Sunday 9 EST – GOTN

It all comes down to this: one final match, one final shot at the playoffs, and two teams that couldn’t be more unqualified to handle the pressure.

On one side: Goons, the player-poaching syndicate masquerading as a team. Built entirely on betrayal and backstabbing, the Gooners have quietly and not-so-quietly siphoned talent from every roster with a pulse. They don’t scout. They scavenge. If your team had a good player, Goons probably whispered sweet nothings to him in a Discord DM and promised “more structure” before dragging him away in the middle of the night.

If anyone on OldSchool starts fragging too hard, don’t be surprised if Athn tries to recruit him mid-match.

On the other side: OldSchool, a team that started the season like it had a plan. For a while, they looked semi-competent, maybe even organized. But that illusion died late in the season, on Matmata, the final week of the regular season, where they lost an overtime thriller against Nemesis. It wasn’t just a loss. It was the setting of a psychological collapse so complete that Jocco’s mental may have been permanently shattered.

Since then, Jocco’s been playing like a man trying to decode the voices in his head rather than the enemy setup. The overall team mood is simple: haunted… by Nemesis.

So what do we get when the cold-blooded mercenaries meet the emotionally fragile ghost of a once-decent team? Probably something awful. Definitely something entertaining.

Goons will do what they always do: minimize tactics, maximize firepower, and let the broken souls of past teams do their bidding. OldSchool, if they’ve recovered from the Matmata Incident, might claw together one last gasp at dignity. Or they might full-send a mental breakdown on Burgundy. Either way, we’re watching.

One team moves on. The other goes home. But let’s be honest, neither one is making a deep playoff run unless a meteor hits the top seeds. Or with how the playoffs have started, an upset is now considered the norms. Tune in. Or don’t. It’s going to be messy

THE STORY – GOONS

Goons came into the season full of life and hope. After an unideal finish in NightCup 10, going 1-4 including a loss to GOTN S1 groupmates Farmers, the expectations for the group was going to be to battle for a final playoff spot. And being placed into group A with farmers, we expected that to be the big fight. It was, and it was going to come down right to the wire until the farmers project. Right before the season, goons picked up Tripel to bolster their roster which has a core that’s been together since about December. This team now has the experience and the skill to make a run if the cards align.

On the surface, the fourth place finishers in Group A did so in very expected fashion. Led into battle by scope 1200 and everything-man Zexi, they finished an even 7-7, losing all 6 matches to places 1-3, winning all 6 against places 6-8, and drawing 1-1 with the team that would have finished 5th (until AO gate). Ultimately, almost none of the games “mattered” for this team, as the 5th and 6th place seeds were unable to finish out the season. However, if you dig a little deeper, you’d see two extremely close, and winnable games against group A’s 2 seed, Awakening, and some other good performances including a 13-1 victory over the pre-cheating ggg.

THE STORY – OLD SCHOOL

The international brigade of misfits won the hearts of many coming into GOTN Season 1. If you look at the roster on FPSChallenge, you’ll see more flags then brains on this roster, and it has worked well for the group. We still don’t know what language they speak in discord, but the results have been pretty good all things considered.

The team first appeared freshly formed in NightCup 10, where although they finished a lackluster 2-3, they got their first landmark victory in less than just a few weeks together when they took down a struggling Janitorz at the time 13-10 on Dawnville. That result quickly lifted expectations for the group, as it showed the group of internationals mixed with NA cod veterans had what it took to take down top teams.

Coming into GOTN S1 from a seeding perspective, you’d prtobably have put them right around the 5 seed in Group A. That’s exactly where they ended up, losing all 4 matches to the top two teams, and then doing a lot of splitting with the other teams in the group. They almost had ANOTHER landmark victory over Janitorz, in a match then ended up going to OT with methodz dropping 35 before ultimately falling just short. The really interesting thing about this roster is how balanced they are. Every week you seemingly ghet a new top fragger, and they all have shown up at different times. If they can all do it together, now, they have the ability to make a big splash.

MAP ANALYSIS

Burgundy – Goons will first pick Burgundy if they get the chance, and oS might be up for the challenge with their overtime loss to top-seed Janitorz.

Matmata – Look for oS to avoid this at all cost. Reason: PTSD.

Dawnville – Both these editors seem to think the bo3 will be decided on this map, as both teams seem to feel comfortable with it with solid showings during the season and Nightcup 10.

Prediction: 2-1 Goonz, with 3rd map being Dawnville. 13-9.