MLTP Preview: Eastern Conference

Game 1: Boostin Dynamo(0-0-0) v. ALL CAPS(0-0-0)

Fixtures:

Time: 8:40 PM EST

Streamer: TBD

BD Projected Lineup: Risk (O), Matetricks (O), jjpoole (D), Sherrattinho (D)

AC Projected Lineup: BALLDON’TLIE (O), HULZY (O), EAGLES (D), SYNIIKAL (D)

Spread: BD -4 (-100), AS +4 (-100)

Writeup:

The first Eastern Conference matchup of the season pits two veteran teams, now division rivals, against one another. Boostin Dynamo, led once again by jjpoole in his second season as a captain, is looking to hit the ground running in their quest to make the playoffs once again and redeem themselves after a disappointing finish last season. jjpoole is known for his player development, and after drafting Risk, Sherrattinho, Zvonvok, and Sam-, all players from last season’s squad, we’ll see if they can step up this season in both Majors and Minors. jjpoole also drafted a strong offensive talent in Matetricks– can the player formerly known as beel perform as well on the East Coast as the West? I think he’ll need to if this team has a shot of reaching the playoffs; with the teams shrinking and the overall talent levels of teams increasing, it’s a brazen move to call up two minors players to majors when there are so many other available options. jjpoole has historically done a good job with his players, and his approach of “practice more than any other team to get better” has historically served the team well and in my opinion can turn a mediocre team into a great one. But don’t forget, this is Week 1, and they don’t have the experience yet to be considered a dangerous team.

MEANWHILE, AFTER A DISAPPOINTING SEASON IN WHICH THEY FAILED TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS, THE ALL CAPS ARE LOOKING TO REGROUP AND REFOCUS. BALLDON’TLIE (OR CHAZ AS HIS FRIENDS CALL HIM) TOOK A HYBRID APPROACH TO THE SEASON– ON ONE HAND, HE HAS DRAFTED SOME OF HIS MINORS PLAYERS FROM LAST SEASON SUCH AS DEATH PICKLE AND VEEZY. FOR HIS MAJORS TEAM, HOWEVER, HE DECIDED TO TAKE A TRIP BACK TO SEASON 7 AND GRAB ONE HALF OF THE SUPERBALL-CONTENDING CAPITALISTS SQUAD IN EAGLES AND HULZY. BOTH OF THESE PLAYERS ARE VETERANS OF THE GAME, AND HAVE SHOWN THAT THEY CAN PLAY TAGPRO AT A VERY HIGH LEVEL. TAKING IT ONE STEP FURTHER, HOWEVER, CHAZ ALSO DRAFTED SYNIIKAL AS HIS FINAL STARTER, ANOTHER SEASON 7 MAJORS PLAYER THAT DISAPPEARED OF THE FACE OF THE EARTH IN SEASON 8. HE EVEN WENT SO FAR AS TO SNAG EBOLA AS HIS FIFTH MAN, WHO HASN’T PLAYED COMPETITIVE TAGPRO SINCE SEASON 6 ON THE ANTAGONISTS. THERE’S ALSO A QUESTION OF CHEMISTRY ON THIS TEAM–I HAVE AN INSIDER SOURCE THAT TELLS ME HULZY HAS YET TO USE A MIC IN SCRIMS, AND THE TEAM MORALE IS ALREADY SUFFERING HEAVILY. LOOK TO THE VETERAN CAPTAIN TO SEE IF HE CAN BOTH KEEP THE TEAM FOCUSED AND ATTEMPT TO GET HULZY TO ACTUALLY TRY.

Prediction:

This is a easy matchup to call, but I don’t think either of these teams are at the level of playoff-contenders just yet. Week 1 is all about who sucks less, and I’m 99.9% sure that Boostin Dynamo has practiced at 100% a lot more than the ALL CAPS. jjpoole’s preparation should net their team the sweep, but hopefully this will be a wake-up call to both teams–welcome to Season 9.

