Since the signups are now closed, I’d want to make a guide for people who are newer to the game and who might not know all teams, the settings and the players. Please keep in mind that these are my picks, so I might have missed some teams, I'm sorry for that.
The Format:
First I’ll explain the format. First there will be a Qualification stage where the top 16 teams will qualify for the Gold League. Every team that doesn’t qualify will get the opportunity to play in the Silver League. The top 16 teams in the Gold League will then play in 4 groups of 4 teams, where the top 2 of each group will advance to the next stage and the bottom 2 teams will have to play in the Silver League. While this is going on, all the teams who want to play in the Silver League will play in a Group Stage, where best 24 teams will go on to the next stage. The top 8 teams in the Gold League will then play a Double Elimination bracket, where the last games deciding the top 4 MIGHT be played on LAN! In the Silver League the bottom 8 teams from the Gold League Group Stages will play against the best 24 teams from the Silver League Group Stages in a Single Elimination bracket. If you would display it visually, it would look something like this:
The Teams:
I’ll make a list of all the top teams and break them down by past achievements and by their individual players. I’ll post their placings in the last two Nations Cups between brackets and for the players I’ll show their Highest 1v1 Rating (HR) and their Current 1v1 Rating (CR) of their main profile (the one they signed up with). I'll also add a ranking for players who consistently have had great placings on the Voobly 1v1 ladder over the first half of 2017. I’ll order the teams in a few categories: The contenders, which are the teams I think will be competing for the first place, the Challengers, which are the teams I think will be competing to try to get a spot in the top 8 and the Dark Horses, which are the teams I think might surprise some people. Within the groups the order is random!
The Contenders:
China SY (2014: #1, 2015: #1):
Yo__ AKA Mr. Yo (HR: 2594, CR: 2358, rated #16 over 2017)
FengXin_ AKA Paladin (HR: 2300, CR: 2026)
Yinghua_ AKA LoveCheng (HR: 2324, CR: 1977)
Lyx (HR: 2424, CR: 2312, rated #2 over 2017)
_23k_ AKA jibatong (HR: 2228, CR: 2208)
I think this team is the favorite to win this tournament, due to them winning the last 2 Nations Cup as well as beating TyRanT in the Clan Masters Final. Lyx was initially going to play for the Chinese Frantic team, since Paladin, LoveCheng and Mr. Yo weren’t really active after winning the Clan Masters Final. But Paladin, LoveCheng and Mr. Yo are playing a lot lately and now Lyx has rejoined them to defend their Championship. Mr. Yo is probably the best Chinese 1v1 player at the moment, as he won a big Chinese tournament not too long ago, beating players like Paladin, vivi and Lyx. Paladin is known as the “MasterMind” of SY, because he is the Team Captain and because he’s a really strong Team Game Player, but doesn’t really play a lot of 1v1. LoveCheng is a really solid 1v1 Player as well as a great Team Game Player. The last player is more unknown and wasn’t in previous rosters of the team, so we’ll see how much he’ll get to play and if he can prove his worth for this team.
Canada A (2014: #7, 2015: #2):
slam (HR: 2512, CR: 2277, rated #3 over 2017)
Chris (HR: 2514, CR: 2004, rated #17 over 2017)
mentalist_ (HR: 2280, CR: 1937)
Hera_ (HR: 2447, CR: 2000)
_Ra_ (HR: 2355, CR: 2000)
BsK_Poisn (HR: 1821, CR: 1821)
Geen (HR: 2012, CR: 2000)
This team can be really strong as you can see by their highest ratings, but it all depends on how rusty the players will be, seeing that slam, mentalist and BsK_Poisn are the only ones who are really active. BsK_Poisn is not quite at the level of the other players, so if they want to reach a high placing they’ll probably only use him in the earlier matches. Hera has been playing a bit recently, so he will probably be in a decent shape, but the question will be: Will Ra, Chris and/or Geen get back into shape? If at least one of them gets back into shape they definitely have a chance to challenge the China SY team for the first place, like they did in 2015 with pretty much the same team.
