Double Elimination Single Faction Tourney | Total War Warhammer 3 Tournament

Double elimination tournament today—lose once, you get another shot in the losers bracket. Let's see who climbs back to the grand finals!

Ladies and gentlemen, look at that! Actually, on time for once, it is go time, baby. Today, we have a double elimination tournament, which means it's not quite like Swiss where you're guaranteed four games, but you do get a guaranteed two chances. If you lose in the upper bracket, you'll go to a losers bracket, at which point you'll have an opportunity to climb your way through the pits, like Bane climbing out of Batman's prison. Should be fun, and let's get this tournament started.

We're going to be switching on over and I'll show you the brackets in just a second. It is SFT format and best of one, so it will be a quicker tournament, I'm guessing. However, Total War is Total War, and there's always a lot of weird downtime in between games. We haven't done a double elimination tournament in a long time, so I figured let's see if it's fun for people.

Alright, so the brackets are up. Let me show you what this looks like. Here's the tournament: it is the Turn Double Elimination Best of One. Here are the brackets for now: we have Hitman Hippo versus Opal, Be Charks versus Sliden, Outer Region versus B6, Hena versus Kmky, and Bongo versus Dro God. The players who lose will go down to the losers bracket and have a chance to climb back to the Grand Finals. This means someone from the losers bracket will also be in the Grand Finals, which is very fun. I like this format; I think it's a good time.

Do you think we have the Slayer? I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean do we have dwarves? Yes, dwarves are allowed today. The only thing is that gyrocopters, specifically the steam gyros, are banned. Aside from that, we do have them in play.

Let's see which matchup we want to cast for round one. Let's do Char. Hey man, I'll cast your game. Lobby code, please. Just going to let the goblins know that the tournament has started and we are live. Alright goblins, we are live. Brackets up. Good to see you guys. It's been a lot of fun playing a bunch of different games and having a blast with Age of Mythology. We'll be doing that tomorrow. Next weekend, I'm going to be doing Faction War, so the big sweaty Total War Faction War is going to be going down the following weekend, which is pretty exciting. I'll start organizing that very soon.

Char is going to send the lobby code. We have the battle of the Polish players here. I just got back from Poland, so Char and Hena, I believe, are both Polish players. We'll see how they go. Pwn is in round two. We'll cast the dreaded Pwn Dog game when it comes up. Wait for me, Pwn, we'll cast that one. We have to see the Dark Lord in action. Hopefully, players remember that it is double elimination, so they don't leave as soon as they lose. Let me actually do an announcement as well. Remember, it's double elim.

This matchup is going to be interesting. Let's see what Charx is playing. Charx is playing dwarves versus, I think, Hena, if I'm not mistaken. That could be an interesting one. Alright, let's go find that and join with the code. There it is. Alright, getting there and we are ready to spectate.

Double elimination was something we've done in the past. The only downside was that the games were taking super long, but today's tournament isn't big. It's like 16 people playing, so it shouldn't be too egregious, especially since it's best of one. Probably the most brutal tournament format we did was best of three and best of five double elimination. That took like eight or nine hours, which was just pure misery.

What does double elimination mean? Let me show you real quick. We got a little bit of time while the players get their stuff together. So, you have the top bracket. This is like your standard tournament bracket here. You can see all the different matchups. Now, the individuals who lose their games here will be relegated to the bottom bracket, where they have an opportunity to climb back up and get to the Grand Finals. In normal bracket tournaments, you're simply eliminated after a loss.

=> 00:04:50

The most brutal tournament format we ever did was best of three and best of five double elimination—it was pure misery and took eight or nine hours.

Probably the most brutal tournament format we did was best of three and best of five double elimination. That took like eight or nine hours, and it was just pure misery. Let me explain what double elimination means. We have a little bit of time while the players get their stuff together.

In a double elimination format, you have the top bracket, which looks like your standard tournament bracket with all the different matchups. Individuals who lose their games here will be relegated to the bottom bracket. They'll be sent down, at which point they have an opportunity to climb back up and get to the Grand Finals. In normal bracket tournaments, you're simply eliminated when you lose your match, whether it be best of three, best of one, or best of five. But in this case, you get a second chance at life on the Salvation bracket on the bottom side, which is pretty fun.

Let's see if his opponent is here. Hopefully, he is. Just checking here to make sure Len is here before I commit to watching this game. Make sure his opponent actually showed up, and we'll find out all in due time. Channel your hatred bone, We Believe. Yeah, odds are all be against Hitman Hippo, though, which I do believe I've never beaten. Hitman Hippo is really, really good. He's a terrifying player for sure, very, very strong. I believe he won a major tournament not too long ago. The most recent major tournament was won by Catholic Alcoholic. That was the season finals for Total Tavern.

Looking here, we have the official CA tournaments. Hitman Hippo won the fourth one, the fourth major CA Clash, and then the last other big event was won by Catholic Alcoholic, the season six grand finals. The most recent faction war was won by Pigman. Pigman is a land battle player, so you're not going to see him as much in the DB stuff, but yeah, he was very, very good indeed. Thank you, guys, for joining.

We got a grudge match: Hes versus Dwarves. Len is a very good dwarf player. Char Charx is a very dynamic player. He has pretty much been top 16 in the world pretty consistently for every single season of Total Tavern since he's been active. Also, he's won some big events. Ice SPG Grim, thank you for the Fiverr. Keep on going, turn. The channel is growing, and the future of RTS is bright. RTS is still a niche genre for sure, but it's a solid one. I'm really excited for the new Civ-esque game. It's not like a true RTS, but I'm excited to get into some multiplayer for that. That's going to be a lot of fun.

Since this is a Polish match, can you cast the game in Polish? Oh man, I don't know enough words for that, but I do want to learn Polish someday. I probably will, which would be a lot of fun. Then my wife and I can have a secret code to speak in the United States, and it'd be great. I know a couple of words, but yeah, casting in Polish would be an interesting goal for sure.

For this matchup, steam gyros are banned, which is good. Those things are obscenely broken, and the counterplay to them is just like Hes can barely counterplay them. What do you do? You could bring Tempest and chase them with a bird, but they can move and shoot, and the birds can't even hit them, so it's pointless. Thankfully, they're banned, so this is going to be more fair. But dwarves still have plenty of tools. The bolt throwers are still available, and those are very strong here.

Hen, I have played against Hen many times. Hen really likes to use the dwarven hero core, usually going for triple hero. So it's going to be some sort of a dwarf lord, whether it be Grombrindal or a Demon Slayer, with Gotrek and Felix or Felix and aane. It's pretty much the staple of the play that I've seen from Hen. Charx, on the other hand, is an elf player but also a very good Skaven player. Today's tournament is SFT format, which means players are locked into one faction, so today he's just going to be on elves.

Gyros are just really unfun to play against and very OP, so I just figure let's ban them and make it a more fun experience for everybody. They take no skill to use; they're super overpowered. I think it's just not fun to have them in the tournament. However, they can use the flamethrower gyrocopters because those ones have to sit and shoot. They don't just automatically run around and mow things down.

=> 00:08:30

Banning OP units makes the game more fun and balanced for everyone.

In today's tournament, we have hidden charx, an elf player who is also a very skilled Skaven player. However, since the tournament follows the SFT format, players are locked into one faction, so today he will be playing as the elves. Gyros are considered very overpowered and unfun to play against, so they have been banned to ensure a more enjoyable experience for everyone. However, the flamethrower gyrocopters are allowed because they require more skill to use and do not automatically dominate the battlefield.

Dwarves can still be a highly competitive faction even without steam Gyros. If a faction relies heavily on one unit to be effective, it indicates a problem with the faction. The dwarves have a variety of dynamic play styles, including heavy artillery, infantry rush, and gun and bow line pushes. Doom Seekers are particularly effective in this matchup if they can avoid the archers, as they can annihilate high infantry.

As we load into the match, we see the dwarves fielding a hero core consisting of a Rune Lord, a Thane, and a Rune Smith. They also have the Arir Doom Seekers, who will be formidable against Elven infantry if left unchecked. Additionally, they have a couple of Bugman's Rangers to contest the archers and the Grim Delvers, who are excellent against dragons. The Grim Delvers can deal significant damage if a dragon flies in without caution.

For the elves, they have the classic White Lions of Chrace, which are top-tier units against dwarves due to their armor-piercing capabilities and built-in missile resistance. They also have a couple of archers to keep Slayers in check and a few Rangers. The caster for charx is an Archmage of High Magic, equipped with apotheosis and Soul Quench, providing some healing and offensive capabilities. The Sun Dragon is included for its cheap breath attacks, useful against high-quality Dwarven units.

Interestingly, the dwarves have Vanguard deployment capabilities with units like the Brotherhood of Grimnir and the Grim Delvers, allowing them to pressure the back points early in the match. The rest of the dwarf army includes Bugman's Rangers, basic miners with blasting charges, a couple of dwarf warriors, and the hero core. This setup promises a dynamic and engaging battle between the two factions.

=> 00:11:50

Dwarves are sneaky and ready to surprise with their Vanguard deployment!

The strategy revolves around using cheap breath attacks to target good quality Dwarven units. The tactic involves flying in, executing breath attacks, and then retreating to safety. On the Dwarven side, it's easy to forget that these units have Vanguard deployment. For instance, the Brotherhood of Grimnir, with their glowing runic appearance, are prepared to swing their blades and pressure the back point. Both the Brotherhood of Grimnir and Grim Delvers have Vanguard deployment, showcasing the dwarves' strategic advantage over the elves.

The core Dwarven army is lined up with Bugman's Rangers, basic miners with blasting charges, a couple of dwarf warriors, and the hero core. The hero core includes a Runelord with Rune of Wrath and Ruin and Rune of Slowness to lock down dragons. Additionally, there is a runesmith moving towards the north side of the map to assist on objective one. The dwarves seem to be aiming for a Triple cap style of play, pressing all objectives. Charx appears to be aware of this and is likely conducting scouting operations. The Archmage of High Magic is seen scouting, possibly targeting the runesmith or just looking for any hidden units.

Objective-wise, objective Trace is controlled by the dwarves, while objective Uno is held by the high elves. The dwarves have committed a significant investment in their Vanguard deployment, with units like the Grim Delvers being quite expensive. Despite their isolation, dwarves are known for their stalwart defense. Reinforcements include the Long Drong Slayer Pirates, known for their unbreakable nature and the debuff they apply to enemy melee attack.

A Soul Quench attack managed to deal significant damage to the dwarf warriors, demonstrating its effectiveness. The dwarves, including the Runesmith, are positioned in the bushes, possibly to avoid scouting. Charx, aware of potential hidden units, is actively scouting the area. The dwarves, however, remain hidden, waiting for the right moment to emerge.

Charx has deployed Shadow Warriors, effective against Slayer units but less so against armored and shielded units. These units are likely intended to target the Long Drong Slayer Pirates. Despite Charx's scouting efforts, the dwarves remain concealed, waiting to strike from their hidden positions. The strategic positioning and timing of the dwarves will be crucial in the upcoming engagements.

=> 00:15:04

Charx's strategic use of Shadow Warriors and tactical positioning is dismantling the dwarf army piece by piece.

Charx is going to be calling it a couple of Shadow Warriors. Shadow Warriors are cool; they can definitely melt Slayer units. They'll not be super effective against the armored and shielded units in general, but against Slayers, they can do some work. If they want to shoot at the Slayer Pirates, which is my guess, I'm assuming he wants to go after the Long Drong Slayer Pirates, that would be pretty good. A couple of Rangers are lining up here. Charx has scouted the woods, so Char came over here, scouted the trees, and didn't find any dwarfs. Now, I think he feels comfortable moving up like this, but the dwarves, ever cunning, are now going to be emerging from their hiding nest.

Let's see why he is still hiding over here. This could be a big mistake by Hen. He is really sitting over there for a long time, and that's a big portion of his army. We see the Slayer Pirates ripping shots into the Rangers. Rangers advance into the pistol fire and take 20 casualties right there. Now, they are going to be charging out, trying to hunt down the old Long Drong Slayer Pirates. Slayer Pirates are going to be using their extremely jack Dwarven legs. Big pistol shots are coming in from the Dive Bar Pirates, and now they are going to get caught by the Rangers. It looks like there has been a cannon called in from Len. The cannon may start shooting at the Arkangel; we'll have to see. Soul Quench going down on somebody, and Soul Quench of the Gods, oh god, that's so lined up. The Bugman's Rangers get nailed. That's some really good positioning here from Char. Char has been doing an excellent job with that.

Narnia Lions are on the way in. Narnia Lions are pretty excellent against dwarves and blasting charges in general. It looks like they're going to be diving across, trying to shut down the Bugman's Rangers, but the blasting charges do saturate in, not doing too much damage overall. The Narnia Lions are going to be laughing all the way to the bank. In the back here, we do get the Arc Mage engaging against some of the chaff units on the ground. A couple of Ekans Miners are called out to try and screen out the Rangers. Char, with very good micro as well, is going to be pulling back into the woods. But now, the dwarf and Vanguard, the sneaky dwarves, are going to be stealing the back objective. This is a really powerful unit over here. We have the Brotherhood of Grimnir, we have Grim Delvers. I would probably keep the Grim Delvers hidden in the trees if it were me.

White Lions of Grace are going to be pressing in, but they're going to get nuked by blasting charges most likely. Let's see if Linton is paying attention here. Are the blasting charges going to go down? The attack order has been given, and Grudge is satisfied. Big blasting charge right there, brutal devastation as you see a lot of damage going down to the White Lions of Grace, but not as much as you would think. Their armor is able to hold pretty resilient against those blasting charges. The Elven archers, with a nice little RTS concave, are shooting into the Long Drong Slayer Pirates, which is what they should be doing. On the other side, Narnia Lions have torn apart the Bugman's Rangers, and the back objective is in the clutches of the old dwarves. They are behind on points, but it looks like the Brotherhood of Grimnir is going to be swarming from Objective One and trying to shut down this archer line, which is going to be a bit of a tricky pickle for them for sure.

The dwarfs are holding firm, but Charx is up on value, 2100 against a th. Charx has been really doing a good job picking apart this army, forcing the dwarves to play this wide play style rather than keeping them in formation. This seems to be working, but a lot of that is maybe on the Vanguard here. Len had almost 3,000 gold back there, and this is not efficient at all. Having Slayers just charging balls deep into five archer units is basically not what you want to be doing. If you guys are a little bit newer, these guys have basically zero armor, they have no missile mitigation whatsoever, and they do manage to close the distance. But a player like Charx, who is a top-tier player, and Len, who is a very solid tournament player as well, is struggling. The Brotherhood of Grimnir is getting torn apart on the back objective. We do see the Grim Delvers chilling over here. It looks like they're going to try and rip some shots into the Rangers here, but the elves are cackling pretty hard right now as they nail the Brotherhood of Grimnir. The Brotherhood of Grimnir is getting focused down. They do have the Rune of Negation, which gives them 40% ward save, but this is really bad. They're going to get like one archer unit for their efforts.

=> 00:18:03

Elves dominate the battlefield, leaving the dwarves in the dust with a crushing victory.

The dwarves, with basically zero armor and no missile mitigation whatsoever, manage to close the distance. However, a player like Charx, who is a top-tier player, and Len, a very solid tournament player, make it difficult for the Brotherhood of Grimnir. The Brotherhood of Grimnir is getting torn apart on the back objective. We see the Grim Delvers chilling nearby, seemingly preparing to rip some shots into the Rangers, but the elves are cackling as they nail the Brotherhood of Grimnir. Despite having the Rune of Negation, which gives them a 40% Ward save, the Brotherhood is in a bad spot, managing to take down only one Archer unit for their efforts.

White Lions of Chrace are battling minor units, and a soul quench goes down, though it doesn't do much damage. A big breath attack from the dragon roasts the dwarf warriors, signaling a quick victory for Charx. Charx is looking very dominant, using his archers and Narnia lines effectively to pull apart Len's forces with great effectiveness. The dwarven cannons are shooting and generating some value, but it’s probably not enough. The Brotherhood of Grimnir is getting absolutely pounded, down to three models, and performing their Spin to Win Garen from League of Legends style, but they are going down. One dwarf's saga ends as he eats an arrow to the face, certainly not the best way to go for that mighty slayer.

On the back objective, the gambit has been foiled. Len should have perhaps sat on the objective in the trees, away from the archers, and tried to hold objectives one and three for as long as possible. The push out was dangerous, and the dwarves seem to be in the pits. This is an absolutely crushing victory, with 7,000 value for Charx and 3,000 for Len. Charx is one of the few elf mains, alongside players like Catholic Alcoholic, who are very good at elves. The battle shows complete Elven domination, with Battle Ragra Pride AR feasting on the Bugman Rangers, taking them straight to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

Objective one sees the dwarven guns and warriors taken apart by the Rangers and the War Lions of Chrace. More War Lions are rushing up, and a tap-out from Len seems imminent. This is an outstanding play from Charx. The Vanguard was a big gamble, and it might have been stronger with units like Nor Iron Breakers instead of the Brotherhood of Grimnir, as Nor Grimlings could tank those archers better. The Brotherhood of Grimnir, isolated on its own, gave up too much value. The cannon is shooting into the dragon, doing some damage, but Charx is on point with everything. A nice breath attack nails the dwarf warriors, and the dwarfs are running out of steam. The elves are quickly taking the back objective, with Rangers coming in. Rangers, who recently got Vanguard deployment, are looking much better now.

The scene is reminiscent of ancient Rome, with dwarves being munched on by lions, thrown into a gladiatorial arena. The Archmage goes after the cannon, but the dwarves have to defend it with a 1,000 gold unit, losing agency on the battlefield. Objective one sees a desperate dwarf presence trying to grab it, but the situation looks bleak.

=> 00:21:08

Elves dominate Dwarves in a clean victory—watch Char's flawless strategy!

The thematic focus of the game revolves around units like Rangers, who are known for their Vanguard deployment. Interestingly, throughout all of Warhammer 2, they did not have this feature, which is quite a strange oversight. Down here, we see a dramatic scene reminiscent of ancient Rome where a character is surrounded and feasted on by lions, akin to being thrown into a gladiatorial arena.

The Ark Mage targets the cannon, but the dwarves are forced to defend it with a 1000 gold unit, which is a significant disadvantage as it reduces their battlefield presence. At objective one, dwarf warriors are desperately trying to capture it, embodying the dwarven spirit of resilience. In tabletop games, dwarves have a rule, possibly called Resolute, which means they fall back and pursue less aggressively to avoid giving up ground.

Bor is being called in, a top-tier unit, and a couple of Vol units could have been beneficial in this game. The strategy of a back cap did not succeed. A great eagle is summoned by Char to keep gyro bombers in check. Ultimately, this results in a victory for Lo and the elves, marking a grudge in the old book. The game was well-played, especially by Char, who demonstrated a clean strategy against the dwarves.

Char's performance was impressive, making it look easy against a skilled dwarf player like L, who has won tournaments before. The use of Nar Lions and Shadow Warriors was an interesting tactic. On the dwarf side, nothing performed exceptionally well, as everything was cut to pieces. This was the first tournament match of the day, and we now move on to the next rounds.

Char will be playing against Vien in the next match. The tournament continues with players reporting scores and inviting their next-round opponents. There was an issue with a player not showing up, which is odd considering they checked in just before the tournament started. However, the tournament proceeds, and we ensure that players advance to the next rounds as scheduled.

=> 00:24:52

People sign up for tournaments, check in, and then don't show up—it's the weirdest thing!

There is still no response from the player. It appears that someone did not show up for the tournament. Nina is checking with this player, but there has been no return yet. It's strange to sign up for a tournament just 15 minutes before it starts, check-in as if you’re going to play, and then not show up. It’s the weirdest thing. I wish there were more tournaments in North American times, but don't worry, there will be plenty. Almost all summer, every tournament was in NA time.

We are just checking with this player before we drop his opponent, and then he will advance to the next round. Hen is now in the lower bracket, so Hden will be playing. Let me remind him that it’s a double elimination, so he keeps playing. Just waiting for this player to type, and now we have HES versus Demons of Chaos. This is going to be an interesting one. I’m excited for this. The Soul Quench was really good in that game.

The weather is actually really nice now, around the 70s, which is good. Probably some players are working from home, and their boss showed up. We are getting the next round opponent ready. Outstanding. Let me refresh this and then drop the player. So, that player is going to be dropped. No problem. You will play the winner of Outer Region and B6.

Chaos Demons versus Elves: Can the Assour continue to win it up, doing it for Ulwan? Via Anime is a great player as well and has a big chungus cat as their profile picture, so you know they mean business. I love fall and winter; they are my favorite seasons. Growing up, I was a spring and summer enjoyer because spring was fun knowing summer was close and you had school off. But as an adult, fall and winter are my favorite for sure. They are not hot, and something about them is so cozy. My inner Hobbit, my inner Shire comes out.

Just checking here, everything looks good. I’ll show you guys the bracket once we get a couple more games recorded in the books. Then you will be able to see what’s cracking. Fall and winter are the best gaming seasons. Winter where I live isn’t even real winter; it’s like 60 to 65 degrees consistently, so it’s not too bad.

