Quick update!

The 4 group winners are already known! France, Switzerland, USA and Italy advance to the quarterfinals as seeded teams.
The other quarterfinalists we know are East Asia and Belgium. Congratulations!

The last two promotion spots from groups B and C are still undecided.
In B, Germany has a nice advantage, but they can still lose it to the Nordics or the UK.
In C it's a ridiculously close race between Canada and Australia&New Zealand, with Netherlands B and Germany C still having non-zero chances as well.

Group A
FRA A | 40 | 46
EAS | 33 | 39
IRL | 29 | 32
GER B | 23 | 28
NOR B | 23 | 28
ITA B | 7 | 12

Group B
SWI | 38 | 43
GER A | 29 | 37
UK A | 26 | 34
NOR A | 25 | 33
USA C | 23 | 26
NL A | 18 | 28

Group C
USA A | 40 | 45
CAN A | 31 | 34
ANZ A | 31 | 34
NL B | 27 | 33
GER C | 25 | 32
FRA B | 9 | 13

Group D
ITA A | 46 | 49
BEL | 36 | 40
POL A | 32 | 33
USA B | 27 | 33
UK B | 11 | 18
CZE | 11 | 12

I'd like to remind the qualified teams that they need to choose one of their players who will get an extra game in the quarterfinals, as well decide which 3 out of 7 templates to veto for that extra game. Scroll up the thread 2 posts above for detailed info.

I'd like know before next Monday, October 14th. There's no downside to sending them early, as you can change it later as much as you like. I'll be keeping it a secret and my team doesn't play in QF anyway.

October 17th is a very realistic date to start the QF games.

Teams that haven't yet qualified but still have chances should probably start thinking about it as well.

The 7th quarterfinalist is decided. Congratulations to Australia and New Zealand, who managed to grab the second place in group by just a 1 point difference!

And while it probably feels unfair to miss the spot by just 1 win, that's why this group was so exciting: because it was suuuper close. And it's not just between ANZ and Canada. Netherlands B could also still catch up to be level on points, but they'd lose the tiebreaker.

As for the last quarterfinals spot, the fight in group B is down to Germany vs Nordics. There's 4 direct games left to finish between these teams. If Germans win any of them, they advance. If they lose all, Nordics advance.

Group A
FRA A | 42 | 45
EAS | 37 | 38
IRL | 30 | 32
GER B | 24 | 27
NOR B | 23 | 25
ITA B | 8 | 9

Group B
SWI | 41 | 42
GER A | 31 | 35
NOR A | 28 | 32
UK A | 26 | 30
USA C | 23 | 23
NL A | 22 | 27

Group C
USA A | 42 | 43
ANZ A | 33 | 33
CAN A | 32 | 32
NL B | 30 | 33
GER C | 25 | 29
FRA B | 11 | 11

Group D
ITA A | 47 | 48
BEL | 37 | 38
POL A | 33 | 33
USA B | 30 | 32
UK B | 13 | 15
CZE | 11 | 11

Therefore the pairings for the knockout stage look like this:

France vs Germany/Nordics - the battle of titans already in the quarterfinals?
USA vs Belgium - the #1 favourite vs #1 underdog. Everyone cheers for the underdogs!

And on the other side of the bracket:

Switzerland vs East Asia - the two best teams of the qualifiers finally meet each other!
Italy vs Australia&New Zealand - the two 'trendy dark horses' of the 2024 edition.

Edited 10/13/2024 16:29:30

The quarterfinal games have been created!

Unfortunately, there were some errors in matchmaking. I was supposed to give every player 1 Guiroma and 1 Numenor game. Some players were instead given 2 Guiromas or 2 Numenors.

The issue was partly resolved by deleting the faulty games if they were still on the lobby. They have already been replaced with new ones. If you joined before they were deleted, make sure to join them again!

However, for some games it was already too late to delete them, as they have started before I managed to react. I decided to let them stay. This means that 4 players: Timinator, alexclusive, Arsene Wenger and Mathematician will play 2 games on the same template.

I'm honestly sorry for the inconvenience.

Also, congratulations to Germany, our 8th quarterfinalist!

Edited 10/18/2024 20:49:05

Teams overview pt 1 - the group winners

----------France----------

7:5 vs Ireland
11:1 vs Italy B
5:7 vs East Asia
10:2 vs Germany B
9:2 vs Nordic B (1 ongoing)

boots: 5
opponent boots: 7

France skipped the qualifiers and entered the competition in the second stage. They were the #1 seeded team this season thanks to their very good and consistent results in previous editions. They won the silver medal twice, but never the gold one.

