Many questionsmark about this season. I like to see some new players (atleast to me) and a couple of guys that have not played for a longer time. For myself - i started playing again like 2 weeks ago and had a 8 month break before that. In that time i checked results on ffamasters but have not seen any replays or streams besides about 15 mins of the previous FML final Vod/Stream (and 1-2 times a HT stream), did not read any discord stuff etc. So i am not really up to date whatīs going on here and also need some time for adapting to the many changes of the latest patches.
Match 1
Joggel Donald-Trump Eshan supremo
Joggel seems to be a well rounded player with a lot of potential. Trump and Eshan are both as seasoned and experienced as they come, seemingly rely a lot on cheesy tactics, manipluations and try-hard attitude. Letīs see if they are teaming up because of their similarities of fight for each otherīs death. Supremo is the guy that you are rooting for when obsing his game and damning him when youīre playing against. Please get NOEXXX as a Caster for that!!!
Match 2
Mog[skynet] SuperCumulo Ugrilainen Trunkz
Mog stepped away from leading the ravenclaw pack and representing as FML admin? So he can focus more on his FML FFA is my answer to that. He is dangerous and a threat to everyone - a loaded weapon! Another final to the impressive resume of the peruvian star of the ffa scene: Cumulo. He has to prove something and will face his previous final conqueror. Ugrilainen had many hours of bootcamp with TH000, 120 and Changyu Wine. Micro wonīt be a problem for him, but the mystic ffa mechanics might be a hole in his armor. Trunkz does not need to be active in FFA to stay in shape. Playing the Piano, Jungling vs superhuman creeps in LOL and styling his hair in less than 15 minutes every morning keeps his reflexes intact.
Match 3
b100death Jaod Peanut Dovekie
A game full of well microing, proud, stubborn individuals. b100 makes a surprise comeback with a strange reason in wanting to fight dovekie and instantly gets his wish - good for him and his motivation and hopefully also for us as the interested follower. Jaod seems to be quite inactive lately but with feeding his little daughters, preventing them from grabbing the dangerours things and being a husband and provider he still has the multitasking and stresstested mindset to compete in the filthy mother of all free-for-all gametypes. Peanut can be a unstoppable force or a complete fallout. With that strong cast he hopefully can channel his inner FML CHAMP and show up with his A-game. Dovekie is best with talking about how good he is with this 100& of the time, would he just bless us a little more often with his actual presence in games so we could learn from the best that ever done it. I for myself will watch the replay of his game from his perspective and feel simply amazing, for the mere of 30 minutes that the stomping will last. (No offense, Dovekie, just trying to use ur image for a poor attempt of being funny)
Match 4
Gradient Jiexa_b Seksi Vyvanne
Ha, great game. Greadient and Jexa both veterans at FFA with their own style. Seksi and Vyvanne ( feels strange to write that, for me itīs still elsha-of-iel, DR HHS ROBO) very good micro and all around knowledge of the gametype. Seksi probably a bit more emotional player and much more versatile and Elsha analytical.
Match 5
SteppinRazor Airenikus jOeybadass mrSweets
Steppin FTW, whe he shows up and wonīt suicide during the first 15 minutes ;-). I heard he practiced a lot under his secret AKA "RazingStepper", so have an eye on him. Airenikus wins 100% of games with me being in it, but besides that he has to struggle with his either super aggressive (necrowagon hello) or passive (hoard, manip, orc trifecta) play. Joey is sometimes like a raging bull or a tamed horse getting a new saddle. He is my favourite here, unless the russians will team their eastern europe comrade unnecessarily long. Mr.Sweets (not to mix up with the formerly best australian ffa player Sweets) is a nasty herofocuser with a lot of resistance in him, but could use a chill pill sometimes.
Match 6
aarnikratti ena1337 ToX Godfather
AARNI KARATE - POOF > Ena down to his knees PENG > Tox flat out on his back CRASH > Godfather face first into the mood >>>> The triumphiant return of the FINN
Aarni good all around ffaer, but you never know if he is trolling or you are hoping that he is trolling once he talks about FFA ;-). Ena and Tox crazy ass guys with too good micro and too less manners :P. Godfather one of the guys i rly donīt know, besides that he looks like a solo-crossover with nice passion for the game. My bet is on him or OFC AARNI KARATE.