Pick’em: BD, -4.5

Rush: BD, 11-4

Iron: BD, 8-2

Game 2: Lagprone(0-0-0) v. KGBallers(0-0-0)

Fixtures:

Time: 9:20 PM EST

Streamer: TBD

LP Projected Lineup: LEBRON*JAMES (O), RemoSlice (O), Ballymandias (D), YS1 (D)

KGB Projected Lineup: Stalin (O), i’m high (O), Stann (D), Ball OON (D)

Spread: LP +3.5 (-100), KGB -3.5 (-100)

Writeup:

Legacy teams, welcome back to MLTP! It’s always great to see great dynasties like Lagprone and KGBallers fighting it out in MLTP, each with their own curses to accompany them. Although Lagprone made the playoffs last season, they had a tough time getting there, losing to possibly the worst team in MLTP history in Bad News Balls. Any time Lagprone plays on Transilio this season, I’d highly recommend betting against them. Anyways, Ballymandias is back for his third season as Lagprone’s captain, and he’s taken a very similar approach this season as the ones previous. That scares me, because the other teams are getting better while Lagprone is stagnating. If Bally thinks he can win a Superball with this squad, he needs to wake up quick and take a look at the talent on the other rosters. The shining star in this team is LEBRON*JAMES, who has developed wonderfully into one of the league’s top offensive talents. He and Remoslice will do a good job this season, as long as Remo does fine on Pi. It’s the defense I’m worried about. Word on the street is YS1 (formerly Young Sinatra) will be starting, and based on the other talent on the roster I think that’s the right choice. Turbo is washed up, and the only other capable defender on the team is OJDude, who probably won’t show up to half the games. Bally hasn’t developed as a player in about 3 seasons now, coincidentally ever since he started captaining, because he spends all of his time teaching his players his “system” instead of trying to improve his game. YS1 is a good player out of Minors, but he has to both learn the system and cover for Bally, which I don’t think he’s ready for yet.

KGBallers, fresh off of a Foci Four whooping by Tears, is back with their former glorious leader Stalin after his season-long stint with Dank Memers 30 Seconds to Mars Ball. And once again, Stalin has drafted a very strong Majors team. i’m high will once again be Stalin’s O partner, even though Stalin himself says “i’m high is sooooo much better on D than O”. I think regardless of what position he’s playing high has the skills to make any team a playoff-contending team. Stalin’s game smarts accompanied by high’s ability will lead to a successful offense for KGBallers. Looking at their defense, I’m just as impressed. Stann burst onto the scene in Season 7 with 30 Seconds to Mars Ball and hasn’t looked back; he’s a dominant defender that can be the cornerstone of any defense. Ball OON will be a very nice complement to him– in the offseason Ball OON got good experience in PLTP playing alongside Gem, and if you can play with Gem you can play with anybody. He’s definitely ready to burst onto the MLTP scene, and I think this team is bound for another Foci Four loss.

Prediction:

This shouldn’t be that close, really. There’s too much talent on KGBallers for Lagprone to match up, and the result should be a clear KGBallers sweep unless Stalin’s internet connection cuts out on him. Look for some standout play on both sides of the flag by KGB.

Pick’em: KGB, -3.5

Rush: KGB, 9-6

Iron: KGB, 10-4

Game 3: Base Gods(0-0-0) v. Adrenaline Spikes(0-0-0)

Fixtures:

Time: 10:00 PM EST

Streamer: TBD

BG Projected Lineup: fuckingtank (O), jj’s pool (O), Raven (D), Mr.Gone (D)

AS Projected Lineup: Romulus (O), TagUpTurnUp (O), Nebuchanezar (D), Prizm (D)

Spread: BG +.5 (-100) , AS -.5 (-100)

Writeup:

This is looking like a pretty murky matchup. Base Gods have a very strong lineup on paper–two of the top defenders in the Western Conference last season in Raven and Mr.Gone, who can also turn most any CRC decision in their favor. bdl is also a possible starter, but even so he was a skilled defender as well. jj’s pool (formerly Big Swingin) is an above-average offensive talent in MLTP, and I think he can continue that. Depending if fuckingtank (formerly Papi) is having a good day or not, this offense could be the best in the league or the shittiest. This is also fuckingtank’s first season in Majors, and although he’s historically done well in the lower leagues, this is the big show. Will he be able to perform? If not, I don’t know if this team can make the playoffs. We also have to see if the Western Conference defenders can have the same level of success in the East–just ask dodsfall. It’s too early to tell how this team will do; hopefully Week 1 will be a good benchmark for them.

