I am pretty comfortable with these guesses now:
Yes, good points indeed. We always said the civ draft was very similar, but these details further confirm Zizka is Sitaux.So noticed many similarities in Zizka and Sitaux bans, check the screenshots. In his last game of the qualies against Sobek he bans Aztecs, Dravids, Byz and picks double meso (Incas, Mayans) in third round of picks maybe to get them out of opponent's?
Hearttt does not hate Islands, the "against" does not matter. He does not love it, but does not hate it. Like Hera/Liereyy I'd say. He is fast and has solid builds, he should not be too afraid of it first set, at least not the point of firstbanning it.Jadwiga = Heartt theory
For:
- civ picks
- general map picks
- didn't get a chance to pick Byzantines early as it was opponen'ts 3rd pick (Otto)
Against:
- Jadwiga did not ban Island whole draft
Which points people made to find Jadwiga = Heartt ?
The archer micro was only broken in NAC V, the results for the last few years cant be attributed to thatDid people already forget the reason Larry underperformed for a while? Now with regrouping fixed, he's dominating with archers again.
I've also seen some discussions around Mongols: it was the meta Bay pick in HC3. Not surprised at the pick. Then aM came up with Italians as a Mongols answer in HC4.
The archer micro was only broken in NAC V, the results for the last few years cant be attributed to that
Were his recent struggles really as simple as that?Did people already forget the reason Larry underperformed for a while? Now with regrouping fixed, he's dominating with archers again.
He lost 3-0 to Sitaux in Kotd 5But NAC V was his only conspicuously bad tournament, unless I'm forgetting one. He finished fourth in the group stage of Warlords 2 before losing to Hera, he only finished second in his group to Viper in TTL3 before losing to Hera again, he won Clash of Empires going through Tatoh, Viper (who'd crushed Hera the prior round) and Daut (who turned in probably the best tournament performance of his career, reverse sweeping Viper before tearing through Barles, Vinch and Yo like they were nothing) in a row.
Well after watching the entire series today it's clear Alexios is a top-3 player.
In-form Lierey is still the best bet but wouldn't rule out Hera either. He's been so far ahead of the rest of the field that he could safely alter his gameplay/gamestyle in the earlier rounds to mimic Lierey and still be fully confident in advancing.
nice one bro xdIn terms of predictions for the actual sets tomorrow, I'm pretty sure Jan Zizka rolls Alexios no matter who he is. Stephen-Khosrau I'd call a tossup even if the latter is the Viper, but guess I have to lean Khosrau now.
nice one bro xd
xddddOk I don't know with that one. I'm fairly certain of my choices, but they seem to not be that unanimous, which really surprises me.
Let's wait for final set but I disagree with what seems to be the general opinion from many players/casters, from what I've been told.
To me, I don't see how Zizka is not Viper. Like... at all. This Arabia game is textbook Viper in first game of a tournament, especially if he does not know his opponent: so passive, so controlled, so safe with the 21 pop up with early full walls. And then 0 risk and 0 mistake. Just rewatch first game of HC3 (until Imp where he starts messing around) if you want to see what I mean.
I've seen calls that it's Sitaux for instance, I agree that draft is extremely Sitaux, but to me that's such a non-Sitaux move.
Overall, Zizka was capable of aggression, fast, confident, but preferred to take a low-risk approach, to have a greedy focus on eco, until he was far ahead in games and he could then be a bit complacent. Those are all pure Viper traits.
I can't believe the Cross game does not give 100% Viper confidence to everybody.
Also have to say the Evacuation game had many vibes from Vasco, in terms of use of archers and multitasking in general, those two were really "cleaner" than all the others we've seen, which matches my idea that they are Hera and Viper.
I know someone like Memb apparently insists that this is not a top player, I don't see how this can be true, to me this is way higher level than yesterday's Khosrau set for instance. Excellent micro on both sides, numerous quickwalls and quickgates, and some high level of greed with an ability to be absolutely flawless on at least one game, and unique creative strats. Feels too Viper for Jan, really.
I have to mention that draft is Sitaux, and could theoretically be Sebastian or Vinch. But nah, it's Viper.
For Alfred, I've been convinced by the calls that Jadwiga was maybe Barles, then need to check some details but I have a strong feeling that Alfred was Sitaux, based on draft, strengths and weaknesses. Could see Liereyy, or Hearttt, maybe, but to me that kind of style. I don't especially see Sebastian, but could be if I'm wrong on many things. Very competent and confident in archer micro, generally competent player in many areas, but a bit out-strat by Viper.
That very tight BO on Bay is a solid sign of Sitaux to me, for instance. And general skills on map is logical for Sitaux. Does not seem to be the most popular opinion, I'll review it after last set.
Players I can expect to see last set are Liereyy, Jordan, ACCM, maybe Yo, maybe Barles ... Hope to get clear signs for one/some of them and unlock all the puzzle. If that's not the case I'll have to see what went wrong and use process of elimination.
Vasco (Hera) is unbeatable rn, he will win 4-0 tomorrow, and 4-0 in the finals if its vs viper, maybe liereyy has some chances if he is in shape.