Brazil A (2014: #2, 2015: #5)
RiuT (HR: 2475, CR: 2071, rated #18 over 2017)
F1Re_ (HR: 2442, CR: 2287, rated #11 over 2017)
Goku_ (HR: 2302, CR: 2023)
Alive_ (HR: 2260, CR: 2096)
Bruh (HR: 2156, CR: 2045)
This team is fairly similar to the Brazil A team of 2014, where RiuT, F1Re, Goku and Stark were in the same team and managed to get second place. In 2015 they added dogao, but this year dogao will be playing for Brazil B, while Alive and Bruh will be playing for Brazil A. The core 3 players of Brazil A are still the same though: RiuT, F1Re and Goku. They’ll try to place better than their quite disappointing fifth place in 2015, but they’ll need to train Goku and Alive, who were fairly inactive, but they’ve been playing quite a lot, so we’ll see how far they can make it!
Brazil B (2014: #4, 2015: #6)
dogao (HR: 2367, CR: 2185, rated #14 over 2017)
miguelzin (HR: 2342, CR: 2264, rated #20 over 2017)
FeAge (HR: 2321, CR: 2104)
St4rk (HR: 2352, CR: 2200, rated #21 over 2017)
Brazil has a lot of good players and it shows, because even their second team is hardly a downgrade for their first team. Most of their players were already active (dogao, miguel and Stark) and they managed to bring back master lamer FeAge to play with them. He seems to be playing quite a lot, so I'm curious how far they can make it.
Finland A (2014: #9-16, 2015: #3)
Zuppi (HR: 2311, CR: 2219, rated #19 over 2017)
_TheMax_ (HR: 2136, CR: 2297, rated #15 over 2017)
NorthernPike (HR: 2260, CR: 2000)
Rubenstock (HR: 2036, CR: 2000)
Villese (HR: 2115, CR: 2212)
Finland is probably the most active team playing on Voobly besides China and Vietnam. In 2015 they managed to get third place, which was a huge achievement for them, but now they’ve added Villese, a new pro, who has reached a high rating in quite a short time, since he wasn’t known in 2015 at all. So the big question will be who will get to play for Finland? I think Zuppi and TheMax are quite sure to be in the team and judging by his activity I assume Villese will play as well, but I’ve no idea if Pike or Rubenstock will be the fourth member.
China Frantic (2014: -, 2015: -)
Tim_ (HR: 2463, CR: 2299, rated #13 over 2017)
SOBIGDIAO AKA vivi (HR: 2328, CR: 2256, rated #8 over 2017)
CL_ AKA happyhappy (HR: 2290, CR: 2290, rated #21 over 2017)
geoffrey (HR: 2248, CR: 2000)
Whoop (HR: 2210, CR: 2090)
This line-up has not played before in a Nations Cup like this, the closest we’ve seen is China D in Nations Cup 2015, where happyhappy and Whoop were playing in the same team. The individual level of all of these players is very high and they are playing a lot of Team Games together.
Argentina A (2014: #3, 2015: #7)
Fedex (HR: 2240, CR: 2007)
Nicov (HR: 2508, CR: 2198, rated #5 over 2017)
Millo (HR: 2008, CR: 2000)
SinSide AKA Patin (HR: 2059, CR: 2036)
Monoz (HR: 2279, CR: 1880)
JuanNNN (HR: 2331, CR: 2000)
Garyyyyy (HR: 2172, CR: 1882)
Twigg (HR: 2212, CR: 2164)
When Nations Cup was announced it was a big question if Nicov was going to sign up, because he didn’t feel like they had a chance without Juan, who was inactive, but it’s great to see that they both made it and now we can just hope that they’ll both play, since they are great players. Joining them will be players who haven’t been active in a while like Patin and Garyyyyy. So depending on who will play and how active the players will be, we might see some great things from this team.
Vietnam A (2014: #5, 2015 #4)
BacT (HR: 2482, CR: 2288, rated #6 over 2017)
Cool_ (HR: 2206, CR: 1997)
ACCM (HR: 2267, CR: 2190)
saymyname AKA Yellow (HR: 2344, CR: 2165)
These Vietnamese players have been playing together in their team (VietNam Strategy or VNS) for quite a while. They are sometimes joined by their teammates Fish and SeOul, but the core four have almost always been the same. This Vietnamese team has made some improvements over the years, they got fifth place in Nations Cup 2014, followed by a fourth place in Nations Cup II and a third place in Clan Masters. If we would follow that trend we would expect them to get second place here, so they should feel the pressure!
