After another round of intense action, we're halfway home in Season 2, and the respective playoff pictures are growing a little clearer. Let's find out what went down in week 4!
SFV
Prophecy kicked off Friday evening by continuing their strong run with a 4-2 win over Endpoint. After last week’s epic comeback over Epsilon, Prophecy, with Prophecy retaining their unbeaten record in Season 2.
After downing Season 1 champions, exceL, last week, Reason had put the division on notice. Method were not going to be ambushed in the same way though, and clinched a 4-2 result for their second win of Season 2. Reason's new trash talking superstar SaltyKid single-handedly pegged Method back to 2-2 from a 2-0 game lead and backed up his recent brash promos. His team weren't able to match that though; Verdoyance and RealMenace clinched tight games to see Method home.
In the shock result of the round, the only other unbeaten run in the league ended as Infused were blown away by an in-form Envy. Layo and Nassim-Claw came out of the blocks with serious chutzpuh and aggression, and whilst ImStillDaDaddy stemmed the tide briefly, it was back to Nassim-Claw and Layo to bring it home in style and take Envy's third straight win and leapfrog Infused in the table.
Friday's main event saw reigning champions exceL get their season back on track with a 4-1 victory over winless Epsilon. Keftaroz – in full Buckethead costume in honour of Halloween – actually put Epsilon 1-0 up in the first game, but it was all downhill from there with Infexious, Hurricane and Brian romping away with four straight games to seal the victory.
ROCKET LEAGUE
Saturday's action started with Endpoint taking Infused's losing streak up to six games with a 3-1 win. Both teams struggled with execution, but whilst Infused took the first game 3-2 it was Endpoint who grew in confidence as the game went on. Infused struggled to rotate from offence into defence, and Endpoint took advantage; combined with some fabulous saves and a crucial win in OT in game 3, Infused ultimately had no answer.
Epsilon are similarly struggling in Season 2, and their woes continued against Method with a 3-1 defeat. Method had Season 1 top goalscorer Mognus on top form, partnering with Metsanauris to form a constant thread on the backboard and counter-attack. Flarke and Florus offered brief hope with a stunning comeback win in Game 3, but a close final game was clinched 1-0 in OT for Method.
From two winless teams onto two unbeaten teams, and both streaks remained intact after Round 4; first Prophecy defeated exceL 3-1 in a game where the scoreline belied a competitive contest. Mummisnow was a constant source of goals for Prophecy alongside Sebadam and Eyeignite, but a tap-in hattrick from Zensuz in Game 3 gave exceL hope in the match. Ultimately though, it wasn't enough, and Prophecy took the victory.
Finally, Reason trounced Envy 3-0 in an impressive performance - even more impressive when you consider where Reason were at this point in last season’s Elite Series. Having taken Game 1 4-1 it looked smooth sailing, but Envy fought back from 3-0 down in Game 2 and missed a last-second shot to equalise. Envy then took the lead in Game 3, but Borito B and Rix Ronday came through clutch to nil Envy. In their post-match interview they threw down the gauntlet to future opponents Method and Prophecy – we await those contests with baited breath.
CS:GO
Method defeated Infused 16-11 in the opening contest on Saturday afternoon. Infused's poor record so far this season isn’t a fair reflection on some good performances, and the balance of the match swung back and forth in favour of each team. Some excellent rounds from CRUC1AL however helped keep Method's noses in front for the majority of the contest.
The only undefeated record in the league came to an end as Reason toppled Epsilon 22-18 in an epic battle. From trailing 13-7 at one stage, Reason dug deep and fought back before trading rounds blow for blow all the way into a second period of overtime, whereupon Epsilon finally ran out of steam. Appropriately the last word went to Teses, whose match-winning frag was his 40th of the contest.
Prophecy finally claimed their first win of the season with a relatively comfortable 16-8 victory over exceL. A slow start for exceL which saw them trail 8-2 left them with far too much to do, and both teams move to one win for the season – exceL remain ahead of Prophecy thanks to two bonus points from previous matches.
In the final match on Saturday, Endpoint kept in the playoff race with a crushing 16-5 win over Envy, whose academy team were on duty in Clash of Nations. This lead to a much-changed roster, and a hungry Endpoint team looking to make amends from their loss to Reason the week before made relatively short work of them.
Halfway through the season, and five weeks remain. Which teams are already eyeing the playoffs, and which ones are on the outside looking in? CLICK HERE to see the updated league standings! Get your tickets to a live broadcast from our events page, or tune in on twitch.tv/gfinitytv on Friday and Saturday every week to watch wherever you are. Fancy watching last week's show? You can re-watch all previous broadcasts on our YouTube channel!