R2 Confirmed matches:
Monday 12.10. 15:30 GMT casting of recs Stefan (tier 1) vs Wakko (tier 4) (with Jonslow)
Monday 12.10. 17:00 GMT Running (tier 1) vs Jonslow (tier 2)
Tuesday 13.10. 12:00 GMT The Bloodless (tier 3) vs D3rp (tier 4)
Thursday 15.10. 14:00 GMT Dracken (tier 1) vs Darknoob (tier 2)
Friday 16.10. 16:00 GMT Stefan (tier 1) vs Dragonstar (tier 2)
We don't want to spam the aoezone calendar with every single group stage match, so some might not be put there. To see all confirmed matches, scheduling, recorded games and more, you can join my Discord and my Twitch:
Master of The Circus, R1 Recap
Master of the Circus is a high level Arena invitational tournament which started on October 5. 16 wanna-be clowns, semi-clowns and even real clowns were split into 4 tiers based on their rating and then into 4 groups, each group having players from each tier. After 3 weeks of group stage, top 2 players from each group advance into single elimination bracket until we'll have a circus champion.
Brackets
MotC has one special feature though – very unfair civilization draft. For better understanding I’d recommend checking the draft part in rules and settings. In a short summary: Based on the tiers, better players are given a significant civ handicap while playing against players with a lower tier, in the extreme case the higher tier player doesn’t even pick a single civilization as the lower tier picks civilizations for both, example of such draft.
After each round I’ll write a recap for the previous round and also take a look at the matches awaiting us in the upcoming week.
Group A: Jonslow (tier 2) vs Kellar (tier 3)
Opening match of the tournament and very likely one of the best this tournament will provide. Jonslow is the Arena living legend, a manager of the recently formed pro team Clown Legion and also a player who just reached 2k1+. Against him was Kellar, the first player ever to reach 2k3 1v1 rating only neededing 1 game to do so. Kellar was the lower tier, so he was able to pick 2 civs for Jonslow and also decided exact civilization Jonslow had to use in G1. This way Kellar forced Celts against Huns (Jonslow) matchup, and took a very convincing win. Second game looked very good for Jonslow using his nr. 1 pick Malay against Kellar’s Slavs, till he lost all his army and 10 villagers trying to build an ambitious forward castle. From that point it was a very uphill battle, but with Kellar’s questionable unit decisions, Jonslow pulled a big comeback and made it 1:1. Game 3 showed the cool strategy of last months, Kellar went double castle Arambai, but Jonslow managed to defend using Ethiopian xbows and took a convincing win. If that alone wasn’t enough for Kellar to prove he’s a wanna-be clown, in game 4 he proved how dangerous he is with Aztec monks (his nr. 1 pick) and took an easy win against Mongols. The deciding game 5 showed 2 top Arena civs, Byzantines for Kellar and Lithuanians for Jonslow. After long relic fight (when Kellar multiple times used an infamous glitch to drop a relic under the monk, so the monk can’t be attacked by melee army) Kellar was able to click to imp significantly faster than Jonslow, started to pressure Jonslow’s forward castles and once again displaying his monk micro skills he took the series 3:2.
Group A: Running (tier 1) vs Collins (tier 4)
Running is a new AoE star making major progress in DE and only in couple of months he managed to establish himself as a top50 player. In Clown Cup he got into Round of 16 where he managed to take a game from TheViper. His opponent in last round was Collins, by far the best AoE player and also established top20 e-sport player of Luxembourg. Being a favourite in MotC means a disadvantage and being a big favourite means a big disadvantage - Collins was able to pick all 6 civilizations for Running so the matchups were looking like this: Mongols vs Portugese, Burmese vs Goths, Ethiopians vs Tatars, Cumans vs Bulgarians. Running did manage to win 3 of those matchups, especially G4 Bulgarians vs Cumans showed how much of a clown Running already is, going for siege tower Kreopost Rush and punishing cuman feudal boom like a true champ. Credits to Collins, he won Burmese vs Goths being 30 vs 80 villagers and he definitely had chances in all games he lost, once again a really good set with a very high quality gameplay from both sides.
