CNC Zero Hour

Hello Generals!

With March coming to an end, we also have the end of the first quarter of 2021. This means the Player of the First Quarter - 2021 will be announced. It was a busy quarter. We had the low-semi tournament with Gozgoz who surprised us all and took the win. The ExtraVaganza tournament, a big tournament sponsored by our beloved AKAbolony that provided two winners. Excal took the big prize from the Gold Cup, while SPL was the winner of the Silver Cup. Well, let's get to the list of the best performing players of the first quarter of 2021.

1. ExCaL 5x

Excal, he was the player of the last quarter of 2020, and he is again the best performing Zero Hour player. He started the year with winning the Army Arsenal tournament in a final against Reznov (7-3).
The second tournament he enrolled in meant another victory. In the Boss 2 Tournament he showed Roll who is the ZH Boss with a 7-1 victory.

With winning clanwars of the month January, he had a really good start of the year.
Winter Classic 2020 was another tournament victory, in the first round he beat Dominator in a close set (4-3). In the remaining rounds, he got only two more losses and with a 7-1 victory in the finals against FreeStyler, Excal had his fourth tournament victory.

Then the biggest tournament of the year thus far: the ExtraVaganza Tournament. He was the favourite to win it, and he did it. In a group with Herb, ZarZ and AleXanDroSS he only lost 3 games and he was the first one to qualify for the Gold Cup. In the quarterfinal Shaye did managed to get 5 wins, but it wasn't enough as he lost with 7-5. The semifinals against Size are one of the shortest sets we ever seen. In no time, Excal secured a victory with the perfect score of 7-0. In the final, he met with fellow [OoE] member Vivid. An 8-4 victory gave him the win and $800 to buy some pillows for Mrs. Excal.

However, not every tournament is a clear win for Excal. In the Master & Apprentice tournament he got teamed with Wraith and lost already in the second round against the duo Roll and Exile in a close set (6-5).

Performances
Winner Army Arsenal
Winner Boss 2 General
Winner CW January
Winner Winter Classics
Winner Extravaganza Gold Cup

2. Peace Lover 3x 1x

Mr. Ladder Wars, he won all the Ladder Wars this quarter, making him the number two of the best performing players. In the December edition, he took down Marakar in the final with 4-3. The edition in both January and February had the same final: Peace Lover versus MrX. In the January Ladder Wars Peace Lover won with 3-1, and with a 4-3 victory in the February edition, Peace Lover took his third Ladder Wars victory in a row.

A third place behind Ka$$ad and Humanity in the Round Robin Group 1 makes the total of 4 medals. Besides this, Peace Lover enrolled in more tournaments in the past quarter.

In the Blast from the Past he wasn't lucky as he faced Size in the second round. With a 4-1 loss he did it technically better than Vivid and Scuba though. In the China Tournament (Merrys is Chinese for bad luck?) he faced another expert in the second round: Fargo. With a 5-3 loss he did it better than in the Blast from the Past, but this meant another quick exit for the runner up of the player of the quarter 2021-1.

He had more luck in the Extravaganza tournament. After defeating Aleks (6-0) and cncHD (6-1) in the qualifications, he came in a group with Dominator, Hsn'Leb and Humanity. With 25 points, he was very close to reach the Silver Cup (Hsn'Leb also had 25 points).

Overall, Peace Lover is showing he is getting closer and closer to the pro level and it might be a matter of time before he reaches this. With the second spot on this list, Peace Lover shows he is on a decent level already.

Performances
Winner Ladder Wars December
Winner Ladder Wars January
Winner Ladder Wars February
Third place Round Robin 1

3. SpL 2x 1x

The runner up from last edition finds himself now on the third spot. SPL, or SPL++++ for friends, continues showing his level.

In the Russian tournament hosted by Gamereplays, which got the name 96,54 Rus, he only lost 3 games and it took him all the way to the final to get these losses. With a 7-3 win against Asus in the final, he took his first tournament victory.

The second one he got in the Extravaganza tournament. After the group stage where he was only 7 points behind Vivid, he entered the Silver Cup. After beating ApOcALyPs with 7-2 in the quarterfinals he faced Asus again. With 7-4, SPL entered the finals and in a very close set (8-7) he took the win.

