In the first round of playoffs, one thing became massively apparent: everything was going according to schedule, so to speak (in a literal sense, ESEA has been a scheduling nightmare). The match up favourites all took their matches -  some more decisively than others. Mayhem put up three rounds against a now dead? Avoided. Loronix made a return to Leviathan Gaming, but the team still lost to Wolth Pack. Weeble made a splash (the magikarp kind of splash) on Juanetic when he stepped in for b and getting 5-0'd by HRG. Red flag continued their streak of forfeit losses by handing a free win over to Stay Classy, sending the team down to the lower brackets by default. Every thing was going according to plans.

The Second round of upper bracket playoffs yielded much different results. Avoided crumbled and took their second loss of the season by losing to Wolth Pack. High Roller Gaming proved that they have a reasonable shot at winning it all by beating a kermitless Stay Classy 5-0. And this leaves two teams left in the upper bracket, waiting to battle it out for a spot in the finals. In the lower brackets sit the now-dethroned Avoided and Stay Classy. With visitor looking to take over for Sureshot on Scout, and with Sureshot moving to Soldier, who knows what's in store for the first round lower bracket winners.

HRG and Wolth Pack are fighting in the upper bracket for a guaranteed spot in the finals. Both teams took out now-weakened regular season powerhouses. Avoided lost to Wolth Pack and Stay Classy to HRG. This was not the expected finisher - Avoided was surely a favourite to beat Wolth Pack. The game between HRG and Stay Classy went according to how I would have predicted it, especially with Kermit missing. HRG is looking stronger and stronger, and now that their new scout, ramo, is at least carrying his own weight, the team is poised to take it all and win in the finals. HRG is probably a favourite to win this match. That being said, Daniel and Droog put up noteworthy numbers in their game against avoided, and it would be easy to see how they could have another good game and knock HRG down into the lower bracket. It is difficult to make a case for coordination for either team – they both seem to have a sense for graceful anarchy, and just operate as six teams of one. Regardless of who wins this match, I would expect that the loser to stand a good shot at plowing through the lower brackets, and we will have the same match up in the playoff finals.

HRG > 5-3 Wolth pack

Mayhem and Leviathan Gaming are paired up in the lower brackets. On one hand, Mayhem took three rounds off of Avoided, a team that they barely dented during the regular season. On the other hand, LG took three rounds off of Wolth Pack, a team that they were able to beat during the regular season. Mayhem is looking stronger with Doggles playing soldier, and would likely take the match by storm if they also had Sigma playing. If either of those powerhouse players are absent, LG is looking much better. It's hard to attribute team wins to individial players, but Sigma undeniably bring unprecedented game sense to the table, and Doggles puts out solid damage numbers and positions himself well most of the time.  LG has returned to their starting roster with Sash on medic and Loronix coming back, taking over for the underwhelming Tyler. After a relatively successful regular season with this line up, it is surprising to see the relative lack of success in playoffs, particularly with a familiar roster. While LG's status as a middle/upper IM team is waning, Mayhem is looking stronger than ever. While the match could go either way, at this point it seems most logical to give the prediction to Mayhem.

Mayhem > 5-4 Leviathan Gaming

The final first round lower bracket game to be played is between Red Flag and Juanetic. After Red Flag explicitly stated their desires to stay in playoffs over an active ninth place team, a second forfeit loss would truly be heartrending. The first forfeit loss was nigh-unforeseeable following three regular season FLLs in a row, but hopefully Red Flag can field six and show what they are really made of. Along with lacking in attendance, the new roster is also lacking in skill for the most part – barring Ruwin, none of the players were particularly spectacular in their short scrimming stint before playoffs began. B or not, if this match does end up getting played, it would be difficult to picture Red Flag taking more than a single round against a better coordinate, rehearsed series of strategies.
Juanetic > 5-0 Red Flag