Once Fetta decided to make a fool of himself entering another FML season i had no doubt with applying aswell! Fetta is a legend. Period. He will show up with a perfect gameplan until it all goes downhill at the 200 second mark of the game. He will make an insane comeback anyway and let us giggling in disbelief. (Kidding, bro, i look forward to our next game where i will feed you so you can protect me with decent levels from far worse players ) Reinforcement or simply Cement, the conrete russian power-undead is a force to reckon with and might will strive in this season and show the results he is supposed to. Headindtheclouds i cannot say much about, unless he is a big cumulo fan? Junkerzam is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide. Hard to predict and full of surprises with a ragy, loud and ruthless side and a calm and focused one. Match 8
Pinballmap JSRGN AJIKAIII Slythe
PBM is Back!?! Woop Woop
. Last game we played he made sure i lose and i wonīt be mad at him if heīs doing it again ;-). JSRGN or Diablosssssss is a guy i heard from only. Like a really oldschool, original FFA player. Considered as one of the best, most influental players at that time. looking forward to rush him out cold with his panties down or getting owned strategically and OUTSMARTED hard. AJIKAIII or Alkash? Is a very good human player with slick micro and a good sense of human FFA prowess, but sometimes lacks the will to do the dirty work. He is considered as one of the best human when motivated and i hope i can finally see him succeed vs a player like diablossss with me being out of the game observing it and talking smack together with PBM, HT and MMT.
Season soon comes to an end and itīs time to look back and sum up a little bit. One of the longest seasons itīll be and a unique one for sure.
Seasonīs System:
The team aspect brought a fresh approach and was a nice hybrid between more classic fml and TBR. It definitely was good to have the 25% share points, since othwerwise there wouldnīt really been a teamfactor, besides fighting for your favourites maps.
This brings me to the next point. The map choices and decisions about whoīs playing on which map. At first, with the original format, iīd expected to have much cherry picking and hard discussions about the maps in the teams. Atleast for my team i can say, that it went really smoothly all along. Partly due Wreckīs more laissez-faire style of captaining, aswell as my rare map-vetoing or favorizing. With Dinamo being basically the only one, that liked to play a certain map almost every round, it was most of the time just a logical development of finding the maps for each player.
Also there were mostly a nice varitey and mix of maps each rounds, with probably just a few bigger maps missing. With the overall opportunity to pick maps, it was a lot more player friendly imo, than just giving maps for each round (of course there were ways of more diplomatic map choices via veto or similar in the past fml season).
Of course the concept of the season helped some players to quailfy for the post season, aswell as it denied some the access to the playoffs. But thatīs how it goes. Shoulda thought about it beforehand joining the season and not waiting until the end and then complain .
Overall i felt there was some drama, but surely not as much as in some previous seasons. No clue how intense it was in some teams internally, but overall there were just the standard bad blood in few matches, plus maybe Trunkzī complaints, Shaveīs trolling and a few unfortunate player exits from the competetion during the season. But all in all, those were the common things, that occur every season.
Besides the little troubles there were a lot of players that surprised with their play and results, both in positive and negative way. Together with those performances, the teams turned out to be kinda balanced, atleast most of them and in certain scales.
Here we have big differences though, how those teams were formed. Some were founded via friendship, symphaty and love īnīhate like rage quitters. Others were formed by captains due to playerīs strengths and past good experiences together like the Zig Zagīs. And few just were created out of nowhere or picked by admins, like the free agent squad.
Apropos Admins. Big thanks especially to the ones who made this season work so smoothly and well. Worpex ofc, Mog, Renaud from the official side and of course the amazing helpers of those like Hightac, Ponty, Aarni,Wreck, Cumulo and many more. Either with hosting, results, replays, sheets, Streams & Casts. Besides the need of willed players , those who are motivated, qualified and able to help are such an important part of the success and joy of this FFA/FML we got rolling here for quite some time now!
Continuing with a look to playerīs performances. Note that i did not watch every game, but maybe around 75% of them, either via replay, stream or obs. Iīd like to begin with my team, Bad Manneroths :
Wreck had an truly memorable run this regular season. He won 4 out of 6, with having the chance of winning in the two losses aswell. He played especially well in that deadlock game and also on anarchy castle. Some casts were not that hard and he could use the opportunities that were there really well with nice decisionmaking and strong use of the elfish race.
Peanut had a pretty neat showing the first 3 rounds. R1 i remember him countering alien rly well, but then struggling a bit with making the right calls. But he made that up with a very strong r2 and r3 performance. Especially that epic silverpine game, where he had to raze the island lame by Shave almost alone and then going into a long 1v1 against Junkerzam were impressive. Unfortunately he missed the two last games. Also he abandoned the human race for undead, which i can partly understand .
Dinamo had a terrific R1 game, where he outmaneuvered the other players and made perfect choices to win vs Soso in the and made him leave the court like a broken man.
After that strong start he struggled due to vodka and bad shape. Had good chances in the final round to win, but seemingly lost his cool. But that can happen with fetta and trunkz being in your game.
