Big Take Aways in the Elite Season Part 3
Written by Alfred Kwon, Edited by Tyler Greer
The most talked about change in the off-season was Elite’s move to single elimination playoffs with best of 7 matches. However, I believe that the new way teams are seeded for the playoffs (match win percentage→ game win percentage → head to head) may almost be as important of a change that certainly went a bit more under the radar.
The new seeding system helped set up some interesting match ups, which led to large shake ups in the North, East, and West regions. The largest “holy crap” moment, for me, was seeing perennial favorite Dynasty go down in the first round of open 8.5". Without the cushion of a loser’s bracket, they just weren’t able to pull everything together and win, like they always seem to do.
From my observation: most of the teams/players that are not a fan of the move to single elimination playoffs were eliminated early, while most of the teams/players that are in support of the change did fairly well. I had a taste of both, with a devastatingly early exit in open 8.5" in the East, but more success in coed no sting, as well as in both divisions in the South. Additionally, I’ve already experienced, as both a player and spectator, multiple exciting 7-game series. Overall, I’ve been in support of the change.
At the end of the day though, even with all of the memorable upsets and changes, not much has changed at the top: -North: Boosh and Task Force finished 1 and 2 in open 8.5", Dynasty and Notorious topped 8.5" pinch -South: Outsiders continued to make winning look easy -East: Team Awesome and Anarchy again battled for 1st and 2nd place -West: Rise, although not winners, maintained the same consistency they always have, with 4th, 3rd, and 2nd place finishes.
Going into the season, I was excited to see how many of these new “stacked” teams would do. Crysis, Finesse, and Dope didn’t disappoint, as they all steamrolled through their respective West divisions. In the east, Clash and Royale made for a compelling 7-game women’s no sting finals, while Hello dominated coed no sting.
One point of disappointment was the low number of teams in the pinch division. For the region touting the biggest and best pinch players; a region that claims pinch to be part of its identity, there were barely any pinch teams at round 1 North (10 total). Hopefully, there will be more pinch teams in Chicago and Grand Rapids.
One final thought, whether or not credit goes to the unfortunate end of UDC, there’s now an influx of young, athletic trampoline players making the transition to Elite. I’m excited to see teams already having success with big wins like Ascension in the South and Impact in the East, while other teams are quickly making the transition like Kill the Comp in the East and Fam1ly in the North.
