| The Dawn
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| Age of Europe
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| Return of the East
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⸻ Tournament Summary ⸻ |
The Nations Cup 2010 was the first major competitive tournament in Warband and marked the dawn of competitive play as it is known today. Hosted by Arch3r in late 2010, the tournament would bring together the scattered national communities that had formed since the game had been released in March of the same year. Coming into the tournament as favourites were the alliance of Russia, Ukraine and Maldova that was mostly comprised of players from Runaway Scorprions, who were known for developing and adopting new strategies and tactics. Joining them in the group of favourites were the Czech Republic, build around a strong core of Bohemian Guard players, and North America. The tournament format saw for the teams to play against each other in a round robin format over the course of three scheduling circles. During each scheduling circle the teams were expected to play every other team in their supgroups of six over the course of two weeks. However, it soon turned out that three matches per week was too much to handle for most nations. As such the number of dropouts increased over the course of the tournament, whilst the overall progression slowed down due to the increasing amount of extensions and scheduling disputes. Despite all format related issues, the three tournament favourites managed to pull ahead with strong showings across the board. Joining them was the alliance of Germany, Austria and Switzerland who surprised viewers with their thus far unbeaten run in the tournament. After the tournament had practically come to a standstill due to the formats issues, it was decided that Russia, Ukraine and Maldova would face off against close contender Germany, Austria & Switzerland in a playoff final to determine a tournament champion. This did not go by without criticism as it left the Czech Republic and North America watching from the sidelines, as RUM managed to take down Germany and its allies in a hard fought final match of the tournament. |
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⸻ Tournament Summary ⸻ |
Nations Cup 2011 went underway right after the conclusion of the first European team tournament in Warband, the European Native Pro League. It was the first tournament hosted by community godfather Captain Lust, who would later go on to become TaleWorlds' community manager in Ankara. He introduced the modern Nations Cup format which consists of a groupstage transitioning into a knockout bracket. However, due to the high amount of interest, he had to split the groupstage into two parts in order to ensure the tournament would play out as fairly as possible. Going into the tournament as favourites were a rebuild Turkish side, gathered around a strong core of the key players from one of Turkeys finest sides in all of competitive Warband, Revenge of Nobility. Joining them at the top were one of last years medalists, the Czech Republic, as well as Poland who had recruited a large portion of their players from national heavyweight Wolves. All three of them would go on to qualify for the second groupstage as winners of their respective group. During the second groupstage a fourth contender for the crown would reveal itself in France who swatted aside Turkey in dominating fashion. The knockout stage started out with a bang as North America overcame Ukraine who were still one of the secret favourites since they had split away from Russia. On the other side of the bracket, a dominating Polish side send the Czech Republic home without any trouble, whilst Turkey knocked out last years winners Russia. In the semi finals France would prove to be one step ahead of their opponents from accros the Atlantic, but in the end they fell short to a calm and collected Polish performance. |
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⸻ Group Stage I ⸻ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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⸻ Tournament Summary ⸻ |
Starting almost exactly one year after the last Nations Cup, the third edition of the series largely carried over the old format established by Captain Lust. Starting with a further improved roster, France under their spiritus rector Nubijuki accompanied by cavalry superstars Peter and Tobi were the favourites. Joining them were 2010 winners Ukraine under command of legendary captain Lares, who brought with him many of his teammates from Runaway Scorpions, as well as Poland who were looking to defend their title from last year. Because it was decided that the knockout stage was going to be played out with 16 rather than the standard amount of 8 teams, the groupstage had little to no meaning as almost all teams that signed up were going to make it to the knockout bracket regardless. That being said, Group D was still of high interest as it served as an indicators for the later course of the tournament. Somewhat humorously called the group of death, well-known heavyweights Turkey and Poland played against a still highly respected