Another week has passed and what a week it was for Master of the Circus. We had 2nd round of the Group stage, everyone tried to get into top 2 positions meaning a ticket for the Single Elimination stage, but most importantly we had a couple of incredible series that are an absolute must-watch for any Arena fan. We were using the 1-tier difference draft this week, lower tier was able to pick 2 civilizations for the higher tier and also chose the exact civilization higher tier had to play in G1.
Before reading further I'd recommend taking a look at the Brackets.
Group A: Running (tier 1) vs Jonslow (tier 2) Draft
The new german Arena star Running was in a better spot before the match as he took a convincing 3:1 victory against Collins in the first round and with a 2nd win he would likely secure himself a position in the single elimination. The Arena legend Jonslow wasn't in as favourable position - in order to advance he needed to grab a win aswell, as he lost 2:3 in the first round vs Kellar. Running was the favourite before the set, despite facing a draft disadvantage. Jonslow also got a really good matchup in the first game: Goths vs Tatars. Running managed to get 5 relics and tried to hold with Hand Cannoneers and Elite Keshiks against the deadly goth spam. Despite taking very good fights for a while, one single time his army was a bit out of position, Jonslow managed to get a good fight and then the flood of halbs and husks finished the game. Since that point Running controlled the series, in G2 (Britons vs Spanish) and G3 (Mongols vs Lithuanians) he was facing 1 tc aggresions, but didn't really struggle with the defence. In G4 his celt trebs and woads were a bit too much for Jonslow's forward castle Malay play, Running got another 3:1 win.
Group A: Kellar (tier 3) vs Collins (tier 4) Draft
When I wrote about the must-watch series above, this was among the matches I had in mind. Kellar took a win against Jonslow in the first round, Collins lost to Running, but neither player was expected to have a real edge over his opponent. Kellar as the higher seed had to play Japanese and Huns - the civ he had to use in the first game against Khmer in the hands of Collins. Kellar played a very good game, but in the end he couldn't stop khmer scorpions + hussars + siege ram + better eco. While G1 looked standard, things started to get out of hands in G2 (Slavs vs Lithuanians for Collins), where both players kept investing into monks, LCavs and spearmen despite all 5 relics being safe in the monasteries for a few minutes. In the end Kellar's Slavs combination was too tough to beat and Collins resigned. In game 3 we saw a classic Arena matchup, Malay vs Turks. Collins not recognizing the threat he's facing, he wasn't as aggresive as he should be with his jannisaries in castle age, allowing Kellar to get to imp and with Arbalests taking a convincing win. G4 was a match of 2 amazing siege civs - Ethiopians vs Celts. Kellar played in a classic meta way, taking relics and then focusing on 3 tc boom followed by Arbalests and Bombard Canons. Collins went straight for 4tc boom and as he had forward stone spots and gave up map control, he couldn't get to woads and instead had to play with siege and champions. With no map control, going for army composition that was hard-countered by Kellar's army, Collins somehow made a huge comeback and won a spectacular game featuring couple of the most costly SO shots you'll ever see (clip). That match definitely deserved to go to game 5 and what a clownish end of the series it was. Burmese for Collins, Japanese for Kellar (who surprisingly preferred the given civ over his own pick Spanish), both players went for full monks since castle age and when that alone wasn't enough for them, they just took villagers and sent them into the fight aswell (clip), in the end Kellar managed to get more monks (and more vills) into the fight and won an amazing match 3:2.
Group A situation: Both Running and Kellar managed to secure top 2 spot in their group, however they still have to play the last match against each other to decide the seeding for the Single Elimination stage. Reaching semifinals means a guaranteed prize money and winning the group very likely means avoiding Stefan in the QuarteFinals, so both players have a lot to play for. Kellar will have the advantage of 2-tier difference draft (higher tier only picking 2 civs for himself, while lower tier decides another 4 + he chooses exact civilization higher tier has to play in G1 and the same for G2). Running showed really solid performance so far, he's a slight favorite even for this set and I'd expect him to win it 3:2.
Group B: Modri (tier 1) vs Glokken (tier 2) Draft
Sadly, that was a poor match. Glokken showed 0 effort to win the games, went for meme strats and Modri won the match 3:0 when 2 of the games didn't even reach 20-minute mark.