They started with a very modest 7:5 win against Ireland and later they even lost 5:7 to East Asia. In the end though they won group A with a solid 5 or 6 win margin.

Previous apperances:
2012 - top16
2013 - top16
2019 - 2nd place
2021 - 5th place
2023 - 2nd place

Lineup:
1. rakleader 8:1 (1 ongoing)
2. WxD 8:3 - knockouts champion
3. Bbraw 7:3
4. Fan 6:4
5. malakkan 6:4
6. Phaeril 6:5
also represented FRA A: Tof (6:4), Zev (1:3)

----------Switzerland----------

9:3 vs Germany A
6:6 vs Nordics A
7:5 vs UK A
9:2 vs Netherlands A (1 ongoing)
10:2 vs USA C

boots: 0
opponent boots: 3

Switzerland had to start from the qualifying stage, where they achieved the best result from all teams, winning whopping 34 out of 36 games. Their momentum carried over to the second stage, where they defeated the Germans pretty convincingly. Their only hiccup was a tie against Nordics A, but then they got back on track, winning their remaining matchups as well as the whole group B with a big 7 or 9 win margin.
They also proved that it is indeed possible to not boot any games in Nations' Cup.

Previous apperances:
2012 - eliminated in 1st round
2013 - eliminated in 1st round
2019 - 9th place
2021 - 6th place
2023 - 13th place

Lineup:
1. Automatix 9:0 (1 ongoing)
2. Tango 8:2
3. Terence Kill 8:2
4. master of desaster 6:4 - knockouts champion
5. Muli 6:4
6. Noctophilia 4:6

^these scores ignore the qualifying games, where Automatix also won everything, making him the only undefeated player so far with 15:0.
To be precise, TheKai from Italy D also went undefeated in qualifiers (6:0), but didn't play anything after that as Kai's team failed to qualify.

----------USA----------

9:3 vs Australia&New Zealand A
10:2 vs Netherlands B
9:3 vs Germany C
8:4 vs France B
7:5 vs Canada

boots: 8
opponent boots: 8

USA was the first team to win their group. In the end they won it with a 10-point margin, and all that despite suffering 8 boots and not even fielding their best player yet. Can anyone stop this juggernaught?

To me they look like THE favourite for gold this season, unless they trip over their own legs. From their group stage results we clearly see how they've been slowly losing their steam. They also seem a bit undecided as to what their lineup should look like, but considering how huge the American playerbase is, this is likely the hardest team to organise.

Previous apperances:
2012 - top8 (as East US)
2013 - top8 (as East US)
2019 - 3rd place
2021 - winners
2023 - top4

Lineup:
1. Orcinus Orca 9:1
2. Jacob the Restless 9:1
3. almosttricky 8:2
4. Ares 8:2
5. Beren Erchamion 7:3
6. Octane 0:0 - knockouts champion
also represented USA A: Photonic Symmetry (3:3), nickpugs (4:6)

----------Italy----------

7:5 vs USA B
12:0 vs UK B
8:4 vs Poland A
12:0 vs Czech Republic
8:3 vs Belgium (1 ongoing)

boots: 1
opponent boots: 7

Italians started their 2024 adventure by comfortably winning their qualifying group with a 30-6 balance, 8 wins above Nordics A.

A few words about NOR A: at that point they still had Ralph in their squad. After they lost Ralph they were drawn into the group of death where they edged out UK A and finished 3rd, right behind the 2nd Germans.

Italians beating Nordics in the qualifiers should have been the first sign that they are among the top squads this season. It's a team with no weak links, getting perfect 12:0 twice.

Previous apperances:
2012 - top8
2013 - top8
2019 - 11th/12th place
2021 - 8th place
2023 - top8

^I see a lot of 8s here. Will Italy advance to the semifinal for the first time, or are they cursed to always stop at top8?

Lineup:
1. Hergul 10:0 - knockouts champion
2. CalmWaters 9:1
3. simone 8:2
4. Lepanto 7:2 (1 ongoing)
5. Corsaro93 7:3
6. stefano36000 6:4

Hergul went undefeated in the second stage, but lost 2 games in the qualifiers, 14:2 in total.
CalmWaters lost one in the second stage, but went undefeated in the qualifiers for a total 15:1
Which feat is more impressive? Cast your votes.

