Before the quarterfinals start I wanted to share my uneducated guesses with you:
King Sancho - This player is either Viper or someone, who put a lot of thought into impersonating him. He chose the color yellow. He played with Britons on Arabia. He banned Inca, a civ with which Viper was beaten in NAC 3 at the hands of Yo, if I recall correctly. The playstyle backed up the superficials. The King played pretty much flawless. In my notes I wrote down "insane micro". He looked in control throughout the set.
It seemed evident that this player belongs in the upper echelon. From the Meta playstyle to the flawless micro only Viper, Liereyy or Hera seem to fit. I dont think Hera would pretend to be the Viper and choose Yellow as a color, I doubt Liereyy would.
Viper 90 %, Liereyy 10 %.
Charlemagne - It is always difficult to guess the losers of a three and out. He banned Islands and picked Hideout and Slopes, so more wallable maps. He played defensively with double layers of walls. On his homemaps he didnt seem to have any innovative strategies planned. He randomly paused two minutes into a game.
BacT 70 %, Laaaan 30 %.
Joan the Maid - This player didnt particularly shine on arabia, where he ran into a beautiful trap with knights from Bad Neighbour. He excelled on his homemap with an innovative strategy (celts on cup with m@a). He sneaked buildings on the opponents side. All things point to TheMax or his training partner.
The Max 80 %, Villese 20 %.
Bad Neighbour - He played very strong on Arabia. His Macro seemed onm point, although he overboomed in the late game. He forgot wheelbarrow. He seemed to resign a tad to early. After the Arabia game I thought it was MbL, but MbL can only be one person and a different player looked more like him. So I would guess Nicov.
Nicov 65 %, MbL 35 %.
Princess Yodit - This player picked cup as homemap just as Joan the Maid and showed the same strategy. He also banned gold rush and persians, just as Joan the Maid. So if Joan is TheMax, this looks like Villese. He lost on islands, which Villese banned in his showmatch but couldnt ban here, because Leif picked it as his first map.
Villese 80 %, The Max 20%.
Leif Ericsson - This player seemed to be a strong water player, picked Islands and won. He also picked Bay and banned cross and aztecs. You know who chose exactly those picks and bans in his showmatch?
Fire 99 %.
Kotyan Khan - A very strong player with out of this world micro and very meta gameplay. If you follow my train of thought that King S. was Viper, this can only be Hera or Liereyy. In his recent form I say Hera. He also picked Bay as his first homemap just as Hera in his showmatch.
Hera 80 %, Liereyy 10 %, Viper 10 %.
Sheriff of Nottingham - This one gives me a headache. It certainly seemed to be a "top 5 player" as T90 put it. During the games I thought MbL or Yo. After all the games there seem to be more obvious picks for those two. After picking everyone else the process of elimination leaves Liereyy, Laaan or Daut as my choices here. So either this was Liereyy minus the signature micro moves or Laaaan and Daut having a good day.
Liereyy 40 %, Laaaan 20 %, Daut 20 %, somebody else 20 %.
Friar Tuck - T90 seemed to be very certain that some strategy choices and little quirks (Computer freeze?) pointed to ACCM. The micro was lacking a bit compared to other players and again there were no innovative home map strategies. Since Nations Cup (slinging the Goth) that makes me irrationally think about VNA players.
ACCM 80 %, BacT 10 %, Laaaan 5 %, Daut 5 %.
Saladin - The insane Elite War Elephant move on Arabia eliminates a lot of players. Combined with the very strong gameplay minus the micro fetish and the Tower Push on Hideout this makes me think Tatoh.
Tatoh 80 %, MbL 10 %, Dogao 10 %.
Vlad Dracula - The feudal tower aggression and the overall tendency for wild games indicates Vivi for me. That also goes well with banning islands and aztecs, which is something I am confident Vivi would do.
Vivi 90 %, Yo 10 %.
Alaric the Goth - I am not very confident in my pick here. Macro oriented player who picked his fights wisely and struggled at times with the crazyness that Dracula threw at him. During the game I thought Dogao. Maybe it was Laaan playing strong. It could have been Daut also. I will chose Laaaan here.
Laaaan 45 %, Dogao 35 %, Daut 20 %.
Henry the Lion - The playstyle with towers makes me think chinese. Didnt he also shoot the boar with his tc? He looked stronger than Dracula. I had a Mr.Yo vibe here from the beginning.
Yo 90 %, Vivi 10 %.
William the Conqueror - I had already two players down as MbL when this set was played. But I 100% agree with Lollomats assessment here. William played like MbL all the way. Also the Chat: "fix hotkeys", "door". Politely explaining his opponent why he is pausing. That feels like an MbL thing to do.
MbL 80 %, Liereyy 20 %.
Charles Martel - The picks and bans, mayans with a very defensice playstyle on arabia, gold rush as a home map, not wanting to face italians on water make me think Daut. If it was him, he wasnt at his best.
Daut 60 %, Laaaan 20 %, Dogao 20 %.
Emperor in a Barrel - I could only see the first match of this set. The island pick eliminates some players. I would choose Tatoh here, but that would leave Dogao as Saladin which doesnt make sense. So without much confidence:
Dogao 50 %, Tatoh 20 %, somebody else 30 %.