Group B: Scogo (tier 3) vs Chrazini (tier 4) Draft
When the Modri - Glokken match went as it did, it felt like Chrazini and Scogo decided to balance things out and delivered incredible games. That has to be the best match of the tournament so far, especially if you like monks as much as you should. Pre-game expectations weren't as high, Chrazini got swept by Modri in R1 when he got a very poor draft, Scogo on the other hand outplayed Glokken in their first round and is considered by many as the dark horse of the tournament (especially with his tier 3). Even with a minor draft disadvantage, Scogo was the clear favourite. However, Chrazini has one special skill - incredible monk micro. In game 1 Chrazini used his advantage, gave Scogo Vietnamese (civ without heresy), went Fast Imperial monks with Byzantines and took a convincing win. Things were looking similar in G2, even though Scogo had Lithuanians this time against Chrazini's Spanish. Lithuanians being even stronger monk civ, Scogo decided to defend monks with his own monks and played with 6 defensive monasteries. Chrazini still got amazing trades, adding economy behind he was able to add his own scouts which caught Scogo completely off guard. In this situation 95% of the players would already resign: being stuck at their own base, below 50 villagers and after multiple bad fights. Scogo showed incredible fighting spirit, delaying the push with many gates he gained just enough time to add a bit more eco and in the end he managed to clean Chrazini's monk army after a miraculous comeback. Game 3 would bring another major civ win for Scogo playing Malays against Chrazini's pick of Saracens. Scogo got to the army he wanted - arbalests with heresy against Chrazini's FI monks. Once again, it wasn't enough, Chrazini killed many Arbalests with monks and with only a couple of farms, he was able to add elite skirmishers - army which Scogo couldn't deal with given his decimated eco. Once again Scogo holded like a champ, playing with 35 villagers and being pushed into last 10% of his base, Chrazini had to fight to finish the game (clip). Chrazini was 1 game away from a win against Scogo - win which would likely mean his advancement into next stage and Scogo's elimination. In game 4 Scogo had Celts against Chrazini's Slavs. Scogo tried different approach this time, seeing imping isn't working for him he went full castle age longswordman with heresy, which worked perfectly allowing him to tie the series 2:2. In game 5 Scogo had maybe the best anti monk civ in the game - Britons. This time he was more careful with the map control, going for many castle age xbows Chrazini was the player stuck in his base, Scogo also added LCav and after playing full Castle age once again he managed to win this incredible series 3:2.
Group B: Modri (tier 1) vs Scogo (tier 2) Draft
Since Modri has to travel next week, he was allowed to schedule his R3 match against Scogo for this week aswell. Both Scogo and Modri already knew they're qualified for the next stage, they were playing for the win of their group. Modri is the more skillfull player, so far winning both of his matches 3:0, not even being under real pressure in a single game. Scogo's way was significantly more difficult, he lost a game vs Glokken and then he was on the edge of an elimination in his series vs Chrazini. Scogo had 2-tier difference draft in his favour though, so close series was expected. For game 1 Scogo chose Slavs vs Vietnamese. Both players went for the common opening with scouts and spearmen, Modri got more map control and with slightly better eco he was able to click to imp significantly faster than Scogo, 2 forward castles and trebs secured him the first win. In the 2nd game Scogo decided to make things harder for Modri, Teutons vs Bulgarians would be among the worst matchups you can face on Arena. While Scogo was expecting to face a lot of pressure by Modri and played extremely safe and defensive, Modri went for the meta play once again, with scouts securing himself all 5 relics and map control, while his boom wasn't worse than Scogo's. Scogo went for questionable decisions in early imp, Modri just used Bulgarian bonus of free two handed swordsman and with their UT he was taking good trades even against Teuton champions with full upgrades, 2:0. In game 3 Modri was finally able to use a civilization he picked himself, going for Lithuanians against Scogo's Britons he showed the power of Leitis and took another 3:0 win (clip).
Situation in Group B: The only group which is already completed. Modri took 3x 3:0 win and secured himself a position in the Single Elimination. Scogo had to fight for his ticket, but in the end he's the player accompanying Modri on his way further. Chrazini and Glokken finishing 3rd/4th.
