SA CTF Draft Cup 2025

Round 1 Playoff Predictions

By ryaN

Upper Bracket

Newnet Enjoyers | Loko(c)$870, kHr$940, magik$720, Bust3R$455, imperium$400

Group C – 2nd Place, Maps Won 3, Maps Lost 3

-vs-

Nordog Nuggets | Dewsick$990, Ev0luti0n$800, Grimreaper$750, nordog(c)$430, rusty2280$420

Group A – 3rd Place, Maps Won 3, Maps Lost 4

Kicking off round 1 of the SA Draft Cup Playoffs are the Newnet Enjoyers vs Nordog Nuggets. Most people expected NE to have a BYE in the first round after finishing 1st in Group C. This however did not happen as in the battle for first place Slam was successful in beating them and taking over 1st place in the group. It should be noted though that NE was playing with 2 subs in that match as Spitter subbed for Bust3r, and Pantera subbed for Magik. To be honest, they took a downgrade on players in both sub positions and in my opinion, this is what allowed slam to take the victory. I feel that had NE had their top lineup they would have been the 1st place finishers for group C. 

With all that being said this will be no cake walk for NE. NN after taking a 2-0 loss to BFW in their first match of season, had a close match and eventual 2nd match loss in tiebreaker 2-1 vs Wild. They started to come together in their final match vs CURSE with a very convincing 2-0 victory. NN has the GOAT, Dewsick. That alone gives them a chance to win vs anyone. We saw this team play around with their roster positioning in all of their maps seeking the strongest combination. I feel that the addition of rusty over arcanini will be an upgrade for them. In my opinion if they’re able to do an Evo/Rusty D combination allowing Dewsick, Grim and nordog to attack that will make for a very strong attack taking pressure off their weaker defense. What they decide to do time will tell as they do have a lot of options and I’ll be interested to see what they go with. 

For NE, we know what we’re getting. They’ve done essentially the same setup on all maps during group stage which is Loko and Imp on D, khr majik and buster on attack. It’s a pretty balanced approach of frag power and grabbing. I expect they do the same thing here vs NN.

Remember that in playoffs we now have map bans. The first round is a bo3, with each team banning 1 map each before picking. This is going to be critical for both teams. I imagine Azcanize will be the ban choice and a good choice to ban imo for NN. I’m not sure what NE will choose to ban as it’s not quite as obvious what the strongest map for NN is. Either way the maps banned, and of course the maps chosen to play are going to be critical here.

Now that matches have been played I can kind of throw out my initial power rankings and go with what I’ve seen. This to me is very tough to call. I think most might believe that this will be an easy 2-0 win for NE, but I do not agree with them. I believe this is going to be a very close match likely to see overtimes and 1 cap victories and going to the tie breaker map. Who will move on to face jeps in the ¼ final? I’m going with the underdog.

Prediction: Nordog Nuggets wins 2-1

Wild | dB$900, Fen1x$830, ispyz$825, WildCAT(c)$480, eki$350

Group A – 2nd Place, Maps Won 4, Maps Lost 3

-vs-

WTV | Asking$930, rummy$860, crispy(c)$735, Saltos$560, twistz$300

Group C – 3rd Place, Maps Won 3, Maps Lost 4

Our 2nd match in the Upper Bracket is going to be Wild vs WTV. In another battle of Group A vs Group C this one is going to be interesting.

In my power rankings after the draft I placed Wild at #1. And, well that is why power rankings are for fun and it’s impossible to know how teams will perform once the games start. Would I still have Wild at #1? No. After playing vs them myself I noticed a lot of flaws with the lineup that I did not notice at first glance. Even with that being said Wild is still a very strong team and has the ability to compete with anyone in the cup. This team does an excellent job of controlling powerups, something that WTV has been very poor at during the group stage and are going to need to change in this match. Fen1x and ispyz have made for a very strong defensive combo, but will the attack of Wild be able to break through the strong defense of asking?

WTV has been a revolving door of roster changes throughout the entire group stage. They made roster changes after every match this season fighting to make the playoffs in the very balanced Group C. In their final match of group stage where they had to win to advance to playoffs, they once again changed their roster. Making some very bold moves dropping the beast that is alpha. I think that this time, crispy finally got it right. WTV needed an anchor defender badly which they now have with asking. They also were horrible on controlling powerups from their attackers which with rummy now they will be vastly improved in. This new roster for WTV is in my opinion the best one they’ve had all season, and I believe they can surprise in the playoffs. JD did replace crispy in their last match and did a fantastic job. Crispy is a bit of an x-factor here as he has shown in pugs he has the ability to play above his salary. He has not to this point though played very well in an official match. If he can keep his nerves calm and play at his best in this high stress playoff match his team absolutely can advance.

Similar to our first Group A vs Group C match, I believe this match will go the distance and end up in a tie breaker map. I am once again going with the underdog, and this time taking the Group C team to advance to the ¼ final to face off vs the Snails.

Prediction: WTV wins 2-1

Lower Bracket

Fatal Fury | wdn$930, wyrm$830, scarz$800, jmoney(c)$450, murder$320

Group D – 2nd Place, Maps Won 4, Maps Lost 4

-vs-

Worstenbrood United | Crazy-N$800, light$730, Cassie$720, Athje(c)$600, farA$520

Group B – 3rd Place, Maps Won 1, Maps Lost 4

First match in the lower bracket will be FF vs WU. Yes, that’s right – The team who I rated last place in my power rankings (wu) made it to the playoffs. They did however make the playoffs despite losing both of their matches and finishing 1-4 but thankfully for them IFA dropping out gave them a free pass to the playoffs.

