S25 Grand Finals

[FML|Mog]

Here we are! After a grueling season filled with drama, passion, heartbreak, and perseverance; we've reached the final stage: The grand finals. On FFA's largest, and most prestigious stage, we have four warriors ready to fight for the honor of making their mark on FML, by putting their name in the hallowed FML hall of fame. I'm sure by now we are all familiar with these four players--whether you love them, revere them, or hate them; they are all deserving of their spot here in this grand final.

For my own personal pleasure I have acted as the designated Sorting Hat and divided these players up between the 4 Hogwarts Houses. So let's meet the players:

  Wrecktify
Hogwarts House: Gryffindor - Courageous, bold, and a bit reckless.
Finishing in 1st place this season and earning a direct seed into these finals we have our well established Night Elf player Wrecktify. A well known face (and voice) in this community, Wrecktify keeps putting up solid results after all this time. We can definitely dub him the veteran of this group, having already won three FML titles in the past; the first dating all the way back to season 6. Despite playing a consistently predictable style, Wrecktify is still an opponent many fear, due to his overall solid micro, macro, and game sense. Throw in just enough mental instability to suicide you at any given moment, and it is no wonder many tread carefully when involved in the same game as Wrecktify. No stranger to the finals, Wrecktify will be hoping his experience will be enough to put his name in the history books as the only 4x FML champ in the long history of the league.

  Noexxx
Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw - Wise, creative, and original.
Finishing 2nd in the standings this season we have our Human player Noexxx. The current reigning FML champion, Noexxx will be looking to repeat his Season 24 success, and become the first player in over a decade to win back to back FML titles. No one has achieved such a feat since the early days, back when Target won seasons 2 and 3. Despite having a no show in week 2, Noexxx found a way directly to the finals by winning all 3 of the matches he showed up for. Widely considered the strongest  player of the season, there are still many questions Noexxx must answer if he hopes to repeat as FML champion. Will his beloved Panda burn through the opposition? Will he use mechanical critters to create a new meta creeproute? And just how many towers exactly will he build? Only time holds the key to unlocking these answers; for now, we the fans wait with bated breath.

  FML|Junkerzam
Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff - Trustworthy, kind, and just.
Our final direct seed into the finals is the lone torch bearer for the admin team. Well, supposedly he is on the admin team, but looking around it is hard to see any work done by him  . As the creator of the first ever randomized match making system used this season, many find themselves asking the question, was the system rigged? We may never know. However, after watching Junkerzam's matches, the doubt will be dispelled from our minds by his smart and crisp play. Decisive decision making and subtle manipulation, paired with his well above average micro and macro make Junkerzam a very dangerous player indeed. Good with all four races, preparing to play against Junkerzam will be challenging for our other competitors. Will Junkerzam be able to leverage this racial diversity into an advantage? Or will the burden of preparing for a match of this magnitude with four different races be too much for him to carry? One thing we know for certain; Junkerzam would be a much deserving new entry into the FML hall of fame should things fall in his favor.

  Tleilaxu
Hogwarts House: Slytherin - Cunning, resourceful, and proud.
Our final competitor has crawled through the bloody gauntlet of the semi finals, and is looking to prove to his critics that he is indeed deserving of a first ever FML title. Often underestimated, Tleilaxu is widely considered to have more bark than bite. However, this season he has proven he can not only hang with the best--he can defeat them. A necrowagon specialist, Tleilaxu is not only dangerous in the early game, but also in the late game, where he has shown countless times the ability to cleverly slither his way through tight situations in order to come out on top. This self proclaimed Anti-hero's journey has not been an easy one, battling through many FML seasons the resilience and growth Tleilaxu has shown can not be understated. Will it all culminate in a highly coveted FML crown? This dark horse certainly hopes so.

GRAND FINALS MAP: COZY SANDS! 

[noexxx]

hey guys, I'm going to Mexico from the 8th of july to the 29th of july but I can be there anytime until the 8, just warn me in advance, could an admin open scheduling thread please ? :D

[Slythe]

All this nice HP related finals introduction and then it´s COZY SANDS in the end which totally killed the hype, this map in a rather classic fml season? COME ON :D
But i´ll wait for the game and then criticize some more, maybe :P.

[SweeT]

ALmost glad I didnt make it through looking at the map choice

[FML|Mog]

Lots of hate already for the map! I mean, to be fair, it won the map contest and it was pretty clear the top maps were going to be making an appearance during the season. I would have thought it would be easy to assume this would be the finals map since it won the contest and hadn't made an appearance yet!

[ZsSuperCumulo]

wtf? the map is beautiful, it looks as legit as a blizzard map. No idea why these guys bashing on the map as final choice since everyone saw it come miles away...

[Wrecktify]

Dear all,

Fuck this map.  Sideways.  A 25th anniversary is likely to never be passed in terms of grandness, as we will likely not make it to season 50.   To me, playing some crappy 4 player map in the finals is a big fuck you to the community and the players.  Especially me, since recent history generally gives top scorer the ability to choose the map.  What should the map be?  Well, I've only been here like 17 seasons, but it should either be whatever map was the season one finals map (Deadlock I think? Also widely considered a balanced map with plenty of supporting gameplay evidence) or I should get the pick, as has become custom as of late.

