The A-playoffs will look like this:

Quarter-finals:

Chosen vs Fraggers United - VODs: Twitch.tv | YouTube
Immortals vs Paras - VODs: Twitch.tv | YouTube

Semi-finals:

Majestic vs Chosen - VODs: Twitch.tv | YouTube
Suddendeath vs Immortals - VODs: Twitch.tv | YouTube

Grand finals:

TBD vs TBD

Bronze game:

TBD vs TBD
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Format:

All games are best of five. The deadline to play the Quarter-finals is April 6th. Make sure to get your games scheduled!
Should one of the Quarter-final teams fail to schedule their game, team Suddendeath 2 will fill the void.

Please let Andeh know the time and dates of your games so they can be streamed and called at SuddendeathTV! You can find him at #suddendeath on IRC QuakeNet.

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Quarterfinal predictions

The season has been crippled by inactivity and very few clans compared to previous seasons, apart from that there has been some really good and close games. The playoffs should prove to be quite interesting. Perhaps aside from the final wich Suddendeath will win 3-0. Anything else would be the upset of all upsets in the history.

Chosen vs Fraggers United

Chosen and Fraggers United will meet in the first quarterfinal, it is already schedueled for Sunday April 6th at 20.00 CET, and this will without a doubt be a good game. Even though they didnt find the time to meet in the group stage these clans have a long history together with intense group and playoff games.

Last season CSN were able to take down FU 3-1 in the division 2 semfinals and move on to win the final 3-0 against Klaphat. Notable changes in CSNs lineup this season is TheEvilDog from Klaphat and the fact that previous seasons star player Ake_Vader has played alot less.

This season has been bad for CSN with losses against Immortals, Majestic, Suddendeath and Suddendeath 2 only winning versus beforehand weaker clans like Paras, Division 99 and Lost Legion. The question is if they can muster enough fighting spirit to take down FU yet again.

On the other hand FU hasnt really been tested as they only played versus lower tier clans except for SD who steamrolled every opponent. With only 4 games and 0 pracs FU should be pretty rusty. FU is fielding the same lineup as previous season with the exception of dmt and a few idlers.

I will go for 3-2 in CSNs favour.

The winner will then proceed to the semifinal where Majestic awaits.


Immortals vs Paras
Even though Immortals won 2-0 in the group game against Paras it was the closest game for Paras out of all their games against the higher tier clans losing with around 20 frags per map. Aside from that they won 2 easy games against Div99 and VM. Paras has been around for a while and during the last seasons they have been able to threaten former "division 2" clans quite well. Last season they ended 6th in division 2 and managed to win a map in their 1-3 loss against Chosen in the quarterfinal. Feari is the guy to keep an eye out for as usual and nothing noteable has changed in their lineup.

Immortals is now a merge between no less than 3 clans as they have taken in Niw from klaphat and Blooddog and Sane from God Blessed. They had a good season so far with the only drawback coming in a 1-2 loss against Majestic aside from the 0-2 loss against Suddendeath. They look strong but just like last season it can all end in just 1 game. After a stunning performance in the group stage, winning every game and only losing 2 maps, they unexpetedly lost 0-3 to 8th seeded clan Lost Legion. They will have to be on their toes against Paras or else history will repeat itself.

Still, Im going to go with 3-1 Immortals here as they are just a better team.

The winner will then proceed to the semifinal where Suddendeath awaits.

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Both quarters have been played, now its time for the semifinals!

Last night saw Chosen take down Fraggers United in a rematch from EQL 17 division 2 semifinal where CSN reached the same result. The game was just as close this time as it was in EQL 17.

In the other quarter Immortals swept Paras with 3-0. Fearis absence from Paras lineup was crucial as they couldnt really rock Immortals boat this time, something they were much close to do during the group stage.

This leaves us with 4 clans battling for the spots in this seasons final.


Chosen vs Majestic

Majestic have played great this season, winning all 5 of the games they managed to get under way during the group stage. Their game against CSN ended 2-0 in their favour with a big win on DM3 and a close call on E1M2. Key players are mm and pai and they really need good performances from these guys if they hope to repeat the success against CSN this time.

Chosen came back strong with a 3-1 win against FU after a weak season. There has been some issues with activity and lineup but as usual CSN rather play than wait for best lineup every game. This leads to mixed results from time to time.

Still with both teams fielding their best lines I dont see CSN losing a 2nd time. 3-1 for CSN is my bet.


Suddendeath vs Immortals

Aside from the game against SD Immortals had a fairly good season so far and topped it off with beating Paras 3-0. Immortals even played Sassa during the quarter which was a nice return to the hot games for him.

Suddendeath played 6 games winning 12 maps and losing 0 on their way to this semifinal. SD2 came within 100 frags on one map but aside from that SD really crushed their opponents this season. Very little stand in the way of them securing the EQL18 title.

This is a nobrainer, Suddendeath will win 3-0 no matter what Immortals put on the server. Immortals are a strong side though and the silver lining is that they will most likely reach about 100 frags on every map. With players like bps and carapace though this team is just too hard for any other team to conquer this season. Spectators had hopes of seeing SD vs CMFS in the final but since CMFS idled there isnt really a contender for the title.

Good luck to all four clans!

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An honorary mention should be given to team Division 99 for playing the most games this season of all teams and truly giving it their best. Let's hope they return next time as well!

Make sure to tune in on the stream and let's hope for some amazing playoff games! Good luck to all teams!

Writer: Hooraytio, EQL Administrator
Editor: Andeh, SuddendeathTV