King Sancho - This player is either Viper or someone, who put a lot of thought into impersonating him. He chose the color yellow. He played with Britons on Arabia. He banned Inca, a civ with which Viper was beaten in NAC 3 at the hands of Yo, if I recall correctly. The playstyle backed up the superficials. The King played pretty much flawless. In my notes I wrote down "insane micro". He looked in control throughout the set.
It seemed evident that this player belongs in the upper echelon. From the Meta playstyle to the flawless micro only Viper, Liereyy or Hera seem to fit. I dont think Hera would pretend to be the Viper and choose Yellow as a color, I doubt Liereyy would.
Viper 90 %, Liereyy 10 %.
Charlemagne - It is always difficult to guess the losers of a three and out. He banned Islands and picked Hideout and Slopes, so more wallable maps. He played defensively with double layers of walls. On his homemaps he didnt seem to have any innovative strategies planned. He randomly paused two minutes into a game.
BacT 70 %, Laaaan 30 %.
Joan the Maid - This player didnt particularly shine on arabia, where he ran into a beautiful trap with knights from Bad Neighbour. He excelled on his homemap with an innovative strategy (celts on cup with m@a). He sneaked buildings on the opponents side. All things point to TheMax or his training partner.
The Max 80 %, Villese 20 %.
Bad Neighbour - He played very strong on Arabia. His Macro seemed onm point, although he overboomed in the late game. He forgot wheelbarrow. He seemed to resign a tad to early. After the Arabia game I thought it was MbL, but MbL can only be one person and a different player looked more like him. So I would guess Nicov.
Nicov 65 %, MbL 35 %.
Princess Yodit - This player picked cup as homemap just as Joan the Maid and showed the same strategy. He also banned gold rush and persians, just as Joan the Maid. So if Joan is TheMax, this looks like Villese. He lost on islands, which Villese banned in his showmatch but couldnt ban here, because Leif picked it as his first map.
Villese 80 %, The Max 20%.
Leif Ericsson - This player seemed to be a strong water player, picked Islands and won. He also picked Bay and banned cross and aztecs. You know who chose exactly those picks and bans in his showmatch?
Fire 99 %.
Kotyan Khan - A very strong player with out of this world micro and very meta gameplay. If you follow my train of thought that King S. was Viper, this can only be Hera or Liereyy. In his recent form I say Hera. He also picked Bay as his first homemap just as Hera in his showmatch.
Hera 80 %, Liereyy 10 %, Viper 10 %.
Sheriff of Nottingham - This one gives me a headache. It certainly seemed to be a "top 5 player" as T90 put it. During the games I thought MbL or Yo. After all the games there seem to be more obvious picks for those two. After picking everyone else the process of elimination leaves Liereyy, Laaan or Daut as my choices here. So either this was Liereyy minus the signature micro moves or Laaaan and Daut having a good day.
Liereyy 40 %, Laaaan 20 %, Daut 20 %, somebody else 20 %.
Friar Tuck - T90 seemed to be very certain that some strategy choices and little quirks (Computer freeze?) pointed to ACCM. The micro was lacking a bit compared to other players and again there were no innovative home map strategies. Since Nations Cup (slinging the Goth) that makes me irrationally think about VNA players.
ACCM 80 %, BacT 10 %, Laaaan 5 %, Daut 5 %.
Saladin - The insane Elite War Elephant move on Arabia eliminates a lot of players. Combined with the very strong gameplay minus the micro fetish and the Tower Push on Hideout this makes me think Tatoh.
Tatoh 80 %, MbL 10 %, Dogao 10 %.
Vlad Dracula - The feudal tower aggression and the overall tendency for wild games indicates Vivi for me. That also goes well with banning islands and aztecs, which is something I am confident Vivi would do.
Vivi 90 %, Yo 10 %.
Alaric the Goth - I am not very confident in my pick here. Macro oriented player who picked his fights wisely and struggled at times with the crazyness that Dracula threw at him. During the game I thought Dogao. Maybe it was Laaan playing strong. It could have been Daut also. I will chose Laaaan here.
Laaaan 45 %, Dogao 35 %, Daut 20 %.
Henry the Lion - The playstyle with towers makes me think chinese. Didnt he also shoot the boar with his tc? He looked stronger than Dracula. I had a Mr.Yo vibe here from the beginning.
Yo 90 %, Vivi 10 %.
William the Conqueror - I had already two players down as MbL when this set was played. But I 100% agree with Lollomats assessment here. William played like MbL all the way. Also the Chat: "fix hotkeys", "door". Politely explaining his opponent why he is pausing. That feels like an MbL thing to do.
MbL 80 %, Liereyy 20 %.
Charles Martel - The picks and bans, mayans with a very defensice playstyle on arabia, gold rush as a home map, not wanting to face italians on water make me think Daut. If it was him, he wasnt at his best.
Daut 60 %, Laaaan 20 %, Dogao 20 %.
Emperor in a Barrel - I could only see the first match of this set. The island pick eliminates some players. I would choose Tatoh here, but that would leave Dogao as Saladin which doesnt make sense. So without much confidence:
Dogao 50 %, Tatoh 20 %, somebody else 30 %.