[BladeCast - Match Preview] United Kingdom vs France - Semi Final

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Tardet

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SEMI FINAL: BLADECAST MATCH PREVIEW



UNITED KINGDOM vs FRANCE



    With the quarter-finals being concluded, Poland, North America, France and the United Kingdom have now booked their tickets for the semifinals. Tonight, they will battle for a chance to reach the grand final and take home the trophy of this 10th edition of the Nations Cup. With the competition reaching a peak, BladeCast decided to bring back the previews and attempt at breaking down these two semifinals, starting with the United-Kingdom facing up the French in what promises to be a tantalizing match-up.



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UNITED KINGDOM


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Infantry
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Deacon Barry
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Cleric Johnson
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Fietta
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PuffTheDragon
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Mynes
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Anchor
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Gibby
 
Cavalry
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Hagrid
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normanguy
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Hrod
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OGL
 
Rangers
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Matt
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Pepper
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OGL

Roster Strength: 13
Group Stage Ranking: 3rd
         

TEAM PRESENTATION

As mentioned during our storyline about the United-Kingdom, the team has a strong link with the Nations Cup, being present since 2010 yet failing at playing an actual grand-final despite the undeniable quality of its players. This year makes no exception to the rules and the United Kingdom has once again gathered a strong roster filled with talented players in each category. And same as previous years, they continue to show a lack of constancy in their results. Lead by Gibby, the team started in the best manner, decimating Spain on a harsh 12-0, but it was only to be defeated by Turkey in the second week. The second half of the group stage was pretty much a repeat of the first one, defeating Germany only to fall short against Poland. Nevertheless, the United Kingdom found a silver lining in their match against France and despite having lost Apollo, one of their main rangers, they seemed far more prepared and ready on Naval Outpost where they crushed the French, and way more decisive on Reveran Village to deny the draw to their opponent.

When looked back at, the United Kingdom's run in that group stage still seems logical. They lost against the two favourites of this year, Turkey and Poland, managed to handle the two weakest team of Group A, Germany and Spain, quite comfortably and when put against a team of similar strength in a high-stake match - such as France - they managed to prevail by a small margin. That's not enough to be worried about but that's not exactly going to fuel their confidence yet. Going against Turkey 2, United Kingdom inherited of the arguably weakest opponent possible in the quarter-finals and any result but a convincing victory would be troublesome for the brits.

In the quarter-final against Turkey 2, arguably the weakest opponent of the knockout stage, the United Kingdom had a very slow start which allowed their opponent to apply a constant pressure throughout the whole open map and all things considered, the British could consider themselves happy to end-up in the lead at half-time, 6-4. However, switching to San’di’boush - their map pick - they finally managed to show their true strength on the close map, not conceding a single round while decimating a completely overwhelmed Turkish team. The United-Kingdom will need to come together once more against France but the players, within them, have the strength and resources to win the Nations Cup 2019.


FRANCE


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Infantry
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Peter
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Thorr
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Vince
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MouS
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Tardet

 
Cavalry
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Peter
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Brian
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Thorr
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Swap
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Torrhen
 
Rangers
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Maximou
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Paulo
Roster Strength: 10
Group Stage Ranking: 4th
         

TEAM PRESENTATION

You guys were warned. France came in to play in this edition of the Nations Cup. After some heavily disappointing results in 2017 and 2018, this year’s roster looks much more like the one assembled in 2016 who made it to the semi-finals. They had a tough road being placed in Group A but one thing which has to be mentioned is that despite finishing fourth and having to go through the playoffs, their two defeats against Poland and UK were still extremely close and on the other hand, they were fairly dominant coming against the likes Germany and Spain. Far from damaging their morale, the playoffs seemed to revitalize the French line-up instead. They steamrolled Argentina and Russia to grab one of the last two tickets for the knockout stage, showing they definitely deserved that spot in the last stage of this Nations Cup, alongside the other top Nations.

