ANZPL Summary
Time is beginning to run out with only a few weeks left until playoffs. Now is the time for all teams to secure their places before their rivals beat them to it!
Brisbane Bulldogs vs South Sydney Skorpions
Starting out on Mines, this week picked by the Bulldogs, the Skorps opted for an aggressive commitment to the 1 line island and early pressure on the 2 flag. The Bulldogs had anticipated a hill brawl and rotated Ravvi back to defend. Unfortunately for the Skorpions, they didn’t get more tanks onto the capture circle in time and a deadly reset from Ravi left the Skorpions in a rough position. With the Bulldogs tightening their grip on map control, they eventually left the Skorpions with nowhere to go on attack and comfortably surrounded to secure the victory.
With the Bulldogs now on Attack, it was a fast and furious knife-fight on the hill with the Skorpions having to commit an Obj 277 onto the hill in order to guarantee the engagement in their favour. The bulldogs replied by committing two 113s resulting in all but MadHouse’s Super Conqueror on the hill in an all-out brawl. Despite being down HP, some great focus fire saw the Skorpions take the tank advantage and inevitably swing it back in their favour for a 1-1 score.
Moving to Cliff, RNG was not in either teams’ favour with Buck3t being set on fire as he climbed the hill and Raspberry being set on fire when the Skorpions looked to overpush on the middle. Despite an incredibly low chance of an engine fire, both teams suffered and traded tanks in the intense brawl. The Skorpions having the DPM advantage managed to swing the tide of battle in their favour as the dust settled and secured the attacking side victory.
A much slower attack was utilised by the Bulldogs, opting for a very unusual full autoloader team composition. Their wrath was unleashed on poor Raspberry in a decisive push which melted his tank in seconds. However with so many tank reloads to consider, Auzzi found his flank to be less than ideal with a second tank being lost for the Skorpions. Fighting back, the Skorpions grouped to win the brawl before MadHouse’s Batchat 25t could get into the fight but ultimately lacked the HP to make plays. The Skorpions desperately looked to play for time but couldn’t hold on long enough, meaning a tiebreaker was in order.
This week’s Tiebreaker map was Cliff, so both teams started to get deja vu, in more ways than one. Committing the majority of their forces to the 1-2 line, the Bulldogs managed to trade out a Vz. 55 for a Batchat 25. In an attempt to damage the Bulldogs on reload, the Skorpions charged into D2, resulting in a messy brawl for both teams. Grouping up, the Skorpions looked to retake the ‘donut’ and take out Buck3t but RNG reared its ugly head as the shots didn’t connect onto Buck3t’s Kranvagn who got away with only a damaged fuel tank.To make matters worse, when the push happened an ignite onto a CS-63 spelled doom for the Skorpions and the Bulldogs walked away with the overall win, leaving the Skorpions wondering what they did to upset the RNG gods.
Christchurch Conquerors vs North Sydney Sentinels
All eyes were on this match as two powerhouse teams were set to clash. The Conquerors certainly raised eyebrows on their Mines defence, opting to use a T-100 to protect the 1-2 line. The Sentinels looked to play the other side of the map with a 1 flag assault, however an over-extension from Wym0 saw the Conquerors wipe him out with TheReturned following him to the garage shortly after. The tide started to turn when Whippet looked to get flanking fire on DeL, only to get rammed to death in the process! With the Conquerors boxed in and lacking map control, the Sentinels managed to turn around the impossible and claim an attacking side victory, albeit with seconds to spare.
The Conquerors were certainly keen to surprise, opting for two 60TPs on their attack. Some potential miscommunication from the Sentinels saw Wym0 wiped out early again with the 60TPs punishing his S. Conqueror hard. The Sentinels scrambled to salvage the game, but with too much HP and alpha in front of them they couldn’t push fast enough before Whippet arrived in to begin clipping out them from the rear for a fast and furious victory levelling out the score 1-1.
