WSVG World Championship 2015- Unofficial Write UP |
Hello. With a slight delay, here is the final part of the WSVG write-up, which I managed to finish just before the draw of the Maldives event started. I hope the entire community is as hyped for the event itself as I am, as I think it will be one of the greatest events in the history of AoC. I will do a write-up for each stage of the Maldives event as it goes. As always, feedback is welcome, and thanks to everyone who has been reading these very long write-ups up to this stage, I really appreciate it
BacT - Mentalist
The final group of the Showdown stage was considered by many to be the strongest one on paper, as the only to feature two TyRanT players, in the persons of JorDan and BacT. These were challenged for two spots in the Maldives by Wolfpack player Mentalist, as well as Brazilian legend WraTh. In the first game of the group, BacT faced Mentalist in a series that was expected to be decisive in the struggle for second place in the group. BacT quickly pulled ahead in the Dry Arabia game, by force of Mentalist aging with too few villagers, and thereby pulled off a 1-0 lead. Mentalist picked Nomad as a home map, in which an interesting Chinese mirror played out. Here, BacT pulled slightly ahead early on, to put the score at 2-0. In BacT's home map of Baltic however, a surprisingly long game ended with Mentalist managing to retake the water after losing it, putting the score at 1-2. In the next game of Double Arabia, Mentalist quickly pulled back to make the score 2-2, and a come back seemed in the making. However, in BacT's second home map of Regicide Fortress, he proved superior, and with the Japanese war in Desert being the decider, BacT pulled off a 4-2 victory, putting him in pole position in the group.
JorDan_23 - Mentalist
This weakened Mentalist, going into his first game against JorDan, as the first of a phase of three days where Jordan would play each day. After Jordan won the Dry Arabia, Mentalist picked Nomad as against BacT, to try to get a jump on JorDan, but to no avail. JorDan won as well, and picked Islands as a home map, where a pretty standard Vikings war ended 3-0 for JorDan. In the final game of Arena, Mentalist tried a castle drop early, but it was denied by JorDans eagle warriors, securing a secure 4-0 win, that saw Mentalist practically eliminated from the Showdown stage, while Jordan seemed to be heading to the Maldives.
JorDan_23 - BacT
JorDan could take another huge step toward the Maldives by beating clan mate BacT in the next round, in a game played at 6 am for JorDan. He started off with a strong Dry Arabia performance, walling all the way across the middle of the map to seal in BacT, and force a victory his way. A drawn out Migration game followed, that saw JorDan take control of the mainland and later the water, forcing a 2-0 lead. Subsequently, a very short Rooster game saw JorDan come off to a very bad start, allowing BacT to win after only 12 minutes, as he had galleys out way faster. In BacT's second home map of Nomad, JorDan had a similar bad start, finding no food despite suing his restart early. Despite a creative attempt to wall in BacT with palisades, the advantage was too strong, and BacT equalized. JorDans next home map of islands went more according to his plans, and a standard grush game allowed JorDan to pull ahead with 3-2. In the next game of Japanese war in Desert, JorDan won an early advantage by managing to wall in BacT's scout with a house in the corner of the map, and he next won the prolonged feudal war thanks to the early advantage. With a 4-2 victory, JorDan could mathematically secure qualification in his final game against WraTh.
JorDan_23 - WraTh
However, in what was JorDans last, and WraTh's first game of the showdown stage, one of the most entertaining series in the tournament played out. Many were shocked when WraTh with a highly aggressive early play using skirmishers managed to intimidate JorDan, and win the short Dry Arabia game, but what happened next was perhaps even more surprising. With JorDan picking a water map, Islands, as usual, WraTh managed to take water control, and deny an attempted landing from JorDan, to put the score at 2-0 for the Brazilian. And things were to turn even worse for JorDan, as WraTh pulled ahead in a game of Nomad, and managed to put the score at 3-0. With WraTh stumblingly close to the result of the tournament however, JorDan seemed to wake up. He had to win two games to secure himself a spot in the Maldives, and in his second home map of Team Islands, he started to pull ahead. Putting the score at 3-1 with a fast victory, JorDan next won Double Arabia, as well as the Japanese war in Desert, to put the score at 3-3. With the final game being delayed by WraTh's internet problems, an extended Mayans war in Meat balls ended with a victory for JorDan. With this result, JorDan was ready for the Maldives, after being the first player in the tournament to come back from trailing 3-0.
BacT - WraTh
This result meant the battle between WraTh and BacT was decisive for participation in the Maldives, as the winner would progress, regardless of the result between WraTh and Mentalist. BacT gained an early advantage in the Dry Arabia game, and managed to pull ahead. With 1-0. As BacT also won the Nomad game through a better starting position, it seemed to tilt slowly in the favor of the Vietnamese player. With BacT next picking Regicide Fortress as a home map, he put the score at 3-0, forcing WraTh to pull off a miracle similar to JorDans performance against him, was he to reach the Maldives. WraTh did manage to win the game of Double Arabia, but any dreams of an incredible come back from the Brazilian was efficiently crushed by BacT in the final game of Baltic. A game of 20 minutes ended with a victory for BacT, making the Vietnamese the final TyRanT, and final player of the top 8 to reach the Maldives. For WraTh, this proved an anti-climactic finish, after leading 3-0 to JorDan, but BacT's defensive style proved strong against WraTh's aggression. With a TyRanT hegemony in Group D, the final game between WraTh and Mentalist was never played, while four of the remaining eight players ended up TyRanTs.