Adrenaline Spikes have a few holes that I see quite clearly, and it’s in their defense. With honeybear out of the picture, there’s a struggle for lowest-skilled captain in MLTP, and Nebuchanezar is in a pretty tight race with BALLDON’TLIE and Curry for the infamous position. he didn’t do himself any favors by drafting Prizm, the “all-around” player who can’t really play either position at an MLTP level. When this team plays against a good offense, they’ll get slaughtered. And depending on who they start on offense, they’ll be below-average there as well. Romulus is skilled, and there’s no doubt he’s the best offender on this team. That leaves two mLTP-level offenders to choose from, Russia’ and TagUpTurnUp. I would take TagUp without a doubt; I’ve played against both and I believe TagUp wouldn’t get dumpstered in Majors. Russia’ undoubtedly would, unless they’re playing against Lagprone. Right now, there’s about a 10% chance this team makes playoffs, even if they play TagUp. Once again Nebuchanezar just didn’t draft well.

Prediction:

Base God should win this matchup. I don’t think fuckingtank will have too much trouble against the Spikes defense; however, jj’s pool will be dominant on Rush, but I think the game on IRON will be a little closer. Since it’s so defensively sided, it’s going to take a good coordinated offense to win this game, and I think Adrenaline Spikes have a very good chance to split the series.

Pick’em: BG, +.5

Rush: BG, 14-3

Iron: AS, 4-3

Game of the Week: Dyson Majors(0-0-0) v. Ghostboosters(0-0-0)

Fixtures:

Time: 9:00 PM EST

Streamer: MLTPLive

DM Projected Lineup: CHECKNATE (O), SirDan (O), Griefseeds (D), Brake (D)

GB Projected Lineup: Fronj (O), swerve (O), Gem (D), quarky. (D)

Spread: DM PK (-100), GB PK (-100)

Writeup:

What a way to kick off the season! This is the marquee matchup for good reason–both of these teams are definitely Superball Contenders. Griefseeds, considered the most dominant player in the game, is fresh off a Superball and Season 8 MVB, and is looking to now captain a team to another championship. He drafted a KPow-esque player in Brake; formerly on Billy-Ball Thorntons, this young defender is looking to break out in MLTP. It’ll be easy for him too; all he has to do is not suck and rely on his captain to post monstrous numbers week after week. On offense, CHECKNATE came into his own last season alongside Dino, and now he has another historically gifted talent in SirDan. If SirDan can get back into form, this will be a very dangerous team. That, however, remains to be seen. There haven’t been many success stories of players who took a break from competitive Tagpro only to come back and dominate the game, and the last time SirDan was around he was getting dumped on with the Knights of Crap-a-lot. If he flounders it will be up to CHECKNATE to carry the offense to success, which is slightly unnerving.

The Ghostboosters are looking ridiculously strong. They have the same lineup as last season, but with a huge offensive boost in swerve. swerve has had the unique problem of being a standout player on below-average teams, but now he’s got a decent offensive partner in Fronj, and a rock-solid defense of Gem + a trashcan quarky.. In all seriousness, Gem and quirky have great chemistry together, and when Gem has chemistry with someone that defense is instantly a nightmare (see Mikero, S6 Superball Ring). If Gem and quarky. can keep their chemistry going against the more high-powered offenses this league, I can see this team winning the Superball. Right now this is my Number One team in the East, and probably in all of MLTP.

Prediction:

This is going to be a split, and there are good reasons why. On Rush, I can see SirDan and Brake struggling against the highly coordinated Ghostboosters. Gem and quirky. have so much chemistry for Week 1, and Rush is easy enough to grab on that Fronj and swerve shouldn’t have any trouble getting out often. This will be a high-scoring one, for sure. On IRON, however, Griefseeds is going to dominate every aspect of the game. Last season Skillz that Killz gave up 2 total caps in 40 minutes of play on IRON– it’s might be the same level of domination as last season but I guarantee Ghostbusters won’t put up more than 3 against Griefseeds.

Pick’em: GB, PK

Rush: 12-7, GB

Iron: 7-3, DM