Intro

Hey, knockitoff! here

The central part of this text will be dedicated to the review of the OMEN vs Order of Floo Semifinal of the Mech Arena Community Cup #1 (hosted by Desink).

Those of you who know what this event is, who these teams are, etc – skip the following part. But to those unfamiliar with the tournament – here's a brief explanation below.

What's the Mech Arena Community Cup?

Mech Arena Community Cup (short: MACC) Season #1 was designed as a tournament for Community members created and conducted by Community Members. The idea and execution belong to Desink, a Mech Arena Content Creation Program member and an experienced Mech Arena Tournament Organizer from Venezuela. 

All the main organizational aspects were on Desink's side — and he executed every piece of it brilliantly. It consisted of

• A dedicated and perfectly structured Discord server for participants and fans, 
• The registration process and all the logistics of arranging matches, 
• Visual materials for those who decide to share the footage of their battles on YouTube (including video thumbnails and team logos),
• Сommunication with participants

*Btw, everything was combined with his regular job, being a Content Creator, and family business.

Our (Community Team's) part on this wasn't huge at first – we offered TO expertise, help with creating the ruleset and resolving controversial cases, assistance with communication, and a Prize Pool. But when we got to the Playoff stage, we arranged regular Bracket posts on Mech Arena's Official Social Media, video promotion on Mech Arena's Official YouTube Channel, and even the in-game promo.

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At some point in the MACC discussion with Desink and MA CC Program members, we thought: what if Content Creators gathered a team and participated in this tournament? To make this whole story short:

• Desink participated in the event with his clan - DK Gaming.
• Platinum LTA gathered a team of his UAU Clan members.
• Other conversation members formed a new Team, Order of Floo, named after (you guessed it) Floo — one of our Community Managers, and applied for the event as well. 

The team features Scape211, RuFFles, Sentry (all three are MA CC Program Members; well, as if you didn't know it, lol); Nihilus — one of MA Discord Server Admins; Sanji — a famous Community member from the US, and CAPTAIN_WOLF — one of our MA Discord Server moderators.

So, Order of Floo and 15 other teams started their journey in MACC #1.

//Please find all the details about the tournament (format, participants, prize pool, modes, scores) here while I jump to the main point of this text 🙂 

Setup

Order of Floo didn't consider themselves as favorites in the tournament race. The community members who followed the event also didn't have high expectations. However, no one would say that the team's path to the Semifinal was rough: they pretty convincingly placed 1st in Group C, winning all three matches, and with confidence, defeated Vendetta in the Quarterfinal (well, at least that's how watching the match footage felt). 

OMEN had a nailbiter vs. UAU in the 5v5 DM Mode but eventually placed 1st in their group and defeated OSH in the quarter-finals.

There was little hype about this semifinal in the Community.

OMEN is considered one of the (if not THE, as Scape211 said in his video) best and most powerful Clans in Mech Arena. So I didn't see many comments demonstrating much faith in Order of Floo – the winner predictions mainly burned down to OMEN. 

But, regardless of the fans' comments and expectations, I'm sure both teams were focused and made their homework and preparations, studying the moves their opponents might execute during the match and practicing their own. So, I believed smth huge was coming.

The Match. Prep

Some things didn't go as planned for FLOO, so ~30 minutes before the match start time, they found themselves in a "Who's gonna be the 5th player?" turmoil (you can check the reasons behind it on RuFFles' stream ) 

Once the issue was resolved, another interesting nuance happened.

Once Order of Floo were in the CPC Lobby, they saw their opponents joining, but…

i

… all of them were called [OMEN] knockitoff 😀

Part of the reason for such changes was to make this match a fun standoff between CMs: Floo and myself. The other, I suppose, was to confuse the opponents — not to allow them to provide quality information during the battle.

It didn't take Order of Floo long to adjust, so as a result, they all changed their nicknames to Scape211.

We had a 5 x [FLOO] Scape211s vs. 5 x [OMEN] knockitoffs matchup. It doesn't make watching the match easy for spectators, but that's how it went.

The Match. CPC Mode

Map 1: Skyship 11

FLOO chose the tanky debut of 3x Aegises + Vortex + Eclipse, while OMEN mainly focused on Scouts: Mass Surges and Eclipse. 

The first 90 seconds were basically a standoff in the middle. Just OMEN's Eclipse moved to the wing – executed a hint we described in the Skyship 11 Map Tips.  

Thanks to several precise Railgun shots by savemetoo, Order of Floo lost all of their 3 Aegises, and at that point, were desperate to capture the central Control Point. 

Meanwhile, OMEN orchestrated and executed their counteroffensive in this situation perfectly.