The Challengers:
Austria A (2014: -, 2015: #17+): Liereyy (rated #4 over 2017), LB10, Lavie_Head AKA Nadya and teutonic_tanks
With the young pro players Liereyy, LB10 Austria has some newer players who we might see a lot of in future Nations Cups, but for now they’ll mostly be trying to get a spot in the Gold League or get a high placing in the Silver League.
Germany A (2014: #9-16, 2015: #9-16): JorDan_23, Skittle, Andorin, pedro, NilPferD
With the return of JorDan_23 they managed to surprise almost the whole AoC scene, but he hasn’t played in a long time, so we’ll see how good he will be and if they will be able to get a high placing.
(czech) Czech Republic A (2014: #9-16, 2015: #17+): Ovenka, Skull, Mango, Janik (rated #23 over 2017), Error, ExIT
The Czech team is really active and signing up for a lot of tournaments and they always manage to get high placings, so we’ll see if they do just that.
Brazil C (2014: -, 2015: #17+): scrath, Magnata, daNka, Josepreto, goodfella, pink_floyd, Mahori, ReFen
Even the third Brazilian team has a lot of 2k rated players, so don’t underestimate them!
Mexico A (2014: #17+, 2015: #9-16): EL_PUERCO_NEGRO, LA_OVEJA_NEGRA, Kyabe, Tatakae, EL_AGUILA_BLANC, MirindaToP, Batichoto, Siesta, Tommy
In 2015 they managed to surprise a lot of people by getting in the top 16, especially since they were playing as Mexico B, while Mexico A didn’t manage to get into the top 16, so will they be able to get into the top 16 again?
United States A (2014: #9-16, 2015: #9-16): Timotheus AKA Feanor, Mattheus AKA Melkor, BMyers, DLam, Flu AKA Influenza, MetalRTS, Spring, Rabbit
In 2015 the main USA team consisted of Hasan, whack, Athena and Influenza, but now only Influenza is left of that team. They still have a good chance to at least get the same placing, due to Melkor, Feanor, Influenza and Spring improving a lot since then and the addition of arena player Metal and some experienced players like Rabbit and BMyers.
China EMA (2014: -, 2015: -): _EMA_sn, IamOK, IamMuzki, xiaohai, BAT001, CBJ_Noto, yanqiang, CNA_StrayDog
Out of these players I only know a few by name, since they’re mostly practicing in Voobly China, but looking at their ratings, they seem to be a very strong team.
Japan A (2014: #9-16, 2015: #9-16): Escape, Chocobo, Bustos, chinge, chart11, may__, noboru43, komtan
The Japanese team might not be the most skilled team individually, but they have surprised many teams before with their amazing teamwork. And with Escape, Chocobo, Bustos and chinge they definitely have some great players as well
The Dark Horses:
Chile A (2014: #17+, 2015: #17+): Erubio, SobeK, Katon__, wAkKo, ChilesBack, Burn_
Chile has some great players in their team, but will they manage to get into the top 16?
Poland A (2014: #9-16, 2015: #17+): Bity_kablem, Barles, Thornwald, JackK_, Higurashi
Can Poland still surprise their enemies without Remi and Dziamdziak?
France A (2014: #17+, 2015: #17+): Edie (rated #7 over 2017), cebdos, _VM_, Sitaux, Eques4, _HaNil3aL_, xBzHx
France has a lot of skilled players, but they mostly play 1v1 on one setting, for example Edie and _VM_ play almost only arena and cebdos and Eques play almost only on arabia with huns, so we’ll have to see how well they do in Team Games on different maps.
Netherlands A (2014: #17+, 2015: #17+): AngelinaJolie, Glokken, Vilager, Rogier505, GoldenEnd, Dirky, PraYs_
The Dutch players have improved a lot since 2015, since AngelinaJolie even reached 2k1 on the 1v1 ladder. With the return of the old-school player PraYs_ maybe they’ll be able to upset some teams.
