Nova Cup Recap: September

Full credit for this recap goes to nattodog.

September Nova Cup has wrapped! Last Saturday and Sunday, competitors from a large spread of competitive ranges put their skills to the test to see who can take the winning title.

First, some signup stats.
Total signups (teams): 128
Total signups (solos): 87
Dropout rates (during check-ins before brackets are made): D4 42% -- D3 49% -- D2 33% – D1 0%
Total teams in final brackets: 86

All-in-all, that's 343 players who signed up to participate in the Nova Cup this month, thank you all!

If you missed any of the action and would like to deep dive into it yourself, please check out the links to all tournament footage from all divisions https://beta.legiontd2.com/esports/#panelTournaments.

If you don’t want to watch over 30 hours of tournament footage for a recap, you’re in luck! Here is a recap of each division across both days.

Division 4 (Team Rank Spread 826 - 1544)

Day 1

In round two, team Opulence vs Indyscantik, Opulence RELEASED THE KRAKENS for a wave 19 win to move into game 3 of the set where they came out on top this time to move further into the bracket.
Also in round two, team Name pending started with a bye move ahead into round 3, where they came out 2-0 vs The Swampy Gooners.
Henriksux had a 2-1 game to make it into round 3, falling to team FGS.
The Aliens won from round 1, and played well through round 2 to win 2-0, but met their match against Opulence in round 3

Day 2

In the semi finals, team Rip fought hard against Opulence, surviving a huge send on 17 bringing their king from 100%-1% but they were not able to overcome the econ advantage and lost game two from another strong send on 19.
In grand finals, game two went to wave 21(!) where Opulence won the exchange.
Unfortunately due to personal work and time restraints, team Name Pending had to concede after 0-2 giving Opulence the 1st place finish this month. Will we see them battle again next time?

Division 3 (Team Rank Spread 1558-1837)

Day 1

Round 1 Potato Poopers vs Snail Lovers, player Chasm of Potato Poopers made a clutch hold on 17 to a large send while ending the game in a 1 hit KO against Snail Lovers to advance
Round 1 1Leavers vs eLBee/Panualidades, a player disconnected on wave 6 and never returned, making it our first ever bot game. 1Leavers secured the win to continue on.
Round 2 1Leavers vs Schnitzel, 1Leavers invested heavily into a late game build from very early in the game, which paid off by forcing a possible 17 send to win the game for Schnitzel, allowing 1Leavers to end it closer to their terms on wave 16.
Round 3 1Leavers vs Darra, Darra put on intense pressure with Giant Snail, sending full snails every wave which left 1Leavers on the back foot, a position they were not able to recover from.

Day 2

In grand finals game one, team Ogerlover3000 had a comeback victory on wave 15 with a 100-0% send against Bärserker.
In the final game, Henzer from team Bärserker stayed at 6 workers until the final send on 11, showing you don’t
always* need to have the most workers to secure the win.

Division 2 (Team Rank Spread 1832-2296)

Day 1

In game two of the set between Benis and L1ra/Evilkenivel, Benis took a big hit on 17 for a win for L1ra and Evilkenivel. In the final game of the set, Benis went for a much more aggressive econ approach and took the win with an impressive rat army from player Item Shop.
After a very intense and close match where team Benis very nearly took the set, Flights Broken Back came out with the victory to move into semifinals
Team Halo progressed into semifinals largely uncontested

Day 2

Team Flights Broken Back made it all the way to grand finals against team Halo, with final score 3-1 in Halo’s favor. Kudos to Flight’s teammate The0point91Joe for such an impressive first run through D2. And congrats to Halo for the clutch victory. Good games!

Division 1 (Team Rank Spread 2376-3088)

Day 1

Round 1 Brazilian Carnival vs Doomsday, in game 2 Doomsday started the match off rough but took the win on a huge 12 send for the comeback victory. Doomsday took game 3 as well to proceed in the bracket.
Round 2 GreenooB vs B!Square, in game 1 Bonny of B!Square managed to get two Fenix’s to behave on wave 15 and hold both lanes on an attempted send, cementing a large lead that got them the win.
Game 2 of the same set between GreenooB and B!Square, GreenooB answers back with a win on 16 in a close game.
Game 3 B!Square gets the win to move into day 2 finals, with more great usage of Fenix and a huge worker push to ensure the game ends on 16. Well played to both teams!

Day 2

Abrasiert bs B!Square, game one almost ended on 15 for Abrasiert, but after barely surviving, Kingdanzz of Abrasiert suicide pushed workers all the way up to 70(!) for a wave 18 race.
Game 2 of the same set, Abrasiert had 2 Divine Blessing picks that were revealed on wave 12 on a Doomsday and Azeria for full holds that cemented a strong lead ending in a 14 win.
Game 2 between September 13 and ßutterßoys, a huge trade between both teams came on 13 bringing king HP to 20% or below for both. One player from each team suicide pushed workers, and on 15 FCLucy from September 13 holds their lane for a clutch win.
Game 2 between Abrasiert and ßutterßoys, Kingdanzz of Abrasiert hold a 13 send with unique gatling gun positioning using aps and Fenix
Game 4 of the same teams, duo Divine Blessing on Doomsday and Azeria on 12 for Abrasiert gets leaked from a huge send including a Kraken(!) radically shifting the pace of the game and ending with a game win for ßutterßoys on wave 14 in a close race. Penny’s heart rate also went above resting for potentially the first time.
In the final game, ßutterßoys showcases the power of Lizard Army for a huge send on 12, winning D1 in a reverse sweep! Well played.

Closing Thoughts

Thank you to everyone who participated and signed up for the September Nova Cup! A tremendous thank you to all tournament organizers. Big shout-outs to our newest Nova Cup staff member AmerikanHunay for guiding both new and returning players through brackets throughout the weekend and thank you to SlinkyDinky for work on an automated check-in Discord bot that cut a tremendous amount of work from the usual morning setup for the tournament. We could not have an event to this scale without the help and support from everyone and it is greatly appreciated.

Our end result Division winners this month are:
Division 1: ßutterßoys (XGod37 & Shea)
Division 2: Halo (Valas & Lemon Rush)
Division 3: Bärserker (Guenni99 & Henzer)
Division 4: Opulence (Scarabimi & Daffybow)

Congratulations to all winners!

We hope to see you next month, October 29th-30th for the next Nova Cup!

-nattodog