In their quarter-final match, France went on to face Turkey, their NC nemesis which had eliminated them twice in the last three editions of the tournament. During the first week, both teams had not been able to decide a winner between themselves and there was definitely a wish from both sides to settle the scores in that particular match-up. Turkey had an arguable moral edge, having already beaten this French team twice at this stage of the competition, without much trouble. Yet it is the Frenchmen who started off strong by striking a perfect Rhodok side on their map pick, FrostHaven. Taking the first round in the second set, things could have escalated quickly but it was forgetting the amazing resilience of Turkey which salvaged that half 3-2 thanks to an amazing three ranger’s set-up

On Fort of Honor, both teams stroke rounds back to back and didn’t let go of each other’s until a heroic round from France, vastly powered by Swap, definitely crushed the dreams for Turkey to bring it the match to overtime. France had broken the curse; they had finally prevailed against Turkey in a high-stake match situation and brought themselves one step closer to that sought-after trophy. It’s often said that through difficult times, the real face and quality of your players unveil. At the beginning of the tournament, not many could have expected France to have the mental fortitude required to close that match out yet the team has shown a positive evolution throughout this competition. One more reason to look forward to that semi-final against the United Kingdom
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MAPS AND FACTIONS

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                              Despite their powerful performance against Turkey and UK’s obvious struggles against Turkey 2 on that map, France had the choice to pick Frosthaven as the first map of their confrontation against the United Kingdom and didn’t go for it. Instead, they opted for Waterfall, another map where they had a strong showing on, against Turkey during the first week of the tournament. Waterfall still remains a map where teams can make good use of the free rangers set-up as Vaegirs. Both UK and France can run that composition though, in France's case, that would mean switching Brian from cavalry to archer, which all things considered, might not be a worthy trade. The cavalry battle will be another key aspect of that map, in which France should have the upper hand, so long as the french cavalries can keep normanguy under control.

It is important for France that they switch to Naval Outpost in the lead as that map might prove difficult for them to handle. Indeed, UK's pick makes more sense as it is the same map where they dominated France during the group stage, on the back of a fantastic Fietta as infantry, cutting through the french infantries with ease. Eventually, the UK fell a bit flat at the end of the map but the confident pick probably means they have a clear idea of what plan they want to go for and how to execute it. As for each close maps, infantries fights will decide for a huge part of the rounds and that's where the french might struggle against the powerful UK infantries.

The UK’s dream of finally reaching an NC grand-final is within easy reach but they will still have to get past a revitalized French team. Join us on BladeCast_TV at 19:30GMT to find out who will make it through!



[size=6pt]MATCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY @BLADECAST_TV, ARTICLE WRITTEN BY @TARDEEET, LAYOUT BY @SCAR
 
It won't go down as one of the greatest match previews but I will try to make up for it during the grand final. Sorry to Poland and North America for not being able to cover your match, the timing was tricky on this one. Should be two good matches either way!
 
Very nice work!

Also,

Fietta said:
Nice, sad I'm not home for a couple of days so couldnt make it to slay the frenchies once again in naval :wink:

Fietta and OGL sabotaging their teams, very surprising.
 
Lo primero, para que salgan unas magdalenas perfectas, es usar ingredientes de calidad. Parece una tontería pero unos buenos ingredientes, como una buena mantequilla, un buen aceite o una buena harina nos van a ayudar a que queden mucho mejor nuestras magdalenas. El secreto para hacer unas magdalenas esponjosas está en la hora de batir la masa y también en su horneado. Cuando batimos la masa, tenemos que aportarle mucho aire para facilitar que la masa crezca y suba llenando su interior de burbujas qué dan una gran esponjosidad.

Cómo saber que las magdalenas están hechas
Para saber que las magdalenas están hechas, lo único que haremos será, al igual que con el bizcocho, pincharlas con un palillo y cuando el palillo salga seco estarán listas. Esto os lo indicó porque depende de vuestros moldes y de la cantidad de masa que le pongáis.

200 gramos de huevos, unos 4 huevos
200 gramos de azúcar
200 gramos de aceite de oliva con sabor suave
220 gramos de harina. La harina tiene que ser floja
Un sobre de levadura química, unos 16 gramos
Ralladura de limón
 
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