United Kingdom A (2014: #9-16, 2015: #17+): Nick, Fallstar, Igloo, Rgeadn AKA Richard, darvoi
They say they are just joining for fun, but when you have players like Nick (from NaBs) and old school player Igloo as well as some other players with high ratings, there’s certainly a lot of potential in this team.
Sweden A (2014: #17+, 2015: #17+): Spaden, DarklyWise, BuLLeT, Slaktarnn, Gripen, luffis
Sweden has a lot of solid players who have played together for a long time in RFR and now Slaktarnn will try to help them.
Russia A (2014: #17+, 2015: #17+): Vinchester, WaRRioR, Dench, TheKkeif, StickyFingaz, TK_Kerch28rus
Like the Swedish team, the Russian team has also been playing for a long time together. With the recent rise of Vinchester, we’ll see how far they can go.
Mexico B (2014: #17+, 2015: #17+): Larreser, DarK_KnighT_, HEIMDALL, Archlord, MiLLeNcOlin, Xhing
This team used to be the Mexico A team, but with the rise of some of those players, they’re now playing as Mexico B, but there are still some highly skilled players in this team.
Some players or teams who didn’t sign up:
Emin, jugband, _Dnzdalgic_ and _Sir_Usain_Bolt_ – After getting disqualified in 2015, I don’t think anybody is surprised that Turkey A from Nations Cup 2015 have not returned this year.
TheViper (rated #1 over 2017), _MbL_ (rated #9 over 2017) and Sletten – After the settings were changed from 3v3 to 4v4 TheViper and _MbL_ said they weren’t going to participate, since they would have no chance to get a high placing. If it would’ve been 3v3, they most likely would’ve brought back Sletten from retirement to play with them
China D-F - We know there are a lot of good Chinese players playing in Voobly China, so it’s weird to see only 3 Chinese teams sign up.
(hong kong) PoZ – Sadly the Poison of Zone team with Tammy AKA Ding, Mundi, kyo, cloud, ratS and Eason (who passed away in 2014, may he rest in peace) didn’t sign up after being inactive for quite a while.
Arch_Koven and Kkab – Maybe he could’ve convinced Kkab to come back and form a team together and perhaps even Grunt, but unfortunately we won't see them this year.
8th_wonder – Doesn’t really have a lot of players who he could team up with if he wants to make a serious attempt to make at least top 16.
Remi, PeEl and Dziamdziak – These three players were very important for the 9-16th place they got in Nations Cup 2015, but it seems they are retired.
Daut (rated #10 over 2017) and Hico – Daut and Hico were looking to form a Yugoslavia team, but that didn't go through, so they didn't sign up.
(bosnia) Hasan – Hasan said that he would join the Yugoslavia team if he was allowed, but didn’t show interest in joining the USA team that he played with in 2015.
(czech) Lojza – The player from NaBs didn’t sign up with the Czech Republic team.
Kongensgade – Did play in 2015, but didn’t show any interest to help his countrymen this year.
Vodka_L and DarkDevil – Haven’t played in a while and they didn’t return for Nations Cup.
_Wrath_ - Was playing in 2015 in Brazil B, but didn’t return this year.
Rayne AKA LeBlanc – He has been posting on twitch and AoCZone occasionally, but hasn’t played on Voobly in a while afaik.
Fish – This Vietnamese player was usually the back-up for the Vietnamese A team, but now they’ll have to do without him.
Leozim – Also known as rusty Leo, because he tends to take big breaks and then come back for a while. Sadly he didn’t come back for this Nations Cup.
whack – This American player, who is most known for his friendship with TheViper and JorDan_23 and therefore getting the badge “Top TG player” on AoCZone, will not return to help his American teammates.
Hearttt (rated #12 over 2017) - Has been really active lately, but didn't sign up for any team.
bvirus and tobi - During War is Coming in 2015 these two top players made a return to play for PoZ, but unfortunately they didn't return to play in Nations Cup.
