July 31 saw the most competitive event in Kane's Wrath since Ladder Season 3. Sponsored and hosted by Maverick, the Dirty Dozen Invitational Tournament featured twelve high-level players battling it out in a league-style tournament for bragging rights and 50 US Dollars.
Top players including past legends and up-and-comers partook in the tournament. vOddy and Dackel returned for the tournament after lengthy absences from Kane's Wrath, while current leaders like Spectre^ and Bonu$_[RU] participated as well. Of course, no tournament lineup would be complete without the most storied player in Kane's Wrath, the man with the Black Hand, Technique.
Because of the tournament's format, which was a massive round-robin where every player played two games against every other player, the Dirty Dozen soon found themselves in a marathon tournament that lasted well over four hours. Playing competitively is hard enough work, but doing it for hours on end is just tiring and mentally exhausting.
The original Dirty Dozen
Last-second adjustments
The starting lineup for the tournament was changed during the opening minutes due to absences. Eclipse was disqualified for showing up over an hour late to the tournament. Last-minute substitutions had to be made for gtr428 and Andre, who were replaced by JonyCalcinha2 and David.CNC, respectively. As such, there were actually eleven players who participated in the Dirty Dozen Invitational.
Technique
vOddy
Dackel
Bonu$_[RU]
Aoenian
David.CNC
Panader0
Unleashed_UA
Spectre^
JonyCalcinha2
RTS_Champion
Furthermore, there were a few organizational details that had to be handled at the last minute. One change was that Tournament Tower was introduced to the map pool for the second of the games, replacing the map that had been played in the first game so as to not have players repeat on the same map. Clarifications were made to factional selection procedure and a match schedule was hastily (and imperfectly) created by Eph2.8-9 to organize the tournament. All in all, the tournament got off to a rough start as the match schedule and map adjustments were started with less than an hour before the games started. Eventually, though, most of the wrinkles were ironed out, and despite a round schedule that sometimes double-booked players, the matches began.
They were epic matches, too, featuring exciting matchups like vOddy vs. d.Dackel, Technique vs. Bonu$_[RU], and AoeNiaN vs. Unleashed_UA. Livestream coverage was provided by veteran commentator Green_ZERO and guest co-commentator Eph2.8-9, and 50 lucky people at a time got to watch the commentary. However, if you missed watching the Kane's Wrath titans slug it out live due to real life or livestream viewing limits, both the livestream and the replays have been saved for your enjoyment.
Old face-offs and new openings
Technique demonstrated a unique opening as Black Hand vs. GDI on Tournament Decision. While conventional wisdom dictated that the match-up was heavily favored towards GDI, Technique quickly set out to crush that bit of logic with his new moves. His Flame Tank opening, also demonstrated on Tournament Dustbowl, forced his opponent to dance to his tune. If Battlecast Primetime and the EALA studio were still around, we'd be seeing these matches on the show while listening to Raj Joshi wax poetic about the fiery destruction. Boom boom, baby!
That wasn't the case in his first game against Bonu$_[RU], though. These two players have had one of the most storied rivalries in recent Kane's Wrath history, with Bonu$ being one of the few players who consistently poses a challenge to Technique in tournaments. Game 1 was classic GDI play on Dustbowl by Bonu$_[RU], and if you've been suffering against Black Hand as GDI, check out this replay.
In another classic match-up, vOddy vs. Dackel proved to be one of the more exciting matches as two old Kane's Wrath legends, both retired from competitive play, clashed in quick matches. Dackel's GDI met vOddy's Traveler-59 on Arena in a quick but brutal clash involving some serious all-in play. The second game was just as close and it was refreshing to see these two veterans back for this special event.
One of the games from the tournament, featuring a GDI mirror between Dackel and Bonu$_[RU] has already racked up enough wubs to be considered for the Hall of Fame! Watch the replay and cast your vote in the next few days to decide its fate!
These are just a few of the many matches played throughout the tournament, so make sure you check out the best of the replays from our replay pack and wub the ones that are in the system.
Heartbreak Hill
As the competition slugged through eleven rounds of paired games, many of even these accomplished players found themselves unable to endure such prolonged competition. Aoenian dropped out first, plagued by apparent PC problems. Panader0 was the next to fall, saying that the tournament was too long for him. Eclipse's absence also lowered the amount of games that were played, which meant that an already staggeringly long tournament originally was supposed to be even longer. Fatigue began to show as even such an experienced player as Technique made the careless mistake of losing a Saboteur to walking through Tiberium on Tournament Decision. The prolonged nature of the tournament also caused a change in commentary, with nextonline spelling out Eph2.8-9 at about the four hour mark.
