[BladeCast - Match Preview] Semi-Finals - Division A & B

[Tardet]

About two months after the Nations Cup 2019 ended, which saw France triumphs over North America in a back and forth grand-final, the attention of the native scene has already turned towards the next and most likely final step before Bannelord Early Access release. From all sides of the community, clans have assembled, old alliances been reforged and new powerhouses created, with for ultimate goal the trophy of the legendary Warband Native League.

Long-awaited, Warband's most storied competition has made its return this February 2020 to write the eighth and potentially final chapter of a legacy which lasted almost an entire decade, defining some of the greatest moments ever witnessed in the competitive scene. Brought to you by the mythical quintette of administrator made of Aeronwen, Bullez, Deacon, Dyktator & Scar, the Warband Native League 8 will be one very last chance for bladers to write their names in the history of the warband community and ascend as ultimate champions.

Such an amazing competition deserve only the best coverage and that's why we will once more dedicate ourselves to bring you as much content as possible in order to make this tournament one to be remembered. What's to be written next, lays in your hands. So sharpen your sword, hold tight to your shield ... and bring it on!

​

-Edric's Interview | Dayne (Released) -Krzyzak's Interview | Starks (Released) - huN's Interview | Doner (Released)​

- To be added​

- Promotion Week (Div A & B)​

The promotion matches witnessed a couple of surprises in both Division A and B and similar upsets were replicated in the pre quarter-finals and actual quarter-finals. Doner, for instance, carried on with the amazing form they had shown in Division B by beating nWo in the promotion match and qualified for the playoffs of Division A. Going against Unity in the quarter-final, however, the gap proved too much to handle as they couldn't do much against one of top three favourites of Division A. In the other quarter-final of Division A, Starks took their revenge against FTW at the best possible moment and knocked them out thanks to a dominating performance from their whole squad.

Yet, it was in Division B that the most tantalizing upsets happened. After having dispatched the Yummy Senate squad without too much trouble, Warbandits were considered as favourites going against the Assyrian Empire, which hadn't been able to accomplish much during the first part of the tournament. However, Zach and his men showed a completely different face in that pre quarter-final match. Both teams fought tooth and naith and we had to wait till overtime to see Assyrian Empire edge out the win in what will certainly goes down as one of the craziest matches of this WNL. Driven by this success and despite the fatigue, Assyrian Empire managed to cruise through House Dayne just an hour after that match, qualifying for the semi-final of Division B in a fashion not many would have expected.

On the other side of Division B, Rivia and Fallen Pride's match-up seemed to be equally tense as FP only managed to prevail in the very last set, clutching a narrow win against the Frenchmen, 8-7. Hursty' squad carried that momentum onto their next match against nWo, a few days later, in another back and forth encounter which could only be decided on Winterburg. Menace made quick work of Defender of Faith in their own quarter-final, only to be disqualified due to a rule-break. In the last quarter-final of Division B, Invictus Legion defeated Belediye Şövalyeleri in quite the one-sided fashion, 12-2.

 

[Tardet]

Reserved.

 

[Tardet]

​

	Division A Semi-Final A​
Frontline Tactics​		House Stark​

Infantries​	Cavalries​	Rangers​		Rangers	Cavalries	Infantries
Charlini Gibby Janczar eRRoR Varadin	​ SirAlecks Gibby Ciiges Janczar	Apollo Kiano Samu		ReD_WaR Meldo	Aela Azorekt Sikici Krzyzak Leonidas	ONeil Zulu Zoyka Longinus Scarta Einar Sleeper

​

With the Knights of Malta taking on Unity, the other semi-final has to be decided between Frontline Tactics and House Stark. FT reformed themselves for this tournament, as they were last spotted for the Warband Winter Cup, which they lost only to Dopey in the grand-final. Though their roster has obviously changed since then, players which have contributed to turning FT into the juggernaut it is now known as still continue to wear that banner. Ciiges, SirAlecks, Gibby and Charlini makes for the most of that old FT core and will be looking at adding another trophy under their belts. Filling the gaps left open by the departure of Peter and Scar was no easy task and for that, the team went heavy on the recruitment, with 6 players added to the FT roster, none of them having previously represented the team in an official tournament. Though this massive addition of 'new' players (none of them being exactly new to native) made some question wherever or not FT still had this capacity to hold on to its reputation, it was still indisputable that they would be one of the favourites of Division A.

The ladder stage ended-up confirming that, with FT only drawing to Unity (another favourite in Division A) in an intense battle. Winning all other their other three matches,s they took the first seed of their division, ensuring themselves an arguably easier match in the semi-final, with the two other top teams having two faces eachothers earlier on. If some doubted them at the beginning of the tournament, there was hardly any more questions about FT being capable to play for the title after the massively dominant performance they have shown in the early stage on this tournament. Tonight, Charlini's men will be looking at qualifying for the fifth grand-final in the team's history and will go facing the Division A newcomer, House Stark.

