The first games have started. Have fun everyone!

goodluck all except ursus and hunter i hope you guys lose your first games :)

2025 spreadsheet with all data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kv2E-WfMKo4-YqkdHAqvOHMaXN1h94S4vOONnN-hYEs/edit?usp=sharing

That is a lot of data though. For people only interested in current scores, I recommend joining our Discord server and checking out the #scores channel: https://discord.gg/6RrK6sfKTQ

Edited 2025-07-30 19:53:38

Apparently the old Discord invite link I posted didn't work, so here's a new one: https://discord.gg/6RrK6sfKTQ

First round games were created just 8 days ago and exactly 2/3 of them have already finished! That's a very good pace.

But still, some players have 2-3 ongoing games and with next round they will get another 2-3. And that's a lot, so we're sticking to the initial idea of at least 10 days gap between rounds.
Season start was delayed a few days, so we're delaying 2nd round too, to August 6th.

Here are the results so far:

Team | Points | Max Points

Group A

NL B | 10 | 35
FRA B | 9.5 | 32.5
POL D | 6 | 28
ANZ D | 3 | 27

Group B

POL B| 7| 24
ANZ C| 5| 21
HUN | 3| 16

Group C

HIS A| 10| 24
ITA B| 2| 18
CAN B| 2| 16

Group D

USA C| 5| 22
NOR | 3| 21
BEL B| 3| 20

Group E

ANZ B| 5| 23
USA B| 4| 22
NL C | 0| 18

Group F

NL A | 10| 23
USA D| 5| 18
POL C| 1| 15

Group G

HIS B| 7| 20
ITA C| 4| 19
GER B| 4| 18

Group H

BEL A| 4| 24
UK B | 2| 23
ITA D| 0| 19

Most of these groups appear to already have clear favourites to advance.
On the other hand groups C, D and G look very interesting.
However let's not forget that the next template is Aseridith Light Fog, and that's very different gameplay from what we had first round, so things may change easily.
Also let's not forget that while top 2 is enough to advance, winning the group gives better seeding for the next round.

How to join ?

Rex, in the first post of this thread there is a list of team contacts. You need to contact the person responsible for your team, which I assume is France, and ask if there is still place for you :)

The second qualifying round will be created quite soon.
Over 80% of first round games have finished, so let's look at the standings so far with a bit more depth.


Team | Points | Max points

Group A

NL B | 13| 34
FRA B|12.5|32.5
POL D| 6| 27
ANZ D| 3| 23

It seems pretty clear who's gonna qualify from this group. The gap between 2nd and 3th place is huge. But it's very interesting to follow who's gonna win this group. NL B and FRA B are 2:2 in direct games so far, with FRA B being at a slight disadvantage due to a missing player 1st round. But that gets solved now with Phaeril joining the competition.

The battle for 3rd place isn't useless either. It always helps to have better seeding next year. POL D seem like favourites here, with 3:0 in direct games against ANZ D.

Group B

POL B| 8| 24
ANZ C| 5| 20
HUN | 3| 16

POL B looking very comfortable with 8 wins and no losses.
Hungary are in a bit of a trouble, but still nothing that a good second round couldn't solve.
ANZ C sandwiched between them. I could see them winning the group. But it's also not impossible that they don't qualify at all.

Group C

HIS A| 12| 24
ITA B| 4| 16
CAN B| 2| 14

Hispanics actually finished all their Q1 games, and they got a perfect record! 12:0! Even Switzerland last year lost one game at this stage. They are also the first team to officially qualify! Congrats. What's left is to fight for the best possible seeding next round.

The fight for 2nd place is very close, with ITA B just now getting a bit ahead of CAN B both in current points and max points.

Group D

USA C| 6| 21
NOR | 4| 20
BEL B| 3| 20

It's one of these more balanced groups! These are fun to follow. USA C a bit ahead, BEL B a bit behind, but still everything can happen. Especially with these templates. Second round is a totally different thing than 1st round and may favor different players.

NOR appears to be one of the very few well seeded teams that are at risk of missing qualification.

Group E

USA B| 8| 22
ANZ B| 5| 20
NL C | 0| 17

If we were to totally believe in the seeding system, then USA B is the strongest team playing in these qualifiers, while ANZ B is the weakest team from the 2nd bracket. But it doesn't look like this at all. ANZ B is still seriously fighting for 1st place. Meanwhile, NL C is still trying to score their first point.

