05/28/02

Armored Core (Masters of Arena) Tournament Wrap Up

Sunday May 26 would mark the 3rd annual AC MOA.  It also was my 30th birthday.  Two years ago when we ran this tournament, only local players showed up.  I was the winner of that years event. (See Tips and Tricks #66 for details)   Then in 2001 we had Victor from Ohio attend.  I was happy that someone from that far away would drive all the way to play in one of our tournaments.  The competition was greater than the year before as I lost to Victor and Jamie from Saginaw MI.  Dayne ended up winning after getting 3rd the year before.  Jamie got 2nd and Victor obtained 3rd.  (See Tips and Tricks #78 for details)

This year I wasn't sure what to expect.  I had heard from Victor so I was pretty sure he would return.  I also had been receiving phone calls from Vitaly from New York, but wasn't sure if we really was going to make the drive.  Well the big day arrived and out of all 8 participants.  Only two were from Michigan!!   AC may not be the most popular game, but it has loyal following from those who play it.  Hear is the rundown of the players.

From last year;

:  

Newcomers;

 :  

:  

Most all of the matches had some interesting highlights.  Many matches were very close and came down to the last shot.  There were also a few times that players ran out of ammo and lost after having a big lead in AP.   Here are some of the most important highlights.

David Vs. Vitaly

This was the first match to kick things off.  After traveling all the way from New York I was really interested in seeing this kid play.  In the first round Vitaly was taken down to about 900 ap when David ran out of ammo.  Vitaly came back from behind to finish him off with his last shot from the sniper rifle.  

Dayne Vs. Caleb

Last years champion, Dayne, hadn't really played AC over the last year to stay in practice.  In fact it was almost a whole year ago that he played last.   Caleb came out and gave the champ a really good scare.  In the first round Caleb pounded on Dayne with the dual missiles.   He knocked Dayne down to about 400 ap before running out of the back missiles.    Dayne went to work whittling down Caleb's 4500 ap. to close the gap.  Dayne was down to 161 ap!  One more hit and Caleb would get the win.  Dayne danced his mech back and forth to dodge Caleb's shots.  While doing this he continued to hit Caleb with his laser.  Dayne hung on to a thread of life and finally got the win.   Then in round two they repeated the same pattern.  Dayne battled his way back from a big deficit to get the match win.   Then for the third mach, on the moon, Dayne's luck ran out as Caleb made short work of the game.   Fortunately for Dayne it was still a match win for him.

Josh Vs. Jamie

This match will be remembered more for Jamie's mistake of falling off one of the towers in the stage with the two towers in the sky.  Jamie was able to win the other two games in a slugfest that hey came out on top in.  

Marvin Vs. Victor

This match came down to a laser sword.  Marvin and Victor had the exact same mech design.  (Victor's concept from last year with a few modifications.)  Marvin came out on top 3/0.  

Father Vs. Son (David Vs. Caleb)

Caleb beat his father in 3 strait wins.  Unfortunately beyond that I have no further details. 

Josh Vs. Marvin

This came down to a laser battle as well.  Josh only had 21 ap left as Marvin was dodging his laser sword throw.  Then getting caught in his own blast radius, Josh killed himself accidentally.

David Vs. Dayne

This was the first of a few of these scenarios.  David had the first pick so he picked the underground garage.  Dayne won so he decided to make that his pick too.  Unfortunately for Dayne this backfired as David was a little more prepared.  This came down to the third game on the moon was able to squeeze out a victory with only 41 ap left!!

Caleb Vs. Vitaly

Much like against Dayne if Caleb had about one or two more shots with his back missiles he probably would have won.  He was able to knock Vitaly down to 500ap before running out of ammo in the back launchers.  And had another big lead in the third round as well.

Jamie Vs. Marvin

Jamie knocked Marvin off the scaffolding in the first round.  Then in the city Marvin tied it up.  On the moon (the final stage) It came down to the last shot.  Jamie missed and Marvin won with what was a big come from behind win. 

