FYI: The Road to the SemiFinals

[Rayne Jade]

Greetings!

Much tough fighting to get to the Semis this year, and each our the SemiFinalists have travelled a different road to be here.

I have taken the success of each of our SemiFinalists and through basics comparative rankings determined an overall ranking for the 6 teams remaining. Since there are 6 teams, the best in each category gets 6 points, the next 5, etc. The total from the 3 categories gives the overall ranking:

             2009      Opp       2009
TEAM        Record    Record     Loots
Australia   6-0 (6)   9-15 (5)   3019 (6)  (17)
USA         6-0 (6)   8-16 (4)   2339 (5)  (15)
Romania     6-0 (6)   8-16 (4)   2083 (3)  (13)
England     5-1 (3)   8-16 (4)   2201 (4)  (11)
Sweden      3-3 (1)  10-14 (6)   1952 (2)   (9)
France      5-1 (3)   7-17 (1)   1707 (1)   (5)

So... I am not out to favor one team over another, nor am I out to discourage or minimize the achievements of any team. I just feel these categories are the best indicators of the teams strengths.

In the coming days leading up to the SemiFinals, I will recap the season for each of our SemiFinalists. I will try to place emphasis on the data that is, in my opinion, important and interesting.

Best of luck to all the teams!

[Rayne Jade]

Team France has had an interesting ride to the SemiFinals.

The first two hunts of WoF 2009 were of course the qualifiers. France scored 107 in Stage 1. Most teams did struggle a little in this hunt. France scored only 5 globals on Main Team, but one was a HoF on a Big Bulk Gen5 for 437 PED. Support contributed 28 points, all on Thorio. At the end of the day, France was ranked #10 out of the 24 teams.

Stage 2 brought a new mob list, one that seems to agree with Team France better than Stage 1. The Frescoquda were very kind to the Support team, so much that they were capped at 135 points. Main team racked up 99 points before bonuses to maintain a balanced attack. France scored 314 points to give them a total qualifying score of 421, which jumped them from #10 to #6 ensuring they were seeded and would not face another top-6 team in Stage 3.

The group draw place France in a Group with Poland, Amethera and Denmark. France went undefeated in Stage 3. Their first opponent was Denmark resulting in a win, 308 - 12. Main Team scored HoFs of 329 PED, 108 PED and 162 PED. Working again in the balanced attack, France got the sweep bonus as well.

Their next match was against Poland and another win: 256 - 128 with a HoF of 333 PED. Both Main and Support got 10 scores each and again France got the sweep bonus.

Finally, France went against Amethera winning 227 - 48. A HoF of 403 PED helped the cause as France advanced to Stage 4 with a combined score of 791 points for Stage 3. This marked the second consecutive year for France advancing.

Stage 4 saw France grouped with Australia, Canada and Greece. Their first match was against the powerful Australian team, in which France suffered their first loss 538 - 200. While still a respectable score, it should be noted that Canada won their match with a score of 355 points, making France the #3 team in Group C.

Next up was Greece, and France rebounded to win 236 - 110. Main team struggled a bit scoring only 4 globals, but 2 of those were HoFs of 429 PED and 322 PED which basically doubled the Main team score. A strong effort by Support propelled France by scoring 32 globals and 127 points.

At this point, France was still in the #3 spot in Group C and facing elimination. The team ahead of them in the #2 spot was Canada... which happened to be the next match. Canada had a 204 point lead in the standings so basically the next match would begin with a score of Canada 204 - France 0.

The match started in spectacular fashion with France bagging a HoF of 543 PED on the second global. It was on after that... France Main finished with HoFs of 543, 390, 294, 642, and 388 PED. Main scored an impressive 302 points and Support racked up 113 points. With bonuses, France scored 480 points to Canada's 236 completing the greatest comeback in the history of WoF to advance to the SemiFinals for the second straight year. France had a combined total from Stage 4 of 916 points and a 5 -1 record in WoF 2009.

France heads into the SemiFinals riding high on their amazing comeback, but certainly knowing the toughest challenges lie ahead. They will face USA which boasts an undefeated 6 - 0 record.

Best of Luck to Team France

[jod]

Very nice work Rj

When your buried knee deep in it you try to watch how the other teams are going but you cant watch it all so this is a nice recap,Thanks

I'm looking forward to reading the other countries stories

[Oleg]

I was judging Canada in the France v Canada match. It certainly was very exciting, and a great performance from the French team. I'd say they went from also-rans to strong contenders within the space of 3 hours!

[Oracle]

Has anyone made a book on the Wof this year?

Are Australia seen as favourites to win this time with their high points victories so far?