Group F

NL A | 10| 22
USA D| 6| 18
POL C| 2| 14

Another group with all Q1 games finished and another group with one team dominating, although not to the same extent as Hispanics.
USA D is definitely putting up pressure, while The Forbidden Koala from POL C is letting his team organiser know that he belongs at least in team B, if not even A, scoring against both the above teams.

Group G

HIS B| 7| 20
ITA C| 4| 19
GER B| 4| 18

Another balanced group, perhaps the most balanced of them all.
HIS B are ahead despite booting 2 games. They look like a safe bet but you never know.

GER B is looking a bit underwhelming though. Germany has always been fielding superb secondary teams. Last year three of their teams qualified, while GER D only missed qualification by a tie-break, and that was losing to Belgium and Canada who in the end both finished top 10.

Group H

BEL A| 6| 23
UK B | 4| 22
ITA D| 0| 17

​Speaking of Belgium, they are on their way to qualify as well. As quarterfinalists from previous season you could call them the only team of this calibre in the entire qualifiers. However, they didn't have that great results before 2024, so they need to prove that it wasn't just a one-off. Looking good so far!

Last season UK B qualified, knocking out ITA C. So it's not a huge surprise seeing them lead over ITA D. But, yet again, anything can happen. In this group or in any other group.

Except for Hispanics missing qualification. That's the only thing that can't happen anymore :)

Edited 2025-08-06 15:36:10

Fun fact: Germany B has won Nations Cup once, making it the only B team to ever win the competition.

USA is going to sub all of its A players to D and make ours the first D team winner now that you said that

Needless to say that any such accomplishment would be meaningless if done by purposefully downgrading better players to lower teams.

In that season, Germany B overtook Germany A by a game thrown out of anger in the latter team, leading it to draw France A and lose half a point.

This was one of the outcomes that has lead to an elimination stage being introduced in Nations Cup, because without that, there was little evidence which team of the top few performed best, and many had not matched one another.

not sure any country has ever gotten in 4 teams. i do know no team is close this year. go usa! :)

The most interesting fun fact imo is that we're already playing the 7th season of Nations' Cup and no team has won more than once.

Two thirds of all qualifying games are completed, including almost all the first round games. And out of 16 qualifying spots, 9 are already taken. I feel that there's surprisingly few questions remaining, especially when compared to these very close battles last season.

Team | Points | Max points

Group A

NL B | 25 | 34 - qualified
FRA B| 21.5 | 28.5 - qualified
POL D| 11.5 | 18.5 - third place
ANZ D| 4 | 11 - fourth place

No big surprises here. The B teams qualify, the D teams don't. What's left is the fight for 1st place, with NL B having bigger advantage everytime I make an update.

Group B

POL B| 15 | 23 - qualified
ANZ C| 10 | 17 - qualified
HUN | 6 | 9 - third place

Very good effort from the Hungarians. Got a couple good wins, but it wasn't enough to advance. Hope to see you next year!
POL B is looking very solid this season with only 1 loss so far. Only HIS A have fewer.
ANZ C enter the top 24 for the first time in history. They even managed to qualify before ANZ B. Curious to see how well they're gonna do.

Group C

HIS A| 16 | 24 - qualified, group winner
ITA B| 6 | 15
CAN B| 2 | 9

HIS A are untouchable. 16 wins, 0 losses.
ITA B have a solid advantage over CAN B. It will be tough to turn this around.

Group D

USA C| 13 | 20
NOR | 7 | 18
BEL B| 4 | 14

The only group where noone yet qualified. Theoretically everyone can still finish in any position. Realistically though, USA C have a huge lead.
The gap between NOR and BEL B is much closer. A difference of 3 games, with 7 games still remaining between these teams. Tough, but not impossible.

Group E

USA B| 14 | 22 - qualified
ANZ B| 8 | 16
NL C | 1 | 11

At this point I will be massively surprised to see any position changes here.

Group F

NL A | 15 | 21 - qualified, group winner
USA D| 8 | 15
POL C| 3 | 10

The Dutch are dominating this group like expected while the Americans are close to having all their 4 teams advance.
POL C managed to snipe a few wins, they might snipe a few more but that's probably it.

Group G

HIS B| 12 | 18 - qualified
GER B| 9 | 14
ITA C| 7 | 12

The most interesting group!
HIS B can't fall to 3rd place anymore, but they very much can fall down to 2nd if they're not careful.
GER B are looking somewhat comfortable while ITA C are definitely still in the game, but they really need to get these 2 remaining wins against the German team. No pressure.

