Team Milton started off the season with a (surprise?) loss vs Team Striker in the first round of the tournament. Looking back at the game 4 weeks later it will probably be seen as one of the most exciting games this tournament has had to offer thus far. Milton's men started off with the first map DM3 in strong fashion taking home a rather easy victory, Milton got off with a strong start and never looked back from that moment on, cruising around the map and controlling the game solely on his own a few times. With a comfortable victory from DM3 in their pocket, what would come after that game was pure mayhem on the two remaining maps, quite possibly the most exciting two maps in a long time. Striker's team were rated by many to be the strongest team on DM2, so perhaps it wasn't so surprising that they could clinch this map home. Although Milton's team surely stood up to the test, leading the whole game until the last minute where Striker managed to grab the last quad of the game. E1M2 would prove to be another nailbiter, once again Milton's team took a strong lead early on in the game. But excellent play and great teamwork from Team Striker meant they could turn the game around. Once again this map wasn't decided until the very last minute where a Milton quadbore and some lucky spawns for Striker meant they could take the decider home.

Milton's second game was vs Team Zero who had also lost in their first game vs Team Bps. With these two teams starting off the season with a loss each meant a win here was a must for either team to put them one step closer to a guaranteed spot in the playoffs.

The game started once again with DM3 where Zero's men put up a really strong performance and could surprisingly defeat Milton's team here. The next map would be E1M2 which was a much tighter game than the scoreboard might show. LethalWIz put in a strong performance for Team Zero, but in the end Milton's finess and impeccable timing meant he could secure a victory here for his team. One has to applaud Milton's fighting spirit, losing 3 maps in a row in the same day and then coming back to lead his team to victory with two superb individual displays. Deciding map would be DM2 and Zero's team got off with the best start, though a poor mistake in the beginning meant Milton's team got a quick chance back into the game. With Milton grabbing the next few quads and his teammates being quick to punish on the mistakes made by Team Zero earlier in the game meant the game was rather one-sided.

Milton's last group game was vs Team Bps who were surprisingly leading the group on 4 points. A victory here would mean that Milton's team would direct qualify for the semifinals. A lot of people expected this to be a close game, especially considering the display shown earlier in the tournament from Team Bps, beating strong opponents such as Striker and Zero. The game started off really tight however on the first map E1M2, a strong display from Sphere gave Bps a strong lead in the first 10 minutes of the game until Milton's men managed to take over completely. Strong performances from Milton, Lakso and OK98 meant they could outshine Bps's men here, winning the game by a good ~60 frags margin which could be considered a "safe" victory on this map. Next map would be DM2 and this game wasn't quite as tight as the earlier map. Especially strong displays from both Moje and Milton meant they could cruise to an easy victory here. Before this game, Milton's team wasn't really considered to be a "huge" favorite to pick the title home this season. Though after a display like this vs. a team who has impressed a lot of people earlier in the tournament there was no question that Milton's team would be a serious contender for the title. His team seemingly skyrocketed in the poll, increasing their reputation by a good 20% or so, surpassing Team Rikoll who were considered a favorite earlier in the tournament.

Milton's results in Group B
vs. Striker 1-2
vs. Zero 2-1
vs. Bps 2-0

This granted his team 6 points in total placing themselves 1st. in Group B. This meant his team would directly qualify to the semifinals.

Semifinal vs Team Bps

I'm sure this game will be one of those games people will look back at years from now and wonder, what the fuck did we just watch?

First map was DM2. Milton's team picked up a fullstart if I remember things correct. Bps team acted fast and in the best possible way to dismantle Milton's men early in the game. Things were looking good for the first minutes where Bps picked up the second quad and at this point the rls were 1-1 in the map with the third low-rl being seconds away from spawning when Bps made a terribly crucial mistake boring the quad away. Luckily a teammate of his picked up the pack but a mistake like this would prove costly as Milton wasted no time at all moving out to bigroom & rocketjumping up to high picking up the mega at GL. With a terrifying stack, loaded with rockets and Bps team not having recovered fully from the earlier mistakes meant they had to pay the price. Milton's team picked up 3 rls before the third quad would spawn and from here on Bps's team were struggling hard to get anything going on the map. Milton just seemed to be one step ahead in everything he did, racking up frag after frag. With a wild Milton on the loose, racking up approximately 80 frags before the 9 minute mark people were already calling it "good game, next map". Bps team however managed to get some control back and even out the scoreline a bit, perhaps this was what they needed for the second map, E1M2 to gain some strength.

E1M2 started off much like the previous game between these two teams. For the first five minutes Bps team were having a good flow and taking a solid lead. Milton's team were struggling to get any sort of control going and it wasn't until the 9th minute that something happened. I don't think anyone has fully recovered from what took place on that day. With 10 minutes left of the game Milton would go on to put in an absolute stellar performance racking up almost 100 frags in 10 minutes play. What seemed like a close game would quickly turn into a complete nightmare for Bps's team. Milton was everywhere, almost every time with a newly picked up yellow armor, a rocket launcher loaded with ammo and to make things worse he picked up every quad from this minute on. With the sort of flow Milton had in this game it wasn't much Bps's team could do. It was obvious in the way they played from this moment on that they simply had no answer to the performance shown here from Milton and his men. Bps showed a few glimpses and made attempts at recovering the game but Milton's timing was 100% in this game. Every time he died he would quickly pick up a new RL and with the aid from his teammates he would within seconds pick up a new armor and latter on a new quad. Quite possibly, this was one of those performances that I'm sure people will still be talking about for a long time after this season is over.