Thanks for reading this and I hope you guys are as hyped as I am about Nations Cup!
I want to thank pumukel for his stats and all his images <3
The Format:
First I’ll explain the format. First there will be a Qualification stage where the top 16 teams will qualify for the Gold League. Every team that doesn’t qualify will get the opportunity to play in the Silver League. The top 16 teams in the Gold League will then play in 4 groups of 4 teams, where the top 2 of each group will advance to the next stage and the bottom 2 teams will have to play in the Silver League. While this is going on, all the teams who want to play in the Silver League will play in a Group Stage, where best 24 teams will go on to the next stage. The top 8 teams in the Gold League will then play a Double Elimination bracket, where the last games deciding the top 4 MIGHT be played on LAN! In the Silver League the bottom 8 teams from the Gold League Group Stages will play against the best 24 teams from the Silver League Group Stages in a Single Elimination bracket. If you would display it visually, it would look something like this:
The Teams:
I’ll make a list of all the top teams and break them down by past achievements and by their individual players. I’ll post their placings in the last two Nations Cups between brackets and for the players I’ll show their Highest 1v1 Rating (HR) and their Current 1v1 Rating (CR) of their main profile (the one they signed up with). I'll also add a ranking for players who consistently have had great placings on the Voobly 1v1 ladder over the first half of 2017. I’ll order the teams in a few categories: The contenders, which are the teams I think will be competing for the first place, the Challengers, which are the teams I think will be competing to try to get a spot in the top 8 and the Dark Horses, which are the teams I think might surprise some people. Within the groups the order is random!
The Contenders:
China SY (2014: #1, 2015: #1):
Yo__ AKA Mr. Yo (HR: 2594, CR: 2358, rated #16 over 2017)
FengXin_ AKA Paladin (HR: 2300, CR: 2026)
Yinghua_ AKA LoveCheng (HR: 2324, CR: 1977)
Lyx (HR: 2424, CR: 2312, rated #2 over 2017)
_23k_ AKA jibatong (HR: 2228, CR: 2208)
I think this team is the favorite to win this tournament, due to them winning the last 2 Nations Cup as well as beating TyRanT in the Clan Masters Final. Lyx was initially going to play for the Chinese Frantic team, since Paladin, LoveCheng and Mr. Yo weren’t really active after winning the Clan Masters Final. But Paladin, LoveCheng and Mr. Yo are playing a lot lately and now Lyx has rejoined them to defend their Championship. Mr. Yo is probably the best Chinese 1v1 player at the moment, as he won a big Chinese tournament not too long ago, beating players like Paladin, vivi and Lyx. Paladin is known as the “MasterMind” of SY, because he is the Team Captain and because he’s a really strong Team Game Player, but doesn’t really play a lot of 1v1. LoveCheng is a really solid 1v1 Player as well as a great Team Game Player. The last player is more unknown and wasn’t in previous rosters of the team, so we’ll see how much he’ll get to play and if he can prove his worth for this team.
Canada A (2014: #7, 2015: #2):
slam (HR: 2512, CR: 2277, rated #3 over 2017)
Chris (HR: 2514, CR: 2004, rated #17 over 2017)
mentalist_ (HR: 2280, CR: 1937)
Hera_ (HR: 2447, CR: 2000)
_Ra_ (HR: 2355, CR: 2000)
BsK_Poisn (HR: 1821, CR: 1821)
Geen (HR: 2012, CR: 2000)
This team can be really strong as you can see by their highest ratings, but it all depends on how rusty the players will be, seeing that slam, mentalist and BsK_Poisn are the only ones who are really active. BsK_Poisn is not quite at the level of the other players, so if they want to reach a high placing they’ll probably only use him in the earlier matches. Hera has been playing a bit recently, so he will probably be in a decent shape, but the question will be: Will Ra, Chris and/or Geen get back into shape? If at least one of them gets back into shape they definitely have a chance to challenge the China SY team for the first place, like they did in 2015 with pretty much the same team.
