CarlisleFrost
Registered: 19.03.2009
Location: USA
Posts: 132
03.09.2018 01:34:41
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PFRL Cup 2018
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Crazy to think we're to the knockout rounds of the cup after 14 grueling races. Congrats to the 48 to have survived the group stages, as only 1 in every 3 entrants is through the groups!
Plenty of big names/accomplished people are gone already and I'm sure they'll be back for more next year. Shout outs to keke (out from an intense group 2), king_1905 (who seems to be a threat almost every year and was in a brutal group this time), Chris (went down to the last race but just missed out), Tipster (our 2017 Eliminator champ), jobber2022497 (who's been collecting race wins for fun of late, it seems!) and Wagen1 (last year's Cup finalist) to name a few. I'd have been in that list were it not for a life-saving last round win and I imaging plenty of other people were also sweating it out through the race too!
As for the knockouts, what a draw we have. In the wildcard round there'll be a lot of interesting ones. Maxwell v KatzevonSwish seems like it could be a semi final or final match-up, with two heavyweights colliding. Mgrm, with the biggest budget in the Cup comes up against Alan_T_Riley, who's having one hell of a season. Daijhi v Mizzou81; two experienced racers with big KERS tanks to wage war with. First time (I think) that I get to clash with Heinz Prueller, another well-established veteran of the game and a clean, fair racer, which I massively respect.
Looking at the wider draw sections (without going too far forward - no intentions to disrespect anyone!), who could have some monster matches fairly early. We could see Maverick v Schumacher (can't get too much bigger), GaKra v Maxwell or KatzevonSwish (evil WC round and an equally evil next round for whoever gets through!), Vitospeed v Mulacjean, Katalyst v FUTCHIVAI, myself v Superviper, invisibleracer v Myrm or Alan_T_Riley, Rainer-Zufall70 vs the top seed, am201020...
Again, congrats to the 48 survivors so far and let the knockouts begin!
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GaKra Motors
Registered: 02.03.2006
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 925
19.09.2018 19:22:02
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@CarlisleFrost Thank you, your analysis is not only interesting, but spot on, so maybe it's better for me that you're in the other half of the table. 
This said I knew I would get a very tough opponent in the next round beforehands already... but then if there is a possibility to face either KatzevonSwish or Maxwell in the next round, in my situation it was probably best they were facing each other in the round before. Even though we have to admit Maxwell has a disadvantage in Cup because of lack of ERS, he sure was enough of a threat so Katze couldn't be tempted to recharge their ERS even higher but instead had to do the opposite. So while my ERS advantage against Katze will be only small with 12 - 8, it sure looks less frightening than the 3 - 16 we had before GP Singapore.
The best example how important ERS can get in Cup is probably Schumacher. It could be expected Maverick would use his free round to recharge his ERS, and he is way ahead in budget, too, so Schumacher didn't have much of a choice but risk something. And that's when it can become a temporary advantage not to have ERS, as was the case for opponent RockinFX, who couldn't have had much worse luck with drivers (Ocon and Hartley), yet still prevailed.
But one of most thrilling results was yours of course... I had to go and see how it happened because I knew if there is one player who would NEVER copy their opponent to advance as the higher seed, it is you. So I bet the race was quite a thriller for you. Congrats for advancing!
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CarlisleFrost
Registered: 19.03.2009
Location: USA
Posts: 132
16.09.2018 19:21:10
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No worries @jobber and thanks @Chris & @GaKra. The Cup's more dynamic than the main championship, constructors etc in terms of drama each round, so it makes for better commentaries (though it does look like the main championship got a good bit closer between Allrace, Maxwell and ralf after today's GP).
As for the Cup though...
What a round it was. Lots of higher seeds falling in the W/C round and several big names among them. In the top half of the draw, only 2 of the higher 8 seeds survived! Notable results included...
- Schumacher losing to RockinFX, after going for a big ERS recharge. Understandable, since #9 seed, Maverick and a well-charged ERS tank was awaiting in the next round.