Czech team and the up and coming United Kingdom. The British, built around a core of players from the newly founded Apis Euopae, put up a fierce fight in both matches against the slight favourites from Turkey and Poland, but eventually fell short by a razer thin margin in both matches. The knockout stage started out without any big surprises as all favourites walked over their opponents without too much trouble. Perhabs the two most imporant matches to take note of were Germany slightly redeeming themselves for their disasterous run the previous year by overcoming the Czech Republic in dominating fashion, and France almost losing to Brazil, although much of that was undoutably down to the vast ping differences for both teams throughout the match. As the tournament went on, France further solidified their claim to the throne by defeating first the United Kingdom and then Turkey, who had knocked out Russia in one of the closest matches of the tournament in the previous round. Joining them in the finals were Ukraine, who had defeated Poland in the semis on the other side of the bracket, but they eventually fell short against the excellence in coordination and teamplay shown by the French side. |
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⸻ Tournament Summary ⸻ |
The Nations Cup 2013 saw the usual suspects for the tournament win, the Ukraine, Poland, Russia and Turkey joined by an overhauled German side. Especially Turkey looked as threatening as ever, assembling arguably the greatest Nations Cup team ever in the history of the game, filled to the brim with talent in all three classes. Germany on the other hand, after two disappointing runs in the previous years, were looking to regain their strength and solidity that had earned them second place in 2010 by building their squad around the core players from German juggernauts Deutschritter. Meanwhile, France underwent huge change as Renegades leader Nubijuki resigned and handed over captaincy to newcomer Paulo. The group stage went without any big surprises. In Group A, Canada may have been held back by the unfavourable ping situation in cross Atlantic matches, narrowly missing out on the surprise upset against Poland and Russia. Group B was completely dominated by Turkey, who lost only 5 rounds throughout the group stage, followed by the United Kingdom led by Captain Lust. In Groups C and D, the four favourites Ukraine, Finland, Germany and the United States secured their place in the quarter finals without much difficulty. Kicking off the knockout stage with a bang was Poland who took down Ukraine in onesided fashion in what most people expected to be an even game. On the other side of the bracket, Russia managed to kick Finland out of the tournament just to be defeated by Turkey one round later. At this point, the Turkish teams was in unanimous opinion the sole favourite to win the tournament. The last hurdle on the way to the tournament win was Germany, who had obliterated Poland 15-1, the highest victory of a team in a semi final of the Nations Cup. In the final, Germany then had to play without its captain, who had disappeared a week before the match. Under their new commander Scar, Germany managed to win the final against the Turks in one of the most exciting matches in the game's history. |
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⸻ Tournament Summary ⸻ |
As it was tradition now, almost exactly one year after the previous Nations Cup had started, the fifth edition of the tournament series went underway in January 2014. This year again marked a relatively large shift at the top, as the group of favourites underwent some changes. Whilst most players from Germanys winning lineup of the previous year stepped back to make room for a new generation of players, the United Kingdom further solidified their lineup, which was now largely comprised of Apis Europae and Wolfpack players. As in previous years, Poland, Turkey and Russia fielded exceptional teams packed with talent and experience. As the groupstage unfolded it became obvious that with the Scandinavian alliance another team had joined the group of top contenders as they won Group D in dominanting fashion. Meanwhile, Turkey and Finland locked in their spots for the quarter finals ahead of France in Group C, whilst Russia and the United Kingdom ran to a comfortable victory in Group B. In Group A the Czech team managed to revive old moments of greatness as they finished in second place ahead of the United States of America. The knockout stage saw exceptional display skill in most matches, however, most of that did not count as it turned out Russia was fielding a Ukrainian player whose team had been knocked out during the groupstage. Russia managed to get by until after the finals against Scandinavia when decisive evidence was published by the administration. Russia was disqualified, Scandinavia crowned Nations Cup champion, and the United Kingdom and Turkey, who had both been knocked out in the semis, took Silver and Bronze. |
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⸻ Tournament Summary ⸻ |