More team overviews to come later!

Edited 10/18/2024 21:08:20

congrats everyone who qualified, and well done hergul going 10-0 and good luck automatix would be cool if he goes 10-0 too

Awesome write up, Rento! Excited about the next overviews!

Years coming!

Teams overview pt 2 - the runner-ups

----------East (and South) Asia----------

7:5 vs Germany B
8:4 vs Ireland
7:5 vs France A
6:6 vs Nordic B
10:2 vs Italy B

boots: 2
opponent boots: 5

Asians dominated their qualifying group, despite being lower seeded than USA C, whom they comfortably beat. Together with Switzerland they were the two most impressive teams at that stage, so it's fun to see them paired in the quarterfinal.

In the second phase they finished behind France, despite beating them head-to-head. So this is a team definitely capable of beating group winners and advancing to the semifinal.

Previous apperances:
2012 - eliminated in 1st round (as China)
2013 - not participated
2019 - Hong Kong 22nd place, India 21st place,
2021 - not participated
2023 - places 9-11th

Lineup:
1. Arsene Wenger 8:2 - knockouts champion
2. CraZy 8:2
3. Mathematician 6:4
4. blobblob 6:4
5. Master Ryiro 6:4
6. npc 4:6

----------Germany----------

3:9 vs Switzerland
8:4 vs Netherlands A
8:4 vs USA C
7:5 vs UK A
8:4 vs Nordics A

boots: 3
opponent boots: 2

German teams and their numbering are always fun to follow in NC. The 2019 season was actually won by the German B team, followed by France, then German A team, and the USA.
In 2023 GER A and GER C finished level with each other, with GER B doing worst.

This season for some time GER A was the least impressive of all 4 participating GER teams. But what matters is the end result. And so after the loss in 1st round, GER A started climbing up. First a win against NL. Then a win against USA C, who at that time were leading in the group. Then finally two wins against the direct challengers - UK A and NOR A - and Germany reaches the top8 zone like in every season so far.

Previous apperances:
2012 - top8
2013 - top3 (season 2013 was discontinued after completing 3 out of 4 quarterfinals)
2019 - winners
2021 - 3rd place
2023 - top8

Lineup:
1. alexclusive 9:1
2. Timinator 8:2 - knockouts champion
3. schwarz 6:4
4. Blindigo 4:6
5. mtt 4:6
6. Edge 0:0
also represented GER A: (ง︡'-'︠)ง let's fight!! 3:7

Worth noting is that Timinator's only losses come from accidently non-joining first round.

----------Australia and New Zealand----------

3:9 vs USA A
6:6 vs GER C
6:6 vs CAN A
8:4 vs NL B
10:2 vs FRA B

boots: 4
opponent boots: 6

A story similar to that just above, but much more thrilling! Starting with a loss followed by 2 ties, the ANZ team could feel a knife at their throat. There was no room for mistake anymore, they had to fight for every single point. First a good win against NL B not only gave them 8 points, but also drastically reduced NL's chances for quarterfinals. Then in the final round ANZ had to harvest as many points as possible. They managed to score 10, which was just enough to advance by 1 point!

Interestingly, before the final round, ANZ wasn't even once in top 3 of their group, let alone top 2.

Also... drama! Australia's biggest obstacle in the final round was Phaeril, by far the strongest player in FRA B. However, Phaeril surrendered one of his games after just 1 turn, even at slight income advantage. Did he just bury the Canadian's hopes and gave the quarterfinal to ANZ?

Nah I'm not being serious here. Boots, nonjoins and premature surrenders happen all the time. If this happened in 1st round, noone would even notice.

