Round 3

[FML|Mage]

Well, we’ve managed to survive Spider Falls.  Despite the fact that everyone bitched and moaned about it, those that actually played smart did well, and those that played in a retarded manner did not.  Very similar to how FFA works on most maps.  There were a few exceptions, but there are always a few exceptions.  Hopefully in the future players will keep a more open mind and actually play some games on the map before playing their league match on it.  Just an idea.

Unfortunately the start of Round 3 brings with it the loss of two of our players.  The first, Brainman is not all that surprising and may or may not have been a ragequit.  Still, he was a good player and it’s always a shame to lose one.  The second, our previous season’s winner, DkH.Rain.  The circumstances surrounding his inability to play anymore are not known to us, but seeing as how he has always been a reliable player we can only assume that he has a good reason for it.  As such, we wish him all the best and hope to see him again soon. 

Brainman will be replaced by Vain_Endeavour.  After a great performance with his off race in Round 2, it will be interesting to see if he can continue his high level of play.  It will also be interesting to see if he dabbles in playing some more, considering how well he did with it it does not seem that far fetched.  DkH.Rain will be replaced by our Season 12 winner, Renaud.  While we were all very happy to have a season without Canadians it, just kidding we love you (but not really), Renaud is clearly one of the best players not in this season and it will be great to have him back in the season.  Besides, who can honestly say that they didn’t think he’d somehow find his way into the season?

Not that we’ve gotten all of that maudlin news out of the way though, let’s look ahead at our R3 games.  With the regular season already half way over, we can begin to see who needs to start making up ground fast, and who’s in the driver’s seat.  At this point, we only have one two-game winner, and his name is Seksi.

Map: Twilight Ruins

M9
Rain -> Renaud
Slythe
Nline
Maga

M9 should be by far one of the most interesting matches of the round.  It features 4 old school FFA players who have had a ton of success.  Holding 3 titles and countless trips to the finals, these players are the cream of the crop.  When also factoring one of the oldest and well known FFA maps we have, it’s hard to keep one’s expectations to a reasonable level.  We’ll start off with our replacement player.  He hasn’t been seen playing in a while, but that’s never stopped him from doing well before.  However, he needs a win in this match to keep his hopes of getting another FML crown alive.  His ability to directly qualify for the finals appears to be between slim and none, but a trip to the semi-finals with a pair of wins is certainly plausible.  From there, anything is possible.  Slythe is the opposite of Renaud, tied with 3 other players for 2nd place with 35 points he controls his own destiny.  A pair of wins would lock him up a trip to the finals for sure, and even a win and a second place finish will put him in good position.  In addition, if he can random we would have a match with all four races which is always fun.

Our Ukrainen Orc is another fellow who needs some good results ASAP if he wants to have a shot at the title.  At 10 points, both he and Renaud have everything to gain and nothing to lose.  As such, it should be safe to expect some aggressive play and dominating Orc heroes from Nline.  With markets on the map, it will be interesting to see if he sticks with his Alchemist or trades it in for a Blademaster to gain some heavy DPS.  Our last player, Mr. Magadansky, is in good position, but probably not as good a position as he’d like to be.  While he did gain a Round 1 win, he was taken out quickly and effectively by Lightweight in Round 2, netting himself only 5 points.  30 is certainly better than the majority of FML players have, but there’s no doubt that he wants to lock himself up a trip to the finals again and will be desperate for a win here to put himself back in control. 

M10
Persuade
Audigy
Seksi
DFM

M10 features the highest aggregate point total from any of the matches.  It contains not only our current leader, but also 3 of the 4 second place players.  It certainly should be a match to watch, and by the end of it there should be at least one clear leader if not multiple for the 3 auto-qualifying spots to the final.  Should Seksi win this match then he’ll be almost guaranteed a spot in the finals.  If any of the second place players win the match they’ll be a lock for the semi-final game, and in great shape to be placed in the finals.  Persuade and Seksi, our two random players, have both been in this position before.  Last season they were both in good shape to make the semi-finals if not the finals half way through the season.  As it turned out, Seksi did indeed make the finals although he did not pull off the win. 

Audigy and DFM on the other hand are newer to this situation.  Both were able to pull of wins in R2 playing Night Elf, even though Audigy’s main race is Undead and he told me that he was going to play Orc.  The ability to adapt is the greatest asset that one can have in FFA, and in such a tough game that ability may prove crucial.  Although, with a close spawn this could prove to be the ideal time for a necro rush.  DFM has showed us that he can pretty easily handle good Undead and good Human players with his Night Elf.  He hasn’t faced a good Orc yet though, and with both Seksi and Persuade randoming that could happen this round.  How he deals with Hex-Stomp abuse and mass bats is one of the last factors that we at FML need to see before we can complete our judgement.

