slam after losing the series vs MbL on what went wrong and the tournament overall.
Big thanks to him for answering my questions and being part of the event.
In the series vs MbL you won the Monk war in game 1, lost out as Goth vs Spanish in game 2 and then came game 3: In last years finals you won the series vs Fedex but lost a Brits vs Celts war on the way.
Why did you pick Brits once again this time around?
slam: Brits are usually strong in Arena. If you look at the game I won vs Lojza I was Brits and he was Celts. I was kind of going off that. Celts obviously have the advantage in Imperial Age but I was hoping I could push quick with Brits. I wasted some time on early military - all my golds were forward which left me fearing that he would send mangonel/military. I kind of overcompensated there.
After game 4 you were tied 2-2 with you winning both mirrored match ups. That changed in game 5 when you decided on cavaliers in early Imperial Age. What was your thought process behind that decision?
slam: I was overthinking things. If you watch the game you will see me build 3 ranges / 2 monasterys etc as well lol. As you could see I didn't have a clue what I wanted to go. I'm pretty sure I had the better boom going for me that game and I should have just stuck to standard Chu Ko Nu / Onager. Instead I was thinking early Arbs / Cavs + Trebs with the idea of taking out his castles early before he had the Chu Ko Nus massed. I felt I executed it pretty poorly.
Game 6 made sure that you were not gonna be able to defend your title this year. Why did you decide to hand Turks to him?
slam: I have no idea. I should have just given him Franks as well (not sure if that was in the rules) and done another mirror [would have been possible by the rules]. Again, I think I was over thinking things and I made a really silly decision with that one.
MbL stuck to a simple/safe game overall, which in the end happened to work very well against me.
Arguably this years field was the strongest in the history of Masters of Arena. How happy are you with your own performance and tournament run overall?
slam: Not completely happy with my performance this time around. I wish I went a little further. I felt I had made some weird decisions throughout some of these matches. The tournament was run great. It was good to see that scheduling was being pushed to follow the deadlines.
For the third time the champion won't be able to defend his title. Who do you think can challenge Lojza waiting in the upper and TheViper in the lower bracket finals?
slam: Well, TheViper.. although I could see many of these players that are left challenging Lojza. The style of Arena and the settings are sort of like 'rock, papers, scissors'. You take guesses with civ selection and even sometimes with what unit you will produce in early imperial. As long as you are left with a bunch of good players it will be harder to tell with Arena in my opinion. I'm gonna guess... St4rk will give TheViper a challenge if he beats MbL. I think Arena fits St4rks style a bit better than the rest. Hard to say though, haha.
Thanks for hosting this tourney swissboyy. Also, thanks to those who casted and donated.
Big thanks to him for answering my questions and being part of the event.
In the series vs MbL you won the Monk war in game 1, lost out as Goth vs Spanish in game 2 and then came game 3: In last years finals you won the series vs Fedex but lost a Brits vs Celts war on the way.
Why did you pick Brits once again this time around?
slam: Brits are usually strong in Arena. If you look at the game I won vs Lojza I was Brits and he was Celts. I was kind of going off that. Celts obviously have the advantage in Imperial Age but I was hoping I could push quick with Brits. I wasted some time on early military - all my golds were forward which left me fearing that he would send mangonel/military. I kind of overcompensated there.
After game 4 you were tied 2-2 with you winning both mirrored match ups. That changed in game 5 when you decided on cavaliers in early Imperial Age. What was your thought process behind that decision?
slam: I was overthinking things. If you watch the game you will see me build 3 ranges / 2 monasterys etc as well lol. As you could see I didn't have a clue what I wanted to go. I'm pretty sure I had the better boom going for me that game and I should have just stuck to standard Chu Ko Nu / Onager. Instead I was thinking early Arbs / Cavs + Trebs with the idea of taking out his castles early before he had the Chu Ko Nus massed. I felt I executed it pretty poorly.
Game 6 made sure that you were not gonna be able to defend your title this year. Why did you decide to hand Turks to him?
slam: I have no idea. I should have just given him Franks as well (not sure if that was in the rules) and done another mirror [would have been possible by the rules]. Again, I think I was over thinking things and I made a really silly decision with that one.
MbL stuck to a simple/safe game overall, which in the end happened to work very well against me.
Arguably this years field was the strongest in the history of Masters of Arena. How happy are you with your own performance and tournament run overall?
slam: Not completely happy with my performance this time around. I wish I went a little further. I felt I had made some weird decisions throughout some of these matches. The tournament was run great. It was good to see that scheduling was being pushed to follow the deadlines.
For the third time the champion won't be able to defend his title. Who do you think can challenge Lojza waiting in the upper and TheViper in the lower bracket finals?
slam: Well, TheViper.. although I could see many of these players that are left challenging Lojza. The style of Arena and the settings are sort of like 'rock, papers, scissors'. You take guesses with civ selection and even sometimes with what unit you will produce in early imperial. As long as you are left with a bunch of good players it will be harder to tell with Arena in my opinion. I'm gonna guess... St4rk will give TheViper a challenge if he beats MbL. I think Arena fits St4rks style a bit better than the rest. Hard to say though, haha.
Thanks for hosting this tourney swissboyy. Also, thanks to those who casted and donated.