We're in the semifinals phase, which means only 2 ongoing matchups. In other words, not a lot to report on. But let's see.

France vs USA
3:1

Bbraw wins both his games while Phaeril wins one against the USA's selected champion, Octane.
Bonsai scores one for USA.

Switzerland vs Italy
2:2

Master of desaster wins one game and Muli goes 1:1, so 2 points for Switzerland.
Lepanto wins one game and Corsaro goes 1:1, so 2 points for Italy.
Looks like the closest matchup we've had in the knockouts yet.

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In other news, all the quarterfinal games have finished so we have the final results:

France vs Germany
7:6 (as a reminder, France was leading 6:1 at some point. Germans came very close to one epic comeback.)

USA vs Belgium
11:2

Switzerland vs East Asia
8:5

Italy vs Australia and New Zealand
9:4

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I'll end this update by copying the announcement I made on the official Discord server:

Looking at how things are going, it will be impossible to finish this event before Christmas.

I see multiple ways to handle it.
We could make a pause after semifinals and move the grand final into January.
Or we could modify the boot time for the final, for example 3d base + 7d banked.
Or perhaps allow vacations, or a combination of some of the above.

We still have time to decide. It would be cool if each of the remaining teams discussed it among their players to see what solution would suit them.

France wins another one and they lead 4:1 against USA.

By the way, since the updates have slowed down so much, I think maybe it's a good time to take suggestions for the next seasons?

Personally I feel that the new format was an improvement. I probably even had more fun this season, even though my team missed the quarterfinals, than in previous seasons where we finished top3.

Everyone is free to use this thread to say what they liked and disliked about this format. If you see any potential improvements, feel free to share :)

This format is terrific, I feel that all teams had something to play for regardless of their skill level! I definitely advocate for keeping the qualifier/group/knockout format.

We may want to consider reducing the auto-bids to the group stage, eliminating these entirely, or perhaps restricting them to “A” teams. The tournament is deep and it is not easy to advance out of qualifiers. It leaves a bad taste when teams bypass this stage on reputation rather than skill. This is amplified when the auto-bid is based on the reputation of players who may not even be playing in the current edition of NC.

France vs USA
7:1

Huge news! We know the first finalist. France beats USA in the semifinal.

Switzerland vs Italy
3:5

For the first time in this semifinal either side gets a 2-win advantage.
Might not look like much, but considering it's best of 7, Italians' remaining road to the final is only half as long as that of the Swiss.

bit stunned by the dang french... but there is always next season. USA was on fire, so tbh this just feels a bit unlucky ;)