Will the USA and England have an advantage, or disadvantage, through being prior WoF Champions?

Are Sweden or Romania going to go one better than losing Finalists this year?

Or is France going to pull off a couple of shock wins to take the title?

A very interesting WoF this year and a tough one to call...I'd be interested in seeing someone give odds on each team please if they're brave enough?

[Rayne Jade]

Originally Posted by Oracle

Has anyone made a book on the Wof this year?

Are Australia seen as favourites to win this time with their high points victories so far?

Will the USA and England have an advantage, or disadvantage, through being prior WoF Champions?

Are Sweden or Romania going to go one better than losing Finalists this year?

Or is France going to pull off a couple of shock wins to take the title?

A very interesting WoF this year and a tough one to call...I'd be interested in seeing someone give odds on each team please if they're brave enough?

Well, in the past Centech did exactly that (and it was rather accurate as well).

Handicapping WoF Round 4

I PMed Centech a while back asking if he was going to do the same this year.... no reply.

[Oleg]

I won't give any odds but I would put them in order something like this:

1. Australia (very strong and scary throughout)
2. USA (much improved on last year because of better organisation and support numbers)
3/4. England/Sweden (hard to call the semi-final but I think the winner will be seen as an underdog against Aus and USA in the final, assuming they both make it through)
5. France (very impressive in the last round but USA will still be favourites to beat them in the semis as they've yet to prove the last match wasn't a one-off)
6. Romania (good team but not as good as last year and I think Australia will overwhelm them in the semi)

[Rayne Jade]

Team Sweden enter WoF 2009 as they always do... with many eyes watching and high expectations. Team Sweden has made it to the WoF Finals both years in the past, but the title of WoF Champion has eluded them so far.

The Qualifiers start it all, and for Team Sweden they shot out of the gate with a score of 189 points placing them #3 out of the 24 teams after one hunt. A score of 189 is low for Sweden, so they made up the difference in Stage 2 by racking up a massive 478 points to give them a total qualifying score of 667 points... good enough for the #1 spot assuring them they would not face another top-6 team in Stage 3. Support was a little lacking in Stage 1, but they made up for it in Stage 2 by posting 135 points while hitting the cap.

The Group Draw placed Sweden in Group D with Scotland, Finland and Eudoria. Their first test would be Finland, which was a victory 288 - 157. Featuring a HoF of 338 PED, the score was low for Sweden, but enough for a win.

Next up was Scotland. Sweden fell short, losing 278 - 251 - one of the smallest margins of victory in recent history. A HoF of 354 PED was not enough and the Sweden team was now 1 - 1.

Finally in Stage 3 was Eudoria, which suffered at the hands of Sweden's previous defeat. Sweden jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, winning 416 - 79 and advancing to Stage 4 for the third consecutive year with a total of 955 points - tops in Group D. Helping the cause were HoFs of 478, 397 and 700 PED. Worrisome was another subpar performance by Support, which only registered 52 points and 8 globals.

Stage 4 saw Sweden grouped with USA, Portugal and Poland. Up first was USA - a clash of 2 historically powerful teams. The match lived up to expectations as exciting and lots of points, but Sweden came up short 398 - 311. Support did show up, racking up 107 much needed points. However, with Portugal scoring higher in their match, Sweden was now in the #3 position in Group B. To lessen the sting of defeat, Support nabbed a Formidon for 24,478 PED - a WoF record high loot.

Up next was Portugal, and was paramount that Sweden do well to keep pace. Both main teams scored 7 globals, so the balance would rest on the shoulders of support. Portugal proved to be too much this day, and Sweden suffered their 2nd loss in a row, 293 - 263. Another close match, but this was Sweden's 3rd loss of the tournament which is the most they have ever lost. Sweden was still in the #3 position however, and only 37 points from #2.

Up last was Poland, and Sweden was more than motivated. Sweden cruised to an impressive victory 437 - 18 giving Sweden the needed points to advance to the SemiFinals. HoFs of 602 and 498 PED certainly helped as did 175 points from an uncertain support team.

Entering the SemiFinals, Sweden has a record of 3 - 3 and a combined score from Stage 4 of 1011 points. Sweden is to face Team England - a formidable foe. Support could make all the diffence... but which Support team will show up? The one that scored over 135 four times..? Or the one that scored less than 52 four times?

Best of Luck to Team Sweden

[Dark Cat]

The Sweden/England match is the most unpredictable of the three semi-final rounds. Twice silver medalists Vs the current Champions.
Will be a good fight.

[jjmatrix]

Awesome work Rayne.... as always
Looking forward to the stories for all teams that made the semis.