[Poetic] SCL3
SCL3
Am I blind, or is that website scrubbed clean before every new SCL tournament? I went there to answer a question I had about the Pandemic Legion/Hydra Reloaded rivalry during SCL1 and SCL2, but the site seems to have absolutely no historical data. That's straight up bizarre. You'd think there would be a page for past tournaments, at least showing the brackets and eventual outcomes. Maybe even links to old SCL match videos. As far as I could see, nothing. Hello? Who is managing the SCL website? Please correct this strange oversight.
So SCL3 was a much smoother viewing experience this time around. I didn't watch the entire thing, but I tuned in from time to time on day one, and caught the finals on day two. What made it a much better viewing experience were the staggered matches. This is something I'd suggested to CCP Fozzie after SCL2. Running two brackets at a time. Run the first match of bracket one. When that is finished, start the first match of bracket two, all the while bracket one is preparing for their match two. While bracket one is duking it out in their second match, bracket two is preparing for their second match. My thought, it would eliminate a lot of the downtime between matches, it would make the tournament flow a lot better.
Fozzie told me that staggering probably wasn't possible. They'd need a second arena for set-up, and they didn't have the CCP manpower. For every SCL it's just been Fozzie (and one other CCP employee, if memory serves) donating their time to these player-run events. I didn't press the issue, because Fozzie is already being a champ with the SCL. You can't really demand something of someone who is donating their time as generously as they are.
Well, apparently Fozzie must have went away and thought about it some more, because he figured out a method to make staggered matches work. Perhaps having CCP Rise around helped make staggering a reality. At any rate, it really made the SCL that much better a tournament to watch.
The final came down to a Hydra Reloaded team (Warlords of the Deep) versus Pandemic Legion. And this is why I wanted to check out results for SCL1 and SCL2. As far as I know, Hydra Reloaded has had Pandemic Legion's number since Alliance Tournament IX. I'd need to see the results of SCL2 (which Pandemic Legion won), but I'm thinking that Hydra has come out on top in every tournament meeting they've had. Hydra seems to be Pandemic Legion's kryptonite.
It was a really good final. Hydra took the first two matches. The first match being a bit of genius by Hydra, executing a brilliant move with void bombs to break the PL's capacitor chains. The second match was a nail biter for the first minute, but as soon as PL lost their Curse, the fight was over. At that point, it was really looking like Hydra was going to take the best of five three games to nil. It took four more matches to decide a winner. One of those matches was the first tie in EVE Online tournament history. The next two matches tied up the series two games a piece. The fourth and deciding match, Hydra took home the trophy.
I'm now looking forward to SCL4. I'm not sure how the organizers set up their brackets, but they should always put the winner and runner-up of the previous tournament on opposite sides of the current tournament, such that if they do meet, it will always be in the final.
Good stuff these SCL tournaments are becoming. They now have the professional polish of CCP's own tournaments. All CCP has to do now is code something so that players can run their own tournaments without CCP assistance. Let Fozzie enjoy all his weekends.
Source: SCL3