It looks like there is no more admin stuff, which is good. What do Demons of Chaos do? They are such a diverse faction; they can do so much. That’s why I really enjoy Demons of Chaos. In tabletop, Demons of Chaos are pretty cool too. They have some really neat customization you can do with that army. For instance, if you roll up to an Old World tabletop tournament with Demons of Chaos, people know you’re playing it. Often, you’ll know what factions are going to be played in tournaments beforehand. Some people declare early, but with demons, you just can’t plan for them. They can be doing so many different things unless you can specifically see the list, which you can’t. It’s so hard to plan for them, and it’s kind of like this in this game as well. There are a couple of meta elements, like fiends of Slaanesh are pretty much an auto-take, especially against High Elves.

=> 00:28:54

Chaos Demons in Warhammer are unpredictable and versatile, making them a nightmare to plan against in tournaments.

In the realm of Warhammer fantasy tabletop tournaments, particularly those featuring Demons of Chaos, the customization of armies is a significant aspect. When participants arrive at these tournaments, they often have an idea of the factions that will be played, as some players declare their factions early. However, with Demons of Chaos, planning against them is particularly challenging due to their versatile nature. Unless one can specifically see the list, which is usually not possible, it becomes incredibly difficult to strategize against them. This unpredictability is mirrored in the game, where certain meta elements, like the fiends of Slaanesh, are almost always included in builds, especially against High Elves due to their effectiveness against Infantry and Cavalry. The Lord choices in these builds are varied, with options like the Nurgle Lord, the Tzeentch Lord, and occasionally the Slaanesh Lord for his Rampages and army-wide buffs. The Khorne Lord, however, is less frequently seen.

Switching topics, the conversation moves to the extreme weather conditions experienced in different regions. Winters can be harsh, causing pipes to freeze and burst, while summers can be equally brutal. For instance, in some places, summer is described as "hell," with temperatures consistently over 100 degrees, particularly in states like Arizona and Nevada. The speaker reminisces about going Christmas shopping in Washington in a t-shirt and shorts in 30-degree weather, attributing this resilience to possible Scandinavian ancestry. This leads to a discussion about a college roommate with Swedish parents who would wear t-shirts and shorts in cold, rainy weather, suggesting Viking ancestry.

Returning to the topic of Warhammer, the chaos demons are ready, and Charx is preparing to run up soon. The brackets are being monitored to see if other rounds are concluding. Despite having air conditioning, it doesn't fully solve the problem of extreme heat. The bottom brackets are starting to fill up, and participants are reminded that it is a double elimination tournament, so they should not leave prematurely. The conversation briefly touches on Texas, where extreme weather can cause power grid issues, as mentioned by the speaker's grandmother who lives there.

The unpredictability of the Demons of Chaos builds is highlighted again, with an example featuring four plague bearers, an exalted Keeper of Secrets, and the Nurgle Rar, described as an amalgamation of random elements. Looking ahead, there is excitement for an upcoming Conquest tournament next weekend, which will feature the faction war, the biggest Conquest journey.

The conversation then shifts to a light-hearted discussion about the rivalry between Swedes and others, as depicted in the TV show "Brooklyn 99," where Swedish detectives work with Brooklyn detectives and mention the rivalry. Finally, the build of Charx is examined, with a focus on his Demon Slayer strategy, featuring a bunch of Silverin Guard in the front, known for their high statline and magic resist. The build also includes archers and Lothern Sea Guard, which are effective against various enemies in both melee and ranged combat.

=> 00:32:31

Brooklyn 99's Swedish detectives episode perfectly captures the fun rivalry between nations!

In the TV show Brooklyn 99, there is an episode where Swedish detectives collaborate with the Brooklyn detectives, highlighting their rivalry. This concept intrigued me, and I'd be interested in exploring it further.

Switching gears to the build of Char in the game, he appears to be the Demon Slayer today, equipped with a bunch of silver and guard units. The silver and guard in the front are a solid unit with a high stat line and magic resistance, making them excellent at holding the line and allowing archers to inflict most of the damage. Additionally, there are archers under the sunset Lo and seag guard, which are effective against toads, flesh hounds, and fiends both in melee and at range. Arial the Radiant is also present, with Larry having Tempest, which is highly effective against demons for locking down flyers, along with Earth blood and fos protection.

On the opposing side, the hordes of Hell via anime feature the Knox Springer, a good choice against archers as it reduces their ammo upon impact. An exalted Keeper Of Secrets, a visually impressive model, is also present. The pit of Shades is particularly effective against elves, quickly melting their archers and melee units like fireborne. The forces of corn will rush to grab the objective, supported by plague Bears, who are vulnerable against archers but should still be able to advance.

The rivalry between Danes and Swedes is mentioned, noting that every European country has its rivals. The demons manage to grab objective two, with plague Bears and Seekers of Slaanesh being called in. Although Seekers may not be particularly effective against many units, they can cause significant damage if they manage to rear charge a unit like the Lo and seag guard. The exalted Keeper Of Secrets moves up, potentially to drop the pit of Shades, but must avoid getting shot as it can be easily targeted if stationary.

The Soul Grinder shoots, and the Knox Springer lands a shot on the talents of Tala, draining their ammo—a unique and interesting mechanic. The flesh doggies for Vi anime mistakenly move into Spears but retreat to the trees. The plague Bears are waiting, while the Knox Springer, with its armor, starts taking hits. Without healing, a Nurgle Caster in reserve could be beneficial for the Demons of Chaos to heal their big monsters like the Keeper Of Secrets.

The demons hold two objectives, a common chaos strategy. They move up to grab objectives and then either sandwich the enemy or collapse on their back when they move. An alpha strike might be imminent, with the shrieking Sky Rays performing their Vortex ability on the Storm Riders. The exalted Keeper Of Secrets moves in, and a big pit of Shades is dropped, likely undodged, causing significant damage. The Seekers' alpha strike on the storm Riders is clean, but the big demon should avoid unnecessary damage. The plague Bears secure the objective, and furies fly in. Charx drops a Tempest on the chaos Furies, continuing the beautiful alpha strike.

=> 00:35:31

Epic battle unfolds as the Demons of Chaos hold firm despite heavy losses, but can they keep their Greater Demon alive to secure victory?

Down here, we see the Shrieking Sky Rays executing their Vortex ability on the Storm Riders. The Exalted Keeper Of Secrets is moving in, and a big Pit of Shades has been cast, likely to hit its mark. This alpha strike, reminiscent of an aerocrastic style of play, is quite effective. The Lo and Seaguard are getting heavily nuked by the Pit of Shades and The Seekers' Alpha strike, alongside the Storm Riders. This is a very clean maneuver, but it's crucial to avoid unnecessary damage to the big demon. The Plague Bears have moved out to secure the objective, and we see Furies flying in. Charx is dropping a Tempest on the Chaos Furies, continuing the beautiful alpha strike on the far side.

One unit of Lo and Seaguard is broken and battered, but the Silver Helms have arrived to assist. However, they are having a tough time against The Seekers and the Exalted Keeper Of Secrets, who is a god-tier anti-large fighter. In the middle, KNX Sper continues to shoot, and archers are lining up their sights on the Exalted Keeper. If it gets stuck in combat, it will have a terrible time, as it's already down to almost half health. These Keepers are powerful but squishy and suffer greatly if focus-fired.

The Plague Bears are engaging the Silver and Guard, which will be a long grind, but the Plague Bears will eventually win. More Flesh Hounds of Khorne are coming up, and the double objective belongs to the Demons of Chaos. Despite being down on value, they still have the objective play. It is crucial for Via to have a Nurgle caster in reserve to heal the Keeper of Secrets, as it can be very impactful but is vulnerable to archer fire.

Plague Bears are collapsing from the side, and Flesh Hounds are coming in as the Knock Springer gets caught in melee with some spears, a blunder that needs correcting. Rampage is affecting the Lo and Seaguard, forcing them into melee combat. However, some archers are still shooting. If the greater demon dies, it could be a quick GG, as losing the lord early causes units to disintegrate faster, a significant downside for Demons of Chaos.

The Exalted Keeper Of Secrets is trying to escape with 2100 HP, while Fiends of Slaanesh rear-charge into the Storm Riders. The double objectives are still firmly held by the Demons of Chaos, but the greater demon's survival is uncertain. The Exalted Keeper charges in, potentially causing a terror route on the Storm Riders, but they hold firm due to their strong leadership.

Bloodletters are called in, an excellent choice if they avoid archer fire. Ammunition is running low, but the greater demon is in dire straits with only 1100 HP. It desperately needs a Nurgle caster for healing. The Reavers engage the Fiends, but the Fireborn might change the tide with their brutal charge. Despite the presence of Shrieking Sky Rays, Horn of Khorne, and Furies, Larry responds with Star of Avelorn and Bob Protection, enhancing armor.

The big demon, now at 1100 HP, is incredibly dodgy and must avoid death to prevent a game-over scenario. It continues to retreat with 800 HP, fleeing into the tree line. The battle's outcome hinges on the survival and effective use of the Exalted Keeper Of Secrets.

=> 00:38:34

The High Elves' elite Fireborn and Larry's god-tier magic dominated the battlefield, leaving the Demons of Chaos with no chance for a comeback.

The Fireborn, the elite Chads of the High Elf Empire, are going to be swarming in and getting a brutal charge into the fiends, and they will tear them apart. Granted, there are shrieking skyr here, Horn of Corn, and Furies, but Larry is going to be responding with Star of Avalor, which is god-tier, it's so good. Bob Protection going down as well, which is going to be giving armor. It looks like the big man's going to be running in, but what kind of damage is it going to be? It's very beat up with 1100 HP, incredibly dodgy. You do not want to lose as keeper; that would just be game over. I think if the keeper dies, we could legit call the game. It is going to continue retreating; it does have 800 HP, so it is going to be fleeing into the tree line.

As far as the side objective goes, we see some more Seekers coming in right there. Down here, the plague bearers are still in that grind, and like I said, they will win that eventually. The Keeper of Secrets does fall. I don't see too many ways you can come back from this. It's a 3,000 value deficit against the healing faction. I think the Demons of Chaos are rapidly going to be starting to fall here. I think the exalted keeper was a mistake. I don't like it that much in this matchup. The Pit of Shades and Shadow magic is nice, but the High Elves have so many archers, and that thing's bane is archers. They are good at defending their archers too. There are some factions that really struggle to defend their archers against fiends and Furies, but the High Elves are not one of them; they definitely have the tools to do it.

Can the demons win on objectives? That's pretty much their only opportunity at this point, to find a way to win an objective somehow, a very cheeky W here. But I don't know if they're going to be able to pull that one off. Here we do see Larry chasing down the KNX Springer, and there are going to be some Seekers coming in. Maybe if Larry got surrounded and taken down, that could kind of turn the tide. Blood letters do counter Silverin Guard very effectively. We see the KNX Springer ripping a very good shot into the Silverin here. The Lo and Seaguard are a problem because even if you charge them, they have charge defense against large and spears, so Seekers are going to have a really bad time. Now they charge into Silver Helms to fight, which normally isn't terrible for Seekers, but Seekers are not a unit that wants to do head-on charges. They are more like flanking units because the shock damage of the Silver Helms will still melt them rather quickly. In a head-up fight, one-to-one, a Seeker would win, but with Larry helping nearby, Larry also gives magic damage to nearby units, which is so good against demons.

Looking at the plague bearers here, the last of the plague bearers are being melted. This down objective has been taken by Char, who is going to be grabbing that. Here we do see the fiend of Slaanesh coming across, trying to countercharge the Silver Helms. Blood letters have also arrived at the middle objective. Looking at the value, it's 9.2 against 6.3. With healing taken into account, that's probably even more. The Fireborn are basically going to methodically mow down all these demons. If you ride the Fireborn with Larry, it's such a good combo because then they get magic damage, which gives them 20% extra damage against demons, which is crazy good. Larry's going to be circling here; we got Silver Helms heading to the low ground objective. Plague Bearers of Nurgle are now going to be surrounded and killed by mass spears and Silver Helms. Here we do see the blood letters getting charged by the Dragon Princes or the Fireborn, who also have fire resist of 35%. Blood letters don't do fire damage, but it could be relevant against some of the other demonic units.

Fiends are coming in to try and help out, but once again, they're probably just going to be killed by the Fireborn or poked to pieces by all these Elven spears and bows. The Lothern Seaguard are able to shoot there. The side objective, the last of the demons, are going to be taken apart. Here we do have the KNX Springer trying its best to get back in the game, but that is going to be a rock-hard triple cap. Char is showing why he's one of the Elven goats, as he is able to claim victory most likely once again here in this game. A baro DOA performance indeed, as we do see the shrieking Sky Ray coming out. What kind of charges are we going to get? Attacking Fireborn is certainly cost-effective, but that's not going to be anywhere near getting back in the game. Larry has been a combat Larry all game; she's been getting in there and battling this KNX Springer.

=> 00:41:34

Char proves why he's the GOAT with another epic victory!

In this intense battle, the fireborne and Elven Spears and Bows were a formidable force. Seagard managed to shoot their side objective, and the last of the demons were being taken apart. The Knox Springer tried its best to get back in the game, but it was a rock-hard triple cap. Char demonstrated why he's one of the Elven goats, claiming victory once again in this game. It was a Baro DOA performance indeed, as the shrieking Sky raay emerged. Attacking fireborne was cost-effective, but it wasn't enough to turn the game around.

Larry, a combatant, had been battling all game, engaging with the KNX Springer. The Knox Springer performed admirably, achieving 2500 value for the Demons of Chaos. However, the Demons of Chaos player's choice of Lord was suboptimal and likely cost them the game. A Nurgle demon Prince or similar could have been more effective, providing healing and disruption. The lack of a suitable Lord led to a leadership penalty, and losing a greater demon Lord, which costs over 2000, was detrimental.

The Infantry on the objective was taken apart, with the blood letters of Khorne being shot to pieces by Elven archers. The fire Chads charged with their lances couched, attacking the fiends. Despite the fiends' suic musk debuffing their stats, they were no match for the elite elves, who likely still had some healing. A tap-out seemed imminent as the player spammed fiends in a desperate attempt to win, but it was a delusion. A full-health Dragon Prince and silver Helm were present, and Larry was bullying the Knox Springer.

The fiends went down, and it was GG well played. Char was on an absolute tear, causing havoc. Larry was impressive, the spears held firm, and the bows performed well, with values of 900, 1100, and 1300. The fire Chads achieved 1600. Despite the Keeper of Secrets doing well early on, it wasn't enough to make a difference. The match concluded with GG well played to the mighty champions.

Moving on to the bracket, the lower brackets were beginning, and the higher brackets were finishing first. Players in the lower brackets were being notified of their opponents. The Knox Springer performed well, but a slower engagement might have been better. The Knox Springer plus a pink fire Caster is a solid combo, and blue fire could also be effective against archers, though one must watch out for tempest.

Charx advanced, and following Char's adventures seemed fun. The matches were ongoing, and outer region had won.

=> 00:45:03

Warriors of Chaos just got an epic update with new units like the Warfire Dragon and Giant Chaos Spawn—can't wait to get my hands on them!

For a best-of-one bracket, I think it's okay, but for a best-of-three, it takes way too long. Knox Springer plus a pink fire Caster is a solid combo, that's a really good point. I like that. You could also use blue fire too, right? Just go down the side and use blue fire on archers; they probably have a similar outcome. However, you have to watch out for tempest. For instance, there was a tempest Caster too, but did he have any way to really punish on top of a tempest? I don't know.

Is there a bracket reset in the final? I'm not sure what you mean. Charx has advanced, and we could just follow Char's adventures, which is kind of fun. Looking here, those matches are still going. Outer region was able to win—very cool. We will get to the bottom of it.

Did you guys see the new Warriors of Chaos stuff, by the way? Warriors of Chaos just got their update for the Old World, which is pretty cool. Let me show you. They got a couple of units which are pretty rad. Go to Old World and Warriors of Chaos. They got this thing, which is rad: a warfire dragon. This thing is so freaking cool; that is a great freaking model. I will have to get my clutches on that someday. The warfire dragon has a really cool ability; it basically removes the W save of whatever it's fighting, which is cool in a meta where people are using a lot of W save.

Additionally, we got the giant chaos spawn, which is something we don't have in Total War yet. This thing is pretty freaky looking and absurdly expensive. We also got skin wolves in Warhammer: The Old World and Warhammer Fantasy. They've come back, so you can use skin wolves on the tabletop now as well. Super cool model. There are also a lot of the OGs brought back; these are ancient models from the days of old. The chaos trolls are kind of cool; they are a little haggard, but they try their best. The chaos ogres are such a meme. They also got their Arcane Journal, which has two new armies in it. You can basically play Norska in the Old World now. There's a sub-faction in their book with all Marauders, including huscarls, berserkers, and Marauder chieftains. It has some really, really cool stuff.

Just going to catch a match here in a second. It looks like Char has won their game. That match is going down on the bottom, and we are just going to be hanging. Giant chaos spawn is just me on Monday. Lore-wise, how are Dragon Ogres tied to Chaos? I don't know exactly. I know that in ancient times, the dragon ogres made a pact with the dark gods, the Shaggoth and the dragon ogres, to serve them. I don't know the exact lore reason, but I know that's how it went down.

We are always hosting tournaments. We do other tournaments and other games, but Total War is our bread and butter around here; we love it. Professor Paone and Hitman Hippo are having a duel of fates. As soon as they are done, we will have a game to cast. Outer Region and Hina are playing, and Flaster and Droot are playing as well. We'll keep tabs. Probably a five-minute break here before we get into our next match. If he means if the winner's bracket champion needs to be defeated twice, no, you're only defeated once in the grand finals. Some double-elimination tournaments do that, but I think just defeating them once is fine.

It was so that they could beat the dragon ogres. The dragons and ogres got it; that makes sense. Somebody in chat knows the lore better than I do. During the chaos gates opening, they basically agreed to become pawns of chaos if they were spared. Also, part of the deal was because they wanted to beat the dragons and the ogres they were fighting, as Kyle in chat mentioned. Similar to TRS, but TRS doesn't worship the main chaos pantheon; they're all about Hashut. That was their homie because they were kind of abandoned and left to die in some chaos.

=> 00:48:42

Chaos Dwarves are unique in the chaos factions because they mix diplomacy with their evil nature.

I think just defeating them once is fine. It was so that they could beat the dragon ogres. The dragons and ogres got it. That makes sense. Yeah, well, yeah, somebody in chat knows the lore better than I. During the chaos Gates opening, they basically agreed to become pawns of chaos if they were spared. Also, part of the deal was because they wanted to beat the dragons and the ogres they were fighting, as Kyle is saying in chat.

Similar to TRS, well, TRS are different. They don't worship the main chaos Pantheon. They're all about Hashut, who was their homie because they were abandoned and left to die in some chaos Wasteland. So they decided to roll with this bull dude who was down to help them. Chaos Dwarves are thematically so cool and a very fun faction to play. I just got myself a big Baale Taurus model, which is super rad for the old world. I'm going to get that bad boy all built and painted up soon.

Matches are still going, and let's take a look at the brackets here so you can see the state of affairs. Char defeated Via Anime, and then we got Char waiting for Hitman Hippo and Paone. Outer Region and Hasina Flaster and Drod are also in the mix. The lower bracket games are now taking place as well, or at least one of them is, and they'll be firing off here very soon. We're going to cast all the upper bracket games and then transition to casting the saga of the players advancing in the lower bracket as well.

Yes, Chaos Dwarves are a rich man's Empire. Chaos Dwarves are very cheap to collect if you use third-party models, which are honestly super good anyway. They are very specific. Chaos Dwarves are definitely different from other chaos factions. Unlike Nurgle, Slaanesh, and Khorne, who generally don't have any elements of diplomacy and mainly want the world to burn, be plagued, or turn into an HP Lovecraft realm, Chaos Dwarves can speak other languages like money. This accentuates the greediness of the dwarfs. If a faction wanted to buy supplies from them or pay them off, it could perhaps be possible. I'm just guessing, though; someone who knows the lore could probably articulate that better.

What colors do you play if you play Magic? I play a lot of mono black, which is my favorite, but I always build these mono black decks in Commander that are really sweaty and evil. Then I take them apart because people don't have fun playing against them. So, I usually go to Grixis. I like Grixis a lot. I have a Sauron the Dark Lord deck, which is one of my pet decks. I really like it. I also have an Eldrazi mono green deck, which is very "anganga." Let's see what else I run these days. I want to make an Urza deck; I think that would be fun. Right now, I have Sauron, a Sheoldred deck, a mono green Eldrazi, and a Commodore Guff Planeswalker Super Friends deck, which is all right but kind of boring to play.

Hey Angley, welcome back! Let me see if we're ready for another game here. We get the back-to-back and now the classic Total War tourney kicking in. Not yet, not yet. Man, those matches are getting really sweaty here. They've been playing for a while too. I guess Char just had really dominant matches; his games were super quick. I think that's been part of it. Yeah, they're fast. Chaos Dwarves probably do more diplomacy than other chaos factions. They supply chaos with arms and armor and recruit hobgoblins.