Upcoming matches:
Kellar (T3) vs Collins (T4)
Collins still has a good chance to advance, he needs to win his next game against Kellar though. Kellar shouldn’t be as tough opponent as Running, however Collins will play with only 1 tier advantage in draft compared to 3 tiers in previous round. Set that will reveal a lot about situation in group A, I expect very close match and predict 3:2 for Kellar.
Running (T1) vs Jonslow (T2)
Jonslow’s position is definitely worse, although with 2 games won in previous set it’s still not a catastrophe for him. Win against Running would help him a lot, it’s the only match in the group stage where he will have a draft advantage. Running’s performance in the first round was impressive though and I’d expect Running to win 3:1.
Group B: Glokken (tier 2) vs Scogo (tier 3)
Match between two well established semi-clowns, which can tell you the story how stacked group B is. Glokken is the higher tier, but Scogo is an Arena pro with a lot of skill and when he shows up in tournaments, he’s prepared. Being tier 3 and therefore having good position for drafts he’s a very dangerous opponent for anybody in the tournament and potentially one of the tournament favorites. Games 1 (Slavs vs Tatars) and 2 (Vikings vs Byzantines) Scogo took in a convincing fashion, but then Glokken’s arbalest + siege ram combo was just too much for Scogo’s Britons to handle, so we could see a really good game 4. Scogo picked Khmer and with scouts he took full map control and also 5 relics. Glokken went boom into kamayuks + onager and pushed Scogo’s heavy scorp + hussar all the way into Scogo’s base, before running out of gold to continue spamming his gold heavy army, Scogo barely managed to hold and then with 5 relics he was able to push back and take the game and the match. Once again, very good series with game 4 being one of the top3 tournament games so far.
Group B: Modri (tier 1) vs Chrazini (tier 4)
Modri is the biggest tournament favorite and the nr. 3 Arena player in the world (both self-proclaimed), Clown Cup semifinalist, finalist of AoeOlympics Arena where he lost 2:3 to TheViper and also the winner of Pond Arena and Clown Wars tournaments. Chrazini is also a winner of Arena tournament this year though, he won the Clown Cat League. In this match he was given the full advantage of draft, being able to pick all civilizations for Modri. Chrazini didn’t use it to full potential though, not only giving Modri civs like Magyars, Vietnamese or Turks!, but also forced matchups Saracens vs Huns, Slavs vs Magyars and Spanish vs Turks. Modri did punish questionable draft choices and won the match in a dominant fashion 3:0.
Upcoming matches:
Scogo (T3) vs Chrazini (T4)
Similar position as in group A, Chrazini lost against a group favourite and he’s definitely not out of the tournament, his gameplay against Modri was solid. He won’t have as big advantage in draft this time and Scogo’s skill might just be too high for Chrazini. Chrazini has a speciality though – great monk micro and he might win games with that, I predict 3:1 for Scogo.
Modri (T1) vs Glokken (T2)
Glokken is in a tough spot, Modri is a top player and the draft advantage won’t be too huge, Glokken should be the favourite for G1 anyways. I’ll go with 3:1 for Modri, although Glokken has the skill to win more games.
Group C: Darknoob (tier 2) vs The Bloodless (tier 3)
Match between a clown who recently reached 2k1 and a player joining the circus as a wanna-be clown. The Bloodless obviously had a draft advantage, Darknoob had to play with tatars against goth in G1 and he was surprisingly close to win the game. Darknoob took game 2 with Byzantines against Mongols, but then tried cuman feudal boom in game 3 and lost the game against an all-in mangonel + spear pressure. In game 4 Darknoob found himself in a tough matchup (Malians against Turks in hands of The Bloodless) he missread opponent strategy and despite multiple tries to come back, The Bloodless kept his lead in the game and won the match 3:1.
