Ladle 123 - March 7th, 2021

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Desolate
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Ladle 123 - March 7th, 2021

Post by Desolate »

syllabear
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Re: Ladle 123 - March 7th, 2021

Post by syllabear »

Power Rankings

A continuation of my pre-ladle Power Rankings, previous ones can be found here

This month we have a 7th team join the standings (Bikini Bears), and two teams have renamed (Pandora's B::x has renamed to Team .uNknown and The Smurfs are now known as Gangsters). As before, the rankings are in reverse order, and no offence is meant.

7. dumb Tronners (-1 from last month)
A number of changes to the roster have been made as some players have moved to other teams, while others have joined. Unfortunately I just don't see many of these players on the grid, and those that do probably don't play regularly enough to be considered a threat to the best teams out there. If they can get some practice in together and nail down their individual roles they could easily take matches off some of the other teams though!

6. Wide Open Team (-2 from last month)
A (somewhat late if you followed the drama on the discord) entry to the challenge board, 2020 has managed to put together a team of 6 players at the 11th hour. The skill level on this team varies wildly from complete novice to "certified pickup first pick" (looking at you Vovo). We have recently seen the impact a few stronger players can have on "weaker" teams (like when Ppotter nearly helped Pandora's box to a couple of upsets in ladle 121), however I don't see anything like that happening this time around. It will give them the edge against dT though.

5. Bikini Bears (new entry)
This team makes me feel out of touch with the community - where did it come from? How are these players connected? Is this a clan, or a one-off team for this ladle only? Is there any significance behind the name? Is it an homage to me? So many questions! Their quality is similar to the Wide Open Team - a spread of skill levels - though I feel the overall level of this team is slightly better and so I give them the edge. Orly? has particularly impressed me recently (enough that I managed to acquire enough footage to put together a highlight short for him!)

4. Team .uNknown (formerly Pandora's B::x, +1 from last month)
The freshly rebranded Team .uNknown essentially features the same players as ladle 122, obviously without Agility (who is the team leader for Bikini Bears). Last time around I underestimated this team and they showed it, registering wins against both OT and dumb Tronners. As not much appears to have changed apart from their name, I think they should be able to give a similar performance. Sadly, in addition to their name change, they have also decided to play under alias. I hope this isn't a trend in ladle.

3. Paradigm (no change)
As with last time, Paradigm are clearly better than all the aforementioned teams, but they simply have yet to bridge the gap to the top two. It is hard to say how close it is, as there are many factors at play here, from Force's ongoing internet problems to who shows up for them on the day. One good sign is that their team roster is fairly consistent - this cannot be underestimated and is one of similarities between them and the next two teams on the list. They have also been joined by Cadillac who will add further depth and options in a number of positions. One weakness that could be looked into is a lack of European players which severely hinders them in half of the played servers. Perhaps an area they could look into.

2. Twi×ted arrows (-1 from last month)
Last time out Twi×ted arrows again failed to beat their nearest rivals The Smurfs (now Gangsters) in the Swiss Round of the tournament for the third ladle in a row (two losses and one draw). However, as with the last two ladles, they beat them convincingly 2-0 in the finals (in ladle 120 they did not make the finals, and Korean Meta beat The Magicians - a.k.a. Gangsters - 2-0). This, despite a last minute defence replacement (ampz subbing in for orion) raises questions about why Gangsters cannot get over their 'finals hurdle'. Regardless, the continued absence of attacking stalwart Titanoboa, and now Ninja Potato's decision to play for Wide Open Team means this is Gangster's best chance of achieving ladle victory in recent memory - if they can't do it now, they probably never will. Good luck leading the attack Deso!

1. Gangsters (formerly The Smurfs, +1 from last month)
I correctly called the top two last time around. Some might say it was an easy prediction to make given that Twi×ted arrows had won 7 of the 8 preceding ladles. However the gap has certainly been closing recently and as mentioned above, Gangsters have been achieving results against Twi×ted arrows in the Swiss round for a few months now. The only missing piece has been their performance in the finals. While I personally suspect this is due to Gangster's lack of experience playing in long, drawn out tournaments, there probably is not single answer to readily explain these results. And regrettably I think the thing that is going to change this time are the deficiencies in Twi×ted arrow's roster, rather than any significant change in Gangster's quality. This should not be taken as a knock against them - they have provided an excellent adversary to potentially the most dominant team in the history of ladle. Now is their chance and they need to grasp it with both hands! Note: I still do note approve of the use of alias without visible GID
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Re: Ladle 123 - March 7th, 2021

Post by Z-Man »

round3_dny_unk_vs_bb.aarec 22016kb 2078s

(killall + shouts of gl/hf startled me again, so another two parter)
round4_ag_para_vs_ta_part1.aarec 22716kb 2151s
round4_ag_para_vs_ta_part2.aarec 11792kb 1055s
round4_z_gang_vs_unk.aarec 17300kb 1717s

Dumb tronners didn't show up with enough people, the games that would have been with them are therefore missing.

Twixted Arrows and Pardigm were tied for second place, so they did a small tie break game to see who enters the final:
playoff_dny_ta_vs_para.aarec 16192kb 1485s

final_dny_gang_vs_para.aarec 38320kb 3260s
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