Brazil A (2014: #2, 2015: #5)
RiuT (HR: 2475, CR: 2071, rated #18 over 2017)
F1Re_ (HR: 2442, CR: 2287, rated #11 over 2017)
Goku_ (HR: 2302, CR: 2023)
Alive_ (HR: 2260, CR: 2096)
Bruh (HR: 2156, CR: 2045)
This team is fairly similar to the Brazil A team of 2014, where RiuT, F1Re, Goku and Stark were in the same team and managed to get second place. In 2015 they added dogao, but this year dogao will be playing for Brazil B, while Alive and Bruh will be playing for Brazil A. The core 3 players of Brazil A are still the same though: RiuT, F1Re and Goku. They’ll try to place better than their quite disappointing fifth place in 2015, but they’ll need to train Goku and Alive, who were fairly inactive, but they’ve been playing quite a lot, so we’ll see how far they can make it!
Brazil B (2014: #4, 2015: #6)
dogao (HR: 2367, CR: 2185, rated #14 over 2017)
miguelzin (HR: 2342, CR: 2264, rated #20 over 2017)
FeAge (HR: 2321, CR: 2104)
St4rk (HR: 2352, CR: 2200, rated #21 over 2017)
Brazil has a lot of good players and it shows, because even their second team is hardly a downgrade for their first team. Most of their players were already active (dogao, miguel and Stark) and they managed to bring back master lamer FeAge to play with them. He seems to be playing quite a lot, so I'm curious how far they can make it.
Finland A (2014: #9-16, 2015: #3)
Zuppi (HR: 2311, CR: 2219, rated #19 over 2017)
_TheMax_ (HR: 2136, CR: 2297, rated #15 over 2017)
NorthernPike (HR: 2260, CR: 2000)
Rubenstock (HR: 2036, CR: 2000)
Villese (HR: 2115, CR: 2212)
Finland is probably the most active team playing on Voobly besides China and Vietnam. In 2015 they managed to get third place, which was a huge achievement for them, but now they’ve added Villese, a new pro, who has reached a high rating in quite a short time, since he wasn’t known in 2015 at all. So the big question will be who will get to play for Finland? I think Zuppi and TheMax are quite sure to be in the team and judging by his activity I assume Villese will play as well, but I’ve no idea if Pike or Rubenstock will be the fourth member.
China Frantic (2014: -, 2015: -)
Tim_ (HR: 2463, CR: 2299, rated #13 over 2017)
SOBIGDIAO AKA vivi (HR: 2328, CR: 2256, rated #8 over 2017)
CL_ AKA happyhappy (HR: 2290, CR: 2290, rated #21 over 2017)
geoffrey (HR: 2248, CR: 2000)
Whoop (HR: 2210, CR: 2090)
This line-up has not played before in a Nations Cup like this, the closest we’ve seen is China D in Nations Cup 2015, where happyhappy and Whoop were playing in the same team. The individual level of all of these players is very high and they are playing a lot of Team Games together.
Argentina A (2014: #3, 2015: #7)
Fedex (HR: 2240, CR: 2007)
Nicov (HR: 2508, CR: 2198, rated #5 over 2017)
Millo (HR: 2008, CR: 2000)
SinSide AKA Patin (HR: 2059, CR: 2036)
Monoz (HR: 2279, CR: 1880)
JuanNNN (HR: 2331, CR: 2000)
Garyyyyy (HR: 2172, CR: 1882)
Twigg (HR: 2212, CR: 2164)
When Nations Cup was announced it was a big question if Nicov was going to sign up, because he didn’t feel like they had a chance without Juan, who was inactive, but it’s great to see that they both made it and now we can just hope that they’ll both play, since they are great players. Joining them will be players who haven’t been active in a while like Patin and Garyyyyy. So depending on who will play and how active the players will be, we might see some great things from this team.
Vietnam A (2014: #5, 2015 #4)
BacT (HR: 2482, CR: 2288, rated #6 over 2017)
Cool_ (HR: 2206, CR: 1997)
ACCM (HR: 2267, CR: 2190)
saymyname AKA Yellow (HR: 2344, CR: 2165)
These Vietnamese players have been playing together in their team (VietNam Strategy or VNS) for quite a while. They are sometimes joined by their teammates Fish and SeOul, but the core four have almost always been the same. This Vietnamese team has made some improvements over the years, they got fifth place in Nations Cup 2014, followed by a fourth place in Nations Cup II and a third place in Clan Masters. If we would follow that trend we would expect them to get second place here, so they should feel the pressure!