Have you seen the five-color Ezio Commander? I have not seen that, no. I haven't played against it. Can you say the color combos? I don't know the names of the type of combos. Sauron is black, blue, and red. Sheoldred is mono black, and the Eldrazi is mono green.

=> 00:52:29

Total War Warhammer tournaments are intense and Magic: The Gathering Commander decks are a blast to build—check out EDH Rec for top-tier deck-building tips!

Here we get the back-to-back and now the classic Total War tournament kicking in. Not yet, not yet. Man, those matches are getting really sweaty here. They've been playing for a while too. I feel Charks just had really dominant matches; his games were super quick. I think that's been part of it. Yeah, they're fast. Chaos Dwarfs probably do more diplomacy than other chaos factions. They supply chaos with arms and armor and recruit hobgoblins.

Have you seen the five-color Ezio Commander? I have not seen that, no. I haven't played against it. Can you say the color combos? I don't know the names of the type of combos. Yeah, so Sauron is black, blue, and red, and Sheld is mono black, and then Eler is mono green. Sauron is a really fun deck. He's a really, really fun Commander. He's very fun. We've done some Magic here on the channel. As a matter of fact, that's some deep lore of the channel. When I first started it, it was going to be a Magic: The Gathering channel. That was the plan in the beginning, but then Total War: Warhammer came out, and I was like, "Oh, that looks so cool," so then we jumped on that.

If you want, there's a website that's really good for Commander if you're looking to get into it. This is like the god-tier website. Let me show you. Hold on, switching over here in a second, and there we are. This is EDHRec. This website freaking rules for Commander. You can go and look up by commanders, by type, by sets, and by color scheme. If you go to Grixis, for example, it's going to pull up all the Grixis commanders, and you're going to be able to see, "Oh wow, Sauron is really the most popular." That's crazy. I mean, it makes sense; it's such an iconic character. You can go and be like, "Oh, I want to build an Abaddon the Despoiler deck," and it will show you the best cards for the deck based on community feedback. So you're going to be able to build a deck very easily, even if your knowledge of the game is pretty limited. This website rules; it's very good for beginners.

Yeah, that's right, Misha, back when we played Commander. How's the Total War: Warhammer scene looking these days? It's healthy, but it's a downtime in terms of updates and new things coming out, so it's a little bit slower. But yeah, it's good as always. We have a very healthy land battle scene. HumanBoy is doing a great job over there, and we also have a very good domination scene here running with all of our tournament hosts. It's awesome.

Do you see the message from your new member? Which one? What did I miss? Yeah, we just answered it unless I missed something else. We just missed something else there. In which game? I only play Commander in Magic. Yeah, I only play Commander. Oh wow, OutOfRegion defeated by Hina. That's a very solid victory. So on the bottom, we should have OutOfRegion now climbing from the pits of the brackets. If we have a quick update on the tournament, we're still waiting for a new match to start. There haven't been any new games ongoing yet. If we go to the brackets, you can see OutOfRegion was defeated by Hina and now he's relegated to the bottom, where he'll play the winner of Bongo and OpalBear. Then he'll have a chance to climb back to the Grand Finals after that.

Hey bud, watching with my son. Hey, right on. Question about 40K: What are you hoping for? What fears do you have about 40K Total War? Shout out to my son Noah. Right on. Yeah, partner Becks and uncle. Hey, that's great. Sorry, I was just making sure. When people say shout out, there's always a trap. They'll try and it'll be like some offensive string of words that are deceiving to the eye, so I was just being careful there. But thank you, BattleTutorial. Yes, your son Noah and your partner Becks as well. Right on, and your uncle. Great.

So, 40K Total War: I think that is going to be a slam dunk. I've seen the argument that it's going to be so hard to implement the 40K engine, and I really don't think it is. I think Creative Assembly has the talent, and as long as the leadership lets them cook, as they would say, I think it'll be great.

=> 00:56:04

Total War Warhammer 40K needs dedicated servers for a lag-free, epic multiplayer experience.

Noah, right on! Yeah, partner backs and Uncle, hey, that's great. Back to the topic, sorry, I was just being cautious. When people say shout out, there's always a trap. They try to deceive with some offensive string of words, so I was just being careful there. But thank you for the battle tutorial. Yes, your son Noah and your partner Beex as well, right on, and your uncle, great.

Regarding 40K Total War, I think that is going to be a slam dunk. I've seen the argument that it will be hard to implement the 40K engine, but I really don't think it is. I believe Creative Assembly has the talent, and as long as the leadership lets them "cook," as they say, it will be great. You have one-to-one units like Forsaken, which are literally the same as the Chaos Space Marine units called Possessed. Rattling Gunners are like a Devastator Squad, and Aspiring Champions are like a Tactical Squad of Chaos Chosen. It's such an easy thing. I do think they should use a new engine, though, as the current one is very old. But I think it's going to be a slam dunk.

My hope is that Total War Warhammer 40K launches with a very solid multiplayer network. It needs to have dedicated servers, even for the campaign, because who doesn't want to have a grand galaxy-spanning conquest campaign with friends without dealing with lag? Dedicated servers for Total Warhammer 40K will bring in many new players. Make it a good, solid launch and hit it hard. Give us dedicated servers and a dedicated multiplayer game mode, whether it be conquest style or domination style, just something solid that everyone can play.

On a personal note, I would like to see one competitive multiplayer mode without division in the community. It's a bummer how it is now, with half the community playing Land Battle and the other half playing Dom. It would be better if everyone played the same game mode. Was there an announcement for 40K? No, there's not, but it's going to happen. It should be cool.

Regarding naval battles in Total War 40K, I don't think they need to do that. It's not worth the development time. They should do what they do for this game, where if two spaceships clash, the armies they carry fight on a moon or the deck of a ship, like a boarding action. We already have good 40K games like Battlefleet Gothic, which is super good.

CA has gone through hard times but also had some wins, like the last update Thrones of Decay, which was very good. If they can carry on that momentum, we'll be in good shape. Battlefleet Gothic Armada is such a good game.

Alright, we got Charx versus Hitman Hippo, which is what we're casting. This is a heavy hitter game here, so I guess we're just doing elves today, with elves versus the world. Professor Pone is down in the pits, battling B6, who was defeated by Hitman Hippo. Total War 40K will likely have planet-like mechanics, though I'm not sure how they'll handle the map. I've mainly thought about the multiplayer.

Hyenas was a lesson, and I hope the brass at Sega and Creative Assembly learned from it. Total War has the market cornered on the genre, so why not capitalize on that instead of trying to compete with massive successful FPS MOBA style games, especially when they have almost no experience in that field and are super late on the trend? It just seems bonkers. We could do Professor Pone versus B6, but I think this will be a pretty fun match to watch. It definitely was poor planning indeed. It's not all elves, but the games we've been casting so far have been elves. Hopefully, Char is...

=> 00:59:59

Sega should stick to what they excel at instead of chasing trends in genres where they lack experience.

I'm hoping that the brass at Sega and Creative Assembly learned from Hyenas because Total War has the market cornered so incredibly hard on the genre. Why would you not just capitalize on that? Why try and compete with these massive successful FPS MOBA style games when you have almost no experience in that field and you're super late on the trend? It just seems bonkers.

We could do Professor Pone versus B6, but I think this will be a pretty fun match to watch. It definitely was poor planning indeed. It's not all elves, but the games we've been casting so far have been elves. Hopefully, Char is still here. Let's see if he's around. We could do Pawn's game or a Professor Pone battle. I'm going to see if he started yet. There has been some lag with one of these players, so maybe we should opt not to do that match.

Meanwhile, CA's Hyenas too? Don't put that evil on us, dude. Nobody wants that. Char, are you here? Hitman Hippo's ready for you. We could also do the lower bracket if they finish first. Lower bracket games are now underway, so Len just needs to play the winner of that series and then we should get the ball rolling.

Civilization Middle Earth would be so good. Total War Warhammer and Total War Middle Earth would be amazing. Just give us a grand scale Lord of the Rings game before we're too old to game. I don't know about Total War Middle Earth happening soon; I think 40K would happen first, but I can see it happening in the next 15 years. It's such a popular IP and a cash cow. It would really come down to the licensing and how expensive all that is.

Battle for Middle Earth 3—give it to me. I love any Lord of the Rings RTS. Let's actually jump over and do this side. We're going to cast FL Masters game. We just need to find it. Here it is. Let's get this party started. Another Demons of Chaos match. I don't know if Len and Charx are there right now, but I'm sure they'll be back.

We got Rings of Power instead. Rings of Power has been a disappointment for sure. There have been some elements of Rings of Power that are kind of cool, like the world-building and visuals. Seeing the Dwarven kingdoms and Numenor with a high CGI budget is pretty epic. I try to look at it through a positive lens. If Rings of Power was just some generic fantasy show and not in The Lord of the Rings Universe, people wouldn't be as hard on it.

They're going to release a Lord of the Rings mod for Total Warilla open beta with campaign. That sounds fun. Rings of Power production value is amazing. We got Grand Cathay versus the Demons of Chaos. Start from the left side of the bracket and work that way with maps. The stalking old Pone dog is letting them know the map, and now we're on the battle for it.

I've been watching the Rings of Power episodes because I'm curious to see the depictions of some of these Tolkien characters. It's pleasant enough to have on in the background while I'm painting minis.

=> 01:04:23

The Hobbit trilogy had so much potential, but it ended up being a huge letdown.

The conversation begins with a discussion about a Lord of the Rings mod for Total Warilla, which is set to be released in open Beta with a campaign. This sparks excitement among the participants, one of whom mentions that the production value of Rings of Power is amazing. They then shift to discussing a match between Grand Cathay and the Demons of Chaos, detailing strategies and potential outcomes, such as using the Iron Dragon for his breath attack that can roast demons.

The conversation then transitions to a critique of the Rings of Power show. One participant mentions that while the show has high production value and is pleasant enough to have on in the background, they don't think it's very good. They compare it to Peter Jackson's films, acknowledging that those films also broke some of the lore but still hold a special place for them. The discussion touches on other shows like Arcane, which they agree was a great show, particularly its first season.

The participants then delve into their favorite films, highlighting Peter Jackson's original trilogy and Gladiator as some of their all-time favorites. They also express admiration for the original Blade Runner, placing it in their top 10 movies. The conversation briefly touches on the Hobbit trilogy, critiquing its unrealistic scenes and praising certain elements like Martin Freeman's portrayal of Bilbo and the return of Gandalf.

They reminisce about the excitement surrounding the first Hobbit trailer, particularly the scene where the dwarves sing around the fireplace, which set high expectations for the movie. However, the actual films did not live up to these expectations, leading to disappointment. The conversation ends with a mention of The Thing as one of the best movies of all time, and a brief note on Lovecraft's story that inspired it, which one participant has not read.

=> 01:08:09

The Hobbit movies had so much potential but ended up being a huge letdown.

Thoren Oaken Shield looks awesome, and they're all sitting around the fire, morose and serious. It's like, wow, this is going to be an Epic Journey, you know? And then we get the movies, and you're like, no, it was like that was such a—I don't know what would be the term—like a Honey Trap or a Honey dick or whatever. It was rough. It had so much potential. I remember being so excited at that first trailer when they have the Dwarven hymn being sung around the fireplace. God, I was so erected. I remember that was something truly magical.

Have I ever read the story from Lovecraft that inspired the thing? I haven't, no. Yeah, I haven't. Blue balls for sure, says feeling. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so let's refresh the tournament and see how we're looking. So you're saying the hob movies were supposed to be two movies but were split into three? I don't even think that's the biggest issue, but yeah, they were pretty Haggard, unfortunately.

Opal Bear defeated Bongo, so now it's Opal Bear versus Outter Region on the bottom. We've got Dro God versus Hen. Looking at the top four, we have Hitman Hippo versus Char and Hena versus Flaster. Soon, we're going to have a semi-final match as well. Oh, in the Mountains of Madness—I've read a fair amount of Lovecraft stories because of my wife; she's a die-hard Lovecraft fan. I don't know if I've read Mountains of Madness.

When they're doing gymnastics in Moria, not a single dwarf dies. Oh my God, that was the worst part. That part was so awful. They literally fall like hundreds of feet and just get up from the rubble like, "we're all good," you know? And then, in the Peter Jackson series, you have a Gorian soldier fall like seven feet off a stone parapet, and he's done for. You're like, oh my God, come on.

Haggard, did you ever hear about the giant re-edit? They cut it down to one big movie, and apparently, it's pretty well done. No, I never watched that. I'd be interested. These players are taking their sweet time; they don't want to lose here. They're here for all the marbles. Let's get a teaser. Okay, and a teaser here—there's the jump scare of the armies.

V. Morton said that Jackson was relying too much on CGI, and The Hobbit confirmed his fears. Yeah, man, Viggo Mortensen is such a good actor. What were his big projects after Lord of the Rings? I feel like he kind of chilled out a little bit. He was in A History of Violence, which was a pretty intense movie. I liked that one. He was in a movie recently where he's a cab driver; it takes place in the 50s or 60s. I can't remember. I saw it on a plane and was half awake, so I don't quite remember. He was in Hidalgo, Eastern Promises—rules, that movie was good. Yeah, Green Book, that's the one. The Road is like, okay, yeah, Hidalgo, The Road, Eastern Promises is so good. That's such a good movie. History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Green Book, Hidalgo. Yeah, I think he's doing more Indie stuff from what I can tell.

Alright, is it time? Come on, guys, this is bordering on too long here. Let me make sure they don't have any questions. Sure, yeah, they can wait for me, no problemo. Still wish he had Nicholas Cage's Aragorn. Oh my God, that would have been the most ridiculous thing ever. How long do I have for the round timers? I mean, I do have round timers technically running, but we're being pretty relaxed about them today. It's always been one of the downfalls of Total War competitive—how long it takes in between matches for people to get their stuff together. I feel bad because, on one hand, you don't want to rush them because it's such an important element of this game, often more important than the micro in the gameplay.

Alright, so pretty standard builds, although there is a war drum, which is pretty cool. War drum with Celestial Guard, Iron Dragon, and also the Bandit to the Silver Roads. Pretty colorful with a rainbow Demons of Chaos Army.

=> 01:12:05

Total War's competitive scene struggles with long match prep times, but the strategic depth makes it worth the wait!

How long do I have for the round timers? I mean, I do have round timers technically running, but we're being pretty relaxed about them today. It's always been one of the downfalls of Total War competitive—how long it takes in between matches for people to get their stuff together. I feel bad because, on one hand, you don't want to rush them because it's such an important element of this game. Often, it's more important than the micro in the gameplay.

Alright, so yeah, pretty standard builds. Although there is a war drum, that's pretty cool. War drum with Celestial Guard, Iron Dragon, and also the Bandit to the Silver Roads. Pretty colorful with the rainbow Demons of Chaos Army. We got Slaanesh, Khorne, Nurgle, and Tzeentch, so we literally have every Chaos God represented in this build with a very cheap Herald, which allows you to go wide.

GI J—he was in GI J. Yeah, Eastern Promises was a very intense movie. I really like that one. How's old man—that's an old movie. You're saying you think he got sick of the limelight? Viggo—he was great, he was great.

Alright, so we're on the battle for Itza. Let's refocus here on the ham of war and talk about the armies. Looking at GRC's forces here, ladies and gentlemen, it is going to be a Jade Warrior battle line into the sunset. The Jade Warriors are very, very good units. When they have their Harmony, their stat line is pretty insane, so you just line them up and they hold demons all day. Shia Ming the Iron Dragon is going to be doing some of the killing. He does have the final transmutation as well as the breath attack, so those are both very good. If the demons decide to go with a blob style of play, then he can punish it. If they come in with just mass amounts of demons, he can use his dragon's breath ability to cook them pretty well. You have Bandits of the Silver Road, a couple of basic peasant archers, Celestial Dragon Guard on the flanks, and the dreaded War Drum.

The most haggard animations in all of the old world—here it is, the Jeongu War Drum is going to be providing some nice buffs to nearby units. Depending on what it decides to do, it can potentially give some armor, melee attack, reload skill, and ITP. Both are viable, and it gives leadership as well.

Looking at the Demonic hordes of Flaster here, another mighty Polish player, we do have the Soul Grinder of Nurgle. The Soul Grinder of Nurgle here is going to be dropping some hot bows on the enemy force, I would imagine. Big bombardments from downtown—he hits like a truck. The rest of the core here is going to be Bloodletters. Bloodletters are gods here against C. It's kind of like a rock-paper-scissors dynamic. Jade Warrior counters the missiles, the Bloodletters counter the Jade Warriors, and the missiles counter the Bloodletters. It goes back and forth, so a lot of it is that dynamic for sure. But yeah, Nurglings and a Soul Grinder—Nurglings for objective capture. We do have the Saour Guts, which are pretty much an auto-take; they're very popular. Chromatic Abominations Caster is going to be a Herald with Pavane for Rampage as well as the Lash of Slaanesh.

Alright, it's time to lash it out. Now, one of the more meta builds—not meta, but demons have used the foot character kind of core. Belakor also was very good in this matchup for a long time. He's so hard to kill, he's so disruptive, and he can also fight the Dragon Twins if he needs to. But ever since his cost increases, he's kind of fallen off in popularity. I still think he's actually not the worst. Nice Soul Grinder shots—that's going to hurt. It is able to get a square bombardment on the Jade Warrior Halberds as GRC moves up on the objectives. We got some Khorne dogs coming over here, so the Khorne dogs do manage to ninja this objective before the forces of GRC can get there. Jade Warriors are going to be arriving, and they will have slightly more capture weight than these doggies, but it's still going to take a while to get that one back.

Back in the middle, breath attack coming down from the Iron Dragon is able to roast up the Bloodletters. Bloodletters do have 35% spell resist, so it's probably better to use the breath attacks out of the gates to just cook some of the Nurglings and/or the Chromatic Abominations. But we will see. There's going to be a column of Great Longma Riders, and on the backside, the Khorne dogs are just hanging out on the point, trying to prevent the cap for as long as possible. This is a really good tactic. Jade Warriors have five capture weight, and these guys have...

=> 01:15:25

Jade Warriors hold the line, but the demons' relentless assault tests their resilience.

The forces of Grand Cathay managed to ninja this objective before the forces of Khorne could arrive. The Jade Warriors are arriving and, although they have slightly more capture weight than the doggies, it will still take a while to reclaim the objective.

Back in the middle, a breath attack from the Iron Dragon roasts the Bloodletters. Despite their 35% spell resistance, it might have been more effective to use the breath attacks on the Nurglings or the Chromatic Abominations. Meanwhile, a column of Great Longma Riders appears, and on the backside, the Corn Dogs are hanging out on the point to delay the capture as long as possible. This is a strategic move because Jade Warriors have a capture weight of five, whereas the Corn Dogs have four. Parking them there means it will take the Jade Warriors a significant amount of time to reclaim the objective, and points are crucial against Grand Cathay.

Grand Cathay is moving up to engage the demons. Xiao Ming, the Iron Dragon, marches in front of his army, yelling commands and dropping breath attacks on the demonic forces. One of these attacks targets the Saurus Warriors, causing some damage, but overall, the breath attacks have not been too devastating. The demons sound the horn of war and engage in the middle, which might be a misplay by Flaster. Engaging Grand Cathay in the middle, where they have Harmony, is precarious. It might have been better to focus on the side objectives and force Cathay to spread out, which is typically how Cathay is beaten.

The Chromatic Abominations and the Saurus Warriors start shooting at the Jangu Wardrum, which would be a smart play. Bloodletters engage the harmonious Jade Warriors, who are more resilient than usual due to Harmony. Popcorn Bandits are jumping all over, trying to break through the Jade Warriors, who remain resilient. Chaos Furies of Khorne are called in by Flaster to intercept the Bandits of the Silver Road. However, Hena responds well by using the Jade Lancers to deliver a beautiful charge, intercepting the Chaos Furies. Another Khorne Fury appears, dealing good damage.

A final transmutation spell hits the Exalted Daemonettes, who were called out of reinforcements. Normally, Exalted Daemonettes would dominate the forces of Grand Cathay, but being hit by an overcast final transmutation is punishing. Despite this, they continue to grind well and are being focused by the Peasant Archers, a great play by Hena. The value trading remains even, and a couple of Corn Dogs sneak into the backfield as the Jangu Wardrum is forced back. The Soul Grinder shoots at the archers, breaking the Peasant Archers' formation.

The Iron Dragon delivers a nice breath attack, cooking some Bloodletters as more Popcorn Bandits move forward. The Exalted Daemonettes continue to gain value, breaking the Longma Riders despite the magic attack. They will likely tear apart the Jade Warriors as well. Exalted Daemonettes are an amazing unit, excelling as elite infantry.