No, we get Cozy fucking sands. 

"Gee Wreck, why are you so bent out of shape about this map?"

Well thank you for asking, random stranger.   Well, lets start with the obvious.  It's absolute shit for myself and Laxu, as its not a macro map.  Its also a wide open map, which favors Orc / HU.  It has negligible gameplay in the league, and testing a map in the fucking grand finals is a joke.  And it was picked by a bunch of admins who combined have less activity than anyone in the match.    In short, shitty new map picked by people barely involved with league. 

I said that Noexxx would win last week in my prediction of the game, prior to learning this balls map choice, and I stick with that.  He will likely rush myself or Laxu, Junkerzam will retarded rush the other person, then Noexxx cleans up.  Having watched all of Noexxx's recent 4 player map matches thats how they typically play out, and good on him that he gets a free win of this map of supreme faggotrocity.  Fuck everyone, /mic drop.

[SweeT]

I agree the map is quite shit. Yes it might look nice, but its about the gameplay not the looks. And also this is actually a very bad orc map too in my opinion. Look at the item drops. and the creeping is terrible for orc in general.

A gloves of haste drops at the LAB which is like an orange almost red camp which requires 2-3 wyvern and sh hexing + bm 3. I would expect something like sanctuary, market or deadlock for a classic final

[SweeT]

By the way I couldn't help but notice that the players were all perfect matches for the Hogwarts house descriptions. All of them have different personalties that match their house... It's honestly too perfect. Like what if SHaved or I had won?

I'm starting to think FML rigged the season just to get this write up

[ZsSuperCumulo]

Sweet you lost, get over it. Stop trash talking about the work other people put a lot of effort into it. If the map has certain characteristics that yo do not like, then adapt your strategies to the map instead of bitching about it, specially when you are not even going to play in.

Now as for wreck, it's hard to tell whether he's being honest or just trolling ...

[Wrecktify]

Sweet you lost, get over it. Stop trash talking about the work other people put a lot of effort into it. If the map has certain characteristics that yo do not like, then adapt your strategies to the map instead of bitching about it, specially when you are not even going to play in.

Now as for wreck, it's hard to tell whether he's being honest or just trolling ...

Sweet is allowed to think a shit maps shit.  Just because you feel solidarity with a fellow map maker doesnt negate that, or negate our appreciation someone made a new map.  The same way I think your Mason De La Casa map is good, I wouldnt put in as teh finals map as its hardly finished.  If you disagree with someone, make counter arguments.  Ad hominem attacks are admitting you dont have an argument to begin with.

[SweeT]

I always appreciate the effort and work, and I think it's a well made map - visually speaking. But as far as balance is concerned it's complete crap in my opinion and it doesn't seem to cater for very interesting matches.

In fact I sent this guy my suggestions for changes in an email a while ago. So I am making an effort to make maps better rather just shitting on them because I'm salty.

I'm over that I lost, but I want to watch a nice final game as an observer and I don't think this map will provide that. Sorry if I came out too direct against the map.

I also appreciate your maps, Neon City is a good map, and Meson would be good if you changed/finished it like Wrecktify touched on.

I hope this clears up things.

[ZsSuperCumulo]

I did make one counter argument, " If the map has certain characteristics that yo do not like, then adapt your strategies to the map instead of bitching about it".

Thanks for clarifying things sweet, I do appreciate your feedback since it's crucial to have members providing insightful suggestions, but straight up calling something "shit", just not the way to go bro.

[FML|Mog]

By the way I couldn't help but notice that the players were all perfect matches for the Hogwarts house descriptions. All of them have different personalties that match their house... It's honestly too perfect. Like what if SHaved or I had won?

I'm starting to think FML rigged the season just to get this write up

I acruelly added the hogwarts part last, because it fit really well. I would have just left it out if it didn't work out that way. But it was too perfect with all 4 players fitting very well into their respective houses (in my opinion).

As for the map, we've had so many finals on maps the classic ffa maps: market square, twilight ruins, and deadlock. Usually, they are very stale and last 3+ hours because the stakes are high and there is a big punishment to rushing someone since the other players can hoard so much gold. Or, players could be in a very unfavorable position due to a surround, or double surround. I don't mind negative feedback about the map choice, but it was thought out, and worked out especially well with the recent map making competition , which breathed new life into our little community by injecting different and unique maps that have not been played 10000 times. Also, last season there was a 4 player map as well, and the game was very fair, compettive, and entertaining.

[deluded]

Great writeup! Agree with the map thing, though. Gives a very "experimental" flavour to the final. Just want to see the best players duke it out on a standard FFA map, that they are all familiar with.

It would've been plausible to me to use the map contest winner in the very first round, as a nice way to utilize the momentum from the map contest in order to transition into the new season. Imo not the right call to be conservative and "save" it for later on.

P.S.: Using the plural "finals" instead of "final" always confuses me...