The Challengers:
Austria A (2014: -, 2015: #17+): Liereyy (rated #4 over 2017), LB10, Lavie_Head AKA Nadya and teutonic_tanks
With the young pro players Liereyy, LB10 Austria has some newer players who we might see a lot of in future Nations Cups, but for now they’ll mostly be trying to get a spot in the Gold League or get a high placing in the Silver League.
Germany A (2014: #9-16, 2015: #9-16): JorDan_23, Skittle, Andorin, pedro, NilPferD
With the return of JorDan_23 they managed to surprise almost the whole AoC scene, but he hasn’t played in a long time, so we’ll see how good he will be and if they will be able to get a high placing.
(czech) Czech Republic A (2014: #9-16, 2015: #17+): Ovenka, Skull, Mango, Janik (rated #23 over 2017), Error, ExIT
The Czech team is really active and signing up for a lot of tournaments and they always manage to get high placings, so we’ll see if they do just that.
Brazil C (2014: -, 2015: #17+): scrath, Magnata, daNka, Josepreto, goodfella, pink_floyd, Mahori, ReFen
Even the third Brazilian team has a lot of 2k rated players, so don’t underestimate them!
Mexico A (2014: #17+, 2015: #9-16): EL_PUERCO_NEGRO, LA_OVEJA_NEGRA, Kyabe, Tatakae, EL_AGUILA_BLANC, MirindaToP, Batichoto, Siesta, Tommy
In 2015 they managed to surprise a lot of people by getting in the top 16, especially since they were playing as Mexico B, while Mexico A didn’t manage to get into the top 16, so will they be able to get into the top 16 again?
United States A (2014: #9-16, 2015: #9-16): Timotheus AKA Feanor, Mattheus AKA Melkor, BMyers, DLam, Flu AKA Influenza, MetalRTS, Spring, Rabbit
In 2015 the main USA team consisted of Hasan, whack, Athena and Influenza, but now only Influenza is left of that team. They still have a good chance to at least get the same placing, due to Melkor, Feanor, Influenza and Spring improving a lot since then and the addition of arena player Metal and some experienced players like Rabbit and BMyers.
China EMA (2014: -, 2015: -): _EMA_sn, IamOK, IamMuzki, xiaohai, BAT001, CBJ_Noto, yanqiang, CNA_StrayDog
Out of these players I only know a few by name, since they’re mostly practicing in Voobly China, but looking at their ratings, they seem to be a very strong team.
Japan A (2014: #9-16, 2015: #9-16): Escape, Chocobo, Bustos, chinge, chart11, may__, noboru43, komtan
The Japanese team might not be the most skilled team individually, but they have surprised many teams before with their amazing teamwork. And with Escape, Chocobo, Bustos and chinge they definitely have some great players as well
The Dark Horses:
Chile A (2014: #17+, 2015: #17+): Erubio, SobeK, Katon__, wAkKo, ChilesBack, Burn_
Chile has some great players in their team, but will they manage to get into the top 16?
Poland A (2014: #9-16, 2015: #17+): Bity_kablem, Barles, Thornwald, JackK_, Higurashi
Can Poland still surprise their enemies without Remi and Dziamdziak?
France A (2014: #17+, 2015: #17+): Edie (rated #7 over 2017), cebdos, _VM_, Sitaux, Eques4, _HaNil3aL_, xBzHx
France has a lot of skilled players, but they mostly play 1v1 on one setting, for example Edie and _VM_ play almost only arena and cebdos and Eques play almost only on arabia with huns, so we’ll have to see how well they do in Team Games on different maps.
Netherlands A (2014: #17+, 2015: #17+): AngelinaJolie, Glokken, Vilager, Rogier505, GoldenEnd, Dirky, PraYs_
The Dutch players have improved a lot since 2015, since AngelinaJolie even reached 2k1 on the 1v1 ladder. With the return of the old-school player PraYs_ maybe they’ll be able to upset some teams.
