After 6 long weeks where we didn't see so many great matches (except in group B & D), the playoffs are coming up next. At least we can say that everything went as we expected in each group, because there are no big surprises.

Group A :  G@MED!DE &  UMF

The former @-team didn't have to force their talent as they didn't have many problems taking the 1st slot in this group. Although the first confrontation between UMF and LionsBB was close and finished with a draw, the second one wasn't what we expected. With a crucial 7-6 win on the 5on5, UMF was able to turn this important match in their favour. iF didn't really care about this competition and left EMS during the first matches.

Group B :  YoYotech &  RAGE eSport

In the group of death, we even could expect a better fight for the second slot. But all together, it seemed like RAGE was a bit too strong for n!faculty and inf-delta, or the motivation wasn't there to threaten the top teams. Although YYT finished the groupstage without any defeat, the last match against RAGE was terribly close. RAGE showed that they were an incoming top team that can put any other team in doubt, but YYT was focussed enough not to get surprised by this group and showed they are one of the favourites for the top prize.

Group C :  MythiX eSport &  pn|dark

No problems for the ESL champion during the groupstage, because they didn't even lose a single submatch. We expected better fights against PN|Dark, but the Portugese team wasn't really motivated to put up a great fight against the former french team, maybe because of the tragedy that affected them (Skimer). Infused didn't really try to go into the playoffs aswell and it was clear that Gtz couldn't do anything in this group, although they finally ended on the 3rd position, because the UK organisation got kicked from the tournament (Too much PPs).

Group D :  dignitas &  Advanced

Now let's take a look of first playoff round.

UMF                                        Dignitas

Sunday 15/05/11, 17h CET

Streams : 

•  Videostream by dignitas with r2k
  
•  Videostream by tmlive.eu with Calagree & fifi
  

Preview : Maybe the most predictable match of the quarter finals. We can't expect anything else than a win of Team Dignitas, who have enough skilled players to pass this match without a lot of problems. The question is whether UMF will play this match at 100% to try to show a good performance, or if they have already given up hopes for a semi final. Let's see if UMF can prove us wrong.

 Bergie ( dignitas) : "Our group went as we wished for, we got 1st place, but not without difficulties. Advanced gave us two sick matches where they were leading 3-0 in both, after strong play from especially Vini aka Sam Winchester. Luckily for us we managed to pull back and make it a draw both times, giving us the win in the group on rounds difference. Ofcourse we wish we had won in a more "impressive" way, but atleast we got 1st place. Our match vs UMF could prove to be difficult, but they have some lineup problems at the moment, so we should be able to win comfortably. I hope we make it to the final of this season as I believe it is time for us to finally play and win a big final, but time will tell:)"

 Qwerty ( UMF) : "Our season started with a draw against Lions and that draw kept our motivation high during the season, because we knew we had to win our second match against them. We even surprised ourselves and almost managed to steal a point from GAMED.DE. The forfeit of iF was a disappoinment for us and we would have absolutely wanted to play 6 matches in GS, because that's what we have paid for. Luckily we managed to beat Lions and made our way to PO, which absolutely was our only goal, when the season started. And finally we would like to thank GAMED.DE, Lions and iF for those though matches we had.  In PO's we are a bit short of players, but nevertheless our motivation is high and we'll do our best to steal some rounds from the mighty dignitas. GL + HF! 

p.s. Special greetings and hugs to GAMED.DE guys, love still love you, even though you won us, twice. :P"

Sunday 15/05/11, 20h CET

Streams :

•  Videostream by Leveluptv2 with Russki, NVC & Nemesis
•  Videostream by tmlive.eu with Calaagree & Fifi
•  Videostream by fragster.de with Arni & Guest

Preview : The first close match in the quarters. We're not surprised to see G@MED here, but it's quite new to see Advanced in this stage of the competition. Even though we expected them to qualify for the quarters, we were happily surprised to see them putting up great fights with Dignitas, which nearly gave them the 1st slot in the group. So this is a really interesting match and a hard one for the germans, who will try to do as good as the previous season (top 3).

