HC 4 Discussion | Which of the qualified players impressed you the most?

[SuperskinnyBLS]

One choice allowed only.

Pick your hero ;D Players in the alphabetical order, don't hesitate to drop a comment with a small explanation of why you chose certain participant.

 

[Philippe le Bon]

Honestly Vivi. He plays so great since a week or two.

His current 1v1 rating reflects it (he's like 2480), and he was super dominant against BadBoy. I hope he'll make in the top 4, and I don't mean it lightly.

 

[7Sense]

Honestly Vivi. He plays so great since a week or two.

His current 1v1 rating reflects it (he's like 2480), and he was super dominant against BadBoy. I hope he'll make in the top 4, and I don't mean it lightly.

I couldn't disagree more about his performance: he made always terrible mistakes in all games. His comebacks were nice of course, but this won't work against the players in the later stage.

 

[Philippe le Bon]

I think he was solid af, to each his own. Barles, Vinch and BacT impressed me too

 

[Lightysword]

Actually I was super impressed with the overall level of the qualifier. People were trying so hard and the overall quality was sick, probably greater than ever.

1) I voted Barles because of a sick comeback. I guess he did not have anything to loose after going down 1:3 but to bring it back was really impressive.

2) Vinchester had a great overall performence as well and only dropped 2 games in the qualifier.

3) Jordan really is back also. Eliminating Capoch and a past Hidden Cup Finalist is a great achievement.

Thoughts on the others:
ACCM: Expected result but was really pushed in the final round by Daniel. Was a bit surprised how close it was. But all credit to Daniel here who played really strong.

Bact: Expected result as well, played good, played solid, but also was never put to a real test.

Nicov: Could really profit from a mod reminding him about eco upgrades, but had a tough draw and made it through. Lyx being in good from, the final result was impressive winning 4:1.

Villese: Beeting his nemesis classicpro only narrowly and then beating Laaan, I guess it was expected that he would qualify, but he really had to earn his spot. Very good performence against very strong opposition thrown his way.

Vivi: Probably had the easiest bracket, but you gotta hand it to Vivi pulling through without problem. Would've probably been a more interesting final if Badboy did not have an off day as it seemed.

 

[huntskiki]

Villese and Jordan for me. I gave the edge to Villese because he had to come from behind in both series. In most cases, you would think that Villese wasn't playing well and that's why he fell behind, but he was simply up against two really good players who were playing out of their minds. Villese came through in clutch fashion in both series to survive an elimination game to bring to game 5/game 7 and then took the series in dominant fashion in both of the final games of the two series. Laaan was in HC3 last year, so it's not like he hasn't had to come through in big moments before. Villese was just cold as ice in elimination games, not even everyone in the top 8 can say that. I am picking Villese to make it to the semis in the main event.

 

[willdbeast]

I was very impressed by how well Daniel played... but alas not quite enough :[

Villese's play was at an exceptionally high level, but I wouldn't say it impressed me as such cos that's kinda what I was expecting from the past couple of tournaments from him. His opponent LaaaaaN also played really well and is back to the solid AF player we know and love (he seems to have gotten over a few months of poor form and vs most other players in the qualifier would have had an easier shot imo).

Honestly everyone who qualified showed their class but Jordan for me was the level of play I didn't expect; he's improved so much since the start of the year and even in the time since the qualifiers started. It seems almost impossible that he can keep up this pace of improvement but if he does it wouldn't be impossible to see him win a round or two (or three 0-0 ) in the main event, which almost seems ridiculous compared to how he was playing a few months ago. The again there is only so much work someone can put in and so much experience you can gain in a short time... Jordan is definitely a name I'm curious to see revealed in a few weeks and is the one player I wouldn't be surprised whatever happens, whether he's clapped round 1 or winning multiple rounds 11.

Goes without saying every player who qualified did a great job and even some who didn't put on some amazing games.

(BTW I'd love to see a vivi vs lyx showmatch...)

 

[dansong]

Jordan emerged from the most competitive qualifier bracket while playing some incredible AOE2 along the way, would definitely give honorable mention to Vinchester as well for playing clinically throughout his bracket.

All that being said, some pretty incredible sets were played and this was only the qualifiers, hope the main event delivers as well.

 

[slixgotcha]

Jordan most impressive, I think. Ridiculously tough bracket, out of the game for so long, didn't matter.

Second, probably Vinchester, but honestly (and this pains me as a huge Slam fan), Slam just shat the bed. I have no idea what he was doing, but he certainly wasn't playing anywhere close to the level he's capable of. Unfortunately this whole 'Slam can't play tournaments' things seems to be manifesting itself into reality, which sucks, because he's definitely a top 16 player IMO.

