Hidden Cup 2 Main Event

The Hidden Cup 2 main event is almost here! After a highly competitive qualifier we have our 16 main event participants!

Participating Players

Mr_Yo​

MbL40C​

TheViper​

Liereyy​

TheMax​

Hera_​

Nicov​

DauT​

BacT​

TaToH​

Villese​

Tim​

Vivi​

ACCM​

dogao​

JorDan_23​

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Schedule

Thursday 11th April 13GMT - Round of 16 (part 1, 4x Best of 5s)​

Friday 12th April 13GMT - Round of 16 (part 2, 4x Best of 5s)​

Saturday 13th April 13GMT - Quarter Finals (4x Best of 5s)​

Sunday 14th April 13GMT - Semi Final 1​

Sunday 14th April 16GMT - Semi Final 2​

Sunday 14th April 19GMT - Grand Final​

CaptureAge

T90Official will proudly be using Capture Age for the entirety of the event.​

CaptureAge, created by Dico & SirLaurenceNZ, allows Age of Empires 2 to be broadcast in ways that have never been seen before! The CaptureAge team have developed many exciting features to reveal during the event.This makes Hidden Cup 2 all the more exciting!​

Prediction Competitions & Contests

There is a prediction contest live on the challonge page for the bracket (found here). People can predict which user accounts will progress through the bracket up until the 10th April. The 3 users with the highest score at the end of the tournament will earn a $25 Amazon Gift Card​

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There will also be a Guess the Player contest below T90Official's Stream where, during the course of the final day's stream viewers can guess which player is playing as which account. They will need to submit their guesses before the player reveal after the Grand Final on Sunday 14th April. The 3 users with the most correct guesses will earn a $25 Amazon Gift Card.​

If you want the best chances at working out who the players are, make sure you check out the stream to see how the players play and who is winning!​

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Additionally, the player who's identity is guessed the least often will earn themselves $100. That means if they can successfully hide who their identity and deceive twitch chat, they can earn​

themselves an additional prize.​

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Hidden Cup 2 Talkshow

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T90Official will host a talk show on Sunday the 7th of April. T90 & Dave will discuss Hidden Cup 1, the settings, players, and expectations for the event. More details on this to follow.​

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Prizepool & Contributors

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Total Prize Pool - $10,300​

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1st - $3,000​

2nd - $2,000​

3rd/4th - $1,000​

5-8th - $600​

9-16th - $100​

Least Guessed Player in Guessing Competition - $100​

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Contributors​

Microsoft - $5,000​

T90Official - $2,750​

LeglessAlex - $2,500​

Community Donations - $50​

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Big thanks to Microsoft and LeglessAlex for the huge support! Anyone who would like to contribute towards T90Official's costs towards prizepool, graphics, admins etc will also be credited and can do so here. Any support is greatly appreciated!​

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Best of luck to the players and the fans! I hope it is an enjoyable event!​

 

Congrats for the event, was great and was so happy to cast it.

Only one note that i guess is for everyone, sadly liereyy could not play, wish best to him and mum, he told me she is "Ok" so wish him the best.

I have to be proud that i guessed 7/8 quarterfinalist, only failed in Tim i said was BacT but Tim won BacT so almost, all others i knew them all.

@T90Official congrats for your records but don´t fall sleep or i will get you Kappa

@TheViper LOSE A SINGLE EVENT MAN WTF

@TheMax you are sick player.

We love this game.

 

Can someone plz whisper/message me or post who is who (hidden name <-> real player) without spoilers, so i can watch the VOD by knowing all the real names?

im very thankful for this

If some kind soul actually did this would you mind forwarding the info on? Couldn't watch live, and although it completely defeats the purpose, I'll enjoy the omniscient feeling over the ignorance in the VODs... 11

 

Fun tournament, I was skeptical at first, but once I figured out a few identities it turned out pretty entertaining. Helped a lot that MbL is playing at an incredible level now, what a treat to watch.

