fyi - gak has retired and was talking about maybe forfeiting his place in the AWP Tour Finals.

i've not heard from him on discord for a month, and not seen in this game for over 20 days. you could maybe try contacting him via DM on discord?

I have made contact with Gak on Discord. I am here to announce that “Just Gak” has officially chosen to forfeit his semifinal match.

This means Phaeril will be advancing to the Grand Finals! A huge congratulations to our first Grand Finalist!!!

Tornado is now leading 3-1 against Rak. Rak must win the last 3 games.

The first template he has to win on is Landria. Nado is the 2021 Landria champion and is one of the templates he handpicked from the pool expansion.

If Rak beats him on Landria he gets to play his own pick, which is French Brawl. Problem is that Nado is the double defending champ on FB. 😅

Finally, if he makes it this far, a decider will be on Biomes. Nado is the 2020 champ, but a couple weeks ago the 2023 Biomes tourney finished and Rak came 2nd in that.

An uphill battle for Rak. Can he start a rally, beat the GOAT, and make it a fully French Finale? Or will Tornado close it out and continue his run to win his third Tour Final in a row?

The Grand Finale pick and ban phase has ended. Our two competitors are Tornado and Phaeril. Let me tell you about these fine fellas.

Tornado
The GOAT of tournaments! Why? Well, let me give you the rundown of Tornado’s World Tour history.

Tornado first joined the World Tour in April of 2019 when he signed up to play the second Grand Slam of the year, Blitzkrieg Bork. He would win the first three rounds then faced his first elite opponent in Timinator, who proceeded to unceremoniously destroy Tornado in 2 turns, before going on to win his 12th Tour tourney and 2nd Gland Slam! The rookie got schooled by the vet, but this kid was not the type to become inTimidated. He’s the type to get back up, dust himself off, crack his knuckles, and dive back into the deep end.

Tornado would not make it past the 3rd round in his next 11 tournaments, but then, in September, Ekstone would launch a tournament that would signify the beginning of a new era, and would change the landscape of competitive Warzone forever.
https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer/Tournament?ID=30707

It wouldn’t be until 5 months later, amidst the peak panic of an emerging global pandemic, that the tournament would finish, and Tornado would emerge victorious, claiming his first ever Tour victory. Two months later, he would hold another trophy. One significantly more important than his first.

On April 20th 2020, Tornado won the first Grand Slam of the year on Biomes. He would go on to win 4 more titles that year, reach the semis of 2 other Grand Slams, and finish the 2020 season 1st on the World Tour rankings. That meant that in the Tour Finals of 2021, he had the ability to pick his opponents for every round. Who’d he pick for round 2? None other than Timi! And boy had predator and prey shifted! Because by this time, Tornado had established himself as an Army Cap guru and became such a threat that Timi chose to ban the template that he beat Nado on 2 years prior: Blitzkrieg Bork.

Timi lost on Timid Lands, the template he developed and popularised. Nado lost on Biomes, the template on which he won a Grand Slam. That would be the only game he’d lose that series. He’d lose just once in the next round vs Octane, then swept the finals vs jimmy 6-0, winning the Tour Finals of 2021. An outstanding accomplishment to cap off Tornado’s first full year on the Tour. Surely he couldn’t top it, right?

In 2021 Tornado won a staggering 11 tournaments! He did in a year what only 6 had done in the previous five years. He outscored his 2020 performance by 1000 points, finished 1st on the rankings and again picked Timi for the second round, in which Timi would forfeit after getting pummelled in just 2 matches. Tornado would win the Tour Finals for a second year running. This time, he didn’t lose a single game doing so. The sky’s the limit for this man, and surely, we must have reached the sky, right? This is the peak performance one can pull off, no? No. For 2022 would become the year Tornado broke the Tour.

In the year prior, Tornado didn’t win any Grand Slams. Well, winning a 128 player tournament, chockablock full of the best in the world, with an ever-present element of luck always ready to end a run, is a monumental achievement! It makes complete sense that only two players had multiple Grand Slam victories. Beep Jeep AI guy and kicorse both had, and still have, a total of 2 Slams that were accumulated over the course of 6 years. Well, Tornado won 3 Grand Slams… in a SINGLE YEAR!!!! He also won another 3 Masters 1000 tournaments as well as 5 other minor tournaments, matching his 11 wins from the year prior, but getting the victories on more competitive and important tourneys. Tornado ended 2022 with an 88% win rate and 50% more points than he had in the already domineering 2021 season.

