WHAT WE LEARNED FROM THE FOURTH EDITION OF THE EGS SEASON 2
Two weeks ago, a new cycle of the European Groupfighting Series has begun, one which will see its end mark the end of the regular season and determine the heigh teams that will get a shot at the sought-after playoffs. As the first tournament of this second act - but fourth in total - has now been concluded and the second one is about to begin, I have been invited by Voluble and the EGS team to reflect on the result and humbly draw a couple of conclusions and predictions.
Amaterasu still reign supreme, Poosy to make do with silverSpoiler
The franco-European squad continued to impress, denying Poosy's chance to equalize them in amount of tournament wins on top of taking a strong option for the first playoff seed. Upon Zeyden's captainship, the team has now been racking up three wins in four tournaments, with their "worse" result being a 8-10 loss to Poosy in the 7v7, two weeks prior. Surprisingly enough, however, their group stage debut was shaky at best, losing to CCCP in their second matches and dropping three rounds against Fluss, the rising prospect from Germany. They benefited from CCCP's narrow loss against Snappers and still progressed to the tournament's final stage as the first seed of their group, on the back of a slightly better round difference. Although they dropped a couple of rounds here and there, their decisive-enough victory against NSS had them matched against the newly formed team Legends, giving us a much-awaited french-derby between the OG french guard from FT and the rising power of the new french superstars from Amaterasu. The tantalizing head to head between ExtaZz and Zeyden turned to the latter's favour, not without pushing Amaterasu to their limits, however, as it took all 13 rounds to decide which team would go through.
They went on to face the familiar faces from Poosy in the grand-final, which had just stormed both their group stage and playoffs matches, only losing three rounds against ProudBoys in the semi-final. Encouraged by that growing momentum, Bagins' men quickly took control of the match and could have very well-secured a second tournament win if it wasn't for yet another miraculous comeback from Amaterasu. The pile was potentially tougher to swallow this time as it is their third 9-10 grand-final loss in the span of four editions and definitely puts a question mark about Poosy's capacity to keep things under control in the final race.
With that being said, the format of the EGS ends putting each of these grand-final losses somewhat in perspective, making them not so dramatic after all. Poosy is still the only team alive today that has a continued legacy of dozens of wins across several years of competitive plays. Their experience as a group is simply unmatched and although it's true that being unable to close the match three times out of four is not the best of omen, realistically speaking if they manage to do it in the only edition that matters, then it's pretty much game for the British squad.
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One of the most anticipated performances of last EGS was the forming of Legends, a strongly focused french team made of the likes of some of the most renowned and decorated french players of the past decade. No stranger to FT rebrand, Drake once again attempted a come back to the scene by reuniting with old friends of his, ExtaZz94 and LeBrave, but also managing to bring back from semi-retirement Elsse & Tibérias who had both (the latter much more than the other) disconnected from competitive NW for quite a while. Along with those two came ClaSh, french competitive pioneer and one of the architects of Grouped and recently formed 13e but also native community members Maximou, ONeil & Gibby who, despite not equalling their teammates in NW pedigree, made a name for themselves as very solid competitive players in recent years/months while winning some trophies of their own.
While having on paper one of the most solid of the whole tournament, Legends' poor results in practice left many wondering what they could realistically achieve in this fourth edition. But it seemed the worry was uncalled for as Drake & Coe certainly did not miss their debuts in the EGS whatsoever. They started somewhat slow (a close to Proud Boys in the group stage put them as second of their group) but started to warm up just in time for the knockout stage. They made quick work of Snappers, which has been one of the most constant teams in the series thus far and decimated the likes of Enigma in the quarter-finals, 7-2. Against Amaterasu, the current best team of the EGS, they showed amazing reliability and skill, almost managing to pull off the upset in a tantalizing battle and when being rematched against Proud Boys for bronze, they stepped up at the best moment by demonstrating sheer superiority against the European squad.