He's always been a great player, but he somehow seems to have gotten even better with his insane dedication. His reaction times, control, and game sense have become amazing at this point. I always thought it would be Liereyy that would keep the fight for the top of 1v1 interesting, but hard work > talent for now at least...

(TheMax put on a show too, proving again he's one of the smartest players in the game, look forward to more from him!)

 

If some kind soul actually did this would you mind forwarding the info on? Couldn't watch live, and although it completely defeats the purpose, I'll enjoy the omniscient feeling over the ignorance in the VODs... 11

Here you go, thanks to willworkforicecream: https://sites.google.com/view/hiddencup2playerids/home

 

I cant believe how popular this is man 11

over 17 000 viewers, t90 now has over 7000 subs, really amazing.

The capture age overlay looks great, im a pleb so my first thought was "wtf is this, where is spec overlay", but it gives a lot of nice info, and im sure it contributed to people staying, as it looks much better.

For me personally, it just really bothers me if i dont know whos playing, so ill go back now and check some games out i guess, but the success of this event speaks for itself. It does make me wonder if literally anything t90 would organize would reach this popularity, of if its something about the unknown factor making people more engaged.

Community is looking great atm, admin work is really high quality, even for smaller events like AE, racerfxx is posting results from all matches so you can easily keep track of the progression...

For some reason, this game just keeps on growing.

 

For me personally, it just really bothers me if i dont know whos playing, so ill go back now and check some games out i guess

I've literally just re-watched the finals cause of this. But I'm gonna go through the other games as well. It's probably cause I don't know who to cheer for. To be honest, I didn't watch most games except semis and finals cause of this, although I'd have to say that lack of knowledge outside of the top players has something to do with it. I think it's funner to guess when you have knowledge of players and their styles. Props to Jupe and Memb for nailing some of these.

I still loved the event and the format, though, and thanks to everyone involved. I'm definitely re-watching some sets.

 

Can we finally reconsider top4 players now ?
TheViper
Larry
Mbl (after larry and Viper the most consistent player in tournaments)
Max (really outstanding performance in hc2 and as in ECL period)

any opinions guys?

 

Can we finally reconsider top4 players now ?
TheViper
Larry
Mbl (after larry and Viper the most consistent player in tournaments)
Max (really outstanding performance in hc2 and as in ECL period)

any opinions guys?

For me Viper is clearly n°1, and Larry solid n°2. But after these two, it's close between Mbl, TheMax, Yo, Tatoh, Nicov (in shape) and Vivi. All these are contenders for the top 5, and actual ranking will depend on form and a bit of luck.

 

For me Viper is clearly n°1, and Larry solid n°2. But after these two, it's close between Mbl, TheMax, Yo, Tatoh, Nicov (in shape) and Vivi. All these are contenders for the top 5, and actual ranking will depend on form and a bit of luck.

couple month ago i would agreed. I always was saying that Nicov, Yo are so solid and they should be considered as top5. But now Tbh, nicov didnt perform in any of the latest tournaments aswell as mr Yo

Tatoh yes you are right especially after NAC2 where he performed very solid, so yes now question who is higher Tatoh or Max.

Vivi -> i cannot agree, we can see his gamestyle very agressive and fun to watch but its not delivering in tournaments, in any tbh event and in ECL stages he is underperforming greatly.

 

Please do bo5 between lierey and themax . agive lierey a chance. Im sure about it that final could be viper lierey. Mbl played well too. Viper was tired in the finale after the matches be mbl thats why he lost so many games vs themax. FINALS SHOULS BE IN OTHER DAY THAN SEMIS.

 

Just some thoughts on the event:
First of all: an absolutely amazing tournament, both in terms of organization and games played.
Massive props for T90 and dave for their amazing casting, T90's "overlay guy" for adding even more fanciness and professional looks on top of already great games and players for their amazing performances(Max, you madman!). This was an amazing event, IMO surpassing even this year's KoTD2 and NAC2.