Group C: DracKeN (tier 1) vs Darknoob (tier 2) Draft
Darknoob was in a tricky situation, after loosing 1:3 to The Bloodless in the first round only win against me would give him a chance to advance. I won 3:2 in the first round against D3rp in one of the best matches of R1 and wanted to secure myself at least QuarterFinals. Darknoob wasn't the underdog though, he played plenty of very close games with me lately, going into the match he had significantly higher rating and also the draft advantage to back it up. Well, speaking of the draft advantage Darknoob somehow allowed me to get Lithuanians, Teutons, Aztecs and Cumans - likely the strongest set of civs ever drafted in any Arena tournament. Darknoob forced Mongols vs Turks in G1, he decided to play it very aggresively which almost worked with all my golds being forward. In the end turk skirms were just too much for mangudais to deal with and with the better eco I got the first win. Second game was a clash of potentially the best Arena civilizations: Malay vs Lithuanians. After taking control over the relics, I was expecting a forward castle with couple of vills and pikes to back it up and decided to go for a lot of elite skirms in castle age. Forward castle was the correct guess, but I wasn't able to stop it and Darknoob with significantly faster imp time was able to push all my eco. Game 3 was surely the best one of the set - Darknoob with Franks against the slightly better civ Teutons. Due to a fortunate relic distribution I was able to collect 4 of them and knew I''ll win the game in the long term. Darknoob realized that aswell and abusing cheaper castles of franks he put a lot of pressure on me in early Imperial with trebs and bombard cannons. With the help of Crennellations I managed to hold and then slowly got the map control with the stronger army and the relic advantage - clearly a game Darknoob played better than me, but lost due to relic position and slightly worse civ. In game 4 I went for Cumans and ran into Darknoob's Celts. Darknoob decided to punish my feudal boom with 1 tc aggresion of mangonels + spearmen. Going for spearmen + scouts combination and with the help of many villagers I stopped the push (clip) and with the better eco and way faster imp time I got the final win.
Group C: The Bloodless (tier 3) vs D3rp (tier 4) Draft
Before the start of the tournament I was expecting D3rp to finish in top2 spots in our group. Being the strongest player from tier 4 and with his arena experience I did expect him to abuse his draft advantage and make games difficult for anybody (which proved to be correct in the first week when D3rp almost beat me). His opponent The Bloodless would be among the players who we managed to convert into a clown with our tournament and he already showed his skill in the first round taking a surprising 3:1 win against Darknoob. Match without a clear favourite started with a close to impossible matchup (as expected) - Byzantines vs Bulgarians. D3rp was in the full control of the game since castle age and took a clear victory in the first game. For game 2 The Bloodless showed with the strongest civ in draft - Malay against Khmer of D3rp. Game looked similar as the first one, D3rp had the control and relic lead. He underestimated the power of Malay early Imp army though and while he was still getting into his composition of hussar + heavy scorpions, The Bloodless pushed with Arbalests + BBC and took the game, despite being quite behind in the Castle Age. Game 3 would show another Cuman boom, this time against Ethiopians. The Bloodless also went for early castle age aggresion with spearmen + mangonels, D3rp decided to get to defensive castle as fast as possible. He couldn't secure his gold for a while though and by the time he massed enough kipchaks The Bloodless had too big lead for D3rp to overcome. D3rp needed to get a win in G4 to avoid elimination and played with Indians against Turks. While D3rp was expecting Jannisaries and invested so much resources into CAs defence, The Bloodless went only for LCavs and boom, soon taking too big eco lead for D3rp to catch up - very interesting mindgame to finish this match.
Group C situation: Very similar as group A, both me and The Bloodless are already safe to advance and we'll play for the 1st place in our group. There's a lot in stake though, since group B is already completed, we know that the winner of our match (winner of the whole group) plays Scogo and the looser plays Modri in the QFs. I'd like to play Modri later on in the tournament, so I have huge motivation and predict 3:1 for myself, despite two convincing series of my opponent and despite facing 2-tier difference draft.