Group C: DracKeN (tier 1) vs D3rp (tier 4)
D3rp is a very good Arena player (recently beating 2k DE rating) and due to his tier - one of the most dangerous players in the tournament, who can beat literally anyone. Against me, D3rp decided to go Celts vs Huns, Slavs vs Mayans and Ethiopians vs Berbers. After quite straight-forward game 1 and messy G2 when D3rp managed to get me to 55 villagers in post imp game, I was leading 2:0. D3rp however managed to win G3 and also G4 with Cumans against Magyars. In the decisive game 5, I went Tatars against Spanish. D3rp’s 1 TC castle age all in aggression pushed me into last 25% of my base and I was even forced to buy 700 stone for a defensive castle, to save myself in the game. I did hold in the end and with imperial I managed to push D3rp back and take the match 3:2.
Upcoming matches:
The Bloodless (T3) vs D3rp (T4)
Really important match for both players, winner should be in a good position to advance from the group. I’d expect D3rp to have the upper hand and with the help of the draft advantage I’d bet on 3:2 for D3rp.
DracKeN (T1) vs Darknoob (T2)
It’s very likely that for both of us the opponent would be among the top3 most frequent opponents of our whole aoe career. We simply played hundreds of games against each other, many of them would be among the best ones I had to play to get a win. It’s going to be a tough task especially while facing a civ disadvantage. Darknoob is a in bad spot, if he wants to advance from the group he basically needs to win. I’ll stay confident and predict 3:1 for myself.
Group D: Dragonstar (tier 2) vs Klavskis (tier 3)
Dragonstar is the best player in India for couple of years, few days ago he reached 2k2+, a very tough opponent for tier 2. Klavskis is among many other players coming back with DE, his 2k+ rating might not look as impressive, but unlike Dragonstar we can count klavskis among Arena pros. Dragonstar managed to win game 1 despite playing Goths against Spanish. Since G2 he started to show his clown spirit and twice sucessfully pulling fast imp monk rush. A bit suprising 3:0 victory which was slightly affected by klavskis not feeling the best that day, special thanks to him for playing and finishing the match despite circumstances.
Group D: Stefan (tier 1) vs Wakko (tier 4)
This is a true clash of styles. 2 – 3 years ago stefan should be in anyone‘s list of top5 Arena players. He didn’t play much though and started to practice more with DE edition. He’s already over 2k1 rating, in a good shape, very familiar with civs, meta and likely back into at least top10 1v1 Arena players. Wakko is playing AoE for more than 15 years, although lately he wasn’t as active. Same as stefan, he came back with DE edition and played solid 640 1v1 games. Wakko is still player from old school, sometimes using strategies and decisions which aren’t part of the common meta anymore. Games were played on weekend and we’ll stream the recs, so I won’t spoil anything. I can tell it was the best match of the tournament so far.
Upcoming matches:
Klavskis (T3) vs Wakko (T4)
Both players have the chance to advance, but it’s unlikely they’ll advance both together. Klavskis is in the worse position, loosing 0:3 in the first round might be tricky to overcome and in order to still have a realistic chance to advance he basically needs to win. He’s going to play against civ advantages and against player who showed really good performance in the first round though. I’d call 3:2 for Wakko.
Stefan (T1) vs Dragonstar (T2)
Potential fight for spot nr. 1 in the group (which means playing against seed 2 from group A and likely avoiding Running in QFs). Neither player has anything guaranteed, Dragonstar is in the better spot due to his win in round one, he’ll also use civ advantage and right now he’s the higher rated player. Stefan is more experienced, very solid and he shouldn’t fall for 1 TC fast imps. I’d guess 3:1 for stefan.
Thanks for reading this small recap and thanks to everybody involved in the tournament (DemEyesRed and kc_Ereon as the admins of the tournament, players, casters, viewers), it's going amazing so far and that's all due to the support. That being said I gotta thank our couple of generous donors for increasing the prizepool to 250 $, 100% from each donation on my stream goes to the prizepool, so if you'd like to support it click this link. My channel covers all tournament games, but tournament has open streaming. Also, last thank to Hera, Nili, miguel and my fellow clowns D3rp, Kellar and DemEyesRed for big raids. And as one of my friends would say, we love this game.
