Hidden Cup 2 | Announcement

After the incredible success of the first AoE2 Hidden Cup, I am proud to announce Hidden Cup 2! Together with Microsoft, the event has a prizepool of $10,200, and will include 16 of the best players in the world.

In the Hidden Cup 2 casters, players, and viewers will be unaware of player identities until the tournament is completed. Players can no longer prepare for who their opponent will be in the next round. Instead, they have to be on their "A game" and adapt to their unknown challenger's playstyle. Higher skilled players no longer have an easy ride to the 2nd and 3rd rounds. There is no knowing how difficult a task each round will be as their opponents are completely random. This puts greater emphasis on preparation, strategy and of course... mind games!

Hidden Cup 2 Rules & Settings
Hidden Cup 2 Sign Ups

Hidden Cup 1 certainly provided some amazing games and results ( See the results here.) Shockingly, TaToH, DauT, Yo, and Vivi all lost in Round 1! Miguel had an insane showing, beating DauT in Round 1 and Liereyy in Round 2. Riut played fantastic, beating Yo in R1 and losing to MbL in the final game of their semi-final series. Then in an exciting finish, TheViper and MbL gave us a fantastic finals! Hidden Cup #2 will feature 16 players this time. The top 14 sign-ups are guaranteed a spot, and the 15th-30th rated sign ups will compete in a 16 man qualifier for the final position. The event promises even more excitement and upsets!

Hidden Cup 2 participants will randomly be given accounts to mask their identity throughout the tournament. This identity will be kept to themselves until the users are revealed at the conclusion of the event. The usernames will be: BledaTheHun, GodsOwnSling, HrolfTheGanger, JoanOfArc, KingAlfonso, Nobunuga, Tamerlane, WillyWallace, AttilaTheHun, El_Cid, ErikTheRed, GenghisKhan, LaHire, OrnluTheWolf, RobinHood, Subotai. For TheViper's sake, let's hope he doesn't get the Joan account!

Additionally, players will play using a custom Userpatch (https://www.voobly.com/gamemods/mod/1139/v15-RC-Anonymous) which will do the following:

- no multiplayer game setup ping display
- no save/vote panel ping display
- no yellow/red/turtle lag indicators

This will further mask the identity of each player, and add to the confusion contestants might experience. Thanks so much to scripter for working on this masterpiece!

Prizepool & Contributors

Total Prize Pool - $10,200

1st - $3,000
2nd - $2,000
3rd/4th - $1,000
5-8th - $600
9-16th - $100

Contributors
Microsoft - $5,000
T90Official - $2,700
LeglessAlex - $2,500

Big thanks to Microsoft and LeglessAlex for the huge support! Anyone who would like to contribute to the prizepool will be credited and can do so here. Anyone who would like to contribute towards T90Official's costs towards prizepool, graphics, admins etc will also be credited and can do so here here. Pleasure ensure to write your username so you can be credited!


Streaming Policy

Due to the nature of this event players are not allowed to stream their POV on any streaming website. Failure to comply will result in potential ban and replacement. Players are also asked to refrain from streaming altogether on April 13th and 14th.

Hidden Cup 2 is completely open for casters. From casters to viewers, the goal is to have as many people enjoying Hidden Cup 2 as possible. Casters are expected to have the Hidden Cup 2 tournament banner visible on their overlays. However, in efforts to make this even easier for casters the tournament banner will be available in different color options. This is so channels can use a banner that matches their overlays, which will increase the production quality across the board for this event. This banner will slightly differ from the AoEZone banner and will be available soon. Additionally, all broadcasters of the event will be thanked publicly for their involvement on every day of the main event on T90Official's channel. Casters interested in being involved should PM robo on aoezone for access.

The event is streamed over four days at 13GMT every day. Days 1-3 use recorded games and the final day is live. Further info can be found in the settings for this tournament.

There will be prediction & guessing contests for this event. More info will be announced closer to the start of the event, so stay tuned!

Qualified Players

Mr_Yo​

MbL40C​

TheViper​

Liereyy​

TheMax​

Hera_​

Nicov​

DauT​

BacT​

TaToH​

Villese​

Tim​

Vivi​

ACCM​

 

[buhanisson]

Don't forget the geckos on the map...

"Hello hello, gecko lovers"

HC2 should be awesome btw.

 

[T90Official]

The following change has been made to Hidden Cup 2. This allows players to have a greater chance at making the event and qualifier.

§1 - Seeding and ParticipationHidden Cup 2 has 14 Main Event spots available for players to sign-up for. After the sign-ups are closed the players will be ranked according to their current & highest ratings on the Voobly RM 1v1 Ladder at the end of signups. The top 14 players will be allowed to participate in the tournament. This to ensure that the players that participate are truly motivated and competitive.The next 16 highest sign ups will participate in the Qualification Stage to decide the remaining two Participants. The players who advance to the finals of the qualification bracket will play in Hidden Cup 2. Seeding within the main event will be entirely random.

Additionally the Hidden Cup 2 Map Pack has been updated to fix an issue on HC2_Cup. Further tweaks may be added to ensure the maps are as good as possible. The maps should simple update for you as long as you are subscribed to the above mod. However anyone who didnt have the mod but got the map via transfer in gamelobby might get an error message. If this happens the players will need to delete the map files and redownload the mod.