Group D: Stefan (tier 1) vs Wakko (tier 4) Draft
Starting with a R1 match which was streamed only after the R1 Recap was posted. Stefan is a very experienced and solid Arena player, known for his incredibly clean booms. Wakko on the other hand has a playstyle different to anybody else in the tournament, in his game you can find the most of old school meta features - sometimes being very useful though. Despite facing 3-tier difference draft, Stefan was a clear favourite. In game 1 Wakko came up with a rough matchup: Slavs vs Tatars. Both players opened with scouts for relics and then switched to boom - situation that suited wakko more given his better civ. While he was getting to the ideal composition of halbs + SO, Stefan showed his brilliance - instead of fighting with CAs against onagers he made onager upgrade himself and went for the onager cut + raid with 30 CAs into Wakko's unprotected eco. With that single move he killed more than 60 villagers which Wakko couldn't come back from. For the second game Wakko prepared another juicy match - Franks vs Bulgarians and it could be the best individual game we had in the tournament so far. Stefan tried to apply pressure in Castle Age using Kreoposts, but Wakko was aware and using his cheaper Frank castles he didn't struggle with the defence. In the Imperial Wakko took the map control with an army of Axemen + Hand Cannons, however Stefan managed to clean it perfectly using Bulgarians post imp with Konniks and two handed swordsman (clip). In the end Stefan run out of gold and had to use trash only while Wakko still had an army of 50 axemen which proved to be invincible at that point and gave Wakko the win - 1:1. Game 3 was the last game Wakko could dictate the civs and he did a major mistake - picking Indians vs Huns which might seem like a good idea on paper, but in fact Huns are the better civ in that matchup. Stefan is also experienced Hun player, he punished Wakko's choice with CAs + halb combo - an army which Wakko's Imperial Camels + Skirmishers did struggle against. Another questionable choice in draft would be giving Stefan Malians (arguably a decent Arena civ) - civ that Stefan picked for G4 against Lithuanians of Wakko. Stefan managed to secure 4 relics for himself, Wakko's reaction was to play aggresively in castle age (therefore ignoring the biggest Lithuanian power of Elite Leitis). However, Stefan made a defensive castle on time which was enough to stop Wakko's push and secured him the 3rd win.
Group D: Stefan (tier 1) vs Dragonstar (tier 2) Draft
The only match in R2, where both winners from R1 played each other. Stefan had a great match against Wakko, Dragonstar took a surprisingly convincing 3:0 win against Klavskis. Winner of this match was almost guaranteed to advance into the next stage. Stefan as the higher tier surprisingly didn't ban goths, which allowed Dragonstar to prepare likely the worst matchup for 1v1 Arena - Huns vs Goths in G1. Stefan tried to be as aggresive as possible with knights and mangonels, knowing if he won't kill Dragonstar by minute 25 he won't kill him ever. Dragonstar lost his scout in Feudal age and then playing absolutely blind made a horrible decision - 4 tc boom. Furthermore, he had very forward gold spots, so stefan's aggresion instantly pushed Dragonstar off gold and forced him to resign in minute 22. Game 2 would be among the best ones in MotC on the other hand, Stefan choosing Spanish against Dragonstar with Burmese. Dragonstar went for his trademark strategy - FI monks, Stefan realizing the situation tried to defend with conqs with heresy. Dragonstar took good fights though and pushed Stefan deep into his base, however once again going for weird decision and instead of going all in which would likely finish off stefan, Dragonstar added 3 extra TCs home and focused on boom. That decision allowed stefan to breathe, secured his position and with the help of 5 relics and arguably stronger imp civilization he took the game with skirms, siege ram and conqs - army which Dragonstar couldn't find a counter to. Game 3 was the biggest civ win Dragonstar could get in the draft - Incas vs Slavs. Yet again, he went for 1 TC FI, but since he wasn't as aggresive and fast as he should be, Stefan had enough time to get a huge eco with slavs and even imperial. At one point he unleashed 60+ two handed swordsmen which Dragonstar absolutely didn't expect, Stefan took a convincing 3:0 win and has a huge chance to advance (clip).
