(GotFrag) - Over 70 teams have been narrowed to 12 teams competing for the cash and prizes. With 8 teams remaining in the upper bracket, we are finally getting to the meat and potatoes of the Championship. The second upper bracket round promises to be filled with plenty of action.

The upper bracket teams, in no particular order, are: Gay Zombies from Outer Space, Pandemic, Eximius Sports, Xensity, Sway Gaming, Focal, Devastation, and FerveNT. One notable omission is Experiment who lost last week to Devastation in a nail biter in the losers bracket of the stacked group A finals.

This round the map is Badlands, which is a very scout and demo oriented map. If you don't have strong people at either of those positions, this is basically a cake walk for the other team. Let's take a look at the second round matchups.

UPDATE: All matches have concluded, with some shocking results! Xensity upsets Eximius Gaming while ferveNT took Devastation to the limit, forcing Dev to win out the second half! Scores below, brackets on next page!







I wish I could say this match might be close, but it probably wont be. GZOS is a clan put together from whoever wanted to play, and pug allstars. They had an easy ride in their bracket, and now are facing their first real challenge. Pandemic on the other hand, as we all know, has been around the block a few times, and from what I recall, was the first TF2 team in NA to really hammer down badlands from the beginning since they had to play it for the ESL (euro league).

For GZOS to even have a chance this week, justin and sighrax are going to have to out scout oPlaid and the newly returned from many vacations scknsS, which is no small order. KB is also going to have to step up big to minimize alexwut in the middle. I say minimize, because there is almost no way to neutralize alex on this map. He's played it tons, and he's got good sticky placement, and very aggressive stances on this map.

For Pandemic to pull out the W on this map all they need to do is play their game. They have beat the best teams in europe with a huge ping disadvantage, and to anyone who thinks high ping is an advantage, you actually might be retarded. The only major weakness in Pandemic is when their whole team is under heavy fire, look for Reptile to receive 99% of the heals, which makes sense since Reptile is a beast, but it leaves the rest of their team to their own devices to get kills, which usually works out for them.

If GZOS can win one mid battle, I can see them maybe getting one point, but if not, I really don't see them scoring, or holding off pandemic for very long.

Pandemic [5:1] Gay Zombies from Outer Space





Since this is my team, I am gonna have a guest predictor to this match. So with out further ado, here is Sway|destro with the colorful commentary.

Destro:

By playing and practicing with Eximius the past month or two, I guess I would call them my 2nd team. That being said, I think my decision is easy here. These guys have probably the best teamwork I have ever seen. They complement each other quite well, let each other know where everyone is, and make great calls. They have proven themselves to be one of the top teams in TF2 (obviously because of me, god) and I think you all would say the same.

On the other hand, this might be Eximius' only challenge in this Sennheiser CEVO tourny. They are playing against Xensity who arguably has the two best soldiers in the game. Actually, they are probably the only team in Eximius' way right now. Going to be a great match.

Oh and also, quick tip to Eximius, do not send your scouts left side.

Eximius Sports [5:1] Xensity





Sway gaming find themselves here after winning their bracket, and beating xensity, while Focal lost one match to Pandemic, but won their lower bracket matches. However, in the CEVO system, this really means little, as this is a new set of double-elims, and any loss is erased if you make it to this championship bracket. This is actually an interesting point, since technically, you can lose two times, and still be in it, as long as you already won the lower bracket of your group play. Winning your bracket group play really doesn't give you any advantages, and since CEVO refuses to seed teams, winning teams get no advantage.

Anyways, all my gripes with CEVO aside, this match promises to be a good one. Focal has continuously been getting better ever since starting TF2. They had in the past, been slightly behind what I would call a great team in TF2, but thats all changed. In recent weeks, they have really beefed up their team play, and skill and consistently give very close scrims and matches to good teams. Sway on the other hand is a conglomeration of lolz and legacy/moneyshot, but minus the excess baggage.

Sway as I mentioned earlier beat xensity to win their bracket, which is pretty impressive, considering it was on badlands, which I consider Xensity very good on. Since this match takes place on badlands once again (why would CEVO schedule the winners of the winners bracket to play the same map back to map...just so many gripes with CEVO, sorry.)

I expect Sway to fully take advantage of their recent experiences on badlands, and add to it. Destro is a devastating demoman, and b` and amrit are both great scouts, and this map caters to Sway's strengths completely. Focal's strong suits are their soldier, sequel, and their demo novice, who can surprise you at times. I just don't think they have enough fire power in the scout department to make this game as close as they would like.

Sway Gaming [5:3] Focal





This is definitely going to be a good match to watch as well. Devastation silenced their critics last week with a 2-0 win over The Experiment in a game that came down to the wire on many occasions. FerveNT finds themselves here after a cakewalk bracket, in which the best team in it was United Gamers, who got steamrolled earlier this week on E-rev.tv by Xensity. Although FerveNT had an easy path here, they are no slouches.

They have zeroskills who considers himself to be one of the best soldiers in the game, and virulent who considers himself good at everything. All jabs aside, they really have their work cut out for them this weeks with their first real match up.

Devastation has fought their way here with some very tough battles, coming from the heavy set Group A bracket. They are somehow still considered sleepers since on any given occasion they have the ability to play down their potential. Luckily in recent weeks, they have been playing up to their potential, and really been dazzling teams with their gritty teamwork on defense, and relentless offense. REM is a beast on badlands, and he is going to dictate the pace of this match. Dev also holds the scouting edge on this map as well.

With Dev's combined experience, and team play, this match should be over fairly quick. I do expect FerveNT to put up a bit of a fight, but at the end of the day, they will just be overwhelmed when they don't win the middle battle, and find themselves defending the last point quicker than they can say cheese.

Devastation [5:1] FerveNT