Welcome Commanders! Let's take a minute to thank the tireless efforts of the SDL staff in managing these games, helping you upload your pick and bans, and being an overall shining light in this Warno community. No light shines greater than Reefzocker who gets a DM from me every week asking for the raw meta data. And they so graciously respond with KBs of CSVs. Enough with the sappy stuff, let's talk about tanks blowing up!
The playoff picture, which popped smoke to avoid an ATGM just last week, is now becoming clearer. Which Groups are still up for grabs? (These are my expert but unofficial opinions, Protoss has the final say for playoff seeding.)
In Division 1, group C is still up for grabs as Mix90, bablegun, and _bloodyknight all still have a chance to advance. _bloodyknight AND bablegun still need to play guardxrams which will determine who gets those coveted last couple of points. There is even a scenario where bablegun AND _bloodyknight vault over Mix90 to BOTH make the playoffs. And let's not forget guardxrams who could flip this whole group on its head by winning their last three matches. Also, we should take a minute to pour out some vodka for our reigning champ, pro-kommunist. They have been mathematically removed from the playoffs, ending their bid to go back-to-back in SDL. Well played, GG.
In Division 2, a pivotal game between Penne and TeeWhyEss occurred earlier this week. This sets up a win and in game for Penne against novamir_tse. That deciding game, if my sources are reliable, (which they are not) might not take place until early next week. This will be MUST WATCH WARNO as it will decide the fate of Division 2 Group A playoffs!
In Group C the standings are razor thin. With only four players in the group, the final matches between tatarboy, goldenpanzer, and et_be will be a race to get to three wins. Adler sits atop the group, having completed all of their games, but with only six points they are going to be sweating it out. MORE MUST WATCH WARNO!
In Group D, meddinator has all the power. With two matches remaining against Pasta La Vista and the worst person in the world, they control their own fate. Pasta will need to fend off meddinator AND then hope the worst person in the world becomes the best person in the world by defeating meddinator as well. This Group is gonna need some tiebreakers and it is gonna be MUST WATCH WARNO.
In Division 3, Group B will pit _menkar4_ versus termi. A win in this match will give either player the necessary third win to clinch their spot in the playoffs. Even if _menkar4_ does fall, Grand Potato can play spoiler by besting them in their last match. There is even a scenario where Grand Potato can sneak into the playoffs if termi385 and _menkar4_ don’t accumulate enough points. Stop me if you know what I am going to say… MORE MUST WATCH WANRO.
In Group C, Trisko has matches remaining against Mike and ZuGreX. With 5_luuk_5 setting the pace with thirteen points, Trisk may need to win both matches to clinch the second spot in the Group. This will be no small task, for Mike can really help themselves out by vanquishing Trisko and then keeping their fingers crossed. These games don’t have anything riding on them so no need to watch them (said no one).
Group D is a mess. SuSping has three games remaining against currently first place CoreAccretion and currently third place sirskull. If SuSping can rattle off some wins, Group D could get very very interesting. Is this Warno you must Watch? YES, YES IT IS.
O Division 4, you wild and fickle beast. In Group A, PrincessEvelyn is the name to watch. Their match versus mig29s could clinch the number one spot. But a loss, sets up an Underground Tunnel Enjoyer vs PrincessEvelyn battle for the ages. Regardless, the permutations go on and on with this Group.
Dear Denis, you have two matches remaining in Group B. And you can theoretically win the division with a bunch of map victories. But more importantly you are on my SDL Warno Season 5 Fantasy team. And I am second to last right now. What kind of prognosticator would I reckon to be if I can’t even put up a good showing in Fantasy. So, play some ranked games, tune your divisions, and beat both sneaky6711 and prefire_exe! I am counting on you! Otherwise, it looks like RegMonkey and SuperXavi02 will take the top spots. I’m sure prefire_exe won’t put up much of a fight, considering if they win against you, THEY WIN THE GROUP. MMWW.
In Group C, Syndi83 will need to stave off defeat when they battle SadistriaDomi, a tie may be enough to seal up second in the group. But if SadistriaDomi defeats syndi83 a huge matchup looms with faridachaemenidfoxes. theHellene is sitting there with their popcorn, having already clinched the number one spot.
In addition to the snapshot and full meta data which can be located HERE and HERE, I need the community's help. One of the analyses that I am fond of is categorizing the different divisions into three archetypes: Airborne, Infantry, and Tank. Although seemingly rudimentary, this labeling can yield insightful analysis when looking at speed versus balance versus inevitably amongst the different divisions. But, even though my grade school teachers told me I was always correct, I would like the community to check my work. Linked HERE is a survey to check my labeling. This is your moment to give back to the Warno Dispatch to help improve our analysis.
In terms of specific division analysis, who is sick and tired of hearing about 1. Tankova? Not me. I’m not sure if Penne is an avid reader of the Warno Dispatch, but many weeks ago your humble author surmised that 1. Tankova benefitted most from being played as a T-72s, +200 point only, tank division. In their match versus TeeWhyEss, Penne took that idea even a step further! They relied on the T-72s and to balance the cost of their division, went as cheap as possible with the infantry tab, all truck transports - no IFVs. And who said reading doesn’t make you a better Warno player?
FM14 - 477 points
Sequoia - 476 points
Mike/Chips - 471 points
Grand Potato - 471 points
If you thought the battle for each individual Group was close, look at the top four players in Fantasy League! Once the group / regular season ends, I will analyze who has the most playoff contenders left. Maybe someone from deeper down the rankings has a chance to springboard ahead with some deep playoff runs?
If you have an interesting ranked game of Warno that you would like to share, now is your chance! Please send your replays and a short description to Warno.Dispatch@gmail.com to be considered for this space each week.
If you have read to this point, you are awesome! And you will be more knowledgeable because we need to discuss tiebreakers. Gone are the days of 35th US mirrors on Kreide, instead utilizing the AoE draft tool has allowed SDL to come up with a genius solution for tiebreaker games, BLIND DIVISION PICKS. Linked HERE, this drafter follows the same Map and Division bans as in the Group Stage. But then instead of Division Pick and a Counter Pick, both Commanders will select their divisions, hidden from each other. All choices will be revealed at the end of the draft. Does this mean we could have a 20th Pancerna mirror on Black Forest to decide a group? Yes, yes it does. Moreover, this process of blind division picks will be implemented in all playoff decider games, think game number three in a best of three and game number five in a best of five. As competitors in the playoffs, your division pool will have to be deep and the possibility of a mirror match in game three or five looms. Those playoff draft links will be sent out in the future. One more time, say it with me, MORE MUST WATCH WARNO.
Tie Breaker Draft Tool