It is the final week of EU as we hit Round 10, we will be looking at which results teams need to go in their favour if they hope to secure a place in the prestigious Heroes Lounge playoffs.
All of these scenarios are correct to my knowledge at time of writing, if I had made a mistake (quite possible) please let me know in Discord.
Once this round is over we will have our traditional Draw Show on Sunday the 1st of March where the top 8 teams from each division will be put into groups for their respective Cup/Championship, more details to be announced shortly.
Division 1
eXon-esports | eXon-black vs The Nephalems
In Division 1 we have match that could definitely be a playoff decider depending on other results.
A win for eXon-black will confirm their place in the Mythic Championship, losing 2-1 would have them looking at other results to see if anyone overtakes them. The Nephalems need to win 2-0 if they hope to make the playoffs as this would tie them with their opponents, and that result giving them a win in the head to head tiebreaker. Just the win is not enough they need to hope the 3 teams above them all lose which includes Northern Exposure to lose against Multiple Boomerang Furries, Team snOr to lose against Division S team Disgusting and At least we showed up to lose versus RIP Hots Blizzcon 2k19.
Division 2
KittyKat Krusaders vs Lumpensammler
The story here is we have two teams who are not in the playoffs but have an opportunity to be depending on the events of this round.
There are 3 teams standing in their way of the top 8, the first of which is dears who for the purpose of these scenarios we are assuming they will lose their match 2-0 to Don Our Fedoras (I don't want you to lose, I just need something to write about. Good luck!). A win for Lumpensammler would give them the map wins needed to jump above them. The Krusaders on the other hand would only tie on map wins and scores with dears even if they won this match 2-0, and due to losing to dears in round 7 they would not be able to overtake them under any circumstance.
Next is Sauna Tent who have completed their 10 matches after a BYE! in round 10. Any win would take either of these teams above them, Lumpensammler would have the map wins to go ahead of them despite losing to them earlier this season and the Krusaders would rise above them courtesy of their win earlier this season even if they ended up tied.
If only it was that simple but Team Heart are throwing a spanner in the works, Lumpensammler don't care about them but the Krusaders need Team Heart to lose to give them a chance to squeeze into 8th.
These teams have played each other twice before back in Season 8 where Lumpensammler won and Season 9 where the Krusaders got their revenge albeit both matches with different lineups to what we see this season. Both matches were actually casted by Casting Manager and Dehaka god Samu who is now a player for Lumpensammler!
Division 3
Lucky Play vs FAT N64
Featuring the same team (Lucky Play) two weeks in a row, what madness is this? Am I just being lazy and don't want to update one of the teams in this box? No! There are only two teams who can gatecrash the top 8 in Division 3 and they are Triggered Newbies who have already appeared in #RIGGED twice this season and are facing Team Simple Geography in round 10, and the team we have here FAT N64.
Lucky Play currently sit at the pinnacle of the third tier of Heroes Lounge, and they are guaranteed a top 3 finish regardless of what happens here. It will be interesting to see if they deviate from their usual picks in an attempt to hide strategies for the upcoming Legendary Cup or if they play their standard and try to confirm a 9th win of the season and a 1st place finish.
Up against this titan of Division 3 is free agent team FAT N64 who have done very well this season while picking up 5 wins. They are one of only two FAT team making their debut in Season 11 (the other being FAT Dreamcast in Division 7) to be in contention for the playoffs at this late stage, so kudos to them! The setting here is very simple for them, if they win either 2-0 or 2-1 they will qualify for the cup, if they don't they won't! BioParco and Oni Chan's who are currently above them on map wins have both completed their games for the season so the extra match win would be enough for 8th place. Triggered Newbies who we mentioned earlier wouldn't be able to catch up if FAT N64 win due to inferior map score but could make it to the Cup if they lose.