Group H

BEL A| 14 | 22 - qualified
UK B | 7 | 18
ITA D| 2 | 11

No thriller this time, BEL A qualify very easily.
I don't expect any changes here. Doesn't help that ITA D got 4 nonjoins this season, split among 3 players.

---

Looks like we will actually stick to the schedule this time! The first games of the next stage are planned to start in 2 weeks, on August 24th. Everything is detailed in the opening post of this thread. The first template's going to be French Brawl Normal Fog.

Edited 2025-08-11 20:00:36

The qualifiers are over! For the most part.
The placements won't change anymore. We know all 8 group winners and all 8 group runner-ups. So all the 16 teams that advance.
There are still a couple of games left that might influence the seeding for the next round.
And the next round will start according to the schedule, so August 24th on French Brawl Normal Fog. Don't forget to make substitutions if you need them!

Team | Points | Max points

Group A

NL B | 31 | 31
FRA B| 27.5 | 27.5
POL D| 14.5 | 14.5
ANZ D| 4 | 4

NL B win the group.
FRA B are the best performing runner up, without even a single loss to the lower ranked teams! And a couple wins against NL B as well.

Group B

POL B | 20 | 20
ANZ C | 12 | 12
HUN | 8 | 8

Hungary wasn't that far from qualifying at all. Only 4 points, that's 2 direct games against ANZ C. Considering that they signed up last minute, with only 4 players, and had boot problems... that's impressive. They have potential to qualify next time.

Group C

HIS A| 21 | 21
ITA B| 10 | 11
CAN B| 4 | 5

HIS A did lose some games in the end, mostly to boots, but they still have the best win rate of all the teams in these qualifiers.
ITA B advance, congrats!

Group D

USA C| 16 | 20
NOR | 10 | 14
BEL B| 6 | 10

USA C are the only C team that managed to win their group, congrats!
Nordics advance from the second place, congrats as well!
And good effort by BEL B, being in the race up until now. The last team to get eliminated.

Group E

USA B| 17| 19
ANZ B| 13| 14
NL C | 4| 5

No surprises since the last update.

Group F

NL A | 19| 20
USA D| 12| 13
POL C| 4| 4

POL C did in fact manage to snipe another win.

Group G

HIS B| 16| 16
GER B| 11| 12
ITA C| 8| 9

HIS B are the worst scoring group winner, but who cares in the end? They win the group.
GER B manage to grab the promotion spot while ITA C, just like last season, miss the promotion after a close battle.

Group H

BEL A| 18 | 20
UK B | 12 | 16
ITA D| 3 | 5

Belgians win their group, congrats.
A good streak by UK B and they advance as well!

We know the 24 teams that will participate in the next stage and how they are seeded:

1st bracket: FRA A - USA A - ITA A - GER A
2nd bracket: POL A - UK A - ANZ A - CAN A
3rd bracket: HIS A - POL B - BEL A - NL A
4th bracket: NL B - USA B - USA C - HIS B
5th bracket: FR B - UK B - ANZ B - USA D
6th bracket: GER B - ANZ C - NOR A - ITA B

There will be 4 groups with 6 teams each. Top 2 advance to the quarterfinals.

We plan to do the livestream again. Friday, around 7.30 pm CET, so a little under 24 hours time from the moment of this message.
https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/fight?iso=20250822T1930&p0=262&msg=Nations'+Cup+2025+Livestream&font=cursive&csz=1

Update: actually, the Friday stream won't happen. We'll try to move it to Sunday and perhaps postpone the game creation for a day or so.

The stream is over! The recording can be watched on min's channel: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2548703564

And here are the draw results:

Group A:

ITA A
CAN A
BEL A
USA C
ANZ B
NOR

Group B:

GER A
UK A
POL B
USA B
FRA B
ITA B

Group C:
FRA A
ANZ A
HIS A
NL B
USA D
GER B

Group D:
USA A
POL A
NL A
HIS B
UK B
ANZ C

As always, all the information is on the official spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kv2E-WfMKo4-YqkdHAqvOHMaXN1h94S4vOONnN-hYEs/edit?usp=sharing

Edited 2025-08-24 19:20:17

The video is now also available on Youtube: https://youtu.be/YXrOj0yEs6w

As a player of HIS B, i proclaim we will be trying to follow the almighty germany B's example!

I missed having to die in every championship against ursus. Maybe i can get a chance to relive the past? Maybe... i can achieve the powers to CHANGE the past? stay tuned!