Update for Week 3 - July 29th to August 5thWoo, we set a new record this week : 3 games! The vacations have seemed to end for now, so the race is on for that early advantage. To be fair, going this slow, does give me the chance to make better updates, so I'll take it for now.
By the way if this update looks rushed, it's because I'm hungry. Think I'll go for a ham sandwich. I promise I'll try harder next time (no I won't)
psykkoman defeats HunterDW
CORP vs. Very Important Weirdoshttps://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=16024655-Picks
psykkoman picks are a bit strange, but the pattern is clear. His #1 pick is in the central bonus of the map. This area is very likely to be contended for, so overall it's a good coverage pick. His 2 is a good income spot and is often a top pick on BIV, so if he was to lose it, he could easily perform a blind counter on it. His 3-6 are all in +3 bonuses for quick income. Assuming he doesn't lose 2/4/5, he has good coverage across the board no issue. If he does end up losing those picks though, there is no sweat as it would be very easy to predict your opponent with this intel.
Hunter triple pick the blue 4 in the north. If he loses 1, then it's a quick loss. Coverage is poor and requires you to meet your opponent late game.
-Gameplay
First 3 turns are pretty dull, so I will skip them.
While Hunter is able to get the jump by countering Impora on turn 4, he overexpands when he's in a halfway decent position, if he stacks to Mifar and blockades Calia (while not expanding into Nicha), he would have a good shot at taking a bulk of psykk's income. psykk on the other hand makes an errant prediction that Hunter will be in Chalanka, luckily for him with no threat in the area, he can now use it to help him take Liconia. If Hunter doesn't swiftly overrun psykk, this game is over.
On turn 5 Hunter gives up a key double border and puts the minimal amount of armies into countering Mecolia. psyk takes advantage of this and at this point the game is over. Calia is taken on turn 6 and Hunter can't stop him from wrecking his income.
Kayn defeats Herul
{101st} vs. The Wizardshttps://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=16110235-Picks
Hergul focuses on some of the smaller bonuses (outside of his #2 which is used to help take Caria). Overall his picks are decent, if not relying on having too much presence in the east. As long as he doesn't lose a pick in the east he should be able to get fast income to deal with any early brawls. But the picks are still very risky and leaves a bit of coverage on the table.
Kayn seemed to have divided the board into two zones. He focuses his early picks around Thermum-Aetolia, which offers both early and late game income. He also sticks his 4 brilliantly in one of the most contentions spots of the east. He puts his 5/6 towards the middle and focuses the rest of his picks in the east.
-Gameplay
Herul is in a precarious spot. All of his income is threatened early. His turn 1 goes as well as you could hope, but he gets pretty greedy by not using Western Mysia to prevent Kayn from getting into prime position on Phocaea-Cyme. The greed continues as he overextends himself while also trying yo take mylyio in Kayn's face (which kayn triple borders). This goes about as well as you'd expect.
Turn 3 is a good one positionally for Hergul as he blast towards Kayn's income. Kayn does complete Epirus though, giving him a clear income advantage. While he continues to cause major issues for Hergul in the east.
Turn 4 Kayn gives up West Central Greece, but still gains +5 from the east. Turn 5 is a good chance for Hergul to get back into it, but he doesn't take the undefended Epirus from Kayn, keeping it at a 14-8 rather than 9-8 game. By this turn, Kayn is already about to take Dodecanese, and get a huge income advantage, and there's nothing Hergul can do to stop him.
Dutch Desire beats sloppyfatginger
CORP vs. Apprentice
https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=16110310-Picks
sloppy banks on getting his #1 pick to cover a decent area, while hoping his 2/3 can offer both great early and late game income. His 4 is a quick easy bonus to snatch. Oddly enough, sloppy ignores Sporades which is a devastating counter to both his 2/3 and 5/6. His late picks are also "sloppy" for lack of a better word. I'm not sure what his plan was behind them.
Dutch's picks get him great income early, assuming he doesn't lose his first pick to sloppy (which he doesn't). He also picks his 6 in sporadesafter his 5 in Ionia. This is important as those are the most dominant picks in the area.
-Gameplay
Both players basically have no intel, with that sloppy ends up countering two area that don't need to be. Even more peculiar is his counter in South Cyclades. In contrast, Dutch completes two bonuses to get an early +3 advantage to sloppy's +2 bonus. Both players did set themselves up to complete a 4 bonus next turn. On turn 3, sloppy heads towards getting a +5 bonus, but fails to stop Dutch from picking up Caria, which he subsequently fails to break the next turn. By the end of turn 4, Dutch leads 19-16, and has more armies/delays than sloppy does.
On turn 5 sloppy fails the tradeoff of breaking a bonus for position and surrenders.
Overview{101st} is still on top, gaining another win this week, to get to 8 points.
CORP is the big winner this week as they jump to second place with 2 wins. It's hard to know if they'll keep up until team results start coming in, but every win is important.
The Wizards are in third place, but go 0-1 this week.
VIW starts 1-2 going 0-1 this week.
Apprentice finally finishes a game. Unfortunately for them it's a loss in a potential key game. But 0-1 is really not much to fret about.
New World Order fails to complete a game again. Tbf, you can't lose if you never finish a game.
Edited 8/5/2018 22:09:11