Division 4
Sloth Sanctuary vs Jaina The Frost Mage
Things are very very close in Division 4, it is incredibly tight with playoff qualification just about possible all the way down to 14th position which is where Jaina The Frost Mage currently sit. Sloth Sanctuary can guarantee qualification with a victory here, 7 match wins would be enough to carry them through. If they are to lose here, there are quite a few matches that could go against them and drop them out of the top 8. If they lose they will likely be rooting for the same teams as their opponents.
Jaina The Frost Mage have to rely on 4 results going their way, and that's if they manage to secure a victory here. Something's Wong play CoB Antimeta and they will be hoping former free agent team Wong can get a victory here. XL 5 take on Owl Exterminators and an Owls victory would be preferred for JTFM. Massive Anger Disorder will need to lose against Team Ice Block and finally Nexus' Most Wanted will need to overcome A - Team. All of that isn't too much to ask, is it? As alluded to earlier all of these teams above JTFM have the potential to overtake the Sloths, so we will have to keep an eye on all of these matchups.
Division 5
The Sops vs 500ms
Another team featured for the second week in a row, and a team who has already featured twice?! Well that's just the way it is.
The Sops sit in 3rd at time of writing and have qualified for the Epic Cup for the first time since Season 8 where they fell at the group stage. They have had a good season and could well finish higher if results go their way, some are actually the results that their opponents 500ms need to go the other way.
Sitting in 12th 500ms could finish as high as 7th but need the following teams above them to slip up. Killer Koalas come up against high flying Johnny Sins' Butt Buddies in what will be a tough match and 500ms would be helped greatly if JSBB can finish on top here. Red Dragon Gambling face off against Turtle Team, one of these teams will finish above them regardless (unless it is a tie!). Under Pressure will be under the cosh to beat TSEA Link for 500ms' benefit, but would be unable to reach the top 8 themselves. To Shreds you say face the daunting task of playing top side in the division Moustaches, but the facial hair aficionados have lost two games this season so are certainly not unbeatable. The last team standing in the way of 500ms are PentatoniK who face second place team Tactical Suicide.
Division 6
Run into towers vs The Bacon Landlords
The Bacon Landlords will be eyeing up 8th position currently occupied by Protect Ya Nexus who have played all of their matches and will be hoping for a Run into Towers win as they would not have the map wins to overtake them. TBL could even make it up to 7th if Salami Jalapeño Pizza are unable to overcome the undefeated Sloth Highlords. A win here for the Landlords whether it be 2-0 or 2-1 would be sufficient.
As mentioned Run into Towers will come up just short of the playoffs, but it has been the case in previous seasons where some teams from the top 8 are unable to commit to the playoffs and will drop out, so a 9th place finish could be enough to squeeze them in to the playoffs if events go in their favour. In this unlikely scenario they must secure a 2-0 to confirm 9th place, as a 2-1 could allow Fishmekan who are hot on their tail to win their match against Hots shot 2-0 and tie their map score. With the teams not having played in Season 11, this would lead to the mythical COIN FLIP to decide who takes the final spot, but this is all very situational so we will have to see how things unfold first.
Division 7
Mighty Minion Army vs Xzone
We have a match here in Division 7 where the fate of these teams is in their own hands. Xzone can confirm their place in the Rare Cup with a victory, whereas Mighty Minion Army would leapfrog their opponents with a victory. MMA would fall short with a defeat, but Xzone could recover from a defeat if 3 matches went in their favour.
First they would need HaukiGaming to defeat currently 8th place The Z team. Then they would need Facepalm Tacticians to do them a favour and beat Dazzling's Mile. Finally they would need FAT Mobile to overcome FAT Dreamcast in the battle of the free agent teams. In this scenario they would finish in 8th in the Division, but they certainly should not be relying on other teams to secure qualification when they can confirm it themselves here.
After all that my brain hurts, thank you for reading and make sure to keep an eye our in the #stream channel of our Discord for any upcoming casts.
Written by Poppin
Heroes Lounge Content Manager, Moderator and captain of EU Division 4 team AFK For Cocoa.
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