Jamie Vs. Vitaly

Since Jamie had to get back to Saginaw for work we decided to finish up his matches.  Jamie handed Vitaly his first game loss in the garage.  Then in the city Vitaly ran out of ammo  but still got the win with a hit from the moonlight.  Then on the moon another close game.  Jamie with 710 ap vs. Vitaly with only 94 ap!!  With Jamie out of energy and Vitaly safely out of Jamie's range.  Vitaly pegged him with the sniper rifle for the win.

Jamie Vs. Dayne 

This was the most exciting of the three rematches from last year.  Once again after Dayne won in the map picked by his opponent Dayne picked the same stage.  In this case it was the garage.  This time however, Dayne did manage to get the second win as well.  Jamie got the win on the moon to prevent the sweep.

Jamie Vs. Caleb

Caleb picked the scaffolding and won as they exchanged missile attacks and Jamie fell to his death.  However Jamie would win the next two for the match win.  

Victor Vs. Dayne

As one of the three rematches from last year this was one of the most anticipated.   At it turned out it wasn't very exciting.  Victor was able to beat Dayne 3/0.

 Vitaly Vs. Josh

In the city stage Vitaly ran out of ammo again.  Josh with a quad proved to be very hard to hit with the laser sword as Vitaly waited and waited for just the right time to get him for the win in what was the longest game of the day.   On the moon Vitaly was able to use the large missiles to beat down Josh from a distance. 

David Vs. Victor 

David came out and picked the scaffolding, but it backfired as he lost.  Then Victor picked the City but David was able to get the win on him there.  Then on the moon.  With only 504 ap left Victor was able to get the win.  

Josh Vs. Caleb

This was the best scaffolding match of the day.  There was a lot of firepower used in this one.  Caleb however lost as he fell off.  Later on the moon Caleb once again cursed by having one shot too few.  After hammering Josh down to 700 ap Caleb ran out of ammo and lost. 

Dayne Vs. Josh

Dayne pick the old west map and lost.  Josh thought he would try it again, but this time Dayne won.   (Sound familiar?)  Then on the moon with no buildings to duck behind Dayne was just too much.

David Vs. Marvin

With Marvin's record of 5/0 this could have been called David vs. Goliath.  But in AC for every mech there is another mech that does well against it.  It is kind of like rock, paper, scissors.   David's design and style of play led him to a 3/0 win over the undefeated Marvin.

Victor Vs. Vitaly 

The last of the undefeated Vitaly would suffer his first match loss.  Victor beat him twice in the city but Vitaly prevented the sweep by winning on the moon.

The Last Match

Vitaly Vs. Marvin

The whole tournament came down to this match.  Who ever won this was going to walk away the over all winner.  Vitaly mixed it up and chose the land mine stage.  This proved to be a good map as he won convincingly.  Then Marvin mixed it up and picked the water stage.  This proved to be too much as Marvin won by a safe margin.   Then on the moon Vitaly got Marvin down to 835 ap when he ran out of ammo.  Had he hit with the last shot of his sniper rifle we would have had a different out come.  Marvin however baited the last shot out of him by coming down to the ground to land but taking to the air again.  Vitaly took the shot but missed.    Then Marvin was able to stay out of the way of Vitaly's laser sword as he went for the win.

   Final Results

Some final notes.  Jamie's mech, Gristle, was the ugliest mech.  I really thought that Josh's looked the best.  Despite getting third Vitaly was the ONLY player who didn't get swepped by anyone.  Also if you look at the Game records it looks like there was a night and day difference between the top three players and the rest of the pack.  I think in this case the numbers don't tell the true tale of how close many of the matches were.  The competition was awesome.

Congratulations to Marvin and Victor.  Thanks to everyone who made the long trip out to our humble store.  I hope to see you all next year as well for the AC/AC3 

-Shawn