Alliance Tournament XV: Two Weeks Down, Two To Go

Hello Capsuleers

After two weekends of explosions and last minute victories, we are now in the third week of Alliance Tournament XV. If you missed the action from the first two weekends of the tournament, you can find matches on EVE_NT’s YouTube channel, as well as simulation replays of every single match at //eveonline.pvp.tools/alliance-tournament/ (Shout out to Bierkof for putting it together). A big thank you also goes out to everyone at EVE_NT from CCP for all their hard work during the first two weekends of the tournament.

While 40 teams have already been eliminated, 24 teams remain in the tournament. Eight of these teams are in the undefeated bracket, having managed to defeat every team they have faced so far. They are:

• A Band Apart.
• Exodus.
• L A Z E R H A W K S
• Northern Coalition.
• Pen Is Out
• The Initiative.
• The Tuskers Co.
• VYDRA RELOLDED

The remaining 16 teams in the elimination bracket have all stumbled briefly and lost at least one match, but are managing to hang on and forge a path through other teams in a bid to reach the finals. They are:

• Brave Collective
• Bright Side of Death
• HYDRA RELOADED
• Mercenary Coalition
• Pandemic Legion
• Rote Kapelle
• Salt Farmers
• Shadow Cartel
• skill urself
• Snuffed Out
• Solyaris Chtonium
• Test Alliance Please Ignore
• The Bastard Cartel
• THE R0NIN
• Thermodynamics
• WE FORM V0LTA

The full brackets for the tournament can be found here.

The third weekend of Alliance Tournament XV starts August 12 at 15:00 UTC on //twitch.tv/ccp with THE R0NIN versus Snuffed Out. The full match schedule is available here on the community website. We’ll be brining you every match live from the studio in CCP Iceland alongside our expert commentators who you have already heard with EVE_NT. We asked them what they thought were some of the highlights of the last two weeks of play and what matches they’re looking forward to this weekend.

Rahne Chocolate: My highlight match was definitely Solyaris Chtonium vs No Handlebars, featuring expert MJD usage by Panthone. After watching their performance in the first two weekends, I'm looking forward to their upcoming matches, especially their first match on Saturday against Pandmeic Legion. It will be a super exciting thanks to SLYCE’s unpredictable nature.

Elise Randolph: My highlight from this weekend was definitely the tournament micro jump unit. While the unit has been in the AT for years, this weekend we saw them finally used to great effect. Most notably in the matches involving SLYCE, as they had a pilot single handedly winning the match versus drone swarms. This lead to an increased importance in scram tackle frigates - standout performance by Wasa QC in this role. I'm really excited to see the juggernauts clash in the elimination bracket - with tournament winners Hydra, PL, R0nin, and V0lta. PL and hydra have a 50-50 record, with PL winning in elimination matches historically.

Mawderator: One of the highlights for me so far this tournament was The Bastard Cartel vs Ghost Legion. Ghost Legion managed to take a small but seemingly solid lead in the match, but with less than a minute left TBC managed to start getting kills. In the end, TBC managed to pull ahead with just 21 seconds left, and hang on with their own ship with just 16% structure remaining. I’m eager to see which of the teams from the lower half of the undefeated bracket will make it to the undefeated finals, as these are teams that largely haven’t been able to make it that far in the tournament before. Who will get a shot at the final day?

Jin’taan: The highlight match for me has to be A Band Apart. vs WE FORM V0LTA, which for me really showed the impact individual piloting can have in the tournament, from ABA's Logi pilot, to Tikktok in the interceptor, all making these little minute plays that drastically changed the flow of the match, all topped off with a split-second decision on the Blackbird pilot to keep momentum in ABA's favour. I’m looking forward to the upcoming match between skill urself and Rote Kapelle, as the captains of both teams (CapQu and Ben Booley) are bitter rivals, so both can be expected to bring everything they have to try and drive the other out of the tournament. Both teams are gearing up for this fight, so expect them to bring everything they have to the table.

Something else to note with the third and fourth weekends is that teams will now have the ability to ban up to three ships instead of just two. This is a big change for the tournament, and is sure to result in some changes in strategy by the teams competing.

Which matches are you looking forward to? Who do you think will win the tournament now that we’ve seen what teams can bring to the table? Tweet to us using the hashtag #ATXV and let us know. We’re just as excited to see what unfolds over the next two weekends as you are, and we hope to see you in twitch chat cheering for your team (or cheering against your nemesis’s team). Until then fly safe!

-CCP Logibro and the Tournament Team