Can confirm the secret strategy works, it has never failed me.

Lucky. Opponents can't be that bad.

Impressive!!

Masters would be in A if mod did 3 picks instead of 6 on MME

Thank you everyone! Also big shoutout for fizzer giving me all the best picks when needed. Surely there will be new challenges in the future

I have to admit that I felt kinda "offended" at first about it being possible that someone scores so high despite handicapping himself to 3 picks.

Looking over a couple of those games, as expected I saw pretty strong play and some luck. However, as a third factor it seemed to me that also some opponents handicapped themselves.

With some opponents it was not easy to spot and I might accidentally insult them if they played serious:
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22769032 (iarwin opened 3 bonuses simultaneously)
- ...

But then Octane tripple picking the Scandinavian Peninsula seemed just too bizarre (https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22746768).

Luck plays a big part for sure, but in defense of ianwin and octane:

Ianwin: he basically had to be confused where to find me. He was all over the map and had still no intel. The expansion in west russia was overkill, but the only thing that could save him was countering greenland harder.

Octane: if octane gets first pick and misses one or both of west russia/europe, he wins so his strategy was definitely viable, even though we can agree it wasn't his most thought trough game

Nice job!

@Norman picking against a highly skilled player who will only make 3 picks presents some strategic difficulties. If you steal a pick they can be literally anywhere on the board and they have an intel advantage. If you don't steal a pick than you just gave them 3 picks they thought they could win from.

Perhaps Octane's picks were some weird strategy to deal with this conundrum. From my own game with Ianwin, I think that's just how he plays.

but with those 3 picks mod can never go for the best bonuses on the board, since it is likely that the opponent picks the best bonuses too and he ends up with fizzer picks. so in any case, mod will be worse off picks, at least in theory
practically speaking, most people just don't see the best bonuses

Edited 6/29/2020 22:02:07

Do you?

Lol what a legend

@Darkking: I'd like to believe so.

Since I'm still kinda disturbed by this achievement let me look at the games one by one since they aren't too many.


- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22581562 - Elise --> Boot freebie
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22581564 - New.Recruit --> Booot freebie
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22635365 - Nickytuss --> The opponent here should also stick with Fizzer picks
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22635367 - Scandalnavia --> Immediate surrender freebie
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22680441 - JP --> Pretty much a freebie again
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22688482 - raftibaba --> The level 60 opponent hasn't learned yet how to take a bonus turn 2 in a 0 luck game. This kinda invalidates MoDs point that the old ladder was better, at least for the average John Doe.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22694600 - V@n --> The first opponent who actually fights back however still not competitive.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22704569 - Brian the Brave --> MoD gets lucky with his Fizzer pick however the opponent tripple picked in Europe so MoD wouldn't need that lucky pick I guess. Still too bad of an opponent.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22719513 - [NL]Philippe --> Opponents picks were too flawed.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22639523 - Wiredaq --> Opponent also went for Fizzer picks. As for Wiredaq there should be an option to also pick the first 3 picks and random which should lead to a better outcome.

-----
OK, so so far all opponents were very bad. Since the next ones are quite known players they should be better. So far I was relatively surprised at the poor opponent play, I expected more middle tier play like clan league div B or C level. However I haven't seen anything fishy, just plain bad play. Now should come the games which actually surprise me.

- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22729890 - Bigchips147 --> MoD gets his first 3 picks. Bigchips147 hiting Central America is a kind of play which just never works.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22733518 - x --> Finally an opponent who knows what he is doing. However MoD gets his 3 picks and they are very good. Superior 2x5 income and the strong Southeast Asia pick in order to attack the first turn bonus + Europe.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22735521 - schmidt --> One of my old buddies. Too bad that schmidt played this on autopilot else he must have realized turn 5 that his opponent was actually also at 16 income. Maybe this is MoDs secret. He only picks 3 however his opponent also handicap themself by playing on 0 minute autopilot without being capable of doing so.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22746768 - Octance --> First game where I don't see the opponent taking it seriously
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22721861 - Show_No_Mercy --> I guess trying to border the opponent in 2 spots immediately is smart if you risk a bad Fizzer pick. Smart and legitimate win despite the random pick being perfect.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22765047 - NZPhoenix --> Jeah, Japan is the downfall of East Russia and even more if you pair it with East China. MoDs Fizzer pick was lucky however I guess he could have also won with a worse pick.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22769032 - ianwin --> Good picks by MoD. However I don't know about his opponents skill level but opening 3 bonuses parallel seems like a bizarre throw. So far his opponents would do very well if they would stick to my picking guide where I call those picks "hopeplay picks" where you have to guess the opponent direction.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22767103 - Mister Glass --> Mister Glass' pick number 4 is his downfall. The games are starting to get better. Sad that turn 5 Mister Glass didn't just hammer MoD.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22797317 - Tjoex --> Only loss so far. Intersting that here MoD gets his first 3 picks + randomly intercepts the first opponent bonus and still loses.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22756908 - kent --> Boot freebie
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22776386 - Kaerox --> Finally an opponent with reasonable picks + in addition a bad Fizzer pick. However the problem with 3 +3 bonuses is that only 2 +5 bonuses already give more income. I understand kaerox failing to guess where to find MoD. This seems like the best opponent so far, really a sad loss.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22797318 --> Andersault --> Good picks by MoD designed to counter the first turn bonus with superior income the turn you meet. Also a close game, with a reinforcement card comeback from MoD turn 10.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22750389 - ACL Tears --> That's the first game where I have problems understanding MoDs picks. With a bad Fizzer pick he wouldn't have gotten a bonus turn 2. Those picks seem like a wild counter guess to certain opponent picks.
- https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22919092 - DOM365 --> Good picks by MoD and a good Fizzer pick. He has some advantage already after turn 2 with just straight forward play.

-------------------------
So to sum things up:
- Is the run legitimate? --> Apart from the game against Octane I see nobody trying to meme MoD back.
- Was there disgusting Fizzer pick luck involved --> Actually I have to disagree. Sure also in some more close games the random pick was quite lucky however there I could also see MoD winning the game with a worse random pick by playing differently.

So imo MoD has won because of 2 reasons:
- MoDs random pick number 4 often wasn't way worse than his opponents actual pick number 4. His opponents were lacking a winning strategy when placing their 6 picks.
- With me randomly checking some samples each and every opponent from MoD was also meming by trying to set 0 minute speed records. Apparently me looking over each game for about 3 minutes is taking me more actual thinking time than them playing their whole game.

The only really bizarre win for me was the win against Kaerox.

Edited 7/1/2020 01:49:54

What are Fizzer picks? Is it some warzone slang?

Maybe the picks aren't so reasonable if you lose against a wasteland Fizzer pick ;)

Norman, all I can conclude from your analysis is that you discovered the overall skill level of the 1v1 ladder

@berdan it's when you only make the minimum number of picks

and dont get them so you get a random pick..... which is decided by the creator of the page fizzer metaphorically speaking

@berdan131: Fizzer picks are picks randomly assigned by WarLight due to the player not having made the needed amount of picks.

@AI: Well, I needed to bring some order into the chaos. Imo there is quite some stuff to learn, not just from MoDs picks and play but also from his opponents failing to beat him as a collective. For me this is the biggest upset in WarLight history with MoD not really showing the middle finger to the 1v1 ladder but instead to the competitive WarLight scene.

Here some more random thoughts:
- As for the old versus the new ladder, thinking about it. MoDs opponents should be indeed better on the old ladder. This is because the new ladder needs so called "bean counting" which they all refused to do with their 0 minute turn games. In other words the randomness of the old ladder masked how little thoughts players put into their play.

- I haven't looked at the games like really in depth. However I always expect 0 minute turn gamers to make certain mistakes and looking for those mistakes I also see them here.
https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22750389 for example here turn 3. ACL tears knew that he was going first in the cycle so he had to make his big attack on an even turn in order to not waste a delay. Since you can expect your amount of delays to be roughly even with your opponent when you meet him at that stage carefully optimizing your delays can be the game winning move. However did anyone bother about such boring details? I don't think so.

- I really like MoDs picks in the sense that he always knew what to do after making them. Here for example: https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22769032. There was only 1 direction where he had to expect his opponent (Scandinavian Peninsula here). There is always some luck involved when picking and when playing with limited intel. However you have to pick in a way in order to minimize the amount of guesswork you have to do when playing. The exact opposite is Bigchips147 here https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22729890. After getting his picks 1-3 he realized that he was to afraid in order to take 2 of his bonuses which lead to his kind of play in Central America which like always loses you the game. At minimum during the picking stage you have to think about how the game is supposed to play out.

Edited 7/1/2020 13:10:49

Is there anyone else that just feels violated in a weird way? You've got players playing that 1v1 ladder for months and months in the hope to climb it to even be in contention for the top spot.

Then you see Mod just 3 picking and breaking 2400 in the process.


Craziest thing on this game for a very long time.. If not the craziest.