 Marsh ( G@MED.DE) : "Well, we did a decent performence in the groupstage. Of course we´ve been able to win all matches, but actually way closer than we should. Several 7-6 submatch wins dont feel right. In fact, we didnt use our whole potential, but it worked out. For the playoffs, in particular for the match vs Advanced, we will train hard. They drawed Dignitas twice, nothing more to say about that team. It will be a great match, i expect both teams to be well prepared, so GL to Advanced and HF all spectators"

 Kuduro ( Advanced) : "Hi, well to be honest I think we did a very good performance at the groupstage, maybe we have surprised some teams with our two draws against dignitas , both match against them was very good fights, pity our first half we had many ppl training for XLPARTY lan but we managed it very well. Now in playoffs we face g@med, they have a very strength team, in my opinion without any weak player so it will be a hard and close match for sure but we want to be in phase! GL & HF to everyone!"

YoYotech                                    pn|dark

Sunday 15/05/11, 21h-21h30 CET

Preview : This match seems to be a bit less balanced, as Team YoYoTech looks really strong again this season. In their really difficult group, they managed to finish 1st undefeated, even with such teams like n!faculty or RAGE. If PN|Dark can count on the comeback of Jalles, but it will be difficult for them to get a win over YYT. Don't be fooled though, we know that this team can play very well as they showed in Trackcup 2, by beating YoYoTech there.

 Frostbeule ( YYT) : "This season YoYotech came into the tournament with a slightly new team. Some players left though we also got 4 new very strong players in Beppo, Kactus, Tamarillo and wells.  Coming into the groupstage, we knew we had ended up in the "group of death" together with RG, n!faculty and inf-d. We thought it was going to be tough, and it turned out that was the case. However after 2 very close matches in the first round where we won vs RG and n!faculty we felt like we had a grip of the group, and could play the 2nd round with alot more confidence. So in the end we won our group undefeated and it has been decided we will meet Pn|Dark in the first match in the playoffs. We feel quite prepared for the task ahead of us, although it's kind of a bad time because of exams for several of our players, we can't really blame that too much as I'm sure pretty much every team got this "problem". Pn|Dark is also a very good team which we can't underestimate and we will do our best. As a last note, we lost vs Pn|Dark in TrackCup 2010, so we really wanna try to get our revenge for that :)"

 Angel ( pn|dark) : "Well about groupstage : it was an extremely difficult season for us because in the begining our dearest friend skimer passed away and all of us got really affected and the motivation to see trackmania was zero. Still we manage to reach the playoffs, even if our performances were really disappointing. For our next match ( first one in the playoffs) even if we are going to count with jalles help it will be almost impossible to get throw YYT... they are extremely motivated and trainned and we are not . Most of my players have exams and some of them will not be able to play on this sunday... but for us is a victory to reach this stage and it's always a pleasure to play with our friends from YYt.

We want to dedicate this 8th place to skimer ... and wish all teams the best of luck to their matches."

MythiX eSport                             RAGE eSport

 Monday 16/05/11, 20h30 CET

Preview : Probably the most interesting match of the quarter finals. RAGE showed some excellent stuff during the groupstage, and they have really improved and can be a serious outsider for the final. But on the other side, there's none other than last year's ESL champion, who didn't lose any submatch during groupstage. This match will probably be the best match of the quarters and it's really difficult to pick a winner, even if MythiX is favourite. A teaser of the match has been realised here by Snaky. (tm-tube link will follow)

 Kimi ( MythiX) : "We didn't had much problems in our group as no teams were really motivate to fight against us, even if we weren't really nice trained for our matchs. Anyway we hoped to not meet RAGE for the first playoff round or Advanced and our prayer wasn't heard. Even if i think we are still better than them, they showed that they were getting close to the top teams so it will be a difficult match for sure, they can really beat everyone if they are in a good day. But it's the same for us, so we'll try to do our best as usual, and even if we pass, we'll have an harder match then against dignitas so i can't say we have the best way to reach the final."

 Znik ( RAGE) : "Groupstage has been pretty nice for RG-Esports taking our group into account. It was the closest and hardest group to predict, but luckily we managed to advance to the playoffs in the end! I would have liked to see EMS with the old CPS group system though. In this way one could play against all teams and it would be alot more balanced score in the end. Nevertheless, we are awating the first hard playoffs match against a very hard opponent, MythiX eSport. They won the previous CPS season, and I think they are ready to go for gold again. But wait, stop right there! They first have to meet RG-Esports :D We will do our best to stop the big french monstercar, with its polish spoiler and rims and turkish V8 engine. Hoping for a great match this upcoming monday, and we will see at this time who had the most prepared team!"

 

1/4 Final	1/2 Final	Final
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G@MED!DE	.
Advanced	.
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YoYotech	.	.
pn|dark	.	.
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MythiX	.	.
RAGE	.	.
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Dignitas	.
UMF	.
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