Before any matches had been played, the Nations Cup 2015 continued where the previous edition ended; drama. A group of German players signed up as Team Isreal as they had not been considered for the national team. The German community had decided to overhaul their team once again after the disappointing run of last year and saw some of their veterans make their return. Joining that revitalized German side as the favourites to win the tournament were heavyweights Poland, the United Kingdom as well as Turkey. The latter two were still looking to get their hands on the NC throphy for the first time. Joining them as one of the tournament favourites were also Belgium & Netherlands who managed to secure the top spot in their group ahead of Russia and Finland. All other groups turned out to be rather onesided affairs, as all favourites finished comfortably ahead of their closest rivals. The knockout stage started out with a bang as Poland met Germany in what most people had down as a worthy grand final for this years Nations Cup. After an exciting game with tactical finesse displayed by both sides, Poland managed to come out on top after the tiebreaker. On the other side of the bracket BeNe send home first France, who even though further improved failed to revive 2012 moments, then Turkey, in what many still considered to be a massive surprise, despite BeNes strong showings thus far. In the finals, however, they would eventually fall short to Poland who on their way there had knocked out the United Kingdom, securing their second Nations Cup championship. |
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⸻ Tournament Summary ⸻ |
Compared to previous years, the 2016 edition of the Nations Cup only saw little change at the top of the scene. Belgium & Netherlands had tasted blood in the previous year only losing in the finals to Poland, and they were eager to fight for their spot in the finals again. Next to them Turkey, although with a slightly changed roster, were again among the tournament favourites. Perhabs making their entry to the extended circle of top contenders and taking Germanys place were France who since Paulo took over in 2014 had been playing together with roughly the same group of players. By far the biggest surprise on the tournaments run to the grand final was caused by Finland in Group B who came in as third seed but finished in top position, drawing against North America and defeating heavyweights Turkey in stunningly onesided fashion. In Group D first seed Germany fell short against an inspired Russian performance, though they still managed to qualify in second position. And although neither Group A or C produced any upsets in terms of final placements, the matches between the groups top teams Belgium & Netherlands and France as well as Poland and the United Kingdom respectively were of extremely high quality and set the ton for what was to come in the knockout stage. There Belgium & Netherlands would have no trouble against a struggeling German side, whilst Finland failed to cause yet another surprise against the United Kingdom. On the other side of the bracket, France had managed to take down Russia only to be stopped by Turkey who had beaten two time champions Poland in their quarter final. In the semi finals Belgium & Netherlands narrowly defeated the United Kingdom in one of the closest matches of the tournament, making it their second final appearence in two years. In the finals, however, the Turkish side captained by Rayden would prove too much to handle, earning the homeland of Warband its first Nations Cup throphy. |
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⸻ Tournament Summary ⸻ |
After an ongoing discussion about the attractiveness of the Nations Cup and its effects on the competitive scene, the new administration decided to change the format at the beginning of the Nations Cup 2017. Instead of the standard format since 2012 with eight teams playing against each other in a single elimination bracket after the group phase, this year the best 16 teams were to play against each other in a double elimination bracket. This resulted in an extension of the format in two respects, which the administration wanted to counter with tighter deadlines. As far as the teams were concerned, the field of participants had adapted strongly to each other, so that at the beginning of the tournament many had difficulty with a prognosis as to how the tournament was going to play out. In addition to the well-known favourites Belgium & Netherlands, United Kingdom, Poland and Turkey, teams such as Russia and Germany also made it back to the top. Meanwhile, Spain under returned veteran Charlini and an improved Swedish side were seen as teams with serious upset potential. Both teams immediately demonstrated this potential in their groups. Sweden, coming into their group as third seed, finished in first place ahead of the veteran teams of France and Finland in their group, whilst Spain, narrowly beating last year's winner Turkey in the third week of the group stage, qualified second behind Russia for the Upper Bracket. With the start of the knockout phase, the tournament gradually lost pace, with the Upper Bracket teams in particular having long waits between their official matches. In the end, Spain and Germany met in the final of the Upper Bracket, which the Germans won convincingly. Meanwhile, Russia fought their way back into the tournament in the lower bracket after being beaten by Germany in the semi finals. After defeating Spain 12-1, they finally met Germany again. Although the tournament was played in double elimination mode until then, and Germany had not yet been defeated, the upcoming match between Russia and Germany was declared the decisive final. After two completely one-sided maps, Russia finally prevailed in the final round of the tiebreaker and won their second Nations Cup after 2010. |