 

[JoshuaR]

Jordan's islands game. That impressed me... almost as much as Vinchester's islands game. Just so dang smooth! And in entirely different ways.

Daniel played great. Just converting one potential game with an advantage.

Barles' interview was great. I think the first time I've heard his voice. Great comeback.

Hats off to all the qualifiers! The level of competition is so good!

 

[Thorben the Unjust]

Vinch and Barles. Vinchester was just super impressive all around, and although Slam didn't play his best series, that was just total domination. Barles is the biggest surprise imo.

Jordan - I am super hyped to see him go through. Still, I felt there just many things he could have improved on. If he does, he will be a contender for tournaments again. Beating Capoch and Max is no joke, but even crazier is I didn't feel like he played to his full potential.

 

[orangereaper]

Though not on topic, I'm actually very disappointed by Slam.

Before folks crucify me, I'll be upfront that I'm a 1.1k noob and slam can cream me with his hands tied behind his back

I was rooting for him and its well known fact that he doesnt seem to perform all that well in tournaments.
Kudos to Vinch for putting up clinical display, not taking anything aginast him. But in Bo7 I would have expected Slam to show more grit, anyone who wached would agree that there were some incredible throws (4-lakes) and some half-baked strat (slopes).

im(H)o it seemed like there was no prep from Slam at all. (e.g. of prep, Nicov picking Bulgarians). If this tournament doesn't inspire him to rise to the top of AOE, nothing will. I'm sure Slam will remain a dominant presence in TG's and a top 16/20 player. And yes, I'll continue to tune-in into 'Cant-Stop/Wont-Stop' streams, but the glory days are well past....

I was most impressed by Daniel and Jordan.
Even though Jordan lost G1 vs chinese, he was like 50stone away from taking it into imp with +20 vills. Xbows with franks is a well thought and well executed strat. WP.

 

[orangereaper]

Jordan's islands game. That impressed me... almost as much as Vinchester's islands game. Just so dang smooth! And in entirely different ways.

Daniel played great. Just converting one potential game with an advantage.

Barles' interview was great. I think the first time I've heard his voice. Great comeback.

Hats off to all the qualifiers! The level of competition is so good!

Well spotted.

I clearly showed both players had prepared well.
The front-dock galley was punished by Jordan and he converted that early advantage into victory.
Vinch on the other hand, with back-docks, clearly showed how galley strat can work. While Slam had some early water army advantage, not able to know where the opponent docks are led to his downfall.

One suggestion to @T90.
Islands would be more fun if the players started with a transport ship. They can use it to scout the enemy docks, or even land vills. This seemingly small change can make for interesting strats and viewership.

 

[vesnoimorskoi]

Barles. Not that other guys were not impressive, it's just Barles showing such a solid performance never being in top-16 before

 

[Tarsiz]

Vivi was quite impressive for once. I'm used to seeing him underperform in tournaments but his set vs Badboy was quite clean. Of course it helped that Badboy didn't seem to have a great day but still.

 

[ltm]

Probably Joadn. Vinch played great as well but we already kinda knew that with him making it to recent events. With Joadn though i still wasn't sure if he could perform despite playing very well on the ladder lately. He pulled off a very dominant performance in a tough bracket, beating Capoch and TheMax quite comfortably is quite impressive.

Also think he rarely looked outplayed in the games he lost. I guess it's always easier said than done but i feel like it was mostly down to rather easily avoidable mistakes on his part like taking the forward resources unprotected g1 vs Max when he had safe stone to take for a castle but when it comes to strategy and overall execution he looked really solid.

Vivi also looked good but then again i'd say it was the weakest bracket overall and Badboy looked like he didn't have a good day at all so hard to say.

 

[Dagan]

I expected Nicov to be in trouble against Lyx after his shaky performance against fire but he played absolutely incredible in the decider series.
Also Jordan didn't look the best against Capoch but he played so good against Max, although I do believe Max didnt play his best that series.
Villese also had a great comeback vs LaaaaN in their series and I believe that was the best series of the qualifiers.

 

[oakaoe]

It's quite tough to rank these since they had so different strength opponents. But for me the three players that have a chance to win against more than 50% of qualified players are Jordan, Nicov and Vinchester. Especially Vinch I think has a realistic chance against everyone, don't forget he beat Hera recently already.