 

[Chainsaw]

The next 16 highest sign ups will participate in the Qualification Stage to decide the remaining two Participants. The players who advance to the finals of the qualification bracket will play in Hidden Cup 2.

Great to see organisers taking others' views into account.

 

[kw1k000000]

Seeding of final 16 for main event is random which is a bit of turn off. This has the potential of No 1 & 2 meeting in very 1st round.

Definitely dilutes the competitive aspect. You could still do the seeding but not reveal it. No 1 & 2 are probably clear and everyone can guess but after that it's quite an open field.

 

[T90Official]

Seeding of final 16 for main event is random which is a bit of turn off. This has the potential of No 1 & 2 meeting in very 1st round.

Definitely dilutes the competitive aspect. You could still do the seeding but not reveal it. No 1 & 2 are probably clear and everyone can guess but after that it's quite an open field.

Yes, there is always a possibility that early rounds have high skilled matchups. An alternative view for those that think this is negative, is that the players who normally have quite an easy ride for the first few rounds of tournaments no longer have that luxury. Every pro player I have spoken to about this finds the hidden aspect & random seeding exciting for these reasons. Players will need to be on form in every round, or else! :D

 

[robo]

Seeding of final 16 for main event is random which is a bit of turn off. This has the potential of No 1 & 2 meeting in very 1st round.

Definitely dilutes the competitive aspect. You could still do the seeding but not reveal it. No 1 & 2 are probably clear and everyone can guess but after that it's quite an open field.

It kinda defeats the purpose of being a Hidden Cup if you know where each player is in the bracket, doesnt it? 11

 

[buhanisson]

Seeding in an event like this would be just stupid. It would be ridiculously easy to deduce who is who even without watching any games. The best thing about an event like this is that you cant just tune in for the predictable finale - you have to watch every single series because you never know which 3-0 is the one where DauT is OuT.

 

[dooog]

Seeding of final 16 for main event is random which is a bit of turn off. This has the potential of No 1 & 2 meeting in very 1st round.

Definitely dilutes the competitive aspect. You could still do the seeding but not reveal it. No 1 & 2 are probably clear and everyone can guess but after that it's quite an open field.

Wouldn't say it dilutes the competitiveness at all. Otherwise players would know straight away who they're set to play - seed 16 knows he'll be playing Viper and so on.

The FA Cup isn't seeded and it's widely considered to be the most exciting domestic football cup in Europe. The randomness of the draw is an exciting part of that.

 

[Laskerf]

Just don't rig the best players' seeding like last time

 

[kw1k000000]

Great job, lets have viper lierry in 1st round and be done with it.

 

[robo]

1/15 chance that it happens, pretty good odds imho

 

[Double_N]

Great job, lets have viper lierry in 1st round and be done with it.

And in last hiddencup they should have disqualified miguel because he won vs larry which is not allowed because obviously everyone just wants to see larry vs viper in every final.

 

[buhanisson]

Or lets just give the trophy to Viper, forget about this whole Hidden cup thingy and go straight to afterparty. Its not like the snake has ever lost this so-called "dream finale", anyway.

 

[kw1k000000]

And in last hiddencup they should have disqualified miguel because he won vs larry which is not allowed because obviously everyone just wants to see larry vs viper in every final.

nothing wrong in Miguel winning Lierrey if he gets matched with him after ranking

 

[dooog]

nothing wrong in Miguel winning Lierrey if he gets matched with him after ranking

Except it wouldn't be a hidden cup anymore

 

[enmipho]

The following change has been made to Hidden Cup 2. This allows players to have a greater chance at making the event and qualifier.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, didn't see it addressed in the rules. Will players' identities also be hidden during the qualification stage or just the main stage?

 

[robo]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, didn't see it addressed in the rules. Will players' identities also be hidden during the qualification stage or just the main stage?

Just the main stage.

 

[GmanStreams]

Great job, lets have viper lierry in 1st round and be done with it.

Lets pray it happens, if only to rustle your jimmies

 

[robo]

nothing wrong in Miguel winning Lierrey if he gets matched with him after ranking

Guess what? It was random seeding last time

 

[diseased]

will score also be hidden? i'm sure i heard t90 mention that it might be on at least one occasion but couldn't find it in the rules.

 

[T90Official]

Score will not be hidden.

It's a nice idea to implement in future events but for now we will stick to standard AoE2 settings!

 

[robin_von]

Hi

1 question for the rule:
Say player 1 pick HC2_Goldrush as home map, he lost game 1, game 2 will use HC2_Goldrush as map. if player1 lost game 2. he need pick another home map for game 3, or still use HC2_Goldrush for game 3?

 

[AlgernonR]

nothing wrong in Miguel winning Lierrey if he gets matched with him after ranking

It sounds like maybe Hidden Cup just isnt for you. However there are loads of other events that doesnt have random seeding, actually this is one of the very few that has. Aren't you in luck!

 

[alesh]

First HC was great and I'm sure this event will be even better. I'll definitely tune in.
How will the ranking of the players work though? Will it be a simple average of players' current and highest ratings? Or is the formula more complex?

 

[awfulunicorn]

First HiddenCup was a lot of fun. Great to see it return.
Also the nicknames will be a great tool to create intriguing narratives (and make it easier to Remember who played what).
Looking forward to it