Securing both Lower Decks and applying a successful hyperaggressive move by the team's Nomad at 1:30 into the round allowed capturing Control Point B and beneficial positioning for the whole team. 

Recovering wasn't meant to happen for FLOO.

CPC Mode: OMEN 1:0 FLOO

Map 2: Arena

The aggressive debut with Surges and well-aimed shots from OMEN combined with a mistake in applying the "Aegis Turtle" approach by FLOO , resulted in a complete sweep. 

OMEN were snowballing: they didn't let their opponents capture a single Control Point, held FLOO near their respawn, and gradually finished the job with a humiliating 100:0 score. 

Santa's Redeemer performance is heavily responsible for the battle outcome:

That was a hard blow.

CPC Mode: OMEN 2:0 FLOO

Map 3: Patterson Station

From the comms we heard on the stream, it was obvious how FLOO were stunned with the Map 2 result.

OMEN kept pushing.

Usually 

1. You don't expect to be shot at near Control Point B just 16sec into the round    
2. You don't face an enemy Surge trying to capture Control Point A only 30 sec  into the round

But that's precisely what FLOO experienced.  

FLOO kept applying the defensive playstyle that, in fact, just looked like fighting back. The team did well in several instances: they executed several multi-kills and the "Aegis Turtle" approach, retaking Control Point C.

https://youtu.be/dpyU37ZgWgE?t=5124 

https://youtu.be/wFe_7qMX0qw?t=568 

https://youtu.be/dpyU37ZgWgE?t=5164 

But it happened too late in the round, and OMEN's pressure on the flanks was too powerful, and allowed them to secure the victory. 

CPC Mode: OMEN 2:0 FLOO

Overall score: OMEN 1:0 FLOO

After Patterson Station, RuFFles acknowledged the huge OMEN team experience, while Scape211 and several other team members highlighted the game's "Speed-Sniper Meta."

The Match. 5v5 DM Mode

Map 1: Z.C. Control

During this map, there was a feeling that FLOO's consciousness was still in the CPC mode. There indeed was some intense action in the center of the map, and 2nd round was very close, but it still felt that OMEN had total control and the upper hand. Consequently, they won Z.C. Control 2:0.

Z.C. Control: OMEN 2:0 FLOO

5v5 DM Mode: OMEN 1:0 FLOO

Map 2: Z.C. Cargo Dock. Round 1

The debut was no different from the previous maps: OMEN kept pushing (why changing the approach that has been working all along, right?), and FLOO tried to defend. And this time, they withstood!

They endured the early flank push from two Surges and secured great positions. 

Sentry with Eclipse played a big role in this regard:

Apart from that, it was a Guardians' Round

These Guardian performances from Sanji and RuFFles were outstanding (the video sequences are long, but just watch how much time they've won, how much damage they dealt, and how effective their System Crashes were).

Savemetoo seemed to save the situation midround with these two outstanding Nomad kills, but it wasn't enough. 

Map 2: Z.C. Cargo Dock. Round 2

Savemetoo's and Santa's mutual effort to destroy Sanji's Guardian in the corner early in Round 2 prevented the Round 1 scenario. 

Lacking a Guardian there has put FLOO into a weaker position. A seemingly equal kill exchange in the middle (6:6) eventually resulted in OMEN's 11:6 lead. 

They lost the advantage - one of the main reasons for that was Sentry's successful Aegis move

But eventually secured a 12:11 victory.

Map 2: Z.C. Cargo Dock. Round 3

Round 3 was a combination of OMEN's failure on the left flank and in the middle, resulting in FLOO's 4:0 lead. Shifting to the right flank wasn't effective → 9:2 – the whole FLOO team was acting just like a turning turret and destroying the attacking waves only to finish Z.C. Cargo Dock in their favor

Z.C. Cargo Dock: OMEN 1:2 FLOO

5v5 DM Mode: OMEN 1:1 FLOO

Map 3: Acropolis. Round 1

Some things change - some things don't change.

Securing the arena's center and an early flank kill by Santa wasn't enough for OMEN — so the carousel of ~20 consecutive frags happened… in or near FLOO's respawn. You can pick any video — the frag sequence will look pretty much the same from anyone's POV. But FLOO were a bit more lucky in this skirmish .

Map 3: Acropolis. Round 2

4 players secure the right flank + 1 Surge controls mid and the left flank – FLOO are defensive again, OMEN are on the aggressive offense again → RuFFles finds a spot to counterattack : 

After a series of exchanges, Sentry and Nihilus (?, that’s why using the same nicknames isn’t preferable 😀) executed an almost successful recon mission  

Savemetoo dragged OMEN to the first Overtime of the match. But just check out how FLOO gain the +2 kills advantage and what happens within the last 3 sec of the Overtime. The comms say it all.