Speaking about it, ProudBoys last tournament was ultimately the last blow of a disappointing series that never seemed to end. While still possessing a large portion of the players who had been part of PB's legendary dominance in early 2019, the team seemed but a shadow of its old self and despite remaining above most of the EGS team in rankings, they were never able to contest the likes of Poosy & Amaterasu for the dominance at the top. Even worse, their spot of 'third' best team that had once been threatened by Virgins (7-1 crushing loss in the bronze match of edition #2) seemed even more difficult to hold with the arrival of Legends which once again stole a third-place finish for the European veteran squad in the last edition.
ProudBoys' performance in the EGS as a whole wasn't all bad, however. The team still managed to reach the top 4 four times out of four editions and pushed Amaterasu and Poosy to their limits in two amazing semi-finals. Although not being able to make a single grand-final appearance was probably one of the reasons the team decided to not finish this season of the EGS together, Golden, Shadey, Lonedoge and Voluble still showed they could tackle at the top on an individual level and most have already found a new home to continue the event.
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In the battle for the playoff final spots, Virgins, Enigma & NSS have ensured themselves a comfortable situation, with 80 or more points above the current 9th team in the rankings. These three teams, all with a very unique style and line-up still have in common two things. They seem almost untouchable by a majority of the other contenders yet failed to upset the favourite top 3 teams when given the chance.
The only exception stands with Virgins which, during the bronze match of the second edition, managed to absolutely destroy a PB squad that had almost managed to upset Poosy in the match prior. On that day, Virgins seemed almost untouchable, beating Enigma after an absolute quarter-final brawl and almost managing to pull an upset of their own against Amaterasu in the semi-final. Their crushing victory over Movement's men to take the third spot, two weeks after the exact same team had defeated them in the quarter-finals, was surprising in how dominant it was; yet it still brought a logical conclusion to the best run Virgins had in the EGS thus far.
Since then, however, the squad lead by Coco failed to reproduce such a miracle run. The last edition had every sign of an unwanted backpedalling, losing to a limited PB team 4-7 whereas they had managed to beat them whilst they were looked much more solid. Two weeks prior, they had fallen victim to NSS in the quarter-final once more, a tier 2 team derby they undoubtedly would have wanted to win.
Talking about NSS, their performance in said 7v7 was astonishing but also very much highlighted their limit at the same time. While they had failed to make a powerful statement before that, their strong showing in the playoffs bracket (after having lost to GVT in the groups) served as a testimony of a tenacious mental fortitude and certainly unlocked the potential of many of their players. But outside of their victory against Virgins, which shouldn't be undervalued, they were unable to do much against Poosy in the following match nor were they able to defeat PB in the bronze despite a close scoreline, 5-7. Maskman's team has shown that - GVT's incident taken aside - they were constantly able to prevail against the teams arguably just below them in power rankings but on the other hand, they never managed to act as a serious threat for the very best of the EGS.
At the very beginning of the EGS, Enigma could have been such a threat. The team boasted an impressive collection of german top players coupled with improved mid-tier Nightwing, Eastwind & Felociraptor. The first edition showed just that with Enigma absolutely crushing every opposition on their way and giving Poosy a run for their money in the semi-final. Nevertheless, their 6-7 defeat in the bronze match against PB was the first of many frustration to come. In the following 6v6, they were on the losing side of that incredible battle against Virgins in the quarter-finals. In the 7v7, they once again played their hearts out against Poosy but missed that little extra touch that could have given them the required edge. In the last 5v5 two weeks ago, they were unable to do anything against Legends' decisiveness, conceding their larger defeat up to this point in the playoffs.
This explains why despite the undeniable qualities of their players and a certain thirst for success, Virgins, Enigma & NSS still miss one or several key components that could allow them to not only challenge the bigger teams on a more regular basis but also pose a serious threat in the playoff final of the EGS with their upset potential.
Spoiler
Currently, if we were to stop the EGS and take the 8 best teams to go into the playoffs, CCCP & Snappers both would make the cut. While it's hard to deem that undeserved, as they demonstrated a strong constancy amongst the mid-tier, one could argue they are far from being in a comfortable spot, only between 40-60 points above their direct opposition for the last playoff spots.