Looking to boost their score back up the Sentinels opted for a very aggressive play on their Cliff attack, with two Kranvagns and two CS-63s taking hill control early in the game.With the Kravagns providing overwatch, the double CS-63 flanked around the 9 line and looked to get cross-fire. Despite not spotting it, the Conquerors identified that the two CS-63 were missing and pushed into the middle, starting the brawl before the Sentinels were prepared. The fight swung in favour of the Conquers, eventually resulting in a 3v2 but a critical missed shot suddenly saw a 1-shot Kranvagn take out Trax, allowing the Sentinels to clutch another victory.
Swapping sides, the Sentinels managed to get TheReturned to the top of the hill early without damage. The Conquerors however had other ideas and went for an early brawl, taking ramp control and moving for a pincer near the ruins. DeL got annihilated attempting to rotate and the crossfire ensued, with the Conquerors taking out Rainbow in the process as well. The Sentinels fought well trying to claw it back but the sheer numbers disadvantage resulted in another tiebreaker imminent.
With Cliff once again the tiebreaker, both teams went for a brawl in the middle of the map, looking to prove it was skill that separated the pair. With the Sentinels brawling better on the ramp and the Conquerors brawling better in the low ground, it looked to be relatively even but the commit over the ramp swung the battle in the favour of the Sentinels, with Conquerors unable to get their Vz. 55s into the fight. Picking up two points from the tiebreaker win, the Sentinels remained at the top of the leaderboard.
Perth Panthers vs Adelaide Action X
Starting off on Tundra, Action X charged towards the 2 flag on Tundra, but ran into the majority of the Panthers, so any hopes of a fast cap were squashed. Goober took the opportunity to take map control in his Batchat, but Dongerlord was ready to ambush should he over-commit. Both teams traded shots well but Panthers managed to inch ahead knocking out Saxon’s S. Conqueror. Action X regained momentum after retaking the 1 line and an ignite onto goober saw the HP swing back into their favour. Panthers tried a last-ditch push but Action X were prepared and managed to crush it comfortably to take an early lead.
The Panthers looked for a much slower and methodical assault, allowing Action X to hold strong for a solid four minutes without too much happening. As time started to run out, the Panthers tried their patented river push and despite driving into crossfire managed to get the elimination onto Eugene without bleeding too much. Unfortunately for Action X, Dongerlord wasn’t able to win the 1v1 vs Goober, missing a critical elimination shot which enabled the Panthers to steamroll their way through the remaining tanks with Ironguard too late to arrive.
Moving to Prokhorovka, the Panthers anticipated a salvo on the 8 line and wisely opted to send LightningMan to the 2 line to scout instead. Unopposed, Action X took control of the east and started to pressure the 2 flag with their T-100. The Panthers were entirely prepared for this and a decisive re-push in A6 smashed Ironguard’s IS-7 and forced the T-100 off the base.Action X tried to retake map control and managed to get great bleed but lost two tanks in the process of eliminating Twit. With time ticking down and little options left, Action X were at a loss on how to salvage the game and the Panthers comfortably won as the game timed out.
Swapping sides, Action X committed an IS-7 and STB-1 to the hill and forced JS to retreat. The Panthers cautiously spotted the 2 line and started to pressure the 1 flag when no opposition was found. Action X rotated to the middle but a panicked push saw Ironguard get traded out for an otherwise free pick onto Goober. Things went from bad to worse when JS snuck onto the capture circle, reducing the remaining time from 30s to 15s! Entirely unprepared to reset, Action X were unable to reduce the capture and Panthers walked away with a convincing 3-1 victory.
Week Eight Leaderboard
A big jump up the leaderboard for the Panthers last week landing them in third place while the Sentinels still cling to their top spot followed closely by long time rivals the Skorpions. It really seems like any team could be in the top four with just two weeks left to go in the regular season of ANZPL!
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Upcoming Matches
Tomorrow's matches will see the Conquerors up against Action X followed by the Skorpions facing off against the Sentinels and lastly the Bulldogs going head to head with the Panthers.