I haven’t waivered much on my opinion of wu. The lineup is a balanced one which is the best thing going for them, but it just hasn’t looked good. light at $730 based on the stats in matches I’ve seen as predicted unfortunately for them got overrated by a lot here which really hurts their lineup. wu is in fact though subbing him out for this match where obstacl3 will take his place. I think this is an upgrade and gives them a glimmer of hope.

FF has had an interesting season, and they have performed a bit better than I initially thought they would. They ended up in 2nd place in Group D finishing with the same points as RR in 3rd. After losing to snails and having to sub out lav3k in both of their first 2 matches they ended up full swapping him for senator. This has appeared to be a great trade for them. We saw them doing some what would seem to be very high risk, but high reward setups of stacking their attack and having a very weak base defense with murder and jmoney. Up to this point that setup has been successful because senator essentially is playing 3rd d full middle all game, with scarz also playing frag heavy. They rely heavily on the mass grabbing of ramdrop and just trying to control middle to pickup wins.

Wu has a chance to win this match if they ban smartly. I would avoid frag heavy middle maps, and maps that are easy for 2 weak base defenders to hold like duku. The goal for them is to not get frustrated by the mid style of FF, and find a way to counter it. Getting out vs murder and jmoney is not difficult, controlling mid and not allowing ramdrop to pile up grabs is the key to victory here for wu.

I do give wu a chance to pull the upset here if they pick smartly and play it right. Who will advance to the ¼ finals to face off vs my undefeated BFW? I’ve gone with the underdog in my first 2 predictions, but not this time.

Prediction: FF wins 2-0

Lower Bracket

x4 | Anaconda$840, Naru$820, unreal$805, Decl$500, Fuers$400

Group D – 2nd Place, Maps Won 4, Maps Lost 4

-vs-

Royal Renegades | KeizeR(c)$930, riveN$940, JeRoMe$780, Lineage$400, lotrfan$330

Our final match of the first round should be a good one with x4 facing up vs RR.

I expected x4 to finish 1st place in the very weak Group B, but in a surprise win jeps was able to take that away from them. x4 has a very strong team, Anaconda hits ridiculous insane numbers and is one of the most underrated players in the cup at $840, he likely should be in the mid to high $900’s. This alone gives them a chance to win vs anyone. RR has a unique position to counter that issue a bit as they also have an underrated player in Jerome at $780 who, despite his inability to hit headshots he still hits very well and picks up plenty of frags and already has the great CTF IQ to go along with it and should have been in the mid to high $800’s himself. So, the question is, do these 2 things offset each other?

Both of these teams have similar rosters in the sense that they are very top 3 heavy with 2 much weaker players on each roster. These are 2 very unbalanced rosters facing off vs each other. And that is what makes this one so difficult to call.

If you break it down into 2 sets for each team with a top 3 of Anaconda, Naru, Unreal vs Keizer, Riven, Jerome I give the top 3 edge advantage here to RR. Kzr is a monster and one of the strongest defenders in the cup. Riven is also an absolute beast at SA and always brings excellent frag power, cover, and runs for his team. Jerome will also provide excellent frag power and a lot of grabbing and nice flag runs. The only advantage I give to the top 3 of x4 over RR is their powerup control. RR has not been a good team at controlling powerups, and I think x4 is going to take the majority of them in this match which could prove to be the difference.

Now to break down the weak bottom 2 for each team we have Decl and Fuers vs Lineage and lotrfan. We gave the top 3 advantage to RR, but the bottom 2 advantage I’m absolutely giving to x4 here. Decl provides great value as a bottom 2 player on this roster as he can play the weak side defender role more than just fine on almost all maps. Lineage plays a similar role for RR but I think overall Decl is going to be stronger than him in that regard. Fuers and lotrfan are not too far off from each other to be fair. gamertom although he doesn’t hit much does listen well, and should have the ability to help his team time powerups. Fuers on the other hand is going to provide more overall fragging than gamertom will, and will have nice chemistry with his familiar teammates.

The team chemistry wasn’t looking too nice after RR’s last defeat after a close fought loss to the Snails. This is always going to be the frustration of building a team with 3 top end players and 2 weak ones. You must hard carry and be at your absolute best if you’re one of those top 3 players to win, you cannot count on your bottom 2 guys to over perform or put too high of expectations on them. This is the disadvantage of not building a balanced roster like the one they faced in Snails. Luckily for them, they do not face this type of roster in this match.

Who will move on the ¼ finals to face the Slam? For me, this is the toughest match to predict. These teams are similar in so many ways, the choices of bans and picks here are going to be extremely important. For the 3rd time in 4 predictions though, I am in fact going to go with the underdog here. I wouldn’t be surprised if either team won, but I’m going with RR. I think if they can keep their mental in check when an unlucky or unfortunate play happens and keep the focus, they can overcome this tough task and pull the upset. I expect my man riven to have a big boy performance here and carry the load while kzr steps up in a big way on defense. I think both of their bottom 2 are going to provide a bit more than they did in their previous match, and Jerome to make some CLUTCH  plays.

Prediction: RR wins 2-1