Group D: Klavskis (tier 3) vs Wakko (tier 4) Draft
Both players lost their first round, in order to still have potential advancement in their hands both needed to get a win. Wakko was the player with the draft advantage and he dictated a tough matchup - Mayans vs Mongols. Both players opened with unique units, Wakko then switched into elite eagles in Imperial. Klavskis played a really good game though, consantly taking good fights with his mangudais in choke points and sniping wakko's trebs, he was able to hold until Wakko run out of gold which was the end for him. Game 2 brought two of the best civs for the lightcav opening against each other - Franks for Klavskis and Khmer for Wakko. Although both players went for scouts, Klavskis secured himself all 5 relics and with the map control he added forward siege workshop and started to pressure Wakko with mangonels. The Chilean player managed to defend, but he had to sacrifice vill production for a while allowing Klavskis to get a major eco lead resulting in faster Imperial and 5 relics secured, Wakko couldn't come back and had to resign. For game 3 Wakko chose a civilization he shouldn't have drafted at first - Chinese (one of the worst Arena civilizations) against Lithuanians (maybe the best one). Once again players opened with scouts and once against Klavskis secured himself all 5 relics. Lithuanians with 5 relics and full eco are basically unstoppable - Klavskis went for cavaliers (with +4 attack only from relics), Wakko tried to defend in Castle Age, but he wasn't able to and Klavskis took a 3:0 win.
Group D situation: In this group every single player still has a chance to advance and every single player still might be out. In case players have the same amount of wins (aka matches won), their direct matchup server as the decider. In case 3 players have the same amount of wins, it's a 3-way-tie and the difference between individual games won/lost results in the final order.
For Wakko to advance: Needs 2 exact results - 3:0 win vs Dragonstar, Stefan 3:0 against Klavskis. In any other result, Wakko is out of the tournament.
For Klavskis to advance: If he wins Stefan 3:0, he's 100% guaranteed to advance, although maybe not from the 1st position. If he beats Stefan with any result, he's advancing (even from 1st position) if Wakko beats Dragonstar. If he wins Stefan and Dragonstar beats Wakko, there will be a 3-way-tie for the first 2 positions and the difference between games W/L will be the decider. If he looses to Stefan and Dragonstar beats Wakko, Klavskis is out. If he looses to Stefan and Wakko beats Dragonstar there will be a 3-way-tie for the 2nd - 4th position. If he's loosing vs Stefan 0:3 he'll be eliminated.
For Dragonstar to advance: In case of a 3:0 win vs Wakko, he's advancing. If he wins vs Wakko with any result and Stefan beats Klavskis, Dragonstar will finish 2nd. If he wins vs Wakko and Klavskis beats Stefan, we'll have a 3-way-tie for 1st - 3rd position. If Dragonstar looses to Wakko and Klavskis beats Stefan, Dragonstar is out. If Dragonstar and Klavskis loose, we'll have a 3-way-tier for the 2nd - 4th position. If Dragonstar looses 0:3 to Wakko, he's out of the tournament.
For Stefan to advance: If Stefan wins vs Klavskis, he's winning the group. If Stefan looses against Klavskis but wins at least 1 game, he's guaranteed to advance (and potentially still from 1st place). If Stefan looses 0:3 and Dragonstar wins 3:0 against Wakko, Stefan is out of the tournament.
While Stefan and Dragonstar might still be the favourites to win their games, Wakko and Klavskis will have 2-tier difference draft to work with and with a good preparation neither of the matches has a clear favourite in my eyes. Especially Klavskis vs Stefan match should be very exciting and I expect it to be the peak of R3 and maybe of the whole group stage. I'd bet on Klavskis taking it 3:2 against Stefan and Wakko at the same time beating 3:1 Dragonstar, meaning Klavskis will finish 1st in the Group and Stefan 2nd.
Once again, I'm extremely happy about the tournament so far, we already had incredible matches and the best ones are still ahead of us. Week 3 should bring the most interesting games, as the 2-tier difference draft is IMO the most interesting one out of all 3 "unfair drafts".
Big thanks to my admin team, players, viewers, cocasters and supporters of any kind - thanks to Odette and CZ league for the raid, thanks Memb for promoting the tournament while streaming my games vs Darknoob on his channel, thanks to Jonslow for casting basically every series of the tournament on his channel aswell. And if you'd like to support my stream or the tournament, here's my channel.
Thanks for reading, and as Memb would say, we love this game!
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