Previous apperances:
2012 - eliminated in 1st round (as New Zealand)
2013 - top8
2019 - 19th place (as Australia)
2021 - 18th place
2023 - places 9-11th

Lineup:
1. smwokeweep42002 8:2 - knockouts champion
2. PurpleAnxiety 7:3
3. Gandalf 6:4
4. Seraph 5:1
5. Mathmagician 1:9
6. Xenophon 0:0
also represented ANZ A: Sarg Tank (4:4), battlebot (2:0), Kerratul (0:4)

----------Belgium----------

10:2 vs CZE
7:5 vs POL A
8:4 vs USA B
9:3 vs UK B
3:9 vs ITA A

boots: 1
opponent boots: 7

Finally it's time for my favourite team. I like mentioning it, so I'll mention it again: Belgium barely qualified in the first place, finishing on par with Germany D. For the second phase they were drawn from the last bracket. As an independent team Belgium doesn't have an impressive results history. How did they manage to get 2nd place? Who could have seen that coming? Well, I didn't. Which may be the reason why my team didn't qualify :p

Belgium lost to Italy (like everyone else) but won all the other direct matchups. Most importantly, they defeated Poland 7:5, which was the key to grabbing that quarterfinals spot. If it was a 5:7 loss instead, Poland would have barely pulled ahead in the end. And let's not forget USA B was also in this group, they are not pushovers either. Last season USA A, USA B and Poland A all finished in places 3-5th.

After completing one impossible task, they just got assigned another one: defeating USA A in the quarterfinals. Will they manage to defy expectations one more time?

Previous apperances:
2012 - top 4 (as Netherlands and Flanders)
2013 - top 16 (as Netherlands and Flanders)
2019 - not participated
2021 - 17th place
2023 - 15th place

Yes I know that mentioning Netherlands and Flanders here is a stretch, but there was no Belgium team anyway then so won't hurt to list it.

Lineup:
1. Korneel 9:1 - knockouts champion
2. Math Wolf 7:3
3. Yoshi 7:3
4. surdiac 5:5
5. TheBelgian 4:2
6. The Dev Dude 4:6
also represented BEL: Leia - Princess of Coinwheels (1:3)

more parts incoming.

Wait more parts incoming? Do you mean for semis, or some other surprise?
Great write-up content, Rento!

Nah nothing special, I just want to make a summary like this for all the teams. I think it would be cool.

Yeah great! I agree, it absolutely would be cool

It's been almost 10 days since the quarterfinals started. Let's take a look at the results so far.
These matchups are all best-of-13, so teams need to score 7 wins to advance.

France vs Germany
3:0
Bbraw defeats Edge
Fan defeats Edge
rakleader defeats alexclusive

The French get a good early lead. Two wins over Edge, a player who didn't play in the group stage, he was subbed in just for the knockouts.
Rak vs alex, the duel between players with most wins for their respective teams, goes to the French as well.

USA vs Belgium
5:1
Jacob the Restless defeats TheBelgian
Octane defeats Korneel
Orcinus orca defeats Yoshi
almosttricky loses to surdiac
Ares defeats Yoshi
Octane defeats Korneel

By far the fastest of the quarterfinals, six games completed and the USA team is already one foot into the semifinals. The champions - Octane and Korneel - met twice and Octane was the winner both times.
The Belgians are not defenseless and replied with surdiac's win over almosttricky.

Switzerland vs East Asia
1:0
master of desaster defeats Arsene Wenger

Is there a better way to start than winning the champions' duel? Switzerland takes a lead with a crafty wasteland counterpick.

Italy vs Australia and New Zealand
1:0
stefano36000 defeats PurpleAnxiety

ANZ finished the group phase with PurpleAnxiety's decisive win in their team's last game, but they fail to open the quarterfinals on the same good note.

Story so far: the four seeded teams are all in the lead.

great read, thanks for the info

go usa!! we are speed :D 5 wins and counting

Thanks for the summary Rento!

And indeed, after barely (and unexpectedly) qualifying for the main event, we're in Quarterfinals!

I'm so proud of our team, putting ourselves on the Map! Go team Belgium! 🥳🇧🇪

I didnt know about this.

I wanna sign up for next cup, and I come from the Cantonese nation.

Some more games have finished.

France vs Germany
4:0
Bbraw defeats Edge
Fan defeats Edge
rakleader defeats alexclusive
Phaeril defeats mtt

Another win for the Frenchmans and it's already 4:0. How will the Germen react to that?

USA vs Belgium
7:2
Jacob the Restless defeats TheBelgian
Octane defeats Korneel
Orcinus orca defeats Yoshi
almosttricky loses to surdiac
Ares defeats Yoshi
Octane defeats Korneel
almosttricky loses to Korneel
Jacob the Restless defeats Math Wolf
Beren Erchamion defeats surdiac

Belgium adds another win, but USA adds two and that's enough to advance to the semifinals. Congrats USA! Your next opponent will be the winner of France vs Germany.