After the ruthless display on E1M2 the next map DM3 would prove to be quite an uninteresting one. Bps team got off to a good start picking up both the first rl and pent. Somehow, Milton's team got the lead early and a weak pentrun from Adde meant Milton could pick up both the LG and the second RL. From this moment on Milton's team quickly took control of the map, especially since Bps's team played rather slow and were not pressuring Milton's men as much as was needed. Shook completely by the performances from Milton's team earlier meant Bps team looked to have given up early in this game. An easy victory followed for Milton and this meant they had secured themselves a place in the final of Salvation Season 2.

Notably, keyplayer Sphere missed the game for Bps's team, weakening the team on maps such as DM3 and E1M2. His experience and strong form would have been necessary for Bps team here, without him it just seemed like not even the players present on Team Bps believed that they could actually pull this off.

Merits for Team Milton thus far

• Milton has averaged 91,2 frags per game. The player coming the closest is ParadokS at 65.5 frags per game. A testament to just how far ahead Milton is in the current scene.
• Milton's team has opted for the same four players throughout the tournament. Putting faith in Moje, Lakso and OK98 whom have played every map.
• Moje and OK98 have averaged 57,5 and 57,0 frags per game. Currently placing them #6 and #7 in the division 1 table. Only falling behind to superstars such as Rikoll, ParadokS, Zero and Kingpin.

Team Zero

Zero's first game of the season was vs Team Bps, a team many predicted would have a hard time in this group. First map was DM3 which Team Zero took home with a comfortable margin. Bps and his team showed that they were no pushovers though and especially a strong performance from captain Bps made sure his team would still feel like they could put a dent in Zero's team. Next map E1M2, a map which players such as Bps, Sphere and Rst have played as home map in their respective teams for a long time. They showed this with pulling off a victory here by a good margin. This seemed to be Bps's night as he put in strong performances on all maps. Deciding map would be DM2 and this game looked like an absolute thriller. Bps's team managed to snatch this one home with only 7 frags being the difference between a victory and a loss. This game was obviously a blow to Zero's team as their next game would be a really tough one vs. Team Milton whom also lost in their first game of the day.

With two losses from the first day of group games, Team Zero were pressured to win the next game vs. Team Striker. A 2-0 win here would guarantee Zero a place in the playoffs. A 2-1 victory here could see his team squander their chances if Team Bps managed to take one map or win vs. Team Milton in their last round.

First map vs. Team Striker would be DM3, a map which looked to be Team Striker's weakest map in this tournament. The game was much tighter than the final result shows however and it was only until the last minutes when Zero's team gained a solid control and started to pull away from Team Striker. From this game on things seemed to finally click for Team Zero and maybe they need to feel the pressure to be able to perform at their best because a victory from the next map DM2 looked to be very far away for Zero's men after their performances in the earlier games. However, after an insanely tight game they somehow had managed to defeat Team Striker on the one map where everyone considered them to be strongest team on by far.

Zero's results in Group B
vs. Bps 1-2
vs. Milton 1-2
vs. Striker 2-0

A 2-0 victory would mean Team Zero qualified themselves for the wildcard games. They came out as #2 in Group B after Team Milton had defeated Team Bps 2-0 in the last game.

In the wildcard game Team Zero faced Team Rikoll who surprisingly had ended 3rd in Group A. Rikoll's team however came in as favorites for this game as Zero's team hadn't impressed thus far in the tournament.

After a shock DM3 victory where captain Zero had put in a champions performance, keeping total control for his team throughout the game and fragging like a maniac in the process. Rikoll's team must've been shocked after this round as I'm sure they had expected to come out on top on atleast DM3 as DM2 is the sort of map where Zero is known to put in strong performances on. Rikoll must however feel slightly let down by his teammmates who seemed to all perform well under their usual level. DM2 proved to be a one-sided story where Zero's team seemed to be full of confidence and Rikoll's men seemed to have lost all that teamplay and ability they showed in their first games of the tournament where they defeated Carapace's team and Dimman's team. After a shocking 2-0 victory here Zero looked for sure to be one of the contenders who could have a serious chance of reaching the final.

On the same day and shortly after the wildcard game Team Zero this time faced off vs. Team ParadokS who had qualified for the semifinals after finishing first in group A.

Zero's team seemed to follow up the strong performance earlier vs Rikoll with another strong performance in defeating ParadokS's team. Captain Zero especially played really well in the first two rounds where both teams fought really hard. In the end Zero's team managed to snatch the first map DM3 home with a good ~40 frags margin and also the second map DM2 by 14 frags margin. ParadokS's team however rose from the ashes with a strong performance on E1M2 to pull themselves back into the game. Next map would be DM3 again, and a strong performance from Springs saw Zero's team edge ParadokS out in this game, winning with a solid ~100 frags margin. The end result Team Zero 3 vs. Team ParadokS 1. certainly meant that this team would go into the finals as a serious contender to Team Milton who smashed Bps's team to pieces in an easy 3-0 victory.

Merits for Team Zero thus far

• Strong rotation in their team with five players who all contribute to this teams performances.
• Full of confidence after defeating Team Rikoll and Team ParadokS in the playoffs.
• Perhaps being more tested so far in the playoffs compared to Team Milton who had an easy game vs Team Bps.