And that brings us to now. Tornado has plowed his way through the Tour Finals yet again, losing just a single game to Rak on his journey to the Grand Finals. That gives him a total record of 36 wins and 3 losses in the last 3 Tour Finals. Now let me introduce the man who has the massive task of beating him 6 times in 11 games…

Phaeril
A bloke who’s been around since the inception of the Tour in 2016, and long before it. When the Tour first began, Phaeril had won the French League 9 times in 24 editions.

Phae would start slow on the Tour, joining 7 tournaments in 2016 and only winning 3 games. But in 2017 he’d get his first taste of success, coming 2nd in a 250 Series on Commanders, though he’d score more points by making the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000 tournament on the first edition of Elitist Africa. The latter Phae had experience on from a Top 10 finish on the Seasonal Ladder and also from playing it in S27 of the French League. As for the former, it came as quite a shock. Phae was certainly not known as a Commander player.

Phae would then not join a single World Tour event for 2 years. In fact, he left Warzone completely to focus on balancing his job as well as finishing his PhD. Then 2020 began. The world was thrown into chaos. Amidst the chaos, Phae would choose to return to the game he loved. The first tournament he joined after returning, was ironically on a template of my home county, Australia. Even more ironically, he would lose his first game to Alexclusive just 4 days before Tornado would win his first title against Alex.

2020 was a year for Phae to get rid of the rust and cobwebs. He’d join 16 tournament and win 16 games, with his best result being a run to the semis of a 250 Series on Tor-ture.

In 2021 he would join his highest scoring tournament even to this day. The Frenchman would join the French Brawl Masters 1000 tournament in August, the 3rd Grand Slam of the year. Come November, the tournament would be over and Phae would finish 2nd. He beat 6 great players then lost to the greatest on the final hurdle. I hear your thoughts. You’re thinking, “The greatest? But doesn’t that mean…” That’s right! Phaeril and Tornado met for the first time on the Tour in a championship game!
https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=28682301

Now, let’s talk about his path to the Tour Finals. 2022. Phae hit the ground sprinting. His second tournament he joined that year, Timid Land (500 Series), he won. He then finished Top 4 in the 2nd Masters 1000 tournament of the year, Elitist Africa. Then a top 8 in the 2nd Grand Slam of the year, Strat ME, which, guess who he lost to? That’s right! Tornado! Who would go on to win the Slam as one of his 2022 trifectas.

Unfortunately, Phae ran out of steam quickly and couldn’t win another, but he’d achieve a plethora of other good results, such as finishing Top 4 in a couple 500’s and a Top 8 in a 1000. He’d join half the tournaments that year and win 54 games. Only 5 players would win more games than him that year with a better win rate (Wini, Samwise, Rak, Timi & Nado).

Phaeril qualified for the Tour Finals with the 9th seed. The 5th seed, Wini, picked him as an opponent for round 1. A decision he would quickly come to regret as Phae swept him 2-0. He then went on to face Lepanto in the quarters. He swept him 3-0. He was set to face Gak in the semis, but Gak retired and gave Phae a golden ticket into…

The GRAND FINAL!!! The biggest stage in Warzone! Tornado, the GOAT! vs Phaeril, France’s Finest! With all the Best of 11’s being created for fun and memes, there is not a single series that can hold a candle to the 11 games that these gentlemen will go through. Will David dethrone the 2 time defending champion after such a historic season? Or will Goliath once more prove to the Warzone community that he is multiple levels above everyone else? The Grand Finale of the Tour Finals begins… NOW!!!

GAME 1 - Belarus
https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=35888891

GAME 2 - Blitzkrieg Bork
https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=35888892

Edited 10/15/2023 22:56:58

Great write-up Texx - thank you!

Good luck to both finalists!

Hear hear! Thank you so much for organizing!

France’s Finest Phaeril is some great alliteration

Thanks again for all this organization!

tornado said, he will join usb if he lose^^

go phaeril!!!!

wow this is cool! go phaeril 🙌

Time for a Grand Final update!

Game 1:
Phaeril wins on Belarus comfortably with a deadly cluster pick ftb. A weighted random template, so he still had to win two 3v2’s to capture the +4. After that, he would leverage his extra income to split defend a triple border and eventually build an unassailable army advantage and trounce Tornado on his top template.

Game 2:
…Bork. Fun to watch. Nerve-racking to play. Unless your name is Tornado, then it all comes down to precise maths and accurate predictions.

Though he got outpicked, Nado was able to hold off Phae’s attempted recapture of a broken bonus, always by 1 army. Coincidence? I think not.