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Fantasy League Team of the Week
For our avid ANZFL fans, here is the best performing team of five for week one with a maximum of 1,628.2 points based on a starting lineup of five. Don't forget to create your team for tomorrow's games!
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ANZBL Summary
Round 5 of the ANZBL saw some upsets and the leaderboard shook up quite a bit! Let’s catch up on all the action in the ANZ Better League this week.
Bundaberg Badgers vs Wollongong Wolverines
The Wolverines and Badgers have been clawing at each other all season for the top 2 position and this week saw the showdown between the two at last. Kicking off on Mines, both teams went for the brawl on the hill. The Badgers managed to block haha_yes and crossed both their Obj 277s up unscathed. To counter, the Wolverines tried to push Snozzle but he continued driving forwards and managed to keep himself alive. With the HP in their favour and some great focus fire, the Badgers out-rotated the Wolverines and took an early lead.
Now on the attack, the Badgers pushed straight to K1 and put the pressure on haha_yes once again. The Wolverines with no tanks to punish the cross were caught rotating around the 8 line to try and take map control. Mendicant managed to get reset shots on the base but found himself getting pushed by three tanks and getting eliminated in the process. In a potential misplay, the Badgers looked to start a second fight and narrowly won the 2v1 vs a lone S. Conqueror. Despite getting the win it certainly seemed a lot shakier than it should have been.
Moving to Ghost Town, the Wolverines looked for a slow advance through the city while using their CS-63 to take control of the southern half of the map. Realising the north was uncontested, the Badgers took control of the field and grouped all their tanks up ready to blob into whatever came their way. Flanking all the way around the east, the Badgers caught the Wolverines off guard when the brawl came from the south! Getting an early elimination wasn’t enough though as the Badgers were now in cross-fire and struggled to find a target to focus down without bleeding. When the smoke cleared, the Wolverines were victorious and finally got a point on the board.
The Badgers continued their aggression on attack and crossed a CS-63 to A4 with minimal damage.The push came so quickly that the Wolverines had two tanks completely out of the fight and the Badgers managed to eliminate two tanks in quick succession.With an AMX 50B on reload, the Badgers continued their push onto the CS-63 with a poor Mendicant_Bias retreating under heavy fire. It wasn’t long until the Badgers caught up and secured the 3-1 victory.
Cairns Comets vs Canberra Centurions
With the Comets at the top of the leaderboard the Centurions certainly had their work cut out for them this week. Starting out on their map pick of Prokhorovka, the Centurions made an unusual push on the 2 line but immediately identified that Rudy had over-extended and collapsed onto him into a brawl. The momentum continued onto rupro, with the Comets scrambling to get their double Batchat 25s into the fight. Eventually clipping out the S. Conqueror and CS-63 in the middle the Batchats were forced to reload while the Centurions steamrolled their way into A2 and took out Flaming. Pp_Power managed to get an incredible kill onto toddy on the 1 flag and then proceeded to spread out and play for time. Realising they couldn’t catch the nimble mediums, the Centurions committed both of their remaining tanks to the 1 flag but the pair managed to find the angles to get resets, securing the victory.
The Comets looked for a similar 2 line push on their attack but the Centurions were nowhere to be found, taking early control of the east of the map. An ignite on the rear of Flaming saw the Comets bleed a lot of HP early. The Comets reacted by rotating their forces south down the 2 line but this opened the door for Scott_Hanaray to pressure out an isolated rupro. Forced into a brawl, the Comets pushed the south hard but poor Pp_Power got instantly deleted from a fantastic salvo, starting the demise of the Comets. With more than a 5000 HP advantage, the Centurions cleaned up and levelled the score.