Currently, objectives one and two are owned by Flaster and the Demons of Chaos, while objective three is owned by Grand Cathay. Grand Cathay will have to fight hard to reclaim these points. The demons have a big swarm, including many Nurglings and Plague Hounds, chewing through the Jade Lancers and Halberds. It seems Grand Cathay lacks the killing power to get through all these demons. Even though the Exalted Daemonettes are in a tattered state with only 57 models and about 25% HP, they will still rip apart the Jade Warriors. The Jade Warriors simply don't have the killing power to overcome them. The Furies come around the back, wrecking the Jade Warriors, while the Jangu Wardrum tries to keep the Cathay battle lines together, providing buffs. The Iron Dragon attempts to clean up with a breath attack, and the Jade Warrior Halberds surge forward. The battle continues with intense value trading on both sides.

=> 01:18:32

The war drum's buffs are turning the tide, giving CA the edge in this intense battle!

Jade Lancers, as well as the halberds, are engaged in battle. It seems like Gran C may not have the killing power to get through all these demons. Despite the 60 exalted demonet being in a very tattered state with only 57 models at about 25% HP, they are still capable of ripping apart the Jade Warriors. The Jade Warriors simply lack the killing power to overcome them. As the battle unfolds, the Jade Warriors miss their charge, which is unfortunate given their charge bonus of 35. Meanwhile, Furies are coming around the back, and the Jade Warrior herd is getting wrecked. The Jangu Ward Drum is trying to keep the Cathay battle lines together by providing buffs, while the Iron Dragon uses a breath attack to clean up the battlefield.

The Jade Warrior halberds are surging forward, with the value setting at 42 against 54. However, C does not have any shooting online anymore. Shooting is incredibly effective against demons of chaos if it can be maintained, but that is easier said than done. Bloodletters are probably winning their fight against the Jade Warriors. The exalted demonet is getting surrounded and potentially killed, but fiends are coming in to help. Fiends deliver a beautiful charge into the Cathay forces, causing significant shock damage. Ever since their update, fiends have been super solid. However, there are halberds present, so if the halberds can land some anti-large attacks, Cathay might hold.

Cathay is holding on, bolstered by the ward drum, which is currently at 557 HP and buffing all units, allowing them to grind through the demons. The Iron Dragon is also engaging the Soul Grinder. The demons lack a powerful demon prince or demon lord to dominate the fight. Gran C seems to have regained some momentum and breathing room. Although the demons are up in value, they crumble, and crumbling isn't tracked in the damage meter, which is an oversight. The Iron Dragon continues to attack, delivering a cost-effective strike against the Herald of Slaanesh. It looks like C might be back in the game, thanks to their resilience and the significant impact of the ward drum.

The ward drum has been giving a big melee attack buff, plus eight, and ITP to all Cathay troops. Having a Jade Warrior with 33 melee attack is a huge advantage, and it also boosts leadership. This drum is single-handedly winning many fights for C, who now appears to be on the winning side. More fiends are being called in, and the Soul Grinder is pulling back. The fiends of Slaanesh are grinding, but the ward drum remains a significant problem. The radius of the drum is substantial, buffing everything around it. The force-multiplying effects of the drum are significant, and the Demons of Chaos fought Cathay on their terms, where their harmony and drum were strong.

If Flaster had played the sides more and forced Cathay to spread out, it might have been a different story. Despite this, Flaster is a solid player and is making a good fight of it, keeping it close. However, Gran C seems to be taking over the game. The drum is still active, and the Jade Warriors, bolstered by the drum, are proving to be formidable. On the high ground, some nurglings and chaos furies of Khorne are called out, likely to win against the peasant horsemen in a 2V1. Hena seems to be retreating. Meanwhile, Xia Ming, the Iron Dragon, drops another breath attack, getting quite a bit of work done.

=> 01:21:42

The drum's relentless beat is turning the tide of battle, keeping the warriors fighting with unbreakable spirit.

She's pulling on that drum there. What is he doing? He's like doing some Dragon prayers or something. I have no idea, but yeah, that is very bad that that thing is kept alive. The objective is in danger of flipping. Fiends of Slaanesh are super cost-effective, but Jade Warrior Halberds with a melee attack buffer are going to be able to cut them to pieces. Man, Flaster really needs to finish off that Jangu Ward Drum. Come on, it's just doing so much work on The High Ground here. We do see some Nurglings called out and some Chaos Furies of Khorne, which will probably win the fight against these peasant Horsemen in a 2V1. I think that Hena knows this and is going to be retreating back right now.

Here we do see Xiaoming the Iron Dragon dropping another breath attack right there, getting quite a bit of work done. The Dragon Emperor's Chosen are holding firm, peasants and Jade Warriors on their way out. It looks like maybe, just maybe, the herald is going to find the kill here. It's sneaking around; I don't know why else it would be running over here. Oh, come on, kill the ward drum! 424, the drums in the Deep indeed, as there is a bit of a rout here. We do see the push and the pull of the game going. The demons definitely have really good sustained fighting with these fiends; they're great in constant combat. I honestly think if he killed this Ward Drum, this fight would start to turn. If you just found a way to get this thing down, it has 400 HP, 100 leadership. Man, that thing is unbreakable. Oh, that's so savage. Look at that, it just will not go quietly into the good night.

We do see some Flesh Doggies called out. GRC does have the Triple cap though on the Demons of Chaos right now, which is pretty brutal. A couple of peasant Horsemen look like they're going to be running up there to maybe intercept the flesh hounds. Maybe 2v1, they could win that fight, but we do see some fiends bouncing over, intercepting to rip down some of these Horsemen. We do see a couple of Horsemen models getting picked off there by the fiends. Looking at this fight here, the Jade Lancers start to get punished, but Grand Cathay is up on points pretty considerably. They literally have heard no drum whatsoever. The drum is still going super, super hard. Up on objective one, it is going to be the fiends of Slaanesh and flesh hounds of Khorne chewing through those units. Cathay does lose the Cavalry fight here, maybe an opportunity for the demons to come and get an objective back, which they really need. The demons are hemorrhaging points right now, and Cathay is an okay Helm's Deep faction. They're kind of slow, but if they can get onto an objective and hold with Harmony and their drums especially, they can get there for a long time.

You see all these units for GRC; they would have been broken like two minutes ago if it weren't for this drum. The drum gives them plus eight leadership, I think, right? Is it plus eight or plus 10? Let's go and double-check here on the Jangu Ward Drum. Yeah, it's plus eight, which is a pretty big difference when units are this low. It's kind of like a Grail Relique when those units just hold for like 10 years. The drum's going to be moving back. We do see a good Rampage Fascination being used by the Demons of Chaos; it's going to be pulling him in. Oh, big final transmutation though from the Iron Dragon. That was massive. Okay, that comes out of nowhere and does a ton of damage, melts the furies, melts the nurglings, pounds the flesh hounds, also hits the herald of Slaanesh, and the Jangu Ward Drum just cackling. Look at it, it's just going, it's rolling dirty in the Deep.

So, objective Uno maybe going to be flipping to the demons. The hounds might be able to get that one. Down here, we do see some nurglings moving over to fight peasant long spearmen. Peasant long spearmen will lose to nurglings in a fight, but it takes like 45 minutes, so I don't think there's any serious danger there. Grand Cathay is enduring, it's standing there menacingly. It is 335, it's so low. Dude, I sincerely think if Lamaster had killed this drum like three or four minutes ago, he wins this game. This fight would have gone so different in the middle. The melee attack buff is actually making Jade Lancers have some killing power, which is something they don't normally have. On top of that, the leadership, it's so cost-effective here. So, the demons are melting under the Grand Cathay grind. Iron Dragon is also a much bigger game changer than the Slaanesh herald. He's a really good fighter, and he's going to be able to go into Dragon form in the late game if he needs to really pound some of those units out.

Down here, we do see the nurglings get intercepted by peasant Horsemen. They're going to be surrounded and killed. Nurglings are probably losing out on that fight, and the Demons of Chaos have melted. Oh, Iron Dragon time, yes!

=> 01:24:50

Iron Dragon dominates the battlefield, turning the tide with his powerful transformations and leading Grand Cathay to victory. Total War never looked so epic!

The player killed this drum like three or four minutes ago, and he wins this game. This fight would have gone so differently in the middle. The melee attack buff is actually making Jade Lancers have some killing power, which is something they don't normally have. On top of that, the leadership is so cost-effective here, so the demons are melting under the Grand Cathay grind. Iron Dragon is also a much bigger game changer than the Slaanesh Herald. He's a really good fighter and he's going to be able to go into Dragon form in the late game if he needs to, to really pound some of those units out. Down here, we do see the Nurglings get intercepted by Peasant Horsemen. They're going to be surrounded and killed, with the Nurglings probably losing out on that fight. The Demons of Chaos have melted.

Iron Dragon time! Yes, the Dragon Emperor's chosen. So cool, man. Total War is visually such an awesome game. The dragon's going to be descending from the skies and will be landing to do glorious battle. The Herald of Slaanesh, I'm surprised this thing is still alive too. I think one of the few mistakes they've made this game is not trying to kill this Herald. I think the dragon maybe could have hunted it quite a bit earlier. A little bit of lag here in the fourth quarter of the game, but I think we're okay. This objective is captured by the Demons of Chaos. Demons are now split-pushing, which is probably what they should have been doing a little earlier rather than fighting the drum.

At 135 HP, oh man, that feels so bad. That thing is just doing such work and I don't think the demons have anything nearby to kill it. We get triple Nurglings called down, including the Frers Bonic. It looks like they're going to get that objective, but now the demons are going to have to win the middle fight, and this is like the worst-case scenario, right? Cathay is going to be allowed to Helms Deep on the middle objective with a Jangu Ward Drum still functional. Jade Lancers are called in. Just let the demons take the side objectives, although it's going to take a long time to win still. So C has to win a grind for some time. I guess if you have the extra resources, get those Peasant Horsemen over there. Value trading is very even here. We do see the Soul Grinder of Nurgle getting burned down. Xing the Iron Dragon probably solos this army of demons here. He does magic damage, he hits super hard. Jade Lancers do arrive and the Ward Drum is finally down. Oh my God, it's finally down. So the Ward Drum has fallen and now Cathay's army is going to be losing leadership, melee attack, and a lot of stats from that support piece which has been absolutely powerful this game.

Nice use of the Peasant Horsemen for the ninja cap. Objective one's going to be taken by C, which is basically going to seal the deal for the demons. They had a little cheeky attempt at the side caps here, but there's no way. Iron Dragon is just too gigachad, and he and his powerful jawline are going to take apart this Herald of Slaanesh. It's getting bonked on by the dragon, although the melee defense of the Herald does hold up at 55. On the side, we do see some scary Flesh Hounds coming out, and a head-on charge. I'm sure a full surround here will lead to the end of the Flesh Hound. I think those three Cav units are going to be able to get it done in the words of the great Larry the Cable Guy.

The side objective here is being held by the Spears. We do see some Peasant Long Spearmen holding on to that objective. Meanwhile, objective Uno here, Flesh Hounds of Khorne are desperately trying to get this one back, but the Grand Cathay peasants have risen. They're well-fed and they're not like the Bretonnian peasants. They are able to fight off some pretty powerful demonic units with substantial numbers. Peasant Horsemen for Grand Cathay are really not bad. 26/26/28 is a very respectable stat line with a charge bonus of 36. It's going well. The Jangu Ward Drum was the carry this game. Pretty cool. We've had a very nice set of games today with very interesting matchups. I've been enjoying this one. The drum lives on in our hearts. It does. It was banging some super sweet beats.

It reminds me, do you guys remember when China hosted the Olympics, the Beijing Olympics? Their opening ceremony with that drum show was so cool. Those were like the War Drums. Yeah, that was epic. China's drum opening that they had at the Beijing Olympics was super cool. One of my favorite Olympic intros. The Chinese drum intro was epic, but also at the Paris Olympics, Gojira's performance was so freaking epic.

=> 01:28:06

Jangu ward drum stole the show and kept the game alive!

Jangu Ward Drum was the carry this game. Pretty cool, we've had a very nice set of games today with very interesting matchups. I've been enjoying this one. The drum lives on in our hearts; it was banging some super sweet beats. It reminds me, do you guys remember when China hosted the Olympics, the Beijing Olympics? Their opening ceremony with the freaking drum show was so cool. Those were like the War drums. That was epic. China's drum opening at the Beijing Olympics was super cool.

But I think one of my favorite Olympic intros was the Chinese drum intro. It was epic, but also at the French, at the Paris Olympics, Gojira performed a song, I think it was called. Gojira's performance was so freaking epic. I still listen to that song. They put it up on Spotify finally, like a studio version. I'm like, yes! That is so good. Anyways, GG well played. The game was basically over, so we were just ranting about stuff there. That was a great Cath performance, really good Demon play also.

But the demons made two colossal blunders in my opinion. Number one, not focusing that drum down when it had like 100 HP and was very easy to snipe at that point. Number two, split pushing. You should have just ignored the middle and pulled apart Grant Cath. Never go into their Harmony box if you don't have to. But Flaster was a good enough player that he almost still pulled it off. But Hena played very well, kept that drum alive, and kept Cath's hope alive.

Alright, GG well played. So now we have another match coming up. Let's look at the value: Iron Chad 169, 3700 on Iron Dragon, Jangu War Drum hanging in there. But yeah, Iron Dragon carried and the drum carried as well. Look at the 1,600 on these Jade Lancers. That's not something you see terribly often for the demons. Blood letters did alright. We had the SAU guts at 1300, exalted demonet, an awesome unit, and we see the fiends performing as usual.

Alright, let's get this and go into this Lobby here. Go to Char's Lobby. I think I remember his password. Yes. Alright, GG well played. Let's see how the brackets are looking. By the way, these guys are going to load in and be ready to go very quickly. Hes versus ZCH. Oh, evil centors of ZCH coming. Here they come. That song was very good, the Gojira. It was great. The Australian break dancer lady, that was so freaking Haggard. Oh my God, I felt like I was watching Napoleon Dynamite. But you know, whatever, who cares. It's fun to have something like that every now and then to mix it up, right?

Okay, it looks like we're good to go. Hiles versus ZCH is going to be our next match of the day. Shout out to these players for waiting and making this possible. We're going to have a semi-final game after this if I'm not mistaken. Let me just take a look at the brackets here in a minute. We will look. Hey, everything's good Gabe, thanks for joining. Sanor of Z cringe, is that what you're saying? Is the war drum on Spotify too? It should be. Hey, no worries, good luck at work my friend. We'll be here for you all day. We have a couple more hours in this tournament. Probably the double elimination tournaments tend to go long, so I suspect we'll probably be around the three-hour mark.

Well, that's not even that long of a tournament. She apparently got the worst Olympic score in history of all Olympics, but I haven't confirmed that. I'm pretty sure the break dancer lady got like zero on everything, so I mean that's pretty rough. I'm sure people have been disqualified, which is worse than zeros, I suppose.

The winner of this is going to play GR CA, which we will cast. On the bottom side, the games are going, which looks great. Our Mighty Champion, the goat of all Total War, Professor Pone, has been defeated. His opponent must have been really lucky. I don't know how they did that.

Alright guys, taking a look at the build of Charx, we got Shadow Warriors and the gray. Hey, what the hell is this? Shadow Warriors, they're like so Haggard. Char is a wild man; he brings very unique builds. He is here with the gray. We got white lines of CCE and a mage of high magic who is going to be rocking Tempest as well as apotheosis and hand of Glory. Tempest is pretty good against Z Flyers, so if they call in these screamers to try and fight them, you just Tempest them and shoot them with archers. It's pretty good. Silverin, white lines of CCE, Emmer Lord of Dragons, he's a very good fighter.

=> 01:31:56

Two top Total War players clash with wild, off-meta builds in an epic showdown!

Champion the goat of all Total War, Professor Pone has been defeated. His opponent must have been really lucky; I don't know how they did that.

Alright guys, so taking a look at the build of Charx, we got Shadow Warriors and the Gray. What the hell is this? Shadow Warriors Ro, they're like so Haggard. Char is a wild man; he brings very, very unique builds. He is here with the Gray, we got White Lions of CCE, and a Mage of High Magic who is going to be rocking Tempest as well as Apotheosis and Hand of Glory. Tempest is pretty good against Z Flyers, so if they call in these screamers to try and fight them, you just Tempest them and shoot them with archers. It's pretty good. Silverin, White Lions of CCE, and Emmer Lord of Dragons—he's a very, very good fighter, very disruptive and powerful.

Looking over here at the forces of Hitman Hippo, these are two players who have both won major events, incredibly strong players. Hitman Hippo has won one of the huge tournaments we had recently with Creative Assembly, one of the official events. He also was a contender in the recent season finals. He didn’t win in the recent season finals; I think he got second place. I can't remember; he was in the top four. But yeah, very strong. He’s got a Metal Sorcerer with Plague of Rust and Final Transmutation, Soul Grinder to poke IM. There is going to be an Exalted Hero of Zch, anti-large to try and fight IM as well. There’s going to be Zor up on the high ground, and in the bushes, we have Chosen of Zch. Oh, double Chosen of Zch—how erect is this? Oh yeah, double Chosen of Zch, baby.

Both these players are two of my favorite players to watch, and they’re just both great people too, which is awesome. Good sports, great people, and their builds are off-meta. We’re seeing the Gray here, we’re seeing double Chosen of Zch—this is some seriously wild stuff.

It looks like Chadrick is going to be moving down and going after the Exalted Hero of Zch. The Exalted Hero is going to be forced back, getting pounded pretty heavily. Soul Grinder is going to be turning about to attack IMich. It looks like now the forces of Z are going to be moving in. Maybe Centor is being called in, or will it be Screamers? Oh, it’s an Exalted Hero of Zinch on horse, another one. Okay, so going to be trying to overwhelm Emmer here.

Now, do the elves have any blob-punishing tools? It doesn’t look like it. We do see the Gray as well as the Shadow Warrior shooting in, and they’re getting some respectable damage. IM is doing great work here against the Exalted Hero of Z, but he’s also starting to take some damage as well. We get the Soul Grinder piled in, and there is going to be another Exalted Hero. So I think that is going to be a force retreat here for IM.

Remember, IM does have healing, and I suspect from here Hitman Hippo is going to start spamming out Centor of Z because they’re just so dominant against the armor pieces like White Lions of Grace. They will get wrecked. IM is going to be getting an Apotheosis. He lost to Catholic in the finals last time, that’s right. Yeah, that’s what I thought. It went to game five too, I remember, and it was Chaos Dwarves versus something. It was like Chaos Dwarves versus Dark Elves, I think was the game five game. That was a really good season finals. If you guys missed that, highly recommend going back to check it out. That was a top-tier tournament, some of the best games we’ve had in Total War in a long time.

Down on objective one, Zenor is hanging on to that one firmly. This objective is being contested; it is zoned by Zch. So currently Zch does have the double cap. We can see Hitman Hippo just chill out here. He’s going to be dropping the Soul Grinder into—why is he throwing Soul Grinder shots into the White Lions? That’s probably a misclick. You’re going to want to be poking IM basically the entire game to try and keep him honest. But the elves are out-caps right now. We do see Hitman Hippo with the double objective. He has objective three, and he does also have objective one up here on the high ground.

Looking back here, the Chaos Lord is going to be hiding in the bushes. What is Hitman Hippo saving up for? Is it going to be Centor of Zenus? Yeah, they’re probably one of the best units in the entire game. You look at their stats and you’re like, oh, they’re all right. But there’s something about their damage which just isn’t right; it’s so high. They hit so incredibly hard, and we’re going to see if he can make good use of them. I mean, they are a little bit squishy though. They only have 35 armor and low melee defense, so if they are focused by archers and or caught up with spears, they can definitely suffer. That’s one of the weaknesses of that unit. But overall, Z is playing a very cagey play.

=> 01:35:06

Hitman Hippo's strategic patience and shield regeneration are key to his success in this intense match.

With the double objective, he has objective three and also objective one up on the high ground. Looking back, the Chaos Lord is hiding in the bushes. What is Hitman Hippo saving up for? Is it going to be Centor of Zinch? They are probably one of the best units in the entire game. You look at their stats and think they're alright, but there's something about their damage which just isn't right—it’s so high. They hit incredibly hard, and we’re going to see if he can make good use of them. However, they are a little bit squishy with only 35 armor and low melee defense. If they are focused by archers or caught up with spears, they can definitely suffer. That’s one of the weaknesses of that unit.

Overall, Z is playing a very cagey play style. The javelins of Poseidon are now throwing at the Mage of High Magic, and he does get a decent little snipe there. The Mage takes some HP damage. Zenor for Hitman Hippo is pulling back, and Hitman Hippo is playing a very cautious game, looking for opportunities to poke and soften up his opponent. The Soul Grinder makes decent contact with the Mage, and now we see the Chaos Sorcerer. This is a good play; he’s baiting with the Chaos Sorcerer, trying to bait ammunition out from Charx because then he can just regenerate these shields, making it basically free real estate. He retreats before taking any real damage to regenerate those shields, although he did take some actual HP damage, making it a bit precarious.