Because yes, despite the indisputable skill and experience of its players, House Stark still is pretty new to that level of competition and for that reason, they will be going into this match with the clear status of underdog. Lead by Krzyzak, a part of that roster has already played together in the past, their captain himself being one of the oldest players in the tournament as he played under the WV banner, back in the early days of Warband. But for another large part, they were added to this roster for the WNL8 and due to the quality of these additions, that's precisely why the tournament organisation deemed them worthy of Division A.

House Stark knew this would be no easy task for them to go against some of the very best players left in the scene yet they accepted this new challenge as they probably saw in that opportunity a real chance to test their skills against the toughest opposition there is. House Stark knew that to qualify directly for the playoffs in Division A, they would have to beat Ferocious Trident Wielders and the New Warband Order. For their opening match, they were actually placed against FTW and though the victory looked within their reach, FTW triumphed in the end, 9-7. Against nWo, the team also had to battle hard but this time their efforts were rewarded as they were able to secure a close win, 8-7. Unfortunately for them, upsetting Unity and Malta was asking a lot to the team, with the skill gap appearing a bit too clearly in those two matches and the scoreline being consequently heavy, 3-12 both time.

They finished second to last in Division A and were forced to go through the promotion & relegation matches. In this match, they were placed against the new sensation in Division B, House Dayne, yet very quickly it appeared obvious as to why they didn't really belong to Division B, smashing Edric's team without too much effort 10,5. Now that it was clearly established that Starks did indeed belong to Division A, the only question left was how far could they go in this knockout stage. In the quarter-finals, they met again with FTW in a much-awaited rematch of the ladder stage. This time, however, there was no 'match' so to speak as Starks cruised through without showing any sign of struggle, making the final scoreline even heavier than against House Dayne.

In that sense, this match against FTW comforted Starks in this position of 4th best team in the WNL, which is nothing short of an accomplishment. Realistically speaking, however, it's hard to imagine them being able to play on the same level as the other three top teams, especially since House Stark showed their limits against Unity and Malta earlier on in the tournament. So what are the silver linings for them coming into that match? First, the addition of Zoyka - and latter on - of ONeil, undoubtedly boosted the team's overall firepower in their infantry department. Then, their victory against FTW must have been a huge morale boost as it clearly showed Stark had reached a new level in the competition. Last, the excellent form of Aela, ReD_WaR and Azorekt and the capacity of several of their other players to perform can only bring confidence to that team.

FT is a mountain of skill and experience, but one that can be climbed. Other teams did it in the past, though they are obviously not legion. Will House Stark manages the impossible and for many of its players, reach the first grand-final of a major native tournament or will FT preserve their status of heavy favorite? The answer is tonight at 20:30GMT on TheCardboardBox's twitch channel.

​

 

[Tardet]

​

	Division A Semi-Final B​
Knights of Malta​		Unity​

Infantries​	Cavalries​	Rangers​		Rangers	Cavalries	Infantries
bullez Demivar Eder Apfel	​ Carpediem Mace Watly normanguy	XerXes Habrak Toi		Caius Paulo Maximou Matt	LaPache Alex Brian Thorr Surkan	Thorr Brian Anchor Habimana LaPache Caius

With three teams clearly standing at the top of Division A, we knew it was inevitable two of them would clash in the semi-final. Faith has it that one of the two grand-final spots will be decided between the Knights of Malta and Unity and though it's hard to imagine one of these team not making the full run, it gives us a tantalizing match-up to look at.

​

 

[Tardet]

​

	Division B Semi-Final A​
Fallen Pride​		Invictus Legion​

Infantries​	Cavalries​	Rangers​		Rangers	Cavalries	Infantries
Klassy Dave Hursty Strand TabY GI	SnowBlind​ Dave Hursty Strand EpicPizza	Retamar Veste Alyss		eXt_kill Nazgulus	Keykubat Rexxar Rothen Harman	KaRaTak Popowicz Ari Harman Rexxar BlackDevil

​

Fallen Pride has now established itself as a regular participant in the native competitive tournaments and coming into this WNL8, they were definitely part of the teams capable to make a deep run in Division B. Their tournament didn't start under the best omens however as they drew against Senate then lost against MoB in the first two weeks of the ladder stage. Such a start could have been a point of no return for many teams with competitive ambitions in the WNL but Hursty and his men held tight and got rewarded for it in the third week, defeating BLD yet without comforting themselves too much as they prevailed by the smallest of margin, 8-7. Interestingly enough, the last week of the ladder stage saw them going against Invictus Legion, which the polish team won, 10-6. Nevertheless, FP managed to avoid relegations and went-on to fight Rivia in the pre quarter-finals of Division B, which once again proved to be a difficult match for Hursty and his boys. They survived to fight another day however and in their actual quarter-final, they were matched against the New Warband Order, which had been having a tough time in Division A and was looking to redeem themselves in the division below. Unfortunately for them, that's when FP truly came alive and after a back and forth affair which went to overtime, Fallen Pride managed to clutch the win, qualifying themselves for the semi-finals.

Despite FP's early struggles in the WNL8 and their consecutive wins on the edge, beating nWo was an important statement to make. There is a world of difference between winning a close match against Rivia and one against nWo. The fact it happened in that order especially is going to boost FP's morale and that was definitely something they needed, going against the likes of Invictus Legion.

