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Catching up with Alliance Tournament – Part Four.

September 8, 2014

Now the Alliance Tournament (AT) 12 is over. The new champions and finalists have been recognized, it’s nice to take a look back at the beginning of the competition’s entry into the modern era with AT6 – a time when CCP got the balance right and lots of influences were combining to effecting the game.

In real life the world’s economy was collapsing terribly and mass lay-offs were hitting hard. Job prospects were dismal leaving EVE a stable and growing refuge with numbers growing fast. Players were logging on in record amounts, nullsec alliances were on full war footings and the dramatic conclusions to epic conflicts were at hand. The most popular expansion was about to hit – changing EVE forever.  This was a golden age in EVE.  At the centre of it was the alliance tournament which would see a new dynasty emerge – Pandemic Legion.

Pandemic Legion (PL) was formed to join the fight against Band of Brothers (BOB) during the Great War – when almost all of null-sec was fighting for or against BOB.  PL’s cooperation with the Goons, and later Razor and Morsus Mihi – (formerly Phoenix Alliance corporations) placed PL squarely on the anti-BOB side of the conflict. Unlike the others however, PL had no specific score to settle. Historically, PL had been extremely high priced mercs, paid in the hundreds of billions range per mark, but it is unclear if their political involvement in the Great War was contractual.

What was crystal clear was that PL had very capable PVPers with very experienced FCs. They carried the hopes and dreams of many to be the BOB-killer in AT4 – a time when BOB was declaring war on everyone.  BOB had already crushed Ascendant Frontier and were first to kill a Titan – a rare event at the time. Unfortunately for PL, Star Fraction had taken that opportunity away in the quarter-finals, and HUN Reloaded stopped their bid for the crown. The following year Triumvirate knocked them out of AT5. PL had been denied three great victories.

 

Alliance Tournament VI

By January 2009, the modern era of alliance tournament was at hand with the arrival of AT6 – one of the greatest, most dramatic tournaments in history.

CCP changed to a Swiss style bracketing system allowing teams to advance based on their record, not on single match eliminations. CCP Claw tweaked the rules to maximize excitement; pirate implants were barred and no remote repairing was allowed. It would be a DPS, E-war, and tank bonanza. Teams had matured and were experienced enough to train seriously; theory crafting multiple set ups and practising them relentlessly. By now having one unbeatable set up was a thing of the past, but even having multiple set ups was no guarantee.

“The rule format of the tournament would create some rock, paper, scissors situations that could prove unlucky for us…. I was counting on our practice to carry us through the close matches.”  — PL Team leader, Shamis Orzoz, Eve-Tribune (04/2009)

Outside of the tournament, the political map of New Eden was in turmoil. Faction Wars between empires were in full swing while classic null-sec rivals were smashing each other in large scale battles. BOB’s scorched earth philosophy was adopted by the rest of New Eden and the results were high stakes conflicts – win or die.

BOB’s aggressive Max Damage campaigns (to inflict as much damage as possible on south and north) were being resisted and faltering at the hands of PL and others. BOB’s power and reputation was waning as they pulled back to Delve, fortified themselves and watched the tournament they once ruled.  No doubt Haargoth Agamar was also watching – assessing his loyalties and place in history.  A new tournament dynasty was about to emerge, Pandemic Legion, a dynasty which represented the rise of the Goonswarm and true Northern Coalition (Razor/MM/and others).

PL was already recognized as the best team yet to win the championship. With solid financing, first class theory crafting, and the some of the best FC’s in the game:

“Most of our teams had at least FIVE FCs. All top notch. So if one went down, we had plenty of backups. And our switching was nearly seamless. I FC’ed most of the fights. Shadoo took over in the fights when I died. But we also split some of the work up in several matches.” – Shamis Orzoz

PL was also starting to gain a lot of attention as a top alliance in null-sec. They were eclipsing BOB as the pre-eminent PVPers.

I think they are renown at the moment, the only people that would disagree are the people they are currently fighting [aka BOB], but PL right now, pound for pound the strongest alliance in the game. That is pretty much recognized through a lot of the (EVE) leadership. Top quality.”  – EVE TV Commentator

BOB’s shameful defeat in the AT4, faltering war campaigns, on top of old boasts that could no longer be backup up with success made its rivals ascent to stardom even clearer. Competitive EVE is about reputation and no one wants to sink with the hated old-guard when you can join the heroic winners. With a low character and something valuable to trade, BOB director Haargoth plotted against his friends. He had recently returned from a hiatus to a different state of affairs, losing wars, when he wrote the leadership of BOB’s enemies:

“I recently joined the military and had to do basic training and every time I came back once every month or 2 there would be a bunch of newbie faggots in corp and alliance… I’ve had enough of fucking retards in BOB thinking they are awesome when the average member is terrible… [due to ] their recent hilarious recruiting policy and the dilution of any talent they may have once had.”

Haargoth offered to pull the plug on his alliance 6 days before PL won the first of many AT’s. One of the commentators from BOB found out while he was live on EVE TV. BOB was dead and PL was the new king – both in the tournament and out in null-sec.

Not everyone was comfortable with just cheering for the dominant PL team. Others turned to a mysterious newcomer, R.U.R.  They were unpredictable and successful in mostly high-DPS cruisers. Commentators admired the team’s ability to pull out victory after victory all the way to the finals. A sign of good FCing and team discipline.

R.U.R. cuts down opponent in less than 3 minutes. At 4:30 commentator Verone (CCP Falcon) is literally at a loss for words.

Eventually the king in waiting, PL, came up against the exciting newcomer in one of the best tournament finales in memory.  CCP put out 4 Titans floating in the background of the battle.

R.U.R turned out to be mostly pilots from R0NIN which explained why they were so good so fast. R0NIN continue to excel at tournament PvP to this day beating big names like M.I.F, Rote Capelle, Hydra Reloaded in AT12.

When the dust settled from AT6, BOB was gone, Goonswarm was feasting on their former territories, PL had won what would be the first of 3 tournaments in a row, and EVE had broken its concurrent-players online record with 51,000+ online for finals.  CCP was riding high and a few days later they released their most popular expansion – Apocrypha introducing wormholes and T3 cruisers. CCP was riding high in early 2009 and New Eden was never more optimistic.

Incidentally, those wormholes (w-space) lured many PVPers. The delayed local chat makes for PvP without early warning systems, which means pilots have to develop faster reflexes and situational awareness. W-space dwellers mutated and formed into some of EVE’s best tournament teams in the following years. More on those in the next chapter of “Catching up with Alliance Tournament” series.