Tri Hards (14-2 -- 2nd seed)
Roster
- kbk (Medic)
- Tri (Pocket)
- Blaze (Roamer)
- Boomer (Demoman)
- Clckwrk (Scout)
- Hero (Scout)
Performances vs. LAN teams
- High Rollers Gaming: 3-5 L (Snakewater)
- High Rollers Gaming: 2-5 L (Granary)
- Classic Mixup: 2-0 W (Gravel Pit)
- Classic Mixup: 5-4 W (Gullywash)
- Apocalypse Gaming: 5-1 W (Snakewater)
The merging of Srsly Br0 / Spacewhales and Chess Club gave us Tri Hards. Featuring some of the strongest flank players in Clckwrk and Blaze, along with the Golden Boy of gaming in Dummy, the team looked to be the strongest contenders against early on, and kept that up through the season. Tri Hards had a very good season, only losing to High Rollers Gaming. However, internal conflicts gave way weeks before LAN, leaving Tri Hards needing to shuffle around their roster to remedy the loss of Dummy. So for this preview, we'll be looking at the new lineup with Clckwrk and Hero on Scout, Tri and Blaze on Soldier, Boomer on Demo, and kbk on Medic.
Clckwrk is one of the game's most storied Scouts, who becomes three times the player he is online at LAN. The only change is his Scout partner. Hero spent the season backing up for the team, coming in to ring roamer on Gravel Pit and the like. Hero's first LAN appearance was with Leviathan Gaming S12, replacing the Scout he's currently partnered with. While his play that LAN wasn't bad, he has some ground to make up, as Boomer and Clckwrk were doing serious work together as a Scout pair. Hero will provide some incredible Sniper plays, meaning he and Clckwrk will be the best Snipers at LAN, so even if the Scout play isn't as lethal they can fall back to offensive or defensive Sniping.
Tri has had mixed results across this season. Gunboats pocket allowed for him to get far more aggressive in supporting Blaze, but left him unable to finish kills. Tri's LAN debut was with the old HRG, and while he's never had a bad LAN per se, he's never had a breakout LAN either, which is troublesome if you're up against pockets like Platinum and Lansky. Blaze took a break last season to backup for BP but came back without missing a beat. Blaze jumps around, deals damage, kills the flank, and all from lovely Canada. Blaze's roaming at the S11 and S12 LANs were nothing short of spectacular, and his roaming play will be the most explosive at LAN, and the most fun to watch. The Canadian Soldiers will enjoy the zero ping environment, along with the Gunboats and Quick Fix shenanigans to go with.
Personality issues or not, Dummy had a stellar season and the previous LAN. He did plenty of damage and filled a pseudo-pocket role while Tri Gunboated around. Boomer is a solid Demo no doubt, but will he able to fill the shoes of Dummy, and on LAN no less? As a side note, Boomer just needs to play Medic at LAN to have appeared on all classes. That's a true multiclasser right there. Anyways, onto the Medic. Coming up to LAN #3, kbk will have the ease of knowing he's quickly becoming a veteran for LAN, given Smaka is playing his first Medic season and Indust is a LAN newbie. He's going to play well, using his positioning and movement to escape bad fights and getting kills with his legendary crossbow, to the delight of people in stream chat. I'm personally a big fan of kbk, but I got a feeling he's going to have some standout performances this LAN. Don't fail me, Krossbow Kid.
Clckwrk is a seasoned veteran, having been to LAN countless times. Tri, Blaze and Boomer are approaching their fourth LAN. Hero is the