Tempo Storm currently sits in first place with 158 points and 91 Kills. Through eight matches this past weekend Sharky, Zanpah, YaBoiDre, and Meluke racked up forty-five kills to pair with two chicken dinners and six Top Five finishes. The team strung together two very strong weekends to start NPL, placing second in week one and then first in week two. Setting themselves up nicely for Week 3 carrying a twenty-four point lead over second place team ‘Shoot To Kill’.
The longer Tempo Storm can keep this pace, the more pressure is put on teams like Shoot To Kill, Simplicity, and Cloud 9. In this scoring system, kills are rewarded with one point each. So, finishing in second with two more kills than the first place team, means you actually finished in first. At the end of the day, the system doesn’t care how a team acquires those points. Place third every game, as long as you’re fragging out on your way, you should end up in a pretty favorable position. And it appears Tempo Storm is fine doing just that. Every team goes into a match looking to win it, but combining a high kill count and extremely consistent placements, it isn’t only first or bust. Apart from the slow start on Friday, Tempo Storm didn’t finish beneath eighth for the remaining seven matches. Leaving only one thing for me to question.
When it rains, it pours…
Tempo Storm appears to pile on the kills in some rounds, but then go completely dry in the next. For example, here’s their eight match kill count from this past weekend: 0, 9, 15, 8, 0, 3, 9, 1. If Tempo Storm can be as consistent with kill counts, as they are with their placement, I don’t see many teams catching them. Like we said, kills can make up for placement. But if they’re able to balance out the kills and still have those one or two huge rounds, their going to sail through Phase One. Because right now their placement is based on consistent placement and the periodical high kill rounds.
Everyone expected great play from the NPL Preseason winners, but it’s nice to see the team wasn’t satisfied with that or the $50,000 check! I’m expecting a few teams to make a push in week three, but for now...