The Chaos Sorcerer retreats, fleeing the scene. The Chosen have not moved out of the bushes yet, and there are also some Zor here. The double exalted hero is coming down to try and screen out Imich. We do get a Centor of Zinch called out here, but it is heavily focused. There are a lot of archers here, and they are going to put some hurt on these Centor, which probably want to pull back and regenerate their shields. Zinch is really good at that; a lot of the Elven value can be mitigated. For example, 800 HP worth of shields can be mitigated, which is a lot of value that the elves have recruited so far. Zinch is just trying to do that, and the points are close enough that Zinch doesn’t need to rush. They can play cat and mouse, look for opportunities, and get a critical mass of Centor of Zinch out before they push.

There’s enough to keep Imich honest. Imich can be poked down by the exalted heroes if he lands; the two exalted heroes can probably deal with him. We see the Soul Grinder of Zinch throwing his dreaded Poseidon Javelin, and the Herald of the Wind Char is moving across. Maybe he’s going to land here. The Soul Grinder jukes under, and now the screamers are called out—the Shing Sky Ray. If he had committed to that landing attack, the Shing Sky Ray would have been very good, but they end up getting melted a little, taking more HP damage from the Shadow Warriors. Char is poking, trying to keep the shields down. Shields have regenerated on several units.

The high ground objective is still owned by the Changer of Ways. The Chosen have not moved out of the bushes yet, but there will come a time when they will have to. We have double Chosen of Zinch, with one and another one back here. Chosen are just straight up one of the coolest-looking units in all of Total War. Their aesthetic is so rad, especially Zinch. Zinch looks very cool.

For objective one, we see the hordes of Chaos moving up there. The Zor is securing that, making sure the High Elves don’t have any play for it. The High Elves are more than happy to sit and control objectives three and two. We see a slight value lead for Char, but the game is pretty much dead even with the proto shields coming into play as well as the healing. The Soul Grinder is poking out, getting that Arch Mage a little bit lower. The Shrieking Sky Ray is coming over to chase away Imich as he continues his patrol. Ammunition is looking a little low on these Shadow Warriors, which feels bad for Char. Have they paid for themselves? Just having them save their ammo seems sensible, as there’s not much sense in even fighting Zinch.

=> 01:38:15

The High Elves and Chaos forces are neck and neck, but Chaos's relentless tactics might just tip the scales.

The High Elves don't have any play for that. They are more than happy to just sit and control objectives three and two, and just hang out. We do see a slight value lead for Char, but I would say the game is pretty much dead even with the Protoss Shields coming into play as well as the healing. The Soul Grinder is poking out, getting that Arch Mage a little bit lower. We see the Shrieking Sky Ray coming over to chase away Emich as Emich continues his patrol. Ammunition is looking a little bit low on these Shadow Warriors, which certainly feels a little bit bad for Char. Have they paid for themselves? I think just having them save their ammo makes sense, as there's not really too much sense in even fighting Zch right here.

We do see a Tempest going down, which is interesting. Tempest does get popped on the Shrieking Sky Rays, and they're probably going to land on the ground if Imir comes over and attacks them. The Shrieking Sky Ray goes down to the ground, which is a smart play, but not before they get brought down pretty low, losing about half their HP. That wasn't a terrible poke by the High Elves. A little bit of Tempest, which is not terribly expensive, and getting a good quality unit down to half health is pretty good. In the meantime, the Mage of High Magic is getting popped by that Soul Grinder. This is very much a land battle kind of tactic from Hitman Hippo, like that long protracted Zch kiting style play without engaging. However, in Dom, it’s riskier because you do get punished by the objectives, whereas in land battles, this is the reason why Zinch is S-tier. They can engage, use their shields as a sponge, pull back, regenerate, and give no value while accruing value. But here in Dom, it’s a much different beast; every second that his opponent gets points is going to start adding up, and he'll pay the troll toll eventually.

It looks like he's setting up shop for the push now. We see Zor coming out, probably going to loop around this area. Where did the Centaurs go? He had some CGR of Zch over there; they've since pulled back and regenerated their shields. The Mage of High Magic is alive but is being targeted by the Soul Grinder, which is running out of ammunition as well. We do see the Soul Grinder of Zch getting a little bit poked up here. Is he going to throw? He's thinking about it, moving in, and the Mage, the Chaos Sorcerer Lord, is sitting with no final transmutations cast. Zch, as a matter of fact, hasn't used any magic yet. We haven't seen any Plague of Rust or anything else used at all. He's going to be saving it for the final fight. Char is slowly getting there; he's at 600, his opponent at 546, so the High Elves have officially passed the forces of Chaos on points as of about a minute ago.

A little bit of poke is coming out from the Herald of the Wind, maybe going to be shooting at the Shrieking Sky Ray. We could see another Tempest, although the Mage of High Magic is too beat up. That’s unfortunate; it's going to have to sit back. Now, the forces of Chaos are advancing out of the woods. The wilder tactics are on display here. The Chosen have advanced out, the Zangor are moving, and the Asur are going to need to be ready to deal with this onslaught of heretics. Using big breath attacks on the Chosen would be a god-tier play. We do see him landing there, attacking the Exalted Hero. Wow, he gets a double hit, also hitting the Chaos Sorcerer Lord with a little bit of a splash attack. The Centaurs of Zch are coming in, and Imir is going to be retreating back. He gets nailed with the Plague of Rust. Oh man, he could have been in big trouble, but Char is using his Shadow Warriors to shoot into the advancing Centaurs quite effectively. The Plague of Rust is going to be wasted magic, as the trigger was pulled a little bit early. However, he does get a final transmutation, and the Dragon Horn is sounded. The hordes of hell are upon us.

Here they come: Zor's advancing out, Chosen advancing out, and look at that. Really good micro by Hitman Hippo. He moves through the weakness in the formation with a pencil formation of Zangor and is able to pressure the archers. Char, of course, is very well prepared for this. He even has the polished color scheme, which is really funny. He's got the White Lions of Chrace with their great weapons, which should dominate Zangor in combat. The Chosen are now going to get into combat here. Chosen will crush pretty much any of these units. The only Elven unit that could really give Chosen the business would be the Swordmasters of Hoeth.

=> 01:41:26

Epic battle alert: Char's strategic maneuvers and Hitman Hippo's micro skills create a nail-biting showdown!

The battle intensifies as the dragon horn is sounded and the hordes of hell are upon us. Zor and the chosen advance, showcasing really good micro by Hitman Hippo. He maneuvers through the weaknesses in the formation with a pencil formation of Zang Gor, pressuring the archers. Char, however, is well-prepared with the white lines of crates wielding great weapons, which should dominate Zor in combat. The chosen engage in combat, and they are expected to crush most units, with only the sword masters posing a significant threat. Char's archers, including his Shadow Warriors and the gray, shoot into the Centor of Zch, who struggle to find favorable engagements due to the effective missile support in the secondary line.

The chosen have breached the secondary backfield, chasing down the Shadow Warriors and the gray. However, a couple of Narnia lines could potentially turn on them and inflict significant damage. The value trading remains very even, and Char contemplates a breath attack. He winds up the dragon, ready to unleash a belch on the chaos warriors. Although not as cost-effective as targeting the chosen, chaos warriors are still a viable target. The High Elves (HEs) struggle to hold back the tides of chaos, with chosen and a Soul Grinder, capable of breathing warp fire, mixed in the fray.

A big final transmutation goes down, beautifully cast, nailing the lion chariots, the fireborne, and Imrich. Despite this, it remains uncertain if it will be enough to break through the high lines. On the top side, Zang Gor loses their fight, and a Zen Army ability targets the Silverin and Narnia Warriors. However, Charx skillfully dodges the attack, scattering his units and taking minimal damage. Imrich faces danger as the exalted heroes of Zch, along with the Soul Grinder, pose a significant threat. Despite being a powerful duelist, Imrich is outnumbered by these formidable entities.

Chaos spawn, summoned by the exalted hero or the Kos sorcerer lord with a staff of change, join the fray. The chosen of Zch engage the Silverin Guard, resulting in a massacre due to the Silverin Guard's inadequate damage output against the chosen's high armor and melee defense. Centors of Zra move in, but Hitman Hippo's lapse in micro allows Charx to capitalize, counter-charging with the Silver Helms and Narnia lines.

Despite the scrappy nature of the game, Hitman Hippo currently leads, needing just two objectives to win. The Silverin Guard and the war lions of C continue to hold the objective, while the Narnia chariots, heavily damaged from the final transmutation, are hammered by the Cent of Z. The hero core proves clutch, and a big breath attack from The Lord of Dragons nails the chaos warriors, with Em flying about, adding to the chaos of the battlefield.

=> 01:44:38

Hitman Hippo's strategic build and relentless tactics secured a hard-fought victory, showcasing why he nearly won the last season's finals.

It looks like the Hitman Hippo is going to be intercepting those bad boys, but he lapses on the charge. Weirdly, he dropped his micro there, and now Charks is going to be capitalizing on this. He's going to be counter-charging with the Silver Helms as well as the Nar Lines. What a scrappy game between these two players! Looking at the points, it’s not a Triple cap situation currently. Hitman Hippo would win with just two Silverin Guard and the War Lions of C, who continue to hold on the objective here. The Narnia Chariots, very beat up from that final transmutation, are also going to be hammered by the Centaurs of Z. The hero core has been super clutch, but a big breath attack coming in from The Lord of Dragons is able to go down the pipe and nail those Chaos Warriors.

Here we see him flying about. Is he going to attack? He is able to defeat the Centaurs, and on this side, the Narnia Lions are also chewing through a lot of these units. It looks like the elves are focusing their effort here to try and secure objective three to make sure they don't lose that ground. The hordes of Hell, the Heretics of Chaos, have won in the middle. We just have a couple of White Lions of C still fighting, but they are fighting against Chosen Zor and Chaos Warriors, all of whom are pretty damn good fighters. There is also a big Soul Grinder here, which is a good melee fighter and causes Terror, making it tricky for IM to stabilize the backfield.

Tricking Skyra is getting hit with the Lord of Dragons, putting their melee attack down to zero, which is very good. A couple of popcorn Bandits are shooting into the Silver Helms, which are retreating back. We will see if R and his Narnia Lions are able to deal with these Centaurs on the side point. Spears versus Chaos Warriors and the Chosen lost. Man, these Chosen fought the Silverin and lost only two models in the entire fight. That is so brutal. Talk about cost-effective, right? The Chosen only cost about twice as much, and that’s a very good performance from them.

The Nar Lions are fighting it out, and it looks like Char is falling behind. He does have healing, but Zch also has Shield healing. There’s going to be another final transmutation coming down here, and we can certainly see why Hitman Hippo got second place in the last season finals. It was a very close one, very close to winning it, but the Catholic did pull that one out. I think Zch has probably got this one. Imri, I don't know if he's going to be able to put this game on his back. The two exalted Heroes of Zch and the Soul Grinder are probably going to keep him honest.

The Chosen, who would have thought, are such a clutch unit here too. Now they are going to be getting this objective, leading to a Triple cap. Here we have another Chaos Warrior, which will also trade okay into Silverin Guard for the same reasons that Chosen are good. Ladies and gentlemen, I think that is going to be it. I think Hitman Hippo has clutched it here in this match, but Char is not eliminated from the tournament. It is double elimination, so Char will be relegated to the bottom bracket where he will have the opportunity to come back, maybe go to the drawing board again if he meets his individual in the grand finals once again.

That is going to be GG well played. There are absolutely zero chances for Shks and the Hes here. Imich, Lord of Dragons, is on the run, and Hitman Hippo has gotten it done. Objective three needs to be flipped just to send the message home. A couple of Spears up on The High Ground, Silverin are going to be trying for that. Char is desperately trying to stay in this game, playing the side points where he can. But with Imri dying here, IM is going to go down. This build by Hitman Hippo was hard-designed to counter IM. It had double anti-large hero, anti-large Javelin hero sniping with final transmutation. It basically had all the tools needed to take down IM, and as expected, he was taken down. The Lord of Dragons has fallen.

The Centaurs are celebrating, certainly going to be having a merry celebration at their camp tonight. I would imagine Cagor will get pretty crunk. Objective three has been taken here, and there’s no way Hitman Hippo is going to be passing in points soon. We do see Plague of Rust going down on the Fireborne. Fireborne called back in, but Centaurs should be able to swarm them with Screamers as well. Shrieking Skyra, anti-large fighters, that’s going to be enough. Char gets the side point, but I’m surprised he hasn’t left the game yet. Chosen are not a bad unit. Elite infantry in Total War have niche applications, but if used correctly...

=> 01:47:53

Total War: Elite infantry can shine with finesse, unlike their tabletop counterparts!

The tools you need to take down IM and IMR came in, and as expected, he was taken down. The Lord of Dragons has fallen, and the Centor is celebrating. They are certainly going to be having some merry celebration at their camp tonight. I would imagine Cagor getting pretty crunk. Objective three was taken here, and there's no way Hitman Hitos is going to be passing in points soon. We do see Plague of Russ going down on the Fireborne. Fireborn called back in, but Centor should be able to swarm them with Screamers as well as Shrieking Skyray anti-large Fighters. That's going to be enough. Charks gets the side point, but I'm surprised he hasn't left the game yet.

Chosen are not a bad unit; like Elite infantry in Total War, they have niche applications. If used correctly with a lot of finesse, they can actually be good. That's something cool about Total War, whereas in tabletop, Elite infantry are like absolute trash, which is such a bummer. But you know, it is what it is. Coming across here are the Centors of Zinch, and there is the Plague of R going down in the Book of Secrets. He gets the Bua too.

Alright guys, that is it. GG well played, good match. Now Charks will be sent to the bottom bracket, and Hitman Hippo will continue to spread change and corruption across all the lands with Zch on the top bracket. Really good build though, 2500. His final transmutations were so freaking brutal that game too. He nailed huge blobs over and over. Soul Grinder did good, Exalted Heroes did good. What's not to love? He didn't even like the Centaur GS were good, but they weren't like that bonkers that game. Pretty cool to see Shadow Warriors in the gray and all those different units too. That was very fun.

Alright guys, so let's see what games we got to cast here. I'm going to refresh, and now we have GR CA versus Zch on the semi-finals. We could cast that. The bottom bracket games are going. Charks is going to be waiting for the winner of two. Yeah, so Charks is going to be playing out of region on the bottom. We've already done enough H games today. The remaining factions we have here are Z, High Eles, Grand C, Dwarves, Demons of Chaos, and I don't know what these two players are playing, but I think those are the remaining factions that we have. So we will do Hitman Hippo versus his next opponent here. Hitman Hippo versus, who's he playing here? Let me make sure we got the right person there, and it's going to be Hina.

Alright, I will cast yours. All good. No problem, no problem. Okay, so we have a drop. Need to drop somebody here. Psychop PES and Cath. Yeah, they made it pretty far. They're doing some work here today. Cath usually doesn't do super well, so this is interesting. Why pick the Sour Lord over a Herald of Zch? The Sorcerer Lord is tankier. He also has the STA; he can summon a unit of Chaos Spawn. So that's what you're doing it for. He's tankier, and he gets the summon Chaos Spawn, which is pretty cool.

Got it. Okay, and let's see. Let's refresh this, see how the brackets look. That's been reported. So yes, then we will move on through there, and Flaster needs to be dropped, so I will drop you. Alright, very cool. It's pretty close. The bottom bracket isn't even that far behind. We will cast this, and probably by the time we finish with Hitman Hippo versus Hina, we will have our bottom bracket quarterfinal game, and then we can roll from there. Players obviously get their second chance at life here.

Hitman Hippo has his lobby here. Let's join that, and here we go. Stream still going? Yeah, we're not even close to finishing. I mean, we're kind of close-ish, I guess. Let me take a look and show you. So looking at the brackets for today's tournament, we have Hitman Hippo versus Hina here. This is going to be a D versus C, which is fun. Kind of a thematic one that you get in one of the first cinematic trailers. You have that one going, and on the bottom side, we have a couple of games. Char and Outer Region are battling it out. Char has been relegated to the bottom bracket, and then we have B6 versus Via Anime. This player dropped, so whoever wins this will be advancing on round 15 to face the winner of Charks and Outer Region. Then the loser of this game, Hitman Hippo and Hina, will be...

=> 01:52:18

Exciting tournament updates and potential rematches are on the horizon!

Here, we have Hitman Hippo setting up his lobby, and we are joining in. The stream is still ongoing, and although we are not close to finishing, we are making progress. Let's take a look at the brackets for today's tournament. We have Hitman Hippo versus Hina, which is a D versus C match. This is quite thematic, reminiscent of one of the first cinematic trailers.

On the bottom side, we have a couple of games where Char and Outer Region are battling it out. Char has been relegated to the bottom bracket. Additionally, we have B6 versus Via Anime. Since one player dropped, the winner of this match will advance to round 15 to face the winner of Char and Outer Region. The loser of the Hitman Hippo and Hina game will be relegated to the bottom bracket, giving them a second chance in this double elimination format, which could lead to potential rematches.

There was a sound issue on your end, but it seems to be resolved now. Moving forward, we are on one of our newer maps, Sandier Cave by Bob the Builder. Bob has created many of our good maps, so shout out to him. The start was great, with some overwhelming moments, and the chosen ones were awesome.

Tomorrow is Saturday, and I am thinking of hosting a tournament in either Age of Mythology or Warcraft 3. If we can't get enough participants, we could also consider an Age of Empires 4 tournament.

Regarding Total War, the Lizardmen are quite interesting in the Old World. They have some cool tools, though I haven't explored them much. Let's take a look at their units. For instance, the Saurus Scar-Veteran on a Carnosaur is quite strong with strength five and toughness five, although he only has two wounds initially. The Carnosaur adds four more wounds, making it a six-wound monster with good weapon skills.

The Slann have some notable abilities like Arcane Shield and Cold Blooded, making them better against terror. They can fly and have a unique lore of magic, but being large targets is a significant drawback. They can also serve as a Battle Standard Bearer (BSB), which is a cool feature.

Looking at their core infantry, the Saurus Warriors are comparable to Chaos Warriors with strength four and toughness four. They have Shield Wall and Thrusting Spear, allowing them to fight in multiple ranks. However, their special units like Bastiladon seem underwhelming with only four wounds, despite having impact hits and some defenses.

Overall, the Lizardmen are a faction I haven't delved into much. I haven't encountered them in the five tabletop tournaments I've played in the Old World so far. The fact that Slann are large targets makes them vulnerable, which is a significant disadvantage.

=> 01:56:10

Lizardmen models in Age of Sigmar are stunning and perfect for Warhammer Fantasy too!

Master, thank you for the donation, man, appreciate it. Regarding special units, 160 points for Badon—how many wounds does it have? It's only got four wounds. Wow, that thing sucks. Oh, it has impact hits and perious defenses. I mean, I feel like, yeah, I don't know. I'd have to look through this. I haven't really looked at lizards in tabletop. They're a faction that I've never been interested in myself. I haven't played them yet. I've played in five tabletop tournaments for Old World so far, and I have not run into Lizardman yet. I haven't seen anybody playing them.

On the topic of large targets, the fact that Sler is a large target makes it super easy for them to get in line inside of their spells too. That's kind of an interesting point. The large target is a double-edged blade, though. They do have a five-up board and a lot of wounds. They have great models because you can just use the Age of Sigmar models—they're freaking awesome. Have you guys seen the new Lizard models? They're pretty awesome.

Let's pull it up real quick here. Lizardman and Skaven both have great models. Let's go to Age of Sigmar and go to order and Sauron. Look, here's the new Croc Cagor, the new battle toad, and the updated Saurus Warriors. They look really nice, though a little tricky to rank up on square bases. Honestly, they look great. You got Saurus, a lot of new models—look how freaking good these lizard models are. This guy's awesome. Look at that Skink priest, whatever the hell he is. Then you have a salamander here—look at the salamander. That model's rad. Age of Sigmar definitely did a good job with the Lizardman revamp.

What's so cool is if you're a Warhammer fantasy player, you can just use all these models. They're basically the same size and look better. They have some of the old models still, but the old models honestly don't look bad at all. Here's Cocar from Warhammer Fantasy Battles. The model looks great, so you can just use him. Cocar's got a spear and everything, and his Robo Gauntlet looks pretty great. Lizardmen are easy to collect and very available, though really expensive.

Do you think Lizardman not getting much play could be from no Lizardmen in 40K? No, I wouldn't say that. They're popular in Age of Sigmar. I played in a tabletop tournament for Old World three or four weeks ago, and there was an Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament (GT) going on at the same time in the same building. I saw a lot of Lizardman armies—they were very popular.

Ches Yak Shash Christopher, hope you're doing well. Alright, so they're loading again—it's go time. Wow, look at that—double exalted flamer of Zch. That's interesting. The miniatures for Age of Sigmar are probably better than the 40K ones these days. But I just don't like the Age of Sigmar setting; it's such a bummer. The minis are really good, though. They do a good job with that.

