Alliance Tournament V : Day Four : Matches 49-56
Welcome to Day Four of the Fifth Alliance Tournament. Here are the initial results and reviews of the first eight matches of the day.
Match 49: Blood Blind Vs When Fat Kids Attack
An "exhibition match" between the two teams at the bottom of the group who agreed to restrict themselves entirely to out and out combat. Blood Blind came away with their first victory of the tournament against FATTY and made it a decisive one too, claiming a totalhelldeath victory.
Blood Blind: 2 Drake | 3 Harbinger | Dramiel | Rifter
When Fat Kids Attack: Hyperion | Armageddon | Brutix | Vexor
Within the opening moments of the fight the FATTY Vexor was instantly taken down and their Brutix was quickly to follow under heavy Harbinger laser fire. From there any damage output was drastically reduced and up against five Battlecruisers, it was all over for FATTY. It was an interesting team formation from Blood Blind, who showed that a Battlecruiser-heavy formation can work. They can walk away from the tournament with a win on their record.
Match 50: The Kadeshi Vs Molotov Coalition
One of the closest matches of the tournament, The Kadeshi came away with a win against Molotov Coalition, just barely managing to survive the onslaught of their triple-Megathron squad.
The Kadeshi: Guardian | 5 Vexor Navy Issue | Sentinel | 2 Griffin
Molotov Coalition: 3 Megathrons | Maulus | 6 Griffins
Within the opening minutes of the fight the support of both sides had been removed from the field, with Griffins dropping on both sides to drone and blaster fire. All that remained after the frigate slaughter was a lone Sentinel - which later came to play an important role. From there the Vexors sent their drones on to a single Megathron, as they all closed range on the Guardian and dispatched it in short order.
The fight wasn’t over at that point however, as 5 Vexors and 25 drones continued to chew threw the Megathron’s armor. By the time they’d lost their first Vexor, the Megathron was on its way out. Three more Vexors fell in exchange for another, putting a great deal of damage onto the remaining one as they were taken down. All that was left after the carnage was a badly beaten Megathron in low armor and a Vexor in much the same position, flanked by a Sentinel. Keeping safe from the Megathron fire whilst directing its drones onwards, the Vexor slowly whittled it down as the Sentinel safely worked away on its capacitor. With only 4% structure left on the Vexor and the Megathron stopping for a reload, the match went Kadeshi's way.
Match 51: Hydra Alliance Vs Notoriety Alliance
Notoriety brought another interesting formation to bear this time, but found no weak links to exploit in the brutal ten-Thorax team of Hydra, who gave them their first loss. It was a battle of strategy this time, with both teams adapting their tactics on the fly and trying to outdo one another.
Hydra Alliance: 10 Thorax
Notoriety Alliance: Scimitar | 3 Vigilants | 2 Sentinel | 2 Keres | Kitsune
With a single Thorax taken down in exchange for a Vigilant, it looked as if it would be quickly over for Notoriety. ECM drones swarmed the Scimitar, stopping it from doing it’s job and another Vigilant was lost as a second Thorax hit deep hull. With 8 Thoraxes left on the field and their third Vigilant lost for only slight armor damage on a single Thorax, it seemed as if the battle was a foregone conclusion.
Notoriety kept their cool however, adapting their strategy on the fly and maintaining pressure on the damaged Thorax. Whittling down its armor with their drones, they eventually removed it from field and went to work on another. Keeping their frigates safe, they looked as if they might actually come away with a win if they only killed two more Thorax. Hydra turned the battle around however, removing the opposition drones from the field and scoring a kill on a webbed Sentinel. As the fourth Thorax slipped into very low hull, Hydra hurriedly removed the last of the drones and escaped with both 7 Thorax and a win when time was called.
Match 52: Synchr0nicity Vs Green Alliance
Green came away with another win and yet another totalhelldeath as they tore apart the Synchr0nicity team with surgical precision, changing their tactics to nullify their opponent's.
Synchr0nicity: Abaddon | 2 Dominix | Myrmidon
Green Alliance: Absolution | 4 Ishtar | Vengeance
The match started with Green sending in a drone swarm towards Synchron0city, whose own conspicuous lack of drones signaled the imminence of some smartbombing. Withdrawing them before any were lost, Green exchanged them on the field for sentry drones, which immediately began to trouble the Myrmidon and eventually take it down. From there the match slowly slipped away from Synchr0nicity as their Battleships fell under the fire of the drones and Absolution lasers.
Match 53: Pandemic Legion Vs Ethereal Dawn
Pandemic needed to come away with a decisive win in this battle and did just that with a totalhelldeath win.
Pandemic Legion: 2 Guardians | Rook | Curse | 2 Thorax
Ethereal Dawn: 3 Abaddon | 2 Kitsune | 2 Vigils
Immediately trying to alpha-strike the Rook from the field, ED met some stiff resistance from the dual-Guardians. Unable to throw the logistics pilots by switching targets to the Curse and then later spreading it across both vessels, they found few weaknesses and made no further progress as they lost their Kitsunes. The Curse had by this time thoroughly troubled the capacitor of one of the Abaddons and it was taken down. From there another Abaddon was neutralized and dropped in tandem with one of the Vigils. Repeating the process, Pandemic came away with a much-needed high points win that takes them to the top of the group.
Match 54: Brutally Clever Empire Vs Cry Havoc.
Cry Havoc. outdid their opponents this time with a tried and tested setup easily outdoing the drone-reliant formation fielded by Bruce and coming away with a totalhelldeath win.
Brutally Clever Empire: 4 Ishtar | 5 Ishkurs
Cry Havoc.: 3 Dominix | Guardian
With three logistically-supported Dominix staring off a mass of drone-heavy vessels, it looked grim from the beginning for Bruce. Bruce had no answer for the Dominix smartbombs and saw the loss of a great number of their drones early on. Sitting comfortable, Cry Havoc. got to work on dispatching the Ishtars and the rest of the team.
Match 55: Cosa Nostra. Vs Interstellar Alcohol Conglomerate
The “fourteen billion ISK match”. IAC came up against the group leaders Cosa Nostra. who cruised through with yet another convincing win and a totalhelldeath against IAC.
Cosa Nostra.: 2 Abaddon | 2 Oneiros | 2 Rifter
Interstellar Alcohol Conglomerate: 5 Ishtar | 5 Griffin
Cosa Nostra. quickly got to work on the Griffins of IAC using the Abaddon’s lethal EM alpha-strike. Focusing their fire on the Rifters which were busy killing drones, IAC made no progress in the face of some masterfully executed logistics from the Oneiros pilots. With their ECM removed from the field and only the Ishtars remaining, IAC had no chance to break the logistics chain and were slowly picked apart.
Match 56: Blade. Vs Phalanx Alliance
The second draw of the tournament this time around, as neither side managed to break down their opponents logistics chains.
Blade.: 2 Dominix | 2 Basilisks | 2 Vigils
Phalanx Alliance : 2 Hyperion | Dominix | Guardian
Both teams brought some competent logistics piloting to the field and played it safe. With no points scored by either team, Phalanx managed to deny Blade a shot at a finals placing.