Player breakdown
The results of the match-ups were as follows. Each result is reported as row\column, so for example Technique wins 2–0 over Dackel.
P0
S^
Aoe
Tech
DCC
vOd
d.D
JC2
B$
UUA
RTS(Champion)
1\1
1\1
1\1
1\1
2\0
0\2
1\1
1\1
1\1
2\0
Panader0
–
0\2*
2\0
0\2
2\0
0\2
0\2
0\2
0\2*
0\2*
Spectre^
–
2\0
0\2
2\0
1\1
0\2
2\0
0\2
0\2
AoeNiaN
–
0\2*
0\2*
0\2
0\2
0\2
0\2
2\0
Technique
–
2\0
1\1
2\0
1\1
1\1
2\0
David.CNC
–
0\2
0\2
1\1
0\2
0\2
vOddy
–
1\1
2\0
1\1
1\1
d.Dackel
–
1\1
1\1
2\0
JonyCalcinha2
–
0\2
1\1
Bonu$_[RU]
* means "free win" due to no-show
–
2\0
Unleashed_UA
–
For every pairing, each player was awarded 3 points for a win (2–0), 1 point for a draw (1–1) and 0 points for a loss (0–2). The final scores are as follows.
Total point tallies
After all eleven rounds were completed, these were the final results:
Player
Wins
Draws
Losses
Score
Bonu$_[RU]
6 (1)
4
0
22
Technique
6 (1)
4
0
22
vOddy
5 (0)
5
0
20
d.Dackel
5 (0)
4
1
19
Spectre^
4 (1)
2
4
14
RTS(Champion)
2 (0)
7
1
13
JonyCalcinha2
2 (0)
5
3
11
Unleashed_UA
3 (1)
2
5
11
Panader0
2 (0)
1
7
7
AoeNiaN
1 (0)
1
8
4
David.CNC
1 (1)
1
8
4
The number in brackets is the number of victories by default, i.e. no-show of the opponent. The corresponding matches are marked with an asterisk (*) in the match results table above.
Unexpected results
With four draws and no losses each, Technique and Bonu$_[RU] remained tied at the end of the regular competition. By now, they'd been playing Kane's Wrath for well over four hours and now had to clash once again in this tired state. Like World Cup footballers getting ready for overtime in the finals, these two champions battled it out in a best-of-three, loser-picks-the-map tie-breaker that ultimately decided the fate of the Dirty Dozen Invitational Tournament. While denied a win in the World Cup, it was the Netherlands who came away victorious in this contest. Technique took both games and walked away with bragging rights as the Dirtiest of the Dirty Dozen and 50 USD. Congratulations, Technique, and to all the other players who fought so hard in the most competitive Kane's Wrath event since Ladder Season 3. Here are the final top three:
First Place
Technique
Second Place
Bonu$_[RU]
Third Place
vOddy
Technique victorious again!
Livestream
Watch five hours of commentary from Green_ZERO, Eph2.8-9 and nextonline as they preside over the tournament. A special note of thanks to Green_ZERO, who streamed for hours on end despite the tournament starting at 3am in his timezone.
Round 1, voddy vs Dackel, games 1 and 2 (GZ and Eph2.8-9)
Round 2, Unleashed vs. Aoenian, games 1 and 2 (GZ and Eph2.8-9)
Round 3, Technique vs. Dackel, games 1 and 2 (GZ and Eph2.8-9)
Round 4, Technique vs. Bonus, games 1 and 2 (GZ and Eph2.8-9)
Round 5, Technique vs. Spec, games 1 and 2 (GZ and Eph2.8-9)
Round 6, Technique vs. Unleashed, games 1 and 2 (GZ and Eph2.8-9)
Round 7, Dackel vs. Panader0, games 1 and 2 (GZ and advancedNoob)
Maverick Speaks
And now a word from the tournament sponsor, Maverick.
The tournament had some memorable moments with most of the matches being streamed live, courtesy Eph2.8-9 and Green_ZERO. In fact, it was full hour due to the limit of 50 live members reached and many left waiting. It was four hours of epic commenting with the community joining in through chat, adding to the already charged-up atmosphere. Big thanks to Eph2.8-9 and Green_ZERO for their entertaining co-cast and to zookerz for reffing tirelessly. Thanks to all participants, who played well and with great spirit.
It was great to see Dackel in action and a real sign of sportsmanship and professionalism on his part to come into this tournament on Methuselah's request and play to the best of his ability given he didn't get a lot of practice.
Kudos to all other viewers who supported the livestream and the tournament, which all added to the fun and glamor, and last but not the least to the staff behind the portals, i.e. Cerberus for his banner and thumbnail and R Schneider. Thanks to you guys and to the rest of the staff who helped in every way possible.