Alright, so we have double exalted flamer of Zch. I have no idea how those units are going to perform, but in theory, they're supposed to be good against static infantry positions with good micro. We have a Chaos Lord of Zinch, which is an anti-large fighter to fight the dragons, and another hero. This is very meta for Zinch these days—using the exalted hero and the chaos lord combo to bully enemy monsters is very cost-effective. I definitely like that; I think that's quite good.

The army here is going to be Zor. Zor is a solid little fighter; they can hold their own against Jades. This is a bigger map, quite a wide map, which I would say favors Zch. If you're Grand C, what you want to do is come down here, hold, hunker down on this objective, use this choke point to cut them off, and then slow push towards objective two. That is how you play Cath on this map, in my opinion.

Gotrex and Felix's map loreful Cath is going to win. We'll see, Bob. We've got the double exalted flamer of Zch, a pretty rad unit. I haven't seen them in a long time, so I'm not sure how they'll perform. Looking at Cath's army, it is going to be Jades backed up by Jade Warrior crossbows—very original Cath stuff.

=> 02:00:00

Epic battle on a wide map: Cathay's solid fighters vs. Zinch's rad units. Early lead for Zinch, but Cathay's strategy and hero core might turn the tide.

The Army here is going to be Zor Zor, a solid little fighter that can hold their own against Jades. This is a bigger map, quite a wide map, which I would say favors Zch. Granted, if you're Grand C, what you want to do is come down here, hold, and hunker down on this objective. Use this choke point to cut them off and then slow push towards objective two. That is how you play Cath on this map, in my opinion. So, yeah, Gotrek and Felix's map, loreful Cath is going to win. We'll see, Bob.

We have the double exalted flamer of Zch, a pretty rad unit, but I haven't seen them in a long time, so I'm not sure how they'll perform. Looking at Cath's army, it is going to be Jades backed up by Jade Warrior crossbows, very original Cath stuff, and it is going to be Meo Ying. This is from the Gotrek and Felix books, isn't it? Yeah, his map, that's really cool, Bob. It didn't occur to me until you brought it up. Gotrek is here, we got Felix, a solid little fighting core that can definitely bash through a lot of chaos if need be. Meo Ying is going to be providing heals and draconic combat, and she's looking pretty rad.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, the battle is on. Eric, thank you for the tenner live, thanks for helping me through the end of a particularly rough Work Week. Go scantily clad lady El for and the branch thrown right on. Thank you, Eric, appreciate your support, my friend. Hope you're doing well, and let's get you through that week, brother. We got you.

This is really strong by Hippo. He Vanguard deploys; Cath can do the same thing using peasant Horsemen for Vanguard deployment. Hippo is going to get a big points lead right out of the gates with this Triple cap. He's able to get the objectives with Vanguard deployment using Zenor to grab that point. Objective two goes to Zinch, objective one, and immediately the victory tickets are already going to start counting against the forces of Grand C. The Dragon Emperor is in some trouble.

Hey Yaru, thank you for the Fiverr. Tomorrow we're going to be streaming again. It will either be a Warcraft 3 tournament, an Age of Mythology tournament, or an Age of Empires 4 Tournament. We're going to have some tney tomorrow, so thank you for that donation, Yaru, greatly appreciate it.

A little bit of skirmishing out here. Uh-oh, peasant Horseman coming out for Hina. Now, I'm curious about this. Was that intentional? Did he send those Horsemen to bait out an inefficient call-in from Hena? Because Hena on paper might be like, "Oh, Hitman Hippo's making a mistake here, right? Let's call in something to chase him." But then, is it like a 3D chess move? Look at the exalted flamers too; they're actually cooking some of the Infantry here, getting some decent shots. We see Hitman Hippo continuing to cook with these exalted flamers, but they are going to get shot by crossbows, not what they want. Another shot from downtown here does some respectable damage and also leaves a little Vortex after the effect.

On the far side, very secure for Zinch, they have their Zenor and Zor waiting in the trees to ambush the forces of Grand Cath. But C is basically doing exactly what we talked about: playing objective one and then slow pushing towards objective two, which is the smart play. It's what you're going to want to be doing. We see the exalted flamers pulling back and continuing to poke. I'm really liking this play; this is very cool because these are units you don't see terribly often. If C had a single Cannon, for example, they could stop this pretty easily. A cannon parked up on the hill could probably shoot these exalted flamers into the shadow realm.

We see Gotrek, the hero of the old world, charging in. He's pissed, he's got his Mohawk out, and he's going to be chasing this little strange demon here. Zch honestly doesn't really have anything that can effectively deal with the hero core unless they have maybe a final transmutation Caster in reserve, something like that. It's going to be very tough, but the flamethrowers are cooking. Here we see the crossbows of Hina Hena shooting into the skirmishers here, so the Broner Horseman is going to pull back. Grand Cavalry is going to be swarming out. Meanwhile, the flamer is still getting a lot of good damage here, and the side objective is now going to be contested.

We do see the victory tickets going pretty heavily for Zch at the moment, 325 against 28, but you know CA has plenty of time. They just need to get it to a double cap situation and then they'll be okay. Peasant Horsemen here are getting wrecked. Zch is ever the Predator here; anything gets caught in the open field, and Zch is going to hunt it down with its superior mobility. So, C needs to be careful not to split up.

=> 02:03:25

Hitman Hippo is dominating with ruthless tactics, making every move count and leaving no room for error.

In the final stages of the battle, Caster is held in reserve, making it a tough situation. The flamethrowers are cooking, and the crossbows of Hina Hena are shooting into the skirmishers. The Broner Horseman pulls back while the GR Cavalry swarms out. Meanwhile, the flamer continues to inflict significant damage. The side objective is now contested, and victory tickets heavily favor ZCH at 325 against 28. However, CA has plenty of time and just needs to achieve a double cap situation to be okay. Peasant Horsemen are getting wrecked, as ZCH, ever the predator, hunts down anything caught in the open field with superior mobility. CA must be careful not to split their army too much.

The Onyx Chroman faces bad luck with the Book of Secrets, which has a one-in-three chance of casting Funa, a 22-winds-of-magic spell. This RNG ability wrecks Grand CA, and the Iron Hill Gunners are on their way out. The flamers of ZCH continue to cook the Jade Warriors, and the exalted flamer retreats. Hitman Hippo plays deviously, cooking unprotected halberds. CA needs a cannon or something to counter this army, as they are getting picked apart by the Zinan force. The objective flips, and Garang knows they need to hold these objectives as long as possible. Crossbows almost reach the exalted flamer, but Hitman Hippo's micro is intense, pulling back as soon as they get in range.

Hina tries to use the Chroman to hunt down the exalted flamers, but it's too dangerous with a full-health unit of centors waiting. A fight ensues between the chaos Lord and Meo Ying, with the chaos Lord using Change or Die and pulling back. Grand Catha gets some Iron Hill Gunners, which can melt whatever they hit but have poor range at 90, making it hard to contest the flamers of Z. CA is using the Kungpow Enter the Fist strategy, taking all the ammunition from the exalted flamers to the face and hoping to have a strong enough army afterward.

A couple of zor circle around the side, with the Chroman trying to poke but getting out-skirmished by the sagor and marer horse. The army is worn down, but Catha remains stalwart, capable of taking beatings and still holding, especially with the hero core that might pose problems for Hitman Hippo. However, Hitman Hippo has a lot of time to work with, inflicting brutal damage on the Iron Hill Gunners, reducing them to 30% HP. The value of this attack is about 1,200. Jade Lancers are called in, preparing for the onslaught of Zinch, who will collapse at some point.

Another nasty shot hits a tightly packed unit, causing significant damage. This is a tough fight, a boss fight for sure. In the trees, Iron Hill Gunners move through the bushes, likely to end in disaster as they might get flanked by zor or head-on charged. Zor have Silver Shields, allowing them to eat one charge without being in too bad of a position. Meanwhile, the hero core of Meo Ying, Gotrek, and Felix runs together, trying to hunt down the exalted flamer, which continues to cook the Jade Warriors in the front, reducing them to very low HP. The After Burner effect of those units seems to be quite effective.

=> 02:06:49

The epic clash is heating up as chaos warriors prepare for a massive final push, while Cath's army struggles to hold their ground.

The battle has reached its climax, plunging into the epicenter of a very tightly packed unit. This situation must feel dreadful for Hina, as it is indeed a very tough fight, clearly the boss fight. Zenor is hiding in the trees, and we observe some Iron Hill Gunners moving through the bushes, which is bound to end disastrously for them. They are likely to be flanked or charged head-on by the Zor, who possess Silver Shields, enabling them to withstand one charge without being in too bad of a position.

Meanwhile, the hero core, consisting of Meo Ying, Gotrek, and Felix, are running together, attempting to hunt down the exalted flamer. This flamer continues to cook the Jade Warriors at the front, reducing them to a very low amount of HP. The After Burner effect on these units seems quite effective. Ignoring the hero core is a strategic move, as engaging them on their terms could be detrimental, as seen earlier with the Demons of Chaos. The Zch army adeptly avoids the strengths of Cath, with Zang Gor taking a shot to the face but being shielded by the trees, which blocked several shots. The Zor retreat to their natural habitat, seemingly unscathed by the volley from the Iron Hill Gunners.

As the battle progresses, we see GR Cath catching up on points, which is a positive development for them. More Jade Lancers have been summoned, and the entire battlefield is ablaze with warp fire. The exalted flamer has accumulated about 1,200 value, proving its worth by targeting the very shattered units. However, it will eventually need to strike Cath directly. For now, it continues to wear them down. The exalted flamer is being focused down by a lot of crossbows, with the Jade Warrior crossbows dealing decent damage. Despite this, Hitman Hippo plans to let the flamer use all its ammo before unsummoning it to resummon a healthy one later, a very strategic move.

Hippo has amassed 5K supplies, intending to poke his opponent with what he has before executing a big Alpha strike by summoning numerous units at once for a massive push. Chaos Warriors are being called out, and the hordes of hell are preparing to advance. Cath's army appears battered and haggard, with everything looking so beat up. Zch is now unsummoning its exalted flamers, and the hordes of Hell, including Chaos Warriors and Marauders, are advancing. A big envelop is also happening, with a Vanguard pressing down on the side. Hippo knows he is about to be passed in points by GR C, so he aims to swarm and put an end to the shenanigans.

The flamers have inflicted significant damage on the army, with Hippo ahead by about a thousand points. GR C could unsummon some of their heavily damaged units like Jade Warriors to resummon them, but they seem to be calling in units as soon as they are available. Chaos Warriors are moving up in every direction, preparing for an imminent attack. GR C's cavalry faces a significant challenge against the centors of Zinch. The effective way to deal with centors of Zinch for GR C is to use Spear and Halbert infantry in tandem with shooting, as meeting them with Jade Lancers would result in disaster.

The battle resembles an opening cinematic, with intense action unfolding. The Book of Secrets did not grant the bua this time, instead proccing the slow and weakness to fire. This item can either grant funa, a slow with fire weakness, or in feeeling foe, all useful abilities, but the bua is the game-changer. The question remains: will Grand C hold? Let us know in the chat.

=> 02:10:07

Jade Lancers are no match for the chaos forces—strategy and hero plays are key to turning the tide!

Dealing with the Centors of Zinch can be incredibly challenging. One effective strategy for GR C is to use your Spear and Halbert infantry in tandem with your shooting units. However, attempting to meet them with Jade Lancers will likely result in disaster, as they will get overwhelmed quickly. This scenario feels reminiscent of the opening cinematic, especially with the Book of Secrets not providing the desired buna effect this time. Instead, it triggered a slow and a weakness to fire, which, while still useful, isn't as game-changing as buna.

As the battle unfolds, the question remains: will Grand C hold? Chaos is swarming in, and Hitman Hippo prepares for a glorious battle. The angor advance, taking some fire on their way in. The cath troops, already weakened by warp fire, are not in great shape, with only 62 out of 120 models remaining. However, Gotrek is present, ready to lend his axe to the fight. On the other side of the battlefield, Meo Ying is on the move, possibly aiming to bolster objective two. A bit of witchcraft is dodged effectively by Hina, showcasing great reflexes.

Tentor is maneuvering around the backfield, and croman units, which are effective against tentor due to their magic damage, are trying to prevent a countercharge. Cafe is attempting to hold their ground, with Iron Hill Gunners and Jade Warriors in combat, but without the support of a war drum. Arjun predicts they won't hold, and it seems likely as zenor attacks the Jade Lancers. The Jade Lancers might win this fight, but crowman need to counter the centor of zch to prevent them from overwhelming the Jade Lancers.

Chaos Warriors are attacking from all sides, putting pressure on Gran C's Army at objective one. Hina needs to mobilize units quickly to reinforce this position. The Jade Warriors, already weakened by warp fire, are struggling against the towering Giga Chads. Despite receiving some Earth blood, it might not be enough. The chaos Lord is battling Gotrek, with Felix likely nearby. Meang the Storm Dragon is also moving in to assist.

Hina might have a chance to turn the tide if they can secure some hero kills. However, Zena is swarming the backfield, with centors targeting the Jade Warrior crossbows and causing significant damage. GR Cath has managed to surpass the forces of chaos in the balance of power, hinting at a possible comeback. The GR Cath hero force is formidable, which could be a game-changer.

Change brers are now entering the fray, their warp fire causing havoc. They are targeting the Jade Warrior crossbows, and if these crossbows fall, the entire unit will be vulnerable. Hnina makes a strategic move by banking resources and launching a surprise attack with Grand Cath Cavalry on objective three, stealing it and getting back into the game. This clever play demonstrates Cafe's resilience, showing that even when they seem to be losing, they can make a surprising comeback.

=> 02:13:25

Just when it looked like they were down and out, Grand Cathay pulls off an epic comeback and turns the tide!

As the battle unfolds, we see the Changebringers targeting the Jade Warrior crossbows, delivering significant damage. The vulnerability of the crossbows becomes apparent; if they go offline, the entire unit is exposed to the Changebringers, who can then attack with impunity. In a surprising move, Hnina maneuvers the Grand Cathay Cavalry, banking around 1,500 resources, and launches a strategic strike with peasants on Objective Three, reclaiming it and shifting the game's momentum.

The Halberds are under heavy fire from the Changebringers, and although reinforcements are arriving, the Changebringers are likely to dominate this position. A few Crowmen from Grand Cathay are attempting to disrupt the Changebringers, which is a sound strategy. Meanwhile, the Heretics of Chaos have gained ground, with Flamestorm targeting the Jade Warriors. On the battlefield's periphery, Peasant Legions clash with Marauder Horsemen and Centigors. Although Centigors generally win these encounters, the peasants are holding their own.

If Grand Cathay can maintain control of this point and the outer point for a few more minutes, they might be able to fortify their position. Gotrek, Felix, and Meo Ying show potential for a strong defense, with Meo Ying in Dragon form and Gotrek engaging a Chaos Lord. The Wand of Whimsy is activated, enhancing the Zinch cultist's army. Jade Lancers are dispatched to stabilize the situation, but the Changebringers remain a significant threat.

In the middle, Meo Ying and her company are attempting to turn the tide. Gotrek and Felix are taking damage from cycle charges, but they are also dealing substantial damage to the Heretics. The real challenge for Grand Cathay is to hold their position and find a way to reclaim the objective, which is easier said than done. Despite the difficulties, Gotrek and Felix are making progress against the Heretics, although the Changer of Ways is proving resilient.

The battle's outcome remains uncertain as Hitman Hippo's forces, including Centigors, continue to press the attack. Meo Ying is under heavy fire and must revert to human form to heal. Despite taking severe damage, she manages to stabilize temporarily. However, another attack could be decisive. The Iron Hill Gunners and Furies intercepting reinforcements is a critical move by Hitman Hippo, showcasing strategic prowess.

Meo Ying, with only 420 HP, is retreating, and her potential rally remains uncertain. The flamethrower attack might have tipped the scales, but the game remains incredibly close. The skill displayed by the Hnina player is commendable, making this a thrilling and tightly contested match.

=> 02:16:40

Storm Dragon's epic comeback falls short in a nail-biting showdown!

Meoang, a very high leadership unit, just barely stabilizes. She needs to go into human form right now and get some heals. Unfortunately, Meo Ying got broken there, which is really rough and might have cracked the game open. It honestly looked like maybe Gran C had a decent chance with Meoang rampaging on that point. However, those Changebringers locking it down and Hitman Hippo intercepting the reinforcements with the Iron Hill Gunners and the very beat-up Furies was a huge MLG play. Meoang is now running with 420 HP, and there is a chance she can rally, but the flamethrower attack might have been enough.

What a close game! I'm very impressed with this Hina player; they're playing very well against top-tier players. On this objective, Aduc GR is holding it, but Chaos does have the Zenor and might find an opportunity to get it back. Yaoyang is fleeing, but the Chaos Lord of Zinch also got his butt kicked. It must have been the Hero Squad that beat him down, so he's running for the hills. Both players could be leaderless, but it looks like the Storm Dragon has rallied. She needs to go human form and drop some Earth floods on herself immediately.

Looking at the side point, we see Gran C holding it. It's very dodgy, though, and they need to get an objective back really soon. They have an Unholy Legion of Iron Hill Gunners and Jade Warriors coming up. GR Cath needs to save and get a bunch of peasant Horsemen to try and steal the side objective like they did before, or maybe just use them here. It's hard to say because they're also in danger of losing this objective too. We see the Jade Warrior Hirs putting up a fight against Zenor with some peasant Spears. Maybe they win that fight and force off the Zenor. Gotrek and Felix are providing capture weight, but this is 10 capture weight here, 13 actually, for the forces of Z. He needs to get some reinforcements in there quickly, but time is running out.

The Storm Dragon comes in, needs to go human form and heal, but the Storm Dragon goes down. Beautiful play by Hitman Hippo, leading to a tap out for Hena. GG, well played. That was a great game that looked one-sided in the beginning, but then C found a way. They did a good job value trading there. Good scrap indeed.

Looking at the army, Gotrek with 2,000 value is no joke. The Jade Storm Dragon tried their best. Honestly, the Emperor's Executioner might not be bad here. Flamer got 1500, 1700, and Zenor got their butts kicked a little bit. Centor did really well as usual, and Changebringers at 1800 as well.

In the tournament, Hasina is relegated to the bottom bracket semis, and Hitman Hippo advances to the grand finals. We are checking if the match between B6 and Outer Region has started. Hitman Hippo is in the finals. Taking a look at the bracket, Hitman Hippo defeated Hastina and will go on to the grand finals. Hastina will face the winner of B6 versus Outer Region in the bottom bracket semis.

Changebringers are good against big single entities; they don't hit foot characters as well, but big single entities will be cooked pretty well. No problem, they just started. We're going to do an Outer Region game here. It looks like he's remaking his lobby real quick, which is very generous of him. I love Age of Mythology; I'm addicted to it.

=> 02:20:36

Age of Mythology is a blast and I'm addicted to it!

Here we are with B6 versus an out-of-region player, and we will see who wins this duel of fates. Change brers are effective against big single entities, although they don't hit foot characters as well. Against big single entities, they will cook you up pretty good, ensuring you eat well.

The game is starting, and it looks like the host is remaking the lobby, which is very generous. I love Age of Mythology; I'm addicted to it. It's super fun, and I'm having a blast, especially since I never played it before. It's a smorgasbord of fun RTS that I never got to enjoy before.

We are now in the game. GG. Sles for Scabin. I respect this. I'm going to refill my water real quick and be right back. This will be a fun matchup. Alright, we're back, baby. Let's go time. Let's have some fun. My favorite spell in this game? That's a tough question. Are we talking about thematically or functionality? It would be different answers.

Here we are on the bottom side of the bracket. This is the losers bracket semifinal or quarterfinal. The winner of this match will go on to play GR C. Falling Star is playing the Scaven with double Chieftain on the Bone Breakers, a style innovated by the great Legend HRI. The double chieftains are pretty menacing; they can fight armor and give Scaven some durable punching power to get through the armor of chaos. We also have Ikit Claw on the Doom Wheel—pretty exciting. Aside from this, we have the Clan Rats, a little Scaven Slave Slinger core, some Stormvermin Halberds, and some Scaven Slaves. The big core is going to be the heroes, which is not bad at all.

Looking at the forces of Slaanesh in the out-of-region game, they are rocking an Exalted Keeper of Secrets. This is a big target and certainly risky against Jales and Sles and some of the threats that Scaven have. However, if it can get the big terror going and punish the Scaven blobs, it can be nasty. There are a couple of Devoted Marauders and a Cultist on the outside—double cultist, looking to convert some of these rats to Slaanesh. Imagining Slaaneshi Scaven is a bit disturbing, but the cultists are moving up. They are good grinding characters, although they will get their butts kicked by the chieftains and the Doom Wheel. They are teamed up with some Fiends, looking to steal the back objective.

Falling Star counters with some Eshin Triads. The Eshin Triads will be okay at fighting fiends, although the fiends will hurt them quite a bit. It's a good trade for the Scaven, having those pointy sticks. Now we see Ikit Claw and the double chieftain denying this cheeky Slaanesh back cap. Out-of-region is moving his marauders up, and I'm curious what he will do with the big lord. He just has Pavane.

