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BlackStar_OP vs LordRaphael
SUNDAY JUNE 11TH -- 15:00 GMT Casted by Interjection & Veni_Vidi_Vici_W https://www.twitch.tv/esoctv

A fairytale run through a tough bracket is something special. A sort of magical air can surround a player who completes upset after upset, who gains the crowd's favor as a vanquisher of the elite, a crusader who quests onwards, who overcomes obstacle after obstacle in fantasy-esque triumph.

There are no fairy tales today, friends.

When the brackets were first released two months ago two names alone stood above all others, pitted against each other, each opposite the other in the crooked road to the finals. It is these two names that yet still stand. Previous champions BlackStar_OP and LordRaphael will, this Sunday, finally go head-to-head in the match that was meant to be, as two paladins competing for the sweet affection of fair maiden “One Thousand USD.” They hoist their lances level, points aimed at hearts, armed with dangerous uhlan semi ff’s and powerful jan-abus rushes.

There were contenders, of course. Dark horses of the likes of Mitoe and Kaiserklein but horses they were and horses they remained, no match for the knights who proved themselves their masters.

It is now the masses excite, eager to congregate and bear witness as two giants attempt to fell the other. There has never been a two-time ESOC tournament champion yet that very title lies at stake this weekend, ready for the taking. Who can claim themselves king? Who can claim themselves the most accomplished modern-era Age of Empires 3 player?

The dust has settled. The ground now lies ready for battle.

Very good, Callen, very good. You sound as eloquent as me. Very well done. The "bot" approves.

HYPE.

Funny how predictable it all turned out to be.

Jerom wrote:Funny how predictable it all turned out to be.

You are professional bet-maker though!

Article has some errors. Please update to reflect the fact that the winner plays vs Victor_swe for 1st place

Zutazuta wrote:Article has some errors. Please update to reflect the fact that the winner plays vs Victor_swe for 1st place

That is only a showmatch, Victor_swe is not allowed to participate in further ESOC tournaments due to taking all the money.

Never heard of this Victor_swe

Nice write up, Much better.

Kudos! Even more exciting preview! Keep up at hyping us!

Fake news.

duel between 2 mankle slayers

Snuden wrote:Never heard of this Victor_swe

Callen I am pretty sure you could do a splendid job as a propagandist
No offence just.. good job

fei123456 wrote:duel between 2 mankle slayers

lmrao

Posted on the official forums: https://forums.ageofempires.com/discuss ... ael#latest
and on the Steam forums: http://steamcommunity.com/app/105450/di ... 640556896/

(Yes, again they have new forums and thus I lost my 2k post count)

Can't wait to watch. I hope both of these guys play enough to put on a special show for us!

MCJim wrote:Posted on the official forums: https://forums.ageofempires.com/discuss ... ael#latest
and on the Steam forums: http://steamcommunity.com/app/105450/di ... 640556896/

(Yes, again they have new forums and thus I lost my 2k post count)

Nice! Re-posted on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/ ... rdraphael/

Right now it's posted here:

Official AoE forums: https://forums.ageofempires.com/discuss ... ael#latest
Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/app/105450/di ... 640556896/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ESOCommunity/status ... 4208573440
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ESOCommunity.n ... 4070043523
ESOCommunity: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=11270
Team Liquid: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/games/5 ... is-weekend
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/ ... rdraphael/

Make sure to hype up the GRAND FINALS guys!

umeu wrote:Fake news.

It's gonna be huge

It will be an awesome final! I think it will be a close series, hopefully full of surprises and entertaining.
Who will be casting btw?

Would be really cool, if you guys could add predictions + explanation for their predictions from some known members of this community for the next tournament. (similar to previews on teamliquid)

Gichtenlord wrote: from some known members of this community

Thank you for the kind shout-out.

In the coming final we have the crowd favourite BlackStar_OP. This champion is the favourite for a reason - he attained victory before on players on the same skill level as LordRaphael. He has only lost a game in this entire tournament once and not to just anyone but Mitoe - who is an extremely well-skilled player to say the very least. My prediction for this Final would be 5-2 to BlackStar_OP.

I am sorry to say that no active player at the moment can beat BlackStar_OP. He just seems like an unstoppable force at this point in time. However, If anyone can defeat BlackStar then my bet would certainly be on LordRaphael. LordRaphael designs his games very carefully. In the last final versus _H2O, we saw almost mirror-like strategies. It was the little things that really gave LordRaphael the edge in the games almost milking everything he could from his opponent. There is no doubt that this series will be just as tense. Back again to the series vs _H20 we saw the series take over 20-25 minutes on average per game. Compared to recent gameplay from BlackStar, the aforementioned could have a pension by then.

This has however become quite prominent for BlackStar and If I were LordRaphael I would definitely draw from this and prepare accordingly. We could probably expect in the first game or two some quite rushy gameplay from BlackStar but I would strongly see LordRaphael counter it very effectively. BlackStar however is not one to stray away from interesting strategies himself - often winning with very unique gameplay.

I think I will stick with my prediction of 5-2 to Victor_swe

Easy win for bsop

Its a bo9? So would be 5-x