My own season was resultwise disappointing. Since i calculated with atleast 2 wins. I put some time into practicing creeproutes and thinking about combos, strats, but it rarely paid off, together with some mistakes, that turned out to be costful. I still had fun in most of the games, especially 2nd half of the season. Except R2, where i knowlingly used a strat, that would been very hard to end up winning with (orc ground tc/alch on greenville, but somehow i had the itch making it work ), i played stuff iīd expected to have a higher chance of winning with than using standard cheese, even though they maybe looked pure fun.
Now to the other teams:
Zig Zag: On paper the strongest team with 2 fml champs, and 2 multiple finalists. They had a strong first half and choked a bit in the 2nd.
Mog: Pretty strong season. Did not expect him to perform so well. Prolly put some time into getting in shape. Used power of elf and his experience nicely. Cannot recall a specific game, except ourīs, where he got my heroes in the end thanks to double speed aura, found at creeps .
Tyrant: R1 stole the win from Renaud with nasty manips and ugly play. R2 was stronger. He seemingly lost some motivation afterwards, or mb after r3, where he lost to wreck and alien, who focused more on him and had limited timeframe. Rough r4/5 games with some mutual love between him and Cumulo. Showed a strong last round, except the big throw in the very end. Still hits the semis, but have not been seen in 2 weeks. Letīs see if he shows up ^^.
Junkerzam: A few good games and some where he seemed to be kinda sloppy and making questionable calls. I appreciate he plays random most of the time, but from my POV undead/elf fits his style way better. Rough R 5/6 games.
Eshan: Strong start, but struggled then with some bad calls and unfortunate outcomes. Seemed to be prepared and very motivated throughout the season and had some really good openings and starts. Picked mostly instead of randoming and sticked maybe a bit too much on passive play instead of taking his chances a bit more offensively.
Suicide Squad:
Ponty: Tried hard in first 4 rounds, trolled in 5th and no showed in 6th. Was close to winning atleast 2 games. Showed some good ffa meta and improved overall play. Shoulda been awarded with atleast 1 win, imo.
Noexx: everything below 50% is not acceptable. Rather weak season. Can happen. Due to rl obligations missed 1 game and was not able getting into good shape.
Shave: HE WON A GAME. Some nice tryharding, and some garbage time.
Alien: Got a well deserved win last round. Ended up top score a couple of times, w/o winning. Seemed to be a bit distracted, not in mood to tryhard or right shape in few of his games. Was expected by many to win much more.
Rage Critters:
Aarnikratti: Just like Ponty he showed some good games, without being able to net more than one win. Seemed not to be as active as before. Kinda made some bad decisions, like in R1 vs Karfal. Overall also improved and performancewise a really good season.
Hightac: Won several games, also as obs and was close with a few others. Strong showing. Obviously fell in a love with manipping aswell and some good scouting in a couple of games.
Airenikus: Pretty good season. Very good decision making throughout the season. Had just 1 bad game and even with sometimes questionable gamestyle he brought home many points for himself and his team.
LssL: New to fml and being in many really monstrous casts. Did not lose motivation over a couple of 4th place finishes and showed some good riflemen action and overall potentional for upcoming seasons.
Free Ena:
Trunkz: Very strong r1/2 games where he overcame teaming and did few mistakes. Some tough games in mid of season and closed the season with a big freewin and a hard fought r6 game with a lot of support by fetta. Had some rather easy casts and not hard initial 1v1, but definitely showed improvements in decisionmaking, adjusting style to his ever good creeping and micro.
QQs: One of the biggest surprises this season. Showed some really good resilience and played his cards really well.
Tom: Also much improved and came close to finish a few games in stronger fashion. Some wrong decisions cost him 1-2 games. Still needs some practice controlling big armies, but nice ffa meta already.
Jaod: Many topscore games. Performed a bit low resultwise. Showed a bit too much aggression in some of his games. With a more diplomatic and patient approach he might end up winning 1-2 more and being a worthy semifinalist.
Fetta Inc:
Betoon: Kinda new to FFA/FML, but showed 1-2 nice games. With some more experiences a nice addition to team orc and the community. Seems like a relaxed guy and has potential.
Fetta: It was not fettas season.
IWantWC4: Oldschool come back smurfing. Had tremendous success the first two rounds, but then somehow lost his groove. Not sure if he got focused more, was not in shape or just suffered from the sometimes very random ingame events ffa offers
MrSweets: Being a good orc abuser with decent amount of experience and good micro, he lacked some luck and better overall decision making. Will do better next time.
Free Agent Squad:
Gradient: Beat the odds various times. Really memorable games with nice hustling, staying in game and making the right calls, with being a dangerous player trying to take out and to let in the game . Not many expected that heīd end the season with 505 winrate. Was always very game.
Supremo: Gave some players a hard time fighting him midgame, me included but suffered from not talking enough or being diplomatic enough, combined with bad ping and sometimes just underpowered hero & unitcombo. Focused more on goldmanagement later rounds, but was not enough to get away with a win. Showed to all games and is a unique addition to the FFA scene.