That being said, I feel like the overall greatness of HC2 was more a result of combination of T90&Dave's amazing casting combined with amazing games, rather than its format and theme itself.

While the premise of players identities being hidden sounds cool, and did bring a certain layer of entertainment that no other tournament had so far, with viewers, casters trying to guess the identities of the players, I still feel like the disadvantages of this system outweight its benefits.

As someone pointed out above, it's hard to cheer for players, when at best we can merely 'suspect' who they are. Then on top of that there is that sense of.. disconnection and disappointment, when the player who you did cheer for turns out to have been knocked out in some of the early stages is also real(at least in my case).
The sense of disconnection was there also throughout the entire tournament. Coming to watch the games, not even knowing what quality to expect nor who the players are is unique, but I feel like nowadays it's not what AoE's competitive scene, with its growing importance of player personalities, is about. Additionally, I think that when you devote a few hours of your day to watch a certain set of games, you should know what quality you can expect. In HC2's case it could have been pretty much anything, from a fantastic matchup between players like TaToH and Yo like in round 1, to absolute stomps(like Max vs Jordan). In the end the only set of games where we could have had been certain of their high quality was the 2nd semi-final and the grand final.

I loved the games, I loved the organization & execution of the whole tournament, but.. I remain unconvinced that the "hiddenness" of it really made it better.

Spoiler

PS. Bit sad that Jordan had the bad luck of running into Max in the very first round. I really hope it doesn't discourage him from continuing to try to get back to the very top of AoE2's scene.

Vivi -> i cannot agree, we can see his gamestyle very agressive and fun to watch but its not delivering in tournaments, in any tbh event and in ECL stages he is underperforming greatly.

I think Vivi's main weakness are non-standard, especially water, maps that HC2 was full of, which IMO explains his 'underperforming' in some tournaments.
It's untrue that he doesn't deliver in "any tbh event". Remember first stage of ECL where he beat Lieerey and got to finals?
Remember KoTD2 where he lost only to Liereyy?

 

I haven't watched most of the game yet, but I took a look halfway through robin_hood vs erik_the_red and was like "oh mbl doing his 80 farmer lc + bbt thing"

 

Viper tried his best to let the final look at least a little like a fight and not pure
slaughter

 

I don't get this thing about not knowing who to cheer for. For me hidden cup is a chance to not automatically cheer for my favourites, but to watch the games and cheer for those who play well. When the reveal comes I might discover that I have a new player among my favourites.

 

I understand both sides. But for in between the tournament idea is very good and entertaining.
The most-positive things beside the fun are probably:
- players who are nervous because of facing a certain opponent, can play the same against any opponent.
-

Spoiler

I only watched the last 2.5 games of the grand final: Trying to find out which one of the 2 is TheViper. You learn something as a viewer too. It's not like "It's TheViper, he will deal with this anyway". More like "If this is vivi, even if he does this, I am really anxious he will overcommit to his forward... or be too tired at 6 am like Chinese players have been many times and lost the deciding games of a series". But then it was TheMax and I wonder more about, why he did this and that, which I before did think vivi does that, not because it is effective against TheViper, but because he has fun doing it.
It could be anyone and moves and mistakes are more unexpected.

Also, the players learn in a similar way (in case they have not been spoiled). They gain different experience, can practise differrent things on the highest level.

 

I don't get this thing about not knowing who to cheer for. For me hidden cup is a chance to not automatically cheer for my favourites, but to watch the games and cheer for those who play well. When the reveal comes I might discover that I have a new player among my favourites.

I agree that HC offers a unique opportunity to look at things in a fresh light, but that approach only makes sense if you only like to cheer for people based on their gameplay. I get that, but I personally always choose based on the player / their storyline, so until figuring that out it's pretty lackluster for me.

