written by dieMaus
So, we are in the second week! What matches will we see? How will the tourney going on? Lets have a look:
Only one match from first week isnt played till now, so there should be no time&date problems with the scheduling. The second week is famous Seaside!
Seaside
Seaside, what should i say. Its there since, ..äh since… since the beginning of WiC if i remember correct. It was played in nearly all Cups, Tourneys, Ladders and Competitons. Its played in allot Cws. So, you can say, its a well known map by all teams.
Seaside???
Some dont know it? Isnt it impossible? Well, Seaside, the little map with town in the middle, beach on one and gasstation/research center on the other flank.
For myself, ive a splittet relation with the map. On the one hand, its a very open map, alot different tactics are possible here, so most matches are interesting. On the other hand, im playing inf most of the time, and i RLY HATE BUILDING BATTLES. Whatever, lets see the most common things that happen on seaside.
Tactics!
USSR has a “small” advantage imo, as they reach the town faster and in better position, but maybe its a neglectable thing. (Pros, correct me 
) Most matches have the same goal, heavy battle for the towncenter, and gain control over one flank (most of the time beach his choosen for that)
Double Inf!
Imho, the most played tactic on seaside is Double Inf in a shitload of variations. Normaly, the main battle takes place in town, as it is a 3-CP point, and you have the chance to attack the homepoint of your opposing team (market/tv-station). Different styles involve both Infers go town, or one Infer splits between town and reseach.
In additon, you have to attack a flank point, alot teams choose beach for that, as there is NO cover at all, and its very hard for the weaker team to defend beach. Another variation can be, one Infer goes research only and attacks gasstation then, but then beach is not attacked normaly.
More variations involve tank/support attack at flank -beach or research/gasstaion- (more a USSR tactic, as gasstation is easier to attack with tank then research) and go for the homepoint (TV/market) – ive seen it more often at USA side.
In general i would say, teams choose rather beach to attack then research/gasstation, as this flank is near to the spawnpoints, and beach is exactly at the middle from both spawns.
Other Doubles
Well, the nice thing on Seaside is, nearly all tactics are possible. As USA can have problems with town, they often start out with a Double Heavy Air rush to gain control over town, and switch one Air player afterwards. (Also USSR can do it, and ive seen this also in some games).
Also Double Tank with or without Med Air can be successfull, for example as USA when u give up Town and attack both flanks.
Double support is a tac i havent seen till now, but its probably possible at well, who knows what tactic the teams have trained
Alot games also end with both teams Double Air. Normaly, the team with Double Air switches after a good push, but sometimes they stay at Double Air, often the other team then answers with Med Air, and in the end both teams play Double Air with one medium and one heavy air player.
Conclusion: Nuke!
So, you can see, its a very nice map, as alot things can happen. A last thing, its probably a map where the most nukes were thrown in cws. A nuke can destroy ALL buildings in town. A tactic for USA is therefore, ignore town, attack flanks, and nuke town as soon as possible, especially teams with lack of strong infers sometimes try that.
Also, the TD-nuke is used often , nuke their spawn and end the game, if you have a alot of TAs. Another thing, if they are overrun, teams try to nuke as a sort of “last hope”, and ive seen nukes turning the table.
So, all in all, i hope for some interesting games.
Now, have a look at the upcoming games:
Group A
“Estonian Defence Forces” vs “Hour of Victory”
Both teams lost their first match, but EST is more under pressure then HoV, as HoV played against the asumed strongest team in their group, but EST played against their “direct opponent” for the second place. So, this game can be the first decider for the second place.
“HardPlay” vs “FATALLYTY”
The favorite won his first game, and Fatallyty had a very close game against “the Beasts” but still lost. So they will be even more motivated for their next game, but it will be very hard against HardPlay, and i dont think HardPlay will go easy on them.
“The number of the beast” vs “sIN.Gaming e.V.”
sIN Gaming was one of the surprises of the first round, as no one predicted such an easy victory for them against EST, whereas the Beasts had a hard fight for their win, they even had to use a very uncommon tactic on Hometown. Lets see what they will do on Seaside, where ALL tactics are possible, it should be a close game, as both teams have 3 points now, so its a double win game for them.
Group B
“Red Phoenix” vs “(ü30Fc)”
The first match in this group looks onesided, but Red Phoenix “only” drawed against TACE, most ppl expected them to be stronger, whereas ü30FC lost their first game, but against the asumed strongest Team NewStyle. Will be interesting if Red Phoenix or ü30FC got stronger during the week.
“NewStyle” vs “SKD”
This game also looks onesided, but this time the possibility is higher that the prediction is right. NewStyle won their first game without problems (beside server related things), and SKD have their first match pending, but they are a rather new team in the CW szene, so its most likley that the veterans from NewStyle will win.
“wild 4 sports” vs “Tactical Air Command Elite”
For the last game, its very hard to write something, as the w4sp ppl havent played their first game, and as i dont know their smurfs i also dont know how strong they are currently. On the other side, TACE played stronger then all expected, they scored a draw against Red Phoenix. So, maybe they can surprise us again, especially on a map like seaside.
Group C
“Workers’-and-peasants’ Red Army” vs “Wings of Desire”
RKKA had an “easy” win against SOD, and WoD scored a draw against Equity. Still, RKKA is the favorite here, as WoD is currently under reorganisation, and RKKA played with constant strength so far.
“sKpl” vs “Squad Of Violence and Destroy”
sKpl, the lastminute joiners, had their first win against ITAK, and SoD lost against the strongest team in group. We will see if sKpl can build up a score advantage to secure the second place, or if SoD can surprise on seaside.
“Equity eSports” vs “ITAK Clan”
Equity scored a draw, and has now to win against ITAK, if they wanna keep their change for the second place. ITAK is in nearly the same position, only difference is, they lost, so they are even under more pressure to win the game. Both teams had more training, so maybe some of the teams have a special tactic coming up on seaside.
Group D
“Dragon Ninja” vs “Familie Bautzer”
The “killergroup” round 2. This group rly dont forgive and failure, so for the Bautzers its allready the game of last hope. D.N. won 200:0, so it will be a hard game for Bautzers. If the loose, the 2nd place is probably not possible anymore, whereas D.N. has to win, so they dont loose points for the fight for the 1st place.
“Die “Deutschen” kommen!” vs “MRCINE”
For DDK its the second game against the “easier” opponents, so they cant allow to let any %points go away here. In the next rounds, they will face D.N. and Shiny, so 200:0 is a must here.
MRCINE on the other hand will fight with anything they have, as they try to get into a good spot for the middle finals.
“Shiny” vs “Team Noro”
Shiny vs Noro, its exatly the same situation as D.N. vs Bautzers. The only difference, as Noro lost against DDK first round, they will have to face D.N. later, so this game isnt only the game for the 2nd place, they will also have a hard time reaching the middle final (spot 3&4), if they loose 0:200 here.
Full concentration and power is the way to go here.
So ppl, thats the end of the outlook, feel free to comment here, make predictons, corrections and such, i rly look forward for the outcome and review of the (interesting) second gaming week. Greetz!