The Doom Wheel is shooting a laser beam, and the Eshin Triads are thinking about engaging but probably just holding back. If I were in the Scaven position, I would send the Doom Wheel to the middle and keep the two chieftains with the Eshin Triads to hold the back objective. A big part of domination is realizing allocation priorities—where you need to allocate units. It's like traditional RTS, where you have to decide how much to invest in protecting an expansion. Objective one is being held, and we see the double cultist.

=> 02:25:30

In strategy games, knowing where to allocate your units is crucial for domination.

Eent Triads are thinking about engaging here but will probably just want to hold back. Scaven should consider sending the Doom wheel to the middle and keeping the two Chieftains with the As and Triads to see if they can hold the back objective on their own. A big part of domination is realizing allocation priorities, like where you need to allocate units and how many you need to hold an objective. It's similar to traditional RTS games like Age of Empires or Warcraft 3, where you need to decide how much to invest in protecting an expansion, such as how many towers or units to leave behind to ensure its safety.

Objective one is being held, and we see the double cultist coming along with a third fiend and chaos Furies. This is shaping up to be a significant fight. If the Keeper Of Secrets joins the cultist and other units, the rats will be forced off the objective. Doom players are now coming out for this G, and they are re-routing, possibly to the back objective. Slenesh is bullying the rats off the back point, and we see the Rampage going down on Kit Claw. Outer region is trying to seduce Kit Claw, and the rats need to protect him as he is rampaged for another 20 seconds. Kit Claw is surrounded by fiends, and outer region is seeking vengeance for an earlier loss to CA.

The situation looks dire for the Scaven. They should have kept the spears closer to Kit Claw. If Kit can survive and drop a fansing rune, it could be an ideal counterplay. However, Kit is shaken, and the Eent Triads have been overwhelmed by the Furies and the sheer number of units. Slenesh has much more value here than the Scaven, who were ill-prepared for this encounter. The Scaven might tap out after this, which would be understandable as another player is waiting. The Scaven are getting heavily defeated, and losing Kit Claw this early is a significant blow. The Doom wheel provides some durability, but the Chieftain is getting surrounded, and although the fansing rune was effective, Kit Claw is dead.

Without Kit Claw, Scaven leadership is questionable. They might save up for a falling star to summon Kit Claw again, but there is no power grab on either of the Lords, which would have been beneficial. The Chieftain and the remaining forces are fighting, but the Scaven are losing everything of value against Slenesh's Alpha strike. The Scaven were not prepared, and Kit Claw's death marks a turning point. The Chieftain is dead, and the outer region executed a well-coordinated Alpha strike. The Scaven had significantly less value in the fight compared to Slenesh, whose forces were better positioned.

The Scaven's remaining army was not able to lend aid to the critical fight. The rats have poor leadership when their lord dies, and the Marauders are surging in to dominate the Scaven. The Clan rats are getting butchered, and the fiends are attacking from every angle. The greater demon remains healthy, and the rats are saving up to bring Kit Claw back. Night Runners are getting rampaged, pulling them into the fiends where they will be massacred. Kit Claw's final attack did significant damage, but the demonet summon for the cultist has arrived, and double demonet have been summoned. The Chieftain has returned, and Kit Claw is coming back into the fray.

=> 02:28:55

When the rats' leader falls, chaos reigns and domination is inevitable.

The massacre is unfolding now as the rats suffer from bad leadership following the death of their lord. The Marauders are surging in, ready to dominate these stinky little rats. The Skaven Clan rats are going to get butchered, with fiends clapping from every angle and the greater demon still very healthy. The rats are saving up for Kit Claw, trying to get their big lord back. Meanwhile, the Night Runners are getting rampaged, pulling them into the fiends where they are massacred. Kit Claw, before going down, did significant damage, which was quite nice. The demonet summon for the cultist is here, with double demonet summoned. Kit Claw is going to be resummoned soon, although it’s unclear if he’s fully cooled down yet.

Fascination is going down on the Night Runners, tearing them to pieces. The forces of Slaanesh have a triple cap and are displaying a brutal show of power. Falling Star, a good player known for their solid gameplay, got caught slipping up here. Slaanesh, a finesse faction, can deliver some of the most brutal damage if they execute surgical attacks and get those picks. Kit Claw is back, using unlimited power to cast some winds of magic and prepare cleansing runes. However, it’s uncertain what B6 thinks will happen here. Falling Star, also known by other names, is facing a tough situation.

The fiends of Slaanesh are taking apart the tattered Stormvermin. More fiends are on the way, and Slaanesh is looking very strong. Even if the greater demon is killed, the Skaven have the problem of not being able to reclaim the objectives. The Cleansing Rune is a very good spell, lasting a long time and dealing significant damage. However, the Skaven have little left—just a few rats in the middle and in the trees. Devoted Marauders are hunting down the Clan rats, and the exalted demonet is butchering everything in sight. Outer Region is keeping the exalted hero back in the shadows, pinning the rats in their spawn zone.

This game is essentially over, much like in any RTS game where a player can prolong their defeat. Falling Star is prolonging their inevitable loss, but the game is 100% over. Outer Region executed a brutal swarm, getting the rampage and leaving the rats without support. The exalted Keeper of Secrets is being run down by Kit Claw, who seeks vengeance. Kit Claw manages to get a laser beam in the back of the exalted keeper, but fiends are about to come in. Rampage is going down on the rat ogre, and the fiends are handling it well. Despite the resilience shown by Falling Star, it’s not enough. The points are almost at a thousand, with two units of exalted demonet coming in, providing a brutal amount of stopping power.

The greater demon has stabilized, which is tough for the Skaven. When units are routing, the exalted keeper heals, although it’s not currently active. The demon is crumbling again, and the exalted keeper wants to return to Slaanesh for some hedonistic parties. The far side objective is still contested, but the outcome is clear: the forces of Slaanesh have dominated the battlefield.

=> 02:32:15

The rats fought hard, but in the end, the demons prevailed and advanced to the quarterfinals.

The damage is going down really good, showing resilience here by Falling Star, but it's not going to be enough. Look at the points; it's almost at the points threshold. We have two units of exalted demonet coming in, which is a brutal amount of stopping power. Here we have the greater demon actually stabilized, which is tough. When units are routing here, it actually heals, so the exalted keeper was getting a little bit of heal if I'm not mistaken. Let's go and double-check this: feasting on fear. Yeah, no, it looks like it's not even active. Okay, so maybe it's just going to start crumbling again at negative three. Yeah, the demon's had enough; it wants to go back to hang out with Slaanesh and enjoy some hedonistic parties.

Looking at the far side objective, Trace is, or one is on Uno, I should say "ichi" in Japanese. I think it's been a while, but the fiends are holding it down. We do see the KN stock, the night stalkers, night runners. The brains are all over the place today but able to do a little bit of good poke. Very good against Lanhan, actually, especially against Bei. Fiends are very weak against missiles, so having the ninja star rats is very cost-effective here. K claw is trying to fight it out, but you know he's ready to go down round two. Let's get another nuclear explosion. Fiends are a pretty hard counter against Doom wheel; they have good mass, good armor-piercing. Overall, it's going to be a pretty nasty little fight right there. We do see the kit; he's wavering at 2,000 HP. Exalted demonet are about to butter the bread of any Skaven that are coming up. Once again, devoted reavers are pinning them in. Don't know why they're staying here; the rats literally have no chance in hell. That gank in the beginning was brutal, but honestly, look how close the value is. If Falling Star just hadn't blundered in the beginning, this could have been a Skaven game for sure, or at least a very even game. But out of region getting her done, GG well played, and that is going to be out of region advancing on to the quarters where he's going to face his nemesis from earlier. He did lose to Grand Cathay earlier, but now we're going to cast that game, and the winner is going to go on to face Zinch in the grand finals.

Cool, so little rats have been defeated. You tried, you tried so hard and got so far, and in the end, it did not matter. Alright, fun one, 69 kills, the blessed number. That is the reason why out of region won, and now we're here. So I'm just going to hang out in this lobby, and let's get this started. Alright, perfect. Okay, and we're all good. Perfect. Okay, so we're going to have our next match in just a second, going to be getting her done. Refreshing, and the bracket is there. Cool, so now it is H Universe OU of region once again. We're on the Imperial Road, which is a pretty okay Cathay map. It has a home objective, which is a power fantasy for Grand Cathay. Granted, there also is a really good flanking opportunity through the very loose tree line.

Yeah, out of region did lose earlier to Hina; that's what sent him to the losers bracket, so this is an opportunity for vengeance, kind of a fun idea. Yeah, the War Bomb. Yeah, man, it's go time. Man, there's always more rats. Yeah, that's true. The Skaven and the demon certainly don't have any issues with getting their swarms going. Okay, let's refresh this. Hitman Hippo in the grand finals, so Zinch really, really top-tier play today. It's been nuts; it's been super, super impressive. By the way, if you guys are enjoying the stream, do drop a like. It helps quite a bit, helps keep the old Total War engine going. What do you guys think about this double elimination tournament format? Do you guys enjoy it more than Swiss? I think you do tend to get more games rapid-fire casted in this format, which is kind of cool. I kind of like it. If the tournament was bigger, though, it could be a little bit cumbersome, but I don't know. Swiss is fun, I guess.

Any chance at some Age of Mythology after the tournament? Probably not. I'm probably going to go record afterwards; I got to get some videos up for the channel. But I will be doing Age of Mythology tomorrow most likely. Yeah, that's the plan for now. Can't confirm. Out of region getting very into Slaanesh playing. Okay, okay, he was hunting the rat. He was out in... yeah, I don't know who has a better chance against Slaanesh though, or against Zinch. C put up a pretty damn good fight against them, and maybe on a smaller map.

=> 02:36:31

Bare knuckle boxing is savage but MMA is my favorite sport to watch—it's so fun!

I enjoy more games like rapid fire casted in this format, which is kind of cool. However, if the tournament was bigger, it could be a little bit cumbersome. Swiss is fun, I guess. Any chance at some Age of Mythology after the tournament? Probably not. I'm probably going to record afterwards since I need to get some videos up for the channel. But, I will be doing Age of Mythology tomorrow most likely. That's the plan for now, though I can't confirm it.

Regarding the tournament, Reion got very into Swiss playing. He was hunting the rat out there. I don't know who has a better chance against Sles or ZCH. C put up a pretty damn good fight, and maybe on a smaller map, C would have had an easier time dealing with that. Maybe one cannon in reserve would have been a nice tech. The Swiss picks can take some time, but double elimination is far superior for this many competitors. I like it; it's fun. However, it can suck for the rear bracket finalist because they wait a while. But, they can always come hang out on the stream and spy on the competition. That's what I would do—scheming and watching how their opponents play.

Age of Mythology released a patch that fixed out-of-sync issues and adjusted the balance across the gods. It's really nice. I'm loving Age of Mythology; it's so fun, and I'm so addicted to it. An in-house tournament would be really fun, so maybe we'll do one.

Regarding bare-knuckle boxing, it's pretty savage to watch. I've watched a handful of fights, and Mike Perry, the UFC guy, has been fighting there. Their faces get tore up in bare-knuckle boxing. One of the most freaky-looking injuries I've seen in a fight was when Yan Y Jck got hit above the eye, and it swelled up insanely. That was one of the gnarliest bits of swelling I've ever seen.

The waiting around is the downside of these tournaments. Faction War is next weekend, and I'm going to start organizing it in the next two days. We'll have one next Saturday most likely, unless something comes up. These tournaments are cool too; they're more casual, and we just get to hang out and chill.

Ik CLA got betrayed by the other Skaven characters and fought to the death. Bare-knuckle boxing might not be the worst combat sport. I think a lot of those combat sports focused on scoring points are not super fun to watch. I like actual fighting combat sports myself.

I would cast the Age of Mythology tournament and maybe play in it. I'm not sure how we can spectate, though. I need to experiment tonight and see if they fixed the spectator feature. If they did, we should be fine. Otherwise, I would like to cast it; that'd be a lot of fun. Slap fight isn't even a martial art; it's just like a joke. It's funny, but getting out of region twice is definitely a conspiracy against the rats. B6 played well, but that one engagement was unfortunate. You kept the value pretty close, though, and got the greater demon. A couple of things went well.

My favorite sport to watch in general is MMA. I love MMA; it's so fun. Boxing fights can be fun, especially heavyweight boxing. Kickboxing and Muay Thai are also fun to watch. Unfortunately, competitive jiu-jitsu can be kind of boring with all the butt scooting and stalling, though some formats are better.

=> 02:40:14

Jon Jones should fight Tom Aspinall or relinquish the title; stop holding up the UFC heavyweight division.

It was just unfortunate for you, but you kept the value pretty close. You got the greater demon, and there were a couple of things that went well. My favorite sport to watch in general is MMA. I love MMA; it's so fun. Boxing fights can be fun for sure, depending on the match. I'm a big enjoyer of heavyweight boxing, which is pretty fun to watch. Kickboxing can be fun to watch as well, and Muay Thai is pretty entertaining. However, jiu-jitsu is unfortunately kind of boring to watch, in my opinion, due to all the butt scooting and stalling. There are some formats which are better than others, but it’s tricky.

There's also a site where people upload their own Age of Mythology replays if you're interested in casting. I'm probably just going to cast my own. I had some good matches yesterday that I recorded, and I'm going to put those up. SL fighting is just people getting concussed, and you can't defend yourself, which is definitely a very accurate description. Oh yeah, Cyborg, I saw that fight; it was a tough one. Hockey is fun to go to for sure. I've been to a handful of hockey games, and I enjoy those a lot.

How do we feel about Jon Jones ducking Tom Aspinall? It's lame. In the UFC, the way they handle interim titles is so stupid. Jon Jones has been holding up the heavyweight division for a couple of years now. Instead of fighting the interim champion, which is the whole point of having an interim champion, he's fighting someone like Stipe. Stipe is amazing, a top-tier fighter, but he's in his 40s and hasn't fought in years. The UFC should make Jon Jones relinquish the title or fight Aspinall. It's really dumb. Tom Aspinall is a great fighter; he's so fun to watch. He's been training for MMA since he was six years old, which is the future of the sport. Many 90s and early 2000s MMA guys came from other disciplines and had to adjust to MMA, but the future is guys like Tom Aspinall who have been training their entire lives just for MMA.

I watched bits and pieces of Stipe's fights. He's amazing but definitely past his prime. Jon Jones can't even use the excuse of age; he's not that old. In MMA mileage, he has a lot because he's been fighting for a long time, but he's younger than I am. I'm pretty sure my opinions are common; everybody feels that way. Anyways, MMA rant over.

Here we are in the losers' bottom semifinal. It feels wrong calling them losers; these guys are such Chads. It is the bottom bracket semifinals, and it's going to be Yuan Bo versus Aael. This is fun; we have some really cool characters here. Let's get it. You guys are talking about Steven Seagal. Oh man, don't get me started on how awful he is. I admittedly enjoyed his movies in the 90s when I was a young teenager watching "Under Siege." Those were fun, but he seems pretty terrible now, and his modern movies are just the worst. They're fun to watch if you want to see something awful.

Alright guys, let's look at the Slanesh army composition. It is going to be devoted Marauders backed up by Azazel. Azazel is going to be rocking Demon Blade and Pavane. Pavane is okay against Cathay, but everything Cathay has is pretty tanky. If you get Pavane on a Jade Lancer unit that's out of position or a Longma Rider and pull them to their death, then that is really going to be worth it. On the other side, we have a flank coming in with exalted Daemonettes, double cultists, and fiends. There's a speech moment here, but I do like this flank. GR hates being split-pushed on multiple objectives; they want you to engage them in a blob where they have the advantage.

=> 02:43:54

When you see a zazel flying over, run away or face a colossal disadvantage!

If you just want to see something awful, let's look at the Army comp for Slaanesh. It is going to be devoted Marauders backed up by Azazel. Azazel is going to be rocking Demon Blade and Pavane. Pavane is okay against Cathay, but everything Cathay has is pretty tanky. However, if you get Pavane on a Jade Lancer unit that's out of position or a Longma Rider and pull them to their death, then that is really going to be worth it.

On the other side, we have a flank coming in with exalted demonettes, double cultists, and fiends. There’s a speech moment here, but let's cut it out. I do like this flank; Cathay hates being split-pushed on multiple objectives. Cathay wants you to engage them in a blob where they have Harmony. Look at this play from Hina; he's scouting with the Great Longma Riders, looking for outer region, which is a very good play. However, he needs to scout further to see the flank. Cathay does have Jade Halberds, which provide some anti-large capabilities against the fiends and other big threats. They also have Jade Warrior Crossbows, Jade Warriors, and Yuanbo Jade Dragon, a very good duelist character. Lastly, there is a cannon, but no Fire Rain Rocket, which makes this a very weird build.

This is exactly what I was worried about. Outer region is such a devious Slaanesh heretic. He catches you slipping and punishes you hard. The Longma Riders are going to get surrounded, resulting in a thousand value gone right out of the gates for the forces of Grand Cathay. When you see Azazel flying over, you need to run away; it's pretty obvious what he wants to do. That was a big mistake by Cathay, letting a 1400 gold unit get instantly KO'ed. The Fire Rain Rockets shooting into the trees aren't going to do much damage against the fiends. Yuanbo uses Talons of the Night, which only does good damage against infantry. It seems like a wasted spell here.

Grand Cathay is at a colossal disadvantage, having lost an expensive unit and wasted Winds of Magic. If they had just hunkered down and played defensively, they would be in better shape now. This was a very bad start for them. We see a call-in of some Chaos Furies and fiends attacking the Jade Warriors. Yuanbo looks like he wants to fight Azazel but can't quite reach him. The cultists are on the back point, and Yuanbo should be used to kill these cultists and help with the exalted demonettes. Otherwise, it's just a mistake. The Fire Rain Rocket isn't performing well and needs to be defended.

This is a revenge match for outer region. If he wins, it will be sweet vengeance as Hina had sent outer region to the losers bracket earlier. Shots from the Fire Rain Rockets are actually doing respectable damage. The Onyx Crowmen are trying to battle the Furies but are losing with Azazel's help. Outer region is penetrating the secondaries and going absolutely crunk. It looks like we are heading towards a Chaos Grand Final. Azazel descends, and the Furies get on top of the Fire Rain Rocket. The crew is trying to fight back but not successfully.

Yuanbo is trying to hold on, but even this objective is slipping. The exalted demonettes are ripping apart the Celestial Dragon Guard, leading to an absolute massacre. The middle objective is being held by Grand Cathay but probably not for much longer. There is a slight lapse in micro from outer region, who needs to get the fiends active. He calls in some fast cavalry, Hell Riders, to Slaanesh in the backfield. Azazel and company are able to rip apart the Fire Rain Rocket, rampaging the crew into a bad situation. This is going to be an absolute disaster for Grand Cathay.

=> 02:47:15

Absolute chaos on the battlefield as Yuan B's forces crumble under the relentless assault from Chaos, leading to a devastating triple cap!

Getting on top of the fire rain rocket, the cows are even trying to fight back with their horns, but it's not going great for them. A couple of Bandits of the Silver Road are being called in, but on this side, Yuan B's efforts are slowly starting to slip. The exalted demonet are going to rip apart the Celestial Dragon Guard, leading to an absolute massacre in that fight. On the middle objective, it is being held by gr C, but probably not for too much longer. The fiends show a slight lapse in micro from out of region, who definitely needs to get those fiends active. He calls in some fast Cavalry Hell Riders to Slaanesh on the backfield, but as AEL and Company are able to rip apart that fire rain rocket of Slaanesh, they try to rampage that crew into a bad situation. That is going to be absolutely savage play right there.

The drum is actually pretty good, like cath melee drum play on this map wouldn't be terrible against Lanes. Granted, out of region is experienced enough to know to avoid the drum, but it would still propose a decent threat. Really good performances so far from Hina today; defeating out of region is no small feat and also getting that far on the top side of the bracket. Shout out to you, you played great. However, I see the writing on the wall: this objective is going to go to Chaos, the middle objective has gone to Chaos too, and the Triple cap is really going to start firing off soon when that objective flips. Azazel is penetrating in here, getting on top of the Jade Warriors. The Bandits of the Silver Road are going to be getting a couple of picks, shutting down the archers to an extent. The Hell Riders are the anti-large variant, so they got buffed a little bit—not to their previous tyrannical state, but still to a decent state. Cath is just so stuffed back right now, they're really having a hard time. The cult is hanging out here as the demonet continue bumping and grinding.