SPL was also invited for the High Pro League, where he managed to get the third place after Vivid and Freestyler. Freestyler is also the player that knocked him out of the Winter Classic with 2-5 in round 3. Same score got him kicked out of the Blast from the past against Size in the quarterfinals. With the 5-2, he performed the best, as only Peace Lover and Scuba managed to win a nuke mirror against Size.

Performances
Winner 96,54 Rus
Winner Extravaganza Silver Cup
Third place High Pro League

4. Marakar 1x 1x 2x

Marakar, the first staff member of the Contra mod, finds himself on spot 4. If he hosts some Contra tournaments, he might get himself even higher. However, with 4 medals he had a good first quarter.

He won the Round Robin 2, he reached the finals of the Ladder Wars of December and after losing to Excal in the semifinals of the Boss 2 tournament, he took the third spot by beating Leikeze with 7-1. Another third spot was reached in the clanwars of March, where he finished just behind Hsn'Leb with an impressive winstreak on the last day.

He was less fortunate in the Extravaganza tournament. With Scuba, Asus and Moliere he found himself with 32 points on the third spot, with the same amount of points as Asus. A very close set, but in a recent challenge Asus showed that he might be a bit better at the moment. However, with only 2 points behind Scuba he showed that he might reach the pro level soon. Will he continue improving or will he focus on dominating the Contra scene? We'll see in the next quarter.

Performances
Winner Round Robin 2
Finalist Ladder Wars December
Third place Boss 2 General
Third place CW March

5. Vivid 1x 1x 1x

Vivid, the best of the rest. He won the High Pro League, a tournament for the best players without an expert badge. In Vivid's case, it might be his last tournament for (high) pro's as he might have the expert badge in no time. With the fifth spot on this list, he showed that he is already able to compete on expert level.

With the High Pro League, his only tournament win has been mentioned already. However, his performances in the Extravaganza tournament might even be better. In a group with fellow high pro SPL, he took the first spot and entered the Gold Cup. With Shaye, there were only 2 players without the expert badge. Where Shaye lost in the quarterfinals already, Vivid faced expert Boycah and won with 7-5. This was the payback after getting defeated in the WS of 2020 where he lost in a very, very close set against the same player (6-5, that demotrap...) This gave him the chance to reach the finals of this big tournament, which he took: he defeated Fargo with 7-4. Beating three experts in a row was a bit too much, as he lost the final against Excal (8-4). However, he showed his potential and he might win some big tournaments in the future.

A third place came with the Blast from the Past, after getting absolutely destroyed by Size in the semifinals (5-0). However, this doesn't change the fact that Vivid is improving really fast. He isn't active for that long and because of that, he is a bit unknown. To find out more about this player, read the interview with him on the [url=https://www.gamereplays.org/cnczerohour/portals.php?show=page&name=player-of-the-first-quarter-2021&st=1next page[/url].

Performances
Winner High Pro League
Finalist Extravaganza Gold Cup
Third place Blast from the Past

6. Abuka 1x 1x

Abuka won the Round Robin 3, and with a third place in the Low-semi Tournament, he showed some good improvements over the past months.

Performances
Winner Round Robin 3
Third place Low-semi Tournament

7. Leikeze 1x

Leikeze performs well with map hack, as he won the No Fog Tournament after beating Jundiyy with 6-1. In the Boss 2 tournament, he lost both the semifinals (5-1 vs Roll) as the match for the third place (7-1 vs Marakar). With these two tournaments, he finds himself in the top 10 of the best performing ZH players, before his brother Boycah.

Performances
Winner No Fog Tournament
Semifinals No Boss 2

8. StaZzzz 1x

StaZzzz won the 2v2 Semi tournament with bl9rtv by beating team FlameIORI and Azooz in the finals with 6-4. Fun fact is that this team beat them in the semifinals with 5-4, but with a double elimination, they end up losing against them in the finals.

StaZzzz lost another semifinals in this quarter, against Asus (6-2) in the 96.54 Rus tournament. Too bad this tournament had a single elimination so he couldn't get his revenge this time.

