| BLADECAST TV: MATCH PREVIEW RANDOM POTATOES vs. APIS EUROPAE WHEN THE KINGS MEET THEIR SLAYERS »It was a long, harsh, craggy road. The unexpected happened quite a few times and we used the word 'upset' probably more than in any other tournaments. Looking back at it though, this is probably one of the things which made the second edition of the WPL one of most interesting tournament ever hosted on warband. Anyone could believe in victory. Everyone had their position threatened at some point. One mistake could cost you everything. For Random Potatoes, the tournament started big with their very first match when they went to face Irish Rebels. Rayden and his boys showed everyone that what happened in the WMT was just a simple mistake, a mistake they wouldn't do twice as they won this first encounter against a solid team. It was quite the perfect start for them and their future seemed rather bright. That is until they came to face AE in the third week. Like in the WMT, Random showed a really poor performance at the worst moment possible and AE got away with a very one sided victory, without too much effort. We can see now that this was going to be their only lose in the whole tournament, as nobody else, not even Geese Pack, could manage to take them down. On Apis Europae's side, one could have assumed that after defeating their most serious opponent, in Random, there was not much left to threaten them. But that would have been a terribly wrong assumption. AE dropped two matches in a row, and more importantly, it was the first time ever a team which isn't part of the best, would win that decisively against them, taking a map without dropping a single round. All it all, it sum ups the whole league. Everyone lost atleast one match, and it was rather impossible to etablish a clear ranking among the top given no team were able to get a long streak of victories, except maybe GP at the beginning, and Random after week 3. The playoffs phase wasn't anything spectacular, both teams taking down their opponents without too much problems. The best is clearly yet to come. «
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BLADECAST GOLDEN EIGHT
Not many ever realised the enormous impact Azan had over AE's performances throughout the years. Most see him as a talented map or mod-maker, a secondary cavalry for AE if anything. Yet if Deacon is the soul of the clan, Azan definitely is the mind. He learned from match after match how to truly master every single game aspect, and it should be noted that AE's results prove nothing but his genius. His decision to play infantry was taken with surprise but this is part of the internal stuff that probably only themselves are aware of. Not many are capable to understand warband how he does, nor even compete with him. That said, Rayden is one of those few guys, so this final might be as much of a skill battle, as a tactical one.. |
If I had to describe Scar, it would probably be as a wall, a massive one, which can take anything coming at him but never break down. The german veteran has been partaking in thousands of battles, and here he still stands, waiting for his enemies to come. If Scar's performance wasn't any spectacular those last few matches, he wasn't necessarily in need to step up his game. Yet when his team will need him, he is gonna be one of the most important players on the battlefield. And they're going to need him at his best for this match. Because when he does, he simply delivers. And I bet he would be glad to teach one or two tricks to the random infantries. |
axL has recently started playing for AE after a long period of inactivity, and the least which can be said is that the finnish cavalry didn't lose any of his skill. He seems to be as decisive as he used to be, and has perfectly adapted himself to Shemaforash and Peter's playstyle, the two main cavalries of AE. axL is just the missing piece AE needed to ensure their dominance on open maps, and there is no doubt he will have more than his part to play on Frosthaven. |
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Apis Europae also got their pair of talented brothers in the form of Cleric and Deacon. The first one, also known as Notorious Goblin, is one of the vilest creatures which exist on earth. On top of being a late night drinking specialist, Cleric Johnson is also a lethal infantry, something he has had the occasion to prove many times, like in the 3v3 Tournament which he and his sons won a while ago. If some could argue Cleric is a bit rusty when it comes to battle, which is not something totally out of the picture, he is still capable of taking down most of those 'sh** tier players' like he often says. And you don't want to meet him on forums at late night. Some didn't survive it. |
In any competitive community, a question is always on everyone's lips. 'Who is the best player to have ever touched the game?'. It not something which is easy to answer, yet Peter would certainly be one of clearest options. From his amazing performances when he joined the FRA team mid-tournament, to his undeniable contribution within AE ranks, Peter is certainly one, if not the best, cavalry of this community. His impressive statistics in the WPL despite playing two matches less than most just sums up the whole thing. Peter belongs to this special group of people born with talent, and he will need that coming into this match against Random. |
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Gibby is one of the new additions for AE this tournament, and the young man quickly adapted to his new clan, and looks like he got adopted by other AE members aswell. The fact he is one of their best player statistic-wise certainly is a contributing factor, as he has this capacity to turn a whole match around on his own. Going into this final against Random will certainly be a good occasion to make some of his haters shut-it up once and for all. |
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Once more, Deacon Barry is going to have to lead his men to battle, providing them wise words before the eternal confrontation, and making sure every single one of them is ready for the fight. Deacon has proven many times he was more than a capable infantry, and can hold on to his place just as good as the others. He is old, but it would be a deadly mistake to think you could take advantage from this. With age comes wisdomwisom and you don't trap AE's leader that easily. With Scar, Gibby, Azan, and Cleric, those five form a rather impressive infantry core, but will it be enough to contain Random's infantry? |
LeRoux isn't really getting the recognition he truly deserves as of late, and that's probably due to the fact he decided to stay rather aside of all the forumf stuff, and dramas. But on the field, he remains a terrible threat to deal with for his ennemis, landing headshots like it’s nothing, and being extremely hard to take down in melee, even though he is only crossbow or archer. I've this little impression LeRoux is waiting the final to give us a splendid performance, but only time will tell. |
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CONCLUSION
This Sunday, we're gonna assist a warband lesson. After three months of intense battling, we're heading towards the Grand Final of the Warband Pro League. It's been my personal pleasure to accompany you throughout this wonderful journey, and I hope you've enjoyed reading those previews and reviews as much as I did writing them for you. But there is one thing that the talent of a pen can't exceed, and that's the art of war. My work stops where theirs begins. Less talking, more riding!
The match will be streamed by BladeCast_TV, starting this Sunday at 19:30 GMT. There will be a special pre-match talk starting 15 min before (19:15), and a post-match talk that I advise you not to miss, with Captain-Lust, Viktor and myself and possibly a mysterious guest. Captain Lust and IronHawk will be casting the match.
» More than just the cash prize - which is the biggest we had on warband since the birth of the competitive scene - and the fame which goes with being the best EU team of the WPL, this match is also a story of old rivalry, not always that friendly, between two titans of the scene. Random Potatoes isn't really old, yet through them live the memories of KURWA and Freelancers, two of the few teams among many who managed to take down the 'Kings', placing themselves on an equal footing as AE. Any of Random players want to prove the whole scene that they're the 'True Champions' of warband. But AE hasn't a story of sharing. The game is old, and even if Bannerlord takes its damn time, this might truly be one of the last warband tournaments, besides the Nation Cups. Those guys have been playing the game for 7 years for most of them. They have became close to a family, and they're not going down without a fight, that you can be sure of. For what they have accomplished and are yet to accomplish, for the values of competitiveness, teamplay and self-improvement these two clans carry, they deserve our respect. Like them or hate them, that's up to anyone. But no one can deny that they're part of the reason we play this game. What we try to aim for. We might never become close to an E-Sport scene, for many reasons, but at least can we proudly say we’ve got the mindset and the players for it.«
MATCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY @BLADECAST_TV, ARTICLE WRITTEN BY @TARDEEET, PROOFREAD BY @JARVISANDPI, DESIGN BY SCAR
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