Pardon the hiatus last week... We missed a lot of crazy action so let's look forward to week 3 and see where everything stands.
Hack Conference
All three Week 2 matchups were decided by a 5-4 margin and the margins in this conference will be razor-thin all season long. The Boss Blinds have made it through the first two weeks unscathed and are alone atop the standings at 2-0 thanks to a combined 8-0 record from (1) estrakami, (4) Skilen, (5) Loserpov, and (7) Cookie. On the opposite end, Constellation Comrades is the lone 0-2 team here, while the other four sit at 1-1.
Speaking of those two squads, this week we've got...
The Boss Blinds vs. Constellation Comrades - The Comrades badly need to post a win to avoid digging an even deeper hole, and the rest of the conference is surely rooting for them to knock the Boss Blinds down a peg as well. Nobody on the Comrades has won both of their sets thus far, while (as mentioned above) four of the Boss Blinds sit at 2-0. They need players across all seedlines to step up to have a chance against a team in the Blinds that has a case for the #1 ranking.
Prediction: The Boss Blinds def. Constellation Comrades (6-3)
Foil Bull vs. The Nine Dusketeers - A pair of 1-1 teams square off here to try to propel themselves into the upper half of the conference. Bull has gotten strong performances from their lower seeds, with (7) davidloh and (9) jp200 off to 2-0 starts, joined by (4) JunjieZ. Matchups haven't posted yet, but each team here breaks cleanly into three tiers (1-3, 4-6, and 7-9). Any matchup crossing over these tiers would be a big curveball. For the Dusketeers, captain (5) kechrigen is off to an 0-2 start; they'll need better from him. (9) TeenTykan has been a revelation from the bottom seedline, winning each match 2-0 so far. The Dusketeers have played two 5-4 matches so far, and this is shaping up like a third.
Prediction The Nine Dusketeers def. Foil Bull (5-4)
Flushes Before Crushes vs. The Golden Flowchart - The Flowchart bounced back from a 6-3 opening week defeat to knock off the Comrades last week and they'll look to put together a streak against Crushes, who (like the Dusketeers) have won and lost a 5-4 matchup so far. A rematch of the seaosn 3 playoff finals between Ian and bacon figures to steal the show, but this matchup may be decided by the lower seeds: The 7-8-9 for Crushes are a combined 0-6 so far. How much they can scale throughout the season is going to go a long way to determining this team's success.
Prediction Flushes Before Crushes def. The Golden Flowhcart (6-3)
Sock Conference
We're flying a bit blind here with an uncompleted matchup, but Flush Five Fajitas is up 4-1 over Animal Farm. What we do know is that Friends! With Benefits has officially moved to 2-0 and will lead the conference. Fajitas would join them at 2-0 if they do go on to notch one more win in their week two set. On the opposite end it's been a tough start for $100 Wraiths and Nobody Knows, each sitting at 0-2.
Friends! With Benefits vs. Crack Therapy - Crack Therapy posted a dominant win in week 2 (5-1 in their favor as of this writing) to bounce back from an earlier loss and this week they'll look to prove they can hang with another team that has a claim to being the league's best -- F!WB has gotten 2-0 starts from their 1, 2, and 9 seeds in Chi, BaLance, and Apl_Pi.
Prediction Friends! With Benefits def. Crack Therapy (6-3)
Nobody Knows vs. Flush Five Fajitas - After a tough 5-4 loss to F!WB, Nobody Knows fell apart in Week 2 with an incomplete 5-1 loss. Their five games won are the lowest in the conference and they need to get it together quickly before they fall too far behind. Their top three seeds are 0-5 so far. On the other side, Flush Five Fajitas has been one of the top surprises of the league, nearly off to a 2-0 start (they're up 4-1 in their second week matchup). The top three seeds of sizaak, Sinasi, and bom dia against the struggling Nobody Knows frontline will be key.
Prediction Nobody Knows def. Flush Five Fajitas (5-4)
$100 Wraiths vs. Animal Farm - Animal Farm appears headed for a week two loss (down 4-1) after a strong start, and this week they draw the 0-2 Wraiths who are in need of a turnaround. The Wraiths have so far wasted a strong effort from (7) Togers and (8) LeBob, who are both 2-0. They'll need stronger performances from their higher seeds, but this week is a tough draw as all four of the top seeds on Animal Farm have won a set (two are 1-0, two are 1-1)
Prediction Animal Farm def. $100 Wraiths (7-2)
Dusk Conference
Discord ate what I had written here so if the rewrite sucks blame that. Week two was a week of turnarounds in this conference. Oops All 1 Seeds! went from a 7-2 defeat to a 6-2 (incomplete) win, while Food And Dudes won 8-1 in week one before dropping a 5-3 (incomplete) matchup. The constants have been Friends Are Stronger Together, whose 26-15 game record leads the tour, and Jumbo Buffoon Pack, who figures to move to 2-0 -- they're up 4-3 in their matchup over Good Girls. Play your damn sets. LATE BREAKING UPDATE IT'S 4-4 NOW with Sylvie vs. Leonard remaining.
Food and Dudes vs. Jumbo Buffoon Pack - Food and Dudes will try to prove they can hang in the mix for the conference lead here. It's a very interesting matchup, with Food and Dudes led by their lower seeds (6-9 seeds Jack Knight, Pretzel, iamcoolokas, and Rakan are a combined 6-1) while Jumbo Buffoon Pack has flexed their muscle in the midrange (3-7 seeds Leonard, Disobeyed, ElpanMC, Ducklord, and Cambat are 8-0). The matchups could be the wildcard here with Melon taking on the 2 seed GaMeLaZe while Frank faces 3 seed nola. One big upset would swing this one.
Prediction Jumbo Buffoon Pack def. Food and Dudes (6-3)
Friends Are Stronger Together vs. Oops All 1 Seeds! - The 1 seeds bounced back in a big way in week 2 but they've got a tough assignment this week. Can Owen figure out how to play on his two-stake nerf, or is it going to prove to be too big of an anchor all season? So far he's yet to take a game, and this week he's playing a seed up against Klust. FAST has excelled in the middle seeds, but Oops 1 seeds could possibly find an edge in the lower seeds. Unfortunately for them, as I was writing this, FAST's (9) seed GhostlyPath has knocked off 1 seed's (9) seed GShark to gain the early edge.
Prediction Friends Are Stronger Together def. Oops All 1 Seeds! (6-3)
Good Girls vs. The Event Horizon - Similarly rough seasons for both so far, with identical 4-12 set records and nearly-identical game records (15-25 and 16-25). Good Girls still has a chance to enter this matchup at 1-1 if Sylvie can knock off Leonard; otherwise it'll be a battle to avoid an 0-3 start. (1) Pialba has shined for Good Girls, winning over Frank and Melon, while The Event Horizon's (1) seed Lowest Mercury and (2) seed cjpep are both off to 0-2 starts. A bright spot for the Horizon has been (9) seed Lynnia, who is 2-0 including a win over an (8) seed.
Prediction Good Girls def. The Event Horizon (5-4)