Matchreport Group B
Winner Bracket - Wildcard Team wins
Unlike in group A, the matches in group B were less clear-cut. We had some clashes over 3 rounds. This is how it went...
In the first match, the team of DJK Ehenfeld was already in trouble: not only that the team had to play with a new member, there were also connection problems. The conclusion of the round: DJK used the round only to get acquainted, which gave the opposing team, Valtra, more or less a walk-through. In the second round, DJK were on par with the second in the table until the last second, but the last bale fell off the conveyor belt, so Team Valtra won this round as well with more luck than skill.
Next to do the honors were the wildcard team LSA E-Sport and Lindner. With 42 bales delivered and a failed firstbale on LSA's part, Lindner won the first round. In the second, LSA seemed much more focused and had a mad comeback. A tight 41 to 40 bale helped Team LSA to victory and in the third round the wildcard team was practically unstoppable. There was even time for a little show: Stacker Anton made a drift to the conveyor belt.
The Winner Bracket for LSA continued directly with the previous winner, Valtra. Obviously not well adjusted, Valtra had no good bale handling and lost the first round with a bale tie of 37 bales. If you look at the rest of Valtra's season, this is very uncharacteristic - was this also due to nervousness? Seemingly motivated, LSA rushed into the next match. Valtra, on the other hand, seemed to have woken up and was ahead until the last few minutes of the match, but in the end LSA won by just one bale. So the wildcard team LSA E-Sport wins and is first of the group B.
Loser Bracket - Field battles until the last second
Next, the team from DJK Ehenfeld faced Lindner - if you remember, they had this pairing before in Match #8. Also in the first round Lindner used the now infamous "Lindner tactics", but then changed his mind and won mainly thanks to counter and combination points. This tactic was complemented by an unbelievable 46 balls, giving Lindner a score of 1,159. DJK didn't let that stand: the young wildcard team decided the second round in their favor with 1,100 points through 39 bales. So there was a third match in which no special tactics came into play. Both teams competed to thresh the field, deliver grain and press bales for storage. In the end, Lindner came out on top by a slim 100-point margin. DJK Ehenfeld is definitely one of the teams to keep an eye on next season.
In the last match of group B the Austrian team Lindner met the Finns Valtra. Valtra probably used the first encounter to warm up once again. In any case, Lindner were able to win the round relatively well with 39 bales and a good bale-handling. Finally Valtra shifted up a gear, but still let wait for the level of the rest of the season. At least they were able to win the second round with a narrow 100 point lead and thus demanded a third round. I guess sometimes teams need a certain level of pressure to get things going: Valtra tried to rush right after the start. Unfortunately, this did not succeed, but the game was nevertheless peppered with psychological strategy. Both teams persevered until the last second, and although Lindner only got one and then a small thresher, the Austrians offered decent skills. However, the 596 points were not enough, so Valtra secured second place in Group B and gets to join them in the final.
Winner & Rewatch:
So the two teams that get to compete in the finals are as follows:
Winner Bracket: LSA E-Sport
Looser Bracket: Valtra
If you want to watch the whole stream click here:
Twitch ENG: GiantsSoftware
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