Switzerland vs East Asia
3:0
master of desaster defeats Arsene Wenger
master of desaster defeats Mathematician
master of desaster defeats Arsene Wenger

mod vs East Asia 3:0

Italy vs Australia and New Zealand
4:1
stefano36000 defeats PurpleAnxiety
Corsaro93 defeats Gandalf
Lepanto31 defeats Xenophon
CalmWaters loses to Xenophon
simone defeats PurpleAnxiety

Italy improves on their lead, but ANZ has experience in playing under pressure from the last round. It's still far from over.


------
FAQ for the next round:

1. What templates will be played?

French Brawl and Volcano instead of Numenor and Guiroma.
The template for the 13th game will be decided like last time, a random one from the non-vetoed ones.

2. When will the next round start?

No idea, this stage is a knockout system so we need to wait for games to finish. I might consider starting one semifinal quicker than the other, since we're under some time pressure. I'd like to wrap it all over before Christmas.
Your team should be ready to start the semifinals at any time, Please don't wait around with making subs or changing your champion etc.

I'd like to remind the remaining team organisers that we're not sticking to any fixed schedule anymore, so if you want to make any substitutions for the next round, you should let me know quick! :)
Looking at current results, the semifinal games could start very soon.

France vs Germany
6:2
Bbraw defeats Edge
Fan loses to schwarz
rakleader defeats Blindigo
Fan defeats Edge
WxD loses to alexclusive
rakleader defeats alexclusive
Phaeril defeats mtt
WxD defeats Timinator

USA vs Belgium
10:2
Jacob the Restless defeats TheBelgian
Octane defeats Korneel
Orcinus orca defeats Yoshi
Ares defeats Math Wolf
almosttricky loses to surdiac
Jacob the Restless defeats Math Wolf
Octane defeats TheBelgian
Orcinus orca defeats The Dev Dude
Ares defeats Yoshi
Beren Erchamion defeats surdiac
almosttricky loses to Korneel
Octane defeats Korneel

Switzerland vs East Asia
6:2
master of desaster defeats Mathematician
Tango loses to Master Ryiro
Noctophilia loses to Mathematician
Muli defeats npc
Terence Kill defeats Master Ryiro
master of desaster defeats Arsene Wenger
Tango defeats Arsene Wenger
master of desaster defeats Arsene Wenger

Italy vs Australia and New Zealand
6:2
Corsaro93 defeats Gandalf
Hergul defeats Mathmagician
Lepanto31 defeats Xenophon
stefano36000 defeats PurpleAnxiety
CalmWaters loses to Xenophon
simone defeats PurpleAnxiety
stefano36000 defeats Gandalf
Hergul loses to smwokeweep42002

All these matchups look pretty one-sided... Going from 2:6 to 7:6 would be some epic comeback. It would definitely be remembered for quite some time.

Update!

France vs Germany
6:5

Germans came back from 1:6 to 5:6 and are still in the race! There are just 2 games remaining, Timinator vs Phaeril and mtt vs malakkan. If Germany wins both, they advance.

USA vs Belgium
11:2

All games in this matchup are finished. Americans are waiting for the result of GER vs FRA.

Switzerland vs East Asia
8:5

All games finished here as well. Switzerland advances to the semifinals, congrats! They had a great start here, going up 4:0, but Asians gave them a little scare there at the end. It was a good fight. 8:5 means a difference of just 2 wins.

Italy vs Australia and New Zealand
8:3

Italians advance to the semifinals where they meet Switzerland! These games are already created.
It's the end of the NC 2024 adventure for ANZ. You spiced up the competition by getting that last minute quarterfinals spot, but Italians simply refuse to lose.

I would like to thank the Australia and New Zealand leaders for their efforts in discovering and training newer players. I had almost no contact with Warzone's competitive community, until a random invitation arrived from someone named LND. Since then, feedback from LND and Texx helped me to improve. As I understand, about 4 players ended up being substituted into the A-team at times, who were not previously known to the leaders. I've had a blast being part of Nations' Cup!

Of course, thanks also to Rento for the interesting commentary; Justin, and Min.

France wins their 7th game against Germany. It's 7:5 with just 1 game left and so they advance to the semifinals! Congrats. Your games against USA will start soon.

Great fight from Germany, it was fun to watch.

As for the other semifinal, Switzerland against Italy is tied at 1:1 so far.