Forgive the brief post, but I'm sick and suffering right now. Quite a lot. Kill me.
Here we are: The first week of The Cogs... Sort of. Due to some balancing issues (and quite a few complaints, as we've all seen), we'll be having a little shuffle before we get The Cogs underway... Which I'm sure will please some of you and offend others. Sorry about that.
Anyway, some of you may have noticed the "Current Seed" column on the teams document and been wondering what it's for. Well, it's quite simple. It's a team's comparative statistical standing with the other teams. It's what Week 0 is based on, in a nutshell.
Before we get into The Cogs proper, we first have to populate them... And so we'll be playing a series of placement matches to determine the starting position for each team... Excited yet? I am.
As standard Cogs pairings, each match will be a best of 1 on a predetermined deathmatch map. Teams will have to throw everything they've got into these matches to prove themselves worthy of their spot on The Cogs
So, without further bluster, let's see the brackets!
Match 1 will see Fjords champions
The Gentlemen facing off against
Merry Northern Storm, a reformation of
Zill's Merry Men. Both of these teams proved themselves during the last tournament, but now they'll find themselves torn from the frigid northern wastelands and thrust out into the early morning fog in the daunting
Duel At Dawn. I'm not sure about you, but I can't wait to watch this match.
To the victor go the spoils: The coveted top spot on the Cogs for Week 1 while the vanquished will be relegated to the Challenger's Cog. It's all to play for.
Match 2 features community favorites
The Paddling take on
CROW Corvus, the reformed competitive edge of the Kings Gambit team in the treacherous
Canyon Ambush. Within the confines of the rocky bluffs, will the Ducks be able to escape the deadly aggression of the Crows? We'll see.
The victor of this matchup will take the third spot on the challenger's cog to face off against the Champion on Week 1 for their chance to rise to the top, while the defeated will be forced to defend themselves during Week 1 from the hungry upcomers... Neither teams wants to be put on the defensive so early on, so you can expect a fierce match from both the quackers and the squawkers.
Match 3 will see the two newcomers face off on the arid dustscape of
Battle on the Dunes.
VvV Comunidade will face down
The Pastafarians to establish their early dominance. With both teams running as relative unknowns, almost anything could happen. Who knows what the newcomers might decide to pull out for their first match? All we can know for sure is that neither will back down easily. They're prepped for a fight and neither team wants to lose their first competitive Icarus match.
Match 4 will be the true test of the newcomers, however. To whomever proves triumphant on the Dunes, that frozen wasteland awaits. The proving ground that is the
Northern Fjords await their next victims... And who better to stand as a guardian of The Cogs and beyond than the esteemed
Museosaurs. The Muse team themselves. Cursed with possibly the worst luck of any team so far, the Muse team were knocked out in what was almost certainly the most difficult group stage within the Fjords tournament. Returning to the scene of their failure with the burden of not having won a single match against a Cogs team (Officially), we can be certain that the devs have more than a few tricks up their sleeves to give the newcomers a run for their money.
The victor of Match 4 will get their shot at the Challenger's Cog on Week 1, to gun for glory against the established teams and and prove themselves a force to be reckoned with, while the vanquished will slink away into The Cogs, to rotate in shame.
That's Week 0 in a nutshell. Here's hoping I recover enough by the 16th to get a chance to watch these matches... Of course, I could also be dead by then. It certainly feels that way.
Either way, we're set for some interesting matches...
-Swallow