For example, there are some early round matchups that I would have loved to watch and cheer in, but I just skipped them because of all the others I didn't really care about. Luckily, I've learned it's pretty obvious who's who after the Ro16 / part of Ro8, so at that point I'm in too

 

I don't get this thing about not knowing who to cheer for. For me hidden cup is a chance to not automatically cheer for my favourites, but to watch the games and cheer for those who play well. When the reveal comes I might discover that I have a new player among my favourites.

I agree, being unsure allowed me to appreciate and get excited about both sides of a game. Also i am definitely a The_Max fanboy now.

 

@patao I also like to cheer for certain players, but I get to do that for every other tournament and rated game I watch :-)

 

i would have liked a reveal directly after the games, and then shuffle the players for next round.

But i see why many people wouldnt like that. for me it would be best though because a) it makes first round games more worthy as u dont have to wait forever for the reveal and b) in later rounds you need to figure out whos who again

 

i would have liked a reveal directly after the games, and then shuffle the players for next round.

But i see why many people wouldnt like that. for me it would be best though because a) it makes first round games more worthy as u dont have to wait forever for the reveal and b) in later rounds you need to figure out whos who again

Oof, I see how that cranks up the hidden aspect, but that would make it unwatchable for me.

 

Oof, I see how that cranks up the hidden aspect, but that would make it unwatchable for me.

It would also triple my work load

 

It would also triple my work load

But then you could demand triple the money as well. Imagine all the streams you could sub to with 12$/h

 

Hidden Cup was fantastic. A little intense when it came to time consumption as a viewer. Definitely couldn’t catch more than a third of the games live, and frankly got fatigued even then, so I kinda wish it was spaced out a bit more (and with less on the weekdays). But it was so good that I had a post-party crash kind of feeling when it finally wrapped up.

Love the format. As much as I love being able to root for a few players I like, I really valued the opportunity to watch a high-level tournament without knowing so I can both guess along and be surprised by who I got right and wrong.

Getting folks right was obviously fun - felt like solving a puzzle correctly. TheMax was an example how getting it wrong could also be really fun. I hadn’t seen much of his 1v1s before, and didn’t have much of an opinion of him outside of TGs. Watching his games as Nobunaga, I mistook him for TaToH. It was a treat at the end to see the reveal and be surprised by and appreciative of the extent of his skill and creativity.

About the Chinese players... I’m not sure about Vivi (he seems less stable), but I don’t think one can really write Yo off so easily. He was taken out by TheMax in HC2, who went on to take (a possibly tired) TheViper to seven games in a BO7. He also didn’t get shut out - a 1-3 loss can easily be good/bad days rather than skill disparity. On the way, Yo took out TaToH, who’s been solid recently.

Additionally, in KOTD2 (hardly ancient history), Yo made it to semifinals where he took two games in a BO7 from a fresh TheViper. This was after he took out Lyx, who took out TheMax in RO16 (3-1, IIRC). Sure, you could say that Lyx defeating TheMax was a fluke upset, but fluke upsets of that magnitude rarely seem to happen to better players (TheViper, Lierry - and even TaToH and MbL).

Speaking of which, I’ve been getting the feeling that for TaToH and especially MbL, there is the potential to take a major tournament from TheViper in the not-too-distant future. Both seem really solid and yet still getting better. MbL in particular seems to be playing with a potent combination of good instinctive adaptability and strong mechanics (and maybe a touch more confidence in his more dominating games). Perhaps the chances aren’t as high as a motivated Lierry, but I wouldn’t necessarily feel it was unexpected if they did win.

 

Here you go, thanks to willworkforicecream: https://sites.google.com/view/hiddencup2playerids/home

Awesome, thanks a lot. Will be novel to have hindsight in advance for once!

 

I agree, being unsure allowed me to appreciate and get excited about both sides of a game. Also i am definitely a The_Max fanboy now.

Just now?:D My friend, it took you some time to become one but welcome in the family:D!