Alliance PvP Tournament - Day Four
Day four of the Alliance PvP Tournament was one of few surprises but the results it generated ensured that Saturday will tense in a few groups. Some unique tactics including smart bombing fleet commanders podding their own players and mining lasers on Megathrons were the highlight of a day that was spoiled by a large number of forfeits.
With the tournament moving into the Second Round, many alliances appeared to have given up both on qualifying and the Caldari Navy Raven on offer as compensation. The Caldari Gaming Commission certainly has plenty of food for thought when they revise the next tournament’s rules, with commentators demanding fines for non-participation or a deposit for upon entering.
The first official fight saw Dusk and Dawn register a good win over Serenus Letum and it would appear we will be seeing more of them as well as the Five in the later stages.
Band of Brothers continue to set the pace, both in the tournament as a whole and in Group B, as they remained unbeaten with a flawless win over Fate Weavers. At least FW turned up, given that two of BoB´s wins had been walkovers and in something of a change to the normal script, something of a long-range fight ensued.
Needing a victory to stay in the tournament, Interstellar Starbase Syndicate saw off Chorus of Dawn whilst fielding an all-Caldari line-up. However, they still require Stain Alliance to lose to Ushra'Khan on Saturday to have a chance to go further in the competition.
In the battle for top spot in Group C, Mercenary Coalition dominated Stain Alliance to book their place in the next round. However, barring a miracle both teams should advance.
3rd Front booked their place in the next round with a tactical victory over O X I D E.Although they lost a Sabre and Enyo quickly against a beam set-up Apocalypse, 3FA just needed to get into range of their opponents to start to light them up with their all gank Gallente squad.
GoonSwarm failed to register their first points as New Outer Ring Allied Democracy slaughtered them, featuring the quickest HAC kill of the tournament. Perhaps enraged by this, Remedial, flying the universe’s first smartbombing/nosferatu/cap transfer Bombadom managed to pod one of his own men.
Morsus Mihi proved to be too much for The Sudden Death Squad, leaving Prime Orbital Systems needing to beat The Red Skull on Saturday to have a chance to advance from Group E. They gave themselves this opportunity by whitewashing Fountain Alliance, who were making their penultimate appearance under that name.
Continuing their outstanding record of not having lost a ship, SMASH Alliance scraped past Ascendant Frontier in Group F 1-0. From the start ASCN concentrated on the Sabre but with two ships shield transferring to it, the destroyer class vessel held out.
The first kill finally came in the seventh minute when the Eris died and this proved to be all the bloodshed in the match. Previous rounds seemed to indicate that it was logistical drones that kept up SMASH´s incredible record but with ASCN concentrating on these, the tank between the five ships proved more than up to the job.ASCN now require a win on Saturday to assure their safe passage to the Second Round given that THE R0CK conceded to Electus Matari.
Stain Empire slaughtered D-L in a Tech One versus Tech Two mauling, whilst Free Space Alliance forfeited their game with Axiom Empire, who will face Exuro Mortis on Saturday to determine one of the two qualifiers from Group G.
The final two games of the day in Group H provided some interesting highlights as with their place in the Second Round assured, Interstellar Alcohol Conglomerate fielded a Megathron with mining lasers and snowballs.
As Kaos Empire cruised to a 5-0 win, Caldari´s finest bookkeepers immediately cried fix and with the potential losses running into the billions, a State investigation appears likely.
And in the final battle of the day it was a superb topsy-turvy one that saw T R U S T pull off an incredible come-from-behind timed-out win over Black Reign Syndicate. Quickly falling behind two ships to zero, TRUST focused on their opponents´ Rapier and clawed their way back, pulling ahead when their Dominix class battleship somehow found some armour repair from thin air and survived long enough to assist in the downfall of BRS´s Absolution.
All in all it was an intriguing day, with competitors adding their unique humour to the experience. Going into the concluding Saturday of the tournament many groups are yet to be decided adding another layer of intrigue into what promises to be one of the most talked about events of the year.
