Review HardCore Tournament: The Grand Final

[Jaaames 1,622]

 

Team K-5-H vs Team Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe

 

 
The community called out for a tournament geared towards the hard format and heavy supplies enthusiasts, and the community got it. The HardCore tournament was implemented recently, in December of 2017 and saw a whopping 55 teams register. As the tournament progressed through the month of December and into the new year, we started to see the emergence of the true masters in this category.
 
The competition was for the ultimate prize of 500,000 crystals for the whole team, and 3 weeks of premium per player. The losers would not walk away empty handed though, as they'd be rewarded with 350,000 crystals and 2 weeks of premium for their efforts.
 
The tournament itself became more intense as we approached the much anticipated Grand Final, with an entertaining semi-final, from which two successful teams progressed. Those worthy teams were K-5-H, and Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe. Due to some team disqualifications, neither of these two teams had to fight their way up through the losers bracket, and so that brought us straight to the Grand Final of the upper bracket.
 
Now, it's time to discover how it all panned out...
 
 
 
The Grand Final
 
The structure of the grand final followed a similar structure as the games of the previous rounds, with maps chosen by a cross-out method (map choices included: Sandbox, Zone, Farm, Hill, Boombox, Sandal, Deck-9, Edinburgh, Pass, Highland and Station).
 
The round time was ten minutes with an additional two minutes of preparation time. Friendly fire was off, no overdrives, all types of equipment were permitted (except for special modules), no supply limitations and upgrades on. The only difference for this game, was that instead of four rounds in a single map, six rounds were added for the Grand Final, should the teams require all six. 
 
The chosen maps for this match were Edinburgh, Highland and Sandbox, all with two rounds each.
 
The four members which played for each team were as follows:
 
K-5-H: @K-5-H, @Mazen, @D.S, @Mr.Lover
 
Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe: @Tropkillaz, @Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe, , @TR0uBLExMaKeR

 

 

Below is the broadcast by the eSports team of the HardCore Tournament Grand Final:

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
First Round
 
The opening round in the map Edinburgh saw Team K-5-H take the lead as the blue side, with a victory of 1-0. An edgy start to the match, with both teams playing more safe, very typical of a first round. Although there was much end-to-end gameplay, we saw many standoff situations between both sides. They tended to last quite a long time, and so few flags were captured, hence the scoreline.
 
In this round we were given a rough idea as to what approach both teams would take to the match in terms of combinations and strategy. Team Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe used three medium hulls (Vikings) with a heavy hull for defensive purposes (Titan). Team K-5-H had the mindset of using four medium hulls. Both teams used Isidas, an obvious and important choice for this format.
 
From what we saw in this round, it was evident that both teams were evenly matched, even though there were different equipments used. The benefit of K-5-H using four medium hulls was that they could easily rotate who held the flag. Whereas, with Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe, it took longer to have the Titan respawn and activate supplies and take the flag.
 
The vital breakthrough for Team K-5-H happened from a standoff moment, where @Mr.Lover and @Mazen made a double attack on the flag holder to return it for the capture.
 
The rest of the round was relatively comfortable for Team K-5-H, with six minutes left for them to retain their lead. No significant push was seen by Team Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe, the reason being for this, was that there were simply not enough outfield players to pressure the opposition flag, with their own Titan sitting on the flag for defence the majority of the time.
 
 
 
Second Round
 
The second round gave us a 1-1 tie between the teams. In a game like this, round two often provokes some changes, especially if a team is unhappy with what happened in the prior round. It's often harmless to change things up in this round, considering there's still quite a bit of time left. Team Devil.Of.PaRaDise, instead, decided to keep the strategy pretty much the same as before. They possibly decided to do this since the scoreline was so close last round, and by making a change it was too risky, as it could negatively impact on the game focus. Team K-5-H remained with the four medium hulls which worked well for them beforehand.
 
Much of the same story in this round as the first round. Many lengthy standoffs, with both returns for the captures coming from structured, and well communicated ambushes. Although, it was easy to tell team Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe saw some hope in this round since there were some major three tank pushes right from start. They captured the first flag here, with a nice attack which started from the red base being cleared beforehand. took the red flag with his Hammer and Viking, whilst fending off the last remaining defender and made his way back to the base for @Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe to finish off the capture less than two minutes into the round.
 
Shortly after though, an impressive bit of play by Team K-5-H which saw @D.S, the Viking- Ricochet, and @K-5-H, the Isida, doubled up to return the flag for the capture by @Mazen to level things up. The rest of the match saw no more significant breakthroughs, eventually ending the round in a tie.
 
 
Third Round
 
This round, in the Highland map, ended with the score 6-1 to Team K-5-H which had them within touching distance of becoming HardCore champions. The map Highland, provoked a much different style of gameplay compared to the opening two rounds in Edinburgh. The gameplay was much faster and open due to the fact the Highland map is more exposed on each side, allowing for more intense combat in the open center, where the two teams would frequently clash.
 
In terms of the combinations and tactics for this specific set of rounds in the Highland map, again the game started with Team
K-5-H making use of the four medium hulls, for ease of rotation of the flag and speed. Meanwhile, Team Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe used the Titan again for defensive purposes. 
 
This round appeared to be quite easy for Team K-5-H, which saw capture upon capture for them on the blue team. The four medium hulls in this round proved very effective, especially when one player could distract the defence, while the other would jump down from above and rapidly take the flag while the defence were caught off-guard. The Titan was simply just too slow, as well as the lower number of three outfield medium hulls, to attempt to return. Plus, their attacks were not as synchronized as they should have been to be as effective as possible.
 
