As week 5 of Season 8 draws to a close, it’s time for a brief recap of how our Premiership and High teams have been getting on so far. The competition at the top of the table has been close – no team has a perfect record, and the top 4 are separated by only 3 points. The lower end of the table has turned out more or less as expected, but with the bottom two teams yet to face each other the battle for Premiership survival could heat up in the weeks to come.

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What’s that I hear? Is it the sound of new maps?

That’s right, we’re into week 6 which means we get to take our first look at the latest version of Pro Viaduct, followed by Sunshine’s debut in Prem after making an appearance in the pre-season Experimental Cup and 6v6 Season 20. BlackOut TV are bringing you a David and Goliath of a game – UKIP are gearing up to give Highpander© something to think about as Hildreth‘s dream team look to secure a spot in playoffs.

With zero points to their name at present, yak‘s team are running out of time to make an impact in their first Premiership season. With a much-changed Viaduct and the relatively new Sunshine to work with, this could be their best chance to finally get some points on the board and silence a certain Dutch Pyro main with a big upset. The changed Sniper lines could provide Burn with a chance to contest the mighty phromelo, and there is always the possibility of a surprise Loveclop play to really unsettle their opposition.

zoob will be key as ever for Highpander©, creating openings for his teammates to exploit and following up on Hildreth‘s damage. Engineer nijoonen will be doing his best to shut down whichever of UKIP‘s formidable Scouts plays – however many changes Viaduct gets, mini sentries will still be a pain in every posterior.

As ever, we’ve saved the best news for last. The man, the legend, the venerable Condawg is returning for this game – on Heavy. In the spirit of encouraging healthy trash talk, we asked the man himself for a quote. Here’s what he had to say:

Condawg: From one dawg to another doge, you’re going down Hildoge!

As if one big comeback wasn’t enough, this match also marks the return of jakeowaty to the casting couch. Joining him will be CeeJaey, with Jon on the camera. Don’t forget – BlackOut TV at 21:15 CEST!

Match Overview
Highpander© vs UKIP
Week 6 (Premiership)
Thursday, April 30th 21:15 CEST

koth_viaduct_pro7

3 - 0

cp_sunshine_rc7

5 - 0

OVERALL
Highpander© [6:0] UKIP

BlackOut TV continue to bring you the best of Season 8 Highlander tonight as table-topping Fair Enough take on third-placed Tourettes Chessclub on Badwater. With CeeJaey as your master of ceremonies, Hildreth bringing the Prem analysis and Jon as ever on the camera, it’s going to be a cracking evening of TF2.

Fair Enough have steamrolled their way through the first four weeks of the season, taking down every opponent in convincing style bar a close 3-2 golden cap win over Stacked on Process. Their tight-knit, highly co-ordinated style has served them well, with all of their players ranking highly on CeeJaey‘s comprehensive stats spreadsheet. Their flank has been singled out for praise in previous articles, but their combo has been just as impressive. Qnai, Death and Lex are becoming a death ball (©HiGPS) to be feared as much as any other in Prem, with all three players boasting the best KA/D across their respective classes.

This clash with Chessclub will be followed by bouts with PremTech and Highpander© in the coming weeks, so coming into the three toughest fixtures on the back of such convincing wins over the rest of Prem will have HartzFartz & company hyped and ready to cause some upsets. Should they take even 4 points from Chessclub tonight, the race for playoffs will be looking a lot less certain than we’d expected a few weeks ago.

Tourettes Chessclub, meanwhile, have faced a slightly rockier road to week 5 but still have the opportunity to leapfrog their way to the top of the table by taking all 6 points tonight. With their roster completed by the addition of ondkaja on Soldier, Chessclub have taken three consecutive 6-0 victories after their heartbreaking golden cap loss to Highpander© back in week 1. With a slightly easier run to the end of the season having faced the Pandas already, a win here would leave Scissors confident of going into the playoffs as top seed. Huge plays from Lazybear and inso in recent games, along with confident sub performances from blub on demo should set these foul-mouthed chess enthusiasts in good stead to give FE a hell of a game.

Badwater is a map where each class can shine, but the Snipers for both teams are big playmakers. With both inso and Blooddrunk boasting impressive Sniper vs Sniper stats so far, the outcome will be dependent on which team can make space for their Sniper and play off him most effectively. Expect to see them being pressured heavily by Spies and Soldiers – Villdjack‘s Ambassador work has been spot on so far, while Khazul is still the main man when it comes to harassment Spy. Finally, it wouldn’t be a Fair Enough newspost without mentioning a certain Soldier unlock, so I’ll leave it to their glorious leader to close this one out:

jakeowaty: We are about to take down Chessclub, putting our faith in Hartz’s beggars.

No pressure, HartzFartz.

Match Overview
Fair Enough vs Tourettes Chessclub
Week 5 (Premiership)
Sunday, April 26th 21:00 CEST

pl_badwater

0 - 1

pl_badwater

0 - 1

OVERALL
Fair Enough [0:6] Tourettes Chessclub

Thanks to the great work by lawn and fubar we are glad to announce the newest version of viaduct, koth_viaduct_pro7 (NOT pro6!). This new version is to be used in the coming matches.

You can download the map on fakkelbrigade.eu – thanks to Arie for hosting it!

Make sure to update your server’s configs etc.

If you have any question, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Join CeeJaey, Clark and Jon on BlackOut TV tonight at 21:15 CET for the first Premiership match of week 5, with Highpander© facing Stacked on our old favourite pl_badwater.

Neither of these teams will be thrilled with how their seasons have gone so far – Hildreth‘s pandas currently sit in 4th place, with b33p‘s petit chou-fleurs occupying the 5th spot. Highpander© notably gifted WASP 2 points by losing a round of Barnblitz, which will have come as a big wake-up call and also a sign to their opponents that they can be taken down. They recovered with a comfortable week 4 victory over Unpoppable, but still look less dominant than we’re used to seeing them. NA Heavy Polk‘s sketchy turnout so far seems to be hurting the team as a stream of merc Heavies step through the revolving door, although the roster is far more stable than Hildreth predicted in his pre-season interview.

Meanwhile, b33p has been busy gradually losing his mind, pioneering the “kill yourself with your own level 3” strategy against PremTech and causing something of a stir over his interpretation of the mercenary rules. Many people tipped Stacked for a strong season before things got underway, but despite strong performances from the likes of droso and Hidan results have been going against them left right and centre. The roster is still about as stable as a matchstick spawn room, with Dimento coming in to replace NULL and lasting roughly 24 hours before being unceremoniously booted from the chateu by Prem’s newest Engie main. Their 6v6 DM machine Scout mains are also nowhere to be seen, with ekkelund stepping in and putting in a good shift against PremTech. Despite all the madness, Stacked still managed to take a round from BAITO‘s terrifying biker gang on their strongest map and are still capable of pulling something out of the bag tonight.

The only question that remains – whose third hold is deadliest?

Match Overview
Highpander© vs Stacked
Week 5 (Premiership)
Thursday, April 23rd 21:15 CEST

pl_badwater

1 - 0

pl_badwater

1 - 0

OVERALL
Highpander© [6:0] Stacked