- katalyst falling to Nicolaas on Wheels. Looks like he missed the update deadline, and a defective ERS did some serious damage. That said, the winning margin of 11 was greater than the 10 point penalty, so credit still to Nicolaas for an impressive win.
- Me SCRAPING through against Heinz Prueller after a tied score. Thanks to Magnussen's fastest lap getting me 2 bonus points and a last minute change to only a small ERS recharge, I live to fight another day. Far too close for comfort and I was definitely sweating over the final laps!
- Alan_T_Riley going out after a hard-fought contest with Myrm's budget monster of a team.
- Daijhi being knocked out by Mizzou81 in another tight battle.
- MikeMacPhee edging a 1 point victory over Frihin, earning them a battle with #6 seed, MCM in the next round (and their full ERS tank!).
- Maxwell being pipped by KatzevonSwish. 2 points in it, so I'm sure KatevonSwish was glad he burned 8 points of ERS in the race!
Looking ahead to the round of 32, we have plenty more heavyweight battles ahead. As well as the few mentioned above, we have...
- #1 seed am201020 against Rainer-Zufall70. A clash of two experienced, accomplished players and teams with huge budgets and ERS to burn!
- #8 seed roger alford, who's been strong throughout coming up against Daijhi2. No ERS left for Daijhi2, so can they overcome their budget deficit or will the seed advance?
- #4 seed FUTCHIVAI facing Nicolaas on Wheels after their victory over katalyst. Can Nicolaas claim another major scalp?
- #5 seed Superviper and myself clashing. Seems like we've met a few times over the years and we met at the same stage last year. Looking forward to a tightly contested one here!
- #2 seed invisibleracer against Myrm. Can the #2 seed overcome the largest budget in the Cup?
- #10 seed Allrace against Mulacjean. Allrace leading the championship and constructors. Can they keep their cup run alive against a very, very formidable opponent?
- #3 seed Margaret104 in action against Cargoking, who only joined in 2017.
- #11 seed GaKra against Katzevonswish. Another heavyweight bout to put it lightly. Lots of ERS for both, so I'm expecting a fierce one. It Katzevonswish takes the title, they'll definitely deserve it, with the start to the knockouts they have!
Bring on Sochi!
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jobber2022497
Registered: 08.03.2006
Location: USA
Posts: 22
15.09.2018 21:21:33
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Nice write-up! It's quite generous of you to include me among the notable eliminated team owners; focusing exclusively on race victories (and early season budget growth) has left me without many other accomplishments as of late. To be honest, I've never put as much effort into the round-robin stage of the Cup as I should have; perhaps that will change next year. My fate was sealed in the first crossover match in a bout with Maverick that hilariousIy ended in a tie on 61 points!
Good luck to the remaining Cup teams!
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GaKra Motors
Registered: 02.03.2006
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 925
05.09.2018 08:46:02
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@CarlisleFrost It is always a great pleasure to read your detailed season reviews, so it's cool we get one in the middle of the season already. I usually just look at my direct opponents and the ones I might get later. Thank you for taking your time to also look at groups where you haven't been involved yourself.
King_1905's group was brutal indeed, I can tell from experience. He would have deserved to advance, being the group's best in overall points. But then even P6 is only one win behind P1, so it took a bit of luck to advance.
I immediately noticed there will be two duels in the wildcard round between players that already met in the group stage, which is Schumacher vs RockinFX from my group and Maxwell vs KatzevonSwish from my crossover group. So I was curious and checked all the other duels, too, but all other players haven't met before in this season. Does that mean I'm excused for only having looked at immediate opponents before? 
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Chris
Registered: 04.02.2014
Location: Germany
Posts: 686
03.09.2018 10:47:36
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nice re- and preview frosti.
start of this season i was happy to have an easier group. well, this was overweening. some crazy races, bad decisions and a bit of unluck i am out. my opponents for the first places won almost all of the crossmatches, but i lost it in the first gamedays.
because of this unpredictable season, i thougt more experts were kicked out of the cup, but i see, it is not. good luck for every one. let see us a good competition.
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