StaZzzz got kicked out by Excal in the second round of the Boss 2 General (5-0), after defeating Mp3 in the first round (5-2). Same result in the Blast from the Past, where Dominator made him leave the tournament (4-2). In the Winter Classic, he was defeated in the first round against Dense (4-0). He took his revenge on Dense though, by winning in the second round of the qualification for the Extravaganza tournament (6-2) after beating Facey with 6-0 (allthough they didn't play all games, because lag..). In the group phase, he ended with 27 points as third behind Vivid (finalist Gold Cup) and SPL (winner Silver Cup), not a bad results.

Performances
Winner 2v2 Semi Tournament
Semifinals 96.54 Rus

9. Size 1x

Size showed in the Blast from the Past why he is Big Size, he won this tournament with only 4 losses. Killtoll didn't like to get beaten and didn't arrange his game with Size in the first round. After defeating Peace Lover (4-1), Prodigy (4-0), SPL (5-2) and Vivid (5-0) he reached the finals against Scuba. In a one-sided match, Size won his only tournament this quarter, with 6-1.

Size reached the Gold Cup stage of the Extravaganza tournament after winning the group consisting of himself, Roll, Freestyler and Prodigy. A decider was needed to win against Dominator in the quarterfinals (7-6) where he faced Excal in the semifinals. Size doesn't want to be reminded, as he lost with 7-0. The match for the third place was also a loss, versus Fargo he took three wins (8-3).

Performances
Winner Blast from the Past
Semifinals Extravaganza Gold Cup

10. Shaye 1x

ShayeSaintJohn, Shaye for short, finds himself in the top 10 by winning the clanwars of March. Some might doubt his performances, but he won with a major difference with the number two.

Shaye showed his skills also in the Extravaganza tournament. In a group with PeterSpeicebecher, Metti and Makeveli44 he got the first spot and entered the Gold Cup. Too bad he immediately had to face Excal, but with a 7-5 loss he performed the best of all players against Excal.

More luck did Shaye have in the Blast from the Past, where he reached the semifinals. After defeating Boycah with 5-4 in the quarterfinals, he lost with the same numbers against Scuba.

Performances
Winner CW March
Semifinals Blast from the Past

11. Bl9rtv 1x

Bl9rtv, the biggest Zero Hour streamer, finds himself just outside the top 10. With winning the 2v2 Semi Tournament with StaZzzz he managed to get his only tournament win this quarter.

Less luck he had in other tournaments. In the first round of the 96.54 Rus tournament he lost against AleXanDroSS (4-2). He didn't reach far in the Low-semi Tournament (second round), and he didn't reach the group stage of the Extravaganza tournament.

Performances
Winner 2v2 Semi Tournament

12. Ka$$ad 1x

Ka$$ad won the Round Robin 1 before Humanity and Peace Lover and finished as second in group 6 behind Fargo in the Extravaganza tournament. In the quarterfinals he lost, after the deciding match versus Asus (7-6).

Roll was a pain in the ass this quarter for Ka$$ad. He kicked him out of the Winter Classic 2020 (1-5 in round 3) and the Blast from the Past (4-3 in round 2). Excal knocked him out of the Army Arsenal in the quarterfinals (5-0).

Performances
Winner Round Robin 1

13. Gozgoz 1x

Who? That was what everyone thought when he signed up for the Low-semi tournament. Gozgoz, an unknown player thus far, came out of nowhere and he won the tournament for the low-semi players. A bit like Spell, but Spell was active for years. Gozgoz, a player from Iran, took out several better known players on his way to the final. In a nice and close final, he took the first place by defeating flameIORI with 7-5.

He was less lucky in other tournaments, he lost in the second round against Vivid (4-0) after winning the first round versus MrCallMeSam (4-0). He also got defeated in the second round of the Extravaganza qualifications. After defeating Nike (6-4), Commando was from a different level (6-0). However, seeing how Gozgoz came out of nowhere and won his first tournament, we will see this player around more often.

Performances
Winner Low-semi Tournament

14. Leader 1x

CCG is getting revived and it is Leader who took the first win. He got defeated in the second round against Scuba (3-2), but with the double elimination he struggled his way to the loser bracket and reached the finals against Diamond, which he won (5-2).