Where are the exalted demonet that were here? Did they get killed by Yuanbo? They're still fighting; it looks like he must have gotten a Vortex on them. I think he cast some sort of a big scary spell there, but the objective is starting to flip. Chaos is probably calling in some speed. What do we have? Exalted demonet. Now that CA's artillery and bow line is offline, you could just call in elite infantry and there's basically nothing that C is going to be able to do without their guns and bows online. Chad is saying that I called them the losers bracket and out of region took that personally. There's no reason to have your archers in pencil formation, in my opinion, unless you're trying to fit them into formation somewhere. That's going to be a nice Tals of the Night there for GR C, tickling the pickle. It does hit the exalted demonet. The cultists, though, are fighting pretty well against Yuanbo and fiends. Azazel can probably beat him if they all swarm him and the demon blade is active on Azazel. That's going to be enough to probably kill Yuanbo. He's charmed, Slaanesh musk is active, and there are a lot of debuffs on him. I think he's going to have a bad time. Exalted demonet are creeping up, fiends chasing back these tattered peasant Horsemen, but turning back to the battlefield here as chaos Furies are now descending and coming out to party. We are going to be getting a battle of the chaos gods in the grand finals, which would be fun. I definitely dig that one.

What do we got? The cult is here chewing away. Yuan B is one of the more Chad duelists in the entire game. He does have an execution ability and is a very good fighter with great combat abilities, but he didn't bring the W save ability nor did he bring the net, which is a mistake. I think the net is very good against L. He's trying. Exalted demonet are charming at Yuanbo and we got the cavalry and fiends swarming in from all sides. Fiends are penetrating deep into the backfield. Bandits of the Silver Road are in the pits and this objective has flipped. Every objective has flipped here; it is a Triple cap. Yuanbo is doing his big anime Ascension as he flies up, and now they're going to have a little duel in the skies. Yuanbo would probably trade pretty well into Azazel, though he just has a lot more HP. Although, I don't know, Yuanbo is pretty beat up here and Azazel does have the demon blade. Does he have it off cooldown is the question. A couple of cultists are going to be cruising back up toward the point. Exalted demonet have arrived in the front line. Halberds are going to get massacred. Good game sense Hasa, well played to you today. You put up a great fight.

=> 02:50:31

Out of region's epic comeback is like Batman rising from the pit after Bane broke his back!

Sides fiends are penetrating deep into the backfield, banded to the Silver Road. They are in the pits, and this objective has flipped. Every objective has flipped here; it is a Triple cap. Yuanbo is doing his big anime Ascension as he flies up, and now they're going to have a little duel in the skies. Yuanbo would probably trade pretty well into Azazel, though Azazel just has a lot more HP. Although, I don't know, Yuanbo is pretty beat up here, and Azazel does have Demon Blade. Is it off cooldown is the question. A couple of cultists are going to be cruising back up toward the point. Exalted demonet, have they arrived yet? They have arrived, I believe, in the front line. Yes, so they have arrived, and I mean halberds are going to get massed.

Good game sense Hasa, well played to you today. You put up a great fight, and beating out of region earlier is no small feat. Well played, but out of region came for blood this time. He sought vengeance for those who have wronged him, and this is going to be it. GG well played, and here we are in the grand finals of today's tournament, ladies and gentlemen. So, out of region, can we just stay in this lobby? Uh, GG, invite Hippo, and here we are.

Alright, so the score will be reported. We'll show you guys the bracket, but this is going to be it. Thank you all for joining; it's been a really fun one today. Cool to see a cast. The last couple of SFS we’ve casted have been won. Who won the last one? I think it was the order faction. I can't remember who, but someone or other. Out of region has always been villainous, though. That's the thing; he always plays a very evil meta. The villain arc has been going for a long time. But that's what's fun about this tournament; there is a villain arc. When you lose and then climb your way back from the pits, it's like Batman climbing out of the pits after Bane breaks his back. You know, out of region had to beat Len, Char, and B6. He had to beat some really tough opponents to climb out of the pits here.

Alright, so let's see what we got. Eastern Isle Colony is the map, I think. Let me check the finals map. Uh, it's actually, yeah, it's fine. They can play. The map is supposed to be Changers Madhouse. So, the map is Changers Madhouse for finals. No problemo. Okay, so here they are, and I just gave the map. Even if they play on this map, it's fine, but I would prefer they play on the correct map. There they go. This is more open, so this is going to be really intense. Slaanesh has super fast cavalry; Tzeentch has super fast cavalry, lots of mobility. I think this is Tzeentch favored in this matchup in general, but we will see.

Here we are. Cool. Changers Madhouse is more thematic. It is because, you know, Hitman Hippo is the incumbent here. He's the current winner’s bracket guy, and he's in his madhouse. Then Slaanesh is having to go into the realm of Tzeentch to take him down, which is very cool. I like that. Is this Bob? Man, your maps are killing it, Bob. We got all your maps up in here, man.

2v2s are okay, Staunch. They tend to be a little bit laggy in Total War; that's why we don't do them too much because we don't have dedicated servers. How does Slaanesh counter the flying flamers? Easy, they use Rampage. So, if you Rampage a flamer of Tzeentch in the air, it will dive onto the ground. You just Rampage it and then kill it with your cavalry or whatever you have down there.

Have you been tempted to do a weekly season tournament where players play for points every week for a big final at the end? That's basically what this is. Let me show you, Battle Tutorial, in case you haven't seen. Every tournament that's hosted that meets the requirements on Total Tavern is, so here it is right here. We have a lot of upcoming tournaments. There are a couple of people who post them way far ahead, like these tournaments are posted three weeks in advance. But you win, and you get leaderboard points. You get tournament wins, and that dictates who's number one. Then, at the end of a season, which is when an update comes out, we end the season. There's a huge finals, which I'm sure you've seen, and that has a big cash prize, usually between $300 and $500, somewhere in that ballpark. Yeah, so we do that right now. That's what's happening here. This tournament counts towards the season finals.

Oh, I love your maps, Bob. They're great. Out of region is ready.

=> 02:54:29

Tournament season is heating up with big cash prizes and intense finals—get ready for epic battles and leaderboard glory!

Here it is right here. We have a lot of upcoming tournaments, with some being posted three weeks in advance. Winning these tournaments earns you leaderboard points, which dictate who's number one. At the end of a season, which coincides with an update, we have a huge finals with a big cash prize, usually between $300 and $500. This tournament counts towards the season finals.

Out of region is ready, and Changers mad house is here. This is a heavyweight fight between two big champions. Out of region may not have qualified for every single season final, and I don't think he's won one yet. Hitman Hippo, on the other hand, has won the major CA event. We have majors and smaller tournaments. Major tournaments are considered the season finals and the CA official tournaments, which we host. These have the biggest prize pools, usually around $2,000 to $2,500, or 2,000 pounds.

CA prioritizes campaign, which is why they don't hire people for multiplayer. They have a couple of people who work on multiplayer on the side, but campaign is their main focus. Despite this, we have a healthy multiplayer scene that just needs new updates. Like any RTS game, competitive play dies down without updates but picks up again when new content is released.

This is the Grand Final, the last game. We have many people who do YouTube and create content, hosting tournaments on Total Tavern. To get involved, just participate in a couple of tournaments first to get the hang of it, and then reach out to me. As long as you aren't shady, we can make it happen.

In the grand finals, we have outer region with a similar play style today. He's got the double cultist of Slaanesh to try and win the ground. Azazel is a good choice here; he's a small target, very elusive, and hard to snipe with good micro. He can rampage your flyers down, which is a great choice. We also have the fiends of Slaanesh, a couple of devoted Marauders, and Hitman Hippo doing a full Vanguard Marauder Horseman of Tzeentch into the sunset with four of them.

Somebody in chat wanted to see how Slaanesh handles this. We also have Knights of Emulation and Changebringers. Kyros has blue fire and glean magic, which steals magic from enemies. He also has his snare ability, which is really good. This game is going to be very fun. The devoted Marauders are heading up to the point, and Hitman Hippo is pulling back, not quite getting the point but getting a double cap right out of the gates. If Hitman Hippo had stayed, he would have rampaged one of these Horsemen and gotten a free kill.

The build for Slaanesh is pretty similar, with some slight variance, but it seems like he's found a play style he likes. Glean magic steals reserves for 42 seconds, and void pendulum is stealing the magic from Slaanesh. This is going to be very exciting.

=> 02:58:07

Outter region's comeback with a Triple cap is a game-changer!

Right out of the gates, you know you don't want to mess with Slesh. Slesh can, if Hitman Hippo had stayed there, he would have rampaged one of these Horsemen and gotten a free kill. It would have just been a one-shot K.O. there, so that was the smart play. The build for Slesh is pretty similar; we've seen some slight variance in their builds, but for the most part, it seems like he's found a play style he really likes.

Now, there is going to be GLE magic, which is stealing reserves for 42 seconds. So, how much Winds magic is that going to steal in total? It's 12, so it's kind of hard to calculate. And look at that, Void Pendulum is stealing the magic from Slesh. I love that, and it lowers his recharge rate as well. Oh, what a move! I've never seen this done before. The magic is being drained, and Zinch is really showing that they are the kings of magic. Slesh does have some witchcraft, but overall, Azazel is able to dodge that. The exalted Demon is going to be moving up. A couple of Horsemen here are going to be poking but probably can just use a couple of these guys to screen right here and keep them at bay.

Now, Slesh does move up and gets their grips on the objective. We've been seeing Hitman Hippo playing a very cautious play style here today, where he likes to sit back and poke to accrue value before Alpha striking. I think we're going to be seeing something similar again. A lot of Furies are coming out. I think Outer Region needs to not get too hungry to dive; he needs to be cautious. Is he going to take the fight versus these Knights of Imation and rampage them? Because he could. I mean, he has the Furies. He takes the fight. Oh, I don't know if I like this. His Furies engage here, but okay, Friendly Fire coming in from the Changebringer is going to be cooking some of their own units. Overall, I think this is a mistake by Outer Region. I think he's just pulling the trigger a little bit too quickly.

There is going to be some witchcraft going down to the ground. He uses Gaze of Fate and then uses the vortex to lock down the exalted demonet and uses the vortex of Z to melt them. That's an MLG play. That was a big misplay by Outer Region; there was no sense in taking that. In the backfield, we do see the fiends diving, but they're being roasted by the Changebringers. The fiends of Slaanesh, or excuse me, the Changebringers are roasting the fiends of Slaanesh, which are also being kited in a couple of different directions. I really disagree with that engagement. I don't know, though; we'll see how it ends up paying off here. He does rampage down the Knights of Imation, which is a good play because now the Knights of Imation are going to get munched by these fiends.

In the backside, we do see these ones back here getting cooked up pretty good, though. They're already down to about 40% HP and being mulched. Now, we do see another Fury coming in, so Outer Region is kind of grinding some value back. Remember, Outer Region is maybe going to be stealing this objective, which is going to be a big problem because Zinch, a lot of their build is kind of like Air Force cheese and that kind of stuff. They might not have the ability to contest the objectives on the ground. If Outer Region gets his objective, that is a big, big win for him. That is a triple cap, and Zinch is really going to be on the clock. Suddenly, we see Outer Region in a decent position. I'm really liking this.

He came back by rampaging those Knights of Imation a little bit, and now he does have the triple cap. A little bit of Horseman harass going down here, but overall, the devoted Marauders don't care too much. More devoted Marauders are on their way out, and it looks like Zinch is able to cackle back here. Are they going to be using Glean Magic once again on Azazel and trying to drain him down? It looks like that's going to be the case. Glean Magic power recharge does it give him, and it steals reserves too. I love that. The dreaded Zinch magic, ah, that's so fun. I'm having a great time seeing that. But Outer Region looks like he's in a good spot. He's only down by about 900 value. He does have the triple cap, and the points are going to add up really, really quickly here.

There is going to be another blue fire going down, but Outer Region is going to be juking it. These two top-tier players are going to continue fighting it out. Chosen of Zinch with halberds, oh God, one can only be so erect. Here come the Chosen of Zinch. They've got their glimmering armor, and they're going to be heading up towards the point to try and contest that. A lot of Marauder Horsemen nearby, we do have some blue Horrors as well. Changebringers are nearby; they're going to be very useful for cooking these fiends.

=> 03:01:23

Top-tier players showcasing insane micro and strategic mastery in an epic battle!

The game is intense as steals reserves too. The dreaded zch magic is in play, and it's thrilling to watch. Out of region is in a good spot, only down by about 900 value. He has the Triple cap, and the points are adding up quickly. Another blue fire is going down, but out of region is juking it. These two top-tier players continue to fight it out. The chosen of zch with halberds are moving towards the point to contest it. Nearby, there are a lot of Ruder Horsemen and some blue Horrors. The change bringers are also nearby and will be useful if they can get in position. Out of region might be running low on magic, and the zch Army ability is trying to snipe his AEL. However, out of region manages to dodge it with some Speedy trixy Hobbits movement.

The objective is now being taken by the changer. The Chosen and the blues force back the Heretics of slanesh. The Dark Prince will need to restructure their formations. The change bringers of Pitman hippo are retreating from objective two, staying away from a zazel. This awareness is crucial against the Rampage. If a zazel rampages those change bringers, it would be a significant loss. Throwing axx is shooting in, and another blue fire is going towards a zazel. Out of region manages to dodge it again with impressive Matrix dodges.

A fury fight is happening, and it's hard to say which side will win. Both do magic damage, but the chaos Furies of zwin might have an edge due to their extra shield HP. It's a big fight for sles, who is trying to pin in and seal the objective again. Out of region sacrifices some value to get the point back. He has two devoted Marauders on the point and fiends piling in, but a lot of zenan tuning is melting. The chosen halberds are grinding through the chaos Warriors. The chosen dominate the Marauders with no problem, and glean magic and Arcane surge are activated, giving zch a ton of magic.

In the backfield, a zazel is hunting but gets snared by The Gaze of Fate. He takes a lot of damage and is now being shot at by Marauder Horsemen. He manages to Rampage the change bringers to save himself, getting the chaos Furious to help out. Though out of region got hit hard, he responds effectively, immediately getting 1400 value from the change bringers. However, a zazel needs to watch out. The two cultists are grinding, and the chosen are fighting hard. Out of region might have some serious objective play here, though he is down in value by about 1500-1600.

zinch gets a beautiful Vortex, cooking the devoted Marauders and stabilizing the objective, which is crucial. If the objective had been lost, out of region would have had a significant chance of winning. In the back, Hell Riders of sles are dueling with Horsemen. Hell Riders will win as they are anti-large and more dualist. a zazel in the backfield kills the shrieking skyra with his Furies. His value isn't crazy, but those are decent trades. Another blue fire comes in, and out of region dodges most of it. His micro is very good, showcasing top-tier play. Both players are easily in the top five in the world.

=> 03:04:40

Top-tier gameplay on display: Zazel's clutch moves and strategic trades keep the game on a knife's edge!

It looks like he stabilizes the objective, which is super clutch. If that objective had been lost, it would have given Outer Region a pretty colossal chance of winning this game. Now back here, we do see the C com again. It's going to be Hell Riders of Sles du can get out with Horsemen. Hell Riders, of course, will win that fight; they are anti-large and are a little bit more dualist. Azazel in the backfield, though, is able to kill the Shrieking Skyra with his Furies too. Man, Azazel is doing some great work. I mean, his value isn't crazy or anything, but yeah, those are decent little trades.

Another blue fire coming in. Oh, is he going to dodge it? Outer Region gets hit with some of them, but not much. His micro is very good. This is top-tier play; these guys are both easily, easily top five in the world players. They're both very good. A shot coming down there, Azazel does get nailed by the Zen Charming ability. It's a little bit hard to dodge that one. It looks like the demonet, as well as the cultists, are trying to steal that point. Looking at the objective, ZCH is going to be moving its chosen across. I think that Hitman Hippo knows he needs to get on the points here. It's getting a little bit dangerous; he needs to try and get it before it becomes a triple cap situation, which it's going to be pretty soon.

A rampage going down, so it looks like Azazel still had some magic. He does rampage those Marauder Horsemen and is able to pick them apart. We get Blues coming in, and we also get some basic Chaos Warriors to try and fight these cultists. AEL may be going to get sniped here. The blue fire coming in is harder to dodge on the ground, and he does get cooked. His leadership is going to be negative, and oh man, is he hanging in there. He just barely is. Man, what a precarious situation for Azazel. So he's wavering; he's at three leadership, he's got 600 HP. Does he have any more magic left to get any rampages? We will find out. He dives into combat, probably knowing that he's going to be dying here soon.

How is Sles going to be dealing with Chosen? The best bet to deal with Chosen here is probably exalted demonet. I think that would be your best bet. Azazel is going to be fleeing, and the big chicken is going for the snipe. Is he going to get it? ZCH C tackling. Oh, he matrixed that move, but it still hits him partially. He only got hit by like one or two of the beams, but it's enough to probably get him disintegrating. So Azazel is going to be crumbling as CYO shows that he is the Demonic Overlord here, that is for sure.

Back here, however, we do see the demonet and the cultist causing quite a bit of disruption. The objective is still in the hands of Zinch, and we are most certainly in a Helm Deep situation now. It's where Slesha is going to be able to win on just one objective, but it's not time to fall back to that back objective yet. You still want to be contesting the field, I would say. But as AEL does end up going down, Val is very close, 7.8 against 8.4. So Sles is trading very well on the ground, their cultist and their demonet summons doing great work. If this objective flips, ZCH could actually be in big danger of losing this game.

A couple of Chosen are moving in. Kyros is going to be coming to help out. The Chosen will be able to kill these devoted Marauders pretty easily. They are the elite of the elite fighting against absolute low-tier troopers. Devot Marauders are being called in. Kyros is helping, and will they get this objective? It is in flux. It looks like maybe Slesha is going to find their way to get this point. They do have some devoted Marauders here, but there's a healthy Chaos Warrior unit. Furies of Sles are really good at killing armor, so you could pull them around and help for sure.

But now the heavy hitters are coming out for Hitman Hippo. This is where it's going to really, really start to become precarious for Outer Region. We see the old Centors, right? Centor of Zinch is probably going to be able to brutalize this position. They're going to come in and melt a lot of these units. The cultist will be okay against them. Oh, Fascination going down, so that is going to rampage them. They get fascinated. Oh, narcissism. Okay, so the Centors are a little bit too busy looking at the six-pack abs, and now they're going to get attacked by the Furies. I'm not sure; the cultist may be flipping this point, though. The middle point is, like I said, in danger, but we do get exalted demonet. That is the correct answer. But ZCH is able to get there, and ZCH should win this fight because Chosen of ZCH actually do magic damage, so they're really good against demons. There's a blue horror unit here too, so that's going to be very, very dodgy.

This point does get, however, Outer Region closing in on 1200 points, guys. Very close to winning in that regard. Furies here do get a very good engagement against the narcissism.

=> 03:07:56

Epic comeback secured! Outer region takes the win with flawless micro and strategic plays. GG well played!

The game was intense with numerous strategic plays and exciting moments. At one point, the centaurs were too busy admiring their six-pack abs, leaving them vulnerable to attacks by the furies. The middle point was in danger, but the exalted demonet arrived just in time. However, Zch managed to get there as well and should win the fight because the chosen of Zch do magic damage, making them particularly effective against demons. A blue horror unit was also present, adding to the challenge. The point was out of region, and with the score closing in on 1200 points, the game was nearing its climax.

The furies executed a successful engagement against the narcissism centaurs, who were blocked up. Devoted Marauders were stationed at the point, and the game seemed to be heading towards a "Helms Deep" scenario, where the strategy was to hunker down on the back objective. Despite the odds, the exalted demonet managed to outmaneuver the chosen and got on top of the Blues, a commendable play using the remnants of the hell Striders.

The back point was owned by Sles Z, who was desperately trying to reclaim the objectives. Marauder Horsemen and centaurs charged in, but the cultists proved difficult to uproot. Chaos Warriors moved in, and the exalted demonet of Slesh performed exceptionally well in their natural habitat. The chosen were getting decent kills on the demon ladies, but the devoted Marauders turned the tide of the fight. The flank was effective, likely leading the demonet to win that particular fight.

Outer Region seemed poised to win with clean objective play and strong ground presence. However, Hitman Hippo had not secured his back objective and needed to hold the middle. The game hinged on the chosen, with fiends coming in to provide nasty DPS. Despite the efforts of Marauder Horsemen, Outer Region maintained control. The centaurs did their best, flipping the objective and holding the middle, but the exalted demonet's rear charges and the arrival of fiends made it difficult.

With 58 models left on the chosen, Zch needed to call in reinforcements. The back objective was close to flipping, and cultists fought tooth and nail. Kyros moved to the middle objective to stabilize it, possibly using a Vortex ability. Despite a big Vortex going down, it missed its mark. Multiple units of Horsemen arrived, but the points were rapidly approaching for the Prince of Darkness, Outer Region. The fiends of Slaanesh were crumbling, and it looked like Outer Region would secure the win.

The game was scrappy, with both players making micro plays. Outer Region microed like a "heathen king of old," while Hitman Hippo also performed admirably. The game ended with a GG well played, and congratulations to Outer Region for winning the tournament. The cultists were the MVPs, grinding on the objective and rampaging through the enemy. The Dark Prince had shown his prowess, and the tournament concluded with a promise of more exciting games in the future.

The commentator signed off, thanking the viewers and hinting at more action to come, possibly an Age of Mythology or Warcraft 3 tournament. With a final farewell, he mentioned spending time with his "smoking hot wife" and looked forward to seeing everyone again.