With only four weeks to go before the end of the South African group stages for ESL African Championship's CS:GO tournament, teams need to start thinking about their long-term strategy.
Patterns have started to emerge as to who could possibly be in the top four to take on the North Africans come rAge, but the battle to be number one is still wide open for the taking.
While Energy eSports is firmly in the top spot for now, does Damage Control have what it takes to clock the win and move up the ladder? Damage will be playing against Flipsid3 Africa tonight at 7pm in the first matchup for Friday.
The team is no stranger to be being top of the log, as DC was number one last week Monday before Energy knocked them off by winning two matchups in a row.
With Damage sitting in second place with six points, it needs a win to equalise with Energy - who is currently first with 9 points, winning all their matches so far. If DC can pull it off, they will be even-stevens with Energy.
But here is the thing: there could also be a heated battle for second place on this week's log.
Bravado Gaming, who is third with four points, is playing Mix Kompany tonight at 9pm. If they manage to win and collect the three, technically they move into second place with seven points - one point more than DC.
That is, of course, assuming that DC lose against Flipsid3.
If that is the case and Flipsid3 rack up the 'W', they could move up one place to third if Bravado wins against Mix Kompany.
Unfortunately all that Energy eSports can do is sit this one out and watch how it unfolds.
They won't be involved in another scuffle until next week Friday when they take on xTc Gaming.
We previously suspected that the biggest matchup in the ESL African Championship might be the Bravado-Damage Control clash, but looking at the positions and crunching some numbers, it might just be the Energy-Damage Control game on 12 May.
Just as a reminder for today's games:
19:00h Damage Control vs Flipsid3 Africa
21:30h Bravado Gaming vs Mix Kompany
All the group stages will be live streamed and can be viewed on the ESL Africa Facebook page and on the official ESL CS:GO Twitch website.
If you want to rewatch (or watch the matches for the first time), you can check it out here.
We have also created an ESL African Championship hub, where you can view the current standings, all the fixtures and the latest articles for both the CS:GO tournament as well as the Hearthstone tournament.