On turn 5, Phae failed to force his way through and was left with a bunch of leftovers, crippling his income and flexibility for a turn. That turn was all Nado needed.

Game 3:
Tor-ture. And it truly was… for one of our competitiors. 😅

First, Phae made 6 picks… there’s 4 spawns! That error would come into play, as Nado would steal two picks and they’d fight over Phae’s last pick for their 4th spawn. A 50/50 based on move order to decide if he’d get a random spawn. Phae won the coin flip!

The beauty of Weighted Random would then come into play, as by Turn 3, Nado would proceed lose an extra army on 7 of the 8 attacks he made AND lose both 3v2s he tried! Costing him a total of 4 armies and another 4 income from failing to capture a +4 due to the aforementioned failed 3v2. Fortunately for Nado, the Dice Gods weren’t just angry at him, as Phae would ALSO fail a 3v2 to complete his +4 on T3.

What I didn’t mention was that these two picked the same 1/2 picks. Those 1/2 picks were right next to each other. Phae on T1 smashed Nado and stole his spawn. This would hamper his short term income, but long term it’d benefit him. Nado failing the 3v2 on the +4 basically equalised things immediately and Phae was simply left with an extra bonus to efficiently capture. That would make the difference as they only met on T6. Ample time for Phae to capture the extra bonus and consolidate.

They spread for 5, brawled for 6, then the game ended after 11 turns. The winner: Phaeril. He’d finish with 13 more cumulative luck than Tornado. So maybe the real winner in this one were the neutrals!

Game 4:
The Dice Gods giveth and the Dice Gods Taketh.

Game 4 was Strat ME. Phae goes for Greenland in 2 and fails a 3v2. Nado takes Antarctica on T2, then… he forgets it’s Strat ME??? On T3 the guy full deploys to try and take Australia with FOUR 3v2s AND Norway with another 3v2. He succeed on… ALL of them!!!! WHAT?! I guess fortune really does favour the bol- actually, no! This bastard isn’t bold! He’s just crazy! 😂

From there Nado brute forces his way into Greenland via Svalbard and ties up the series 2-2, with both players winning their opponent’s top 2 template picks.

more coming soon…

Edited 12/28/2023 02:36:23

Game 5
Phaeril booted. He was busy over the weekend that the game was launched and regrets not activating vacation mode.
Phae said, “This boot hurts my morale... I thought I had time on Monday morning at worst, but no.”
Win #3 for Tornado.


Game 6
Timid land. Phaeril had no info on picks. Tornado had a strong start and left the challenger scrambling to recover. Phae eventually levelled the income, but Nado still had a huge lead in army count. Phae fixed this problem by activating a trap on T10. Tornado would activate his own trap on T12, taking the advantage once more. Nado used the army advantage to bridged over to Phae’s bonus, breaking it and distracting him in the West whilst flanking him from the East, slowly and methodically dismantling his position. A 20 turn thriller.
Win #4 for Tornado.

Game 7
Georgia AC. I’m no expert, but it seems to me that Phae not covering an important double pick +4 and being forced to take Nado’s threatening spawn, allowed Nado to snowball his income and steamroll Phae from bother the East and the West.
Win #5 for Tornado.

Game 8
Strat Greece. A short and sweet one. Nado gets his #1 pick stolen and then gets his next 5. Limited info causes him to fight ghosts, totally misplacing his armies. With less income, all spawned-in bonuses compromised, and a stack out of position, Nado threw a hail mary hoping that Phae didn’t attack him. Phae attacked him and broke his +4. Game over.
Win #3 for Phaeril.

Game 9
Elitist Africa. Phae had a very strong start, but failed to capitalise and remove Tornado from the centre. Instead he decided to spread. Tornado used the extra time to take income, manoeuvre into a double border on Phae’s fragile maroon bonus. Nodo then makes an incredibly blod prediction that Phae won’t deploy a single troop to his 11 stack. And guess what? He was dead on! Nado full deploys and attacks the 11 with 18. BOOM!!! He bursts through Phae’s defences on the very first chance. Phae simply cannot recover and Nado rips apart his cluster from within.
Win #6 for Tornado.
That means…

TORNADO WINS THE TOUR FINALS!!!!!!

Tornado three-peats. Retaining the crown for the third year in a row. Long live the King of the World Tour!

Congrats champ!

Congratulations, tornado!

Congratulations!

Thank you

Congratulation Tornado! You deserve it!

Congratulations and well played!

Congrats!! 3 times is insane