Monday 12.10. 15:30 GMT casting of recs Stefan (tier 1) vs Wakko (tier 4) (with Jonslow)
Monday 12.10. 17:00 GMT Running (tier 1) vs Jonslow (tier 2)
Tuesday 13.10. 12:00 GMT The Bloodless (tier 3) vs D3rp (tier 4)
Thursday 15.10. 14:00 GMT Dracken (tier 1) vs Darknoob (tier 2)
Friday 16.10. 16:00 GMT Stefan (tier 1) vs Dragonstar (tier 2)
We don't want to spam the aoezone calendar with every single group stage match, so some might not be put there. To see all confirmed matches, scheduling, recorded games and more, you can join my Discord and my Twitch:
Master of The Circus, R1 Recap
Master of the Circus is a high level Arena invitational tournament which started on October 5. 16 wanna-be clowns, semi-clowns and even real clowns were split into 4 tiers based on their rating and then into 4 groups, each group having players from each tier. After 3 weeks of group stage, top 2 players from each group advance into single elimination bracket until we'll have a circus champion.
Brackets
MotC has one special feature though – very unfair civilization draft. For better understanding I’d recommend checking the draft part in rules and settings. In a short summary: Based on the tiers, better players are given a significant civ handicap while playing against players with a lower tier, in the extreme case the higher tier player doesn’t even pick a single civilization as the lower tier picks civilizations for both, example of such draft.
After each round I’ll write a recap for the previous round and also take a look at the matches awaiting us in the upcoming week.
Group A: Jonslow (tier 2) vs Kellar (tier 3)
Opening match of the tournament and very likely one of the best this tournament will provide. Jonslow is the Arena living legend, a manager of the recently formed pro team Clown Legion and also a player who just reached 2k1+. Against him was Kellar, the first player ever to reach 2k3 1v1 rating only neededing 1 game to do so. Kellar was the lower tier, so he was able to pick 2 civs for Jonslow and also decided exact civilization Jonslow had to use in G1. This way Kellar forced Celts against Huns (Jonslow) matchup, and took a very convincing win. Second game looked very good for Jonslow using his nr. 1 pick Malay against Kellar’s Slavs, till he lost all his army and 10 villagers trying to build an ambitious forward castle. From that point it was a very uphill battle, but with Kellar’s questionable unit decisions, Jonslow pulled a big comeback and made it 1:1. Game 3 showed the cool strategy of last months, Kellar went double castle Arambai, but Jonslow managed to defend using Ethiopian xbows and took a convincing win. If that alone wasn’t enough for Kellar to prove he’s a wanna-be clown, in game 4 he proved how dangerous he is with Aztec monks (his nr. 1 pick) and took an easy win against Mongols. The deciding game 5 showed 2 top Arena civs, Byzantines for Kellar and Lithuanians for Jonslow. After long relic fight (when Kellar multiple times used an infamous glitch to drop a relic under the monk, so the monk can’t be attacked by melee army) Kellar was able to click to imp significantly faster than Jonslow, started to pressure Jonslow’s forward castles and once again displaying his monk micro skills he took the series 3:2.
Group A: Running (tier 1) vs Collins (tier 4)
Running is a new AoE star making major progress in DE and only in couple of months he managed to establish himself as a top50 player. In Clown Cup he got into Round of 16 where he managed to take a game from TheViper. His opponent in last round was Collins, by far the best AoE player and also established top20 e-sport player of Luxembourg. Being a favourite in MotC means a disadvantage and being a big favourite means a big disadvantage - Collins was able to pick all 6 civilizations for Running so the matchups were looking like this: Mongols vs Portugese, Burmese vs Goths, Ethiopians vs Tatars, Cumans vs Bulgarians. Running did manage to win 3 of those matchups, especially G4 Bulgarians vs Cumans showed how much of a clown Running already is, going for siege tower Kreopost Rush and punishing cuman feudal boom like a true champ. Credits to Collins, he won Burmese vs Goths being 30 vs 80 villagers and he definitely had chances in all games he lost, once again a really good set with a very high quality gameplay from both sides.