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⸻ Double Elimination Bracket ⸻ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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⸻ Tournament Summary ⸻ |
After the Nations Cup 2017 was heavily criticized because of its extreme length, it was decided to change the format of the tournament again in 2018. Firstly, with Warbands successor Bannerlord on the horizon, it was decided to lift the limitation of one team per nation in order to allow as many players as possible to participate. Secondly, the groups were abandoned. Instead, teams now played against each other for seven weeks in a big ladder modelled after the Warband Native League. After ladder stage, the top four teams were to play for the title in a two week single elimination bracket. As far as the teams were concerned, the abolition of the team limitation did not have any effect, except for two nations. While Turkey provided two teams, this was not accompanied by a weakening of their first teams strength in comparison to previous years. While the veterans of the Turkish scene had gathered in that first Turkish team, newcomers with less experience played in the second team. However, the situation was different for the three teams fielded by the United Kingdom, where the experienced players were relatively evenly spread across all three of them. As such the nation as a whole lost some of its strength compared to previous years. After the six weeks of ladder stage, the first team from Turkey, Poland, Spain and Germany qualified for the knockout phase. In the first semi final, Turkey met Germany for the third time in the tournament, after meeting twice in the ladder stage, and won for the third time, albeit narrowly. In the other semi final, Spain beat Poland by a narrow margin in an intense game, but lost the final to Turkey relatively clearly, who thus secured the title for the second time in three years. |
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⸻ Tournament Summary ⸻ |
In October 2019, the Nations Cup finally entered its tenth and final season, making it the longest lasting tournament format in the history of the competitive scene, ahead of the Warband Native League. As in the previous season, the format allowed for individual nations to field multiple teams, so that as many players as possible could take part in the tournament. However, the old system with a group and a subsequent knockout phase was returned, although, unlike in previous editions, the groups were formed according to the playing strength of the teams. Thus, Group A contained the tournaments supposedly strongest six teams. In the very first week, two of the top favourites, Turkey and France, met and after a thrilling match they finally had to agree on a draw. Meanwhile, Germany clearly beat their Polish opponents, but missed out on the good performance of the first week the following weeks. The Poles, on the other hand, should not lose another game after their weak start and thus qualify for the knockout phase at the top of the group. Group B was also made up of some of the heavyweights of the scene, including Belgium & Netherlands, North America as well as Russia & Ukraine. At the end of the group phase, all three teams were to lead the group and thus qualify directly for the knockout phase or the playoffs respectively. Groups C and D included not only the second teams of some nations but also some teams from distant countries such as Argentina, Brazil and China. In the quarter finals, Poland then took revenge on Germany, who had previously qualified for the knockout round in an unexciting round of playoff matches, for their defeat in the first week of the tournament. In the second rematch of the week, France were to narrowly defeat Turkey, while the United Kingdom had no problems against Turkeys second team. In unarguably the most surprising match of the tournament, the North American team kicked the Polish title contenders out of the tournament after they had clearly defeated Belgium & Netherlands the week before. The North Americans then met the French in the final, which meant that for the first time in its history the Nations Cup final was played out in the home-away-system. In probably the longest in the history of the game, the Frenchside was to get the upper hand in the end, after countless rounds on the tiebreaker map Winterburg, and became the Nations Cup champions for the second time in its history. |
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⸻ Playoff Stage ⸻ |
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