Where did those 12 months go?
Last year, I provided a chronological look at the big events of 2018. This time I’ve eschewed the monthly structure because there is just too much to fit into a single post (and because of a fading memory). Instead, we’ll start this 2 parg series with a look at the major tournaments in the first half of 2019….
Escape Champions League
First covered last year, this yearly-round-up-spanning tournament reached a crescendo in July with an announcement that 3 teams would be competing for the title! Once the noise died down about the legitimacy and fairness of the format change, the ECL LAN final at the end of August delivered a spectacular showpiece. Over 36 hours of streaming output across 3 days, the three finalists competed across a mix of formats to produce some of the most memorable team games in recent history. The LAN also gave an opportunity for 100 fans to be part of the live studio audience, making AoE2 tangible for a big portion of the community.
King of the Desert 2
Is there still a place for single map tournaments? You bet! Especially when that map is KoTD_Arabia. KoTD2 was a behemoth of an event, featuring 32 top players. In their quest for innovation, the organisers introduced new drafting rules which meant we saw some unlikely civilisations in early rounds; this came at a cost, however, as the quarterfinals resulted in some lopsided civ matchups. The seeding system also sparked a lot of debate, but nobody can argue with the quality of the final, which also provided justification for seeding TheViper and Liereyy as numbers 1 and 2.
Nilli’s Apartment Cup 2
A month long qualification showed how highly regarded this tournament is amongst players – and viewer figures confirmed a thirst amongst the audience, not only for high level tournaments, but for more camera-time of our heroes. The impressive cast of players was spiced up with an eclectic list of casters – who performed their duties at various levels of sobriety, while the map-pool and format contributed to some astonishing series. Away from the games, the offline meet-ups remind us that real people live and breathe behind the usernames. After only two editions, it’s hard to imagine a world without NAC – and that is the greatest compliment to everyone involved (NAC3 qualification is complete and the main event will raise the curtain on 2020).
Hidden Cup 2
Randomly seed 16 of the best players in the world and you’re going to invite controversy. But the tournament host T90 came up with a clever way of swerving any criticism by anonymising the name of every participant for viewers and opponents. Whether not knowing who is playing is an improvement on the traditional format of being able to cheer-on your favourite player is up for discussion, but here is a format with mass appeal: registering over 17,000 viewers for the final. To reiterate: Seventeen thousand(!) people tuned in to watch two unknown experts (ok ok, we kind of knew) play a game of Age of Empires 2.
Doubles Age
The organisers decided that ‘If it’s not broken, don’t try fix it’ and went with a tried and tested approach to drafting, maps and format. This 2v2 tournament played on some classic maps started out as a bit of a sleeper and might have gone under the radar for some during the group stage, but with the quality of players & teams it always had potential to be entertaining… and so it proved. The knockout rounds produced some of the best games and series of the year, showing that innovation and gimmicks are not always necessary for creating high quality entertainment. In a tournament that opted for old school settings, it was the appropriately old school pairing of Daut and Slam that took first prize. Extra credit to the admins for running gold & silver leagues alongside the main event to increase participation.
Two Pools
Hot on the heels of the successful Doubles Age, came another 2v2 tournament; this time with a twist that ensured we would witness some lesser seen civilisation pairings, match-ups and community generated maps. Semi-finalists from Doubles Age were guaranteed a place and a highly competitive field promised entertaining match-ups. A surprising number of clean-sweeps in the qualifying rounds were all but forgotten during the main event as 4 out of 7 matches went to a deciding game. The final was an instant classic and showed the huge skill of the players, but also the map creating community.
Mangrove Shallows Cup
Having said that innovation and gimmicks aren’t necessary to provide high quality entertainment… here was a tournament full of innovation and gimmicks providing high quality entertainment. Those of us without a PhD in Tournament Formats might have struggled with the group stage settings and players/organisers a-like might have struggled with in-game balance settings; but is there anything that gets the pulse racing quite like a flotilla of heavy demolition ships sailing head long into a group of 40 eagle warriors? The unusual maps and game settings (Death Match!) rewarded players who invested time into practicing and refining their tactics, so little surprise that the master strategists demolished all opposition.
Death Match World Cup 2
Like your best friends older sister who listens to death metal and has a nose piercing, DM has always seemed like the unapproachable yet weirdly attractive relative to RM. Back in its first edition in 2016, the first 8 spots were filled by ‘specialist’ DMers. This time around, some of the best players from RM decided to mix-it up with some returning and familiar DM players. With games lasting anywhere between 2 mins and 2 days, you never quite knew what to expect; but the infectious enthusiasm and love shown by pure DMers to their little corner left us all hoping that we won’t have to wait another 3 years for the next edition.
If I’ve omitted your own/favourite tournament, then I’m sorry (it’s a memory thing) but feel free to give me a reminder/hurl insults in the replies.
Keep an eye out for part 2 later this week....