It was evident that Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe needed to change something, given that captures were now flying in. They eventually swapped the Titan for a Viking which was taken by @TR0uBLExMaKeR, but at this point it seemed too little too late, as the scoreline was already 2-0 to K-5-H with only five minutes left. Their thinking at this point must've been to scrap all defence and focus fully on the attack, which was not the best idea, resulting in a greater deficit and ending the round 6-1.
 
 
Fourth Round
 
The fourth round put the whole tie to bed by Team K-5-H. The round ended 3-0. It was a much more balanced round compared to the previous round, but it appeared that Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe were simply not adapted enough to the use of four medium hulls, regardless of the turrets which were taking. They even resorted to using Magnum, which was fun to watch, but was also a sign of Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe knowing they'd lost the game and were really trying anything at this stage to try and salvage any kind of win. The introduction of the Magnum created some interesting gameplay though, as we saw a different approach to using it. @Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe was using it in a much more offensive manner, and often was going Kamikaze-style into the opponents base, often having little success.
 
This round was ultimately the deciding round, given that K-5-H were already 2-0 up in rounds (with an additional draw), making it impossible for Devil.Of.PaRaDiSe to come back unless they won this fourth round. @D.S for Team K-5-H was dominating the central part of the map with his Railgun and Viking combo, and effectively dealing damage to incoming opponents. This was key as it allowed the rest of the team to make frequent, well structured dashes to-and-from their own base into the blue base, and therefore Team K-5-H became worthy victors.
 
To conclude things, Team K-5-H won this Grand Final with a score of 3-0 in rounds. It was a largely one-sided game overall, in which they had considerable control over their opponents Team Devil.Of.PaRaDise. 
 
Well done to Team K-5-H! 
 
 

---

 
 
After the match, I managed to grab a quick word with @Mazen about his own, and his team's experience in winning the HardCore Tournament:
 
Jaaames: Hello @Mazen, and congratulations to you and your team on winning the HardCore Tournament! Please tell us how your experience was in the Grand Final today?
 
Mazen: Thanks! It was interesting because we are a hard format clan and like they say, this is our stadium, and we can't lose.  We also remained unbeaten throughout the whole tournament.
 
Jaaames: What was the key to success?
 
Mazen: The key was the harmony of the players in the team. You simply would not get the same results with 4 players who don't work well together, which you could see in the stream.
 
Jaaames: Was the HardCore Tournament a good idea in your opinion?
 
Mazen: Yes, I liked the tournament. Even though the prizes were low compared to other tournaments, it still makes Tanki more diverse and interesting to have something like this to join. Next time I'd hope for there to be larger prizes to get even more people to register. 
 
Jaaames: I'm sure we'll get a tournament with larger prizes in the future, considering that this HardCore tournament was largely experimental and it really did achieve a positive acclaim in the community. Thank you for sharing your opinion on the experience!
 
Mazen: Thanks for interviewing me, and good luck!

 

[Commander_Rose 327]

Well Written.

[Flexoo 6,980]

We are back with another review coming from the Tanki eSports section. This time, you can read about the grand final of the HardCore tournament. Enjoy your read.

[Tini 993]

Well done @Jaaames :wub: I enjoyed it fully :D Keep it up bro,you are doing an amazing job :)
- Your biggest supporter :P
   Tini

[A_Villain 1,220]

Well done Jimmy @Jaaames  :wub:

 

Party Juice is proud of you.  :lol:

[Shame 137]

Very nice.

[Syndicalist 286]

Well done Jimmy @Jaaames  :wub:

 

Party Juice is proud of you.  :lol:

+

[Mjro7 2,837]

Well Done jams Bond  :ph34r:

[Seel 531]

Nice interview!! Liked it james

[Spy 14,687]

Nice! ;)

[Lankbouv 6,347]

Nice article man, keep it up.

[Jaaames 1,622]

Well Written.

 

 

Well done @Jaaames :wub: I enjoyed it fully :D Keep it up bro,you are doing an amazing job :)

- Your biggest supporter :P

   Tini

 

 

Well done Jimmy @Jaaames  :wub:

 

Party Juice is proud of you.  :lol:

 

 

Very nice.

 

 

Well Done jams Bond  :ph34r:

 

 

Nice!

 

 

Nice interview!! Liked it james

 

 

Nice! ;)

 

 

Nice article man, keep it up.

Thanks everybody!

[GrandExecutioner 1,403]

Saves me watching the actual battle. Thanks :P

[Jaaames 1,622]

Saves me watching the actual battle. Thanks :P

As much as I want to describe what happened in a battle, my aim here was not only to give a description, but give explanations as to why certain things happened throughout the course of the game. I'd still recommend you watch the stream though, as you may pick up on things that I have not! :)

[r_Breathe2 51]

Ooh, pretty smexy article

[GrandExecutioner 1,403]

As much as I want to describe what happened in a battle, my aim here was not only to give a description, but give explanations as to why certain things happened throughout the course of the game. I'd still recommend you watch the stream though, as you may pick up on things that I have not! :)

Perhaps when I have time. And yes your explanations complemented the description well and I'm sure many would prefer that rather than a description alone.

 

Keep it up!

[Jaaames 1,622]

Ooh, pretty smexy article

 

 

Perhaps when I have time. And yes your explanations complemented the description well and I'm sure many would prefer that rather than a description alone.

 

Keep it up!

Cheers guys!

[3dL 454]

GL From Mafia דגד

[House 135]

Interesting! 

[O.S.A.N 714]

Didn't know you were good at two things at the same time :o Great article :D

commentating & writing :ph34r:

[Jaaames 1,622]

GL From Mafia דגד

 

 

Interesting! 

 

Didn't know you were good at two things at the same time :o Great article :D

commentating & writing :ph34r:

Thank you guys!

[F.I.N.I.S.H.E.R 2,397]

Nice, James!

[Typo 1,299]

Nice Article Jaaames! ENjoyed it ;)