Pockets
Pocket soldier on LAN is a dream, soldiers benefit the most from low ping and combine that with a good share of heals and you’ll have a great time.
This does however mean many other pocket soldiers at LAN are going to be stepping up in a big way. This makes the pocket battles more intense and gives the pocket soldiers greater ability to influence and dictate the pace of the game.
4. TLR
TLR came back to TF2 for i58 and my mind along with many others went back to the days of i46 where NA had all the best soldiers and TLR was the crème de la crème. He had the best rockets and the best shotgun with little question. His online form going in to the tournament was not up to the same standard but the ever hopefuls, myself included, pictured him picking it up back up on LAN and re-creating his glory days.
Alas it was not to be, he ran the shotgun to varying degrees of success and his rockets weren’t as crisp as they could of been. While he did not play badly, he certainly did not play as well as many expected. With b4nny taking more heals and being more of the driving force and initiator for Froyotech it meant TLR was playing in an uncomfortable position that he was not as used to as this second aggressive soldier and you could tell. A disappointing LAN for TLR that did not go as he would of hoped, it didn’t help that every other pocket was outstanding throughout the event either. This accentuated what TLR was lacking.
While other soldiers have started to thrive in this double roamer world that we live in, TLR just couldn’t make it work. He attempted to adapt as the tournament went on but with every other pocket at the tournament playing this style for so long, he just couldn’t keep pace.
3. Geoh
One of the few players during the Aussies boot camp that looked good and he continued it into the event. Great rockets, consistent damage and one of the few soldiers playing the more traditional heal based pocket soldier and he was excellent throughout.
Geoh displayed top level play throughout the group stage, helping his team secure top seed. Going in to the next day he was constantly out-classing TLR in uber exchanges and was a great asset for his team as they tried to over-come Froyo but it was not to be. Following their next important game vs Full Tilt again Geoh was great, top damaging for his team and trying to give them something to work off but that was the start of a very special series of performances from Full Tilt that were too much for almost every team to cope with.
A great first LAN for Geoh who showed he could go toe-to-toe with the big boys and if it wasn’t for the European soldiers taking it to the next tier of game-play and DM he certainly could have been ranked higher.
2. Kaptain
Kaptain has been consistently one of best soldiers ever since he broke into Premiership and has won numerous online prizes with the kaidus and Hafficool combo. Going in to the event he was European champion and highly regarded as the best pocket in Europe if not the world.
No stranger to low ping, Kaptain started the tournament with characteristically perfect rockets, putting up big numbers and helping his teams to a reasonable seeding following the group stages.
Going in to the knockout phases Kaptain was consistently dominant, out-classing every soldier until the Grand Final. Kaptain has better DM than any other soldier, with the exception of Mike, and he demonstrated this throughout the tournament. The best example of this was the final round of Gullywash in the Grand Final (The second map) where 4-1 down, about to lose their second map in this bo5 and Crown’s are running out of time. While attacking Full Tilt’s last they opt to go for the submarine solo push with Kaptain who gets on point and destroys essentially everyone, staying alive for so long, pumping out ridiculous amounts of damage. This only made the score 4-2 and was not enough for Crown’s to make a come back on that map it was the start of the revival that saw them go on to win the series.
The only reason Kaptain is not the best pocket soldier at this LAN is that despite that Gullywash example there were not as many situations were Kaptain initiated and really created opportunities for his team in the same way Silentes did. Kaptain still had the best DM and quite easily could have been Number 1 but from what I feel was most important for a pocket soldier, which is to initiate and utilise all the heals they get to their max, Silentes did this better.
1. Silentes
Since Silentes joined Full Tilt he has been on a steady decline, he has always had great aim, but seemed to become increasingly un-synced with his team. It always felt like either he was trying to do too much or do things at the wrong time and there just really was not the connection you look for. As a pocket you are more often than not the heart-beat of the team. Either Silentes was too fast or his team were too slow but they were infrequently synced.
That was online though, who even cares, at i58 Silentes started well putting in good performances versus all the teams and showed no sign of LAN nerves or the dreaded LAN choke. His team seemed to be following up on him better as well and in the group stages we saw the blooming of his partnership with Mike. Back to reality, and after their upper bracket game against Crown’s they were left in the Lower Bracket meaning they would have to beat every team to take the title.
This is where Silentes took it to another level, he has always been the primary initiator for Full Tilt but all of a sudden something clicked both individually and as a team. Silentes would initiate but somehow also turn a frag or two and even when he didn’t Mike, Astt and Alle were always there to follow up. While he may not have hit as many rockets as Kaptain, he hit more important and more difficult ones in clutch situations. His opening bombs were what really allowed his team to thrive off that pace and energy.
There was a lot of talk pre-LAN about how Full Tilt were never able to dictate the pace of the game vs Crown’s and that inevitably almost always led to their downfall. That did not happen at i58. With the stakes higher than ever the pace of the game rose and I believe Silentes was the main reason for this, he burst the door wide open and finally allowed Full Tilt to play their own game vs Crown’s as well as Froyotech and Jasmine Tea. This is why I ranked him as the best pocket soldier, not because he had the best stats but because he made the most difference to his team. He made the most difference when it mattered the most.
Final Thoughts
Soldiers always look better on LAN, because of the ping in case I hadn’t mentioned it, but at i58 they took it to the next level. Everyone stepped up in a big way and while all these dreary thoughts of top level TF2 getting worse and worse, you would not know it watching i58. I think Silentes and Mike have been the best soldier combo we have seen in a long time, especially in Europe. The way they worked together and played off each others bombs made it so hard for every team to cope with. Crown’s are the kings (lol pun) at dictating the pace of the game and it’s such a crucial part of how they set up, shutting down every door and playing tight. It’s a big reason why Crowns win as many games as they do. Much to Drackk’s distress that door was blown wide open at i58 and Full Tilt took them all the way to the final round of the final map.
Silentes was instrumental in everything Full Tilt did and his team were with him 100%, which is what made Fullt Tilt versus Crowns such a fascinating match-up. While Silentes and Mike didn’t walk away with the title, they were certainly the best two soldiers at the event and showed it’s not such an under-powered class if you happen to be the best in the world.
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