It's their first participation in the WNL but it appeared very quickly that the team lead by Rothen and Popowicz had the potential to shake things up in Division B. Despite a good opening match against Men of Borr however, IL was unable to capitalize on their early success and was defeated during the second week by House Dayne. This could have been an acceptable loss if going into the third week, they hadn't been a victim of Doner's rise, ending-up facing the two best teams of Division B (during the ladder stage) back to back. Going into the fourth week, IL was able to stabilize themselves however by beating FP on a relatively close scoreline (10-6) and that's something they will be looking at replicating in this semi-final. Their previous match last week in the quarter-final was a heavily one-sided result against BLD and if anything, this should reinforce IL's trust in their abilities to lock a match under their control.

Both teams have played quite their share of matches in this WNL yet this one might be the most important thus far. Though FP recent wins have all been close and tense, it certainly must have reinforced the bounds of a group which for the most part, has already been playing together for quite some time. I believe that in that regards, being the most united and disciplined team will be key for FP as they can't expect to solely rely on individualities to carry them through that match. With that being said, Veste and Klassy's excellent form in this tournament will have to continue as the fire-power both these players can bring is simply astonishing. They will find their match in eXt_kill, the Ukrainian sniper, who currently is having one of the best individual performance across all three WNL divisions and will be expected to tip the scales in his team's favor. But realistically speaking, we are looking at a match-up where all twenty players are accomplished, skilled and hungry players and that's why Fallen Pride vs Invictus Legion should be a banging semi-final.

 

[Tardet]

​

	Division B Semi-Final B​
Assyrian Empire​		Defenders of Faith​

Infantries​	Cavalries​	Rangers​		Rangers	Cavalries	Infantries
Zach Fietta Horace Magnus MouS	Magnus Zach Spada Haakon ​	Maxxxio royal Horace Glaz		Kane Violet SuperNova Berta	Erminas Viglaf Krex Kane Para Earendil	Krex Ganni Verdi WhiteNoise Hansworst ​

​

The presence of Defenders of Faith in this semi-final will certainly raise interest as the team benefited from Menace's rule break in order to qualify onto the next stage. With that being said, it would be unfair to rule them out simply due to their performance against Menace since Erminas and his men have had a decent ladder stage, only losing to Menace and House Dayne in arguably close matches while being the only team in Division B able to keep Doner in check.

Defender of Faith will be able to rely on their ever large and constant roster and some of the additions made for this tournament definitely improved the team's overall firepower. Going against an Assyrian Empire team which was definitely not expected to make it that far, Defender of Faith has a real card to play in order to reach this grand-final. While their presence in the semi-final is already quite a decent performance on its own for a team not many had in their top four early in the competition (and certainly not OGL!), making it to the final of an extremely stacked Division B would be nothing short of an accomplishment for the oldest team in the competition.

For that, however, they will have to face the Assyrian Empire, which if not for their acronym similar to an old legendary team, have peaked at the best possible moment and will be going into this match with confidence brought by their last two match-ups. In that sense, there is absolutely no denying that the momentum will be on Assyrian side as Defender of Faith's last match wasn't exactly conclusive, so to speak.

The Assyrian Empire can rely on a mix of veterans (mostly former Wonwokies) who seem to have taken off the rust from their blades and should be the key in that encounter. The likes of Spada, Fietta, Zach and Maxxxio combined should prove very hard for DoF to handle and only a collective response will be able to give them a possible edge, with players like Ganni, Verdi, Kane or Violet fully capable to put up a fight against them, if on a good day. Nevertheless, I think it's fair to say Assyrian Empire is favourite in that match-up and even though you should never take DoF out, I expect Zach and his boys to make the best of that match and qualify for the grand final.

 

[Tardet]

The scenery part, as well as three of the semi-finals, will be posted either later tonight or tomorrow. Due to Assyrian Empire vs Defender of Faith being played tonight, I will try to post a preview of their match in the following hour. Can't promise anything though.

I am not a big fan of that format of preview (four in one) but it's the best compromise I've found to avoid repeating myself, breaking down each match-up. What's coming up for next week, however, should be much much better and definitely worthy of a WNL grand-final. I can't wait to share it with you guys.

 

[Tardet]

Assyrian Empire vs Defender of Faith write up is done btw.

 

[KaneMaB]

Nice one mate, another very cool read! Can't wait for the other ones to be published!

 

[tipex]

Amazed of your work as always

 

[Tardet]

Amazed of your work as always

You better watch out for next week mate then. <3 Thank you both.

 

[Tardet]

Fallen Pride vs Invictus Legion updated. Knights of Malta vs Unity coming-up next. Frontline Tactics vs House Stark to be published tomorrow.

Edit: Seems like I made a little oupsie with FP vs IL preview, I will try to get it back-up asap.

I will skip the maps description for this week as I am short on time and realistically speaking, it does not bring much value except for a couple of new players, at best.

 

[Roth3n]

Sick job Tardet!

 

[Tardet]

Sick job Tardet!

For what's going to be an equally sick match!

 

[Tardet]

Frontline Tactics vs House Stark's preview has been posted. The match is in 20 minutes, streamed by TCBs.



Good luck to both teams!