Out of the two, Snappers has been the most regular squad, making three top 8 out of the four editions, only failing in the most recent one against Legends. Though it may seem they often got 'lucky' with their round of sixteen draws (being matched against 13e or MM when they were arguably harder opponents in the rest of the bracket) their decisive victory against NSS in the second edition also shows they had no trouble beating a team of their calibre when being matched against one. Obviously, they never stood much of a chance against the really top teams of the EGS but Snappers doesn't boast with a superstar roster. Though the line-up is made of capped veterans who don't have much to prove anymore, GI's team is undoubtedly one that relies on better teamplay and cohesion to beat you, rather than pure raw skill. And although they will have to mind the danger that represents the few teams just below them, so far, so good.
CCCP's run in the EGS has been slightly more chaotic, but still very interesting to look at. Much like Snappers, they never failed to make it out of the groups and never managed to pull off a magical upset against a much better team. But that's where the comparison ends. During the first edition, CCCP already showed a lot of inconsistency, losing to MM in their group and not being able to prevail against NSS in the first playoff match (although they did make it close). The second edition was much more coherent in what you could expect from the CIS team, defeating Snappers in their group and absolutely decimating the likes of BlackKnights in the playoffs to secure a top 8. But since then, things have been going up & down for MarxeiL and his boys. They did recruit Wursti as a solid addition to maintaining their ranking but were defeated by 13e Academy in the 7v7 group and only survived GVT's scares by a margin (5-4). Their last tournament was arguably their worse performance to date, starting well by defeating Amaterasu in the groups but then losing to Snappers, only to be upset by BlackNights - a team they had defeated with ease previously - in the round of sixteen.
Although very different in essence, CCCP & Snappers performance in the EGS make them the strongest candidate to maintain the 7th & 8th spots at the end of the season. But there is no doubt that the results of the last two tournaments will make for a lot of the teams' future and with that many teams in ambush to steal their place, they can't allow any mistakes to happen.
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They may not have made as much noise as some other teams of a somewhat equivalent level but NPP, BK & GVT are all here to stay. NPP never had it easy but they only failed one to make it to the playoff stage, which still speaks volumes about the potential of that team. They even managed to secure a top 8 finish in the second edition which explains why currently hold the 9th spot in this EGS season and undoubtedly have a shot to make it to the playoffs. In the last edition, they were still extremely close to reproducing such a performance by upsetting their cousin's team, NSS, in the round of sixteen, only losing by the smallest of margins, 4-5.
BlackNights' story is probably even more impressive. Ruler's team started with pretty much nothing, being entirely remade for the EGS with a new roster. The French captain trusted a lot of upcoming players who showed a strong interest in the game by spending dozen hours each week on the WBMM and attending a lot of practice matches and clearly, the synergy they can currently demonstrate is nothing but the result of hard work. They were rewarded by two top 16 finish in the first & second edition and only missed a spot in the third by losing two unfortunate matches in the group vs NSS & GVT, 4-5 twice. But BK's eagerness to improve never seemed to slow down and two weeks ago, they managed to put on their best show yet, upsetting CCCP in the round of sixteen and taking 4 rounds out of Poosy in the quarter-finals. Mesmerising when you look at a roster that didn't exist two months ago.
Nevertheless, if you want to look at the most 'feel-good' story of this EGS, you cannot fail to mention GVT. The euro-American squad has been nothing but heroic this far and you can't help but praise the value brought by Horse, Mikey, Yoshi and Piktonns. Probably a bit bored by the lack of challenge and activity presented in their own region, these four have been instrumental in GVT's capacity to disturb the natural hierarchy of the EGS. It started from day one when they almost managed to upset the 13e Academy by being one round away to qualify for the knockout stage. The second edition was a bit more disappointing, not managing to achieve much in a group made of CCCP, Snappers and ProudBoys but in the last two tournaments, GVT clearly picked up the slack, upsetting NSS in the very last match of the group to steal the 2nd playoff seed from them. Matched against CCCP in the round of sixteen, they once again only missed one tiny round to reach their first top 8, pushing the CIS team to its very limit, 4-5. In the fourth edition of the EGS2, they once replicated a similar surprising performance by defeating the 13e Academy in their group, quite convincingly one must add, taking their revenge from the first edition and reaching another top 16 while sending a direct opponent packing earlier than expected.