Map 3: Acropolis. Round 3

OMEN's ordinary Center control and 3 x Surge push toward FLOO's respawn from the Mid and right flank resulted in their 3:2 lead .  

Realizing it's their turn to attack (otherwise, they risk ending up in Acropolis with a Draw), FLOO attacks through their right flank one minute later. "That's too late," we heard on the cooms, but!

RuFFles push and Scape211's 8th kill launch another Overtime…

… that concluded Round 3 with a Draw that put FLOO in the lead in 5v5 DM!

Acropolis: OMEN 2:3 FLOO

5v5 DM Mode: OMEN 1:2 FLOO

Map 3: Singularity. Round 1

It all started with Sentry's double-"highlight" (featuring Surge and Nomad; yeah, the Strange Matter Event Maps can be brutal to players🙂), and a sequence of Eclipse kills

On the other side of the map, Santa showed great map awareness - with his Disc Launcher and even with the low Surge HP, he dealt A TON of damage to the opposing team, which helped OMEN secure the Round 1 victory.

Map 3: Singularity. Round 2

Instead of pushing to the right, FLOO decided to hold mid – and this change in tactics worked out perfectly for them.

A sequence of Aegis Dome Shields, popping up over and over again with accurate Cooldown timing and covering three or even four Mechs at once, while Sentry's Eclipse was catching opponents off guard one by one – that was a demonstration of close-to-perfect gameplay . 

OMEN tried to take advantage of their Scouts equipped with Disc Launchers (what all players acknowledged is that Singularity favors DL builds) - but Dome Shields were too tough to break; the flank attacks, as mentioned above, were stopped by Sentry (actually, you should check out the whole Round 2 from his POV ): 

At some point, OMEN managed to push through, but the -3 kills deficit within less than 10 seconds was impossible to overtake this time.

Map 3: Singularity. Round 3

Three "free" frags in the debut have given FLOO a great advantage, and the conclusion of Round 3 burnt down to the last 30 seconds. Just watch this intense skirmish…

…that was won by FLOO!

Singularity: OMEN 1:2 FLOO

5v5 DM Mode: OMEN 1:3 FLOO

Overall Score: OMEN 1:1 FLOO

The match: 2v2 (short version)

So, the whole thing burnt down to the 2v2 Mode where Nihilus and Sentry represented FLOO, while Santa with the unknown teammate fought for OMEN.

I will highlight just a few things regarding the 2v2 DM Match.

• 1st. The 2v2 match has lasted for almost an hour and featured FIVE draws!
• 2nd. Almost every round was a back-and-forth standoff, extremely close in terms of kills.
• 3rd. And here's the most painful, both to play and to watch, match I've seen in Mech Arena 2v2 so far

If you decide to watch the whole 2v2 series, just hop in our playlist on YouTube – there, you'll find all the footage captured during this and other MACC matches.

Conclusion. What players can be missing

Eventually, it was OMEN who came out victorious in that Semifinal. FLOO will participate in the 3rd place decider vs MtM, while GREEKS will try to take down OMEN in the Final (upd. these matches have already taken place, and we know the winners – check them out in the MACC DIscord).

So why did I choose this match for a "review"; why was this match special?

First, this match featured the full spectrum of the competition variations and components. 

Gameplay-wise, there were full dominance, a comeback, a back-and-forth standoff; small and big mistakes along with huge highlights that turned the course of the map.

Emotion-wise, in both players' emotions in the comms and fans' emotions in the chat/comments, there were support, respect, rage, sadness, encouragement, etc. That's what makes people participate and observe the competition.

Second, I loved to see both teams' dedication, which resulted in such a close result, which is always satisfying for the spectators.

Third, to me, this matchup felt as smth close to the David vs Goliath story. 

The mix of players without much teamplay experience, which the Community underestimated, has put a hell of a fight against one of the best Clans in Mech Arena, a huge favorite according to the majority of predictions I read before the match. The outcome was different, but you understand what I mean.

And the last, fourth: I wanted to highlight how exciting and fulfilling competitive Team Custom Matches in Mech Arena can be. 

Having your teammates time their Abilities to support the whole team, execute efficient tactics and teamplay, and execute smart, efficient, highlight-worthy trades – that's a beautiful aspect of the game that we sometimes can miss. If opening yourself to it, you can rediscover the game from a different, previously unnoticed angle, see its hidden facets, and get a whole new next-level experience. 

Don't waste this opportunity. Try playing Mech Arena competitively with friends in Custom Matches, enjoy the team play, and discover the Game anew.