Alliance Tournament V : Day One : Matches 9-16 | EVE Online

Alliance Tournament V : Day One : Matches 9-16

2008-02-29 - Von Svarthol

With the first day of the Fifth Alliance Tournament now behind us, the many entrants have entertained the crowds with spectacles of great piloting, stunning victory, ruthless aggression and shocking defeat.

Continuing our rundown of the matches from day one, we now bring you a review of the last eight matches.


Match 9: Triumvirate. Vs United Corporations Against Macros

A resounding win for Triumvirate., who stuck to a tried-and-tested defensive team formation which easily brushed aside a far more experimental one fielded by UCAM.

United Corporations Against Macros: 3 Ravens | Bellicose | Arbitrator
Triumvirate.: Curse | Ishtar | Rook | 2 Guardians | Griffin

As the Arbitrator dropped within the first minute of the fight, it was clear that Triumvirate. would be coming out of this match with their first win. Next came the Bellicose and by this point it was all over. With not only the dual-logistics setup, but also shield and armor repair drones assisting the Guardian under fire, UCAM never stood a chance at breaking the logistics ring with the three Ravens that remained.


Match 10: Exa Nation Vs The Fourth District

The Fourth District came away with a well deserved victory, but Exa Nation’s early assault denied them a totalhelldeath.

Exa Nation: 2 Caracals | Myrmidon | 2 Drakes | Nighthawk
The Fourth District: 5 Cerberus | 5 Griffins

The fight got off to an explosive opening as the combined firepower of The Fourth District brought down two Caracals, whilst the early barrage from Exa Nation destroyed their opponent’s frigate support. This did little to slow The Fourth District as they continued to take down the enemies larger ships one at a time with focused firepower, meanwhile maintaining their own shields to avoid losing any of their heavy assault cruisers.


Match 11: DeStInY. Vs The Five

In a brutal match, The Five used a well proven setup to gain victory over DeStInY.

DeStInY.: Maelstrom | Basilisk | Caracal | Thrasher | Cormorant | Catalyst | 3 Kitsune | Succubus
The Five: 2 Basilisk | 5 Manticore | 2 Hound

It all started fast as the initial wave of fire from both sides took down one of The Five’s Hounds, but a spread of fire neutralized the frigate support of DeStInY. fairly rapidly. As the Maelstrom closed on The Five they pulled apart the rest of DeStInY.’s team, using a tight remote repair pattern to avoid further losses from the incoming fire. A strong victory for The Five.


Match 12: Atlas Alliance Vs Divine 0rder

Wielding ten Caracals, Divine Order slowly and systematically locked down and destroyed the smaller, heavier team of Atlas Alliance with minimal losses.

Atlas Alliance: 5 Drakes | Blackbird
Divine 0rder: 10 Caracals

A missile-intensive slugfest exemplifying Caldari warfare philosophy. The first volley from Divine 0rder destroyed the Atlas Alliance Blackbird within five seconds, with Atlas Alliance claiming a Caracal in return shortly after. But with a swathe of ECM Drones from the army of Caracals, the Drakes found it very difficult to keep the fight two sided. Slowly but surely, the intensive firepower from the Caracals took down the remaining Drakes. Divine 0rder sealed the victory with only two losses.


Match 13: GoonSwarm Vs United Legion

With the GoonSwarm team losing 10 points before the match began because of early movement, United Legion went on to take victory in a hard fought match.

GoonSwarm: 6 Ruptures | Thorax | Guardian | Catalyst | Griffin
United Legion: Harbinger | 2 Onieros | 4 Thorax

With the GoonSwarm Guardian looking to have placed itself slightly too far from its gang, the fight began and saw hordes of drones launched from both sides and the GoonSwarm team losing a couple of ships to focused fire whilst concentrating their fire on one of the United Legion logistic vessels. As the Oneiros went down, United Legion split their fire amongst the enemy and slowly took them down one at a time.

Although using remote repair modules and focusing fire, the GoonSwarm team were unable to capitalize and lost several more ships before destroying the second logistic cruiser. Without too much trouble, the United Legion went on to destroy the last of the GoonSwarm team and took victory in what was a well fought match.


Match 14: RONA Alliance VS Nebula Rasa

In a brutal match between these two teams, twin battleship firepower with support on both sides made for an interesting fight that Nebula Rasa eventually won.

RONA Alliance: Tempest | Dominix | Curse | Basilisk | 2 Griffins
Nebula Rasa: 2 Megathrons | 2 Guardians | 2 Vigils

Fielding two similar fleets, we saw a pair of heavy damage battleships on each side being supported by logistics and frigates, with RONA Alliance choosing a Curse rather than a second logistics cruiser. This may have been the deciding factor as both teams focused fire on the opposing logistic vessels, with the Basilisk succumbing first and leaving RONA Alliance without repair support.

As both teams lost their frigates, RONA Alliance continued to pile firepower onto one of the opposing Guardians, but could not break its tank as the second logistics ship supported it. One by one, RONA Alliance lost ships to the pair of Megathrons and Nebula Rasa took the win.


Match 15: Morsus Mihi VS R0ADKILL

The fifth Totalhelldeath of the tournament came as Morsus Mihi flew a well-tested and powerful setup against R0ADKILL and won decisively.

Morsus Mihi: 2 Basilisks | 4 Manticores | 3 Hounds
R0ADKILL: Nighthawk | 2 Drakes | Basilisk | Blackbird | 2 Griffins

With the ability to apply fast damage and with expert control of remote repair systems, Morsus Mihi controlled the battle from start to finish as they lined up targets and took them down efficiently. None of their ships ever coming into danger of being destroyed, it was a masterful victory and set them up as the team to beat in Group H.


Match 16: KIA Alliance VS Ushra’Khan

In the final match of day one, KIA Alliance met Ushra’Khan in battle. A hard fight to call at the beginning, Ushra’Khan took the upper hand with clever use of electronic warfare and earned themselves a comfortable victory.

KIA Alliance: 4 Ishtars | Oneiros | 3 Griffins
Ushra’Khan: Sleipnir | 3 Ruptures | 3 Thorax | Kitsune | 2 Griffins

The battlefield obscured by drones, Ushra’Khan took the fight to KIA Alliance using their high damage cruisers to remove the frigate support and lone logistics cruiser before their first Rupture went down in flames.

Taking down an Ishtar, KIA Alliance lost a quarter of their combat ability but managed to finish off two of the badly damaged Thorax's. With superior numbers and their E-War frigates still in tact, U’K went to work on the last three Ishtars rendered vulnerable by the loss of the Oneiros, and eventually walked away with a convincing and impressive victory.


Now that day one is over, the stage has been set for what standards have to be maintained. Several teams have rushed to the lead of their respective groups and others are left flagging behind. But nothing is certain yet and there is still everything to be played for.

From here we will see who adapts, who perseveres, and who has what it takes to push their way to victory and claim one of the coveted top two spots in each group.

Please join us tomorrow for further reports as the action unfolds live.


Eve-TV Coverage: Day One
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