Last year, I provided a chronological look at the big events of 2018. This time I’ve eschewed the monthly structure because there is just too much to fit into a single post (and because of a fading memory). Instead, we’ll start this 2 parg series with a look at the major tournaments in the first half of 2019….
Escape Champions League
First covered last year, this yearly-round-up-spanning tournament reached a crescendo in July with an announcement that 3 teams would be competing for the title! Once the noise died down about the legitimacy and fairness of the format change, the ECL LAN final at the end of August delivered a spectacular showpiece. Over 36 hours of streaming output across 3 days, the three finalists competed across a mix of formats to produce some of the most memorable team games in recent history. The LAN also gave an opportunity for 100 fans to be part of the live studio audience, making AoE2 tangible for a big portion of the community.
King of the Desert 2
Is there still a place for single map tournaments? You bet! Especially when that map is KoTD_Arabia. KoTD2 was a behemoth of an event, featuring 32 top players. In their quest for innovation, the organisers introduced new drafting rules which meant we saw some unlikely civilisations in early rounds; this came at a cost, however, as the quarterfinals resulted in some lopsided civ matchups. The seeding system also sparked a lot of debate, but nobody can argue with the quality of the final, which also provided justification for seeding TheViper and Liereyy as numbers 1 and 2.
Nilli’s Apartment Cup 2
A month long qualification showed how highly regarded this tournament is amongst players – and viewer figures confirmed a thirst amongst the audience, not only for high level tournaments, but for more camera-time of our heroes. The impressive cast of players was spiced up with an eclectic list of casters – who performed their duties at various levels of sobriety, while the map-pool and format contributed to some astonishing series. Away from the games, the offline meet-ups remind us that real people live and breathe behind the usernames. After only two editions, it’s hard to imagine a world without NAC – and that is the greatest compliment to everyone involved (NAC3 qualification is complete and the main event will raise the curtain on 2020).
Hidden Cup 2
Randomly seed 16 of the best players in the world and you’re going to invite controversy. But the tournament host T90 came up with a clever way of swerving any criticism by anonymising the name of every participant for viewers and opponents. Whether not knowing who is playing is an improvement on the traditional format of being able to cheer-on your favourite player is up for discussion, but here is a format with mass appeal: registering over 17,000 viewers for the final. To reiterate: Seventeen thousand(!) people tuned in to watch two unknown experts (ok ok, we kind of knew) play a game of Age of Empires 2.
Doubles Age
The organisers decided that ‘If it’s not broken, don’t try fix it’ and went with a tried and tested approach to drafting, maps and format. This 2v2 tournament played on some classic maps started out as a bit of a sleeper and might have gone under the radar for some during the group stage, but with the quality of players & teams it always had potential to be entertaining… and so it proved. The knockout rounds produced some of the best games and series of the year, showing that innovation and gimmicks are not always necessary for creating high quality entertainment. In a tournament that opted for old school settings, it was the appropriately old school pairing of Daut and Slam that took first prize. Extra credit to the admins for running gold & silver leagues alongside the main event to increase participation.
Two Pools
Hot on the heels of the successful Doubles Age, came another 2v2 tournament; this time with a twist that ensured we would witness some lesser seen civilisation pairings, match-ups and community generated maps. Semi-finalists from Doubles Age were guaranteed a place and a highly competitive field promised entertaining match-ups. A surprising number of clean-sweeps in the qualifying rounds were all but forgotten during the main event as 4 out of 7 matches went to a deciding game. The final was an instant classic and showed the huge skill of the players, but also the map creating community.
Mangrove Shallows Cup
Having said that innovation and gimmicks aren’t necessary to provide high quality entertainment… here was a tournament full of innovation and gimmicks providing high quality entertainment. Those of us without a PhD in Tournament Formats might have struggled with the group stage settings and players/organisers a-like might have struggled with in-game balance settings; but is there anything that gets the pulse racing quite like a flotilla of heavy demolition ships sailing head long into a group of 40 eagle warriors? The unusual maps and game settings (Death Match!) rewarded players who invested time into practicing and refining their tactics, so little surprise that the master strategists demolished all opposition.
Death Match World Cup 2
Like your best friends older sister who listens to death metal and has a nose piercing, DM has always seemed like the unapproachable yet weirdly attractive relative to RM. Back in its first edition in 2016, the first 8 spots were filled by ‘specialist’ DMers. This time around, some of the best players from RM decided to mix-it up with some returning and familiar DM players. With games lasting anywhere between 2 mins and 2 days, you never quite knew what to expect; but the infectious enthusiasm and love shown by pure DMers to their little corner left us all hoping that we won’t have to wait another 3 years for the next edition.
If I’ve omitted your own/favourite tournament, then I’m sorry (it’s a memory thing) but feel free to give me a reminder/hurl insults in the replies.
Keep an eye out for part 2 later this week....
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