have been together for a long time since Sacrifice days, however their LAN record isn't the best. They've been having great results recently and if they can find their way in the LAN environment, they can cause an interesting stir.

--- C58.CG - Vengeur + Base
One of the most surprising mixes in QuakeCon, Vengeur and Base teamed up due to former teammates not being able to attend the tournament. Base had a very strong performance in Dreamhack Tours but Vengeur is usually the one stepping up as the star player in tournaments.

Due to English not being a native language for either, they sometimes run into some communication and coordination issues when things aren't going their way, so it will be a matter of whether or not they can stay on the same page in order to get a good result at QuakeCon.

--- AMD - Cooller + CNZ
The most surprising mix of QuakeCon, Cooller was forced to find another teammate after Nitrino failed to get his Visa to attend. They haven't had much time to prepare themselves, so they're not in the shape they would like to be, but Cooller always finds a way to impress on LAN, so they're still a team to watch out for.


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Tier 4 - The surprise factor
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The teams most likely to give Tier 3 a run for their top 8 spot.

--- Myztro UKNA - Garpy + Dooi:
Garpy and Dooi are probably the team with most knowledge of their opponents as they've scrimmed against both European teams and North American ones. Add that to Garpy's strong combat skills and Dooi's leadership, and they can fight for a top 8 finish.

--- Wha1n - Whaz + Cha1n:
A team most were unaware of, but that have been getting the strongest online results of all North American teams (besides Team Liquid) lately. Look out for them.

--- Quaker Orbs - Yenom + Effortless:
They managed to finish in the money on Dreamhack Tours against the expectations of most people, and another good performance in QuakeCon could see them pulling an upset and finishing in top 8.

--- Corvidae - Dandaking + Steej
The aussies are one of the most fun teams to watch and cheer for, as they can very easily get good run and finish top 8, due to how good both of them are at the game. However it's hard to rank them higher from the get go because we don't see enough of them. Underestimating them can be fatal for any team.



With this said, my personal predictions are as follows:

1st Place- Team Liquid
2nd Place - Blind Trust
3/4 Place - Myztro CIS
3/4 Place - K1llsen + Av3k
5/8th - Myztro EU
5/8th - Bad Brits
5/8th - C58.CG
5/8th - AMD

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