Upcoming matches:
Kellar (T3) vs Collins (T4)
Collins still has a good chance to advance, he needs to win his next game against Kellar though. Kellar shouldn’t be as tough opponent as Running, however Collins will play with only 1 tier advantage in draft compared to 3 tiers in previous round. Set that will reveal a lot about situation in group A, I expect very close match and predict 3:2 for Kellar.
Running (T1) vs Jonslow (T2)
Jonslow’s position is definitely worse, although with 2 games won in previous set it’s still not a catastrophe for him. Win against Running would help him a lot, it’s the only match in the group stage where he will have a draft advantage. Running’s performance in the first round was impressive though and I’d expect Running to win 3:1.
Group B: Glokken (tier 2) vs Scogo (tier 3)
Match between two well established semi-clowns, which can tell you the story how stacked group B is. Glokken is the higher tier, but Scogo is an Arena pro with a lot of skill and when he shows up in tournaments, he’s prepared. Being tier 3 and therefore having good position for drafts he’s a very dangerous opponent for anybody in the tournament and potentially one of the tournament favorites. Games 1 (Slavs vs Tatars) and 2 (Vikings vs Byzantines) Scogo took in a convincing fashion, but then Glokken’s arbalest + siege ram combo was just too much for Scogo’s Britons to handle, so we could see a really good game 4. Scogo picked Khmer and with scouts he took full map control and also 5 relics. Glokken went boom into kamayuks + onager and pushed Scogo’s heavy scorp + hussar all the way into Scogo’s base, before running out of gold to continue spamming his gold heavy army, Scogo barely managed to hold and then with 5 relics he was able to push back and take the game and the match. Once again, very good series with game 4 being one of the top3 tournament games so far.
Group B: Modri (tier 1) vs Chrazini (tier 4)
Modri is the biggest tournament favorite and the nr. 3 Arena player in the world (both self-proclaimed), Clown Cup semifinalist, finalist of AoeOlympics Arena where he lost 2:3 to TheViper and also the winner of Pond Arena and Clown Wars tournaments. Chrazini is also a winner of Arena tournament this year though, he won the Clown Cat League. In this match he was given the full advantage of draft, being able to pick all civilizations for Modri. Chrazini didn’t use it to full potential though, not only giving Modri civs like Magyars, Vietnamese or Turks!, but also forced matchups Saracens vs Huns, Slavs vs Magyars and Spanish vs Turks. Modri did punish questionable draft choices and won the match in a dominant fashion 3:0.
Upcoming matches:
Scogo (T3) vs Chrazini (T4)
Similar position as in group A, Chrazini lost against a group favourite and he’s definitely not out of the tournament, his gameplay against Modri was solid. He won’t have as big advantage in draft this time and Scogo’s skill might just be too high for Chrazini. Chrazini has a speciality though – great monk micro and he might win games with that, I predict 3:1 for Scogo.
Modri (T1) vs Glokken (T2)
Glokken is in a tough spot, Modri is a top player and the draft advantage won’t be too huge, Glokken should be the favourite for G1 anyways. I’ll go with 3:1 for Modri, although Glokken has the skill to win more games.
Group C: Darknoob (tier 2) vs The Bloodless (tier 3)
Match between a clown who recently reached 2k1 and a player joining the circus as a wanna-be clown. The Bloodless obviously had a draft advantage, Darknoob had to play with tatars against goth in G1 and he was surprisingly close to win the game. Darknoob took game 2 with Byzantines against Mongols, but then tried cuman feudal boom in game 3 and lost the game against an all-in mangonel + spear pressure. In game 4 Darknoob found himself in a tough matchup (Malians against Turks in hands of The Bloodless) he missread opponent strategy and despite multiple tries to come back, The Bloodless kept his lead in the game and won the match 3:1.
