Despite being over 5-1 odds against at one point yesterday (one mention I saw stated 5.7 to 1 briefly), and the most heavily bet match so far, A Band Apart managed the upset of the first weekend and defeated Shadow Cartel 60-45 in what was a very good fight and well played. Anyone who knows me knows that I am all about good fights and this was a good fight. I also happen to be a good sport, so good sport stuff towards the Shadow Cartel pilots. Was good fight.
I won't bother mentioning why defeating SC was important, besides the obvious. I won't mention the trolling, the nasty comments in local, the spam emails, the lies, their support of Tuskers during the early days of Stay Frosty, the down votes on Reddit, and all the others reasons why beating them on Saturday was priority number one. I don't feel like I should have to mention it. Those of you who really know me already know I don't forget, and I suspect you don't either.
Couple of notes. Apparently the Bhaalgorn pilot used the MJD on purpose from what SC pilots told us after the fight. I suspect the strategy there was to get him out of the main fight and into neut range. Although it didn't work out that way at first. We figured they'd primary me in the fight and sure enough they did, this is why I went straight for the Machariel and OH'd everything in his face. If I was going to die I'd at least get him into structure. So that plan worked out almost perfectly.
Has anyone ever gotten as much wrong as Chessur did in that commentary? lol.
This was a huge emotional win for us. But our next fight was less than three hours away.
This fight was not a let-down because of the SC fight earlier. We had plenty of time between matches to get ourselves prepared for VA. This fight is a perfect example of how fights often come down to the smallest of things.
My Sleipnir died in-between boosts. In what is perhaps the luckiest combined alpha you can imagine, both the Machariel and the polarized Hound managed to land rounds at the same time while I was being grappled. The combined Alpha damage was enough to overwhelm my ancillary reps and kill my ship. It took a lot of post-match analysis to figure this out, but if either of those volleys landed apart from each other my ship would have lived. I'm not stupid enough to cry about it, but my ship living even another few minutes could have changed the course of the fight. Maybe.
But it didn't. And full credit to VA for the fight and for bringing two Moas. I don't make excuses, every fight hinges on the small and the large details. Shit happens and when you fight as much as I do, you quickly learn that fact. There is no room in Eve for what might have been, only for what is. And we lost that fight fair and square. Kudos to our friends in VA, well played.
Sunday morning and everything was fine until it wasn't. The entire area's Internet service disappeared suddenly and was down for over three hours. I was unable to get on comms, or log into Eve. I can't begin to explain to you how hard those three plus hours were to live thru. Not being able to be a part of the team, the planning, the bans, everything. It was rough. I hope that never happens again.
Confidence in my team never wavered however. We have an awesome group of pilots who often practice without me, we are deep and well practiced, so while I was worried (of course), I wasn't worried. If you know what I mean.
Kudos to Prda Prda for headshoting that Ibis! I'm not a fan of the all BS comps with no logi and this match is the perfect example of why. I think people often make the mistake of thinking DPS is the same as Applied DPS. They are two different things. I won't say much else about this one since I wasn't there. I was watching the match on 4G on my iPhone. Ugh.
Our last fight of the day isn't up on YouTube yet, but I'll post it here once it is available.
Our fight versus Snuff is one of those were your heart goes out to the other team. It is something that can happen to anyone and is a fact of life for anyone that plays Eve. Several of their pilots DC'd during form-up and CCP waited for them to log back into the game before starting the match. Sadly they were unable to warp into the arena and the rules state that CCP will pick you up and place you at zero, which is what they did. Its certainly weird when a Rook and a Eos pop into space right next to you. Obviously when the match started I pointed that Rook and made him die in a fire.
Apparently Snuff's troubles continued and their Phoon pilot DC'd during the match. There has been some salty tears shed over this and I'd like to make a few things clear. There is NO alert in-game that appears to tell anyone that a ship is DC'd. Everyone knows this. So during the heat of a fight no one is going to notice. Your ship is on field and it is a target. It really is as simple as that. So any crying about us shooting the Phoon is wasted on me, of course we shot the Phoon. We had no idea he was DC'd. IF he was. All we have is your words about that after the fact.
It sucks. No doubt about it. But that is part of Eve. I can't begin to tell you how many fights and pods I've lost over the years to DC'ing. It happens. I spent an entire match on the sidelines earlier in the day, which we could have lost, so I have little sympathy. Other than it does indeed suck.
My goal for our team all along was to preform better than we did last year and to make it to the second weekend. We are 3-1 this year and on our way to the second weekend. So my goals have been met and exceeded. Whatever happens next is gravy as far as I'm concerned. Our team is incredible, dedicated and experienced. We put an amazing amount of time and effort into this team and everyone has participated. I could not possibly be more proud of our pilots and our Alliance. No matter what happens next.
I think we have more wins in us. And I think we will remain competitive and strong next weekend. So much of what happens is rock, paper, scissors - and that is a component you cannot ignore - but right now I think we match up strong. So let's see what happens next.
No matter what we had an incredible first weekend and nothing will ever change that.
Stay Frosty my friends.
PS: And Kudos to the team at EVE-NT (and ISD) for broadcasting the first weekend on Twitch! Well done to everyone, a quality broadcast you should be very proud of.