Performances
Winner CCG Tournament

15. Freestyler 3x

Freestyler, who spammed a lot in the beginning of 2020 (winning CW for example), has shown he might reach the expert status if he keeps up the spam. In the High Pro League he came right behind Vivid, but he was the only one who managed to take the set against him (5-4). With another second place in the clanwars of January and reaching the finals of the Winter Classic, after winning vs SPL (5-2) and Roll (6-3) he faced Excal (7-1 loss), Freestyler finds himself on spot number 15. Will he turn some silver medals into gold next quarter? He sure has the quality for it.

Performances
Second place CW January
Second place High Pro League
Finalist Winter Classic

16. Roll 2x

Roll got mad as he had to qualify for the Extravaganza tournament. Funny is to see him as number 16 on this list, as he claimed to be in the top 16 of the ZH players. He sure proved that to be true.

With the Extravaganza tournament, the tournament he shined in, got mentioned. He steamrolled into the group stage after beating Ramirez (6-0) and SeriouslySerious (6-2). In a group with Size, Freestyler and Prodigy, Roll entered the Silver Cup as he finished behind Size. Hsn'Leb (7-5) and Herb (7-4) both got defeated, but in the final things went wrong. It took SPL 15 games to secure the win and in a very close final Roll showed his level.

With another final in the Boss 2 tournament, Roll got another second place. The semifinals of the Winter Classic were also reached, in which he lost versus Freestyler (6-3). The quarterfinals were the final stage for him in the Blast from the Past (1-4 vs Scuba).

Performances
Finalist Boss 2 General
Finalist Extravaganza Silver Cup
Semifinals Winter Classic

17. FlameIORI 2x

Two finals for FlameIORI this quarter, and he both lost them. With Azooz he managed to beat StaZzzz/bl9rtv in the semifinals (5-4), but they couldn't do it again in the finals (4- 6 loss). Second final he lost was against Gozgoz in the Low-semi tournament (7-5).

Performances
Finalist 2v2 Semi Tournament
Finalist Low-semi Tournament

18. MrX 2x

Losing twice the Ladder Wars finals against Peace Lover, but he did improve. First final he lost with 3-1, second with 4-3. Is he going to win the next one?

MrX is known as a 2v2 player, who likes to yell at his team mates. Ask Wraith for example. However, he lost with Size against Makeveli and Wizard in the 2v2 tournament by Commando and with his fellow countryman Cirez D, he lost against Spell and Hsn'Leb in the Master and Apprentice tournament. Both losses caused noise pollution in Germany.

Performances
Finalist Ladder Wars January
Finalist Ladder Wars February

19. Asus 1x 1x

Asus, or OwenCover, is the player that likes to team with SPL in many 2v2 tournaments. However, he probably was a little upset with him as SPL was the player that made him lost a final (96.54 Rus tournament) and a semifinal (Extravaganza Silver Cup). He did manage to win the third place after beating Herb with 8-5.

Performances
Finalist 96.54 Rus
Third place Extravaganza Silver Cup

20. Humanity 1x 1x

He surpassed the qualification rounds with easy for the Extravaganza, Abuka (6-0) and Xezon (6-0) were no match for him. A group with Dominator, Hsn'Leb and Peace Lover were very close. Humanity ended up as last with 23 points, while Hsn'Leb and Peace Lover got only two points more.

In Round Robin 1, Humanity was able to finish before Peace Lover (but behind Ka$$ad). With a third place in the clanwars of January, Humanity finds himself back just in the top 20.

Performances
Second place Round Robin 1
Third place CW January

21. Ant1_pr0 1x

Ant1_pr0 got second in the Round Robin 3 behind Abuka and reached the semifinals of the No Fog tournament after getting defeated by Jundiyy (5-0).

Performances
Second place Round Robin 3
Semifinals No Fog Tournament

22. Scuba 1x

Scuba, the one who sends too many pictures of him drinking beer and partying, finds himself on spot 22. He reached the finals of the Blast from the Past, after defeating Fargo (5-4 after being 1-4 behind) and Shaye (also with 5-4). Size stopped him from winning the tournament (6-1).

Scuba also reached the semifinals of the CCG tournament, but didn't end up in the finals because of miscommunication/not arranging.