Both teams opted for a full heavy lineup on Ghost Town, with the Centurions committing two IS-7s to A4. The pair crossed with little punishment and forced the Comets to retreat back. Meanwhile the double E100 and IS-4 had started triple cap pressure on the 1 flag, forcing the Comets to push into crossfire. After getting some good resets, the Comets found themselve getting forced into a 3v3 heavy brawl. Focus fire went the way of the Centurions, with the other Comets scrambling to get their guns into play. When the IS-7s arrived, it was all over and the Centurions walked away with a victory without losing a single tank.
Swapping sides, the Comets opted for a much slower attack, using an IS-7 and Batchat 25t to secure the south. With little resistance found, the Comets anticipated a trap and rotated towards the E line to prepare for a brawl. When the brawl arrived, the Centurions found themselves rotating two IS-7s into the fight while the brawl was already happening. Despite this the HP remained relatively even and an ignite onto Rudy certainly proved problematic as Darkknight struggled to survive while reloading. While toddy won the 1v1 vs the Batchat the Comets saw the opportunity to re push the lone Centurions and managed to convincingly win the brawl forcing a tiebreak.
Tiebreak this week was Ghost Town so both teams were ready for a rematch in familiar grounds. Even though they were on defence, the Comets looked to push aggressively and punish the Centurions while they gained information but it backfired horribly with Pp_Power getting shredded in the opening minutes of the battle. Things went from bad to worse as they found themselves getting outflanked by double IS-7! With Darkknight out of the main brawl, the Centurions kept the momentum going and toppled the leaders with a convincing tiebreak victory.
Hawthorn Hellcats vs Auckland Archers
This week once again saw Sand River in play for the Archers, who opened with an interesting split of their forces, with the majority in the riverbed. G4tekeep3r charged in for the 1v1 vs 13bladez in the south who got away on half of his HP. The Archers rotated heavily towards the 2 flag and managed to dump straight into Buff_Hamster and put cap pressure on. Realising that Mantank was alone, the Archers abandoned the capture and committed to the elimination. Kiwi_Nightmare finally arrived to the fight and his DPM was crucial in getting the kills on the remaining Hellcats, allowing the Archers an attacking side victory.
Swapping sides, the Hellcats pushed the south and the riverbed hard. Zealblade opted for an unusual bush which proved successful in winning the Batchat 1v1, however he was shortly eliminated. With the cap siren wailing, the Archers rotated 13bladez around for resets, but he lost a lot of HP after getting spotted. Realising the heavy tanks needed to reset, the Archers pushed straight in and collapsed onto Rippon. With both teams caught in crossfire, the brawl turned quite messy but as the sandstorm settled, the Archers were narrowly ahead on tanks at the cost of HP. It all came down to some critical bounced shots from Mantank as Kiwi_Nightmare managed to survive the clip and take him down for the Archers' 2-0 lead.
Moving to the streets of Himmelsdorf, the Archers made an aggressive commitment down the ‘banana road'. The Hellcats, opting for a very passive defence, didn't spot it out and rotated without information when the capture began. With triple cap pressure forcing out the Hellcats, the Archers went for the brawl with a 3v2 and a 2v3 brawl happening simultaneously in two parts of the map. With the north fight being won and the cap pressure forcing Hellcats to not focus fire, the Archers were able to dismantle Harty and his Hellcats and claim their third win for the night.
The Hellcats opted for a similar attack, with the difference being a Super Conqueror on the hill for fire support. The Archers spotted it out early and prepared to rotate on the D and E line to defend the 2 flag. The Hellcats farmed the re-push and Zealblade took a lot of damage to get the reset. With almost 5000 HP more, the Hellcats swarmed in, eliminating two Archers’ tanks in quick succession. The pain train kept rolling and the Hellcats were able to get one win on the board without even losing a single tank.
Leaderboard
ThLast week marked the end of the ANZBL regular season and now the Comet, Badgers, Wolverines and Centurions move on to the playoffs for their shot at the $1000 prize pool and promotion to the ANZPL!
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Upcoming Matches
Next weeks matches will see the Wolverines up against the Centurions followed by the Comets facing off against the Badgers in the ANZBL playoffs starting next week!
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