NSL-Review on Monday

It is finals-time! The first two happened yesterday in the lower divisions. Today, we will review the Division 4 finals and follow up with Division 3 tomorrow. Before we dive in, here a reminder on the Bo7-format:

Playoff-Format

Overall the rules of procedure are rather involved (see 8(a)(iv)-(x)). But here are the most important facts: In Season 7 the top two teams face each other in a best-of-seven finale. Both are allowed to reduce the map-pool once, before picking the maps, which are to be played. Further the winner of each division can choose to either pick sides (marines or aliens) or map first.

Division 4

Finals

In division 4 we saw Flightless Lerks sitting on top after the round-robin-phase of Season 7. Schicht im Schacht raised to 2nd position in their last game against Angry Chickens, and thus took a spot in the finals. Their last official against the Lerks had been all the way back in week 1 (on October 4th) and ended without a winner. Now it is time to reiterate the US-EU duel in Division 4.

Almost two months later the question is: who imrpoved further in Season 7? For the replay, watch cabooble's new twitch account!

The custom maps Mineral (vetoed by Lerks) and Nexus (vetoed by Schacht) get banned and Flightless Lerks decides to play Tram first. Schicht im Schacht in reaction picks Marines first.

Round 1 (Tram) (start at 31st minute of stream)

Flightless Lerks abandons their 3-Fade-Strategy for an onos-saver and a gorge tunnel from Warehouse-hive to Mezzanine. The Lerks defend the resource-rich northside of Tram against Schacht's marine-pressure. Eventually Schicht im Schacht utlizes a gate in Hub and constructs a robotic factory to ARC the structures in Mezzanine. In the meantime, however, the Khammander cysts down to Repair and the alien team claims all territory around the Hub-gate. In the end Schicht im Schacht has no chance against the two Onos and the Lerks take first round.

Round 2 (Tram) (57th minute)

We see the same spawns (Aliens in Warehouse) and similar strats as well: it is Mega, who builds the tunnel to Mezzanine. As before Aliens expand to the northside and Flightless Lerks react by taking out a lerk-player early. It is in the 8th minute of the game, when the first serious attempt of a push happens: a bunch of shotgunners flow into Mezzanine and Server Room and lifeforms die: a lerk goes down immediately, a fade shares the same doom, while trying to protect the freshly dropped Hive in Server Room. Also Mega's gorge cannot escape the marines attack. Suddenly it is only X_o as lonely Fade against Weapon-2-Armor-2 shotgunning marines. Against the odds X_o keeps his Fade alive and the rest of the team performs some exceptional skulk-play to cripple Marines ressources. Slowly, but steadily, Schicht im Schacht shakes off their losses takes more parts of the map. Marines are able to push out jetpacks, but too late against the resources Aliens suck from the northern side. Flightless Lerks have to gg after they loose their last gate in Hub.

Round 3 (Jambi) (1:34th minute)

Now it is Schacht's choice to pick a map as marines and they say: "Jambi". This round is an example of aggressive marine-play: on the 2:30-mark one sees 5 marine RTs against only 2 Extractors. Although Flightless Lerks plays the usual tunnel, connecting their Hive with Bay Wing they could not get into the game at all. So, at 4 minutes they sit on a single Shell and only their base Harvester - while Marines cap up to 6 RTs. The upfollowing tech-explosion is too much for aliens to deal with: the game ends, when A2W2-Shotties push into the Hive at the 8th minute mark. The "underdog" leads 2 - 1.

Round 4 (Jambi) (1:46th minute)

Schacht get a Waste Recycling spawn and they tunnel to Organ Donation. Rek.net shows us what he is capable of and kills Hectix' Lerk at the 4 minute mark and Bounce's Lerk only 90 seconds later. Schicht im Schacht responds with an almost game-winning baserush in the 7th minute of the game - a teamkill actually saves the Marines from losing their 2nd IP. Still, this gives Schacht enough time to bring their 2 fades to the field, while Marines have to recover. Flightless Lerks regain the initiative and push Waste-Hive to 5% before an emergency beacon brings them back to base. Schacht's RT-biting proves to be effective yet again, and at 23-minutes they seal the game with 2 Onos.

Round 5 (Veil) (2:16th minute)

It is on Veil (Flightless Lerks pick) on which the Lerks decide to go back to their 2-lerks-3-fades-strategy, which won them many rounds in Season 7. Maybe this is a poor choice, as Veil asks for a gorge more than any other map. Schicht im Schacht manages to perform many devastating attacks with single Marines and hence quickly cover a big portion of the map. As a consequence it is rather easy for them to establish a phasegate in Cargo, denying the Aliens with Pipe-Hive their way of expansion. Lerks manage to get rid of the gate temporarily, but the amount of RTs the Marines put on the field is too much to handle in the long run. After defending a base-push Marines are set for the finishing move and there is not much Aliens can put up as defense. Schicht im Schacht win their fourth round and are Division 4 champions!

Lineup - Schicht im Schacht

Mega (Leader, Alien-Com)

X_o (Marine-Com)

Absurdon

Bounce

Hectix

Neid

Lineup - Flightless Lerks

Calego (Leader)

Starcetereus (Com)

Ace

Lincoln

The Pirate King

Rek.net