POWBOT predictions for THL playoffs in Alterac Valley With Bonemasher: Week 2

Week 2 of the THL playoffs are upon us having said farewell to 12 teams last week. To the victors, another sudden death match awaits. In Pro and Hero Series, we are down to the final 4. A win this week books their tickets to the big dance. In Legacy, our 4 winners are facing the 4 teams already through to the quarterfinals. POWBOT has been fine tuned to account for finals pressure. Let’s see how POWBOT has ranked our players and which teams are predicted to progress through to next week.

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Pro Series
Pro series last week saw the top 2 seeds from pink conference For The Boys and Brusy Tuna progress, winning their matches 14-9 and 14-6 respectively. The other matches were much closer with black conference 2 seed F2L winning 14-10, while pink conference 4 seed NoProsHere won 14-12 ousting the black conference 1 seed.

To help guide POWBOT in assessing this week’s matches we’ll take a closer look at the players from each team.

Brushy Tuna
McBanterface - Pro series lifetime record 36-16 69.23% WR. S4 champion. S5 S6 All Pro
LotusKnight - Pro series lifetime record 41-27 60.29% WR. S3 S6 All Pro
Ron Mexico - Pro series lifetime record 53-27 66.25% WR. S1 S3 S5 S7 All Pro
RidiculousHat - Pro series lifetime record 40-31 56.34% WR. S2 All Pro
basedinc - Pro Series lifetime record 34-29 53.97% WR.

NoProsHere
AgentPWE - Pro series lifetime record 35-23 60.34% WR.
urmumked - Pro series lifetime record 40-31 56.34% WR. S2 All Pro
xKumei -Pro series lifetime record 16-12 57.14% WR. S6 All Pro
qaz1291 - Pro series lifetime record 7-13 35.00% WR.
JRich - Pro series lifetime record 3-6 33.33% WR

Brushy Tuna are the more seasoned team with better lifetime records and a greater number of individual accolades. Their records this past season are much closer, though still in Brushy Tuna’s favor. These teams met in week 2 with Brushy Tuna prevailing 18-8. Having said l that, NoProsHere won last week defeating 3 Grandmasters.

POWBOT predicts Brushy Tuna to progress with a score of 18-11.

For The Boys
SuperChicken - Pro series lifetime record 24-12 66.67% WR. S5 S7 champion
Dabs - Pro series lifetime record 34-17 66.67% WR. S5 champion
GermanShep - Pro series lifetime record 36-18 66.67% WR. S5 S7 champion. S5 All Pro
JheickWeiss - Pro series lifetime record 4-4 50.00% WR.
Dardarbinks - Pro series lifetime record 18-13 58.06% WR. All Pro S7

F2L
MartyB - Pro series lifetime record 15-11 57.69% WR.
qsns - Pro series lifetime record 12-11 52.17% WR.
rebobson - Pro series lifetime record 36-25 59.02% WR. S2 champion
BZRK - Pro series lifetime record 33-29 53.23% WR. S2 champion
Itachi - Pro series lifetime record 33-48 40.74% WR. S1 S2 champion

Both teams have championship pedigree with For The Boys being more recent. SuperChicken and GermanShep are looking to claim their 3rd championship in the past 4 seasons. For the individual matchups the players’ records aren’t too far apart, many of these matches could go either way. Expect this to be decided in the 5th and final match.

POWBOT predicts For The Boys to progress with a score of 16-13.

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Hero Series
Hero Series last week saw 2 big upsets with F2L defeating 2 seed NoProsHere, APM Yang defeating 1 seed and previously undefeated Golden Wisps. The remaining matches were close with 3 seed @Diamond @Diamond and 4 seed APM Yin winning in 5 matches. This has set up an all APM semifinal between Yin and Yang, and a mouthwatering clash between last year’s runners up in F2L: Black and the highest remaining seed @Diamond @Diamond.

APM Yang managed to stop the unstoppable force last week to clinch a first playoff win for the franchise across any competition. APM Yin matched that feat soon after and hope to be the immovable object APM Yang can’t get past. These teams have not met this season, having been in separate conferences and dodging each other in crossover matches. APM Yang have relied on new 1 seed Genji to carry them through to the finals, while APM Yin have the strongest 4-5 combination in Hero with good contributions from their top 3 seeds.

POWBOT predicts APM Yin to progress with a score of 16-9.

@Diamond @Diamond won their quarter final 14-10 off the back of their 2-4 seeds who have been their strength all season. F2L: Black won 14-9, finding a win out of previously winless Nejiboston in the 1 seed. These teams lineup similarly, with the 2-4 seeds on each side experiencing the most success on their respective teams this season. These teams met in week 5 with @Diamond @Diamond taking a close 15-14 win. I expect this match to be another close contest with the top 3 seeds deciding it.

POWBOT predicts @Diamond @Diamond to progress with a score of 14-10.

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Legacy Series
Legacy Series last week saw Defias, HOT ZILFS, The Cooler and Chaos Theory progress through to the quarterfinals. Every match was close, coming down to the 5th and final match. The other 4 teams will have enjoyed their week’s break and come in fresh to stake their claim at a semifinal berth. The quarter final draw sees 3 Red Conference teams on one side, 3 Silver Conference teams on the other and a single Gold Conference team on each side.

Chaos Theory took their long-awaited playoffs chance defeating a highly rated Pod People in an odd match that saw 5 3-0 sweeps. It doesn’t get any easier this week facing top seed and fellow red conference team JustWin. The team of Justins has been the benchmark this season and will be difficult to stop, especially with the strength of their lower seeds. These teams met in round 1 with JustWin just winning 17-7. I’d expect a similar result here.

POWBOT predicts JustWin to progress with a score of 16-7.

The Cooler snatched their place in the quarterfinals with a close 14-12 win over MUOH Hearthstone. Their top 3 seeds led the way, as they have done most of the season. They match up quite well against a Clownstone Academy team carried by 2 very strong performances. These teams did not meet during the season so there is no precedence for what to expect. A lot of close matches down the line are likely, as this match could go either way.

POWBOT predicts Clownstone Academy to progress with a score of 15-13.

HOT ZILFS won a tight match 14-10 over Hearthstone Academy last week to make it through to the quarterfinals. They’ve had a balanced performance across their team with their 1 and 4 seeds leading the way. Having finished only 3pts behind APM in the Silver Conference, I expect this to be a closely fought match, as was their match in week 5. APM won that bout 16-11. Have APM learned from their playoff exit last year? We’ll have to wait and see.

POWBOT predicts HOT ZILFS to progress with a score of 13-12.

Defias kept their hopes of back-to-back titles alive with a 14-10 win over Illidan’s Death Knights, reversing the result of their match from 2 weeks ago. They face a strong F2L outfit led by their captain and 1 seed rebobson. Not much separates these teams with close matches expected down the line. F2L is hoping to make it 3 for 3 teams in the semifinals. The question is: can the Defias juggernaut be stopped?

POWBOT predicts F2L: White to progress with a score of 16-13.

That completes POWBOT’s wrap of week 2 of the THL playoffs for standard competitions. Best of luck to all those competing this week! May you get one step closer to a coveted THL Championship. POWBOT will be back next week to preview week 3 of the THL playoffs.