Group C: DracKeN (tier 1) vs D3rp (tier 4)
D3rp is a very good Arena player (recently beating 2k DE rating) and due to his tier - one of the most dangerous players in the tournament, who can beat literally anyone. Against me, D3rp decided to go Celts vs Huns, Slavs vs Mayans and Ethiopians vs Berbers. After quite straight-forward game 1 and messy G2 when D3rp managed to get me to 55 villagers in post imp game, I was leading 2:0. D3rp however managed to win G3 and also G4 with Cumans against Magyars. In the decisive game 5, I went Tatars against Spanish. D3rp’s 1 TC castle age all in aggression pushed me into last 25% of my base and I was even forced to buy 700 stone for a defensive castle, to save myself in the game. I did hold in the end and with imperial I managed to push D3rp back and take the match 3:2.
Upcoming matches:
The Bloodless (T3) vs D3rp (T4)
Really important match for both players, winner should be in a good position to advance from the group. I’d expect D3rp to have the upper hand and with the help of the draft advantage I’d bet on 3:2 for D3rp.
DracKeN (T1) vs Darknoob (T2)
It’s very likely that for both of us the opponent would be among the top3 most frequent opponents of our whole aoe career. We simply played hundreds of games against each other, many of them would be among the best ones I had to play to get a win. It’s going to be a tough task especially while facing a civ disadvantage. Darknoob is a in bad spot, if he wants to advance from the group he basically needs to win. I’ll stay confident and predict 3:1 for myself.
Group D: Dragonstar (tier 2) vs Klavskis (tier 3)
Dragonstar is the best player in India for couple of years, few days ago he reached 2k2+, a very tough opponent for tier 2. Klavskis is among many other players coming back with DE, his 2k+ rating might not look as impressive, but unlike Dragonstar we can count klavskis among Arena pros. Dragonstar managed to win game 1 despite playing Goths against Spanish. Since G2 he started to show his clown spirit and twice sucessfully pulling fast imp monk rush. A bit suprising 3:0 victory which was slightly affected by klavskis not feeling the best that day, special thanks to him for playing and finishing the match despite circumstances.
Group D: Stefan (tier 1) vs Wakko (tier 4)
This is a true clash of styles. 2 – 3 years ago stefan should be in anyone‘s list of top5 Arena players. He didn’t play much though and started to practice more with DE edition. He’s already over 2k1 rating, in a good shape, very familiar with civs, meta and likely back into at least top10 1v1 Arena players. Wakko is playing AoE for more than 15 years, although lately he wasn’t as active. Same as stefan, he came back with DE edition and played solid 640 1v1 games. Wakko is still player from old school, sometimes using strategies and decisions which aren’t part of the common meta anymore. Games were played on weekend and we’ll stream the recs, so I won’t spoil anything. I can tell it was the best match of the tournament so far.
Upcoming matches:
Klavskis (T3) vs Wakko (T4)
Both players have the chance to advance, but it’s unlikely they’ll advance both together. Klavskis is in the worse position, loosing 0:3 in the first round might be tricky to overcome and in order to still have a realistic chance to advance he basically needs to win. He’s going to play against civ advantages and against player who showed really good performance in the first round though. I’d call 3:2 for Wakko.
Stefan (T1) vs Dragonstar (T2)
Potential fight for spot nr. 1 in the group (which means playing against seed 2 from group A and likely avoiding Running in QFs). Neither player has anything guaranteed, Dragonstar is in the better spot due to his win in round one, he’ll also use civ advantage and right now he’s the higher rated player. Stefan is more experienced, very solid and he shouldn’t fall for 1 TC fast imps. I’d guess 3:1 for stefan.
Thanks for reading this small recap and thanks to everybody involved in the tournament (DemEyesRed and kc_Ereon as the admins of the tournament, players, casters, viewers), it's going amazing so far and that's all due to the support. That being said I gotta thank our couple of generous donors for increasing the prizepool to 250 $, 100% from each donation on my stream goes to the prizepool, so if you'd like to support it click this link. My channel covers all tournament games, but tournament has open streaming. Also, last thank to Hera, Nili, miguel and my fellow clowns D3rp, Kellar and DemEyesRed for big raids. And as one of my friends would say, we love this game.