Mar 1st 2014, 22:55:15
So who's it going to be? and why?
Please don't bring advantage bullfluff arguments here though, there is already threads for that.
In the beginning I thought SoF was already out of it, crushed in every single category but they brought it back. With the new formula changes I believe it is actually much harder to come back from the brink of no return, and yet SoF did. Now with much more equal footing I think it's almost 50/50 on who wins it. SoL still enjoys a kill lead but networth is almost equal at the end of each night. SoF is doing much more crippling which will pay dividends later, also they are grabbing more effectively and growing faster. Now that missiles are no longer a big factor in the equation I think SoF is at least equal to SoL in daily hits.
The only thing that could hurt SoF is the land and preparation. SoL has more land, and at least in theory more production potential. SoF I judge are many tiers above SoL in netting, so perhaps it won't play as big of a role. Missiles gave SoL a huge advantage in the beginning but SoF has focused more on crippling which assuming good targets were chosen will make them stronger later.
However, as seen in the LaF vs NeoRage war, crippling is effective but without focus on the targets that are beneficial it is almost pointless. So it takes a proper mix of crippling and killing. Another issue is for whatever reason SoF is only doing GS kills, likely because it is much cheaper for them. This is very inefficient turns wise and misses the opportunity of crippling the restart or if the killrun is aborted.
So I think SoF will win in the end, but... I wouldn't put money on it. This is of course assuming both sides maintain similar activity.