Match Preview - Belgium & Netherlands vs. France

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Match Preview: Belgium & Netherlands vs. France


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Greetings, dear Warbanders, and welcome to another edition of the NC2016 Match Previews. In my first preview of NC2016, I am taking a look at one of the most intriguing matches of Week 3: last year’s runner-up Belgium & Netherlands against one-time Nations Cup winner France. Belgium & Netherlands is on the hunt for their first gold medal, which they just missed last year, and one could say that they are the favorites against France.
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Team Information
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BeNe's ranger squad has always been scary, and this year's no exception. With players like LeRoux, Caius, Attila and Violet, BeNe is looking to dominate their opponents in archery.
While we can always expect top-class performances from LeRoux, Caius also seems to be in tremendous form, shooting and sniping himself into the top echelons of the scoreboards in nearly every set he’s played in. The only concern with BeNe’s rangers might be a possible lack of teamwork between them, as they are not used to playing with one another – unlike their French counterparts.

BeNe’s cavalry is not as stacked with star power compared to their rangers, but they are still a force to be reckoned with. Ceasar has been dominating the scoreboards in nearly every match and Surkan has had his time to shine, too, with some interesting players like Tomy and Watly to throw in on the more open maps. They have only gone up against the bottom seeds of their group so far, however, and their cavalry hasn't had a real challenge yet. They will have much to prove against France. As of now, however, it looks like they have a solid cavalry lineup.

If you’ve haven’t already found yourself starstruck at the players on display, you probably won’t be too excited with BeNe’s infantry roster. Still, both Doener and Kellermann have played a great tournament so far, though they suffer from the same issue of facing bottom seed teams as the cavalry. They seem to lack some depth to their infantry roster, however, with perhaps only Ciiges to mitigate this issue.
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France does not field their 2012 winning team of RNGD superstars, but their current roster is by no means lesser in potential. With most of their players coming from the French clan Unity, they are a formidable group of skilled players who are used to playing with one another.

Brian, Thorr and Merzhin. Hearing these three names together can strike fear into the hearts of any infantry who has to face them, for they are one of the most formidable infantry trios in the entire tournament. France has to use their excellent infantry wisely in order to neutralize the BeNe rangers, as the failure to do so will likely lead to a swift and brutal demolition at their hands. In this, the archer-friendly maps are not in France’s favour.

Despite not seeming quite as illustrious in comparison to their BeNe counterparts, the French rangers are no small-timers. Paulo, Tigerwhite and Maximou have made their presence felt in every match France has played so far. They now have a tall task ahead of them in the form of BeNe’s ranger team. They will need a lot of hard work to surpass the BeNe household names.

France’s cavalry, as solid as they are, probably retain the title of the ‘weakest link’ of France’s roster. It only speaks to the quality found within this team that this title goes to players of such extensive merit as SubZer0, Ncromancien and Ereinion. Skill-wise, they should be able to go toe to toe with the BeNe horsemen, but in addition to this, they need to be able to shut down the BeNe rangers if France wants to taste victory.

Psychologically, France has an edge: BeNe, having barely lost to Poland last year, will surely want to advance right back to the finals. Can BeNe keep their heads if France puts up a strong fight right from the get-go?
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Map Information
Both maps of Week 3, Fort of Honour and Castellum, favour archers. While both teams have a formidable core of ranged goodness, I predict that BeNe will benefit the most due to their generally larger and more skilled roster of rangers. As previously mentioned, this poses a serious question to the Frenchmen: can their cavalry and infantry work together well enough to neutralize the BeNe archers? Will the French archers be able to contend with BeNe's?
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While we would like to see France rushing right at the Flemish with their top-heavy infantry roster, trying to crush the skirmishing BeNes with the sheer might of their infantry, this is unlikely to happen. Fort of Honour features extensive crossfire possibilities, which BeNe will be sure to utilize with devastating effectiveness. Still, if done right, infantry pushes can be devastating on this map – especially given the strong disparity between the two teams’ infantry forces. One can easily imagine the Frenchmen surging into the graveyard flag spawn, overwhelming the defenders, but even this deceptively closed area holds some dark secrets which their opponents can utilize. If BeNe can avoid being pulled into chaotic, clustered infantry fights, where their rangers might be hesitant to shoot into, their archers can wreak havoc on the French team. It will be up to the French rangers to retaliate in kind, and much will depend on their form.
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Castellum, while being an open map, isn’t actually very different in terms of the class compositions it favors. Archers are still strong, and cavalry simply jumps to the top of the list in importance. What is interesting is that neither team particularly excels in cavalry. Both teams’ cavalry will have to work hard to shut down the opponents’ archers, and the team that does this better will likely win the majority of the encounters. As mentioned before, archers are strong: every flag spawn in Castellum has at least three directions from which rangers can bombard the area at their leisure. Many will predict this to favour BeNe, and France’s rangers will have to work hard to prove them wrong.
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Credits: Aeronwen for the great formatting and Kohath for a funny and expressive picture.
 
Ciiges said:
I quit inf, play cav nowadays. Still nice preview.

November:
Ciiges said:
3) primary class: Infantry
4) secondary class (optional): Archer

October:
Ciiges said:
3) primary class: Cavalry
4) secondary class (optional): Infantry

September:
Ciiges said:
3) primary class: Infantry
4) secondary class (optional): Cavalr

October once again?  :wink:
 
Dyktator said:
Ciiges said:
I quit inf, play cav nowadays. Still nice preview.

November:
Ciiges said:
3) primary class: Infantry
4) secondary class (optional): Archer

October:
Ciiges said:
3) primary class: Cavalry
4) secondary class (optional): Infantry

September:
Ciiges said:
3) primary class: Infantry
4) secondary class (optional): Cavalr

October once again?  :wink:
It's complicated, this is my first year of native, didn't really know which class I wanted to play but I have chosen for cav permanently.
 
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