Update for Week 4 - August 6th to August 12th - Part 1Busy week as several games finish. At this rate we may finish sooner than ex... Nevermind, Min is on vacation again. With that being said the picture is getting clearer now, it will be interesting to see if any comebacks will be made (Looking at you, VIW).
I will be giving a less thorough run down of games due to the quantity, sorry if you prefer the longer reviews :P
Also thank you AG for the lovely update, unfortunately his love of VIW has seemingly blinded his face from reality.
To bring him back to reality, let's all give him a good stabbing.
!stab AG
schwarz, Star of the East, and cj13 defeats sound_of_silence, lineal2012, and Ninja:)
New World Order vs. Very Important Weirdoshttps://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=16013224To say this wasn't close would be an understatement. But I think that has more to do with picks. Northern Great Plains turned out to be a liability for them (especially the way they picked it). The counter by Nwo to use the Southern Great Plains with a stack (after gifting to the most income heavy player), certainly worked out.
VIW also showed little interest in picking some of the more income heavy bonuses, like almost completely ignoring California.
Ultimately the final nail in the coffin was Ninja being 2v1ed early in the north, while also missing two key predictions.
Mostly Harmless, krunx, and kicorse defeat mm3100, Nemo, and Lionheart
{101st} vs. CORPhttps://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=16076912Fairly good picks by both sides, so there is not much to comment, outside that 101st seemed to favor picking the +4s a tad bit more importance than CORP, which probably gave them an edge. For instance, all three 101st players pick California at #3, while CORP had it #6, #7, and unpicked. Small things like that can make a huge difference, and it shows here.
The thing that really hurt CORP here though was they had a 3v1 in the southern half (which that one pick they had was in a very contentious spot). CORP got off to a good start, but with the superior expansion possibilities 101st had, all that 101st had to do was play it safe.
Ragnar Lothbrok and psykkoman defeated {{NeRo}} and sloppyfatginger
CORP vs. Apprentice https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=16057013I'm not much of a final earth expert, and the fact is it is never easy to say one set of picks is better than the other. There are certain things about each picks I like better than the other. One thing for sure though, Apps avoidance of Middle East and Greenland for Brazil, while CORP's betting on them picking it early, definitely hurt them. Sloppy was actually pretty lucky it was Ragnar that ended up with the Argentina pick, as psykkoman was in a much better spot to steamroll him if it was him. It is pretty clear though if they didn't blind counter ME, this game would favor CORP in a long drawn out game.
That being said it plays out fairly well for Apps early, until psykkoman after a gift flanks sloppy in Brazil. After that it's him using his income to overpower them, while Ragnar refuses to stop bothering Nero.
LeQuébécois_Benoit and Arcturus defeats Baer and Ragnar Lothbrok
New World Order vs. CORPhttps://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=16037931CORP takes a bit of a risk by picking different #1 and #2 picks, and it doesn't pay off (Since Baer had last pick), allowing for NWO to get the ftb. CORP also makes some interesting picks around the Alena bonus. NWO plays it a little safer and doesn't overpick in center. The one pick I think that made the most difference is Oaihi though.
While CORP is able to get an early lead, it falls away quickly as Benoit and Arcturus double up on Likeke. By turn 7 NWO has a stack avantage, but more importantly has much better expansion.
LeQuébécois_Benoit and Arcturus defeats max and [V.I.W.] ilpeggiore
New World Order vs. Very Important Weirdoshttps://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=16099762This is pretty simple. The game was lost at picks for VIW. While I can somewhat see VIW's gameplan, it was still easy to counter, and the early income advantage was lost within a turn
jimmy defeats HunterDW
{101st} vs. Very Important Weirdoshttps://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=16100395I won't really go into much detail about this game, all that is needed to know is Hunter triple picks a rather bad triple, with jimmy getting a pick in the area. All jimmy had to do is not lose position and he would win the game.
Hergul defeats machine-washed-bliss
The Wizards vs. Very Important Weirdoshttps://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=16177226Both players pick fairly similarly, and rely on their 1st picks as the center of their gameplan. The major difference is bliss pick his 2/3 around Caria and Hergul around Macedonia. Although Bliss doesn't get his first pick, he does have a good start as far as early income is concerned, but he makes a mistake, and goes after Evia instead of Thebean League, costing him an 11-9 potential advantage, with a 9-9 tie instead. He then overcommits in Sporades and sets up a perfect scenario for Hergul to get the upset. Using an early stack advantage, Hergul expands and overwhelms bliss.
Kayn defeats sloppyfatginger
{101st} vs. Apprenticehttps://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=16177197Interesting picks by Kayn, as he quad picks around Sparta, blocking sloppy's attempted late counters of the area. Sloppy's 1/2 are definitely odd, especially since they'd lose to a sporades combo, luckily for him he has the area mostly secure. But unlucky for him, that's what makes the big difference in the game, as Kayn gets a strategically placed pick, where he can pressure all of sloppy's income. Sloppy plays it fairly well, until Kayn gets ahold of Chalcedice, a major chokepoint of sloppy's income. It doesn't take long for Kayn to shred into sloppy's income and win the game.
Uki defeats Star of the East
CORP vs. New World Orderhttps://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=16062640Star places his bets on a triple, but loses his first pick, luckily for him Uki has no intel. I really have no way to explain this other than that it was a back and forth expansion fest, until turn 9 when Uki countered Antarctica with a stack. Star went for the tradeoff with South Africa, but didn't get it, and lost two bonuses as a result.
Uki defeats Boiled Dove
CORP vs. The Wizards.https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=16131502Boiled dove went for all 3 bonuses, but unfortunately for him he also stole Uki's #3 pick. Uki is able to get an income lead and doesn't relinquish it. The game is over pretty quickly, just due to the value of intel.
Edited 8/12/2018 20:52:40
