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2nd Chance Finals - OPTIMUS__PRIME vs. Jerimuno

Posted: 07 Mar 2018, 17:18
by CurassierAndCurassier
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(This piece was written by duolckrad. All credit to him besides this little parenthetical)

First among trashcans. Best of the worst. King of the losers. Whatever the title, the winner of the ESOC 2nd Chance Tournament achieves a degree of fame unmatched by perhaps any other championship in the AoE3 competitive scene.


Despite being a tournament for players who were unable to advance to the later rounds of the ESOC Autumn 2017 tournament, the latest iteration of the 2nd Chance Tournament has been the most stacked yet. We’ve seen top-tier intermediate players like GiveUAnxiety, OPTIMUS__PRIME, and Jerom_ enter the fray, relative newcomers to the tournament scene like Quishosanchez, SVmerle, and ILeGiTBosSI, old friends of 2nd Chance like aligator92, EAGLEMUT, and RSY, and even past champions like duolckrad and Butifle.


This time around, the contenders in the finals are OPTIMUS__PRIME, whose name begs to be shouted from the top of your lungs every time it’s read out loud, and Jerimuno, a long-time dark horse now looking at a chance to make a breakout into the top tiers of play.


OPTIMUS__PRIME’s road to the finals started off well. After dropping unexpectedly early in the main Autumn tournament to flontier (who is himself an up-and-coming player to keep an eye on), he looked poised to take the entire tournament with undefeated records against Snuden, NN_1850, and Aragun_OP. But things became shaky in the later rounds, when iamturk took him to an ace match in a best of five and SVmerle brought their series out to six games.


Still, OPTIMUS__PRIME looks strong. While the Ottomans have had a contentious relationship with the AoE3 community in the past and a troubled balance history on the various iterations of the EP, OPTIMUS__PRIME has shown a continued willingness to use them, running them out twice per series in the quarter and semifinals. Moreover, his experience with team games and long tenure in the community have given him a fairly wide civilization pool, with strong play across a number of different European civilization in addition to some Japanese and Chinese skill. Without a doubt, he will be a tough opponent to overcome.


Against him stands Jerimuno, who exited from the Autumn tournament after nearly upsetting the eventual semifinalist snowww. After a minor hiccup in his series against theonlybaus, Jerimuno showed that he was capable of winning the tournament with a convincing 3-0 victory against RSY. While the close series against aligator92 looked troubling, he came back into form against tournament favorite Jerom_, demonstrating that he fully deserves a tournament victory.


Like his opponent, Jerimuno has a wide enough civilization pool to do well in a best of seven: his European play is strong, his [YumiW] clan tag speaks to his skill with the Asian civs, and he is even known to play the relatively unpopular native civilizations, much to the delight of certain community members.


With these two finalists, we’re almost certain to have an exciting and close series. Check it out at https://twitch.tv/esoctv on Thursday, 20 GMT! (That's noon PST to those of us that live on the Best Coast.)

Re: 2nd Chance Finals - OPTIMUS__PRIME vs. Jerimuno

Posted: 07 Mar 2018, 22:18
by MCJim
Finally, the finals! Good write up

Re: 2nd Chance Finals - OPTIMUS__PRIME vs. Jerimuno

Posted: 08 Mar 2018, 03:34
by Kaiserklein
Nice write-up!
Maybe make the casting time in bold? I feel like it's not super visible right now

CurassierAndCurassier wrote:even past champions like duolckrad and Butifle.

:hmm: In a way yeah he did participate


CurassierAndCurassier wrote:Jerimuno, a long-time dark horse now looking at a chance to make a breakout into the top tiers of play.

Didn't he already reach the semi finals once? Sounds more like a favorite than a dark horse tbh

Re: 2nd Chance Finals - OPTIMUS__PRIME vs. Jerimuno

Posted: 08 Mar 2018, 03:58
by Vinyanyérë
Kaiserklein wrote: :hmm: In a way yeah he did participate

;)
Kaiserklein wrote:Didn't he already reach the semi finals once? Sounds more like a favorite than a dark horse tbh


Yeah you're right, I forgot about his semifinals placing last time around. Jerimuno is in a good position to win here.

Re: 2nd Chance Finals - OPTIMUS__PRIME vs. Jerimuno

Posted: 15 Mar 2018, 10:16
by Ashvin
Good write-up team gj (Y)