United Kingdom A (2014: #9-16, 2015: #17+): Nick, Fallstar, Igloo, Rgeadn AKA Richard, darvoi
They say they are just joining for fun, but when you have players like Nick (from NaBs) and old school player Igloo as well as some other players with high ratings, there’s certainly a lot of potential in this team.
Sweden A (2014: #17+, 2015: #17+): Spaden, DarklyWise, BuLLeT, Slaktarnn, Gripen, luffis
Sweden has a lot of solid players who have played together for a long time in RFR and now Slaktarnn will try to help them.
Russia A (2014: #17+, 2015: #17+): Vinchester, WaRRioR, Dench, TheKkeif, StickyFingaz, TK_Kerch28rus
Like the Swedish team, the Russian team has also been playing for a long time together. With the recent rise of Vinchester, we’ll see how far they can go.
Mexico B (2014: #17+, 2015: #17+): Larreser, DarK_KnighT_, HEIMDALL, Archlord, MiLLeNcOlin, Xhing
This team used to be the Mexico A team, but with the rise of some of those players, they’re now playing as Mexico B, but there are still some highly skilled players in this team.
Some players or teams who didn’t sign up:
Emin, jugband, _Dnzdalgic_ and _Sir_Usain_Bolt_ – After getting disqualified in 2015, I don’t think anybody is surprised that Turkey A from Nations Cup 2015 have not returned this year.
TheViper (rated #1 over 2017), _MbL_ (rated #9 over 2017) and Sletten – After the settings were changed from 3v3 to 4v4 TheViper and _MbL_ said they weren’t going to participate, since they would have no chance to get a high placing. If it would’ve been 3v3, they most likely would’ve brought back Sletten from retirement to play with them
China D-F - We know there are a lot of good Chinese players playing in Voobly China, so it’s weird to see only 3 Chinese teams sign up.
(hong kong) PoZ – Sadly the Poison of Zone team with Tammy AKA Ding, Mundi, kyo, cloud, ratS and Eason (who passed away in 2014, may he rest in peace) didn’t sign up after being inactive for quite a while.
Arch_Koven and Kkab – Maybe he could’ve convinced Kkab to come back and form a team together and perhaps even Grunt, but unfortunately we won't see them this year.
8th_wonder – Doesn’t really have a lot of players who he could team up with if he wants to make a serious attempt to make at least top 16.
Remi, PeEl and Dziamdziak – These three players were very important for the 9-16th place they got in Nations Cup 2015, but it seems they are retired.
Daut (rated #10 over 2017) and Hico – Daut and Hico were looking to form a Yugoslavia team, but that didn't go through, so they didn't sign up.
(bosnia) Hasan – Hasan said that he would join the Yugoslavia team if he was allowed, but didn’t show interest in joining the USA team that he played with in 2015.
(czech) Lojza – The player from NaBs didn’t sign up with the Czech Republic team.
Kongensgade – Did play in 2015, but didn’t show any interest to help his countrymen this year.
Vodka_L and DarkDevil – Haven’t played in a while and they didn’t return for Nations Cup.
_Wrath_ - Was playing in 2015 in Brazil B, but didn’t return this year.
Rayne AKA LeBlanc – He has been posting on twitch and AoCZone occasionally, but hasn’t played on Voobly in a while afaik.
Fish – This Vietnamese player was usually the back-up for the Vietnamese A team, but now they’ll have to do without him.
Leozim – Also known as rusty Leo, because he tends to take big breaks and then come back for a while. Sadly he didn’t come back for this Nations Cup.
whack – This American player, who is most known for his friendship with TheViper and JorDan_23 and therefore getting the badge “Top TG player” on AoCZone, will not return to help his American teammates.
Hearttt (rated #12 over 2017) - Has been really active lately, but didn't sign up for any team.
bvirus and tobi - During War is Coming in 2015 these two top players made a return to play for PoZ, but unfortunately they didn't return to play in Nations Cup.
Thanks for reading this and I hope you guys are as hyped as I am about Nations Cup!
I want to thank pumukel for his stats and all his images <3