[Group A] Match Preview - France vs Sweden

[Gibby Jr]

NC PUNDITS: MATCH PREVIEW​ FRANCE vs. SWEDEN​     »With arguably one of the weakest French sides before them Sweden will be hoping to secure themselves a position in the upper bracket; France too undoubtedly feel the pressure in this match as one they need to win in order to assert their strength as a pot 1 team and so as to guarantee themselves a safe run to the upper bracket.« FRANCE A questionable strength France lack many of the players which have defined their roster in the past. Most notably missing is Peter, widely considered the best player in the game, as well as his famed cav-duo with Tobi - who has been absent since NC16. Renowned Captain Paulo, who led France for several years, will also be missing from the team. These three losses constitute a severe detriment to the overall strength of the French team in different ways: Peter and Tobi had the potential to dominate maps as cavalry or even infantry, if the situation demanded it, while Paulo formed a strong ranged duo with Tigerwhite. However such losses may not actually be as great as they initially appear; Maximou has really picked up his game and come into his own as an archer in the past year and has the potential to replace Paulo in a ranged duo with Tigerwhite. Furthermore Brian and Thorr have taken on cavalry roles over the past year and are now much more proficient at the class than at any other time. Yet if the Luxembourgian brothers take on the cavalry role then how will Tiberias and Dren fare as the sole infantry players? Their capacity to take on this surviving role will be essential in granting the cavalry squad the time they need to work. Though the absent roles cannot be filled fully the loss can be subsided through these careful replacements. Ultimately Brian and Thorr are going to have a lot of work to do on the closed map, which they are capable of, but now too they will need to excel on the open map if they want to grant France a safe victory. SWEDEN A key tactic The Swedish team look like they have a real chance at defeating the French in this match if they are able to use their strengths effectively and succinctly in order to shut down the powerhouse that is Brian and Thorr. Though arguably outmatched by this infantry duo Sweden do not lack key infantry of their own; Horace and Oliveran will be key in challenging the Luxembourgian brothers. Backed up by Soul, Righty and Hugo their key to success will be staying alive whilst the real Swedish weaponry get to work: RD and Berg form a devastating ranged duo with plenty of headshot and early kill potential which, if left unchecked, will pose a huge threat to the French team. RD is known for his ability to snipe out key players early in rounds, something which if Brian or Thorr were to fall victim to would be catastrophic for France. The key weakness of the Swedish team ultimately resides in their cavalry. Robin has a lot of work to do if he wants to challenge Brian, Thorr and Subzero on the open map. Yet again it will be up to the experience of Horace and Oliveran in staying alive so as to give the ranged players time to land the shots necessary to win rounds. Such a strategy will require careful execution but is ultimately the key to success for Sweden. KEY PLAYERS Brian · Thorr · Subzero · Tigerwhite · Maximou ​ [td]​ [td] KEY PLAYERS RD · Horace · Berg · Oliveran · Robin ​

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CONCLUSION
This is a match with the potential to go either way; both teams appear to have a distinct, exploitable weakness in some regard while at the same time having their strengths in just a few key players. Crucially it will be interesting to see if France can replicate their strong NC16 performance or if that former glory is lost. Casted by the one and only Greedalicious on his Twitch Channel.



    »Interestingly the first opening match for France last year was versus Sweden and one of the maps was Naval Outpost. France ended-up winning quite comfortably. The match was also streamed by Greedalicious, same as this one. If the Swedish players are superstitious these similarities might make them uneasy. Will Sweden make the same mistake twice? Or can we expect them to be competitive on both maps?«

MATCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY NC PUNDITS, ARTICLE WRITTEN BY @GIBBYWARBAND PROOFREAD BY @SURKAN_MBW,  DESIGN BY @SCAR_MBW​

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[Maximou]

Really nice preview Gibby.

 

[Oliveran]

A good preview indeed 

 

[Tardet]

Thanks for taking the time to write this Gibby, I think it depicts in a really accurate way that this might be an interesting and close match, that both sides can end-up winning. Looking forward Sweden ! 

 

[KaneMaB]

This is extremely well-written, but would you say Berg is a key SWE player over Sool?

Yes, Berg is a very capable archer, and i think he will play very good.

 

[S_]

Yeah Berg is good archer no doubt, but Soul should be key player, best inf in sweden imo

 

[Fietta]

Yeah Berg is good archer no doubt, but Soul should be key player, best inf in sweden imo

noooo

 

[S_]

only inf that has ability to kill something lol, i dont think holding shield up is called skill))))

 

[Kragen]

Yeah Berg is good archer no doubt, but Soul should be key player, best inf in sweden imo

 

[DarkLight]

Soul can probably outskill any other inf in france if it comes down to 1v1.

 

[CIIGES of the low lands]

Soul can probably outskill any other inf in france if it comes down to 1v1.

brian, thorr???

 

[KaneMaB]

Brian and Thorr are better infantries than him but 1 on 1 is Sool's forte

Soul is a very capable duellist, but i still think Brian, Thorr, and Maximou will outperform him in duels.

 

[Oliveran]

Can't wait for the untouched 30 second duel in the open of Desert Oasis, where no cav couches and archers fire , where Soul gets to duel Brian to decide the fate of the FRA v SWE match...

Thankfully Soul's a good teammate, so if he beats anyone in a duel becomes to a certain point irrelevant, because he got that thing called teamplay.... I'd be happy to see Brian go try duel him, so any of our cavs could couch him instead for a free 8v7 But Brian won't do that either, so maybe there's perhaps another way to judge who's the best inf on a team than who would beat the other in a duel...

 

[Shemaforash]

this last few posts so cringe lol

 

[Keller]

I guess that the preview was right about keyplayers in the end.

 

[Gibby Jr]

I guess that the preview was right about keyplayers in the end.

I did my research