Performances
Finalist Blast from the Past
Semifinals CCG

23. Reznov 1x

Reznov, aka Basketball, reached the finals of the Army Arsenal tournament as Hawky didn't show up in the semifinals. Excal won the finals (7-3), but Reznov performed pretty well and some games were really close. Reznov ended up in the Extravaganza as third in group six, with the same amount of points as number two Ka$$ad.

Performances
Finalist Army Arsenal

24. Azooz 1x
See FlameIORI, they teamed and reached the finals of the 2v2 Semi tournament.

Performances
Finalist 2v2 Semi Tournament

25. Jundiyy 1x

After beating Ant1_pr0 in the semifinals quite easy (5-0), he had much more trouble with Leikeze. Jundiyy lost the final with 6-1. He also lost in round 3 of his own tournament, Boss 2 General, against Marakar (5-2).

Performances
Finalist No Fog Tournament

26. Queenmuff 1x

Queenmuff came second in Round Robin 2, making her the best female player of this quarter.

Performances
Second place Round Robin 2

27. Diamond 1x

Lost the final against Leader with 5-2 of the CCG tournament.

Performances
Finalist CCG Tournament

28. Hsn'Leb 1x

Hsn'Leb spammed a lot in March, leading to the second place of the clanwars from that month. He also spammed quite some 2v2s with clan mate Cobra, aka Spell, to practise for the Master & Apprentice tournament. Will this mean his first tournament victory of this year? Their first match in said tournament was a big 6-1 victory against the German team consisting of MrX and Cirez D.

Performances
Second place CW March

29. Riwik 4x

Riwik is the most consistent player of all, with four third places. He came third in all Ladder Wars this quarter and with the Round Robin 2, third place number four is mentioned for Riwik.

Performances
Third place Ladder Wars December
Third place Ladder Wars January
Third place Round Robin 2
Third place Ladder Wars February

30. Dudush 1x

Dudush reached the semifinals of the 96.54 tournament, and with that performances he surpassed his brother Fargo. Both have a third place: Dudush in the Round Robin 3, Fargo in the Extravaganza Gold Cup. However, reaching the semifinals made Dudush be a couple of places above his brother. We all hope Dudush will tease his brother with this.

Performances
Third place Round Robin 3
Semifinals 96.54 Rus

31. Logica 1x

He lost the semifinals against Excal and won the third place by default. This was also the last time we saw Logica in a 1v1 tournament. He is active with Vivid in the 2v2 tournament by Commando, which is still running. Question is, will Logica make a comeback and will he be higher on the list next quarter? We all hope to see big Logica fighting on expert level again.

Performances
Third place Army Arsenal

32. Ku7ari 1x

Teamed with Pepsi and took third place of the 2v2 Semi Tournament.

Performances
Third place 2v2 Semi Tournament

33. Pepsi 1x

Teamed with Ku7ari and took third place of the 2v2 Semi Tournament.

Performances
Third place 2v2 Semi Tournament

34. Fargo 1x

An ongoing ZH joke: Fargo not winning tournaments. He was close this quarter. He barely lost against Vivid in the semifinals (7-4 after behing ahead with 4-3). He managed to redeem himself, and took the third place after beating Size (8-3).

Performances
Third place Extravaganza Gold Cup

35. Hawky

Reached the semifinals, but didn't show up for it and for the third place. Dual expert Hawky, king of scaffolding and ZH president, finds himself on spot 35.

Performances
Semifinals Army Arsenal

36. Nickname

Lost 5-0 against Leikeze after reaching the semifinals as Dark9 didn't want to play.

Performances
Semifinals No Fog Tournament

37. Makaveli44

After beating Magical with 5-0, Makeveli44 felt how it is to lose without winning a single game. Excal beat him with 6-0.

Performances
Semifinals Winter Classic

38. Herb

The only expert in the Silver Cup. After getting second spot behind Excal in group 4 and winning the quarterfinal versus PeterSpecebecher (7-5), Herb lost the semifinal against Roll (7-4) and the match for third place against Asus (8-5).

Performances
Semifinals Extravaganza Silver Cup

39. Choke

Choke lost the semifinals against winner Gozgoz (6-2) and also lost the match for bronze against Abuka (6-4).

Performances
Semifinals Low-semi Tournament

Read the interview with ViViD on the next page

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