No matter which way you look at it, these three teams are the reason why a tournament eco-system of such stature was required, to allow them to flourish and outdo themselves.
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While some teams perform above expectations, some others also fail to deliver. Gordon & 13e Academy both had rosters that could have achieved impressive results but so far, they have been average at best and the last tournament showed just that.
The 92nd groupfighting team lead by Dan & Vegi didn't make it out of the group in the first edition but at least did they put on a fight, defeating the weakest squad of their group 5-0 while taking two rounds against both Amaterasu & Snappers. The disappointment came out of their 4-5 loss against BlackKnights which prevented them from gaining a spot in the following phase. With Dayboul and Faisan joining the roster shortly after, Gordon was expected to improve their performance, and they did. They smashed NPP and 13e in their group and took the 2nd seed, but then once again underperformed against an opponent they could have beaten, Fluss. Since then, however, things have been going downhill for their squad as they existed in the groups of the third and fourth, being very unfortunate in one but vastly underperforming in the last. Thus far, the team has failed to make a lasting impact in the ranking but the potential is still there, with two tournaments left.
13e's path in the EGS has been different but equally frustrating. The Frenchmen's debuts were correct, upsetting Virgins in their group but dropping a frustrating loss against Snappers in the round of sixteen. In the second tournament, they made their life much harder than expected, losing their opening to a strengthened Gordon's squad and having the biggest of difficulties to prevail against SF & NPP. Although they qualified in the end, they could not replicate their performance of earlier against Virgins, being dismantled by the European squad 5-1. With BlackBeard as an emergency sub in the third edition, they clearly showed a surprising depth in their roster, stomping Amigos and SF in their groups and managing to upset CCCP but it was NSS that put an abrupt end to what had the potential to be a powerful run. Yet again, Nock and his men were unable to capitalize on that solid performance two weeks after that, dropping a massive 3-0 advantage against NSS in the groups and losing to GVT in the decider match for the 3rd place. This was one of the biggest underperformance, all teams considered, in four editions of the EGS and potentially spoiled the Frenchman's chances of making a top 8 finish but the season is far from over and 13e Academy can still pull off a miracle. Safe to say, however, that their faith is no longer in their sole hands.
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Another quiet team that puts a lot of work behind the scenes is Fluss. Their squad is made of some of the most involved german players in the last few months, which, very much like the players in BlackKnights, have put countless hours in training on WBMM and other supports. Only a few people realised it but their performance in the first edition was still very decent, having close losses against NPP & SF and managing to take three rounds against ProudBoys. The fifth-place they got was certainly not a fair representation of their potential and in the following tournament, they made the best of the opportunities they were given, defeating Elements & Misty Moutain in their groups while putting a decent fight against the tougher oppositions of Virgins & Poosy. They stepped up massively in the round of sixteen and managed to upset Gordons to qualify for their first quarter-final. Matched against ProudBoys, they didn't crumble under the pressure whatsoever and although they missed some tiny details to steal away the win, they managed to take home a valiant 5-7 defeat against a top 3 team in the EGS. Unfortunately for them, the 7v7 proved to be a format too hard to handle for such a young team that might not have possessed as much depth as the other teams in their group such as NPP for instance. They exited the group in fourth place without being able to offer much of a fight. The return to 5v5 could have been a welcoming sight for the german squad but unfortunately, they were placed in the group of death with Amaterasu, Snappers & CCCP. They once again fought valiantly, taking at least two or three rounds against teams that are definitely much stronger than them and prevailed in a tense derby against their german counterparts from Amigos.
Their current 15th place might be coherent in regards to their result but certainly doesn't do justice to the hard work and passion shown by the Fluss members and although it's hard to see them qualifying for the playoffs stage, they can still massively impact the EGS final hierarchy.