 

[Lord_patito]

I voted for Vinchester, simply because the guy is on fire right now. Even though I expected him to qualify, he surpassed my expectations regarding his level.

That being said, I didn't imagine Barles as a main event player. Kudos for him, ye seem to be in top shape

 

[Degaussed]

Vinch. I'm honestly surprised that he's not clear #1 in this poll, although I dare say that if you swapped his and Jordan's performances from the qualifiers, Jordan would still be #1 in this poll because people are excited to have him "back!" (which is fair enough).

He was the lowest seed to qualify, knocking out the #2 seed in the process, and honestly looked completely dominant in every series and made a tricky route to the end look comfortable. Some of his strategies were excellent (Cumans on Hideout, his Island games) and he's a really great player to watch.

 

[-R-]

I voted Vinch because he was dominant against an (on paper at least) opponent of similar calibre.

I wanna mention someone else who didn't make it, though - classicpro. Maybe he doesn't like Finland as a country, or he lost a distant ancestor in the Winter War and he has a personal vendetta against Finns, or perhaps it was just a coincidence, but in both RBW and HC qualis he has been punching well above his weight against Villese, and now against Zuppi as well. Jokes aside, I hope he can perform more consistently and we get to see more of him in the future.

 

[Freezing_Point]

I voted Vinch because he was dominant against an (on paper at least) opponent of similar calibre.

I wanna mention someone else who didn't make it, though - classicpro. Maybe he doesn't like Finland as a country, or he lost a distant ancestor in the Winter War and he has a personal vendetta against Finns, or perhaps it was just a coincidence, but in both RBW and HC qualis he has been punching well above his weight against Villese, and now against Zuppi as well. Jokes aside, I hope he can perform more consistently and we get to see more of him in the future.

Everyone else started paying attention to him after he upset Villese in the RBW3 qualifiers, but personally, I resolved to take him seriously a bit earlier, after his match with Liereyyy in KOTD3. He lost 2-0, but the man-at-arms forward he tried in the first game was seriously impressive, killing a villager and forcing Liereyyy to delete a mining camp and relocate his gold miners to avoid losing even more, while keeping him on the defensive for a good while. That performance told me that this player was someone to watch, because if you can rattle a top 3 player with your early aggression and micro, who can't you surprise?

 

[polyomavirus]

Huh, this is weird. It seems like most folks are saying Vinchester has only been really good recently, but...

Somehow, I’m remembering him as one of the names I knew when I casually watched pro AoE2 half a decade back or so, around 2014-2016. I remember it as him being something of a “next generation top player”, more so than Hera or Liereyy at the time. When I got back into following the scene more regularly in 2019, I was surprised to see that he wasn’t towards the top. Not sure if I’m just remembering wrong? Either way, he was impressive in the qualifiers.

My pick is actually Daniel. Although he didn’t win, the result for him was definitely the most unexpected for me. Whatever he’s been doing to improve recently is definitely working.

 

[BlotchedyDooDah]

Huh, this is weird. It seems like most folks are saying Vinchester has only been really good recently, but...

Somehow, I’m remembering him as one of the names I knew when I casually watched pro AoE2 half a decade back or so, around 2014-2016. I remember it as him being something of a “next generation top player”, more so than Hera or Liereyy at the time. When I got back into following the scene more regularly in 2019, I was surprised to see that he wasn’t towards the top. Not sure if I’m just remembering wrong? Either way, he was impressive in the qualifiers.

My pick is actually Daniel. Although he didn’t win, the result for him was definitely the most unexpected for me. Whatever he’s been doing to improve recently is definitely working.

He was second in the Arabia Invitational in 2016 (?), so he has been around for a while (he's 22, so I suppose he was around 17 then?)

 

[shm0wt]

I know people love Vivi, and I get it, but honestly I think he wouldn't have got through if he'd faced anyone else in the final qualifier round. He's certainly improved a lot in recent months, but I think he's still got a long way to go to be a serious tournament contender in the post-tower-nerf landscape of DE. Maybe he'll prove me wrong, but I really don't see him lasting past round 1 in the main event.

I put Jordan as he impressed me most relative to expectations, beating Capoch and Max is no mean feat, even if the latter did put in another lacklustre performance (I'd say Max's form has been very inconsistent lately). However, the most impressive set for me was Laaaaan vs. Villese. That was real quality stuff from both players. Laaaaan played some outstanding age and while Villese definitely deserved the win, it was a fantastic performance from both. I think Villese may end up with another pretty deep tournament run, wouldn't be surprised to see him in the semifinals (and if Laaaaan had won I'd say the same for him).