M11
Mog
:cvech: Cechi
J33
Brainman -> Vain_Endevour

The match of the elves has arrived.  With Vain taking Brain’s spot, it brings our total up to three elves.  In addition, those claiming that Vain and J33 are the same person will be able to either prove it isn’t, or create even more time consuming excuses!  This could prove to be the perfect spot for Cechi to pull out a win though.  He’s already proved he’s got the micro to win games, but he’s had trouble with his macro.  That improved a bit in Round 2, but then he got stuck focusing on one person for too long and that proved to be the difference in the game.  With only facing one race though he’ll have the advantage for picking his units and heroes.  In addition, he might be able to overwhelm some of the more macro oriented players with his micro.

Mog was unfortunately not able to make the last game due to internet issues, and as such he’s in a bit of a jam for points.  A win is almost necessary for him at this point.  Vain is in much the same position because he’s taking over for someone half way through the season.  Not a favorable position for sure, but far from an impossible one.  J33 is the best off of the players points wise so far, managing a win in Round 2.  At 30 points though he’ll probably still need another win if he wants to guarantee himself a spot in the semi finals.  With all the Elves though it will be interesting to see some of the hero combinations made.  Will we see some DH usage to neutralize the others?  Or perhaps someone will find use for a hero that we don’t often see because of the matchup.  Maybe even a Tinker from Mog?  Only time will tell.

M12
Starshaped
Lightweight!
Humanstar
Gahh

Our last match of the round should be an interesting as well.  We start with Starshaped who decided that because he didn’t like the last map he was going to go for a completely ridiculous strategy and not try.  Does this map fit better into his master scheme?  Will we see him play Orc since that’s the only race we haven’t seen him play?  Speaking of Orc, will we see Lightweight switch over to Orc on this map?  We’ve seen him successfully play Orc several times, and there’s a case to be made that it would be stronger than Human on this map.  That being said, he’s been playing extremely well with Human so far so he may not want to jinx that.

Humanstar, another solid Human player, will be looking to pick up a win in order to keep his streak of semifinal matches alive.  I’m not sure if that’s actually a real thing, but it certainly seems like it.  In addition, this will be where Lightweight and Humanstar met in the semifinals 2 seasons ago.  Ironically that game was recently bumped on TFT Replayers.  Is this an omen that Humanstar will come out victorious again, or that Lightweight will get his revenge?  Maybe it’s neither, and it will be time for our fledgling FFA player Gahh to take center stage.  He’s had a rough go of it up until this point, particularly on a map he didn’t understand last round.  This is a much more common map though, and his strategies make work out better.  If he decided to go Orc again then he could have some luck here, and he’s already won a game with Night Elf.  The possibilities are open.   As with all of our matches, nothing is certain and we’ll have to watch to find our answers!

[Ugri2]

aha lw vs hustar, both needing a win, gonna be fun :)

[Slythe]

nice matchmaking and good writing, bad map though !!!

[SteppinRazor]

In addition, those claiming that Vain and J33 are the same person will be able to either prove it isn’t, or create even more time consuming excuses!

Haha that was me who said that!  I wasnt actually serious, but they did both start playing FML at roughly the same time and they both play elf!

EDIT: I also said that not only are j33 and vain the same person, but they were actually both LW playing off-race.  That theory was also debunked last round since j33 and LW were in the same game :o

[Pinballmap]

Someone said that DFM is redkeekee, well no idea if  thats true, but its possible!

[SteppinRazor]

Hah I said DFM could be f-l-y, though i was also not serious about it. 

[FML|Mage]

I said that DFM could be RKK, but IP check shows it isn't so.  Also RKK actually qualified for the season and turned it down so wouldn't make much sense.

Also, Steppin don't make me put a disclaimer in my writing saying that it should under no circumstances be taken seriously and that doing so could lead to harm. =D

[FML|Renaud]

I'm actually vain, j33, dfm, rkk, mage, nooblex and pretty much anyone who ever played elf

xpte lost... he was a silly ground elf

[Persuade]

I'm actually vain, j33, dfm, rkk, mage, nooblex and pretty much anyone who ever played elf

xpte lost... he was a silly ground elf

makes sense,

hackers usually have a ton of aliases

[FML|Mog]

You guys are silly, DFM is clearly htrt

Also, if you noticed Renaud DIDN'T say he was me, because he in fact is me. And I am him.

[FML|Renaud]

Well I don't have the tinkering skill needed to claim I'm mog.
Although I still wtp pwned persuade with my tinker!

But to be fair, the mass FD help more than the tinker

[Persuade]

Well I don't have the tinkering skill needed to claim I'm mog.
Although I still wtp pwned persuade with my tinker!

But to be fair, the mass FD help more than the tinker

I'm referring to yesterday, where neither helped you beat me (:

[FML|Renaud]

on which account was I yesterday?  My memory seems to be hazy

[Persuade]

on which account was I yesterday?  My memory seems to be hazy

6 way on silver