Tox: Entered late in the season and had some good games, showing his strong micro and also improved manipping and overall awareness. Missed to secure some more points, but is always a threat and can do much better next season.
Joggel: Seems like an experience ffaer, but rather new to fml format. Had some nice fighting games, but being stuck in tough casts, not allowing him to grab more points. Has good potential to increase his amount of better results in upcoming fml seasons.
Church of Renaud:
Renaud: Strong first round, w/o being able to finish as winner. Struggled in midseason, but had a good win in the final round. Still has left a lot in the tank and is a force to reckon with.
Cumulo: Brought home 3 wins. A bit surprising to me to be honest. He used the advantages of human on certain maps especially well i guess, and did not mess around with naga/beastmaster too much. Had a very strong game on Twisted meadows.
Ep123: Late replacement for seksi, who made a mysterious exit from the league and the team. Showed good performances, also in inhouse matches, but still has not seen too much of him. Looks like a overall strong ffa player, who is a worthy opponent afaik.
Valefort: Not sure if he started from r1. But with his good understanding of the human race, combined with strong micro, he had some good games without ending up on top, due to some tough casts and maybe a bit lack of tryhard ffa mentality. Seemed hard to manip and scouts rather well.
Miscellaneous:
That you could face the same players two or even three times in a row, can be fun or annoying, but spices things up for sure.
Hopefully we wonīt have to long of a break until next season to keep especially the newer guys attracted and use the success of the season for the next one immediately.
Letīs play Monday, 18th, 20:00 CET? Seems to fit everyoneīs schedule ( I guess Shave can whatever time)
When you prefer sunday evening, we can probably do it on short notice, because i am on a trip the weekend and donīt know when and in what condition i will arrive sunday evening...
Handled the early aggression by seksi poorly. Tping to natural mine with mass skellies, which got devoured... I wanted to break 50 early, but scouted not enough to know against whom i will be. Honestly did not expect to fight fiends and destros early. Woulda been able to defend smoothly with pumping instantly once i had enough gold/lumber.
Failed to buy tp at my side expand and lost 2 heroes middle top in the process...was bad.
Did okay with coming back into the game, not giving seksi more xp and focused on macro.
Then i maybe wait too long with using my army, shoulda maybe try to take seksi or gradient out when i had 80 pop.
Lost all my heroes to seksi, when i was at gradient, rly sucked.
When i finally moved my army, which was only 56 by then i actually wanted to attack seksi, but he lured around the shop and woulda kill some and made me use tp etc, when my gold was already rly low.
I needed some xp for mk lvl 6 and getting my panda closer to 5 and 6 so it was also ok to go for eshan.
I got 1 hero and some units there which was okay, but i stayed too long and killed 2-3 buildings too much and most importantly did not backstabbed seksi, coulda snipe his dl atleast and then i lost my panda in the process when he turned on me.
Not enough i lost my mk while i was in seksis base trying to charm the wyrm, but somehow he was out of range, which was strange given the vision and distance. Was distracted too long and couldnt save mk, totally shitty sequence.
After that it basically over for me, needed harder 3 vs 1 but with only panda from eshand and gradient tping out early in fight it was over, since i had no gold anymore for tp.
I feel i suffered from the late hour and also the accu bot, which usually is quite bad for me.
Seksi play: he played the most aggressive from everyone, so it was not a undeserved win. He was way too much at me for my taste xD and he turned on ppl rly quickly. 2-3 Times i was rly close to suicide him, but he somehow dodged that bullet.
Eshanīs game: had very fast, greedy creeping and some itemluck and being able to creep all red key creeps. Tomed gradient a couple of times and missed the chance around the 25 mark, when he basically just needed to make 100 and wipe seksiīs base/army. Most likely woulda give him the win. Was a bit too passive late game, when he sit a lot. Was a bit unlucky with seksi and me going him and killing almost all. Had a good shot for coming back, but was unlucky with seksi finding his rebuilds faster. Also coulda kill some of his army for getting some supply off to revive hero quicker.
Gradient: Had some early success vs eshan and had a good fight vs me and hung strong, almost being able to snipe the win in the end. With better usage of items/summons or focusing on seksi a bit earlier heīd most likely snipe the win. Rather bad herocombo though, woulda switch the naga for tinker/beastmaster/panda. Pissed me off with his transmuting, when we needed to focus on others more :).
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Joggel
Donald-Trump
supremo
SuperCumulo
Ugrilainen
b100death
Peanut
Gradient
jOeybadass
aarnikratti
ena1337
Fetta_ook
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, those who are motivated, qualified and able to help are such an important part of the success and joy of this FFA/FML we got rolling here for quite some time now!
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. Not many expected that heīd end the season with 505 winrate. Was always very game.