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CoH Balance Beta 1v1 Tournament XVIII AAR

By Schmieds - 12th February 2011 - 14:55 PM

Do you want to hear the full name of this tournament? "GameReplays.org Company of Heroes Balance Patch Beta 1v1 Tournament XVIII". Isn't that a mouthful? For the sake of my sanity, let's just call it "Tournament XVIII".

Smooth Start


Tournament XVIII got off to a better start than last time when Relic's servers didn't go down at the start of the tournament. You may recall that the servers crashed before the beginning of tournaments XVI and XVII, causing quite a panic. Thankfully, no such crash occurred today. Though this tournament, like most, had its fair share of no-shows, our capable team of referees helped everything run along smoothly.

Riveting Replays


Players and spectators alike were psyched to see some quality games on the largely untested balance patch beta. They got quite a show, as PE started to show relevancy and the Americans showed off their buffed late game.

It's time for viewer power! In the discussion thread (link at bottom), list the replays not already mentioned here that you think deserve a watch. I, your editor, will enshrine them here in this AAR, to be watched and admired for centuries to come.

Top Shoutcasts


Tournaments are a field day for casters and commentators. They see brackets as a tree full of ripe fruit in the form of replays. Here are some of the best tourney casts, fresh from the fields.

Some casters doubled as players in the tournament. Most of these noobs get knocked out early, and have lots of time to cast some games. Ami is a prime example of this. Here's his cast of the round five series between Contador and Siberain Platoon. He's joined by the rest of his Reborn crew.




Can Seb stops Darwin's waves of StuGs? Check out Sandland and CallMeSarge's dual-cast to find out!


Hooray for dual-casts! Chains and Inverse teamed up to cast the deciding game of the semifinal series between Seb and DevM.


[url=]Dual-cast number three![/url] This time Chains and Sandland analyze game one of Seb vs. DrHorse. The doctrine choices were Armor and Blitzkrieg, respectively, helping make an interesting game!


Day Three


Third Place Match


The road to the finals was paved with the bodies of trampled rivals! For Seb and Kot, the road ended in the semifinals, but this meant they would face-off in the third place game for bragging rights and a cut of the prize money. Seb, who is actually signed on with a semi-pro gaming team, faced progressively harder opponents as the tourney went on. In round two it was old-time veteran Armadillo, the next round it was DrHorse, and in round four it was the in-form CharlesDarwin. Kot, whose PE play surprised many after a long period of low activity, beat Sandland handily and took down sztefenfu in three games. The third place games would be a worth a watch for sure.

Noticing the trend of Panzer Elite success in the tournament and the rest of beta, both Seb and Kot chose PE whenever they had the chance. In games one and two, they traded games, both winning as PE. Unfortunately, according to CallMeSarge, "some idiot (CallmeSarge) forgot to press record for games 1 and 2." We still have the replays, though!



Game three was pure OF: Kot as Brits, Seb as PE. Our livecast crew described it best, so take a look at their shoutcast of the final third place game for some in-depth analysis.


Finals


Who had their money on DevM and SiberianPlatoon going to the finals? I sure didn't, because I'm not legally allowed gamble yet. Let's take a look at the obstacles they faced on the road to the finals.

SiberianPlatoon had never found success on the GameReplays.org tournament stage in the past, but he 2-0'd past tournament winners Contador and Sepha, only dropping a game to Kot en route to glory. DevM, on the other hand, faced Marinez, a competent player, Nimitz, a wannabe StarCraft 2pro and good CoH player in his own right, and Seb. I don't know much about the latter, but to put it briefly both finalists had to go through a challenging field! How would the Portuguese Powerhouse DevM match up with the Beast of the East SiberianPlatoon? If you want to find out yourself, watch the replays and/or listen to the commentaries below. If you're impatient, check the spoiler!

Spoiler
Despite 12azor's best wishes, the Russians could not be stopped! Siberian's powerful OF play was too much for DevM to handle, as Siberian took the best-of-five with a swift 3-0.

CallMeSarge, ElDiabolo, and Guderian boiled down the action through the live broadcast. Thankfully, they've recorded them for your listening pleasure. Download the shoutcasts.





Credits


And that's it! It's been a great time for everyone involved, and we have a lot of dedicated people to thank for Tournament XVIII's success. Thanks to our tournament referees GibSon, Cabooter, Sandland, and Senior Referee Budwise. Thanks to all non-referee staff who helped ref, your help was invaluable. A big shoutout goes to our live casters: CallMeSarge, ElDiabolo, and Guderian. The finals wouldn't have been as exciting without your commentary and analysis. Oh, and thanks to our cameraman TurtleLord, whose technical assistance and behind the scenes work helped make the finals broadcast a success. Thanks to Schmieds and Leatham for portal support and coverage before and after Tournament XVIII. Lastly, thanks to everyone who played, we certainly couldn't have done it without you!