N8Diaz hosted the first official clan tournament in years on Saturday 6th March 2021 and I have to say the best clan won!
The format was 2v2 round robin, with 2 separate groups and 4 teams advancing to the semi finals. 4 maps were gambled at random: P4, Crush Basement, TDawg, Answer the Door.
Myself and ORA-Medic (aka bart) represented ORA clan as we decided to give the other teams a chance as we would have won too easily had we fielded our top guns such as Eve and Jacob.
In the group stages we had a convincing win against BAT B team. We only lost 1 game in which Hank subbed in for medic for ORA for 1 game, on p4 against Rushy and Kipp who were very very lucky. NastyClan A shit themselves at the prospect of having to face us and bottled out of it, forfeiting the match. ORA A and A clan A henceforth progressed to the semi finals from our group.
In group B there was drama. BAT clan A absolutely steamrolled the group winning all 4 games. There was a 3way tie for 2nd place between TA, 1 and WP A teams. As per the rules, 1 clan were eliminated by the cncnet !Gamble feature. TA team consisting of Jayman and Lordy beat WP Entidad and Anderson in the playoff game and took up the 4th semi final spot.
Our semi final vs BAT A was a match for the ages. With 3 extremely close and good games. Bart played his best ever game in the decider on T-Dawg and we took the series 2-1. You can watch a replay of this match here https://www.twitch.tv/batndiaz/v/939742259?sr=a&t=1s
Now this is when the shenanigans began. Cheating happened in the 2nd semi final as Jayman was booted out of TA by Lordy and Kickn from TB played under Jayman's name. As a result, Lordy and Jayman's semi final 2-1 victory over A clan was compromised. Lordy attempted to desperately swim against the tide and clutch at straws by saying they now played as DG clan but this was clearly against the rules. TA had qualified for the semi finals, not DG. Diaz as tournament host was not fooled by Lordy's antics and so his team were disqualified from the tournament after they were unable to field a 2nd TA player in the allocated time frame. As a result, ORA team were declared champions.
It was a real shame for myself and Bart (aka Medic) as we were extremely confident we would have smashed TA 3-0 in the final as we were playing on top of our game. No one wants to seal victory like this, but rules are rules and our final opponents had tried to bring shame on the event by cheating and swindling their way to the final. Regardless, let this take nothing away from our famous victory and we clearly showed that ORA is the most dominant clan in Red Alert just as it has been for the past 22 years. Bart will now have his name enshrined in the ORA trophy cabinet for decades to come after this victory, alongside other such legends as Milo234 and Galgu.
ORA-Boy (clan leader) will be so proud of our victory - even though it was expected. On a personal level I am delighted to have justified the huge trade deal ORA made with TA for me 5 years ago. ORA had a lot of faith in me when they traded Ford, McLovin and 3 future draft picks to TA for me and I am proud to have repaid them with this victory.
At the end of the day, despite many hiccups, the tournament got what it deserved and the best clan won. There can be absolutely no doubting who are the official best clan on Red Alert now as we proved it in the battle arena. Thanks to Diaz for organising this event.
Full bracket here https://redalert1og.challonge.com/RA2021clanleague
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more!