And then there were two. This Saturday November 29th at 11:00 am (US EST) Protsoss and Chloride will host the best of five grand finals for Division 1 HERE. You may know one of the competitors by many names; skuf, $kuf, bablegun, pro_capitalist and possibly after this weekend Division 1 champ. Bablegun has lost only 2 group stage matches (to guess who?) and has only dropped 2 games in the playoffs so far. Their division spread runs the gambit from 6th US at the lightest all the way up to 3rd US and 79 ya.
Standing in Skuf’s way is Mix_90. This author knows not enough superlatives to describe Mix’s performance in SDL this season. The MMG master themselves has dropped only 1 game these playoffs, often making some of their matches, dare I say, look rudimentary. And that is no offense to Mix’s opponents, that's just how well they are playing currently.
My guess is that there are not enough heavy divisions left after bans, that each Commander feels comfortable with, for this five-game series. As such getting a win with an airborne division may be enough to break serve. Watch out for Skuf’s 6th US or Mix_90’s MultiNational Airborne Division to have a big say in who goes home the champion. In that same vein, are these the two most likely Divisions to get banned? Are there any “secret” divisions that either of these Commanders have been practicing? Will HDR London and 2 Ya be chosen? 6 ya has not been a big part of either plays bans or picks these playoffs. Will we have another deciding game 5 on Airport with Mig-21 Cluster bombers? (Remember how awesome the Tman vs pro_kommy finals was last season?!?!)
In Division 2 the champion has already been crowned. Congrats to Kotch who won their finals 3-1 versus Pasta La Vista. Kotch finishes the season with a record of 14-3-1 in games. That is impressive.
In Division 3, 5_luuk_5 toppled #1 seed ludie to reach the finals. On the other side of the bracket Fatkid had to slog through two straight 2-1 victories over CoreAccretion and Patrician Ricimer. This best of five is sure to be explosive!
In Division 4, Vladik sits in the finals waiting to find out whether they will play RegMonkey or barkas85. In their semifinals vs theHellene, Vladik piloted Home Defence Region London to their first ever SDL victory.
Playoff metagame numbers can be found in the Snapshot HERE and the full data HERE.
Let's check in on our winless regular season divisions to see if they have had any impact on the playoffs so far.
76-ya OG Desantno-Shturmovaya (0-0)
4th Armored Division (0-1)
35th Infantry Division (Mech.) (0-0)
35-ya OG Desantno-Shturmovaya (0-0)
24th Infantry Division (1-0)
303. Tankova Divize (0-0)
And on the flip side the three “best” divisions from the group stage.
16 DE Pantserdivisie (4-5)
6-ya Og Motostrelk. Div. (3-1)
2. Panzergrenadier (2-3)
And in the holiday tradition, instead of some letters to Santa, Fatkid writes letters to some needy Divisions.
Dear 8th Infantry,
I wrote you off during the regular season. You were both too slow and too light at the same time. But it seems rumors of your demise have been greatly exaggerated. Your 4-2 record in the playoffs is outstanding. Well done.
Dear 5e Division Blindee,
They forgot. They forgot that you can helo rush, or AMX rush, or play it slow. They forgot that you have recon tanks that no one can ever see. They forgot that your division still has some of the most cost-effective units in the game. And you reminded them with a 4-1 record in the playoffs.
Dear 152e Division D’Infanterie,
Where did you come from? Ending the regular season you were 4th from the BOTTOM of the undisputed Fatkid SDL Tierlist. You won 2 games in the regular season, one of which was only 3 minutes long. But here you are at 3-0 in the playoffs so far. Apologies, I didn’t know you had that in you.
It all comes down to the final week of SDL games for this year’s fantasy players. Currently in first place is Grand Potato with 795 points. The only other player with enough potential points to topple them is adler_750. But this is where things get tricky:
Grand Potato
Adler_750
Therefore, Grand Potato needs to root for a full 5 game series in the Division 3 finals REGARDLESS of who wins. They will be flip flopping their cheering interest every game! On the other hand, Adler needs Mix_90 to win the Division 1 finals but doesn't care how long the series goes. Don't check my math, just believe, THIS IS SOME CAN'T MISS WARNO ACTION.
If you have an interesting ranked game of Warno that you would like to share, now is your chance! Please send your replays and a short description to Warno.Dispatch@gmail.com to be considered for this space each week.
Be sure to give thanks to those that have positively influenced your life this year, whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not. I, for one, am thankful to Protoss and the entire SDL staff for putting on such a great tournament, allowing me to babble on each week, and mix it up with all of the Commanders on discord. And although our season is coming to an end, fear not, more Warno and more Warno Dispatches are around the corner. There is more tournament analysis to come!!